Dedicating this to my uncle, who just passed away. I'm really gonna miss him so much...although somewhere up there he's probably cursing that he still has a nephew who can't speak German right.
So here it is, the final chapter of ALO arc. I won't say much until the end of this chapter and damn, I've done my best here. This is probably the longest chapter I've written so far with a whopping 15 pages minus the author notes. And the most times I've used CAPS LOCK in one chapter...well, there are lots of yelling in this chapter. Did you expect them to not yell at all? Also lots of italics as well...yep lots of thinking and mysterious voices talking.
EDIT: I got a huge typo somewhere in middle and my good friend Koneko saw it. Had she not spotted that, well, some reader that doesn't like my story would be laughing to themselves. And Zaaze, I didn't even know you share my story to other people. I don't even check how many people read this, just those that faved/followed it...because I actually can see them numbers in my profile, which I check occasionally.
«Floor Twenty-Three: Finale, pt. 2 - Away Into Reality»
"Hello, everyone," Ivan greeted them, as he stepped forward into the room. "Long time no see, you two." Rather than the reddish coat he wore, it was a long, black hooded cloak. His white scarf remained the same as it were.
Ludwig pointed his sword at Ivan with narrowed eyes. "Keep away from Kiku," he warned him. "I may be underleveled than you, but that doesn't mean I won't hold back."
"Oh?" Ivan asked, suddenly intrigued at the challenge. "Even with your friend Arthur fighting beside you, even without magic..." He reached out his right arm in front of him and a large silver scythe appeared just as he was about to close his hand into a fist. Then he held the scythe behind him into a fighting pose, with the curved blade pointing up. "You won't make it out alive."
"Fine, then," Arthur replied, shifting into a defensive stance. "We're going to have to wake you up, Ivan. Let's settle this without any magic, just swords and scythe. And just to warn you, it will hurt."
"We'll see about that."
And with one swoop of his scythe, Ivan knocked everyone off their feet, including Ludwig and Arthur.
"Guh!" Arthur grunted, when he felt the impact of Ivan's attack. It didn't help when he was pushed back into Feliciano and Matt, in which he quickly stood up; Ludwig was knocked back to Yao and Kiku. "I'm sorry, you two."
But before Ludwig and Arthur could stand up, Ivan was already coming down from above ready to make another attack. For a moment Ludwig saw a glance of Ivan's psychotic smile behind his scarf, before he raised his sword to block the attack.
"You're not going to lay a hand on anyone of them!" he yelled at him. Then he pushed Ivan back across the room while he stood up and shifted his position into an aggressive position.
Just in time, Arthur joined beside Ludwig, his sword raised. "You're not going to defeat him alone," he said.
"Let's go" was Ludwig's only reply.
For what felt like an hour, Ludwig and Arthur were exhausted, yet Ivan remained unscathed, as if the two's attacks were just a scratch and not a sliver of health reduced from him. Even with some of their sword skills they learned from SAO, as well as a few of Kirito's high-levelled skills from SAO he taught both of them, didn't affect Ivan at all. It didn't help much when the entire fight was Ivan trying to land an attack on the four who are defenceless and whom the two countries are trying to defend, while Kiku and the others watched from behind, uncertain on whether they get attacked or not.
"Hey, Kiku," Arthur called out from the front lines. "I know you guys are huddled in fear behind me and Ludwig, but at least try to help us out!"
When Ivan heard this, he shifted his position by placing his scythe behind him. "Are both of you exhausted now?" he challenged them. "From the outside, we've been fighting for five minutes. That doesn't sound long enough, don't you think?"
"Shut up, you monster," Ludwig answered him. "As long as Arthur and I are between you and the others, we'll make sure they won't get harmed, especially Kiku."
Ivan smiled. "What, you saw it?" he asked, referring to what Ludwig found on Kiku. "Do you want me to tell you what I did to him?"
