So I personally loved reading Fundindar's Keku, the Prince of Chaos, and was really upset to find that it has been seemingly abandoned. Solution: write my own take on it! Surprise surprise, that's what your about to read right now. Therefore, Fundindar takes all the credit for inspiring this fanfiction. On the other hand, this story is completely separate from Fundidar's, and I am in no way copying their work. This is merely something I decided to right after reading their story. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online. I'm not making any money with this fanfiction. But if anybody knows how to, message me! (Kidding)
-Elysia Grace
•••••
Suguha Kirigaya watched the slow rise and fall of her brother's chest, the only thing that was convincing her he was still alive. She held his limp hand to her body, praying for his eyes to fly open, just like they should have done no more than two days ago.
"Please... Please Kazuto... Please wake up..."
Of the ten thousand people, her brother included, that entered the death game Sword Art Online, only 6,147 survived. Of those players, all but 300 had woken up only two days ago. Kazuto was still asleep.
Why? Why was he not awake? Why did it have to be him, of all people? Hadn't he been through enough hell? Hadn't she been through enough hell? Suguha rested her forehead on the top of Kirito's hand.
"Please..."
•••••
1 week later
"Okay, now can you lift your right leg for me?" Asuna lifted her right leg.
"That's great sweetie, now can you lift your left?" Asuna lifted her left.
"Wonderful, now can you stand?" Slowly and painfully, Asuna stood.
"Your doing great. Now we're gonna try to take a step, okay?" Asuna nodded her head.
Focusing solely on her feet and legs, Asuna took her first step forward in two years. With the help of her physical therapist, admittedly.
Asuna managed to take one more step after that before her weak legs gave out and she fell into her therapists' arms.
"Well, it seems like you've made excellent progress, Asuna. Most of the... survivors have barely managed to stand so far, so you are ahead of the game!" Asuna smiled weakly.
"May I... Be released, now?" The woman frowned slightly in thought.
"I suppose so. But be very careful, and don't attempt to walk without your crutches again quite yet." Asuna nodded. It's not like she had a choice.
Wishing her therapist farewell, Asuna limped out of the hospital, and after spotting where her mom was waiting for her in her (very nice and expensive) car, she went over. Very, very slowly. Oh, crutches are such a pain.
Getting into the car, Asuna let her mind wander. It had been two weeks since had she escaped the clutches of Sword Art Online. And it had been hard.
Asuna hadn't lived in the real world in two years. Being thrown back in so suddenly, it was completely overwhelming. Lucky for her, though, she had found some of her friends from SOA through therapy, and together they were all able to adjust to being out of the death game.
Well, she said her friends, but some of them were Kirito's too. Like Silica, for example. Apparently Silica had seen Kirito and her together before, and had made a point to come up to Asuna when she saw her. Along with Silica, Asuna had also found Lizbeth, Klien, and Agil. So really, she had found all of her friends.
That is, except for Kirito.
Try as she might, Asuna's husband had yet to be found by any of them. And it was eating Asuna up inside. What if something had happened to him? What if he didn't escape the game alive?
Soon, though, Asuna would finally be getting her answers.
Recently after Asuna had been released from the game, she had confided in her father. After helping to squash her worries, he had promised to do everything in his power to find out where Kazuto Kirigaya was hidden.
And so Asuna pushed through her therapy, getting stronger each day, and hoping every minute that she would get a call from her father telling her exactly where to go.
And when he did she would finally- finally- get to meet her true love in real life.
•••••
2 weeks later
To: Lizbeth, Silica, Agil, Klien
From: Asuna
Keiōgijukudai Hospital, Room 632.
Quickly.
•••••
The car door slammed shut with a defining slam as Asuna did her very best to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. Why she was given the address of a hospital and not a house, she wasn't sure, and didn't care to dwell on it. What mattered was Kirito was here, mere steps away.
Giving a quick scan around, it seemed that Asuna was the first of her's and Kirito's group of friends to arrive. I can't say I'm upset about that, she thought selfishly. Although she felt guilty about it, Asuna was glad that she would get to be the first one to see Kirito in real life.
Pushing through the doors, Asuna limped on her still-weak legs to the front desk. At the least, though, she didn't have to use her crutches anymore.
"Hello-"
"Room 632." Asuna said, interrupting the receptionist's greeting. Then, as an afterthought, added "Please, m'am."
