Chapter 25: The Grand Quest

I Don't Own Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンラインor Any of Characters, All Rights Go To Reki Kawahara and ASCII Media Works

Author's Note:

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Twenty Five! So, I just want to give you guys a heads up. There are going to be four more chapters in this current run of the story. I know there are only three episodes left after this one to adapt, but you'll see what I mean in the coming chapters.

* The only thing I can say about this chapter is that things are about to diverge from the source material. Most of the general concepts will stay the same, but it's about how we get there that will most likely be different. You may like or dislike the coming changes. But ultimately, I hope you like, and welcome said changes! I put a lot of work and thought into how the next few chapters would go.

* One last thing before I start. I wasn't going to mention the following, but I feel like I owe it to you guys as the readers to say something. So, you may have noticed that in the last chapter, there was a scene that was left out. I omitted a scene entirely from this version of the story. You all should know exactly what scene I'm talking about.

* I hate everything about that scene, with Asuna and the slugs. That's why they're "wizards" and not slugs in my version. I knew from the get-go that that wasn't a scene I was going to adapt. I wasn't ever going to adapt that scene and for my reboot coming in the (very) distant future, the changes I made will most likely stay. I won't say anything else.

* I think you all get what I'm saying. So, without further ado, let's get right into the chapter!

Kazuto/Kirito

ALfheim, Neutral Territory – Central Capital, Arun – December 12th, 2025

Four Days Remaining

"Mommy."

It was as if that one word was all I could hear. I couldn't get it out of my head. The three of us were still flying at full speed towards the top of The World Tree.

"Kirito, what are we doing?!" Klein yelled over the wind.

I didn't answer him.

"You just abandoned Leafa like that?!" Sachi chimed in.

I gritted my teeth once again.

"I can't stop now." I whispered. "I've come too far for that."

I didn't think that they could hear me. And I honestly didn't care.

Suguha/Leafa

After seeing that my three new friends weren't stopping, my own wings appeared on my back as I took a running start. I kicked off the ground and began to fly after them.

Why is Kirito acting like this? And why are Klein and Sachi blindly following him? Is the person at the top of The World Tree that important to him?! Are they really worth all this trouble?!

They were several lengths ahead of me and I gasped, knowing full well what would happen if they continued at the rate that they were going. I slowed my pace, but I didn't stop.

"Look out, you guys!" I exclaimed as loud as I could.

Klein and Sachi actually slowed down, but Kirito shot right through the clouds. I stayed in my place as Klein and Sachi came back to me.

"What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"If you guys keep going, you'll hit the barrier that I was talking about. We have to warn Kirito before it's too late!"

Klein shook his head.

"I think it is already too late. He's not stopping."

I flashed him a look of irritation.

"Why?! What is so important about the person at the top of that tree?! Why can't he just calm down?!"

Klein just looked at me.

"It's about his real world situation. And discussing our real lives in here is taboo. We shouldn't bother you with it. It's not your problem!"

"But what if I want it to be my problem, too? What if I want to help more? What if..."

I didn't get to finish my sentence, as I heard a loud thud from up above us. Kirito had hit the sky barrier. He came falling back down, both he and Yui screaming as he did.

"Kirito!" I shouted with worry.

He'll stop now. He'll see that he can't go about his goal this way and he'll stop.

But surprisingly, he didn't stop. He flew back up again, forcing the three of us to follow him.

"No, Kirito! Stop!" I exclaimed once more.

Again, he didn't listen. Klein was right. He was determined. And for reasons that I couldn't understand. He flew back up towards the barrier and we emerged on the other side of the clouds just in time to see him slam into it again. He fell a small distance and once again it looked like he would retry, when Sachi shot past me. Before he could take off again, she grabbed his arm and tugged.

"Stop! Kirito, it's impossible!" she exclaimed. "You won't get any higher from here!"

"I have to!" he exclaimed with anger. "Damn it, I have to try!"

