Back again, and I have some very important news for you guys. I've finally realized that writers block if no longer writers block.

It's Partners block.

Hear me out. Constantly and frequently updating has made me rather write other things than this story. Now, seeing as we are so close to the end of Aincrad, I'll be taking a hiatus from this story once we do. I don't know how long it'll be, but I'm more than certain you guys want the best possible chapters, which I can't write in this state. It may explain why I feel these last few chapters haven't been as good as they could be. If all goes according to plan, we'll be done by chapter 40. Maybe 41, I don't know.

Enjoy!

Klein felt like something was off with Asuna and Kirito. The chestnut haired girl seemed quieter than usual, and Kirito had a confused look plastered on his face. He payed them no mind though, he and the others were making very slow progress through the final floor before Heathcliff. Yes, that was probably what was bothering them. They were just nervous, that had to be it. Even for Kirito and Asuna, fighting someone like Heathcliff must've seemed terrifying. Klein walked through the hallowed halls of the 99th floor in silence like everyone else, observing the golden walls around them. Just like Kayaba had told them, the 99th floor was modeled after castle hallways. Klein fell into step with Kirito, watching the young player.

"Hey." He finally said, elbowing Kirito. The other man looked over quietly. "Are you alright? You're acting strange."

"I'm fine." Kirito answered way to quickly. Klein noticed how Kirito's stare was fixated at the back of his partners head. "Just...thinking."

"About what?" Klein hadn't realized in the moment how Kirito had noticed his staring, and he frowned.

"Stop it." he muttered. "It's not like that."

"Huh?" Klein asked, confused. "Oh uh, I wasn't really referring to that."

"Oh." More silence, and Klein watched the brow of his friend furrow. "Nothing, it's fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Klein nodded and Kirito sped up his pace a little to walk in step with Asuna, and Klein couldn't help but get even more curious as to what was bothering the young man. Something clearly was, but what? Klein shook it off as the sound of mobs spawning around them interrupted his train of thought. The remaining players backed up into a tight knit circle, clearing trying to prevent anymore death.

"Heathcliff's Elite Guard?" Klein asked, watching the gilded knights advance. "They must be a little tough..." Klein choked as he noticed their level.

250

The max level.

"They're the max level?" Asuna asked quietly, which was the first time Klein heard her talk in a while. "Kayaba really doesn't want us to get to him."

"Just stick together." Kirito said in a deadpan. "They may be the max level, but they're still a system. Exploit it and defeat them." Klein deflected a few blows from one such guard and tried to stab it, only to watch his own sword get deflected away. The guard went in for another stab as well, but Klein was quicker, blocking it and driving his blade into it's gut.

"There really doesn't seem to be a pattern to what they do." Klein said, as everyone else fought the knights. "They're almost like...players." Klein heard a feminine shout behind him, and Asuna huffed.

"They do act a lot like players." She agreed, deflecting another blow. "The difficulty level up here is..."

"As we should have expected." Kirito cut her off to say what he thought. "It's the last real floor, of course it isn't gong to be some walk in the park." Klein had to agree with the Black Swordsman, the difficulty was to be expected. Just as the last of the knights dropped by Kirito's blade, the black haired teen made a weird face.

"What?" Asuna asked him, peering over his shoulder, and frowned.

"Care to explain the faces?" Klein asked, and Kirito turned to everyone as a piece of paper materialized in his hand.

"Dear clearing group." Kirito read. "if you're reading this you survived the assault on the 98th floor, which is good. It means you have a possibility of defeating me. However, there is one thing you should all be aware of..." Kirito's eyes widened, and the whole clearing group leaned forward in anticipation.

"W-What?" Silica asked weakly, and Kirito gulped.

"Every mob you will find on this floor was the skill set of a maxed out player class." Kirito finally said, and Klein felt his stomach drop. "As I'm sure you've noticed they are that of the max level, and each of them has a completely maxed out skill set. The boss of the floor is also the max level, and I've simply named him The Prince. If you manage to make it to me, I hope you're all ready." After Kirito finished reading, no one spoke. After a second or two, Kirito ripped up the note angrily and threw it into the air, and it turned into a few hundred polygons. "Ignore him." He told everyone. "We'll be fine."