Outraged, Ludwig's eyes quickly filled up with tears and with a roar, he rushed at Ivan and raised his sword at him. His thoughts filled with flashes of images of Ivan hovering above Kiku, imagining all of those things as he tried to attack Ivan. He saw Kiku's helpless face screaming in silence while his eyes streamed with tears that didn't come out, then Ivan's hands all over him, his lips trailing about on his skin and...Ludwig shook his head and focused on trying deal some damage. He realised that he didn't hear Ivan's "story" of what he had done to Kiku, but based on the anger in Arthur's eyes when he returned into battle, it could've been worse than he imagined.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Arthur roared, with each word meant an attempt to land an attack. "HOW DARE YOU LAY YOUR HANDS ON YOUR FRIEND LIKE THAT?!"
"You always yell when you're mad, aren't you?" Ivan wondered, rather irritated as he blocked his attacks with ease with his scythe. "Tranquil fury is a much better way to show your anger. It's less noticeable that way." Then he swerved to his right and slid behind Arthur to attack him, in which it was blocked by Ludwig who saw it and reacted. "Oh?" He was a little surprised that Ludwig detected his move.
"I don't think you'll like it when you see me angry," Ludwig chided, smirking. "And it's not the usual "shut up" yell either. It's more than that."
"I don't think I'll see any difference for you. You're always angry, no matter what."
"Alright, that's it, you've done and said enough!" Then he used «Cascade», which is an overhead slash, to silence Ivan, but Ivan blocked it without shifting his position and used another swipe of his scythe to give himself some room. But that didn't stop the two from rushing towards him again.
"Hey, Ivan!" Arthur called out, as he used «Vertical Arc». "I know the one we're fighting for isn't the real you, but wherever you are in there, you've got to fight back against whatever this thing is controlling you! We can't do this alone!"
"Arthur's right," Ludwig agreed, using «Sharp Nail» to counter. "Kiku told us himself and we trust that he's telling the truth, so please, Ivan, just wake up!"
"Wake up!" Arthur pleaded.
"And fight back!" Ludwig finished.
With each attack, both of them said the same thing, hoping that Ivan will hear their voices.
…
Meanwhile, in a dark place, a young man lay helplessly. His outfit was similar to the one outside, but more shabby and torn. When he heard voices somewhere above him, he slowly opened his eyes.
"What?" he asked himself. "Am I hearing things?"
"Wake up, Ivan!" a voice yelled out.
"We can't fight him alone without you!" another voice added.
Wait...they sound familiar he thought. Then once he found out who they belonged to, he stood up and glanced around for something. But before he could do so, he saw a dark hooded figure ahead of him.
So...You've finally decided to resist me it said with a cheerful tone. Those friends really are trying their best to get rid of me, aren't they? They know the one they're clashing with isn't you…Have you seen their faces when I told them what I did to your friend?
"I bet they're the same as mine when I had to deal with it the first time," he answered. He looked at his hands. "Looking down on my friend going through all that...and it's not just one time either; it made me feel nauseated just seeing myself doing all these things to him. It didn't help when I couldn't turn away from it, just watching those eyes flowing with tears and hearing him scream." He clenched his fists as his eyes filled up with tears. "WHY DID YOU IT?"
Do you really need an answer to that? You know exactly why…
"Unfortunately, I don't know."
Yes, you do know...Why did you think you were moved out of that game in the first place? Did you think that hacking attack on your other friends outside was just a random data breach? You know why…
Once he realised this, Ivan gasped in horror. "You wanted to kill them off!" he shouted.
Now, now, calm down...It's more like complicate things between you and your friends a little bit. They never trusted you because they couldn't tell what you're going to do next. If you remember that time when you and that American competed against each other to see who can own those weapons enough to blow up Earth, you won't surprised to see it happen again. Why not just make them turn against you and see just how wrong they are?
"Even if I couldn't agree on some of the things, they're still my friends!"
Even if they have to feel suspicious on what you do and portray you as the villain?
