If you're wondering why I didn't include Kirito's initial meeting with Asuna in the labyrinth, it's because Nanakyou wasn't there for that, as she had been in the waking world.

Chapter 10: The First Floor Boss

The doors to the boss room were large and imposing, which, for all I knew of symbolism (which wasn't much), could be meant to reflect the boss itself. If memory served, it was also large and imposing.

I hadn't woken up since the boss meeting; in fact I was kind of worried I'd wake up before the boss raid was done. I couldn't save Diabel if that happened.

That was another interesting thing: Coper was here. Saving Kirito, and by extension, him, meant that he could go on to become a clearer. He noticed me early on as the raid group traveled through the labyrinth and made sure to stay far, far away. It was almost as if he thought I could read his mind. Sorry man, that power's not working.

He probably wouldn't be causing any trouble. At least, I hoped he wouldn't. Knowing the underhanded tactics he would have used against Kirito had I not been there, he may very well go after the Last Attack Bonus like Diabel. How would they interact then? Would they trip over each other and bicker? Would they both die?

No. Neither one is going to die. I was going to stop them. It'd hurt Kirito to see them die, and I wasn't allowing that. Woe be unto anyone who tried to hurt that boy; he could take care of himself, most of the time, but why should he have to when I'm here?

Diabel's short speech brought me out of my thoughts. "I have one thing to say: let's win!"

He opened the door and the entire raid rushed into the boss room. Asuna, Kirito and I brought up the rear, as we had the entire way here. Just like canon.

Across the room, Illfang sat on his mighty throne. Upon our entry he rose to his feet, and the dark room lit up with rainbow pastels. Sentinels spawned in front of him with a quiet ding!

"Commence attack!" Diabel shouted, commanding each group with planned instructions.

The raid group rushed forward as ordered as squad F, aka the three of us, fell onto the nearest sentinel. Kirito hit the mob's blade up and out of the way, allowing Asuna to get a hit in front. While they did that, I jumped—with some flying assistance, shush—over the monster altogether to attack it from behind.

It never stood a chance. Within a few short minutes its HP had been depleted to zero, long before the other groups of six. We stood by to recover from the rush and see how the other groups were doing.

The other sentinels were at about a third of their health, and the boss had lost about half of its first HP bar.

The anime doesn't really prepare you for how long a boss raid takes.

Luckily, we didn't have to wait around long. With each HP bar that was depleted, a new wave of sentinels spawned, giving us something to do. All the while I watched and waited for Illfang to switch weapons.

At last, the time came. Everyone stood back as Illfang threw his axe and buckler aside, instead drawing a nodachi. I heard Kirito gasp beside me.

Oh, right. I should have done something sooner.

I should have done something why didn't I do anything—

I heard Diabel say to stand back as he rushed forward. I heard Kirito try to warn him.

I did not hear the sound of my feet running across the room as I raced after him. I didn't realize that in my haste, my feet never actually touched the ground.

I could grab him and turn us intangible. Surely they wouldn't turn on me for having powers if I used them to save a life, right?

Illfang was jumping around the ceiling now. I only had a few moments.

I ran into Diabel with enough force to wind him had this been real life, grabbing onto him. It was not enough to dodge the nodachi's strike, but with intangibility it should go right through us.

And go through us it did. But intangibly? It did not.

We were thrown back into the floor, rolling a bit as I let go. I watched in horror as Diabel's HP plummeted. I materialized a potion to save him—I was here before Kirito, maybe being here sooner would save him—but he instead pointed to my own falling health bar.

Shit. Shit. My build was speed and defense, surely I could survive one hit—

But no, apparently not. I looked up in fear and regret as Kirito dropped to his knees beside us. "Nanako! Diabel!"

Drinking that potion wouldn't save me. I despaired that I tried so hard to make things easier on Kirito only to become one of his burdens, his guilty regrets. The most I could do now was encourage him, show him that I had faith in him. Who knows, maybe…maybe this wouldn't stick. It was just a dream, right?

Diabel ignored Kirito's offered potion. I drank mine, just to give myself a little more time. Enough time to wait for Diabel to say his piece so I could say mine.

I saw the slight relief in Kirito's posture when he saw me drinking the potion and traitorous tears leaked from my eyes, knowing I was giving him false hope. Damn Kayaba's clever emotion-portraying programming; I didn't want to cry for this.

Diabel shattered. My HP, which had halted its descent since drinking the potion, returned to it's downward journey. It was now or never.

Don't make it cheesy, don't make it cheesy—

"I'm with you, Kirito. Don't give up!"

My world shattered.

Only…it didn't?

I blinked. Or tried to, anyway. I looked down at my hands, only they weren't there. I tried moving forward and that worked, oddly enough. Was I some kind of ghost?

Well, at least I was still here. Even if I wasn't? My avatar wasn't, anyway.

All I could do was passively watch Kirito's face as his grief had to be put on hold in order to save the raid.

Things continued on as they did in canon. Asuna offered her help; Kirito pushed his feelings aside for the sake of the raid. They worked together to attack the boss.

When they were forced to stop and rest I saw Coper about to try to steal the Last Attack bonus. I let out a stern, "Coper…" before I could think better of it. He stopped in his tracks, eyes wide like he'd seen a ghost. Or heard a ghost?

So I did still have an influence on the living. Good to know.

