"Kirito." Sachi whispered.

Kirito – real world name of Kazuto – shot up. I looked around. Another dream. I had been getting flashbacks and hauntings of Sachi since that day, but something had been bugging me lately. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something was amiss.

Kazuto's bedroom door jolted open. "Morning!"

"Hey, Suguha." I sighed.

"Nice to see you too. Are you going to be meeting everyone in a few?"

"Huh?" I looked over at my clock. 9:30! I got up fast and got ready.

"Hey, Leafa, you coming too?" I asked referring to Suguha by her ALO name.

"Don't call me that, Kirito." She shot back.

"Welcome back, daddy!" Yui hugged me. She noticed my expression. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Kay."

Truth was I just couldn't shake Sachi from my head today. Her and the entire Moonlit Black Cats Guild died over two years ago. The deep guilt I felt was lifted that Christmas, but her death still weighed heavily on me. This feeling, however, was not of guilt. I had been hearing her the past month as I was disconnecting after logout.

"Hey, space cadet. Wanna join us?" Klein interrupted my thoughts.

"Yeah, where are we going?"

"There's a room I heard of that gives a boatload of treasure and armour. Unfortunately, you have to defeat multiple monsters at the same time. Oh, and you can forget about using teleport crystals." Leafa said.

The colour drained from my face as I dropped to my knees.

"Kirito!" Leafa ran over. "What's wrong?"

Asuna rushed to my side and embraced me. "It wasn't your fault."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, Leafa, that sounds like the room where Kirito lost all the members of his first guild, including Sachi." Klein said.

"Wait, Sachi?" Leafa asked and then realized. "Oh, I remember him mentioning her." She looked down. "I'm sorry. Why don't we call it a day?"

"That might be a good idea, Kirito looks pretty shaken up." Agil added.

"Sorry."

"It's okay, Suguha." I looked up. "Why don't you guys go ahead?"

"We go or don't go as a group. And we decided to take it easy as a group." Silica said.

"Alright."

I reached up and logged myself out on the virtual pad.

"Kirito!"

"Yui, hold logout!"

"On it."

The logout cancelled as my group stared at me.

"What happened?" Lizbeth asked.

"She's here!" I exclaimed. "Yui, triangulate that signal."

"On it."

Yui kept telling me she could find the location of the signal if I cancelled logout as I was the only one hearing it. This time it seems I was able to cancel the logout.

"Kay, I can hold you in the buffer longer on logout. Try now."

"What are you doing?" Asuna asked.

"I'll tell you later." I made the logout motions.

The environment dissipated as I heard Sachi's voice once again. "I'm here!"

"Kirito!"

"Where are you?"

"I'm scared."

"Sachi! I'm here. It's going to be okay."

The connection terminated. I pulled the NERV gear off and turned my computer screen on. Yui as a three inch sprite appeared on my screen. "Did you find her?"

"I detected a weak signal, but it was definitely Sachi."

"Thank god."

"There's something else."

"What?"

"She's registering the same signal as Dr Kayaba."

"You mean she's a phantom?"

"No, I don't think so. I think she's really still here."

I logged back in and was met with Dr Kayaba instead of everyone else.

"What is going on?"

"Ascension."

"What?"

"SAO was an experiment in ascension – what happens to the human body after death. I was able to hold their essence."

"Are you saying…"

"Their bodies have died, but they essentially remain online. Their signal needs to be boosted as they cannot manifest themselves…pity."

"How do I get her back?!" I grabbed him by the labcoat.

"Don't worry. She's always been here. Having you back has boosted her signal. Everyone's signal needs to be boosted. I will assist. I did not intend for death after all."

"Regardless, don't expect forgiveness. You still killed them. They can no longer return to the real world."

He sighed. "I suppose. But as I am dead, I can no longer be liable for my crimes – at least not in a court of law."

The world flashed from white as I materialized on the plain.

"What's going on?" Leafa asked.

"Did you get a lock?" Yui aaked.

"Even better…I got hope."

"What do you mean?" Asuna asked.

"Sachi. She's alive…well sorta."

"She's alive? How?" Klein asked.

"Not quite sure, but Yui has been helping me in the past month…and I just had an interesting conversation with Dr Kayaba." I explained everything that I had been told to them.

"We'll help in any way we can." Leafa said.