I stared up at the two of them with confusion. Meanwhile, Yui tried a strategy of her own. She burst out from Kirito's coat pocket and flew as close to the barrier as she could get.

"Mommy! I'm here, Mommy! Mommy!"

Asuna

Arun, The World Tree – The Floating City, The Birdcage

I sat at the table in the birdcage, with my head down, when I heard something.

"Mommy!"

I looked up with a gasp of confusion.

Who said that?

I looked around, but I didn't hear anything else. I continued looking around and that's when I heard it again.

"Mommy!"

I turned around with another gasp. I got up from the table. That voice sounded familiar. That's when I had a thought.

Yui? Could it be that little girl from SAO?

I decided to test that thought and I said her name.

"Yui?"

"Mommy! Mommy!"

She spoke as if she couldn't hear me. I frantically looked around the cage, trying to find her.

"I'm here!"

I eventually found myself holding onto the bars of the cage, looking out at the clouds. I eventually looked down and I think it was then that I finally realized where her voice was coming from. It was coming from below! Down below the clouds!

I wish she could be here! I have so many questions that I want to ask her. How can she be here? What happened to her after SAO? Was she somehow revived here, in ALfheim? And if she's here, then can that mean that Kirito's here, too?

I couldn't ask my questions. I could only think of how I could tell her that I was here.

"I'm up here." I whispered. "And you're down there..."

I wanted to cry, but I didn't. That's when I remembered the admin card that I had swiped yesterday from the console. I pulled it back out and looked at it.

Could they use this to get up to me?

I finally held it out in the air, outside of the bars. I dropped it and hoped for the best.

Kazuto/Kirito

I had pulled away from Sachi's grip and was now repeatedly punching the invisible barrier. It didn't matter, however. No amount of force was going to get me through that barrier. I just couldn't bring myself to admit it.

"Why can't I bust through it?!" I screamed.

"I used warning mode to contact her, but it didn't work." Yui whined.

I paid no attention to her. I continued pummeling the barrier with punch after punch. I eventually heard Klein let out a sigh from behind me.

"Kirito, it's time to stop." He said. "You need to calm down."

"No!" I exclaimed with irritation.

Sachi was next to try to talk me down. She flew up to me as I continued to persist.

"Kirito, please! Stop before you exhaust yourself!" she pleaded. "It hurts me to see you doing this to yourself!"

I didn't listen to her, either.

"No!" I exclaimed as I continued still. "I have to see her again! I have to! I have to! I have to!"

As I threw the second to last punch, tears began to rapidly roll down my cheeks. That's when I was forced to stop. I was surprised when Sachi gently pulled me into her grip, shushing me as I finally broke down, crying tears of frustration, anger and sadness. But mostly tears of frustration and anger. And so, I stopped moving. I surrendered myself to Sachi's warm, welcoming grasp and allowed her to continue hugging me, lightly humming to me as she did, as if I were a baby.

Sometime Later

As I was being calmed down by Sachi, Yui caught something that had apparently fallen from the tree. It was a card of some kind. Leafa had no idea what it was. Speaking of Leafa, as we wall sat at the base of the tree now, she had the most confused look on her face. I pitied her. Sachi and Klein both knew about my struggle to find Asuna in the real world. Meanwhile, Leafa was completely clueless about what was going on.

Apart from the almost week that we had spent with her, we hardly knew her. How could I drag her into my problems? How could I be so cruel? That would be a selfish thing to do, to make my problems her problems. Or was I being selfish by not letting her in on what was really going on? I don't think I had an answer. Anyway, back to the card.

I couldn't interact with it at all. Yui eventually revealed that the card had system-admin access codes on it. So, if that was the case then why did we have it now? Why had it fallen from the tree? Was Asuna really at the top of that tree? And if she was, had she dropped the card down to us so we could use it to get to her? I was so confused.

When I asked Yui if we might be able to access the GM's controls with the card, she said no. Another dead end. Apparently, we needed a console to access the codes. So, as of now, the card was useless to us without a console. Even Yui couldn't bring up the system menu, which is what we needed. According to her, no player could pull up the system menu.

