So, thinking about changing the name of this story to Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains. Think I should? Would make more sense than "The Black Twins". I think I will, what do you guys think?
Catz1112: Yeah, there wasn't much I could do in the very beginning to change things up that other people hadn't already done, to be honest. I plan on getting more AU from here on out, and I'm using my own rather extensive MMORPG experience to help with the writing of this story. (I play World of Warcraft, TERA, and Star Wars: The Old Republic :P Call me a nerd, I know, it's true.)
Transcendant Being Fan: Honestly, I didn't mind him either. I just needed someone not close to Kirito to die to really impress upon him and the other players how severe the game really is. As for beta testers, I hope you like what I did!
Blackbird0: Can he has both? I says he can... :)
Lavi Arcadia: I'm glad you enjoyed it, and it is definatly an anime worth getting into! As for Beaters, I agree with you compleatly, which is why I did what I did. Read on to find out just what that is!
DanaeMariSkywalker: Good, I'm glad. Some people don't like OCs, but I try to make them very likeable, and honestly in this particular anime, you need an OC or two unless you just want to re-write cannon. It's not really unbelievable either, since 10,000 people played SAO.
SilverFlameHaze: Like I told Catz, not much AU stuff I can do early on without looking like I'm copying someone else' idea. Furthermore, your name is awesome, that too is an amazing series! Wish it had a bigger archive... :P
Dany le fou: Good to see you again, Dany! I agree, it didn't make sense for every player to just go with it except Agil and Asuna, and I'm planning on having a great more diversity in opinion amongst the player base here. Agil is going to come out swinging in fact, as are a couple of others. Not to say Kibaou won't have his own supporters, but you can't win them all.
n0mster: I think we had a discussion via PMs, but just in case we didn't... The reason I had them yell out the sword skills, though it was kind of awkward, was because I felt like just writing: "He used this, that, and the other thing. The boss died." would be rather...lacking? I am going to try to go the Beater but Humiliate route, though it shan't be easy, because it is the most realistic. Yes, Ailyn is getting a lot of attention at the moment, something I am working on, but as of right now I'm trying to establish her character. As for the FFXIII x FFX story, essential the plan is for Etros to send Claire, Serah, Fang, and Vanielle to Spira at the behest of the Aeons (which I will have as Guardian Spirits of multiple realms, as most Aeons appear in several of the games, just in different forms.) The later three will, before departing, also swear to serve Etros like Claire, giving them all sortsa new powers and whatnot. I'm going with Tidus/harem too, BTW.
Fluffylover: Here is an update, lol. Also, I have them working in unison because they're used to working in sync from the beta. We see Kirito and Asuna working in sync alot during cannon. Also, fluff will be happening, but not quite yet. Ailyn is still trying to draw Kirito completely out of his shell, though he is getting there, and Asuna, though she feels something for him, is unsure of just what it is. Remember, we know that Kirito and Asuna didn't develop quickly. They parted ways after Illfang and didn't see each other again until the strategy meeting for the boss some 30 or more floors later. Since they won't be splitting up, I'm going to develop their relationship before I start the romance.
Eigo: I agree, a mix is better, which is why I did it. It always seemed stupid that 90% of players automatically hated Kirito and Co. And no, I'm not, because it would turn people against the beta testers more because they would assume Kirito was trying to shove the blame off onto someone they respected to make himself look good. Plus, Kirito respects Diabel to much to tarnish his memory.
By a rather impressive margin, the guild name will be Shattered Chains! The emblem I will be using is up on my page, under the section dedicated to this story!
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Sword Art Online: Shattered Chains
Chapter Three
Division and Unification
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"Let him die? What are you talking about, Kibaou?" Kirito responded a trifle coldly. Although he was expressionless on the outside, inside his mind was flitting from thought to thought quickly. Kibaou had clearly not given up on his anti-Beta Tester agenda, which wasn't all that surprising, but what did he hope to gain from this? "I tried to give him a health potion, but he refused to drink it."
