Hey guys! So I felt as though the Alfheim arc of season 1 was filled with wasted potential. Because of this, I decided to rewrite it! I'm not sure if this will be received well, but I'm sure at least some people will enjoy it. Anyway, please read and review and such. All criticism is welcome with this story! I'd love to have the readers' input shape the future of this story.

Also, quick question. If I continue this, should I remove the relationship between Suguha and Kazuto? It wouldn't all go away, but I could cut most of it.

Anyway, enjoy!


A gentle breeze blew through my hair. The sunset in the distance painted the whole world a lovely shade of orange. I looked down to my right and saw Asuna leaning against me. She was sleeping, which made her even more adorable than she already was. Her chest was slowly rising and falling, and I felt her warm breath on my collarbone. I smiled as I examined my surroundings. I saw my house next to me, indicating that I was on the 22nd floor. Asuna and I were sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. Everything was perfect. The weather was nice, and I was cuddling with the woman I loved.

Then everything changed.

Asuna disappeared. The wind picked up in speed and dropped in temperature until it stung my face. I stood up and looked at my reflection in a nearby window. My casual outfit, consisting of a grey t-shirt and black pants, had been replaced by my blackwyrm coat. The wind continued to pick up speed. It blocked out my hearing as I stumbled forward, gritting my teeth as I did so. The house next to me started to fall apart; windows and furniture shattering as they were deleted. All of the sudden, I heard a voice above the wind. It was a soft voice. I could tell that it belonged to a female.

"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer," it sang.

I knew that voice. Hearing it made me freeze.

"Had a very shiny nose,"

Tears started to roll down my cheeks.

"And if you ever saw it,"

I squeezed my eyes shut.

"You would even saw it glows."

I screamed. I screamed louder than I had ever screamed before. My throat felt like it was being ripped out of my neck.

Then I woke up.

I sat up in my bed. My body was soaked in cold sweat. I was breathing heavily. My hands clenched my blanket tightly. I took a second to calm myself down before getting out of bed. When I did get up, I looked out the window.

The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. I took that as a sign that I had slept in too late. I blinked hard, wiped my eyes, and closed the blinds. After I had done that, I took a shower. Once my morning routine was finished, I decided to head out to my backyard and do a few quick exercises. I had been going to the gym a lot lately to regain the muscle I lost in SAO, but I didn't feel like going today. I planned on just making due with a few jumping jacks and push-ups.

When I walked out of the house, I saw my sister practicing her kendo. Well, technically, she was my cousin. My parents had died when I was rather young, and my aunt had taken me in. Suguha, my sister, was actually her daughter. She and I had been raised like siblings. I only learned the truth when I hacked into my mother's computer. I had always been good at programming and, when I was ten or so, I thought it would be cool to snoop around on my mother's laptop. I managed to access her files and such from the computer I had in my room. It was then that I found out Sugu and I weren't actually siblings. Not that it mattered. We still loved each other just the same.

I sat down and watched Sugu practice, drinking some water casually while I enjoyed the show. Sugu had always been a cute little sister to me, and I thought that she looked rather adorable as she swung her sword up and down. My fun ended, however, when she noticed me.

"K-K-K-Kazuto!" she cried, her face bright red.

I smiled and laughed. "What's wrong, Sugu?"

She walked over to me and sat down, wiping off her head with a towel. "If you were there watching, you could have said something!"

"I'm sorry," I said, "you just looked so into it."

Sugu looked away from me and pouted. "Not really."

I couldn't help but laugh. She looked so cute when she pouted. That much hadn't changed in the two years I had been away.

"Well then," I offered, "why don't I help you practice?"

Sugu looked at me with a surprised expression. "Y-you mean, like sp-sparring?"

I nodded and smiled. "Sure!"

Sugu shook her head violently. "No way! There's no way you're strong enough!"

I looked her right in the eyes. "Come on, I'm fine. I've been doing stuff at the gym every day for a while now."

Sugu turned her nose up at me. "I won't allow it."

"What's wrong? Are you scared you'll lose? Why don't I show you-"

I paused to crush the empty water bottle in my hand. The plastic crumpled with little resistence.

"-just how strong I've gotten."

Sugu looked at me in awe. She knew just as well as I did that I wouldn't have been able to crush that bottle a few days ago. She stood up and grabbed her sword. She then promptly turned around and handed it to me.

"You can use mine." She offered.

I took the weapon and stood up. I gripped the handle with the same vice grip I had used for two year. I swung the sword to the side. My arm flew to the right, and the sword almost slipped out of my hand. Sugu gasped.

"It's light." I said plainly.

