Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online or anything by Rick Riordan.

Warnings: none for this chapter.

Enjoy!

"Wow!" Asuna giggled as she ran out onto the balcony of the cabin she had bought with her new husband. "This view is amazing!"

Indeed it was. Mountains, clear blue skies, and a huge, beautiful lake, birds chirping contently.

It was the closest thing to paradise the players had come across as of yet in their journey to reach Floor 100.

"It is pretty awesome, but don't fall off the balcony." Kirito warned her with a smile, coming up beside her to lean on the railing. "That would really suck."

The two teenagers smiled at each other, and Kirito put his left arm around her waist, holding her close.

"We bought the best house." Asuna said with a happy sigh, closing her eyes.

"And now we're totally broke." Kirito said, causing his wife to laugh.

"It's worth it, though, 'cause we can live in peace here." Asuna said, placing her hand above the one Kirito had on her waist, their silver wedding rings visible.

After a moment, Asuna realized that he was staring off into the distance with a slight frown. "Kirito? What's wrong?"

The black-haired boy blinked. "Well…I was thinking. Does our relationship only exist in this world?"

"I can't believe you'd say that." Asuna said with a scowl and a slight glare.

"Uh—" Kirito grunted, backing up slightly as she got in his face.

"I don't give a damn if this is a virtual world." She insisted. "My feelings for you are real."

Kirito looked down, only for Asuna to cup his face with her hands and continue. "If I learned anything in the past two years, it's to keep doing our very best until the very end, and if we make it back to the real world, I promise I'll find you again. No matter what. And fall in love with you again."

And with that, she kissed him.

A number of floors away, Nico was hanging out yet again in Agil's shop.

"Damn!" Klein groaned. "Are we really going to do this?"

Argo scowled from beneath her gray cloak. "Shut it and pay up."

The words sounded like they physically hurt her to say, considering that she had also lost and now owed Nyx a fair bit of money, which she transferred over to him, barely containing a pained whine.

"Why thank you." Nico said with a smirk, accepting the transaction.

Agil, Silica, Lisbeth, and Klein grumbled as they sent him identical packages.

All that col, gone.

So, here's an explanation.

Nico had lied to Asuna and Kirito when he told them that their bet over them getting together had fallen through because of how slow they were at getting their act together. Oh, sure, those of them who had chosen specific dates had already lost, but Nico had chosen a specific situation in which they'd get together, choosing not to limit himself to a timeline after witnessing Percy's obliviousness about Annabeth and Nico's own former crush on him for years.

Kissing after one saved the other's life?

So predictable.

There was a reason it was a cliché, after all.

'Usually he's brash and impulsive, but he can be so naïve, too.' Asuna thought fondly as she stared at her sleeping husband. 'Almost like a little kid.'

She jolted up in shock as a thought struck her. 'Oh my god! Is he younger than me?!'

After a moment, she smiled.

So what if she was? Based on his appearance, it wouldn't be by much, and she wasn't eighteen yet, so she wasn't a pedophile. Not that their relationship was sexual right now…

*coughs awkwardly*

A few hours later, Kirito and Asuna were in the woods, Kirito having been bribed into carrying Asuna on his shoulders.

"I heard this weird rumor yesterday." He said conversationally. "How if you go deep into the forest, you'll see them."

Asuna blinked, looking down at him. "See who?"

Kirito stopped. "Ghosts."

"Y-you mean those in-game astral type monsters, right?" Asuna asked, sounding slightly nervous and not noticing the slight smirk on Kirito's face.

"No, not those." Kirito said, struggling not to laugh. "Real ghosts."

Asuna let out a nervous laugh.

"They say the tortured souls of the monsters hunted here come back to wander the forests at night." Kirito said.

Asuna jumped suddenly as she heard a sudden noise.

"We're almost there." Kirito said.

"The place the rumor mentions?" Asuna asked, glancing around quickly.

"About a week ago, a carpenter hiked into the forest to get some wood for a project." Kirito ignored her question. "He stayed so long that before he knew it, it was night. As he walked, he caught a glimpse of something white standing by a tree."

Asuna's eyes widened, imagining it.

And then she gasped, turning her head.

Amongst the trees to her white…she saw a small figure dressed in white.

Just like the story!

"Was it a monster? Or something else?" Kirito asked, not realizing that Asuna had seen something. "The white figure slowly walked towards some trees…"

"H-hey!" Asuna cried, pointing. "Look!"

The figure disappeared behind a large tree.

Asuna squealed. "I want to get down, I want to get down!"

Kirito looked up in surprise. "Huh?"

But he couldn't see it, even as it appeared again, only to move behind another tree.