"You say that." Someone murmured behind Klein, "But you can't guarantee it."

"I never said I could." Kirito said abruptly, startling whoever had said it. "All I can do is do my best. And you should be doing the same instead of putting everyone down." Kirito garnered no response, so he continued down the hallway without another word. Klein fell into step with everyone else again, doing his best to look on the bright side just like Kirito had said. It was rather difficult to do so when the strongest pair in the whole group was feeling nervous and they'd lost the majority of the group in a few floors. Klein knew perfectly well there were a lot of clearing group members that hadn't come on the raid, but right now they didn't matter. They weren't confined to the floors until they had been cleared, so he didn't care.

After a few more attacks by the Elite Guard, they came upon what appeared to be a rest zone, once again not actually 'safe' from any mobs attacks. As they had for the past few floors, they quickly established a system of rounds for watching the perimeter, and everyone else sat down to rest. Klein did as well, falling down and sighing at the relief of getting off of his feet. Just as he was about to doze off from fatigue, he saw Asuna and Kirito leaving the rest zone, and they walked around a corner near the perimeter. Klein, once again feeling to curious for his own good, slowly snuck up to the wall and leaned as close as he could without making a single sound, knowing both of the people he was eavesdropping on had rather good sense of presence.

"...You can't be serious, Asuna." Klein finally heard Kirito say, and he sounded bewildered. "That's insane!"

"Think about it, Kirito-kun." Asuna whispered back, tone very serious. "We'd be saving a lot of other people by doing this."

"And what happens when they find out?" Kirito asked. "They'll be devastated, you know."

"I know, but..."

"What if we aren't enough even then?"

"We will be."

"Asuna..."

"Kirito, don't act like we have a chance." Asuna said, and Kirito didn't reply right away. "If we were to do this, not only could we save everyone in there, but we could..." Klein heard a muffling sound, and he peaked around the corner slowly to find Kirito right up against Asuna, his hand pressed over her mouth. Asuna was as red as the system allowed her to be, and Kirito looked dead serious as he stared down the hallway away from Klein.

"mfut's fwong?" Asuna's muffled voice came from behind Kirito's hand.

" I thought I heard something." he replied, slowly turning to look in Klein's direction, who quickly hid back behind the corner to avoid being seen. "Maybe it was just me, though." Klein heard a quick sound of struggle, and then Asuna spoke clearly,

"Don't be so paranoid, we aren't that far from everyone else." Silence had befallen the duo once more, and Klein waited with baited breath.

"You...really think it's a good idea?" Kirito asked, voice unsure.

"Yes, I really do." Asuna replied. "Well? Do I have an answer or what?"

"I..." Klein leaned forward as Kirito was about to answer. "Alright, I agree. We'll do it." Klein heard Asuna grunt happily, and he heard their hands clasp. "Not a word to anyone else, though. I don't want this getting out."

"My lips are sealed." Asuna replied, tone much happier than before. Klein heard them approaching again, so he bounced back to where he'd been and laid down as inconspicuously as possible, trying to not give the pair any ideas. They sat down near him and, just as he tried to not give off the wrong signals, neither did they. They talked about equipment and progress, something anyone else would consider mundane and pointless to listen in on.

But Klein knew better now.

May 13th, 2025, Ruby Palace Hallways

Klein was more than disturbed the next day, his brain had gone into overdrive trying to find out what Kirito and Asuna were planning. A double suicide? Unlikely, nether of them were that depressed as far as he knew. Taking on Kayaba alone? Again, neither of them were that suicidal as far as he knew. Klein grunted in frustration and crossed his arms, making several people look at him in confusion. Jut as Klein was about to do it again, he looked up and saw their destination.

