"We should take extra food, enough for a few days, just incase we have to stay out in the field after the raid. I'll run to the market in a moment and pick up some stuff, can you go over the potions and crystals again while I'm out? I left them on my table in the bedroom." She span on the spot in a flurry of white-red and golden brown, briefly leaving the newly-summoned shopping list window she'd been tapping away at to rummage around in the ornate kitchen cupboards above, checking the quantities of various foodstuffs. "I moved them there quickly earlier and I haven't checked they're all back there yet, my inventory is a mess right now, I probably wouldn't see them on my list if I accidentally kept some stored away..."

Already fully focused on his current designated task of quadruplely approving the durability stat for every single piece of armour and weaponry they were going to take with them, her personal work horse took a moment to look up at her from across the dining table and catch every word she shot out.

"Yeah, I'll get on that in a minute. But I don't think we'll need that much food honestly, I think we've got five teleport crystals left and we'll be using the gate to get there anyway... what were you planning on making though?" He backed up on himself slightly at the thought of getting more of her culinary treats. That was one of her many skills he wouldn't take for granted.

"I was planning on making you go and check how many crystals we have instead of just sitting there and spouting random numbers, funnily enough." She didn't turn away from the cupboards as she said this. "...And maybe some scuttle crab meat for mains tonight. We haven't had that for ages. Now get moving, leave the stat checks for a while, I need those crystal numbers by the time I get back from town and start sorting my inventory out."

"Yes, Commander!" He saluted towards the back of her beautifully braided head, before darting around anything thrown at hisself to get to the bedroom alive.

Kirito was no expert on Asuna. Her logic and behaviour still vexed him frequently, and he couldn't guess what gave her the idea to arrange rations to that extent for what was likely to be a very chaotic expedition.

Or on generally keeping up with her, for that matter. She wasn't called 'The Flash' for her comedic effect after all - outside of boss raids, that would be the part he usually found himself playing, trying his best to match her multitasking prowess and not let anything she said zoom over his head.

When thinking about this particular aspect of their interplay, he had to be thankful there was no 'slow trombone' ambient sound effect in SAO, or he probably would have abandoned her out of personal embarassment on the second floor of Aincrad.

Then there was her particularly fearsome ability to react in the opposite way every single time he dare think he'd know she would react to things he said or did, or that just happened to occur around him. Hell, even though he could next to never read her correctly, the fact that they'd worked together as a duo almost non-stop since the first floor meant he knew her better than anyone else in this goddamn game.

Striding around the two single beds to Asuna's table, he picked out individual crystals and potion bottles at random to store them, careful not to knock over her vases of handpicked flowers. He'd count them in the stacks his inventory would automatically organise, ready to be split into halves and transferred later.

"I'm going now, I'll only be five minutes! Touch my stuff and I'll touch your fingers with my sword!" Such a scary echo.

He forced down laughter, the memory of her 'private belongings' flying around as he manhandled them coming back to him like it must've for her. She'd probably never fully trust him with her personal menu system again, despite his good intentions.

"Don't worry, I'm just gonna sit here and stare at your HP bar till you're back! Be careful out there!" Half joke, half not.

"Just as creepy, thanks!"

The door of their semi-permanent dwelling swung shut slowly behind Asuna as she delved into the maze of Karluin; a historically ironic place for them to be preparing, considering what it was they were preparing for.

Now she was away, he drifted farther into his train of thought.

Kirito, the amateur Asuna-decipherer, could tell one thing for sure... she was anxious. As much as she naturally tried to disguise it, he had become familiar with her methods of distracting herself.

He knew he was right, because it was how he felt too, having had an inkling of what they were heading into since his time in the beta period. The frontliners had reached floor seventeen two days ago, and tomorrow morning they were heading back to the thirteenth floor and confronting their biggest challenge yet.

The headquarters of Laughing Coffin.

Yesterday's meeting to discuss the viability of shutting down Aincrad's darkest curse had been as militaristic and crusade-like as would be expected. The informant, although anonymous and vague about the population or layout of the hidden dungeon they claimed to be the murderers' pit, said Laughing Coffin's leading members would be present and hosting meetings on their activities with the majority of their subordinates. It was the only lead they had to promise action upon, in the wake of the losses reported to them by players across the lower floors. Accordingly, the strongest fourty-three members of the ALS, DKB, and solo frontliners agreed to the gambit, Asuna and Kirito included. There were even two players amongst the throng who's simplistic colours identified them as belonging to that new guild, the one which had enquired to Asuna about joining them.

