Author's Note: I apologize for yet another long delay with the update of this story. I've been pretty busy this past week thanks to my online class. My instructor handed out a couple of pretty brutal assignments. Plus I've kind of been losing some of my drive to work on this story lately. But I fully intend to finish this thing one way or another. I may take a break to work on something else though. We'll see what happens.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Sword Art Online.


Chapter 11: Scars of the Mind

Though the evening had grown late, Anzu had decided to contact some of the old friends that she and the others had made in MWO to tell them about the Moonlit Black Cats. The players she had contacted were Klein, Agil, Silica, and Lisbeth. Besides Asuna, those players had been the ones closest to Kirito before he had joined the Warriors of Unity guild. After contacting everyone, Anzu went with Joey and Honda to meet the group at a bar owned by Agil known as the Dicey Café. Once everyone had gathered, Anzu had told them about the horrible tragedy of the Moonlit Black Cats, and how Bakura had just used NPCs modeled after the fallen guild to attack Kirito. Klein and the others were simply stunned by this revelation.

"Okay, okay." Lisbeth began as she tried processing what she had just learned. "So let me get this straight, the freak that was really behind MWO also killed a small guild that Kirito was once a part of. And now that same psycho just used NPCs he based on those people as the boss for the dungeon you guys just cleared?"

"That's right." Anzu confirmed. "We had always wondered why Kirito hated the other Bakura so much. Kirito actually tried to kill Bakura after the fist battle we fought together in MWO."

"But why did Bakura go after Kirito's friends in the first place?" the young girl known as Silica asked.

"Back then, Bakura tried using Kirito to kill Yugi for him." Joey explained. "Bakura wanted Kirito to hate him so much that he'd go through Yugi and the rest of us to get him."

"That son of bitch!" Klein cursed as he slammed his shot glass onto the table.

"Hey! You mind not breaking my stuff?" Agil requested.

"Sorry." Klein responded with a heavy sigh.

"So I guess none of you guys new about this old guild of Kirito's either." Honda deduced.

"This is the first we've heard about it." Agil calmly replied before taking a sip from his own glass. "But that kind thing is hard for anyone to talk about. Plus you guys know what a loaner Kirito was in the early days of MWO."

"So I guess the only person who really knew anything about this was Asuna." Anzu observed.

"I… might have known something about it too." Klein admitted. "One night my guys and I were out training to keep our levels up. I ran into Kirito that night. It looked like he was out doing the same thing. While I was talking to him, I noticed that he had a guild icon by his HP gauge. I didn't ask him about it though. But considering what happened, maybe I should've. Maybe I could've done something to keep it from happening."

"So what're you guys gonna do about this thing going on with ALO?" Agil asked Anzu, Joey, and Honda.

"What can we do?" Joey replied. "Our only option is to keep fighting until we beat Bakura."

"I don't think we really have a chance at this point though." Honda pointed out. "Kaiba's planning to pull the plug on the game after tomorrow. And we still have three keys left to find, plus we have to get the rest of the keys from the salamanders. I don't see how we can get all that done in one day."

"Well, maybe I can help out with that a little." Agil spoke as he got up from the table and went behind the bar. "I think I got an idea about how we can end this thing tomorrow."

"How the heck are you gonna do that?" Joey asked.

"Trust me, I've got it covered." Agil replied with a grin. "You guys just go home and get some rest. Tomorrow's still gonna be a long day."

"I guess we should get going." Anzu agrees as she and the others got to their feet. "We'll see you guys later."


Kirito awoke to find himself in Asuna's bedroom. It took a moment for his just woken up brain to recall that he had ended up spending the night there. He couldn't go home after experiencing the shock of having to fight NPCs that were twisted undead versions of the Moonlit Black Cats, the guild he had failed to protect. That battle had opened up old wounds that had still not healed for Kirito. He thought that perhaps they would never fully heal.