Yui hypothesized that Asuna was at the top of the true and she had heard us. To tell us she had, she must have dropped the card for us to catch. Leafa had brought us down to rest at the base of The World Tree, where there was a gate that led into the Tree. According to Leafa, there were rumors that the Tree was actually completely hollow. But I didn't know if that was the case. I put the card into my other coat pocket.

I had to try. I'd come too far to give up now.

The door to the inside of the Tree (if there was an inside to it) was right in front of me. I could run for it right now and leave my friends in the dust. If I stood around doing nothing for even one more second, I'd go crazy. Besides, I knew that Yui wanted to see Asuna just as bad as I wanted to. I stood up from the ground. As I ran closer to the gate, all three of my friends looked up.

"Kirito!" they all cried in unison.

"What are you doing?!" Leafa cried.

I turned to look at them with a frown on my face.

"Sorry guys. But I have to do this."

They all looked at me with worry and I turned back to the gate. The two stone swords had crossed over the door and I heard an automated voice began to speak.

"Thou knowst not the heights of heaven above, dost thou seek entry to the castle of the king?"

After that, a notification popped up in front of me. It asked me if I would attempt the quest, "Guardians of the World Tree". I pressed confirm.

Hold on Asuna, I'm coming.

"Then prove thou art worthy of thy wings. Prove thou art worthy of flight!"

The gate opened and I walked into the hollow interior of The World Tree, which was in fact hollow, and was quickly blinded by bright lights that were apparently coming from all directions. Once I recovered from the bright lights, I looked up and scanned my surroundings. The room seemed to go up hundreds of feet. I squinted and made out what appeared to be some sort of hatch on the ceiling at the very top of the room.

I raised my sword upwards and prepared to take flight as my wings materialized on my back. I let out a yell of fury as I burst off the ground and took flight. Not even upon reaching halfway up, enemies began to spawn out of the walls. Defenders of the castle, if you will. I grimaced for a second as they charged towards me, but eventually I regained my straight face and prepared to fight back.

"Get out of my way!" I exclaimed as I parried one of the knights' swords. "I have much to do!"

I grabbed him while in midair and snaked my sword into a crack between his chest plate and helmet and delivered the killing blow, decapitating the knight.

I can do this!

Just as that thought entered my mind, dozens upon dozens more of those knights spawned into the room with me. I came to a full stop in midair and stared them down, somewhat intimidated. Eventually, I gritted my teeth and resumed in my path. I dashed forward, dodged one of the knights and struck down his ally.

I spun around and cut off both of the knight's hands, before he died. I turned to strike another knight. I punched him and stabbed my sword through his chest, all the while pictures of Asuna flashed through my brain.

Die!

More flashes of Asuna appeared in my brain, mainly of her joyous, smiling face.

Die, damn it! I thought as I put my fist through the knight's helmet.

I heard a knight approach from behind and spun around before he could strike me. I weaved beneath his blade and struck him down with ease. I turned and once I saw multiple knights closing in on me, I grinned in anticipation. I soared past them and targeted the one in the back. I landed on the knight's chest and my sword pierced through his armor.

I spun around and decapitated the knight behind me. I made a cut across another knight's chest, killing him. As another knight approached, I failed to dodge his attack and our blades clashed together. I let out a grunt of anger as I felt as though I would falter. But then, more images of Asuna flashed before my eyes.

I gritted my teeth once more and pushed harder. I broke the sword lock with the knight and struck him down easily. I soared towards him, lifted my sword over my head and brought it down across his body. Once he disappeared, I got ready for another wave of knights. I got double-teamed by two knights and as I tried to combat one of them, I took a strike and lost a significant amount of HP.

I pulled away from the sword that was caught in my wrist and grabbed one of the knights by the wrist, proceeding to slam him into his buddy. Afterwards, I soared upwards and I slammed back into the knights, skewering both of them with my sword. I continued to soar up towards the next wave of knights, preparing to attack.

