Author's Note: Here is chapter 29! If you're wondering why I added two chapters today, or if you got two separate alerts for two separate updates, the reason is because I added a small chapter to the beginning. I wanted to make the story fit the Star Wars style more, so I'll just let you go back and find it...

Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.

Chapter Twenty-Nine - A Mind with a Heart of its Own

"Darth Trentyn, dead by your own blade."

Emperor Lusac addressed Darth Rosario over a hologram transmission as her cruiser flew off the surface from Tatooine. He was safely on Dromund Kaas, while she was moving her garrison to another corner of the galaxy.

"Yes, he attempted to betray the Empire and failed." Asuna had mentioned to Lusac earlier how Trentyn used their armies as hostages to get her into the cave for their duel, and explained how the call for her aid was just a ploy to damage her reputation and her new apprentice.

Lusac sighed. "My own friend from the real world...brought down by my apprentice. I suppose I never imagined a Republic soldier would be the one to take him down..." He kept his arms crossed, and tried to conduct his own conclusion on the matter.

"He was a fool." Lusac spat out over the hologram message. "He spent too much time focused on your rivalry than the greater good of the Empire. That's what separated the two of you. That is why you took my side instead of him, and it's also why you're still alive."

"I thank you for understanding." Asuna kept her head down as she continued kneeling in thanks.

Lusac raised an eyebrow. "And your acolyte. The boy Kirito was the one to disarm the bomb. I hear you left Trentyn's men with the Shock Drum?"

"I instructed them to deliver the weapon to you as you asked, My Lord. When they found out their leader turned them into hostages, they were rather quick to work with me."

"And they will be again." Lusac demanded. "I'll see they return to you after they arrive on Dromund Kaas with the weapon. Add them to your fleet. You've earned their allegiance."

Asuna smiled, and nodded her head, but Lusac was not done.

"And the boy, Kirito. I take it you plan to reward him in my name?"

"I do." Asuna admitted. "We're having a feast for him on board the Mother's Rosario right after I'm through here."

"We?" Lusac corrected her. "Or you?"

Asuna had no idea how to take that, which left room for her superior to carry out his wisdom. "My sweet Lady Rose, be mindful. Do not let the boy Kirito sway you with any degree of charm. If you cannot handle him as an apprentice in the proper manner, then I will happily take him under my wing as you suggested in the beginning of all this."

"I'm not sure what you're implying." She was starting to grow testy in front of her Emperor. "Are you worried that I've developed feelings for him?"

"Well," Lusac chuckled. "There must have been some merit to Trentyn's assault against the two of you on Tatooine. He made a note to tell me that much after your arrival to Mos Ila, just before your confrontation. The two of you appear to be rather...close now. You even let him slay the headmaster of my academy."

"An academy you placed me in-charge of." She retorted. "I've been free with my approach for training Kirito because his potential seems to shine when left to his own devices. The Dark Side inside him grows more and more every time he's kept off his leash."

"Just make sure to keep a hold of the leash, My Lady." Lusac kept his head high in the hologram. "I will not lose you to my father the same way that I almost lost him. Kirito was meant to be his agent...Remember that."

Asuna kept her mouth closed as they both signed off on the message. She stood from her position and turned for the door as she made her way out of her chambers.

"If one more person insinuates that I have feelings for Kirito, I'll end their life, myself."

Now at a rather ornate dinner table for two, Kirito sat alone with a starstruck view of the black space sky out a great bay window on the upper deck of the Mother's Rosario. He thought to himself where they were in the galaxy, but grew distracted the moment Asuna returned to her seat after stepping out for an alert.

"Welcome back." Kirito spoke with charm. "Did your boss man take his news well?"

"Huh?" Asuna was lost in a thought as she sat back down at the table. "O-oh, yes, he was happy to hear what we did. He's quite thankful that you kept the bomb in-tact. We're sending it to him for research on Dromund Kaas."

"Honestly I'm pretty sure it's the same one from the 2012 game." Kirito embarrassingly admitted. "They could just tell one of the players not trapped in a Holocron unit to log off and look up information on the web."

