Story: "Even Heroes Bleed" by Saoirse Robinson
Chapter 1: "F13"
Disclaimer: this is a fan fiction of Sword Art Online and I am not making money from this. This is however, also my original work.
Fan Art: is welcome, message me with a link. Link back to my fanfic.
Individual Chapter Rating: T for mild sexual descriptions and language.
Word Count: 4,500
Takes place: 6 years after the anime episode "World Seed" (backstory takes into account SAO and ALfheim arcs only)
Chapter Description: Kirito receives a cryptic invitation to meet from an unknown sender, and chooses to hide the meeting from Asuna.
F13
In the front of a classroom full of uniformed students, a teacher scribbled notes on the smart-board, oblivious to the hands passing notes behind her. Each student had a school-issue laptop, which didn't excite the students as much as it should have: only the word processor could be opened. In the back of the classroom, however, a small boy with blond hair that covered his eyes stared at his laptop screen, where a notification for a message had just popped up. Click. Embedded in the message was a video file.
Click. Click.
The video — time-lapse footage of the front of an apartment building — looked to have been taken with a high-quality surveillance camera. Another message came through the chat: 8:33:41. Understanding, the boy moved the slider on the video to the appropriate hour, and sure enough, a man appeared on the screen, searching his pockets for keys to get in. A young woman with long hair suddenly appeared behind him, handing him her keys. They went inside, but not before stopping to check the mail. The boy zoomed in. Apartment letter F13…
The boy replayed the video footage several times, watching the man enter the building, watching the way the woman leaned into him. His dark hair obscured his face, but the woman wore hers pulled back, and he could see that they were clearly Japanese. He paused the video, freezing the woman mid-smile.
"Gene," the teacher called. "Can you tell me what the capital of Missouri is?"
The blond-haired boy didn't hesitate. "Jefferson City."
"Very good," the teacher said. "Someone else, Arkansas?"
His eyes still glued to his laptop, Gene watched the video for several more minutes, ignoring the voices of his classmates. When the bell finally sounded for the end of class, all the rest of the students got up, but Gene stayed seated for a moment. Just then, two more messages came through the chat, one after another.
Kazuto Kirigaya, said the first.
Then:
Yuuki Asuna.
Kirito was hurrying down the crowded New York street when his eyeglass began to blink, displaying an incoming call from Asuna. He let it ring once, then twice. He sighed, then tapped to answer.
"Asuna!" he said, forcing himself to sound cheerful as he dodged a street vendor, then a man with a briefcase. "Hi."
"Kirito, where are you?" she demanded. "You turned off your location tracking."
"I-I did?" He laughed nervously. "I must've turned it off in the lab by mistake…"
She made a frustrated noise. "It doesn't matter. Where are you?"
Buildings towered everywhere he looked. As he walked he passed gentleman's clubs, street artists with spray paint, stands selling hotdogs, and tourists getting their caricatures done. The street was as jammed with taxis as the sidewalk was with people. Almost all of the other pedestrians wore eyeglasses as well: a single glass that hooked over one ear, giving them worldwide access at the tap of a finger.
"Manhattan."
"You're still in Manhattan?"
A bead of sweat formed on Kirito's brow. "There was construction on the subway. I decided to get out and walk."
"Kirito, I swear, sometimes…" she trailed off. "I'm not waiting to make you dinner, just so you know."
"I'll stop and get something."
Asuna fell silent. Kirito swallowed.
When she spoke again, however, her voice was soft with disappointment. "I thought we were going in-game tonight."
"I'll meet you there later, after I get home," he said. "I promise. At the lake house. Tell Yui I'll be there."
"Okay," she said. "Just come home soon, Kirito."
"I will," he said, forcing a smile into his voice. "See you soon."
The moment they hung up, he broke into a run, heading down a flight of steps into the subway.
I hate lying to Asuna, he thought. Dammit. I can't tell her…
Once onboard the train, he flipped through the notes on his eyeglass, searching for an address. The train was crowded around this time, the walls a glaring yellow color, and the floor shook so much under him that he had to grasp a railing to keep from falling into people. Finding the address he was looking for, he copied and pasted it into maps with a few taps of his fingers. The train was headed to Queens, which meant it was going in the opposite direction of Brooklyn, where he lived with Asuna in their modest Williamsburg apartment. He wasn't sure he would be able to make it home in time to put on his NerveGear and meet up with Asuna. The thought made his stomach clench. Why had he promised her he would be home in time? He should've lied, should've made an excuse…
His brow furrowed as he stared at the location on the map. No matter what happened, he would have to make sure he got out of there at a decent time. He tapped his glass — it was 6:30 now. Asuna would probably go in-game at 7:00, and stay in for three or four hours at the most. She had classes in the morning, after all, just as Kirito did. He could finish this in an hour, right? He just needed to find out what these people wanted from him.
