Let's get back in to this! Time for my own version of the Excalibur arc, not for a legendary item though, but still a big event!
Thanks to Mataras and Sundown17 for their OCs respectively. And SAO and SWTOR belong to their respective owners too.
Anywho! On with the show!
Chapter 28: Bonds
'Dear Marcus and Emily.
I hope this letter has reached you, and that you are alright.
I understand you may want nothing to do with me, after what happened with Mr Foster, I read that that vile man had been killed in Tokyo. I want to make things right, but to do that, I want to see you again, both of you. Please come home.
Love your father.
Warren Cersy'
Michael read over the letter again, then glanced at Marcus, they were sat in the lounge of the former's home, with Sarah, Kazuto and Asuna. Emma was also there, but was noticeably quiet.
"What do you plan to do?" He asked.
"Handle this. Personally," Marcus said, grabbing the letter and tearing it to ribbons.
"Want anyone to come with you?" Kazuto asked.
"No. This will not be a vacation, I will go alone," Marcus snapped.
"Marcus, calm down, we're with you no matter what," Sarah said, grabbing his hand.
"Six years we've been away from him and this is the first time we receive a letter from him? How the hell did he even get this address?" Marcus growled.
"I don't know, but I'm going with you," Sarah said. "Whether you like it or not."
So, Marcus and Sarah arrived at the closest airport, and caught a flight to Mississippi. A black car was waiting for them at the collection point. Both teens got in, and Marcus watched as familiar sights passed by.
Eventually, the car stopped at some gates, and the driver pressed an intercom. "Father, We've come home," Marcus said, as politely as he could. The gates opened, and the car drove up a lane to a mansion.
"Wow, you were loaded," Sarah remarked as they stepped out of the car.
"Yeah. But we never liked any of it," Marcus said coldly.
"Welcome home Master Cersy and his guest," ten house servants were stood, five on either side.
"Where is my father," Marcus asked them.
"The master of the house is in his study," A servant said.
Marcus rolled his eyes, "of course he is," and he walked up the stairs, and pushed open the doors.
A man was stood at the window at the other end of the room. He had his back to them, gazing outside. He was an elderly man, probably in his late fifties, in a brown suit.
"Who is this you bring into our home? And why isn't Emily with you?" he asked, turning to face them.
"For your information father," Marcus spat the title out with cold venom in his voice. "Sarah is my girlfriend; we have been together for six months now."
The man, revealed to be Warren Cersy, moved to stand between them and his desk.
"And Emma is with my new family, living in Japan. And far away from you," Marcus said, making sure that Emma never was addressed by her original name.
"I see," Warren nodded, his eyes closing for a second.
"Before you say anymore, I have to ask. Why now? We left home six years ago. You don't ignore us for that long, then suddenly you want us home!" Marcus snapped.
"I wanted to start over," Warren said. "Since you left, this house has felt empty, incomplete."
"Why do you care? Since mother died, you just ignored us, focused on the company, we didn't even get a 'happy birthday' from you!" Marcus told him.
Warren turned his back on them, seemingly in thought. "Young lady, can you explain how you met my son?" He asked.
Sarah was surprised by the attention, "You may not know this, but two years and two months ago, Sword Art Online went live." She said.
"I know, I saw it in the news," Warren nodded.
"It may surprise you that your son, Marcus, and I are survivors."
The moment the words left her mouth, Warren turned, "What?" He asked.
"Believe it old man, in that world, they called me Ion. The Arctic Swordsman. Sarah, was called Angel, the Daughter of Darkness." Marcus said, arms folded.
"Son, explain everything that happened," Warren said.
"I'll do more than that," Marcus said, and took off his backpack, and pulled out two things, the first was a folder. The other was a disc case. "Exhibit A: A written document of the highlights of my time since we've been apart," Marcus held up the folder. "Exhibit B: A two-year 'livestream' if you will, everything that happened in SAO through my own two digital eyes," Marcus held up the disc.
He threw the folder to Warren with amazing accuracy. The man just caught the item, and opened it to see the written tale.
His eyes widened multiple times, "Emily was disabled from the waist down?" he asked.
"Again. Her name is Emma! And an out of control car slammed into us in the first year away, she took the brunt of it," Marcus explained. "She has now only just regained full mobility."
Warren read on, his eyes softening at one point, "So, you lost someone you considered a brother?" He asked.
"Diavel was one of us from the start, he was the guy who got us started on the road to the top," Marcus told him. "We miss him deeply," He sighed.
At one point, Warren started shaking, "Where is this Sugou Nuboyuki now?" He asked with barely contained fury.
"Jail, and he won't be coming out again," Sarah said.
Warren closed the folder. He glanced up to Marcus and Sarah. "I… I'm sorry for everything Marcus," He muttered.
"Sorry?! Are you not aware that Emma was sick of all the suitors? Are you not aware that Marcus was losing respect for you with every day?" Sarah snapped.
"Sarah, stop, it's my battle," Marcus said to her. He glared at Warren, "There is only one way you can ever repay the two of us for everything you've caused to happen. Be a father again, and not a wealthy businessman, use your fortune to help solve problems, not look for a way to make more of them."