I dashed towards all of them, striking them as I did. One of the knights managed to catch me by surprise and took me back down a bit. I blocked his blade with mine and eventually cut him down. As I soared back up, more flashes of Asuna appeared in my brain.

That time Asuna was so happy when I agreed to split the Ragout Rabbit Stew with her. Next, when she was mad at me at the teleport gate in Algade. That time when we had lunch with Sachi in the labyrinth, the time she saved me from that one nameless bastard that wanted me dead, so many memories of her and her face flashed through my mind.

Asuna, Asuna, her name echoed in my head. Asuna, Asuna, Asuna, Asu...

I reached up towards the hatch, when a shard of light pierced through my gloved hand. I stopped in my flight and stared at the shard of light that was now impaled through my hand. I looked around me and saw more knights that had formed a circle around me. They wore the same armor as all the other knights. However, they were all armed with bows and arrows.

It would seem that they've brought in archers, I thought.

There were too many of them for me to handle. There were at least five circles of archers here, all neatly stacked above the one below. No doubt they would all begin firing at any second now and I didn't have a whole lot of time. Actually, scratch that last thought.

If I play my cards correctly and if I move fast enough, I might be able to take on all of them!

Every one of them fired their bows in unison and as they did, I began to weave in and out, desperately trying to avoid their arrows. However, I wasn't completely safe. One arrow pierced through my calf, two through my arm and one through my back. I looked at my HP bar. It had fallen into the yellow zone and would reach the critical red zone pretty soon.

I couldn't afford to take on more than a few more hits. However, I continued flying. I was completely ignoring the archers and swordsmen at this point. I was soaring towards the hatch, moving as fast as the system would allow me to go. I was so close to the hatch, that I thought I could reach out and touch it.

That's when I felt a jolting pain in my chest. I looked down at my chest, to see the tip of a sword protruding from my chest. One of the knights had seriously thrown his sword and he nailed me with it. And he wasn't the only one. Just in the span of a two seconds or less, I was nailed with four more swords.

I hunched forward and hacked up what could only be seen as virtual blood. I tried to keep moving and that's when my vision began to darken. I gritted my teeth and let out a scream of rage as my HP fell into the critical red zone and continued falling.

Just a little further, I thought as I reached my hand out.

I let out one final scream of rage as everything went black. That's when the screen I never saw during my time in SAO popped up: You are dead, spelled out in all caps. I completely lost all feeling in my body and limbs.

Is this what Akihiko Kayaba meant in my vision? "Game over, Kirito"?

I couldn't see nor could I move. I could only hover here and think about my failure. My vision returned and I saw my surroundings once more, however, I still couldn't move. A timer for five hundred and ninety five seconds appeared in front of me. Under the timer, it said, "Resurrection Timer."

I actually died, didn't I? Damn it...

It dawned on me that when I looked around, I didn't see my body parts. It was like my vision was in third person. And I didn't see my body, no. Instead, I saw a small, purple flame with a circle of yellow at its core. I think that's where I died.

When I get resurrected, will it spawn me where I was? Or outside of the World Tree?

There was no use in thinking. No use in speculating either.

I always believed that somewhere, deep down, this world was just a game. Is this my punishment for thinking that? My strength in the game is a lie. Nothing more than a bunch of skills and stats. I didn't give a damn about its rules or its limits. I thought I could do anything. Now I see how much of a fool I was. Now I see how wrong I was.

Flashes of my days fighting in SAO appeared before my eyes. Some of them painful, some of them not. But for the most part, they were painful. My strength isn't real. It's nothing more than a set of numbers and if those numbers are high, that doesn't make me strong. All it says about me is that I'm a pathetic loser who puts all of my time into leveling in an MMORPG.

I may be "strong" in the game, but I'm weak in the real world. In SAO, they called me "The Black Swordsman". I could have taken on hordes of enemies singlehandedly. But who was I kidding? In here, I was nothing. My strength was just numbers and that meant nothing. As Kirito, I was strong and fearless.

