sorry for the long wait guys! Ran out of ideas for a short period of time!

well, not much else to say, but please check out the ending authors note.

We lay in a bed, staring into each other's eyes. The sheets underneath were soft, and the bed was quite comfortable, but I was ignoring that and focusing entirely at the two scarlet irises that were also looking back at me. Our hands were clasped together, and the lower part of our legs pressing against each other. For the first minute, this much contact was agonizing, but I learned how to like it. And now, it felt soothing.

Our foreheads were against each other, putting our eyes really close. Her eyes seemed to glow in the dim light with a life that I needed to see, with a life I needed to have.

A life I didn't deserve.

I have killed someone, so why do I let myself be spoiled by the niceties of life, and love? Is it my own selfish desires that fuel me now, since logic dictates I should die for taking a life? I tried to talk myself into the logic, but I couldn't. The reason was staring at me, literally, in the face.

"What's wrong?" Asked Silica, banishing the silence with her hushed voice. "You look like you are depressed."

I refocused my eyes back on her. "I feel like I don't deserve to live. Like I don't deserve you."

"Don't speak like that!" She scorned quietly. "You deserve me as much as Tohaku deserves a big can of ass wupping opened in his face!" She smiled slightly, to take the faint sting away from her words. "Just be happy for what you have."

"But I did something that goes against everything I stand for!" I said urgently, wanting to leave her right that moment, and stay away from my desires. But at the same time to hold her closer, and viciously attack any who threaten her.

"What do you stand for?" She asked intently.

"Logic! Action, and reaction! Consequences for every action!" I answered about to go on.

"Then you have upheld that principle." She said simply, interrupting me. "Easily."

"How?!" I asked. "I should die right now for my deeds!"

She sat up, causing me to follow suite. She then proceeded to slap me. Hard.

My head spun to the right from the assault. It was followed by words. "Don't you dare think about dying! Not when I have you so close to my heart! If you do, I'll…. I'll…." She took a moment to prepare herself for the next comment.

"I'll kill you!" She said, trembling form sudden anger. "Based on your logic, he killed Lucy, so he deserved what he got. Jorn was a scumbag of a person, and you ridded the world of him!"

"Silica…" I whispered, mouth agape at the emotion this girl was showing. At all this she was spilling, all because I wanted to stop living, or at least leave her.

"Jorn was a jerk who lived off of hurting others, and laughing! Taking pleasure in it! You have real friends, and really care for them deeply! You have things to live for, he doesn't, so you shouldn't beat yourself up for it!" She clenched her fists, and shut her eyes tight, tensing all over. She looked ready to explode. "And... I love you! And nobody can do anything about it! So you can't do anything stupid! Ok? Promise me! Now!" Her eyes shot open, and she glared at me. "Now!"

I opened my arms, and wrapped them around the trembling girl. "How could I refuse you? Besides, you scare me more than Aoki." I said honestly. "I can't promise not to do anything stupid. I will do whatever needs to be done to get you and Aoki out of Sword Art Online. You know that."

I stopped, not used to what came to my mind next. "I love you too. Please believe me, that you mean everything. I just don't know how to show it very well. I want you to be safe."

She was startled from the hug, but soon returned it eagerly. Her angry shaking stopped, and was replaced by a son of relief.

"Good enough, I guess." She sighed. "I don't know if I can force you to promise more than that."

She let go of me, and leaned a little ways back, so our faces were centimeters from each other. "But I would like you to tell me about your past. Ok?"

I froze up, my face going blank at the memories surfacing. My muscles tensed as I tried to keep calm.

She looked puzzled. "What's wrong?"

I let go of her, and stood up, pacing the room. "Nothing." I grunted shortly. "There isn't much to talk about." My hands clenched and unclenched as I forced myself to relax, trying to ease the tension.

"Then why are you acting like that?" She asked me, also standing. "I want to know what happened."

"I don't know if I can." I said truthfully, trying to avoid the subject I have been ignoring the past years of my life. This was something I couldn't really speak about. More happened then she, Aoki, or even Father knew about. Much much more.