Marcus turned, his back now to Warren, "Think about everything that has happened here today, as well as everything before we left. Watch what is on that disc, and then we'll accept any apology from you." He took hold of Sarah's hand, "Come on, we're leaving," He said.
The two walked out, leaving Warren Cersy to watch them go.
"So, that was my father," Marcus said. The two were staying in a hotel nearby the airport for the night, returning the following morning.
"He didn't seem that fatherly, did he?" Sarah muttered.
"No, he wasn't," Marcus nodded. His mobile rang. He picked it up to see it was a skype call from Emma.
Answering it, they both saw the entire gang in frame.
"Hey guys? What's up?" Marcus asked.
"We wanted to check on you, how'd it go with old man Cersy?" Kazuto asked.
"Could have gone better, but could have gone much worse too, all in all? Meh," Marcus shrugged.
"We gave him the things, let's see what happens next when he's seen the action from our POV," Sarah added.
"And what did he think about the brief?" Michael asked.
"Surprisingly, he seemed rather concerned about Emma's accident, and was sympathetic for us when he read about… Diavel…" Marcus said, wincing again at the mention of the horrid event back then.
"And what of his opinion of your partnership?" Asuna asked.
"He gives us his approval; I think…" Sarah shrugged.
Marcus glanced at the clock on the wall, 10:30pm. "Hey guys, we've gonna hang up, it's getting late over here," He yawned.
"Yeah, you're calling to us from Japan at … around midday?" Sarah added.
"We understand, it's been a tiring time for you, but when you get back, we've got that get together to have," Michael nodded, with that, Kazuto reached to the laptop and ended the call.
The next morning, Marcus and Sarah got on a flight to return to Japan, Sarah fell asleep, clearly, she was not an airborne kind of girl, Marcus however, just pulled out a handheld games console to pass the time. A woman with a cart passed by, but Marcus politely shook his head at her, declining food or drink.
Michael and Kazuto were at the airport when they finally came through arrivals, "Welcome home," The former smiled.
"You didn't need to come and get us you know," Sarah said.
"Well, Michael insisted, and I decided to tag along," Kazuto shrugged, "He wanted to show something to you."
The 'something' as Kazuto pointed out, was a dark red corvette, Michael jumped into the driver's seat. "You can drive?" Marcus asked.
"He's been learning for weeks now," Kazuto told him. "You never noticed?"
Marcus shook his head, "Suguha's been giving me some kendo lessons, I'm either doing that, writing or hanging out with the rest of us."
The four spent the journey distracting Marcus from his past with positive things, "Don't forget, we have the big gathering on friday, so you two rest up from that travelling," Michael said.
"Hey, Emma, you up to meeting everyone?" Marcus asked, he, Kazuto, Michael, Emma and Shino were headed to the Dicey Café, the small bar ran by Agil.
"Yeah, I met all the Black Cats, but I never met this Klein guy, or any other of your frontline friends," Emma nodded.
"Well, just let me know if Klein is getting too… eager," Marcus smirked. Kazuto and Michael nodded, they all knew of Klein's dream for a girlfriend.
Marcus pushed open the door, which had 'Closed for the day' written on a sign. However, they were not prepared for the party poppers and big cry of "Surprise! Congratulations on beating SAO Black Cats!"
Marcus seemed to adapt, being the friendliest of the three boys, Kazuto seemed to be a little uncomfortable, and Michael even more so. But they accepted the cheers and divided into the group.
"Hey, brother," Marcus heard the voice of Keiko call. She walked over to the bar, where he was leaning against.
"How are you doing?" Marcus asked the younger girl.
"I'm having fun, because the guests of honour arrived," She smiled.
"So you gave us a later time so we could get here after you lot," Marcus noted. "Smart, I guess."
The party was an instant success, everyone had a lot of fun, even Michael, who warmed up slowly. Everyone caught up, reacquinting themselves with their friends and comrades. Marcus glanced at Andrew, who was cleaning a glass. "Usual please," He said.
A bottle slid along, and Marcus took a swig, and sighed. "Orange and passion fruit? I like the way you think," Emma smiled, and called for the same.
Kazuto sat down at a stool, and sighed, "Bartender, bourbon on the rocks," he said. Andrew slid him a drink, he took a sip, "Oolong tea? Nice," he grinned.
Michael sat down next to him, "Give me something with ridiculous amounts of sugar and caffeine," he muttered, and was handed a soda. The former red swordsman downed it before letting out a mighty belch that earned him a pat on the back from Klein.
"Nice one, if you could do that in SAO, the mobs would be running for the hills," He grinned, then ordered an actual bourbon, much to the disapproval of the three brothers.
"Klein, seriously? Don't you have work after this?" Kazuto asked.
"Alcohol makes the overtime go faster, besides," he glanced over at the table of girls, Asuna, Sarah and Sayuri talking with Shino, Suguha and Emma. "Chick alert," He quickly got three glares and a fist on the head from Michael.
"Our girlfriends and sisters are not to be oogled at," Marcus frowned.
"Hey Marcus, I want to introduce you to Cyrus," Keiko walked over, tailed by a young man with brown spikey hair in a grey jacket and pants.