That's why I created the persona of Kirito in the first place. I created him because he was the complete opposite of me in the real world. He was handsome, strong and fearless, while my real life face was something I had been trying to escape from for years in the real world. That's why I dove into SAO without a second thought. I wanted to leave behind the life that I wasn't happy in and become something I could actually be proud of.

But I had finally realized it. For months, years even, I had been led to believe that Kirito and Kazuto Kirigaya were two different people. I had created the character of Kirito to escape from myself, because I was ashamed of who I was, after all.

I wore Kirito as if he were a mask, to hide myself. But they were the same person. I was flawed in real life and in the game, I was flawed as well. I was a failure. I charged head on into battle and failed. So, yeah. I guess I wasn't as good as I thought I was.

A game where it's okay to die shouldn't be that big a deal, my words to Klein and Agil a few days back echoed in my head. How dumb could I really be?

Even in a game where death no longer means dying in real life, there are still going to be risks. Was I really so blinded by my success in SAO that I thought I could do anything? Maybe. I looked up at the hatch as my vision seemed to dim again. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't.

Asuna, you'd be ashamed that this is the boy you fell for, I thought.

Eventually, some more time passed, and my body began to reform around the purple flame. I could actually look around now, but I still couldn't move my limbs. All of a sudden, the enemies in The World Tree became active again.

What the hell is going on?

I turned my body around and I saw flash of green all the way at the bottom of the Tree. Eventually, I saw Leafa soar up towards my reforming body.

What is she doing? No way! Stay back!

Leafa wasn't ready for the first knight's attack. She hesitated at the last second and was swatted aside as if she were a fly. However, she recovered pretty quickly and kept flying towards me, weaving in and out, avoiding any contact with the knights. She flipped over one of the knights as he attempted to strike her and left him in the dust.

As she continued to fly towards me, she blocked an enemy sword with her own and kept moving. I had no idea why she was doing this. She was helping a guy that she hardly even knew. Well, she had helped me get to The World Tree because I asked her to. And Klein helped out without me even having to ask. Sachi even came to help us later and it wasn't her problem.

They've done their part; I could have taken it from here. But I didn't see Klein or Sachi with Leafa, so maybe Leafa just felt like she needed to help. She continued soaring past the knights and archers, flipping out of their way just to get to me. All of a sudden, I saw her smile as she sheathed her sword.

"Kirito!" she called my name.

She finally reached the flame that represented me, grabbed it and hugged it to her chest. At this time, about six knights were closing in on her. Just as they were about to strike, she flew downwards, causing four of their swords to clang together. She kept flying downwards as the archers began to fire again and she whizzed past arrow after arrow.

She was doing pretty good until she took an arrow in her shoulder blade. However, that didn't cause her to stop. Instead, she just continued to fly. And she flew faster now. She took several more arrows and let out a few grunts of pain, but she still didn't stop. She dodged the swords of two knights as they attempted to strike her.

She finally reached the ground and nailed it shoulder-first, letting out a grunt of pain as she did. She laid on the ground for several seconds before she started to get up. She began to fly low, close to the ground on the rest of the way to the doors that were now open. She continued dodging both swords and arrows alike.

She let out a scream as she finally emerged on the outside of The World Tree. The doors shut behind us as she laid on the ground, with the small flame still in her hand.

"Kirito..." she spoke my name, her voice full of worry.

She stood up, opened her menu and began to scroll through it. I couldn't tell what she was doing, but she wasn't taking her time. Eventually, she laid the flame down onto the ground and allowed a drop from some kind of potion to fall onto it.

It was at this point that my form became solid and I began to regain the feeling in my limbs. It finally occurred to me that I had somehow been resurrected early. I finally opened my eyes and looked down at her. As I looked down at her, she stared back up at me as she smiled.

"Kirito!"

I lifted my hand in front of my face, made a fist and sighed. I fell onto my rear end and refused to move. Leafa scooted over to me and rested her hand on mine. I let out another sigh.