"Shut up! Just shut up! You're a damn beta tester aren't you? You knew that the boss had changed but you let him attack any way, let him die, just so you could be the one to beat the boss!" Kibaou screamed back, eyes filled with hatred. Every eye turned to Kirito, waiting for his response, and his eyes quickly traced over every face he could see, gauging the air in the room. He could lie about this, but if he was honest and up front about it, he might be able to improve the general view of beta testers.
"Yeah, I'm a beta tester, one of the best. I made it further than anyone else in the beta, which is why I knew as soon as the boss equipped his new weapon that things had changed." he replied, deliberately leaving out the fact that Ailyn was also a beta tester. If things went pear-shaped, he wanted to make sure that the proverbial crosshair was painted on his back alone.
"I knew it, damn cheating beta tester!" Kibaou roared triumphantly, leveling a condemning finger at him, and Kirito noticed that the players seemed to be leaning the brunette's way in this argument. He sighed internally. It seemed that raw invective and shouting still managed to win over calm reasoning. "You...you, BEATER!"
"You've seemed to forget, Kibaou, that Diabel broke formation and abandoned the plan in an attempt to get the final hit himself. That is when he died, and I along with many others heard Kirito shout for him to get back. He ignored Kirito, and that is why he died." Agil retorted, stepping forward to support the swordsman who had saved his life.
Many players began murmuring in agreement. The giant had brought up a damn good point. They had all heard Kirito shouting at Diabel, though some were unsure of exactly what was said, and it had been Diabel who had tried to attack alone. Support, by and large, seemed to be shifting back towards him, but he did see several players firmly on Kibaou's side, if their facial expressions were any indication.
"And, after all, didn't Kirito save your life when the boss Enraged, and nearly died in doing so? I'm pretty sure that's what happened. How much health did he have left after saving Kibaou, Asuna?" Ailyn now joined in, coming to her friend's defense.
"25 health points." the young woman replied, eyes cold as she glared at Kibaou, angry with him for doing this after Kirito almost died for his worthless hide. Many of the player gasped or murmured in surprise at the low number. They all knew that even a glancing blow from the boss with that little health would have meant death, and Kirito watched as many players more firmly joined his side of the argument. After all, if Beta Testers were what Kibaou was portraying them as, he wouldn't have come a few moments away from death to save someone else, especially someone who had already spoken out against beta testers publicly.
"Remember this as well." Kirito said finally, stepping forward and letting his eyes trace over them all. "Beta testers are stuck here, same as the rest of you. We all have family and friends waiting for us. We all have something to live for, and we all want the same damn thing: to clear the one hundredth floor. To win our freedom of this world and to kill Kayaba Akihiko. That is all that should matter to us, because we won't be able to clear one hundred floors if we are divided amongst ourselves over petty differences."
"You damn Beater!" a player that supported Kibaou stepped forward, and both Asuna and Ailyn shuddered as he leered at them with thinly veiled cruelty and perversion in his eyes. "You fucking beta testers should die like the bastards that you are, and watch your back. Someone might help you along. Don't worry about your lovely friends here though. I'll take real good care of them. I'm sure we'll become great friends."
The implications were clear, and Kirito's mouth twisted into a snarl of disgust and loathing as his hand went for the sword now sheathed on his back, while the two girls flinched away and Agil rumbled in displeasure, his own large hand settling on the haft of his battle-axe. Before the two males could reeducate the bastard, Ailyn and Asuna stopped them with hands on their shoulders and some hurriedly whispered words. Kirito and Ailyn, in fact, had a short conversation, before Kirito released his hilt and eyed the crowd of players with eyes of chipped onyx. Many a player shuddered slightly as those eyes swept over them.
"Ailyn just reminded me of this, and I thought I would clue in all of you newbies. In each major city of each floor, there are NPC magistrates. If you bring them substantial, ironclad evidence of a crime being performed, they will give you a warrant for players. That warrant can range from arrest...to execution on sight. So spread the word to every player you meet that crimes will be discovered and punished with whatever force is deemed necessary. If I hear of any rapes or anything of the sort happening..." his eyes grew, if possible, even colder and harder, and the players swore that they saw the Shinigami himself standing behind the swordsman. "I will lead the party to hunt you down and kill you myself."