After threatening to haunt the almost-MPKer to his grave and shout his presence to the world every time he used his Hiding skill, I left him alone. I think he got the picture.

I wanted so badly to talk to Kirito, but I didn't want to distract him. There was no way I could think of that I could prevent him from becoming a Beater without everyone hating beta testers. Not unless I threatened Kibaou into silence, but he could always start up rumors outside the boss room, which could be just as deadly.

Maybe I should have killed him when I got the chance.

But no, Kirito wouldn't have liked that. And if I'd have tried to hide it from him, it wouldn't be hard to put two and two together. 'Hey, where'd Nanako go?' 'Didn't you hear? That loud guy at the boss meeting was killed!' Yeah, no. Not doing that.

It was too late anyway; while I was lost in thought, events went on without me. I could hear Kirito's sinister laughter from here.

"Beta tester? I wish you wouldn't lump me in with those newbies." He really was quite convincing at the whole 'you're all below me' thing. "The one-thousand beta testers were all beginners who didn't even know how to level up. You're better than them. But I'm not like them. I knew the boss's technique because I fought monsters with katana skills on floors way above us.

"I know a lot more. Way more than any information broker."

In that moment, Kirito looked like a villain. A young and misguided villain, but a villain nonetheless.

"That's…" Kirbaou looked like he'd had the breath stolen from him, and not in a good way. "That's worse than a beta tester! You're a cheater, a beta tester and a cheater!"

"A Beater!" Someone else piped up.

"Bea~ter…" Kirito tested the new term. "I like it. From now on, don't confuse me with the other testers." Hitting a button on his menu, he equipped his new Last Attack bonus: the Coat of Midnight. It flared dramatically behind him before settling.

He walked to the stairs with his calm facade still firmly in place. You wouldn't know the effect this was having on him unless you could see his face, and/or spent time with him as I had. It wasn't pretty.

Asuna was the only one living who dared follow him. "Wait."

He stopped. I could see the dread stiffening his posture.

"You called my name earlier," Asuna went on.

"I'm sorry I called you by your first name. Or did I pronounce it incorrectly?" Kirito's voice was level and controlled. I was amazed at his acting skills, considering how he almost gave himself away as a beta tester during the boss meeting.

Asuna didn't care about any of that though. "Where did you learn it?"

"There should be another HP gauge around here, right?" He motioned his hand around the left of his field of vision. "Isn't something written next to it?"

"Ki-ri-to?" Asuna sounded out the name written below her own HP gauge. "Is that your name?"

Kirito nodded, teeth gritted. I noticed he wouldn't look at the left side of his own vision. Why was that?

Oh. Was it because my health bar wasn't there? Oh, Kirito, I'm so sorry.

"Oh, it was there the whole time, heh." Asuna tried to make a self-depreciating joke to lighten the mood. I could appreciate the sentiment, as humor was one of my own coping mechanisms in times of crisis, but I didn't think now was the time.

"You'll be strong," Kirito said, beginning his farewell. "If someone you trust ever asks you to join a guild, do it. There's a major limit to what you can do as a solo player."

"What about you then?"

Kirito's bangs shadowed his face. He left without a word.

Once on the second floor, Kirito activated the teleport gate and booked it to the nearest alleyway, presumably to get away from players who would come through after him. At first I thought it was because he had just declared himself an enemy, which could still have been part of it, but then I heard the first sob.

Oh my god, Kirito, I'm so sorry. I couldn't say it enough, but he didn't hear me over the pounding of his feet against the ground and his own sobs. I reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, but of course nothing happened, as I didn't have an avatar to do so with.

He ran through alleyways until he finally reached a dead end. He sank to the ground. His sobs faded into weeping, and I was finally able to make myself heard.

"Kirito, I'm still here."

He looked around, wiping his eyes. "N-Nanako? How are you—I thought—"

"That SAO could kill me without a nervegear? Or that I'd wake up and never be able to get back?" I finished for him.

He leaned his head back against the wall, finally able to calm himself a bit. "Yeah."

I would have nodded if I could. "I thought thought that too. Er, the second one at least. But dying's never really stopped my dreams before, so I guess this isn't any different. I'm still here, I just don't have a body."

"That's…good?" Kirito seemed unsure, which was understandable.

"It beats leaving you to become a Beater by yourself," I pointed out. "Hopefully I'll have a body next time I end up here. I'd hate to be stuck as a voice forever. I'd be like Aincrad's version of Navi or something."

"Navi?"

Kirito had never heard of Navi?! "You poor sweet child, oh my god." Unfortunately, it looked like a talk for next time, as my world began to blur. "Kirito, I think I'm waking up. Chin up! I believe in you!" With the cheesiest thing I'd said yet, my consciousness faded from the world of Aincrad.

A/N: I just saw Your Name and my god, it was GREAT! So many of my favorite tropes, like dreams, time, and other things. No video games though. That was sad.

Speaking of video games, it shouldn't be surprising at all to learn that I've been playing Ocarina of Time. Personally, Navi isn't that annoying to me? Even with her help I sometimes can't figure out what I'm supposed to do. I also loved the water temple; it's perhaps my favorite in the game so far. It was really confusing at first and the backtracking and whirlpools were annoying, but those were probably the worst parts. And the Dark Link battle was surprisingly easy? He scared the shit out of me when he appeared though, good god. My yell scared away the cats. And my mother.