"Leafa, thank you." I said. "But you should have left me in there."

She let out a bit of a gasp as I said that.

"W-Why did you just waltz in there like that?! I could have helped!"

I didn't say anything in return.

"Yeah, buddy!" Klein exclaimed as he appeared at my side. "We would have gone in there with you!"

"Klein, how nice of you to finally join us." I finally spoke.

"Dude, I've always been here! I volunteered to go into The World Tree with Leafa, but she said no!"

"We both knew that I had the better shot of getting in there and retrieving him. Besides, you wouldn't even know what to do!"

"Well, I could at least distract the enemies!"

"You wouldn't be able to move as fast as I could."

As Leafa and Klein argued, I stood up. Sachi finally ran over as well.

"You can't just keep running off like that!" she cried with worry.

As bad as it made me feel, I ignored Sachi. Klein turned to face me as I invited him to a trade window.

"Kirito?" he asked with confusion.

"Here, take this." I said, as I transferred my sword to his inventory, causing it to appear, with him holding it in both his hands. "Because I quit. I give up."

I turned away from them and began to walk down the path away from The World Tree. They noticed this and began to follow me, with Klein following on my left side and Leafa and Sachi following on my right side.

"Kiri-Dude, what are you doing?" he asked as he followed.

I flashed him an angry look.

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing, Klein? I'm going home. I was a fool to think that I could free Asuna."

Klein and Sachi remained at my side, while Leafa stopped in her tracks.

"W-What did you say?" she asked.

While Klein and Sachi stopped walking, I continued in my path.

"I said that, "I was a fool to think that I could free Asuna". She's the one I've been struggling to find. I've been looking for her and I have reason to believe that she's at the top of The World Tree. Why?"

"Asuna?" Leafa muttered her name.

I slowed in my pace a bit, but I didn't stop walking.

"But that... That means..." she began stuttering behind me. "Then you're... Oh my God... Kazuto? Kazuto, is that you?"

Now I stopped in my tracks as well. I turned around to face Leafa, who looked like she had seen a ghost.

"What the hell? That's my real name! How do you know my real name?!"

I didn't even need to question it. I was already narrowing down the answer to that question. Leafa's voice had always sounded familiar to me and something about her reminded me of Sugu. I think it had finally hit me. My eyes went wide.

"Sugu?" I asked.

Leafa stood there, with her hands covering her mouth and a bright red blush was growing on her cheeks.

"Suguha?" I said her full name this time.

Leafa took a full step back and then another, which basically confirmed for me that she and Sugu were the same person. She let out a gasp as she stared at the ground. I looked over at Klein and Sachi for help, to see that he was absolutely out of it. His face was pale, and it looked like he wasn't even paying attention anymore. Meanwhile, Sachi looked just as confused as I was. Leafa/Sugu finally broke her silence.

"I can't believe it. It's not fair. No!"

"Sugu?" I asked as I took a step forward.

Leafa/Sugu took another step back. She covered her eyes.

"No, no, no," she said as she opened up her menu. "This is so bad!"

"Sugu!" I exclaimed as I stepped closer once more.

After that, she disappeared as she logged out from the game. The three of us stood there in absolute silence. I don't know how long it took for one of us to speak, but eventually, Klein broke the silence.

"What the hell?! Kirito, was that really your cousin?!"

"I don't know, I think so. I-I have to log off and confront her before she does something she regrets!"

I swiped down with my hand and opened my hand.

"Kiri-Dude, wait!"

"What are we supposed to do?" Sachi asked.

I ignored them as I proceeded to log out from the game.

Suguha

A Few Minutes Later – Kazuto's House

Once I woke up, the first thing I saw was the poster of my ALO avatar on the ceiling. I laid there, resting my hand on my forehead. I didn't know what to do or how to respond to what had just happened. I let out a pained gasp as I began to sit up. I wanted to cry as I rolled over and got into a fetal position. I began to sit up, took off my AmuSphere and I finally let out a squeal of embarrassment as I tossed it across the bed. That's when I heard the knock at my door.