"You have to tell me if you want us to progress!" She said reaching for my shirt, to attempt and stop my brisk pacing to and fro. "If you want us!"

She grabbed ahold of it, and I struggled to free myself. The shirt tore off, and her eyes widened in surprise. "Teika" she muttered, staring at my skin.

There were potmarks along my upper arms, where various needles containing various "mind enhancing" chemicals were injected. Each one was a red scar that wouldn't heal any further, reminders of the days before I knew Mother and Father. When I would be strapped to a gurney, with white jacketed and masked "doctors" all around, staring at moniters, and iv sacks.

"What…. happened?" She whispered, reaching out to stroke my arm. My left side was facing her, and didn't look nearly as bad as my right, which looked like a terrible case of chicken pox. "Who did this to you?"

I gritted my teeth. "Well, I guess I cannot hide this for much longer." I said, sighing. "But I don't want to say it."

"What happened?" She repeated. "Now!" She stomped her foot on the ground, face red with anger and frustration. "Tell me!"

I looked her in the eyes. "There was a private corporation, called R.E.C.T. Enterprises. It focused on the developments of the human brain. One day, a teenage woman becomes pregnant, and wants an abortion. Rect steps in, and gives her money for the child instead. Me."

She gasped. "You mean-"

"I haven't finished." I interrupted harshly. "I was the subject of their Evolution Department. They injected me with every drug under the sun that they thought would speed up ones' brain power, or maybe even allow us to access more of it." My teeth ground inside my head. "The normal person can only use about ten percent of their brain. I can use twenty one and a half."

Her eyes widened further, hands covering her mouth. "You went through all of that torment, for brain power?"

I nodded. "There is more, but I am going to warn you. After this, you will never look at me the same."

She shook her head. "I don't care. You are still my Teika. Nothing will change that."

I nodded grimly. "Then I guess I should tell you."

I sat on the edge of the queen size bed, and patted it beside me. She joined me on the bed, steeled for my next reveal.

"Brain cells aren't supposed to be able to go through mitosis, which is cell reproduction." I said, making sure she was following with my science lesson intro. "So they have small telomeres. Telomeres are on the edge of your DNA, and make sure it doesn't get damaged during mitosis. Whenever cells go through mitosis, the telomeres wear down a little"

I sighed. "And since my brain cells go through mitosis, the telomeres where down. When they are gone, my life span has reached its end. My DNA will start getting damaged and I will die soon after."

She gasped. Again.

"So, what you mean is, your life is cut in half because of the drugs they gave you?" She asked timidly. "That's ok! We can find doctors and stuff to fix it when we are out of this game!" She pumped her fist. "Come on!" She raised her hand for a high five, giving off a false confidence.

Smiling mournfully, I didn't reach for the hand. "Not in half. If my math is correct, and I am sure it it, I won't live to see my eighteenth birthday."

"What?!" She screamed, standing up. "And when were you going to tell me this?" She demanded.

"Hopefully never. I have been trying to force myself away from you, knowing that we wouldn't spend a long time together." I stared her in the eyes, not flinching at her anger. "But I found it harder and harder to leave, so I have been planning this conversation for a while. I was going to do it on my birthday, December thirty first. In two weeks"

Her body relaxed in realization. "Maybe you made a mistake in your calculations" she muttered hopefully, knowing me, this wasn't very probable.

"Sorry. I checked forty two times, thinking the same thing." I said.

Silica started crying, and fell on top of me, forcing me on my back. Her arms were pulled into her torso, her face buried in my chest. "Why? I finally get one thing I want and it has to have a time limit! Why?"

She started pounding her fists into my chest. I let her do this, understanding her need to vent. After about nine hits, I hugged her tight, stopping her tenth attack. She sobbed while I lay with a blank expression, which I had a lot of practice in. Her body was limp like a wet dishrag against me.

'Well, what do I do now?' I asked myself as she just sat there, crying. An idea came to me. I moved my right hand to the back of her head, and rubbed it softly, stroking from the top of her head to the top of her neck. Her sobbing slowed after a few minutes of this, and halted soon thereafter.

"Well, it's my turn to calm you down." I said jokingly.