The boss room door stood in front of them, in all it's splendor.

"Here we are." hearing Kirito's voice made Klein want to smack some sense into the little idiot. "The last boss before Kayaba. Is everyone ready?" A collective, what sounded like yes, could be heard from the remaining forty members of the clearing group, who readied themselves as Kirito and Asuna placed a hand on the door and pushed it open. Just like before, their exit was taken away as soon as they made any sort of progress into the room. As they reached the middle, a man of normal height appeared at the far end, dressed in rather extravagant looking clothes and a small crown. he looked like a younger Heathcliff, and his sword was golden and embedded with diamonds and various other crystals.

"The Prince." Klein murmured as he drew his weapon along with everyone else. "I can see the family resemblance." The Prince walked up to them, maybe as close as eight feet away, and just stood there. At first no one moved, before the Prince finally drew his sword and rushed towards them, meeting Elucidator and Dark Repulser immediately. As soon as Kirito had forced the Prince back, the rest of the clearing group took that as their opportunity, running at the Prince with everything they was rather impressive to watch the young Prince not only defend himself from all of the attacks being swung at him at once, but he also managed to dish out a few counterattacks as well. Klein took his time to advance in, watching the man's movements carefully, as were Kirito and Asuna. Klein could see no identifiable opening, even with everyone attacking as one. Once the Prince had created a little distance between himself and everyone else, Klein saw the two current leaders of the clearing group take their turn, attacking with everything they had. Although his mind was still fogged about what they had been talking about the night before, it really was a spectacle to watch Kirito and Asuna fight. The fluid movement, the perfect synchronization, everything. What had Klein's attention the most, however, was that the Prince was fighting them off, not even taking a little damage. After grabbing Asuna by the arm and throwing her into Kirito both of them flew back and hit the ground, Asuna on top of her partner.

"Ow." Asuna murmured, rolling off of Kirito and offering him a hand. "I knew this wouldn't be easy, but..."

"yeah." Kirito agreed. "We didn't even scratch him."

"Max level." Klein replied. "You guys, even you Kirito, haven't hit 200. He's not going to be a pushover, or even ten Gleam Eyes easy." Klein was about to suggest a more strategic approach when the whole group attacked again, and he decided to join them, just to see if they could land anything at all. Still nothing. Klein dodged another blow from the golden blade and was about to spring back in the fight when he heard a strange sound, almost like something had zipped past him. He turned back to the Prince just in time to find him standing still, a shocked expression on his face. Asuna stood behind him, Twilight Defender in a position that gave off the idea she had swung it. Everyone watched in silence as, eventually, the crown that had been atop the Prince's head hit the ground and broke into a million pieces, temporarily breaking the silence.

"Now!" Kirito shouted. "He's stunned!" Klein knew the meaning from playing video games before. The secret behind the Prince was that simple. Knocking the crown off of his head stunned him for only a few seconds, allowing a counterattack. However, Klein noticed something other than the fact they weren't doing much damage.

The crown had reappeared on his head.

"Back up!" He shouted far to late for some players. "he isn't stunned...!" Klein's warning was only a fraction of a second too late, and several players avatars exploded. Everyone did their best to ignore it, and they repeated the process another two times before the Prince's health hit almost zero. As soon as Klein saw the opening he took it, driving his blade through the fancy clothes and into the Prince's stomach ,exploding him into a million pieces. Once Klein stood straight again, he noticed the final attack bonus.

Ruby Palace Key.

"Rolling his eyes, Klein turned to find everyone cheering, obviously happy they'd survived. The only two that didn't seem the least bit excited was the pair that lead them. Kirito ,however, had the biggest fake smile on his face.

"Great work everyone." he said, walking towards the door near the other end of the boss room. "Now, let's hit that checkpoint." Klein nodded and ran after Kirito as he opened the door. Once he had and walked up a few flights of stairs, another door stood before them. Kirito slowly brought his hand up to open it, and they stepped out onto the platform, way above Aincrad.