Sugu looked at me with a confused expression. "That's actually one of the heavier ones. It's heavier than all of my friend's swords, that's for sure."

I weighed the bamboo sword in my hand.

"What are you comparing it to?" Sugu asked.

I shook my head. "It's nothing."

There was a moment of awkward silence. Then Sugu led me to dojo in our backyard. She picked up a spare sword and donned the protective gear. I put on my own set of gear. It was a size larger that Sugu's. We readied our weapons and prepared ourselves. Sugu assumed a traditional kendo stance, while I held my sword in the way that I had for two years. She looked at me questioningly, obviously confused by my approach that appeared to leave me wide open.

"Begin!" She called.

Then she moved towards me. She inched forwards slowly, sword at the ready. Her stance was perfect. It allowed her to easily defend or attack, depending on the situation.

I took a different approach.

I raced towards her, my sword arm trailing behind me. I then swung my arm to the left, twisting my body as I did so. This resulted in a strike with all my force behind it and then some. Sugu blocked, but the resulting crack was deafening. I immediately leapt backwards and prepared for a second assault. I could see that Sugu was very confused. My approach was anything but orthodox, and it must have thrown her for a loop. I realized that this would work to my advantage and smiled. While she tried to adjust her style, I charged again. I brought my sword down diagonally from the left to the right. She dodged to my right, which was exactly what I had anticipated. I twisted my sword and brought it upwards from left to right. I had unknowingly recreated the animation for the snake biter skill from SAO. When I realized this, I laughed.

Sugu took advantage of my distraction. She advanced faster this time, adjusting her style to match mine. Her sword swipes were fast, but they were still powerful. I admired her technique as I swiped back and forth. She blocked every attack, and even retaliated with some of her own. I remembered that, in SAO, blocking was based off of stats rather than the player's ability. Because of this, I didn't try to block her attacks. I simply dodged, sidestepping when necessary. It worked well, and I was able to wear her out while exerting minimal effort. I occasionally switched to the offensive, mimicking the sword skills that I had come to rely on after two years. My favorite one-handed sword skill had been slant, which was what I had started our duel with. I used that one frequently, and I almost broke through Sugu's solid defense a couple times.

The duel ended when my body hit its limit.

Sugu sideswiped from the right to the left. I tried to back up. My right leg met no resistance against the ground. The next moment, Sugu brought her sword down on my head. It made a loud cracking noise as it hit my helmet. I fell to the ground, which caused Sugu to panic.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

I took off the helmet and rubbed my head. "I'm fine."

Sugu helped me up. As I got to my feet, I thought about what had happened.

"You're pretty strong," I mused, "Heathcliff wouldn't have stood a chance."

Sugu blushed and looked at the ground. I went about putting away my kendo gear. Once I had done that, I looked back towards Sugu.

"What do you want me to do with this?" I asked as I held up her sword.

Sugu seemed to snap out of her trance. She looked at me and gestured towards the right with her thumb.

"Put it over there on that rack." she mumbled.

I did as I was told. Afterwards, we sat down to eat lunch together. Sugu had volunteered to make me a sandwich, and I was quite willing to take her up on her offer. I sat down and bit into the turkey and lettuce sandwich.

"Where did you learn that unorthodox style?" Sugu asked.

I looked up at her, my mouth still full of food. "Hm?"

She rolled her eyes. "Your kendo style."

I swallowed my bite of food. "You either adapt fast or die."

Sugu blinked. "What?"

I shook my head. "Never mind."

I stood up and dropped my now empty plate in the sink. I then slipped on a jacket and headed for the front door.

"Are you gonna go see Asuna again?" Sugu asked as I was leaving.

"Of course," I replied, "I love her. I need to be there in case she wakes up. If she doesn't wake up, I still want to be with her."

Sugu looked at the ground and mumbled something before heading upstairs. I didn't think much of it. After all, I had never been that great at reading emotions. I opened the door and headed out.

It had been a month since SAO was cleared. On that day, I had managed to free 6,000 players from Kayaba's death game. Or, at least, I thought I had saved 6,000 people. After getting out, I had been visited by someone named Kikuoka Seijirou. He had introduced himself as a representative of the SAO Case Victims Rescue Force. He asked me some questions, and I answered them. I exchange, I was told where Asuna was. However, Seijirou had mentioned that Asuna was still in a coma.

Turns out I had only saved 5,700 people. There were still 300 people that had yet to wake, and Asuna was one of them.

After biking to the hospital, I raced up the stairs to Asuna's floor. Once I got there, I slid the key card through the locking mechanism. It made a sharp beeping noise, which told me that the door was unlocked. I slid it open and entered the room. The first thing I noticed was the curtain that separated Asuna's room froom the rest of the room. I hesitated before pushing the curtin aside. I hoped and prayed that I would find her awake and well, angry with me for taking so long to get to her. Then I pushed the curtain aside.