With those final words of warning, Kirito turned and headed towards the boss' throne, and the large door behind it, Ailyn and Asuna hurriedly joining him.
"Where are you going, Kirito?" Agil asked aloud, and Kirito looked back at the large man.
"To open the next floor, and see if it's the same as the beta. I'll send Argo the updated safe path to the first quest hub and town by tomorrow morning." the teen replied calmly, and Agil nodded before jogging over. Kirito blinked at the older man, who grinned at him and unslung his battle-axe, hefting it onto his shoulder.
"What, you think I'm going to let a bunch of kids like you take all the risks finding the safe route without someone older and wiser along to keep you out of trouble?" Agil asked, and Kirito raised an eyebrow at him with a faint smirk playing across his lips.
"When you find someone older and wiser, let me know. I would love to meet him." he replied, starting off again, followed by a giggling Asuna and Ailyn. Agil glowered after him for a moment, before shrugging and chuckling deeply as he caught up. Soon enough, the other players that supported Kirito or were neutral about the whole affair headed after them, until the boss room was inhabited only by Kibaou and his own supporters.
"C'mon, this is a good opportunity. We need to head back to the first floor and make sure a story that shows beta testers for what they really are is released to the other players below before those bastards can feed them lies." he ordered, heading for the door that would take himself and his followers back to the first floor proper. After the last anti-beta tester was gone, a feminine figure shrouded in a dark brown hooded cloak flitted out of the shadows. Brown eyes danced with mirth and cheeks with matching trios of red whisker marks stretched in a sly smile.
"Naughty Kibaou, spreading nasty lies~!" the young woman known to all as Argo the Rat, premiere information broker of SAO, said in a sing-song voice. One slim hand dipped into her cloak and came back out with a teleportation stone. "I can't let you tell nasty lies about Kiri-bou~! Teleport: Town of Beginnings!"
The famous-or infamous, depending on whom you asked- player vanished in a flash of blue-tinged white light. When Kibaou and his supporters finally managed to get back to the Town of Beginnings, they found themselves fighting a losing battle to convince more than a handful of people that Argo's story was a lie. After all, her little newspaper article had screenshots, while Kibaou didn't. And you know what they say in MMOs.
Screenshots, or it didn't happen!
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"Ah! The second floor is just as beautiful as it was in the beta, ne Kirito?" Ailyn said happily, twirling in a small circle as the other players took in the massive rolling plains that was the majority of the second floor. A clear blue sky stretched overhead, and large herds of various neutral-beast type mobs roamed over the hills, while being watched with dedicated attention by aggressive beast-types for one to fall behind and become their next meal and flocks of flying-types wheeled over the grass.
"Hrm. I wonder if this is how Lewis and Clark felt when they first saw they Great Plains back home." Agil mused aloud to himself, making several players look at him in surprise. They hadn't met many foreigners playing SAO. In fact, most hadn't met any.
"Are you an American, Agil?" Asuna asked curiously, having met several when they came to do business with her father, and finding them a by and large likeable group of people, although there were those few that made her want to introduce them to gravity.
Preferably from the 33rd story of her father's business headquarters.
"Yeah, I was born in the USA, but my parents brought me here for vacation once, and we all fell in love Japan, sold our home back in Minnesota, and moved to Okachimachi. Been living there ever since." the African-American man replied a nod and a wistful smile as he thought of his family's small farm in the USA, and his coffee shop-and his precious flower, Sakura- here in Japan. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he smiled at Kirito. "Well, Kirito, what's the plan?"
"The first quest hub is about a ten minutes walk from here down the road. It's a small guard outpost of NPCs from the first city, who are being attacked by the surviving minions of Illfang. We help them out and they will give us a recommendation to the Mayor of the town and a good bit of Col. Little known fact, you need the recommendation to do the majority of quests for this floor." Kirito replied, and Ailyn nodded beside him.
"Now, the mobs are going to be Ruin Kobold Sentinels, so fight them the same way you would have fought the one's during the boss fight. We need to kill about 50 of them each, but since we're in parties, we will get credit for our party members' kills. Stick together and don't screw around. Remember, more things may have changed since the beta." she continued, looking around at them all seriously, receiving nods and words of understanding and acknowledgment. With another nod, she looked at Kirito, who nodded to the group as a whole.