After getting dressed, Kirito went downstairs and followed his nose to the mansion's kitchen. He found Asuna at work preparing breakfast.

Asuna turned and quickly noticed Kirito. "Oh. Good morning."

"Hey." Kirito greeted back. "Aren't your parents home?"

"They already left for work." Asuna answered. "How are you doing? Feeling any better?"

"Some." Kirito replied. "Whatever you're cooking smells good."

"It'll be done in just a couple minutes." Asuna informed him. "Why don't you go wait in the dining room and I'll bring it out."

Kirito followed Asuna's instructions and went to the dining room to sit at the table. Soon after, Asuna brought out the food and they ate in silence. With breakfast finished, the two of them put their empty plates in the kitchen and went to another room to sit on the couch.

"You know… you never talk about them much." Asuna finally spoke. "Your old guild, I mean. I know it must be hard to talk about them, but I'm curious to know what they were like."

"…They were a fun bunch of people to be around." Kirito answered after a moment. "Before MWO began, they were just a group of friends that were part of the same computer club in high school. Back then, it just felt good to be part of a group of friends, even though I was keeping my true level a secret from them."

"There was one person in that guild who was extra special to you, wasn't there?" Asuna asked.

"Asuna, what…?" Kirito began ask.

"Don't worry, I'm not asking because I'm jealous or anything." Asuna assured him. "I knew from the beginning that I probably wasn't the first. So… what was she like?"

"…Her name was Sachi." Kirito finally began. "She was very kind and also pretty shy, not the kind of person who was cut out for a game like MWO. Sachi was always so scared of getting killed in the game. I did everything I could to protect her… but in the end it wasn't enough."

"Her death wasn't your fault, Kazuto." Asuna told him. "Bakura was the one who killed Sachi. You did everything you could, but in the end there was probably nothing you could do."

"I might've been able to save her if I was stronger than." Kirito insisted as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Maybe, maybe not." Asuna told him. "Either way, we'll never know for sure. So it won't do you any good to dwell on it."

"Yeah… I guess you're right." Kirito admitted.

Asuna cuddled up closer to Kirito. "I know how strong you are, Kazuto. Whatever happens, whatever we go up against, I'll always believe in you no matter what."

It wasn't long before the two of them became locked in a passionate kiss. Asuna ended up pushing Kirito onto his back on the couch.


Anzu headed back from the convenience store near her place carrying a bag containing a carton of milk and some energy bars. She wanted to get a few previsions before logging back into ALO, not that they would do her much good in a virtual world. But the items would give her a bit of a recharge after she left the game. During the whole walk, Anzu couldn't help but reflect on how hopeless everything seemed. There just seemed to be no way that they could save Sugu and the trapped players from MWO before Kaiba's deadline, and Anzu had no idea what Agil was going to do to try and help.

"Hey, Mazaki." A familiar voice called. Anzu turned around and saw Ember walking up to her. "Got a minute?"

"What do you want?" Anzu asked. "Don't tell me you're going to try and talk me into handing over the keys to you in ALO."

"I wanna talk to you about those goblins we had a run in with yesterday." Ember explained. "You and everyone else in starhead's gang seem to know what's really going on with them."

"Why do you want to know?" Anzu asked.

"That one goblin who called herself Kyra… she looked like someone I knew." Ember explained. "So I have to ask, are those goblins just NPCs or are they actual players?"

"…They are." Anzu finally answered. "They're actually the players from MWO who never woke up."

Ember's right hand clenched into a fist at her side. "I knew it. You better tell me everything about what's happened to those players."

"Some of it's a little hard to explain." Anzu told her. "In fact I'm pretty sure you won't believe some of it. For starters, those players from MWO didn't wake up because an executive at Kaiba Corp wanted to use them for some kind of experiment."

"Are you serious?" Ember exclaimed.

"Yeah, but that man died not too long ago." Anzu continued. "Do you remember Ryo Bakura from school?"