"I'm not one, unlike you! I am me, no one else!"
Alright, I guess I should tell you why for real...It amused me.
Ivan blinked in surprise. "What?" he asked, stunned. "What did you say?"
It amused me.
"No, it can't be true."
No...it's true. And seeing you stunned at that, it made me even more entertained. That's exactly what your friends looked like when I told them! And I can still remember it…
"Shut up," Ivan interrupted, his head bowed down. "Out of all the enemies I've made in the past, you may be the worst one I'm going to deal with." Then out of nowhere, a large silver scythe appeared beside him and with one hand, he took hold of it by its handle. "LET'S END THIS NOW!"
Without a word, the dark figure also summoned his scythe, which is also silver.
We'll see about that...My other self.
Back in the US, Alfred had just finished the codes concerning the hacking attack. He had to sacrifice sleep and food, but not so much for water, in order to decode the one responsible for the attack. Francis still watched over the others who remained asleep until now, asking the nurses and doctors about their condition. Still, he is just as worried as Alfred on whether Ludwig and Arthur managed to find the others along with Kiku and Ivan.
"You know, I didn't expect that things would turn out this way," Francis said, as Alfred was almost finished with the codes. He was sitting beside Matthew's bed, which is closer to the window.
Alfred nodded as he continued typing in his laptop, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Yeah," he agreed. "At first I thought we're just going to save Kiku from the death game, but now…"
"We've experienced Error's return, half of our friends in a coma and nearly died, Kiku almost beaten to death somewhere, Ivan being controlled by something and a hacking attack that could have involved Ivan. All within a span of a year. I never thought once before we dove into SAO that we would get into something we knew nothing about at first, but now we do."
"If SAO didn't exist, none of this would've happened. And our world meetings would go as usual."
"True." Francis gazed at the window across the room. "Let's just hope after all this that everything goes back to normal. That our meetings would have everyone attending, even if Matthew goes back into his usual self."
"I hope so, too."
It was then that Alfred found out that Ivan was indeed involved with the hacking against Yao and the others. But although Ivan was part of it, after a rough translation of the codes from Russian into English, it didn't look like he intended it…
He was forced into doing it he thought. He thought of a way to make to compress the information and convert into a disguised game data so it can be sent to Kiku, which would include more hacking to add. Assuming that Ludwig and Arthur are fighting Ivan right now, I think Kiku should know about this. I really don't think the one they're fighting is Ivan, but a replica of him. And the real one is hidden away...maybe trying to fight back as well. Without a word, once he added some more codes, he sent it away to Kiku.
Admit it, you're going to lose against me the dark figure taunted Ivan, as they fought on. You should've just gone alone in that game instead of being with your friends.
"The one who is going to lose here is you!" Ivan yelled back, quickly blocking an attack from the figure. "And I'm going to make sure you don't ever come back!"
Do you want me to tell you why I existed in the first place? It suddenly asked him. I didn't just show up out of nowhere, you know. Someone you know very well decided to create me in case you're of no use to them anymore.
When Ivan heard this, he blocked another attack and leapt back to a good distance from it. "What do you mean, someone made you?" he asked, confused. "Aren't you my other self?"
You are my other self, but I was made to make sure that Kiku doesn't come back to the real world and tell everyone what he found in that death game. Some of the people he fought against there didn't just came from Japan, but also those from within the country's vicinity, including yours and Yao's. And if you think about the situation between yours and that friend of yours, Alfred, that's been growing tense lately, your boss has more than one reason to worry about.
"He would never do that!" Ivan shouted, shaking his head as he pointed his scythe against the dark figure. "He's trusted me for so long…"
You sure missed a lot outside when you dove into the game. Things have been growing complicated around here ever since.
Ivan narrowed his eyes. "Like what?" he challenged.
You'll have to find that out yourself. It's more intriguing that way, don't you think?