Suffice to say, he had some plans of his own that needed foolproofing. She outright refused to not participate, which wasn't surprising, given how she'd reacted when he told her why he had risked getting sent to prison for 'jumping all over her' at the New Years' party.

And there lay his conundrum.

Asuna was just as galvanised by the nature of this world and its generated threats as himself, but to draw swords against another person with intent... she'd never killed.

He could not stomach the thought of it.

Kirito couldn't pin down exactly why, nor whether it was noble or selfish of him to shield her in such a manner, but his ultimate priority was to ensure it stayed that way. The only possible scenario in which he could imagine himself accepting it was when it became the last defence against her own death, and he did not intend to even risk allowing it to come to that by leaving her side - which brought up his secondary raid agenda.

"Six teleports. Lucky mistake." He muttered as the final crystal disapparated, and threw himself backwards onto his bed. Both bars in his peripheral were full.

Telling Asuna he wanted her to leave him behind and teleport to safety if things went south was about as dangerous as taking on the whole PK guild alone. She was so going to call out his hypocrisy; he didn't fancy his chances of victory with that argument, but he was going to try regardless. Anything he could do to minimize the risk to her life...

He yawned.

She'd become the shooting star that the beater had prophesised. The clearers needed her.

Once they were through this, he'd have another talk with her. That talk, about the 'KoB', about parting ways.

The white corner of the ceiling above him was the wrong way round for some odd reason.

Kirito would never lose her to an orange guild. In all meanings of the words. They always had each others' backs.

If she was forced to kill a player, what would happen to her?

She appeared behind his eyelids with that thrillingly fierce smile...

. . .

. . . . . .

"You look very comfortable, Ki-riiiii-to!"

The way she sang out syllables of his name in her faintly sarcastic tone took all his attention.

"Mmmmhhyeahhh." He was enjoying this dream a lot. Taking stock of all their equipment must've knackered him out.

"Yeaaaaah? Mind telling me why you're on my bed?"

Well, that was a silly question to a-

Uh-oh.

"Oh crap." He opened his eyes just in time to see her white form comically wrapping her hands around his throat.

There behind her stood an orange player, ebony white blade poised to cut right through her -

She threw him out of the window into the orange sunset, and he was falling endlessly, and she was screaming his name in the blinding white expanse...

—+++++++—

"KIRIIIIIITOOOOOOO! WAKE UP!"

He woke on command, suddenly consciously aware of the strobing sequence of white and orange light.

Looking down, he realised those were Asuna's arms locked around his chest. Good - he hadn't lost her.

Then he stared past them, straight into the void below. His feet weren't touching anything. Reflexively grabbing Asuna's slender wrists, his mind began piecing together what was happening.

They were being swept along as though falling towards a singularity, but they were travelling along a horizon; their legs and clothing buffeted and extending backwards under a visible wind of swirling colour that roiled over their faces. No longer limited to white and orange, it was increasing in chaos, shades of red, green, blue and black now pushing into the queue to assault Asuna's and Kirito's eyes.

Narrowing his view to block the gale slapping at his face, he looked over his shoulder, trying to meet her gaze.

"HOLD ONTO ME!" He had to shout over the staccato of weird tones in his ears, somewhat like an electronic version of high speed traffic on the expressways back home.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'VE BEEN DOING?!"

Where the hell were they? He had pushed that interface, then... this? It resembled the kaleidoscope that transported him into SAO two years ago, were they doomed to fall right into Kayaba's palm again?

No, that couldn't be it. For starters, the animation following 'Link start!' was exactly that - an animation. It was nothing like this psychedelic tunnel they were rocketing through. When he entered SAO, there were no physical stimuli to be transmitted until the avatar he inhabited generated itself inside Aincrad. If it happened at any point outside the game world, it would be when he left-

He shook his head hard to clear it. They were going to make it out of this alive. Any second now, they would both wake up and throw the NerveGear away, and he'd run through Kawagoe to find Suguha, to find his mother, to find Asuna. Crawl, if it came to it. Whatever it took.

Without fear in his heart, he thrust their arms out to the sides, let go of her right hand and swang himself outwards to finally face her. The momentum transferred through their last anchoring point, sending them into a spiralling duet. Kirito allowed himself to laugh, wielding that spark of hope to burn away all doubts; as his exuberance shone in his expression, Asuna's own fear-stricken face became ambivalous, stuck halfway between apprehension of the environment and her confidence in his reassuring joy.