As the red location marker blinked before his eyes, he contemplated his reasons for hiding all this from Asuna. The only thing that came to mind was an image of Yui and Asuna swimming and splashing in the lake, the one just outside the home they had purchased in a game world called New Aincrad. The happy smiles on their faces. Asuna beckoning him into the water. That was what he wanted for her. He didn't want her to have to worry about him, or Yui, or the fate of the hundreds of game worlds they were a part of. She had suffered enough.
When it came down to it, Kirito wasn't entirely sure why he had agreed to meet the anonymous messenger in the first place. He told himself it was just curiosity, a need to see the face of the person who was capable of finding a way to contact him. The person who had contacted him had called himself Sylver, but hadn't volunteered any more information. They had noticed Kirito's presence behind the scenes in the World Sphere, Sylver said, and wanted to meet with him in person. To discuss what, he could only guess. Kirito still had no idea how they'd gotten his contact information.
A notification suddenly appeared on his glass, distracting him from his thoughts. He opened the message with a tap, and read.
Find the symbol you recognize.
Kirito stared at the message for a long time. The sender was listed as unknown, not even a number or a handle. What did it mean? Ever since these people had contacted him, it had been nothing but message after cryptic message. Find the symbol you recognize? Frustrated, Kirito flipped back to the map, distracting himself from thoughts of Asuna by watching his progress toward his destination.
When he finally arrived in Queens, he fought his way above ground, jostling with the people filing in and out of the subway. The air was filled with the sounds of car horns, and the smells of kebob sizzling. Most of what he passed seemed to be under construction: he hurried under scaffolding and past road workers, down the busy street toward the address Sylver had sent him. After a while he found himself in a more residential part of town, although the corner shops were all rundown, and every other wall was coated in graffiti. When he finally arrived at his destination, he stopped. The sign above the door read Bar Zero, and he could hear music coming from within. Feeling uncertain, he opened the door and went inside.
Bar Zero was exactly what it claimed to be, at least in appearances. It was crowded, the whole place suffused with gaudy neon light. People drank, laughed, and chatted, some even going so far as to find secluded corners in which to grope and fondle one another. Kirito looked away from one such scene, heading instead for the bar. He sincerely hoped that the symbol he was supposed to recognize was not located in some dark corner, hidden behind two tangled bodies.
Kirito walked along the bar, then through the tables, looking people up and down, and receiving some odd looks in the process. He couldn't find anyone sitting alone: all the women were surrounded by men, and all the men were chasing women. Why had they given him such a cryptic clue, anyway? Was he even in the right place? Perhaps he was supposed to go to the basement, or something. He went to the restroom, on the off chance there was something valuable in there, but there was nothing. Eventually he went to the bar, resigning himself to the possibility that the thing he was supposed to find was actually something that would find him.
After a minute at the bar, the bartender finally noticed him. "What can I get you?"
"The cheapest beer," he said in accented English.
As the bartender walked away, the women sitting next to him laughed loudly. Kirito slouched in his seat, making only the smallest effort to search his surroundings. The bar was so full of people, he felt as though he'd been assigned a needle in a haystack. On the bright side, if he didn't find anybody, he could go home and keep his promise to Asuna.
When the bartender set his beer in front of him, the woman sitting next to him turned, taking a sudden interest in him.
"Well, hello," she said a bit drunkenly. "Where are you from?"
"Brooklyn," Kirito replied, trying not to look at her.
"No, I mean where are you from," she said again, giggling. "You're obviously not from America."
Holding back a sigh, Kirito looked at the smiling, slouching woman in front of him. She wore an incredibly low-cut dress, and her dark hair spilled over one shoulder. Her eyes were hazy with drink, and there were traces of her lipstick on the rim of her glass.
"Japan," he said, not wanting to engage her too heavily. "I came here four years ago."
She leaned closer. "Oh, Japan! I bet your girls don't have tits like these back home," she said, squeezing her breasts between her arms.
Kirito swallowed a lump in his throat.
"Why don't you buy me a drink, handsome?" she purred, setting her empty glass down on the counter. "I've never done it with a Japanese guy before. And you're so cute…"
She was leaning closer. I have to back away, Kirito thought. "I have a wi—"
Before he could finish, she kissed him.