Ivan gazed down and saw his scythe fading into black. "Then I'll have to force those out of you," he replied. Then without delay, he rushed at the figure with his scythe raised up. And once the dark figure blocked his attack, they resumed their fight.
Beep. Beep.
Kiku heard something coming from his player menu, in which he didn't expect to open when made the same gesture as the one from SAO. He saw some familiar codes that he used to send to Alfred as well as some newer ones from him, along with the new fact that Ivan was involved with the attack.
Only he was there at the wrong place and time and whatever it was, it turned Ivan into someone Ludwig and Arthur are fighting at this moment Kiku thought quietly. He gazed up at the fight between Ludwig, Arthur and Ivan, with the former two already fatigued from fighting for a long time while Ivan still remained unharmed and continued fighting without any struggle.
But he noticed something odd with Ivan's expression. During their fight, Ivan was smiling and grinning the entire time, but it was until now that he wasn't smiling anymore.
Could it be that…? He began to realise. Ivan is fighting back?
"Ludwig! Arthur!" Kiku finally called out to the two. "You have to fight a little more!"
Arthur groaned. "What?" he shouted from the front lines. "Why?"
"We're beyond tired from fighting, Kiku," Ludwig agreed. He turned to see Ivan standing in his spot across him and Arthur. "And to make things worse, we're barely hanging on. One more attack from Ivan and it's over for you and me."
"Alfred told me from the outside that Ivan somehow got involved with the hack," Kiku quickly explained. "And somewhere inside the fake Ivan, the real one is also fighting. If you're going to defeat this replica of Ivan, he needs your help, too."
"LIES!" the fake Ivan yelled out. "That is a big LIE!" He leapt up and headed towards Kiku with his Kiku.
"Kiku!" Ludwig and Arthur yelled out, before leaping back towards Kiku and the others and blocking the attack from Ivan.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Ivan roared, pushing his scythe against the two swords from the two. "I WANT KIKU DEAD!"
"You're the only one who's going to die here!" Ludwig replied, knocking Ivan's attack off at a small distance before he pointed his sword at Ivan.
"And the ones getting out of here alive are us, our friends and Ivan!" Arthur added, following suit.
"LET'S SETTLE THIS!" Ivan yelled. Then he began running towards them.
"Right here and now!" Ludwig and Arthur yelled together, rushing towards Ivan in response. "Starburst Stream!" They used a high-level sword skill Kirito learned from SAO that he passed to Ludwig and Arthur to use only for this moment, with some slight modifications. Rather than a single-player Dual Blades sword skill, it would require two players giving eight hits each against the enemy, from one player to another. The pattern is that each player gets every other hit and when it came to an X- slash, one would make a diagonal hit towards the left and the other would make the same slash to the opposite direction. At the end, the final blow would have both player plunging both of their swords downward to the enemy.
"It's over!" they both shouted, before retracting the blades from Ivan's body, which began to break and finally shattering into glowing blue shards. The last thing they saw from Ivan was a stunned expression followed by a small smile that quickly disappeared.
Somewhere else, Ivan gazed up at the dark, wondering what the dark figure had told him moments earlier before it faded away.
Somehow your country didn't trust the Americans' boss after a disagreement over what's going on in the Middle East the figure explained to him, after Ivan gave him a large slash that dealt the final blow. You know, the Chinese boss doesn't like the American boss meddling in what he's doing either, so those two are one in the same.
"How come they never told Yao and me?" Ivan asked.
Because they wouldn't want you to raise suspicion around your friends. If anything, they don't want the Europeans to join in the bandwagon and make things more messy than it should be. Don't forget, Kiku used to be powerful, too. Need I tell you about the time he invaded his own family's countries and took control of them?
"That is the past now," Ivan answered defensively. "He's not as powerful as he used to, after learning his mistake."
I suppose I should tell you that it won't be long until they start upgrading their defences for their military and navy. They felt like they're lagging behind those of ours, the Americans, the Chinese, the Germans, French, British...you know who they are. So they wanted to catch up and make sure that they can defend themselves.
