A/N: Hello all, and sorry for the wait! My AP tests started on the first day with Chemistry, and ended with Macroeconomics, resulting in a massively drawn out bit of testing. However, I'm all finished with those now, so updates should start to trickle in again. Now, I know that I talked about killing off the Black Cats like in the cannon storyline, but I've realized that doing so would have been worse than counterproductive to Asuna's mental state. Thinking back on it, I have no idea how watching her friends die would've possibly been good for her. That's why I'm keeping them alive (at least for now). Once again, please leave behind a review about how you feel this chapter went! Your reviews are why I write!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything here


Chapter 11: Confronting Shadows

Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 6. Farmland Fields. D+151

He was close. Very close. Here, he was in his element. Combat was his element, and he thrived upon it. Gliding forward, Kirito inched closer toward his goal. Silently, suddenly, a short knife slid into his hand. Keeping an eye on his the group a few hundred meters away, Kirito's knife went up and around as he flung it at the unfortunate Bandit in front of him. The only warning the bandit had was a slight hissing noise before it simply ceased to exist, victim of a perfect, unguided critical hit straight into its spinal column.

Straightening from his crouch, Kirito noted yet another critical area for Aincrad's humanoid mobs.

"Wow! How did you do that? I didn't even see that sword skill's glow!"

Kirito shifted uncomfortably as he turned to face the leader of the group calling themselves the Moonlit Black Cats. While he was very thankful for their influence on Asuna, Kirito found their near worship of his abilities extremely disconcerting and uncomfortable.

Taking a moment to recall the speaker's name, Kirito tried to explain the process behind his attacks. "Honestly, it's not that much. As I've mentioned before, using Sword Skills in the later stages of the game is more detrimental than helpful. Instead, you just have to recognize and target the different critical points on the mob you're attacking with regular hits."

Unfortunately, it was not enough to satisfy the energetic leader of the Black Cats, and Kirito was soon swarmed by the rest of the group; each seeking tips to improve their own combat performances.

Struggling to maintain his composure and dignity, Kirito's eyes gazed wildly around him for an escape route. Finding none, his eyes locked onto Asuna as he tried to mentally convey his plea to her. Help me!

All activity stopped and everyone turned to stare at Asuna as she burst into laughter. For Kirito, it had been months since he'd seen her so carefree. For the rest of the group, it was the first time they'd seen her do more than smile.

Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 6. Farmland Fields. D+151

"Ah, sorry, i-it's just that Kirito-kun looked so lost when you were crowding around him! It's the most flustered I'd ever seen him get!" Her laughter died down as she noticed everyone staring at her. "W-what? "

"You just laughed. You just laughed!" Ducker, the scout of the group, gave a cheer as he continued to look at her in delight. "After being serious for so long, I'd begun to think that you were physically incapable of laughing!"

Asuna blushed as she tried to defend herself. "I'm perfectly capable of laughing!" seeing everyone's incredulous stares, she turned to Kirito for support. "Tell them! I've laughed plenty of times!"

Kirito merely shrugged innocently. "I am not at liberty to divulge that information."

Asuna's hand itched to reach for the rapier safely stowed in her inventory. "Hmph!" Struggling to salvage what pride she had left, Asuna rose to her feet and began to walk back to the inn.

"And where are you going? We still have an hour to burn before heading back!"

Realizing that Kirito was right, Asuna spun around to see his eyes gleaming with suppressed humor.

Thinking desperately, Asuna blurted out the first excuse that came to her mind. "I-I'm not going back! I've just been too bored sitting here, so I want to do some leveling as well!"

Noticing an inconsistency, Ducker opened his mouth to ask how Asuna had been feeling bored when she had been laughing a few minutes ago. However, Kirito beat him to it. Just as the question left his mouth, the wind was knocked out of him as an elbow suddenly jabbed itself into his gut.

Pretending that he hadn't just elbowed Ducker, Kirito casually spoke out again. "And how do you plan on farming these mobs? By strangling them with your bare hands? You're more violent than I thought."

Asuna cursed herself as she realized how she'd been neatly driven into a corner. Recently, as she slowly regained her shattered confidence, she had been trying to stay out of combat, fearing a relapse from the suppressed emotions tied with her rapier.

Not for the first time, Asuna found herself marveling at Kirito's ability to exploit even the slightest mistakes. She'd seen it countless times before in Kirito's physical duels and battles, but his verbal dueling skills were just as deadly. However, all the admiration in the world wouldn't save her from her current predicament, as her thoughts and pride struggled against each other.