After all, Asuna had a higher viewpoint from his shoulders.

She leaned backwards, falling off of Kirito's back and landing on her feet.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, confused.

Asuna ducked behind him, peeking over his shoulder.

Her gaze sharpened, and she saw it again.

"I-it's over there!" she pointed.

"What are you talking about?" Kirito asked, slightly worried, before looking…and seeing exactly what she was talking about. "You've gotta be kidding!"

He had only made up that story to scare Asuna in revenge for making him carry her!

What were the chances there was an actual figure in white in the forest?!

The figure turned towards them slightly before falling backwards.

"Hold on…" Kirito muttered, before running straight towards it. "That's not a ghost!"

Asuna glanced up from where she was crouching. "Wait, Kirito! Oh, geez…"

And she followed.

A moment later, she saw what he meant.

Kirito was cradling a small girl, probably no older than ten, in his arms.

"It's another player!" Asuna gasped, looking at the cute child with long, straight black hair.

"Yeah. But there's something strange about her." Kirito murmured.

"What do you mean?" Asuna asked.

Kirito glanced at her. "She doesn't have a cursor."

Asuna glanced at the girl, who, like Kirito said, didn't have a cursor or health bar above her head. "Maybe it's some kind of bug."

"Yeah." Kirito glanced at the young girl. "Maybe it is."

"What's a little girl like this doing playing SAO?" Asuna wondered aloud.

After all, the minimum age was supposed to be 13.

Though Silica had been twelve when the game was launched, so obviously not everyone listened to that rule.

Asuna's eyes softened as she stood up. "I guess we'll find out when she wakes up. But we can't just leave her out here until she does. Let's take her home with us."

Kirito glanced at her, noting the decisiveness in her tone. "Yeah. Okay."

And with that he picked her up, and they made their way out of the forest.

Nico glanced at his menu log as it dinged, indicating that he'd received a message.

Nyx,

Have you heard anything about a missing child?

Female, young, long black hair, wearing a white dress?

-Kirito (and Asuna)

Nico blinked at the strange message before sighing in exasperation.

Weren't they supposed to be on their honeymoon?

He'd better go see what they'd gotten themselves into now.

Still…a missing child?

He quickly typed out his own message to Argo, noting that Kirito hadn't, and asked the same thing.

Two heads were better than one.

"Well." Kirito sighed as he and Asuna watched over the young girl, having put her in their bed. "One thing's for sure. She's not an NPC. I didn't have any trouble moving her here."

(AN: NPC stands for non-character player, a character generated by the game.)

"Yeah, that's true." Asuna said thoughtfully. "She can't be that. If she were, she would have given off a warning when you picked her up, like other NPC's."

Kirito nodded. "And she's definitely not a quest-giver, either."

Asuna looked at him.

"Our guest log would have been updated as soon as we interacted with her." Kirito continued. "She has to be a player. She's probably been out there for a while, wandering around, lost. That's the most likely scenario."

"Yeah, but what was she doing out there?" Asuna wondered.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Kirito replied. "But she has to have a parent or guardian out there, right?"

Asuna hummed in agreement. "She had to have logged on with someone from her family. I just hope they're safe."

She bit her lip, glancing at Kirito. "Hey…do you think she'll wake up?"

She scooted closer as he answered.

"Yeah. If her body hasn't disappeared, that means her body is still transmitting to and from her Nerve Gear." Kirito answered confidently. "She's in some kind of sleep mode."

"I'm sure she'll wake up soon." He said more quietly. "And the sooner the better."

"Yeah." Asuna agreed just as quietly.

That night, Asuna got up from the bed she and Kirito were now sleeping in, sitting next to the girl on the other.

'I wonder…did she log into SAO by herself?' she thought, cupping the girl's face gently with her right hand. 'Or with her family? Has she been alone here, all this time?'

She crawled into the bed next to the girl. "Sleep well. Please hurry and wake up tomorrow."

And then she fell asleep.

The next morning, Asuna woke up to find the girl staring at her with wide dark eyes, mouth open in surprise.

She sat up with a gasp. "K-Kirito! Wake up!"

Kirito sat up slowly from the other bed, rubbing at his eyes, voice sleepy as he responded. "Good morning. Something wrong?"

"Hurry!" she ushered him. "Get over here!"

Kirito gasped quietly, moving towards her quickly as he noticed what was going on.

"You woke up." Asuna said, relieved as she helped the girl sit up. "Thank goodness. Do you remember what happened to you?"

The girl was quiet for a long moment, before shaking her head no.

"Okay…" Asuna said, worried. "How about…your name?"

The girl frowned, and she spoke in a soft voice. "My—my name is…I think my name is…I think…Y-Yui."