"But I thought they're just slight improvements."
But they're not slight at all, don't they? If it's just a slight change, it would just be the technology itself, without including the military.
"So you mean that Japan is hiding something from everyone?"
Not hiding. I don't think he even knows all this. The only reason he dove into SAO in the first place was investigate the murders that are happening in there and to see if some of those murders are convicts. And if those convicts did survive the game, they want revenge against those who put them into prison. Kiku just happens to be one of those people.
When Ivan said nothing, the figure continued Now you know why you ended up they way you are and why those friends of yours are still asleep like you. But after finding out that the others are too weak, and the American is against us, we chose you instead. And now that he's found out about your involvement, he would do anything to ask you what happened.
"What do you want me to do, tell him?"
Yes. At the end, when he's so close to finding out the perpetrators, he'll find out he's still far from it. That's what is going to happen, all while people would start getting distrustful of each other.
But then the figure started breaking into pieces. Oh, I guess your friends outside managed to defeat me, huh? I guess I lost against two very low-levelled players…
"You lost because you underestimated them...and me," Ivan replied. "You didn't think they just came in the game empty-handed, did you?"
Hmph, still they're pathetically weak. Then it began to fade away. But don't forget what I've told you. It won't be long now...And then it was gone.
"Ludwig, Arthur, thank you," Ivan whispered, once the figure was gone.
I'll see you on the other side.
When Matthew felt his senses coming back to him, the first things he heard was Alfred shouting something about the others slowly moving their fingers. He guessed that Francis saw his fingers shifting slightly and told Alfred about it.
He does know we're in a hospital, right? He asked without speaking, imagining himself laughing at the thought of it. Shouldn't he be less jumpy? Then he heard Francis mention Feliciano's name as he too began to awaken. Oh, so Feli's sharing a room with me? I wonder if Yao and Ivan are also waking up next door. And Kiku, too...wherever he is. He heard Francis telling Alfred that he's going to the room beside them to check on Yao and Ivan. A minute later, he heard him come back and told Alfred that they had just woken up, but they're going to need crutches in order to walk. I'm going to need it, too...it's been so long since I last walked on my feet. He heard him walk back out afterwards.
Then he heard a familiar ringtone from Alfred's cellphone, which quickly cut into Alfred saying Arthur's name and congratulating him and Ludwig on getting everyone back online before becoming silent as he listened to Arthur on the other line. Yes, Arthur and Ludwig did defeat the fake Ivan...I'm sure Feli would be proud of Ludwig. I would feel the same for Arthur...now that this time, he's the hero. But he heard Alfred's serious tone just as he heard Francis walking in.
"Kiku's in Japan," Alfred said with a serious tone. "Arthur just told me."
"Where?" Francis asked, worried.
"In a hospital close to Dicey Cafe, just a few blocks down. Kirito just told him about it, since his friend is also in that same hospital. I guess before Kiku woke up, he sent Kirito his location and assumed that Kirito will pass it along to Arthur and the others."
"But how come Kiku's location was hidden this whole time? Was it because of some firewall?"
"Maybe. Assuming it's the same people who caused the hacks, they might've placed a barrier on Kiku's NerveGear that would keep his location a secret until the fake Ivan is gone. I think the fake Ivan is some kind of a guard and without that, we would've known where Kiku is. But since even I didn't know where he was, those codes aren't just hard to break, but it's risky. One small error would delete Kiku from the game entirely and trigger the NerveGear to fry his brain and kill him."
"So I guess whoever we're dealing with isn't just someone experienced with hacking," Francis said, after being silent for a few minutes. "They know who Error is, what Ivan is capable of, and what Kiku found during his time in SAO." He shook his head. "This is probably something Interpol should be dealing with, not us."
"Well," Alfred replied, shrugging, "we're the ones that dove into the game after Kiku, so we got us into something even more complicated."