Kirito

A Few Minutes Earlier

Once I woke up, I sat up on my bed and took off my NerveGear. I stood up from the bed with it in hand and walked across the room to the shelf on the wall. I rested it on the shelf in between my own copy of the manga I wrote based on SAO and two framed pictures. I then walked over to my door, opened it and waited. After a minute or two, I finally heard a squeal coming from Sugu's room. I took a deep breath and walked the couple of steps to her door and I stopped. Then, I knocked. When I didn't get a response, I heaved a sigh.

"Sugu, it's me." I said.

"Go away!" she responded almost immediately.

I stood up straight with surprise. I could hear her begin to cry on the other side of the door.

"Just go." I could barely hear her say, the words practically trembling out. "Leave me alone!"

I just stood there, with a glum look on my face.

"I want to know what's wrong, Sugu. I mean, it was kind of a shock for me, too." I said as I looked down at the floor. "And if you're mad because I'm using the NerveGear again, I'm sorry. I just... It was the only way, okay?"

"You're wrong!" Sugu exclaimed in a tear-jerking voice. "That's not why."

I heard her whisper something else, but I couldn't hear what exactly she said. That's when I began to hear footsteps on the other side of the door.

"Sugu?" I asked as my head perked up.

She threw the door open, surprising me and I saw that she wasn't in a good state. Her face was pale and there were fresh tears coming from her eyes.

"I... I... I... I betrayed the feelings that I had!" she finally got over her stuttering. "I betrayed the love I felt! For you..."

I just stared at her with shock.

Did Sugu just admit that she had romantic feelings for me? Her brother? Erm, cousin...?

She continued speaking and didn't let me get a word in.

"When I met Kirito, I thought, finally I could give up on all these feelings I had for you, but what the hell? I already had! When we worked together on The Death Game, I accepted the fact that Asuna was the girl that you belonged with and I opened my eyes a little, and I saw that the feelings I had for you were taboo. So, I gave up on them!"

I just stood there, feeling dumbfounded.

"Y-You had romantic feelings for me?"

She looked up at me, this time it being her turn to look surprised.

"Yes! Are you deaf?!" she exclaimed, before sniffling. "I realized that even if it's what I wanted, it wasn't morally right, and I needed to get on with my life before I let it consume me. I moved on."

I cocked my head to the side as a sad smile came to my face.

"Love? Well, no kidding it's not right! I mean, you and me? We're..."

The next thing that Sugu said surprised me.

"No, we're not." She said in a firm tone.

I blinked with shock.

"Huh?"

"I said, no, we're not!" she exclaimed as she wiped her tears away, only for more to come. "I know you're not really my brother and I'm not your sister!"

I let out a gasp, but said nothing.

"I've known all along! For the last three years, anyway."

She had known that we weren't really siblings while I was trapped in SAO?

She looked back up at me with an angry look.

"That's why you quit kendo, isn't it? And why you started avoiding me? Because you knew the whole time, didn't you? You pushed me away because I'm not your real sister, didn't you?!"

Sugu was practically screaming at me at this point. When I didn't answer, that practically confirmed it.

"You did..." she finally spoke, before screaming at me again. "Well, if that's how it is, why do you care about me now?!"

I only backed up a step with shock from how angry she was getting. When she spoke once more, it was in a softer tone, so I took a slight step forward.

"I just... I was so... happy you came back from SAO. I was happy because you were being nice to me again, just like when we were little."

I slightly looked down at the ground out of guilt at this point.

"It felt like you were finally giving me a chance!"

My eyes widened once she said that and I looked back up at her.

"That's what I thought!" she continued as another wave of tears came about. "But now... If this is how it is, I wish you would have kept on being a jerk to me!"

Those words hit me hard. It felt as though I had been stabbed in the chest. At this point, I couldn't bear to look at Sugu anymore. So, I looked to the side as she continued speaking.