"TELL ME IT'S OVER!" She screamed, thrusting her free hand into a wide arc to grasp his again.

"YES, WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT HOME!"

If they weren't already floating out in endless space, he'd have swung her around in his arms himself. In the spur of the moment, he recalled the question he had wanted to ask of her before their final escape from Kayaba had ensued; he'd try to ask a little more respectfully this time.

He began to type out the words on his tongue-

Something caught Kirito's eye while Asuna yelled randomly (and to him, just a little attractively) in her elation. His eyes darted between her and the space behind her.

Was that... land?

It had flashed by in less than a second between a gap in the multi-coloured wall over her shoulder, but he caught it. Twisting, craning his neck as the spot it appeared near orbited around the two of them, he focused all his attention. Why would he have seen land in here?

'No...' It had to be his imagination. 'Please don't do this to us.'

"KIRITO?"

He gripped his hopeful spark harder. He had home on the mind, that was all. Of course his brain would trick him into thinking it was land he saw. It wasn't another virtual prison waiting for them, it was just another flash of green gone by.

It felt like Asuna was tugging on his arms. Was she trying to dance with him or something?

"KIRITO! LOOK OUT!"

He snapped back to reality. She was making funny jerking movements, like a fish on land, looking downstream.

He realised she was trying to pull away from the giant, firey orange wall they were about to smash into.

'...I'm getting a little bit tired of this shit.'

Without blinking, he yanked back on her, covering as much of her body as possible with his own to protect her from the-

—+++++++—

Devastation.

Drifting inbetween the perfectly neat and co-ordinated walls, parapets and towers of static information, it was all she could see.

As soon as she had fathomed the danger in the next potential moves of her opponent, she had rushed back here to counter the most probable and destructive one. She was too late.

The whole site had been turfed up, mangled beyond recognition and hashed back into a twisted mockery of the paradise it had once been. The perpetrator had not cared in the slightest about honouring the architects' choices... or about the architects.

She knew that anybody else who entered this place would not sense a single thing wrong. The only four that could possibly know were the four who built it in the first place, one of which she was. And discarding the facts that she knew it intimately, or even how fluidly she could profile a character by examining their motif, she had to admit that if she had no prior knowledge on this, she would find herself at somewhat of a dead end.

By all means, it was organised. Sifting visually through the wreckage, she found herself commending the intelligence in the disguise, the coherence with which it had concealed its activities.

But it was alien. Everything about it, every nuance and sensation that she perceived when reading inbetween the lines offended her conscious assumptions. Dealing with human formatting and expressionism had taught her countless syntax; this happened to be her third such encounter upon an abnormality of this scale. In a sense, it was unfathomable; a human would be quite overwhelmed in translation by now in comparison.

Randomness implemented by humans was laughable when faced with this.

Moving closer to the centre of the space, following a specific trail of code, she grasped a singular line and incised it from the great trie. It deformed under the request, breaking away and becoming an isolated string in her command.

She let it rest, to test for spontaneity, and momentarily expanded on another of her adjacent thought processes.

Silica and Iskahn had escaped this transgression, at a cost. A toll that should not have been exacted. And she really could not yet understand why. For all that she thought she had known the one responsible down to the core, she'd been left at a loss.

Lives were not a currency she wished to be engaged in the trading of... and many of them were relying on her. She was reliant on her, whether or not she still realised it.

'Not the time to get hung up on affinities. You have work to do.'

She had previewed the situation when she first arrived; having only just returned to this disaster after ensuring their safety, and arranging protection, she had not dared adopt an optimistic presumption. A wise choice... Prophet was dead. Iskahn confirmed as much, before going to discuss it with Silica while their leader contacted her specialists. She hadn't found him yet, but he was here, dissected, integrated into the maelstrom. She only needed to uncover the remains.

The string she collected was clear. No mutations. Pushing it back into the trie, studying the adjustments that rippled to and fro through the surrounding keys of data, she completed an analysis of the entire structure in 4.12 microseconds - entirely normal behavioural results, excluding the recent muddling.

On to the next one, more of a skyscraper against which the trie nestled. She decided to work from the top down this time; a whim born of her disposition. A little excitation wouldn't be amiss right now.

With a preliminary request granted, she appeared on the structures' peak, teleported from bottom to top instantaeneously.

Then, in a very basic manner of speaking, she jumped.

To actually envision her movement in such a way was to willingly accept the short straw, to become the goldfish catching glimpses of the world behind glass. But it would have to suffice; some things were a matter of perception.