It didn't take long before her pride won out, and Asuna slowly reached for her inventory menu with trembling hands. Hesitating briefly above her rapier's icon, Asuna took a deep breath and tapped the button. What could possibly go wrong? It's been a long time since that event.

As the blade landed in Asuna's waiting palm, a brief flash of panic flashed through her eyes, before it was replaced by determination. Her eyes flickered up to meet Kirito's gaze challengingly.

Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 6. Farmland Fields. D+151

Pride coursed through him as Kirito watched Asuna pressing the limits of her mental endurance. He'd taken a gamble when he goaded her to take up arms again, and it appeared that his gamble had paid off.

Carefully wiping all vestiges of pride and happiness off his face, Kirito swept his arms back in a mocking gesture. "Congratulations on equipping your weapon! You're free to farm all the mobs you want in this field right now!"

Kirito's heart clenched as panic spread across Asuna's face again. For a moment, he wondered if it would be best to retract his statements and call it a victory for the day. However, he discarded the notion immediately. Asuna would not thank him for taking pity on her, and Kirito had full confidence that Asuna was ready to return to the front lines again. He only needed to make Asuna realize it as well.

Keeping still, Kirito watched as Asuna determinedly marched up to a bandit. Asuna's rapier glowed faintly as she moved to the first position of her standard sword skill barrage. Then, it was out of Asuna's hands as the system took over, guiding her strikes onto target, causing the bandit to howl in pain and rage.

As the mob turned around, Asuna hesitated for a split second, obviously recalling the face of the PKer she'd killed. The hesitation was all that the bandit needed to kick Asuna away and gain the upper hand.

Asuna, Aincrad: Floor 6. Farmland Fields. D+151

Landing painfully on her back, Asuna saw Ducker run forward to help, only to be stopped by Kirito. Silently, she thanked both of them. While Ducker's intentions were good, Asuna realized that she needed to confront her own ghosts by herself.

Clutching the rapier in her hand, Asuna quickly scrambled to her feet. Instantly, she was rolling away from the bandit's strike as it came down from above. Backpedaling to gain some breathing space, Asuna tried to calm her breathing down. Regaining her stance, Asuna's blade glowed with energy as she targeted the bandit with the next sword skill in her sequence. Again, the bandit's face morphed into the face of the player she killed, and Asuna hesitated, desperately trying not to scream and throw her weapon away.

Asuna was unable to fight back as her hesitation allowed the bandit to get in close, crowding her and preventing her from starting the chain of lightning-quick, piercing attacks on her enemy. Narrowly avoiding the deadly blade, Asuna stumbled back. Blindly, she swung out again, parrying another strike more by luck than skill.

Jumping backwards again, Asuna prepared to defend herself again from the bandit's onslaught. It never came, as her lack of action caused the mob to loose agro. Instead, the bandit's programming directed it to what the system deemed as a higher priority threat in the party.

That target just happened to be Ducker, who had drawn his knife out in his initial rush to help Asuna. Unfortunately for him, the bandit was the last thing on Ducker's mind as he was arguing furiously with Kirito about staying back from the fight.

Kirito, being distracted by the argument as well, saw the incoming danger too late. Nevertheless, he reached out, shoving the smaller boy aside.

Asuna could only watch in horror as the bandit's blade descended. Kirito's movement had been too little, too late, and the bandit's blade was on its way to bisecting Ducker in half.

Again, the image of the PKer she'd killed flashed before her eyes. But this time, Asuna felt no fear, no pity, no guilt.

How dare he attack her friends? Why should she feel guilty about his death? He'd been trying to kill her for god's sake! Now, he was trying to kill her friends!

Taking off at a full sprint, Asuna felt her veins bubbling with anger; her rapier glowed with righteous anger as she brought her arm back. This time, there was no hesitation as her blade pierced the bandit's throat. Again, her blade flashed through the air, skewering the bandit's torso before the game had even registered her first hit. In moments, the bandit was floating through the air, shattered polygons shimmering one last time in the setting sun's rays.

Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 6. Hillside Inn. D+151

"You know, I never expected you to get over your ordeal so suddenly." Kirito was still marveling at Asuna's performance during the day. Lying down on the floor, Kirito went over his usual nighttime ritual of checking his weapons and placing them in easily accessible locations around him.