The receptionists, a pretty brunette likely in her mid-twenties, give her a thin smile before directing her to the direction she should take.
Asuna didn't waste a spare moment. Every moment she spent walking through those hallways felt like another moment wasted that Kirito and her could have been spending together.
Absently, Asuna was reminded of the very beginning of her time in SAO. Back when she thought that every moment she spent in the game was another moment wasted in the real world. But Kirito taught her differently. He taught her to live her life to the fullest, even if it wasn't a real one. She would always be thankful for that.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Asuna stood in front of a plain white door. To the right of the door was a panel, with the number '632' written on it in bold, stiff lettering. Without pausing to hesitate, Asuna pushed the button to allow herself into the room.
"Kirito? Are you th-"
Someone was crying. No, not just someone, a girl. A girl with short-cut black hair that was grasping onto the thin hand of a boy. The boy had a helmet on, what Asuna assumed was some sort of medical technology. There were letters on the front, but they were so worn Asuna couldn't make out what they said.
"Oh, oh my, I'm so sorry. The receptionist must have given me the wrong room number... I'll just be going then-"
But before Asuna could leave, the girl lifted her puffy face up to meet Asuna's gaze with red-rimmed eyes. She sniffed and did her best to compose herself.
"Oh, sorry. I understand. Who are you looking for? I might be able to help you find them." And then, almost to herself, she muttered: "I've been here enough, after all..."
Asuna chose not to comment on the last part. "Um, well, I was looking for a boy. He has black hair and gray eyes, and is about sixteen years old. His name is Kazuto Kirigaya, and he's an SAO victim. Do you know him?"
Immediately the girls whole demeanor changed from friendly to suspicious. She narrowed her now-dry eyes dangerously. "How do you know my brother?"
Asuna was taken aback. "B- brother?! But then, does that mean..." Asuna trailed off as her eyes went back to the boy on the bed. That helmet. That wasn't medical technology, it was NerveGear. And the face underneath it; it was slightly different, but she could tell that was-
"KIRITO!"
Asuna cried out her husbands name with a gasp and raced to his side, tears springing up in her eyes. This, this was Kirito? But, why wasn't he awake?! He should be awake by now! Everybody else was! Why was Kirito different?! Why-
"Hey!"
Asuna turned back to the girl. Right, she was still here.
"I don't know who you are, or how you know Onii-chan, but you can't just barge by me without explaining yourself, so I suggest you do that right now."
Asuna sniffed and wiped a tear off of her cheek, backing away from her comatose lover.
"W- we were in S- SAO together..." She choked slightly. "We were married... And he's supposed to be awake... We're supposed to be together again... Right?" After a couple of second with no response from the girl Asuna seemed to realize she wasn't making any sense. She sighed and straightened her self up.
"I'm sorry, I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Asuna Yuuki, survivor of Sword Art Online. Me and Kir- Kazuto were friends in-game... More than friends... A- and I came here to find him..." She turned back to the girl, who was wearing a slight frown.
"I'm Suguha Kirigaya, and I'm Kazuto's sister, well, cousin. I was just here visiting. Until you showed up, that is."
"Why hasn't he woken up yet?"
Suguha's frown deepened. "I don't know. When I heard that the SAO survivors were waking up I was so excited- finally I would have my b- brother back- but when I c- came here and f- found him still asleep..." She broke off.
"All I know is that Onii-chan, along with 299 other SAO players, haven't woken up yet. N- nobody knows why."
Asuna looked back at Kazuto, and was about to say something before a commotion at the door cut her off.
"K- Klien!" Asuna hated the way her voice broke.
Klien looked up from the doorway, meeting Asuna's gaze. "Hey, Asuna. What ya doing here? Where's Kirito?"
Biting her lip, Asuna gestured towards the boy on the bed. When Klien's eyes fell on Kirito he breathed in sharply.
"That's... Kirito? But why isn't he awake?"
"We don't know. All we do know is that Kirito and 299 other SAO players didn't wake up after Kirito cleared the game." Asuna answered. She felt her eyes start to water and become brimmed with tears.
Suguha had been glaring at Klien. "Don't tell me you know Onii-chan from SAO too?"
Klien nodded absently, oblivious to the fact that the question had come from a complete stranger that also happened to be in the room with them.
Suguha sighed. "Are there any more of you-"
"Asuna!"
"Klien!"
It was Lizbeth and Silica, followed closely by Agil. After scowling at the newest intruders, Suguha collapsed in one of the chairs in the hospital room defeatedly.