"You mean that white-haired simp that a lot of the girls seemed to go crazy for?" Ember recalled. "What's he got to do with all this?"

"This is where things get complicated." Anzu told her. "Bakura has another personality, an evil one. It's that personality who was the one really behind the MWO incident. He also killed the Kaiba Corp executive who was conducting the experiment and took over ALO. After that, he sort of brainwashed the MWO players to act as his goblin army."

"You know… some of that story is hard to believe." Ember admitted. "Still, I totally buy it."

"So is Kyra actually a friend of yours?" Anzu asked.

"Her real name's Kato." Ember answered as a sad expression came to her face. "And she's actually very special to me. She went to a different school than we did. One of her friends there convinced her to give MWO a try. Kato tried to get me to play too, but back then online games weren't really my thing. I never thought that a game like that could put her in the hospital or kill her."

"Why did you start playing ALO?" Anzu asked.

"Hell if I know." Ember replied. "Maybe I just wanted to find out about the kind of world that took Kato from me. But I got into it pretty quickly. Playing ALO has helped me tune out the pain of losing Kato. Just a little bit anyway."

"Guess that explains why you take the game so seriously." Anzu observed.

"…I've already figured out that if those goblins die in the game, the people playing them in the real world." Ember told her. "So tell me this, Mazaki. What are you and starhead going to do to get Kato and the others out of there?"

"The only way to save those players is to get to the top of the World Tree and beat Bakura." Anzu explained. "And we don't have a lot of time to do it. Kaiba plans to pull the plug on the game tomorrow. If that happens…"

"That rich bastard." Ember cursed through gritted teeth before Anzu could finish her sentence. "Okay Mazaki, I'm gonna make it easy for all of us save Kato and the others. You and your friends hand over your keys to me in the game and I'll lead an army to the top of the tree and kill that son of a bitch, Bakura myself."

"It's not that easy, Rika." Anzu told her. "Bakura is very power. Yugi and the rest of us were barely able to beat him in MWO. Why don't we just work together? You can get us the keys in the hands of the salamanders and we can get to the top of the tree together."

"Are you out of your damn mind?" Ember told her. "There's no way in hell that I'd just hand over the keys to you guys! If I do that, the salamanders lose out on getting the ultimate prize!"

"There is no prize!" Anzu told her. "That was just a trick Bakura used to get all the other players in the game to work against us! What's more important to you? Saving Kato's life or winning some game?"

Ember looked like she was about to argue, but no words came out of her mouth. Instead she just turned on her heel and stormed off. Anzu continued on her way home, wondering if Ember would still be a problem once she and the others logged back into the game.


Kirito and Asuna logged back into ALO together and materialized inside their room at the inn they had last logged out from. Yui was in the room waiting for them in her human form.

"Daddy, are you feeling okay now?" Yui asked Kirito with a look of concern.

"I'm fine now, Yui. Don't worry." Kirito assured her as he rubbed the top of her head. "Now we should get going. Yugi and the others are probably downstairs waiting for us."

Yui nodded and turned into her pixie form before flying up to sit atop Kirito's shoulder. By the time they reached the lobby they found Yugi and the rest of the team waiting for them by the door.

"You guys ready to go?" Joey asked them.

"Ready whenever you guys are." Asuna replied.

"Kirito, might I have a word with you alone before we head out?" Yugi requested.

"Sure." Kirito agreed.

Yui flew off and went to sit on Asuna's shoulder to give Kirito and Yugi some privacy. The rest of the team then exited the inn to wait for the two of them outside.

"So what's up?" Kirito asked.

"I wanted to know how you're doing since the incident in the last dungeon." Yugi explained.

"I'm better than I was." Kirito replied.

"That's good to hear." Yugi told him. "I also feel like I need to apologize. Bakura was coming after me in MWO. You, Asuna, and everyone else involved in MWO was caught in the crossfire. If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't have had to experience the kind of suffering you did. And so many people would still be alive today."

