Hello, all. ttrq again. And I'm just here to say that this is the start of another story. I don't know where this one will go. I don't really have a goal. For my Naruto FanFic, I had a goal of 50,000 words. I didn't quite get to that. Really, the only reason I'm posting this is to see if you guys will like it. I know the second season was released three weeks ago in the U.S., so I figures it out this out there. If I can get a satisfying amount of people to say that they will read this story, I will continue with it. If not, I will simply not continue. (I'm going to use Kirito instead of his real name. Why? I would recognize Kirito faster than his real name, Kazuto.)
Chapter 1: 2 Months After
"Asuna….. I feel a little lightheaded. Give me a hand." Kirito had a bad headache. Like, really bad.
Today marked the two-month anniversary of Kirito rescuing Asuna from the world of Alfheim. And for those two months, everyone that was made it out of the world of Sword Art Online has been in rehab. Some recovered quicker than others. Some were still recovering. Some had not recovered at all. Some were in a comatose state still. Though they were not trapped in any other games. Kirito had breezed through rehab. As had Asuna. And now, they were admitted to go to a normal school. Live a normal life. And do what they want, after graduation next year. Both had just begun their school year at a normal high school.
"Of course. What's wrong? Can you tell me?" Kirito dropped his books. Most, if not all of his books hit the ground and opened. Papers spilled out of every page and pencils were rolling around the ground. Kirito was on his knees clutching his temples with his eyes closed, and a look of great pain painted on his face. "Kirito!" Kirito screamed. It was the scream of a dying man. It shook Asuna to the bone, and it petrified her. She could not move. His screams had hammered a nail into Asuna's feet, and nailed her to the ground.
"Oh My God! What's happening over here? Is he okay?" Mr. Mihoki, their chemistry teacher had heard the screams and came running. "Miss Asuna?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face. It removed the nails that had been hammered on her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm not the problem here. Kirito is. We have to get him to a hospital!" Mr. Mihoki nodded. More teachers and students alike came running to see what was wrong.
"Is he going to be okay?"
"What is happening to Kirito?"
"Does anyone know what happened?"
"I thought he had fully recovered, was I wrong?"
The voices swam in from all directions. Of course Kirito is going to be okay. Why would they think that he wouldn't? Questions were still bouncing off the walls. And every question hit Asuna like a bullet. They tore through her, destroying her. Ripping her to shreds.
Asuna felt a hand on her shoulder. It was her World History teacher, Mrs. Kamikae. "It's alright. Mr. Mihoki called an ambulance. It will be here in a minute or two. You should get to class. We can take care of this."
"No. I'm going with Kirito to the hospital. I need to stay by him." Mrs. Kamikae didn't like that idea. She frowned.
"Fine. You're going to have to make up the work later though. Don't forget to grab it." She turned to the students. "Go! Get to class! This boy will be fine!" She herded the students to their classes. Asuna knelt down next to Kirito, who was on the brink of consciousness. He wasn't screaming anymore. But he was moaning and grunting. He was obviously still in a great deal of pain.
"Excuse me, miss. We're going to have to move him onto the gurney." Asuna nodded and stepped away from her boyfriend. The two paramedics move Kirito's motionless body onto the gurney.
"Will he be okay?"
"We're not able to tell at this time. After all, I'm no expert at stuff like this. Leave it to the neurosurgeons to figure that part out." Asuna nodded. She was extremely scared. "We're leaving now. Are you coming in the ambulance with us?" Just then, Kirito let out his largest scream yet. "We're going. Hustle if you're coming with us." Asuna followed the two men out of the building. They were running.
Moments later, Asuna, a paramedic, and Kirito were speeding down the road toward the hospital. Kirito let out another scream. "Damn. This is really bad." He stuffed a piece of cloth in between Kirito's teeth to prevent him from biting down too hard. His hands had left his head. They hung limply at his side. Asuna grabbed his hand and squeezed. He squeezed back. Kirito was actually able to sense that Asuna was there. It made her happy and sad at the same time. She smiled, and shed a tear. His grip was strong.
"Miss umm….."
"Asuna."
"Miss Asuna, if you don't mind, may I ask why you're smiling?"
"Because I know that Kirito is going to make it. His grip is strong."
"Oh. Well, we'll be at the hospital in just a minute or two. Just be aware of that." Asuna nodded. But she didn't worry. Kirito was going to pull through. He had never let her down before. And he most certainly won't now.
Time Skip: 10-15 Minutes
Asuna had left her cell phone in her locker. She was bored. The news was on in the waiting room, but Asuna didn't want to hear about all the recent killings or the stock market. She just wanted to be in the same room with Kirito. Just to make sure he didn't let her down.
"Yuuki Asuna." She bolted upright. "Dr. Mendelev wishes to see you." Asuna walked through the wooden double doors that separated the waiting room and the ICU. "He's on the second room on the right. Room number 104."
"Thank you." Asuna entered the room. The doctor was taking Kirito's heartbeat.
"So you must be Asuna." The doctor turned around. He was old, russian, and smelled faintly of alcohol. "I have a few questions for you." He pulled over a second stool. "Please, sit down. This may take a while." Asuna thanked him and sat down.
"Hello, Asuna." Kirito's voice was comforting and very scary at the same time.
"Hello, Kirito. I'm glad to see you're awake. Does your head still hurt."
"Yeah, a lot. But I'm glad they gave me some anesthetic."