Asuna and Kirito glanced at each other, slightly alarmed.

This girl could barely remember her name, and she wasn't even sure about it.

What had happened to her?

"Yui!" The girl said, more certain now as she looked up. "That's it. Yui."

"That's a cute name." Asuna smiled at her. "Nice to meet you! My name's Asuna. And this is Kirito."

The boy nodded at Yui with a smile.

"Uh…una…ki-to?" Yui tried to repeat.

Asuna smiled at the cuteness. "Try to remember…what were you doing in the forest? And do you know where your mom and dad are now?"

"I-I don't know." Yui answered, looking down at her lap. "I can't remember anything."

"Oh no…" Asuna said sadly.

Kirito frowned at the two girls, not sure how to cheer them up.

"Well, you're awake!" he said, sitting on the bed next to them. "Can I call you Yui?"

"Mhm." She nodded.

"Well, you can call me Kirito." He replied with a kind smile. "Can you say Kirito?"

Asuna idly thought that he sounded like one of those kids' shows, where the characters carefully sounded out the names of things to help their audience with pronunciation.

Huh.

"Ki-to?" Yui asked.

"It's Kirito." He repeated. "Ki-ri-to."

Yui frowned, concentrating, before perking up. "Ki-to."

He smiled, patting her on the head. "That's okay, maybe it's a little hard. How about you call me whatever's easier for you?"

Yui tilted her head, looking up at him with her big eyes that, oddly enough, looked like his. "Daddy."

"M-me?" Kirito asked in surprise, pointing to himself.

But Yui had already moved on, turning towards Asuna. "A'una is…mommy."

Asuna gasped a bit, putting a hand to her face.

Well, that was unexpected.

Kirito and Asuna blushed, turning red as they avoided each other's gazes.

Yui looked at Asuna pleadingly, not sure about her reaction, and Asuna's eyes softened.

"Okay. I'm mommy." She said with a slight smile. "That works."

Yui smiled for the first time, eye widening happily as she lunged to give Asuna a hug. "Mommy! Mommy! Daddy!"

Asuna laughed, picking the girl up. "You must be hungry. How about breakfast?"

"Okay." Yui agreed cheerfully.

Kirito smiled at the two girls.

His two girls, as it had apparently been decided.

Not that he minded.

When Nico arrived, it was to see his friends and Yui eating lunch, the couple's new 'daughter' trying to eat the same thing as her daddy, aka a spicy sandwich.

Yui's face contorted as she tasted it. "I like it."

"Wow, you've got an iron stomach!" Kirito said, patting her head. "We can have a full course of extra-spicy food tonight, if you want."

"Mhm!" she agreed cheerfully.

"Okay, let's not get carried away." Asuna said with a frown. "I'm not cooking anything nuclear."

"You heard the lady." Kirito said with a smile.

"You heard the lady?" Yui repeated.

Both of them laughed, and Asuna smiled at them softly.

"Interesting." Nico spoke up, causing all three of them to jump.

"Nyx!" Asuna said cheerfully after getting over her surprise. "Any news?"

He grimaced slightly, shaking his head. "Nothing's been reported. Sorry."

The two other teens frowned. "It's alright. We'll figure it out."

Yui walked towards Nico slowly, glancing between him and Kirito in confusion as she noticed the similarities in their appearance. "W-who-?"

Seeing that she was trying to figure out how to say what she wanted, Asuna smiled. "Yui, this is Nyx, a good friend of mommy and daddy's. Nyx, this is Yui!"

Nico raised an eyebrow in shock, staring between his two friends for a moment, before turning to the small girl, who was looking at him nervously.

Unconsciously, he smiled kindly. "Hello, Yui. It's nice to meet you."

He offered her his hand, which she shook happily with a beaming smile at him.

Asuna and Kirito glanced at him in surprise. There was a certain softness to that smile that they hadn't seen before.

They didn't know it, but Nico was remembering Hazel, his slightly younger (if you didn't count the fact that she'd been born first, he'd still been alive longer) sister.

And the innocence in her gaze reminded him of Chuck, Coach Hedge's son. Nico's godson.

"Ni!" Yui exclaimed, hugging him, causing the boy to stumble back in surprise before wrapping an arm around her to make sure she didn't fall."

"No, it's 'Nyx." Asuna smiled.

"Ni." The young girl insisted.

"I don't mind." Nico assured them.

He wondered, though.

The way she said 'Ni,' it was like she was starting to say Nico, not Nyx.

Or she could be trying to say '-nii,' which was the Japanese honorific for brother, but he wasn't sure that was why.

Was it a coincidence?

Or was there something more to it?

Please review! :)