Contrary to my hopes, Asuna was still lying on her bed wearing a nerve gear. I walked over towards her and sat on the edge of her bed. Holding her hand in mine, I simply sat there and looked at her. She was even more beautiful in person. Just being with her and looking at her was enough to make me happy. Of course, It would have been better if she was conscious. I smiled, tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

I sat there looking at her for what seemed like hours. I was interrupted, however, when the door opened. I looked over at the curtain. I then saw Asuna's father emerge from it.

"Oh, Kazuto," he laughed, "you're here too."

I stood up, letting go of his daughter. "My apologies, Mister Yuuki."

He waved his hand, dismissing my apology. "Nonsense, come whenever you like. It seems to make her happy."

We both looked down at Asuna. She looked so peaceful. If I didn't know any better, I would've said she was sleeping.

There was a knock at the door.

Asuna's father called out to the person behind the door. "Come in."

I heard the sound of the door sliding open and the shut. A second or two later, the curtain was pushed aside to reveal a younger-looking man with glasses and sicked-back brown hair.

"Ah, Sugou," Asuna's father said cheerfully, "Glad you could make it."

The man entered the room and nodded in Asuna's father's direction. He looked at Asuna for a second or two before directing his gaze towards me. Asuna's father decided to introduce us.

"Kazuto, this is Sugou Nobuyuki."

Sugou nodded at me. I resisted the urge to cringe. Something about this guy bothered me.

"He works for me, and he's always been one of my favorite employees.

Sugou laughed. "Nonsense, Shouzou. I'm not that great."

Asuna's father laughed as well. "As humble as he is hard-working. Anyway, he's always been like part of the family. Because of this, he wished to come see Asuna."

Sugou looked down at Asuna. For just a second, I saw something in his eyes that made me question his intentions.

Asuna's father, having given me Sugou's name, gave Sugou mine. "Sugou, this is Kazuto Kirigaya."

Sugou's eyes widened. He rushed towards me, grabbing one of my hands with both of his. His facial expression and the twinkle in his eyes made him look like an excited child.

"Does that mean that you're the legendary hero Kirito? The one who cleared the game?"

I was too shocked to reel back in disgust. Instead, I simply nodded my head. After I confirmed his assertion, Sugou seemed to calm down. He let go of my hand and adjusted his glasses.

"Sorry," he said, "I know that you probably don't like to talk about SAO."

I nodded, staring at the floor. "Yeah.

Asuna's father stood up. He walked over to Sugou and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I hate to leave," he said, "but I have an important meeting to get to. Sugou, please behave yourself. I'd be rather upset if you offended the hero of Aincrad a second time."

He let out a light-hearted laugh before looking at his daughter. I saw tears welling up in his eyes as he stared at his child. I couldn't imagine what he was going through. After all, my family had been crushed when they found out that I was part of the "SAO Incident." However, I woke up. Asuna was still asleep. She was most likely still in SAO, fighting for her life day after day.

Sugou stood up. He broke the silence by clearing his throat.

"I think I'd like to do it soon," he proclaimed, "while she's still beautiful."

Asuna's father was roused from his trance.

"Yes," he agreed, "I take it you'll want her to wear the dress? I'll have to go fetch one."

With that last comment, he left, leaving Sugou and I alone. There was an awkward silence as we both stared at Asuna. Sugou then broke the silence by speaking.

"He finally left. God, I was getting impatient."

His voice had changed. It was rather icy and slick, and the bad feeling that he gave me got worse. I looked up at him and saw that his entire demeanor had changed. He slouched forward, hands shoved into his pockets.

"What are you talking about?" I asked hesitantly.

Sugou wordlessly walked over to Asuna's other side. He sat down on the edge of her bed and touched her cheek.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" he muttered.

His index finger traced the outline of her mouth, poking her lips. I felt something inside me churn like a whirlpool. My blood started to boil. I grabbed his arm when he tried to stick his finger in her mouth.

"You perverted creep," I growled, "are you trying to take advantage of the fact that she's in a coma?"

Sugou wrenched his arm out of my grasp. He then grabbed a fistful of Asuna's hair.

"I'm afraid-"

He paused to sniff the orange locks pouring out of his hands.

"-that this is my right."

I clenched my fists to try and stop myself from shaking with rage.

"You see, what Shouzou and I were discussing was my marriage to Asuna."

I felt something inside me shatter like glass.