Asuna turned to meet the final three of her friends. "Liz! Silica! Agil! You finally made it!"
Liz shrugged. "Blame Agil, he's the one who picked us up and brought us here. Now where's Kirito?"
Asuna's tear-filled eyes finally overflowed. "Kirito- Kirito hasn't awoken yet..."
All three of them frowned. "What do you mean? How could he not have awoken yet?"
"Apparently after the game was cleared, 300 players didn't wake up. Kirito was one of them.
"So that means..." Liz trailed off as she finally turned her attention to the comatose figure laying on the bed.
The boy on the bed was pale to the point that he seemed almost translucent. His arms were thin and his cheeks were sunken in, and his eyes had dark bags under them. His hair was hard to see, but it was clearly black and longer than the average guy's. On his head was a helmet that, if you looked closely, had a label that said "NerveGear" on it.
But, despite the differences, this person was, without a doubt, Kirito. Their hero.
Suguha took the group's stunned silence as an opportunity to jump in.
"And I'm Suguha. Ka-, er, Kirto's sister."
Suddenly, everybody's attention was focused solely on Suguha. But before they could bombard her with questions, Silica piped up.
"I've heard of you. Kirito told me about you when he saved me in-game. He said I reminded him of you, and that's why he did it." Silica smiled brightly at Suguha, unintentionally easing some of the tension in the room.
"Me too." Klien eventually said. "He mentioned you the first day of SAO, write after we discovered the log out button was missing..." He trailed off.
Behind Klien, Agil muttered to himself. "It's strange to think of Kirito as anything but an only child... The way he had no regard for his own life, always trying to sacrifice himself for others, I guess it made me think that he didn't have much waiting for him back home. Obviously, I was wrong." Lizbeth nodded in agreement.
"I guess... We knew nothing about him, really... Or, at least, nothing about his real life..." Lizbeth turned to Suguha, her curiosity controlling her words. "How... How old is your brother?"
Suguha eyed Lizbeth warily before eventually replying with a stiff "Sixteen."
"Only sixteen..." Klien said to himself. "I had always thought he was older than that. He acted like it..."
"And," Agil said, "That means he was only fourteen when he first arrived."
Everyone looked at Kirito with some amount of both pity and amazement. How was it that a boy of only sixteen had been the one to save them all from the death game? How was it that a boy of that age had been selfless enough to be willing to give up his own life to save them all?
"And... What's his name. His real name, not Kirito." Lizbeth asked Suguha. But to her surprise, it was Asuna, not Suguha, that answered.
"Kazuto. Kazuto Kirigaya." The words rolled off her lips with sorrow.
"Kazuto. Kazuto Kazuto Kazuto." Klien tested how the unfamiliar name felt on his tongue with flourish.
"It's weird, isn't it?" Lizbeth said bluntly. "To think of him as a different name. In my mind, he'll always be Kirito, the famed Black Swordsmen. Kazuto feels like the fake name, not Kirito." There were murmurs of agreement.
Everyone stood in silence for some time after that, just watching the slow rise and fall of Kirito's chest.
"Kazuto Kirigaya." Asuna eventually said. "Kazuto Kirigaya, a sixteen year old with a mother, father, and sister. He is the boy- no, man- that was hidden under Kirito, the one who saved us all. We owe him our lives."
"Wait." Suguha's confusion had finally bubbled over. "'Saved us all'? We owe him our lives'? What the hell does that mean?"
"What I said." Asuna replied. "Kirito... He's the one who cleared the game. He's the one who freed us from that prison."
Suguha gaped. "Kazuto? As in my brother, Kazuto? He's the one who cleared the game?!"
Asuna nodded with a sad smile adorning her face. Suguha leaned back in her char with an expression of disbelief. "My brother... The hero of SAO... I can't believe it..."
Once again the entire group lapsed into silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
"We need to do something." Asuna finally said, breaking the silence once again. "We need to find out why he's still not awake, and figure out how to bring him back into the real world again. All of us, together. You too, Suguha."
Once everyone voiced their agreement, any remaining tension in the room eased and casual conversations struck up. But behind the passive front, each one of them was harboring a deep determination to bring their undisputed leader back into the world he belonged in, once and for all.
•••••
In a world far away, a world made of pixels and lines of code, a figure dressed in black stirred. Then, slowly, it awakened.