"Alright, move out. Try not to stray into the zones of those aggressive beast-types. They're as strong as the Sentinels, and much faster, plus they work as a pack." he ordered before turning and heading off down the path, the raid ambling along after him.
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"Are you our reinforcements?" the NPC outpost captain shouted to Kirito, as he cut down yet another kobold.
"In a manner of speaking! We just killed Illfang, leader of the Kobolds attacking right now!" Kirito said, following the UI's conversation prompts to receive the next quest. "I can only assume that these little bastards are running away and right into you!"
"As long as you're here I don't really care why! I need you and your people to push them back until my men finish with the charges that will close the little rat hole these things are swarming out of!" the captain grunted as he blocked a mace swing with his shield and ran his attacker through the chest.
"We'll handle it!" Kirito replied, ending the conversation and getting the quest, which he quickly passed onto the other raid members. "Alright, spilt up into your parties and hold the line! Timer is starting, we have to hold out for ten minutes to finish the quest! Squad A, I want you..."
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Meanwhile, in the real world, we find one Suguha Kirigaya, second cousin to our intrepid hero, sitting in a hospital room chair, next to the aforementioned hero's catatonic body, tears in her eyes as she looked down at him, and one hand came up to stroke his cheek lovingly. As always happened when she visited her cousin, her mind drifted back to when this nightmare began...
FLASHBACK
"Good match, Sugu-chan!" her best friend (besides Kazuto-kun, of course), Uzume, cheered, patting her on the shoulder as she sat down, pulling off her helmed and brushed sweat-soaked hair off of her face.
"Thanks, Uzume-chan." Suguha smiled at her chestnut-haired friend and leaned back with a deep sigh. She had just won a match against a third-year starter of the kendo team, something she couldn't wait to tell Kazuto-kun about, but the match had left her exhausted and sore. She knew her cousin would be proud of her. He was a kendo prodigy, best in his age group and able to fight on even ground with those years older than himself, but then one day he had up and quit without a word of explanation.
Suguha knew why, though. Kazuto-kun had found out that they were only distantly related, not brother and sister as they had always thought. Suguha had been overjoyed at the news, as she now could pursue her feelings for him without fear of what the world would think, but Kazuto had taken it in with far less happiness. He had become colder and more withdrawn from everyone, including his friends from school, and it had broken her heart that Kazuto-kun didn't feel comfortable around them anymore. For ages, all he had done was play games and do his schoolwork. Only in the last few months had he really started to open up to her again.
"So, ummm," Uzume started hesitantly, and Suguha turned to look at her, one eyebrow raising in curioustiy that was quickly sated as she saw what her friend was doing.
Blushing, looking shy and embarrassed, while looking at her hands and fiddling with the hem of her shirt.
"Yes, I'm spending some time with Kazuto-kun today, and no you can't come over this time. He's going to help me with my homework, and then I'm going to watch a movie with him." Suguha said with a sigh, well aware that several of her friends had crushes on her Kazuto-kun. "You can come over Friday, though, if you like."
Uzume looked momentarily crushed, but brightened up at the prospect of hanging out with Suguha-chan and Kazuto-kun in a mere two days.
Before she could reply to the offer, the door to the dojo slammed open violently, and Suguha's classmate and long time friend Nagata Shinichi burst in, eyes a little wild as they flew over the rooms occupants. Landing on Sugu, he dashed over to her and leaned over, bracing his hands on his knees, sweaty and breathing hard.
"Suguha-chan!" he coughed, and Suguha glared at him, reaching for her shinai. She knew Nagata had a crush on her, but she had told him time and time again to address her by her last name. Before she could beat him into the mats, however, he started speaking again. "Suguha-chan, you have to get home! It's a disaster, it's terrible!"
"What are you talking about, boy?" Suguha's sensei demanded coming over to them. Suguha felt a tightening in her chest, a dark feeling of foreboding washing over her.