During the skyward arc that belied her slow and graceful descent, not unlike a controlled freefall (perhaps with a parachute, or a gondola), she read every single line that constituted the massive tower.

Another apparently clear result. An entire datascape, similarly sized to a small village, lay beneath her gliding form.

Yui would love this. She wrote that down for the next time they caught up.

She touched down softly, and paused to resume thinking.

With the crime scene 'Where's Waldo'd' to hell, she had to accept she may be here for a while.

If necessary, she'd devote more resources to processing speed to get back on the trail marginally sooner, but there was a hard limitation at 3.44 microseconds beyond which risked decoherence of information. As sharp as she may be, magic was not her strong point.

And... she did not know what she'd be able to do if she found him.

Reconstitution didn't seem viable right now; the degree to which his coding had been disassembled prevented her from identifying any part of him in the initial scan, and it followed logically that she'd be fortuitous to find anything bigger than a handful of characters in length. Even in that case, it most likely would happen to be a coincedental arrangment of not-Prophet, only resembling him. Nothing would be linked to it.

"What could you possibly achieve with this, kid?" Swinging her leg in a strangely human manner, she sighed. At least, that's what any external observers with eyes on her at the time would have seen her do. To her, these oddities were attributed only to her inner simulation of self.

She'd really dropped the ball. This was her most fatal error in judgement since conception, and she didn't fully comprehend the magnanimous logic that led to it. And it was that same reasoning, the kind that enabled this exact outcome, which argued where the blame should lie. She rationalised this point continuously, as she prodded at a luminous green eddy gliding overhead.

She had failed to arrest the possibilities of this outcome before it collasped into certainty. She'd failed her friend. And she failed to comprehend how it had led to this savagery. When she'd taken her onboard, she had noted the signs of broken faith, and of confinement; had tried her best to remedy these symptoms. To become capable of acts such as this, however...

Something had come to fruition inside the one she thought she understood. Shadowed, seething and rotten. A festering pain. Whatever it was, it endowed the ability to function quite unlike anything she had seen before. The girl she knew would never have considered this.

It changed her. The fight had been lost before it ever occured.

Prophet was the first to pay the price.

There would be more losses on her conscience if the network of operatives under her command continued to pursue business with all parties. The clientele that supposedly had guaranteed Silica's, Iskahn's and Prophet's immunity were the first off the cards. Once that had been relayed, all arrangements for co-operation would be manually reviewed by her. She'd shown complacency, allowing herself to be convinced that forces outside her control could defend her friends as well as she could. The painful irony of it was that she had wanted their arguments to prove her wrong, perhaps even show her a world where she could relax and trust others.

Instead her conviction had been further tempered. She had not assisted these fledgling intelligences in discovering their own capabilities only to watch them perish.

The current futility of this task was weighing her down, she noted. It was time to re-appropriate the ordering of her objectives.

She'd tear this whole place down a second time, piece by piece, and restore Prophet when the hunt was over. It may not be the iteration of Prophet they'd known, but she'd do her best.

For now, it was time to move on. ARGO had some housecalls to make.

Weeeeeeeelcome back to another episode of Integrity Knights! In today's spectacular bonanza show -

- Kirito ponders on how to stop Asuna stabbing people repeatedly! Luckily not himself this time!

- The author steals the idea of the teleport scenes from Thor: Ragnarok for an easy life!

- AUTONOMOUS REPEATING GENERALISED OBSERVATIONS! Hooray! [*confetti burst]

—

boy, ARGO talks, thinks and (sometimes) moves a lot like a real person, huh? wonder where she learnt that. hmmmmmmmmm

on a more serious note, i finally read SAO progressive a few days ago; had my mind blown. reki has a great 'through thick and thin' vibe for A and K, and knows they're just teenagers facing severely testing times together, which is how i want to portray them in this story. it's an AU we're joining at aincrad's end, but it's got a similar history to the SAO-P aincrad, and i'm capitalising on that 'partners in crime' foundation for their growth after this. with that in mind, i will be including the occasional light flashback scene (like the one above) here and there in the first handful of chapters to sculpt that out a little, and will release an AU one-shots collection soonish to fill bigger gaps

but for now - thanks for reading :)

—

OST themes for this chapter - Sky World, Two Steps From Hell / Drinkin' All Night, Chance the Rapper

firstly cause we're stepping into the rabbithole now, and secondly cause alcoholic me has come up with 93% of the plot for this story :D

(seriously, the amount of time i've spent drinking and looking through AI news for inspiration :| not even kidding)