Kirito tried to push away, but she grabbed him around the waist, pulling him closer. Panicking, Kirito turned his head quickly, trying to escape her grasp. "I'm married!" he shouted, though it was so loud in the bar he wasn't sure if she'd even heard him.
After a moment though, her arms relaxed. "Oh, he's married. Of course a cute guy like you would be married. Don't worry, I've got plenty of guys who will buy me drinks." She leaned back, away from Kirito, who sighed with relief. "Hey, Bernie, you got a drink for a pretty girl?"
The bartender came over, smiling. "Of course I do," he said, fetching a new glass and pouring liquor into it. "That's for your smile."
"Liar," she said, accepting the drink, "that's for my tits."
In that moment, as she reached for her drink, Kirito noticed something. There was a tattoo on the inside of her wrist, one that was familiar — a black coffin, a smiling mouth…
"Laughing Coffin," Kirito breathed.
The woman's lips curled upward. She took a swig of her drink. "Good work, Kirito," she said, sounding suddenly a lot less tipsy. "You get a prize."
"How did you know that name?" he asked.
"Kirito? I know a lot about you. We've been watching you for quite some time."
Kirito's stiffened. Watching him? "Are you Sylver?"
"I'm not Sylver. Of course I work with Sylver. You can call me Magdalene. It shouldn't be too hard for you to pronounce." She said, smiling like a cat in its cream.
Kirito felt himself growing flustered. Had she known who he was all along? If so, why had she made him search for her? She'd pretended to be drunk, she'd kissed him… She had to have known. Kirito wondered what would happen if he simply walked away, if he went home right now and forgot this had ever happened. He could never tell Asuna, of course. If she ever found out… No, it was too dangerous to leave right now. He didn't know what she knew. This woman — Magdalene.
"Were you a part of the Laughing Coffin guild?" Kirito asked.
"I was, once upon a time," she said.
Kirito flushed, "Then you are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people."
"I know what I'm responsible for, beater," she said coldly. "Which is why I'm doing what I'm doing now. I'm a part of an organization that works to protect the gaming world. Through hacking."
Kirito's heart jumped. This woman was a hacker? She was staring at him with cold blue eyes. He felt nearly naked before the power of her stare.
"We know about you, Kirito. We know about Asuna. We know you moved to New York because you both were accepted into the Computer Science program at Columbia University. We know your grades. We know you're top in your program. We know you're better than anyone else." Magdalene leaned in closer to Kirito, her voice lowering to a whisper. He didn't make a move to stop her. "We know what you do every night, after Asuna goes to sleep. We know you stay up till dawn sometimes, hacking into the servers of different game worlds, changing whatever you see fit. We've been watching you, Kirito. Because we have the same goal."
Kirito was breathing hard. "Who are you?"
She smirked. "We call ourselves Core Group Alpha. It's not a name you would recognize. I can count the outsiders who know about us on one hand, even after adding you."
Core Group Alpha. It was true, he had never heard of them. It was also true that if they knew this much about him, they were powerful. They had ways of finding out things that he didn't, and he wasn't sure if this frightened or intrigued him.
"What do you mean by 'we have the same goal'?"
"Simple," she said, lifting her glass. "Your goal is to keep gamers safe. Our goal is to keep gamers safe. Which is why you are here. The Core Group wants to hire you."
She took a sip of her drink. Kirito was momentarily at a loss for words. A group of hackers he knew nothing about wanted to hire him. They knew everything about him, probably even more than they let on. How big were they? Who was in charge? Was Magdalene their leader, or just some grunt doing fieldwork? Would it be dangerous to walk away from an organization that knew so much about him already?
"I don't usually take a job without knowing who my boss is," he replied carefully.
Magdalene flinched. He thought he saw her scowl. "This isn't that kind of job, in case you haven't noticed. If you want to see who's behind the curtain, you have to join us first."
"You think you know a lot about me," he said, "but I don't know anything about you. How can I trust you? Maybe we don't have the same goals."
She chuckled. "I think we do. Trust me, Kirito. I've seen what you can do. With you on our side, the Core Group can become even more powerful. Together we can ensure that nothing like the death game ever happens in the World Sphere again."
Kirito stared at the coffin on her wrist. He sighed.
"Sorry to have wasted your time," he said, putting a five dollar bill on the bar. He stood. "I work alone."
As he walked away, he heard her start to laugh. He stopped, turning back to her.