"Enough of this small talk. I have some questions to ask her." He turned to face her. "One: Were you with Kazuto when he experienced this?"
"Yes I was. But why are you asking me these questions?"
"Because Kazuto may have suffered memory loss. Two: Has this ever happened before?"
"No. This is the first time it's happened."
"You two seem close. What do you think could have caused this event to happen." Asuna got nervous. She looked at Kirito to see if she could get his approval. He nodded.
"Well, I'm absolutely positive that you are familiar with the Sword Art Online crisis that happened about 26 months ago?" The doctor nodded. "Kirito was one of the beta testers for that game. He spent more time on it than anyone. And he was also trapped in the crisis for two years, just like me. But, after he beat it, I was not able to escape like everyone else. So, Kirito spent a few weeks searching for me in other games. And the Nerve Gear that he had was one of the oldest models. In other words, Kirito has spent unrealistic amounts of time using an old Nerve Gear."
"I see." The doctor took a few notes. "Well, actually, this is not actually very serious. Kazuto should be fine. And it doesn't seem that the game did anything. My hypothesis is that prolonged exposure to dangers in the ld Nerve Gear, such as radiation. He can go home now if he wishes. Or he can stay until tomorrow morning. I'll give you a few minutes to decide." The doctor got up and left the room.
"Does this mean that I can't ever play videogames again?" Asuna smiled. And then laughed. "What's so funny?"
"I can't believe that's your first thought after you have a near-death experience. This is why I love you."
"I love you too." He lost his smile. "But really though, can I ever play videogames again?"
"Probably. But you may have to get a new Nerve Gear. One of the newer models, I mean. Or a custom one. This sounds like it could be a potentially serious problem."
"Okay. I'll be the one to worry about it. You don't need to worry at all about this."
"No, Kirito you don't understand. This is going to be a problem if it keeps happening. I'm going to worry about you. Even if you don't want me to worry about it. I'm always going to worry about you. I've worried about you ever since we got out of Alfheim."
"Asuna, why do you insist? You should trust me. Just listen to what I have to say. I can look after myself. I will worry about my own problems. You worry about yours. I just don't want to get other people involved with things that will only concern me." Asuna didn't want to argue with him. "I think I'm going to spend the night at the hospital. If it happens again, at least I'm already in a place where they can treat me right away. What do you think?"
"I think that that is probably a very smart idea."
"Are you going to spend the night here to?"
"I hope so. Do you have your cell phone."
"Yeah. The nurses put it on that table over there. Are you going to call your dad?"
"Would you let me?" Kirito nodded.
"Hello?"
"Hey dad, it's Asuna."
"Oh, hey. Is something wrong? You should be in school right now."
"Actually yes. Kirito is in the hospital right now. He's been having problems with his head. He's decided to spend the night at the hospital. Would it be okay if I spent the night here with Kirito?"
"It sounds like he needs you there. Okay. I'll let the school know that you won't be there for the rest of the day. I'll also let them know that you'll be late tomorrow. Good bye, Asuna. I love you."
"Thanks so much, dad! Good bye, I love you too." She handed him his phone back. "Thanks for letting me call my dad."
"It's not a big deal."
"Okay, good. Now scooch over. Give me some space on this thing." Kirito did as he was instructed, but it was a pretty tight squeeze.
"I haven't heard anyone call you Yuuki for a while. In fact, you never called yourself by that name in front of me before."
"Oh, ummm…. well."
"I think it's a cute name. I would prefer to call you Yuuki rather than Asuna."
"Okay fine. I'll let you call me that if you let me call you Kirito instead of Kirigaya. Deal?"
"Deal." Yuuki adjusted herself so that she was sitting straight up with her back against the wall. Kirito did the same to match her. "Do you think that that doctor guy is going to come back soon."
"I think he will soon. I want to know what he says about my condition."
Time Skip: 7 Minutes
"Knock, knock." The doctor guy walked into the room. "I have the report on your condition. Would you like to read it? Or should I just tell you?"
"Just tell us. I want to know what's wrong. And plus, I probably wouldn't understand it if I read the report."
"Fair enough. Kazuto, I'm sorry in advance." That made Kirito flinch a little bit. "With the samples that we got, it appears to be a virus. And a deadly one. This virus seems to have entered your body while you were stuck in that other world. There was probably some form of radiation or something in the Nerve Gear that directly impacted your brain and immune system. Or The Nerve Gear messed up your brain somehow, and that affected your immune system. Which allowed this virus to sneak by. But we actually don't know how it it happened. Or quite possibly that this virus used to be a different virus that was always inside you, like a vaccine. And while your body was in a comatose state, it mutated and replicated itself by the thousands. And it slowly took over your body. It has been replicating itself inside for probably around two years. And we have no idea what this virus can do. And do you know what we can't do to viruses?"
Yuuki spoke. "Viruses can't be killed. They can't be cured."
"Correct. And this virus seems to be very deadly, we are about eighty percent positive about that. And because Kazuto is the 'Patient Zero' of this disease. We have no way to treat you." Kirito was absolutely speechless. He couldn't even move. Yuuki was even more mortified. "Kazuto. I'm so sorry to tell you this. And I know that I told you this before, but we have no way to treat you. Your death cannot be prevented. And it will probably happen very, very soon."
Remember to tell me if you want to continue reading. I hope you all enjoyed it. ttrq, out.