Silence.
"So are we all going to visit Kiku?" Francis asked him.
Alfred turned to Francis and nodded. "Let's give the others all day to rest," he said. "They haven't moved for over a year, so that certainly took a toll on their body. I know it's not much time for recovery, but I know they wanted to see him as much as we both do." He paused and gazed out the window. "Tomorrow night, we leave for Japan."
After almost two hours of convincing the doctor who monitored the conditions of the others the next day, Alfred told Francis that they have to leave before 8:30 that night.
"I'll watch over Feli and Matt," he added, packing up his laptop into his backpack, "and you watch over Ivan and Yao."
Much of the morning was spent with Alfred and Francis helping the others to walk with their paired crutches, which was provided to them. At first, they all stumbled because of not using their physical body for a long time. But after a few hours of trying, they slowly gained their footing until they could balance themselves; they would still have to hold on to either Alfred or Francis' arm, depending on who they're going to be with, while they walk. The doctor warned them that although the four could now walk, they shouldn't go into long walks during their travel. And if one of them stumbles along the way, it would be advisable to provide them with a wheelchair temporarily. However, after visiting their friend in Japan, the four would have to stay at home until they can fully walk again, in which the doctor had asked their respective bosses to consider this as an order. As a result, Yao, Matthew, Feliciano and Ivan were given two weeks of vacation, while the other four - Ludwig, Arthur, Alfred and Francis - were given five days to catch up to the affairs they missed since the SAO incident. All of the plans were sent to them from their bosses via encrypted email.
"Well, it makes sense," Francis said during their long flight, while Alfred pouted in objection after finding them out. Feliciano, Yao, Ivan and Matthew sat behind them and spent the time to sleep. "We've been gone for about year and, with what has happened until now, a lot certainly changed."
"I guess that's the burden of being a representative," Alfred replied. "I don't like it either, but we should be aware."
"But if you're going to whine about it, you can just ask your boss to replace you."
Alfred quickly sat up and crossed his arms. "Hell, no," he replied.
"Then deal with it," Francis answered back. "It gets sucky sometimes, I know, but you have me, Arthur or Matt to ask."
"Okay, no need to get fluffy, I know," Alfred dismissed, waving his hand. "Now let's get some sleep while we're at it."
Once they finally returned to Japan, Ludwig sent Alfred a text message saying that he and Arthur already at the hospital where Kiku is located. With Francis asking for a cab since Yao, Matthew and Ivan couldn't walk far yet, Alfred texted Ludwig if Kirito had also told them of the news as well.
"Well, he sent it to us not long after we got logged off," Ludwig explained via text. "So I guess he got it from Kiku himself. He was here about an hour ago to see his friend, but he already left a few minutes ago."
Francis glanced over Alfred's shoulder and read the message. "Do you think Kirito and Kiku met each other in SAO in person?" he asked, in which Alfred shook his head in response.
"Kiku didn't mention his name when I met him that time," he added. "But since Kirito brought up his name during our first meeting with him in the real world, I assume that's the case."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they do. They're both high-levelled players by the time we dove into the game."
"Yeah," Alfred agreed.
By the time Alfred, Francis and the others reached their destination, they didn't take any delay into finding Kiku's room, where Ludwig and Arthur waited outside until they're all together. As for his condition, it wouldn't be long until he wakes up. For them, it's the only thing they wanted to happen.
And it did happen.
"Kiku!" Alfred called out, as they saw his eyes slowly opening.
"You're finally awake!" Ludwig added.
As much as they wanted to make a group hug around him, they restrained themselves from doing so, since Kiku's is still frail. But once Kiku spoke up for the first time, they couldn't stand the feeling anymore.
"Hello, everyone," he said, his voice barely a whisper.
Although he's slightly much better, Feliciano gently threw his arms around him. "We've missed you so much, Kiku," he said, already crying with joy. "We thought you'd never wake up."