"A terrorist attack!" Nagata shouted loudly, grabbing Suguha by her shoulders. "Everyone who played Sword Art Online has been trapped in the game! Over three hundred people have died so far because people tried to get their NerveGear off!"
"Sword...Art...Kazuto-kun!" Suguha mumbled to herself in shock. That was the name of the game her cousin had been talking about recently! He was supposed to be...playing...right now!
She was on her feet, shoes back on, and out the door before anyone could move a muscle or say a single word. She ran faster than she had ever run before, praying that she would get home to find that Kazuto had never logged into the game. Her feet hurt from being improperly put on without socks, the freshly started rain and win pummeled and soaked her, but none of it mattered.
Nothing mattered more than getting home to her Kazuto-kun.
Several minutes later, she arrived at her house to see one of her worst nightmares. Her beloved cousin being wheeled out of their front door on a full-sized ALS (Advanced Life Support) gurney towards a waiting ambulance. An ambulance under the watchful eye of a squad of JDF Marines (Japanese Defensive Forces). They were, however, insignificant to her right now, as was the yellow police tape that she ran straight through as she dashed towards the gurney.
"Hold it, girl!" one of the Marines said in accented Japanese as he grabbed her around the middle. "This is a crime scene, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."
Suguha, normally one to obey the authorities in her life, decided that her cousin was more important and swiftly applied the S.I.N.G concept that her sensei had taught her to free herself from male attackers. Four strikes, four targets. Stomach, Instep, Nose, Groin. Caught unawares, not having expected her to target...such areas, the Marine released her with a stifled yelp of pain, and she used the opportunity to get another five yards closer to her cousin before being promptly apprehended again, this time by a pair of Marines. Not willing to suffer the same pain and embarrassment as their comrade, they held her arms behind her back. No matter how hard she struggled, there was no way she was getting free of that.
"Kazuto-kun! Wake up!" she screamed, tears blurring her vision and dripping down her face, where they mixed with the rain. Her cousin didn't move, didn't respond, didn't even seem...alive. "Kazuto-kun, please wake up! You HAVE to wake up! You promised me, Kazuto-kun! WAKE UP!"
FLASHBACK ENDS
"Suguha-chan, you should probably be heading home. I can't let you stay anymore and its getting dark already." one of the nurses dedicated to Kirito and the other SAO victims at the regional hospital said gently. Like many of the other doctors and nurses on the SAO Special Medical Division, she had begun to lose her patient/doctor emotional detachment with the families and friends of the victims. How could you stand to be cold and impressionable, a detached doctor in essence, when you see a 5 year old child crying because her daddy won't wake up? When you watch a girl crying as her fiancée's body is wheeled away to the morgue because he fell in the game?
Of course, even more so had they become attached to young Suguha Kirigaya. When all the other victims families eventually stopped coming to visit, she alone continued to visit. Bringing fresh flowers, talking to him, reading to him. Many of them would bend the rules until they were nigh on unrecognizable for her, and some would drive her home at night so that she could stay longer.
"Ah! Yes, of course, I'm so sorry Ayame-san." Sugu started, looking at the clock and realizing how late it was. Getting to her feet, she gathered her things and bowed low to Ayame. "Thank you very much, Ayame-san. I'll see you tomorrow after kendo practice."
"Alright, be careful heading home." Ayame smiled as the girl rushed away, heading for the parking lot and her bicycle. She took one last look at the unconscious face or Kazuto Kirigaya and turned off the light with a sad sigh. So many lives ruined, and for what?
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Later that night, in the darkness of his inn room, Kirito sat on the window sill and stared out across the dimly lit town, his mind going over everything that had happened. Diabel dying, the growing division in the player base between those that supported Beta Testers and those that wanted them gone. He glanced over at the other bed in the room to see Ailyn and Asuna facing each other, a peaceful expression on their faces, hands lightly touching. He smiled softly and returned his gaze to the stars before slipping out the window and heading off into the darkness. He wouldn't let anything hurt them, and to do that he needed to be stronger.
Just you wait, Sugu. I'll beat this thing, and I'll keep my promise to you.
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That's a wrap for this chapter! If you see any spelling errors or whatever, let me know, as I have no beta at the moment!