"Hey Cy, how you been doing?" Marcus asked, the two had become good friends because of their mutual interests and hobbies.
"All in all? Pretty good actually. You hear? Mars and Saturn actually got together," The boy said.
"Pass on my congrats to the couple then," Marcus smiled.
"Still can't believe that Heathcliff was him all along," Cyrus sighed. Apparently Akihiko Kayaba had been found in a cabin on a hill with a modified nervegear rig around his head. It hadn't just boiled his brain, it fried it with ten times the power of a normal version.
"Hey Agil? How's the seed doing?" Kazuto asked.
"It's doing amazin'! Check it out. Already been downloaded thousands of times, and it's got three hundred big-ass servers running it." Andrew laughed.
Kazuto and Michael had told Marcus how they had met Heathcliff in ORO, and that he had given them a program called 'The Seed'.
Turns out the seed was a stripped down version of the Cardinal System, one that could be used to create all sorts of worlds, as long as one had the right equipment. Once it had been declared safe, it had been realeased to the internet, where any gamer or game creator could get their hands on it. And that was what probably saved VRMMOs.
After the ORO incident, the genre took a heavy blow- almost fatal in fact. But using the seed program created by Heathcliff, people could safely make new worlds that could be more easily examined before releasing to the general public. Some wealthy players even salvaged and rebuilt the world of ORO using the Seed. Perhaps one of the best things to come from the program was the ability to transfer accounts from one VRMMO to another game.
Michael had participated in another little restoration project using his new fortune, which would be a big surprise for the gaming world, grinning, he turned to Andrew, "are we still agreed to meet tonight?" He asked.
"You bet, it's gonna be good to see her again," He nodded, a grin on his own face.
"I know what you mean," Kazuto agreed, glancing over at his girlfriend. "Everything will feel so familiar, but I assume there are going to be some new stuff."
"You'll get no spoilers from me," Michael snorted with an eyebrow raised.
"That's just how I like it, this is going to be sweet!" Marcus grinned.
Melody sat in the cockpit of her BT-7 Thunderclap, the ship that took them to the Star Forge, Sinon and Leafa were on their own ships. She turned her head at footsteps approaching, "We there yet?" Ion asked.
Ion had kept with the trend of his brothers, using the Jedi Knight class. He was using the Blademaster's single lightsaber, with the same colour as the one he used on the Star Forge. He was clad in a white and blue variant of the Eradicator set, minus the odd mask and his pants, gloves and boots were all black. His Robe was white, and the chest plate underneath was an icy blue.
"We're at the coordinates that Mataras gave us, but what are we doing here?" Melody nodded. The small trio of ships had come to Ilum, an icy world on the edge of the galaxy, Ion's favourite planet.
"Just wait for a moment, look at the planet," Ion smiled, coming to lean on her chair.
Melody did as she was told, and gazed out at the frozen world. As she did, a silhouetted shape drifted across the space between them and Ilum. It looked a lot like a giant egg, with several arm shaped structures on the outer shell. Some sort of roots were hanging from the base. As she examined it, she gasped.
As if she had a lightbulb moment, the structure lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Is that… what's that doing here?" She asked.
"Aincrad. Practically our second home," Angel said, leaning against a console.
"We have so many memories in there," Silica added, sitting in the co-pilot seat.
"But we never conquered it, never did get to the top," Ion finished, grinning at the red castle that sat at the top. He then glanced down at his sister, "We're gonna need some backup, want to see what your family did first hand?" He asked, opening his menu.
A window popped up next to Melody, it read 'Ion has invited you to join the Moonlit Black Cats. Do you accept?' Melody instantly tapped yes, and a small icon of a cat under a moon appeared next to her name and HP.
Melody saw that a transmission was coming in, and the holocom in the corner lit up, Mataras and Kirito stood there, hovering in blue, as well as Asuna and Sachi as a Jedi Sage, Sinon, Leafa, Klein as a Gunslinger Smuggler, Agil as a Powertech Bounty Hunter, and Liz as a Republic Vanguard.
Silica glanced at her console, hearing an alert, then grinned, "Here comes the Armada," she warned them.
"Then let's do this, the Moonlit Black Cats are back for real now, and it's time to come home," Mataras smirked.
As his words ended, dozens of personal ships flew out of hyperspace, all carrying players eager to investigate this new world.
Melody gripped her controls, "I'm fired up now," she muttered, before shooting ahead of the pack of ships.
With unity, we stood. Our duty, we completed. Our destiny? Who knows what is next. But we'll face it together. As a family. Ion thought silently.
Ion: And Sword Art Online finally ends!
Mataras: I see similarities to my own tale here...
Ion: But I didn't use all of it, just got inspiriation from your chapters.
Kirito: Does it matter? This story is still going strong.
Asuna: I'm with Kirito on this one.
Melody: Shall we move on?
Ion: Right! Next will be a small number of chapters for my version for the Excalibur arc! It won't be long, I'm thinking whether to just skip the next part and go straight to Mother's Rosario, but no, I'll give it a shot!
All: Next time: The Shadow of Revan!