Ludwig and the others, including Ivan, followed suit until they're all hugging Kiku. All of them wept silently, feeling happy that their friend is alive after all they've been through ever since the day he went missing. None of that mattered anymore.
"Wait," Kiku said. "You can let me go now." They gently released him.
"What is it?" Arthur asked, a bit surprised at the sudden interruption.
Kiku went silent for a moment until he replied, "I need to talk to Ivan privately."
Everyone knew what he meant: Ivan was involved in the hacking attack as well as being under the enemy's control just after the SAO incident. In other words, he was the villain for the time being.
Without any objections, the others left room, while Ivan and Kiku talked to each other privately.
"What do you think they're talking about inside?" Alfred wondered, as they sat on the floor along the walls outside the room.
"Probably about his role in the game," Francis guessed. "Don't forget, he was against us that whole time."
"And that he abused Kiku while he was being controlled," Ludwig added.
"And us, too," Yao added further. "But still Kiku went through that the hardest."
"And well, I'm not sure how to put this," Ludwig began, as he dropped his tone, "but while Arthur and I found Kiku, his legs were covered with blood."
Everyone went silent in stunned silence.
"What?" Alfred asked. He turned to Arthur. "He's not joking, right?" He added.
"I noticed it a little bit," Arthur replied, trying to find an appropriate response, "but unfortunately, yes."
Francis shook head as he tried to deny the thought. "No, it can't be true," he said. He faced Alfred. "No wonder whoever sent you that picture of Kiku all beaten up surprised you."
"Picture?" Matthew asked, confused.
Alfred and Francis tried to explain it in detail about the picture of Kiku in ALO almost two days ago, while the former was busy breaking some codes to complete Kiku's email that they got a few weeks back. Since all their belongings are inside, Alfred doesn't have his laptop with him. His phone, which is synchronised to his laptop, certainly helped much despite having the others gazing over Alfred's shoulders so he could show it to them. Their reactions upon seeing the image was exactly the same as both Francis and Alfred when they first saw it: shock and concern.
"So that explains why Kiku had to talk to him," Arthur realised, a few minutes later. He crossed his arms. "I don't know which one scarier: a hacker trying to compromise our position as one that represents our countries or trying to know what Kiku found during his time in SAO that would've been considered classified information."
"Probably both," Yao answered. "But at this point, nothing is the same anymore."
They remained silent once more for another minute until Ivan called them to come back inside.
"So what did you and Ivan talk about?" Alfred asked Kiku, once everyone was inside. He saw Ivan sitting quietly in a corner, his face guilt-ridden.
"About what he did to me in the game," Kiku explained, gazing down at his hands. "As much as I wanted to think that he did it, not by force but by his will, I can't forget every moment of it...what he said, what his expression was that time...all of it." He shook his head and curled his hands into fists. "If I have the chance, I would've told him to break off our relationship as countries because of that."
"What did you say, then?" Ludwig asked.
"That our relationship has now became strained." Kiku paused as he thought of something and turned to Yao. "What's today's date?"
Yao checked his phone. "It's the 4th of April," he replied. "Why?"
"Two days from now, our bosses are going to have another world meeting. If my boss finds out that Ivan was involved with the hacking of Matthew, Feli and you, he would definitely try to accuse him of espionage for that. And that's certainly not the first time a country tried to hack something that's located in another country."
"And if that happens, what now?" Arthur wondered. "Are you going to keep your distance from him?"
Kiku looked up at him with a sad look as he nodded. "I have no other option," he answered. "But whatever my boss tells me, I have to do it. And if that includes staying away from him whenever he's around, I would do it."
"Because if you refuse, that's treason," Francis replied.
"Yes." And then he turned to Ivan, who looked up at him. "I'm sorry, Ivan," he said to him. "I forgive you and I know I won't forget what you've done to me, but if everyone else does the same, we have to ban you from attending our meetings completely. At that point, I don't know how we're going to help you, if you need us."