"Where... Where am I?" The figure questioned. Looking around, all the person could see were the gold bars of a cage and a crystal blue sky. Anything else was too blurry to make out.
From behind the figure, a cool voice sounded. "Rise, Kage."
The figure, a young boy with pale skin and black hair, eyes, and attire, turned to look at the man behind him.
Kage...? As in... Shadow? Is... Is that my name? The boy wasn't sure. Everything was foggy, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember anything. Every time he thought he was close to grasping a memory, it slipped through his fingers like water. Idly, the boy wondered how long he had been asleep.
Finally the boy met the gaze of the man who had spoken. The man was tall, with long blonde hair and pointed ears. A crown was adorning the top of his head, and the gem in the center of it matched the green of his cloak. But, what surprised the boy the most, was the pair of wings that extended from the center of the man's back.
"Kage... You called me Kage. Is that my name?"
The man gave a cruel laugh. "Of course not. But it will be. I see your memory hasn't resurfaced yet, Black Swordsman."
'What does he mean by my name not being Kage? And that 'it will be'? And why did he call me Black Swordsman-?
Kirito was abruptly cut off from his thoughts as a raging pain tore through his head.
Black Swordsman...
Black Swordsman...
Black Swordsman...
Asuna.
Aincrad.
Sword Art Online.
Everything hit him like a truck. All of his memories, everything that happened to him in SAO came back to him in an instant. It was almost too much to bear.
But... Where am I now? After I defeating Kayaba, me and Asuna should have been logged out together... Why am I not back in the real world...?
Kirito looked back at the elf-like man in front of him with a dangerous glint in his eye, a glint that starkly contrasted with the confusion that was present mere moments ago. "Start talking."
The man giggled. "I see you have returned, Kirito." Kirito glared, and the man continued. "If you must know, I am King Oberon, the God of ALfheim Online."
ALfheim Online... Wait, am I in another game! Kirito growled lowly "Why am I not in the real world? What do you want with me?! And where is Asuna?!"
Oberon didn't answer, only muttered to himself: "Such spirit. You will be a joy to break, Black Swordsmen."
After a moments pause, he continued. "You need not worry, your precious Asuna woke up from SAO exactly a month ago, as well as all of your friends." Kirito breathed a sigh of relief. Asuna, Klien, all of them were safe. That is, if this Oberon was to be trusted.
"Unfortunately, their peace will not last. See, I am chief of the research institute of RECT inc., making me a very important person. Important enough, in fact, to catch the attention of Shouzou Yuuki.
"We happen to get along very well, and he decided I was worthy of being gifted the hand of his only daughter in marriage, Asuna Yuuki."
Kirito's eyes widened. "No... Asuna- Asuna would never marry you, you bastard!"
Oberon's grin was predatory. "Of course she won't. Not willingly, of course. So that's why Asuna's father has... neglected to mention the fact that she's engaged to me. We will be married in four months time. Maybe I'll live stream the footage to you so you can watch as she walks down the aisle, clothed in white, and takes my hand in marriage. You can watch as she kisses me, making herself mine forever!"
Kirito was horrified. "No... She'll refuse, she loves me! The only person she'll ever be married to is me!"
"But..." Oberon started in a smooth drawl, "What if you aren't there for her to love? What if you were to be taken out of the picture... altogether? Then what?
"You know, you are still hooked up to your NerveGear. The very same NerveGear that could fry your brain in an instant. And since you never officially logged out of Sword Art Online, I'd say that feature is still intact, no?"
Kirito did his best to mask his growing terror. "So, what? Your going to kill me, then? Fry my brain? It won't do anything. Asuna will grieve for me, she'll fall into depression, she may even commit suicide." Kirito swallowed dryly. "You won't gain anything."
Oberon laughed. "Of course I'm not going to kill you, what would be the fun in that! No, what I'm going to do is much worse.
"I have been developing a new type of technology, you see, and have been testing its prototype on the 299 other SAO survivors trapped in here during the past month. The results were quiet positive. So positive in fact that it should be ready for usage on you in only a few days time.
"What it does, as you will see, is gives me control over human emotion and memories. It gives me control over your perspective, your personality, your soul! I will be a God, and once I turn your own brain against yourself, I will be your God! And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Oberon laughed wildly, and exited the cage with a swish of his cloak.
Kirito collapsed onto the cold stone floor, head in his hands.
What was Oberon going to do to him?