"Oh, Kirito, always the loner. He works alone…" she stood, slinking toward him. "He fights alone…" she was an inch away from him. "He hacks alone," she whispered. "Is that right?"
"Keh. I don't need to explain myself to you."
"Oh, but I think you do," she purred, pointing over his shoulder with a long black nail. Kirito turned, and his heart leapt into his throat. A man was standing in a corner across the room from them with a hand on his eyeglass. How long he'd been standing there, Kirito could only guess. It looked as though he'd been watching them for some time. The kiss…
"I really didn't want to have to do this, Kirito," Magdalene said, "but my friend over there recorded the…special moment we shared earlier. By now it's already been uploaded to our servers. I would hate to have to share something like that with Asuna…"
Asuna…
Heat rising in his cheeks, Kirito turned back to Magdalene, his fists clenched. There were so many things he wanted to say. He wanted to spew insults at her, to lash out, to rip the sword from his back and…
That was the way things were solved in-game. In the real world, however, he had no such power. In fact, he was clearly the powerless one in this situation. He had been caught in their trap. His shoulders slumped. Magdalene reached out and gave him a pat on the back.
"Welcome to the Core Group, Kirito. You'll receive your next orders from Sylver. Just remember not to disappoint us."
She sauntered away then, leaving Kirito standing in the middle of the bar, music pounding all around him.
After what seemed a long while, he found himself back on the subway, heading for Brooklyn. Staring at the dirty gray floor, he replayed the evening over in his head again and again. He could still taste Magdalene on his lips, and the thought made him sick. He pictured Asuna's face, her tears, her anger. I promise to always be with you, he'd said on their wedding day, back in Japan five years ago. I can never love anyone else but you…
He had no choice but to work for these people. With the way the video looked, it would be hard to convince Asuna that he hadn't been scoping for women in some bar that night, if it ever came down to it. Kirito never wanted to have to convince her. She was his everything, his foundation. Imagining that foundation shaking…well, he could only hope the Core Group really did have the same goals as he did, because he was with them now, no matter what. The coffin still gave him pause, however. He never thought he'd be putting his trust in a member of a murder guild. Then again, he was being forced into this. He just didn't see a way out.
Williamsburg was quiet as he walked back to his apartment building from the train station. The stars were out, the construction workers had gone home, and people were out walking their dogs. Even the bars were nearly empty. The graffiti-faces on the brick walls watched him silently as he passed by, staring into the dark shops he frequented most mornings: the bagel shop Asuna liked, the pie place where they went to get breakfast on Sundays. After a moment he turned away, unable to keep looking. Guilt knotted in his stomach as he rounded the block toward home, toward the apartment building where they lived together.
When he finally found the keys to let himself in, he stopped in the foyer, getting out the mailbox keys to see if they had any post. He found the box for F13, and opened it. It was empty. Kirito didn't shut it right away. Rather he stood in front of it, his head hanging. Eventually his shoulders began to shake. After a few minutes, he wiped his eyes, shut the mailbox door, and went through the second door that led to the stairs.
The apartment was quiet, just as he'd expected it to be. Asuna had left a light on for him, and after glancing at the oven, he saw it was 8:30. He didn't think he'd been gone that long. Going over to the french doors that led to Asuna's room, he opened them just a crack, and peaked in. Sure enough, she was lying on the bed in her AmuSphere, in-game. She looked peaceful.
Going into his study, Kirito picked his old custom-made NerveGear up off the shelf. It was dented and scratched as ever, though he'd made several new adjustments to it over the years. It was the only FullDive system he trusted — the one he'd built and rebuilt himself. As he was about to put on his NerveGear, he felt his eyeglass vibrate in his pocket. He reached for it, then decided against it. Putting on the NerveGear, he laid down on the little futon he kept in his study, and entered the World Sphere.
When he opened his eyes, he was in New Aincrad, standing in front of the lake house, the last place he'd been. As if watching a dream, he blinked at the firelight flickering on the thin line of beach over by the lake. He spotted Asuna and Yui huddled next to it, roasting marshmallows for s'mores.
Yui was the first to notice him. She tossed her marshmallow stick aside without a thought — Asuna caught it — and ran toward him, shouting, "Daddy!"
Kirito caught her as she leapt into his arms, smiling despite himself as she giggled happily.
"Hey, Yui. How's it going?"
"Mama said you were coming a long time ago. I was waiting for you!" she cried. "We swam in the lake for so long, and I felt a fish touch me."
"A fish? Wow. Why didn't you catch it?"