"She would never approve, of course, but her parents will force her. They know what's best for her. By the way-"

Sugou paused to stand up. He took a step towards the window. I could make out an evil grin in his reflection.

"I would appreciate it if you never came here again."

I took a deep breath before responding. "Why do you get to decide this?"

Sugou laughed. "Do you even know why my job is?"

I shook my head.

"Do you know what happened to Argus, the company that published SAO and managed its servers?"

This time I nodded. I tried to speak, but immediately thought better of it. Any words that I uttered would inevitably come out as incomprehensible growling.

"I take it that you know the company went bankrupt?"

I nodded.

"Well, after they went bankrupt, the servers were managed by Shouzou Yuuki's company, RECT Incorporated. After all, we couldn't just let the servers shut down. Who knows what would have happened to the players?"

He had a point. I took a moment to admire Asuna's father. He had most likely saved 10,000 lives.

"You see, I am the head of the Research Institute at RECT. My division manages the SAO servers and the players still trapped there."

He paused for dramatic effect.

"You could even say that I am the one keeping Asuna alive."

It felt like the world was spinning. This man, or, rather, this perverted slime, was stealing Asuna. However, I was powerless to save her. For a moment, I wished that I was back in Sword Art Online. Despite my burning hatred for that place, I remembered that I had power there. If Sugou and I had been in SAO, I would have just cut him down with my exclusive dual-wielding skills. However, we were in the real world. I had absolutely no power. I was simply an average teenage boy going up against a fully grown man.

Sugou sighed. "I heard that you and Asuna were living together in SAO. I don't know what sort of promises you two made to each other, but I can assure you that they will not be acknowledged here in the real world."

He strode over to the curtain separating Asuna's bed from the exit.

"Enjoy your last goodbye," he sneered, "Black Swordsman."

I heard the door open and close. The moment it closed, I fell to my knees. I laced my fingers with Asuna's. Her hands were ice cold. However, they were soft. Her skin was just as soft and smooth as it had been in the game.

"Asuna."

My voice came out and nothing more than a whisper.

"What do I do now?"

I didn't know. I had no idea what to do. Asuna was going to be taken away. One would think that the potential loss of the love of my life would motivate me to come up with an amazing plan. But I had nothing. Nothing came to me in the hospital room. Nothing came to me on the way home. Nothing came to me in my kitchen, where I grabbed a sandwich that Sugu had left for me. Nothing came to me in my room, where I sat and stared at the floor for what seemed like hours.

At some point Sugu started pounding on my door. I didn't respond. She begged and pleaded for me to come out and talk with her, but I didn't listen.

"Fine," she said at last, "if you won't come out, I'll just come in!"

The door opened. My door had never had a lock on it, so Sugu didn't have to break it down or anything like that. As she entered the room, she gasped.

"K-K-Kazuto," she whimpered, "it's freezing in here! Why didn't you turn on the heater?"

I didn't respond.

"And what about the lights? Could you just not be bothered to turn those on either?"

I remained silent. Sugu slowly turned her head to look at me.

"Kazuto," she asked quietly, "what's wrong?"

I decided to respond this time.

"I told myself-"

My voice cracked with emotion. I stopped and took a deep breath.

"I told myself that I would show any weakness around you."

Sugu took a step closer. "It's okay. What's wrong?"

I burst into tears, letting out all the emotions that I had kept inside since I left the hospital room.

"Asuna's going away," I cried, "to a place where I'll never be able to get her!"

I felt something warm. I opened my eyes and realized that Sugu was hugging me. When she spoke, her voice was impossibly soft and gentle.

"Do your best."

I screamed at her. "You don't understand! Asuna's going away for good!"

"But are you really going to give up that easily?"

I looked at her. She was smiling.

"You're just going to give up on the person you love?"

I swallowed and took a few deep breaths. My voice was still shaky when I spoke.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

Sugu got up and left. I sat on my bed feeling somewhat motivated. My sadness and despair was quickly morphing into anger. Who was this Nobuyuki pervert? What right did he have to take Asuna? I was the one who fought for her, risking my life at times.

All of the sudden, there was a small beeping noise. I glanced over at my computer monitor, which had a small notification on it. I got up and moved to my desk chair. The notification icon was for an email. I opened it up.

The email was from a man named Andrew Mills. It took me a second, but I realized that this was the real name of Agil, a merchant that I had been close with in SAO. The subject line of the email read "Check this out." Attached was a screenshot of what looked like a fantasy game. At first, I couldn't understand why Agil had sent me this. I was just a girl with wings in a bird cage.

It was only after I zoomed in on the photo that I understood.

The girl had the exact same hair, color and style, as Asuna. The eye color and face shape matched as well.