Prologue
Hithcliff POV
Hithcliff was a very busy man. He had to run the most powerful guild in all of SAO. Certainly it sounds cool but it has way too many trivial duties for him to actually enjoy it. He lazily stood up from his desk and walked to the window of his castle. His gaze distant. Letting himself be absorbed in the view of his ownership. Players were training their skills in sparring duels. He just watched them fight. Parrying, blocking, attacking over and over again getting better with every try.
His prized lieutenant overseeing. She was mostly known as the flash but he preferred to call her Asuna. A fairly sweet name. Had a melodic ring to it.
His gazing was interrupted by a knock on the door behind him. He turned around and grudgingly sat down on his desk, straightened his cloak and said evenly
'Come in.'
The door opened and revealed a black haired young man in a white coat and two swords strapped on his back walking inside in a relaxed pace. The young man sat down on the chair at the opposite end of Hithcliff's desk and looked at him in the eye. Hithcliff broke the silence first.
'So Kirito, what brings you here?' He said breaking a smile to the young man. Kirito shifted his weight and his body language said he was uneasy. Then he spoke.
'I came here to report from the mission you set for me.' He said his tone even and collected in sharp contrast with his finger drumming. Hithcliff gave him a sardonic smile.
'And since when do you give me your reports face to face. You usually either PM me or you have Asuna do it for you.' He said in an amused tone. Kirito seemed to stiffen a bit but then he relaxed and sighed.
'Ok you got me. But first the report, then the unofficial business.' He said now obviously more laid back since he didn't need to pretend
'Deal, now what is going on in the world? How many players are in the front lines?' He inquired. The expression of the swordsman suddenly became very formal.
'Worse than we thought. People have lost too many of their close ones and are too scared to go to the high level floors. The way this is going we won't have enough people for a boss battle and we will be stuck.' He said in one breath.
'Well that is indeed bad. Have they completely given up hope on escaping or are they just afraid of going?'
'Actually a little bit of both. Their subconscious forces them to accept the current conditions as they are and continue because otherwise they will have to face the fear of dying and they can't stand that anymore. But they still have some hope of getting out someday. It is just buried far too deep and they seem to purposefully ignore it.'
'I see' Hithcliff looked lost in thought for a second before continuing. 'So what is the unofficial matter?' He asked happily. Over the last months he had taken a liking to the boy. He had become like a son to him. His hobbies, fascinations, dreams, intelligence and behavior, all reminded him of himself in his younger years. He considered that duel and deal with him one of the greatest choices he had made since the game had started.
'I want to take a vacation.' He said
'Sure' Hithcliff responded non-chalantly. Kirito looked a bit shocked
'Sure? I thought you would object' he said taken aback
'Why would I?' He said innocently
'Because you are a slave driver?' He almost asked playfully
'Oh that hurt.' He said in mock hurt. 'But I also understand why you say this. Independently of that though I believe that newlyweds deserve to have some alone time'
Kirito not even bothering to ask how he knew Asuna would be coming with him he just said
'Well then… thanks' He said hesitantly
'You are welcome' He said 'Now off you go I will PM you if the need arises' he responded
'See you then.' And with that he stood up from his chair and went through the door leaving Hithcliff with a ton of work.
Despite his work Hithcliff couldn't stop a smile from creeping into his face
Suguha POV
This was officially the worst day of her life. She walked inside the hospital on the waiting room with other soon to be widows and orphans. Many of them tried to cheer up one another. She just sat in a corner of the room. Trying to block everything out. Hoping for a miracle.
Doctors came and took groups of people to say their final goodbyes. She didn't want to. She knew that she had to but she also knew that saying goodbye means she allows her brother to die. She didn't want that.
When her name was called she shuddered. She reluctantly stood up and walked at the end of her group towards the patient rooms. When she saw him, her heart clenched. She saw him still alive. Breathing. She didn't want him to die. She reached out to hold his hand but she stopped mid-way. She couldn't. She was a traitor now. She had allowed him to die. Convinced enough to sign by the things they had told her. "This is no life" "End his suffering". What a load of crap. He was still alive. As long as his heart was beating there was hope. He could be saved. Who knew how close they were to finishing the game.
But now she had signed and there was nothing she could do.
'I-I am really sorry brother' she whimpered. She ran out of the room with tears in her eyes. Her brother had 1 more minute before they pull the plug of the hospital. She didn't want to see him fried. She ran, she got out, she ran, she ran into the streets, she ran… never looking back.
Hithcliff POV
It was a madhouse. Notifications popping everywhere saying that players were getting unplugged. He was watching while guild members. HIS guild members were shattering left and right. His eyes fell on the newlywed couple. They were watching helpless around. They hugged and shattered. Rage began welling up in Hithcliff's mind.
'NOOOOOOOOO' He shouted 'YOU WILL NOT RUIN MY WORLD'
He teleported into the administrator room from where he controlled the game. His fingers running wildly on keyboards. First issuing the order of stalling the frying of all these people's brains. Then he had to make a choice. He could let them all walk out freely or he could bring them all in the game scanning their brains. He had perfected the technology in case he needed to do it at the end of the game.
While deciding his conversation with Kirito popped into his mind. They didn't have the will to continue their journey to the real world. They had settled for the virtual.
'So be it.' He said decisively
He typed scan then enter. Then all the people in SAO had their brains melted.