"If you had, maybe I wouldn't have realized how I felt about you..." she said as she put her face into her hands. "Maybe I wouldn't have felt jealous when I found out that you were dating Asuna."

Those words also hit me hard, so much so that it felt like I had been hit by a truck.

Sugu had been jealous of Asuna?

"And I wish I hadn't gotten over you." She mumbled, before she looked up at me and began yelling again. "Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have forgotten about you and I wouldn't have fallen in love with Kirito instead!"

And with that, she slammed the door in my face.

"Sugu!" I exclaimed with surprise.

I didn't get a response from her. All I could hear was her crying on the other side of the door. I finally let out a sigh as I went back to my own room. Once I closed the door behind me, I just stood in the darkness for a while, not moving or doing anything. I finally heaved a sigh. Then, with an amazing degree of agility, I stepped forward and pushed the entire contents of my shelf to the floor.

My personal copy of my manga, the two framed photos and the NerveGear, all of it came crashing down to the floor. I began to bang my head against the wall out of frustration as I let out a sigh. I was expecting for Sugu to say something from her room, telling me to stop, but I never heard anything from her other than her sobbing.

I finally sighed, walked over to my bed and collapsed on my side onto the bed. I finally summoned the strength to roll over and look at my digital clock. It said that it wasn't even eight o'clock yet. I sighed. I didn't want to go to bed, but at the same time, I didn't want to do anything for the rest of the night.

I sat up on my bed and pulled my knees to my chest. And as I rested myself against the wall, I began to weep. And when I cried, I cried harder than I had in quite a while. I came to accept what had happened today. I failed. I was a failure.

Author's Note:

* And so, that's it for this chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed this one!

* I imagine that some of you (maybe a lot of you) didn't like how this chapter turned out. And if any of you have negative opinions about this chapter, that's absolutely fine. I get it.

* Some of you may think "this is out of character for Kirito", that it's not in character for him to just give up? Again, I get it. But I hope that you can trust me with what I'm doing. This may be a huge loss for Kirito, but the way I see it, he'll be back and better than ever in the next chapter!

* Just give this change a chance? It's not as bad as it may seem, I assure you. So, that's all I have. As always, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Anyway, I'm going to go, so have a fantastic rest of your day and bye.

Review Responses

Naruto Sakura Uzumaki (Chapter 24): I wonder if anyone else besides Kirito will actually make it to the top area where the locked door is in your version? It would be nice if Klein and Sachi also made it, but there are way too many Guardians to deal with and they keep infinitely spawning. Just to let you know, Klein is one of my favorite SAO characters.

I know he ended up being turned into a comic relief character after the Aincrad arc, but he is still a caring guy. On a side note, I kind of want to have a chapter that focuses on Sachi's point of view and the events from her side that led to her decision for diving into ALO. It could be like a flashback chapter or even her explaining to everyone once Asuna and the captured SAO players are rescued and Sugou is dealt with.

Thanks, Naruto. I doubt that anyone will make it up the top with Kirito. It's a nice idea, but it's unlikely to happen. I really like Klein, too. Keep in mind that I'm not at all caught up with the light novel or manga, but I could have sworn that earlier this year, that he and Sinon had gotten together?

Or maybe that a pairing between the two of them was hinted at? Or maybe I'm mistaken, and I heard something else. I don't know! In terms of your idea for a Sachi-led chapter, it's a good one and I like it. I may just put it to use. Maybe I'll replace the "recap episode" in the Phantom Bullet Arc (the one where Sinon recalls the events of the arc) with a Sachi-led chapter.

I mean, why do we need a recap chapter? What's the point of it? Or maybe I will be able to come up with something for it. Who knows? As for the Sachi idea, again, it's a good idea. Thanks for the review, as always.

Next Chapter: As a wall between him and Suguha is formed, Kirito faces an internal conflict. With the help of his friends and through convincing himself, he realizes he must free Asuna – no matter what.