The checkpoint was not a small town or anything, rather a rest zone atop Aincrad itself, allowing everyone a look out over the area in which the castle floated. Klein often wondered, just out of curiosity, if had the game been normal, if any DLC or anything would've allowed them to go down there. Probably not, though.

"Well," Asuna said, a fake smile on her face as well. "Now's your chance, everyone. Go and rest up at home, gather supplies, and gather other members. We're almost ready." it sounded like it was false praise, but no one suspected her. Just as everyone start teleporting away to do just what Asuna had suggested.

"Hey Klein," Kirito said in a monotone. "Asuna and I are going to Algade, alright?" Klein made a weird face at the pair, but shrugged.

"Alright, see you later." Both of them nodded and turned, and Klein had another question. "When are we taking Heathcliff on?" Both of them froze at his question, and Klein waited patiently.

"When we're ready, I suppose." Kirito replied without looking at him. "Just rest up, Klein, we all deserve it."

"Yeah...alright." Both of them disappeared as they activated the teleportation crystal Kirito held, and Klein had a sinking feeling. He shook it off as best he could, deciding to teleport home as well.

Algade

Klein had been unable to shake the feeling he'd gotten from the pair, so he'd decided to go and visit them. He knew where they lived of course, and he was on his way there. As soon as he got close, he got to the door and knocked.

"Kirito?" he asked. "Asuna?" he got no immediate response, so he kept knocking. "Anyone home?" Still no response, so Klein rolled his eyes and forced the door open, finding himself in their living room, It had that homey feel, but felt empty. Klein seemed to remember more life to the lace last time he'd been here. Walking through the house quietly, Klein continued to get the cold feeling from the house.

"So no one's home, then?" he called, still not getting a response. He sighed in defeat. They must have gone out to eat or something, that must've been it. "I'll just send him a message and ask, then..." Klein opened up his menu and scrolled through his friends list, looking for Kirito. He frowned when he didn't find it. "What the...?" He did a double check, then a triple check. Once he was quite sure Kirito's name wasn't there, he looked for Asuna. She wasn't there either. "What...? Why...?"

Klein started to panic, a million different ideas running through his head. Dead? That was the most likely in his head.

"What if they're dead?" Klein asked himself weakly. "Shit, we're so fucked if..." Klein stopped as a message icon appeared on his HUD, and he stared at it curiously. Slowly opening it slowly, Klein almost had a heart attack when he saw it was from Kirito.

Klein,

If you're reading this, you may have already realized Asuna and I have disappeared. Before you freak out, don't panic, we aren't dead. After a little bit of deliberation, we decided that we were missing something crucial: We weren't a high enough level. Like you said when we were fighting the Prince, Asuna and I still haven't gone past level 200. Although the Prince had a pretty exploitable weakness, Kayaba won't be the same. He's cunning, he's strong, and he's got the system to back him up. So you may be asking yourself, what are we doing?

Grinding. It may sound insane, but Asuna made a lot of good points earlier. If we manage to get to the max level, our chances go way, way up. I know you're probably confused as hell, and it's understandable. But Asuna and I have made our minds up.

Once we both get to level 250, we can fight Kayaba.

Try without us if you want, but I don't think anyone will want to do that. Oh, and don't tell anyone, except maybe Silica and Lisbeth, they deserve to know.

I really am sorry, Klein. Maybe if it wasn't Kayaba things could be different, but it is. I don't know how long we'll be gone, it could be a few months, maybe even longer.

I promise you this though.

We will come back and beat this game.

Kirito

Klein read the message a few times before he finally realized what Kirito was saying. Level 250, gone, grinding.

"Kirito, you...Klein muttered, clenching his fists. "You selfish bastard! You better come back strong enough or...or..."

"We're screwed."

Well, what'd you think? Personally I really like this idea, plus it gives me more room to aha develop their relationship.

Keep in mind I won't be going through all of that grinding. Partners block is still a thing, so yeah.

I hope you enjoyed, leave a review!