"What will we do?" She wondered out loud. "When we get out, what will we do?"

She put her hands on my chest, forcing herself to roll over onto her back.

"Simple. Get out of here, find Rect, and figure out how to make them fix this." I said. "The best doctors won't be able to, but maybe the people who did it can." I knew that the probability of this was less than two percent, and I hated giving her hope, but it felt worse to see her in anguish. I silently pledged to do whatever I could to be with her longer than what I have been dished out. I was given an inch, it's time to take a mile.

I would find a way. Even if I have to stare Death in the eye, and rip Life from its cold, well, dead, fingers, then I would.

"Do you really think that?" She whimpered. I felt the bed shift as she turned towards me.

I looked at her. "I will do my best." I evaded the answer pretty well. "I will do whatever I have to."

She nodded, red eyes glistening with tears from a moment before. "Then let's do this" she plastered a smile to her face.

I stood walking in between two females. Silica was on my right, holding my hand. She wore a silmple yellow tunic. Her knife was strapped to her leg, with shuriken along her belt on her waist. The sunlight seemed to give her an aura that was unprecedented in beauty. The simple clothing combined with the scenery was perfect.

We were walking in a open field, with no one near enough to eavesdrop on the conversation going on.

The other female was wearing a dark cloak. She was giving me the spiel of what has gone on during the three days we took off. Argo currently already explained that the second floor has been cleared. Although the third's field boss was being stubborn, and wouldn't allow anyone to access the Labyrinth. She then told me that Squad Thirteen was requesting my help since Tohaku has made himself scarce.

"Also, you might wanna grind a little. The mobs are really jumping in power from floor to floor. There is a randomly generated dungeon called the [Queen Spider's Nest], that has a boss called [Nephila Regina]." She said.

My Latin translated that into Spider Queen. Well, original name. It's probably as big as a frigging house, if not larger, so yeah, make it female.

"Anything else?" I asked, thinking about heading to that floor.

"Let me get to that!" The Rat demanded. "If you clear the Spider Dungeon, you can form an official guild. Also, one more thing. Beware of traveling in a small group. There are thieves everywhere, stealing items from players who are unsuspecting. The Army has already tried to stop it, but failed miserably. They are looking for the rare drop from the Spider Queen. If you get it, be careful" she jogged a few meters in front of me, and turned around to face us. "You better be careful! You are my favorite client!"

"Ooh, Teika is such a ladies man!" Shouted my best friend, running up to us.

"Damnit, Aoki! Why do you have to tease me so much?" I demanded, not liking where this was headed.

"Easy, Teika!" She started to counter. "It is too easy, and sooo much fun to watch you squirm! Argo knows it too!" She laughed at my expression, which was a cross between anger and horror.

"Yup. Wouldn't want you to get trapped in the forest" said Argo. "With Aoki and Silica. No idea who would violate you first." She laughed as well. "Maybe I should join in!"

"Shut up" I growled. "This isn't funny!"

"Yeah! Don't tease Teika like that!" Defended Silica.

"You're only saying that because you know you would probably jump all over him!" Stated Aoki, pointing.

"Good one!" Argo highfived the fire Mage.

Silica's face turned beet red at that. "Nonono! I wouldn't! I don't wanna!" She shook her head violently.

"So Teika ain't good enough for ya?" Asked Argo in a fake accent. She looked to me. "How are you taking this new development?"

I reached for Silica's knife. "About to have it with a side of cooked Rat!" I said.

"Oh ho!" She liked all this bantering. "Well, aren't we in need of anger management classes?"

I sighed. "Let's go take on this Spider Queen, ok?" I asked my companions.

"Hey, what about the rest of my money?" Demanded Argo.

"It mysteriously dissapeared when you started picking on Silica." I said to her with a straight face.

"Bastard!" She shouted. "Gimme it! Now!"

I threw a small bag of coins I had just materialized into my hand. "There, that's the rest, and then some for good service. Now, if you will excuse us, I think I want that rare drop."

If anyone knows anything about biology that I don't, and knows I got something wrong, please let me know! Thanks!