Asuna's reply came quickly. "I just found my reason for killing him. By the way, you were right about it not getting easier. But at least I can look back on my actions without regrets now. Anyways, you should get some sleep. I want to catch up to the clearing group as soon as possible."

Satisfied, Kirito laid back and closed his eyes. However, one issue still bothered him. Opening his eyes again, he talked into the darkness. "I should apologize for the past months as well."

"Hmm?" A dark silhouette rose from the bed and gazed down at him.

"Right after that… incident, I sort of left you by yourself. At the time, I thought it would be best for you to work through it by yourself. However, I can see that I was wrong by looking at how you've changed in the past weeks."

A soft laugh came from Asuna. "Oh, that's what you're worried about now? It's fine. You did what you felt was best for me at the time, and that's what matters. Now, get some sleep, we're going to start early tomorrow."

Kirito, Unknown Location. ?. D+?

Around him, the world was pure darkness. A rapid, urgent whine filled his ears as Kirito tried fruitlessly to gather his bearings. Forcing his eyes open, Kirito found himself staring up at Asuna's worried face.

"Come on! Get up! This boss is nearly impossible to kill! We're retreating for now!"

Staggering to his feet, Kirito made enough sense of Asuna's words to grab her hand and run for the exit. Strangely, the entrance to the boss room was a blinding white, more like a portal than a door. However, Kirito didn't give it any thought as he leapt through, landing heavily onto the ground.

Smoke washed around him as he got to his feet again. However, his period of rest was short as screams rose up from the group. Beside him, Asuna's eyes were wide in terror as she gazed at something behind him.

"Impossible! The boss never leaves the boss room!"

Kirito spun around as he felt a presence behind him. He could only gaze in horror at the "boss" as everyone around him ran away in panic.

Leaping away, Kirito just managed to avoid the massive shockwave of the eight-foot hammer as it smashed into the ground where he'd been standing. Automatically, his hand reached for his weapon. He was too late, as a massive, gorilla-like hand wrapped itself around his throat, lifting him with the strength of a Spartan from the ground.

Instead of fighting as he normally would, Kirito was frozen in place by the horrifyingly familiar ape-like head of a Jiralhanae Chieftain before him.

"Demon! Embrace your fate, and rest within my tomb!"

Kirito felt physically sick as his nose discovered the stench of rotting flesh, repurposed for use long after the original owners had died. Hopelessly, he could only relive the subjects of his nightmares as two infection forms slithered out of the portal.

"Interesting! Simply fascinating!"

Kirito's head snapped around to see a monitor of all things, floating beside him.

Gritting his teeth, Kirito tried to get the forerunner AI's attention.

"C-Can you not see the Flood infestation? Do your job and contain it!" Kirito hissed out of clenched teeth.

"Amazing! To think that such a trove of inspiration exists within the mind!" the AI continued to ramble on, paying no attention to Kirito.

Immobilized by the Brute, Kirito cringed when he felt the cold flesh of an infection form climbing up onto his head. The feelers of the infection form brushed against his scalp, and a cold spike reached down to rest above his spinal cord.

Across from him, the second Flood form was doing the same to the Brute, though the Jiralhanae leader seemed to welcome the carrier.

Gritting his teeth, Kirito used all of his strength to yell at the AI. "Hey Lightbulb! Pull your damn head out of rampancy and do what you were programmed to do! There's a flood outbreak occurring right in front of you! Contain it!"

As the monitor turned to face him, the infection form stabbed the spike into his neck. Through his fading vision, Kirito could see the single, sinister red "eye" of the forerunner AI.

"Ah, but I am doing what I was programmed to do. I am gathering ideas for the next rounds! Is that not right, Subject A-00103?"

Kirito, Aincrad: Floor 6. Hillside Inn. D+152

Kirito sat up with a jolt, In his hand, the gleaming blade of a short dagger was positioned ready for stabbing or blocking, whichever came first.

Kirito's eyes scanned wildly around the room, searching for an intruder; his heart pounded in his chest, while adrenaline sped through his veins. Even with the reaction times of a Spartan, Kirito only managed to catch a glimpse of a glowing gold diamond as it disappeared. The diamond withdrew immediately upon Kirito's awakening, fast enough to be discounted as a trick of his mind. However, Kirito could've sworn that he saw the diamond flash red right at the very end.