"We did catch one! Then Mama made dinner and I ate half of it, and then she said we should roast marshmallows…"
As Yui regaled him with their adventures, Kirito saw Asuna get to her feet and walk over to them. His heart sank: her face was unreadable. When she came to stand beside them, Kirito set Yui down, and Asuna handed her the two marshmallows on sticks.
"Yui, can you go put these on graham crackers with chocolate for me and Daddy?"
Yui nodded excitedly, then ran back toward the beach.
Asuna watched Kirito with crossed arms. Kirito waited on tenterhooks for her to say something, but she just watched him with narrowed eyes. Eventually he couldn't take it any longer.
"I'm sorry I was late, Asuna," he said. "I stopped to get food and…I didn't realize I'd take so long getting home."
Asuna tapped her foot on the earth. Eventually though, she let her arms fall to her side, her face softening. "I'm just glad you're home."
Relief coursing through him, Kirito closed the gap between his body and Asuna's, pulling her close against him. She was surprised at first, but after a moment she hugged him back, nuzzling against him.
"Kirito…I love you," she whispered.
"I love you, Asuna," he replied, hugging her close.
When they separated, Yui was calling to them with a big smile on her face. When they got closer, Kirito saw that her hands were sticky with chocolate and marshmallow, though she had managed to make the s'mores. Asuna giggled.
"Here, Daddy," Yui said. "This one's for you."
Kirito accepted the s'more. Some of the chocolate leaked out onto his hand.
"Let's share one, Yui," Asuna said, taking a bite, then passing it back to Yui. Savoring the s'more and the sound of his their giggles, Kirito looked up at the sky, virtual though it was. New Aincrad was a recreation of the world they had inhabited in Sword Art Online, with all the beauty and none of the horror. There were so many stars up there, he thought. Like Asuna had once told him, they might be in a game, but the feelings were all real. The stars felt real. His family was real.
His thoughts flashed back to Magdalene for an instant, but he pushed the image away. Instead, he stood, pointing toward the lake. "Look!"
"Oh, pretty!" Yui cried.
The lake was glowing, a school of bioluminescent fish swimming just under the surface. As Yui oohed and ahed, Kirito opened his user menu, changing into his swimming trunks.
"Kirito, what are you doing?" Asuna said, though she was laughing.
"Who wants to go for a night swim?" he said, hurrying toward the lake.
"Me!" Yui laughed, graham cracker crumbs falling from her lips as her dress transformed into a bathing suit.
Flipping through her menu for her swimsuit, Asuna hurried after them. The sounds of their splashing and laughter filled the air for a long while after, the stars glowing overhead while the fish sparkled all around them. As the night wore on, Kirito realized he didn't want to return. He watched the orange light of their beach fire playing on the water as he swam, trying to forget — if only for a moment — about the other world.
Hours later, back in his room, Kirito slipped off his NerveGear and padded over to Asuna's room. When he opened the door, she invited him into her bed, turning off the light as he curled up next to her. As they lay entwined, Asuna's head pillowed on his shoulder, he found himself wishing that Yui was there too, cuddled up between them, like a real child. He stayed awake a long time, holding her, pressed against her warmth, listening until her breathing slowed. Only then did Kirito ease himself out of her arms, and return to his study.
Sitting down at his desk, he entered a password, his computer screen iridescent in the darkness. Once logged in, he pulled up a console that was already filled with code, most of it written in Japanese. He entered a few more lines. He glanced at the photo propped up on his desk: it was one Klein had taken in-game of Kirito, Asuna, and Yui standing by the lake house soon after they'd bought it. After a minute, he pulled his eyeglass out of his pocket, placing it on his ear. He saw that he had one notification waiting.
It was a message from Sylver.
Your first assignment is to hack into Atlantis Online's main server. Seek files containing login credentials…
Kirito's head was spinning. Hack into Atlantis Online's server? Who did they think he was? He checked the time — midnight. He had to be awake by seven. He expected he'd be awake the rest of the night working on this, but what choice did he have?
With one last glance at the picture on his desk, he began typing.
Thank you for reading. Please leave reviews, fave, and follow if you enjoyed this. Story will be updated regularly. ~Saoirse
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New Story Title Contest is GO! Just submit your idea for what you think the title of this fanfic should be changed to in the form of a review, tweet or a PM. For tweets, hashtag "storytitlecontest." I will select my favorite, the winner can send me a description of an Original Character they want to be featured in this fanfic, and I will include that OC in the upcoming chapters.