"You can't blame yourself for all of that." Kirito told him. "Everything that happened in that game was because of Bakura."

"Even so, I still feel like I should've done more to prevent all that suffering and death." Yugi insisted.

"I don't think there's anything you could've done to have kept that death game from getting as bloody as it did." Kirito told him. "…Just like there was probably never anything I could've done to save my old guild. Either way, it's like Asuna told me this morning. Blaming ourselves for what happened isn't going to do us any good."

"Yes… you're right." Yugi agreed. "Right now we have to keep going and stop Bakura. Otherwise we'll never be able to free all those he's holding prisoner."

"Then let's get going." Kirito decided. "I think we've kept the others waiting long enough."

By the time Kirito and Yugi got outside, they found more than just the rest of the team waiting for them. Klein, Agil, Lisbeth, and Silica were waiting for them as well. Each of the four seemed to be a different type of fairy. Silica had gained a pair of brown cat-like ears, indicating that she was a cait sith. Perched on Silica's shoulder was her small blue dragon from MWO, Pina.

"Klein, Agil. What're all of you guys doing here?" a surprised Kirito asked.

"Hey man. Anzu, Joey, and Honda told us all a little about what's been going on last night." Agil explained. "So we decided to help out."

Lisbeth walked up to Kirito and held out her right hand to reveal three large gold keys. "We spent a good chunk of the night getting these."

"These are the final three keys." Kirito realized. "You guys really got all of them last night?"

"Well, we had a little help." Klein admitted. "Agil contacted all his gaming buddies who've been playing this game and told them about what's really going on."

"By now, word of what Bakura's been up to should've spread to every player in the game." Agil added.

"Now we just need to figure out how to get the remaining three keys from the salamanders." Anzu observed.

"Uh, we may not have long to figure out how." Honda told them as he pointed up at the sky.

The rest of the group looked and saw a large group of salamanders descending towards the town. Kirito and the others quickly noticed that Ember was among them. The one who seemed to be leading the large squad was a rather imposing-looking man with spiked red hair and a strong chin. He was well muscled and clad in red armor with gold trim.

"Hey Yugi, who's that guy leading the salamanders?" Joey asked.

"That's General Eugene, the top commander in the salamander army." Yugi answered. "Many consider him to be the strongest player in the game."

The squad landed in the middle of the road before the group. Eugene stepped forward and approached Yugi, prompting Kirito and the others to reach for their weapons.

"It's been awhile, General Yugi." Eugene spoke. "I heard that you've been working with a rather interesting band of fighters."

"Why have you come, Eugene?" Yugi asked. "If it's for the keys, I'm afraid my friends and I won't hand them over to you without a fight."

"I have no doubt about that." Eugene replied with a smirk. "If it were to come to that, you and your friends wouldn't stand a chance against me and my men."

"Don't be so sure." Yugi told him. "If we do battle, I have complete faith that my friends and I can defeat you."

"Seems like you're as confident as ever." Eugene observed. "Lucky for you, I didn't come here for a fight. I came here to give you these." With that, he presented Yugi with the remaining keys.

"Not to sound ungrateful, but why are you suddenly handing these over?" Yugi asked.

"Everyone now knows the truth behind the Goblin King's challenge." Eugene explained. "I myself don't entirely believe that the stakes are so high, but my brother thinks differently. He and the other eight leaders have already formed a temporary alliance to raid the tree. As we speak, all of the game's strongest players are flocking to the tree's base. You and I are to lead the attack."

"Very well." Yugi agreed. "Then let's be off! Together we shall take down Bakura and end this madness once and for all!"


Author's Note: Sorry if this wasn't the most exciting chapter in the story. I wanted to do something that took a break from all the battles. Originally I was going to have the conversation between Kirito and Yugi near the end of this chapter take place in the real world. But I decided that it would be more practical to have it take place in ALO.

Please review and let me know what you think.