Ivan didn't say anything at first. "I understand, Kiku," he responded, as he stood up. "We can't risk ourselves getting in trouble if we don't follow our bosses. Besides we've been in enough trouble as it is, remember?"
They all knew what he was referring to. By the time they managed to make themselves out of SAO alive, over a year had already passed. Not only that, they didn't expect their bosses to worry so much about what happened to their representatives, to the point that all had to hire a substitute until the nine of them return into the real world. It didn't help much when within a span of one year that they missed so much events, in which nearly all of them are still ongoing until now. Once they returned into reality, they had a lot to catch up on, holding their world meetings every day for the sake of being aware of what's been happening in their respective countries. Even before they found out that Kiku is still missing, they still haven't caught up; and now, whatever they missed for the past few days only added more into their pile.
"It's only a matter of time until I'm back on my feet again," Kiku told them, breaking the silence. "Until then, I'll attend the meeting via video using these." Sliding to one side of the bed, he picked up a small white box from the bedside table and gave it to Arthur, who was standing closest to him.
"What's inside it?" Arthur asked, slightly shaking the box.
"A small camera with a built-in microphone. It's not noise-sensitive, but it's better to put the camera where I usually sit on the meetings. That way I could see and hear everyone from here."
"Oh, okay."
Another silence.
"I guess we'll see you soon," Feliciano said. Then he walked up to Kiku and gave him a hug. "Get well soon, okay? It's not the same without you around." He released him afterward.
"I will, don't worry," Kiku replied. He saw the others leaving the room, all waving goodbye silently as they left. "Goodbye for now." But before Ivan left as the last one, Kiku stopped him.
"Don't forget what I've told you, alright?" Kiku asked him for the last time.
Ivan quietly replied with a nod before he stepped out of the room.
Nothing really is the same anymore Kiku thought, gazing out the window.
Just what have we gotten ourselves into ever since the first day we all dove into that game?
Okay, I take back what I've said last chapter. I just saw the number of faves and follows and reviews for this and well, it made me change my mind and decided to continue the GGO arc here instead of separating the story into another work. I didn't expect those numbers to go up at all. It may not seem like a lot compared to the more well-known Hetalia fan fic writers, especially those that go over 500 reviews because they're so well-written, but that's a lot to me. *wonders if the story will ever get 100 reviews/faves/follows sometime soon* Nah, my story has one too many flaws for that to ever happen...plus I'm about to make the plot complicated, just like it did with SAO itself as a series (maybe that's why people who used to like it back then now hate it so much because of how much of a mess it's gotten into).
Whoo, lots of references I've made in this chapter, mainly from Kingdom Hearts. I won't spoil it for those who haven't played Dream Drop Distance HD, but I'm not far from finishing this...on normal mode. I'm planning to play the game in Proud mode though. (Still pissed they ruined one of my favourite Disney films in 3D because almost every character from that world is OOC, especially the villain in that world.) But with 1.5+2.5 remixes coming out soon, I don't know.
I guess I should tell you guys this, but I just started working as an intern for a little well-known magazine where I live. It's a part-time thing, but along with university, that would mean even less time for me to write. I don't know how often I'll update, but I can't guarantee that I'll be consistent with it. (I actually had to convince my employers that the only piece of writing that I've been working on are fan fictions, not original stories. It took a lot of a persuading to get them convinced, but they said that if I'm going to continue writing fan fictions, I have to create a pen name so nobody would know who I am, which I do anyway. I asked them if I can do it for work, too, and they're fine with that...as long as I don't share it online.) For now, I'm putting this story into a short hiatus so I can start working on my Nordic Five ALO side story on my DeviantArt. I wanted to get started on it at least…
Which reminds me...Hey, Koneko, how do you PM in DeviantArt? I've got the comments part, because I've been doing that. I might use that PM feature there to talk to you instead of the one here in FF.