"Okay." Asuna took her fork and knife, and continued with her meal. "Then you can deliver that message to Lusac once we're done eating."

"Hey, don't make me do it!" Kirito raised his hands defensively. "He's not my Emperor. Come to think of it, I find it a little weird that the guy is so obsessed with us, even though we've never met before."

"No." Asuna thought to herself. "He's not your Emperor, is he...Kirito, what exactly are you fighting for in this game?"

"Me?" He wondered why she had to ask. "I'm trying to get you and the others out of here. Peter Mathis has let this game go too far, and we need to log out and stop him and his kids before people start to seriously get hurt."

"Still concerned with Peter Mathis..." Asuna tried to forget everything her beloved Emperor had to say earlier. "Did you act this unruly with the Republic?"

"Eh, I wasn't with them that much longer than this." Kirito admitted as he started eating again as well. "Klein and the guys I know were able to handle me pretty well, but Amanda and I kind of rubbed off on one another in a bad manner. Not to mention..."

He went to discuss the paradoxical addition that was Seijirou Kykuoka, but he felt it would be best to keep that bit of information from Asuna and the rest of the Empire. "Anyway, we had one or two small trips together. Klein and I escaped a Sith juggernaut orbiting a mining planet, we stopped bounty hunters on Coruscant. Fought a band of rogue smugglers on our way from Tython, and then we joined the war on Alderaan."

"Right." Asuna nodded, and tried to stay quiet about killing Leafa. "So...what about the other games?"

"Huh? Other games?" Kirito sounded confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what about the two of us? You and me. What kind of missions did we go on in other games? Everyone in the Galaxy keeps saying we know each other in the real world..."

"Well, I wouldn't really call them missions...more like adventures!" Kirito's recently tainted Sith heart was showing its lighter side once again as his face lit up with energy. "You and I were part of a big assault group in another game called Sword Art Online. You were in charge of a large player guild with the creator of the game, but we never knew that at the time. I mainly played alone until the last few floors. Klein, Agil, Lisbeth, Silica, we all fought bosses together to try and log out of the game."

"I don't get it." Asuna was letting herself get drawn in by his miraculous story. "We weren't allowed to log out, like in here? How long did we play?"

"Two years." Kirito normally hated bringing it back up, but he figured this information was better than anything else he had to try and turn Asuna back to normal. "This game's a little less heavy on the stakes though. Players that died in SAO were killed in the real world...it's one of the few reasons that's let me go through this game as calmly as I have. I still don't really know what happens when players die in TORO though."

"They're frozen to the computers in Immortal Gaming's servers." Asuna said with an oddly calm tone. "Lusac said his team runs more studies on them as they wait for the PVP game to end. Brain tests, emotional readings. They're trying to study gamers as they full-dive using the Holocron."

"That's sick." Kirito was growing angry again. "How many people have died in-game using the Holocrons so far?"

"Oh not very many. Remember, Holocrons were given to some of the best players in the world. Not to mention it opens up a world of possibilities that normal gameplay doesn't have. It makes sense for most of the 1000 test subjects to still be alive. I'd say your Master Leafa is probably the best player using one to actually lose her life..."

She stopped herself there, and looked down at her food to change the subject, but silence was the only thing to follow once Kirito caught what she was trying to do.

"Asuna." He said with sympathy in his voice. "Do you realize you're not like the other Sith players?"

"I don't know what you mean?" Her face was turning the same color as her lightsaber's blade, and the gold in her eyes was possibly starting to match the original brown they once were.

Kirito cracked a soft smile. "You show sympathy. Sure, you mainly treat me nice because I'm your student, or whatever. You know when to be ruthless, but you also know when to be thoughtful. Like on Tatooine. A Sith character from the real Star Wars would have called Trentyn's bluff and gotten themselves off the planet. You ensured your men's safety before taking out the enemy all on your own."

"My soldiers are not my friends, or anything. Just soldiers." She tried to argue as she took a quick sip from her drink. "The Holocron users are easier to manipulate, thanks to Lusac. I guess he was on to something, even if I might be a victim of the same trick."

"What about Lisbeth? Or Sinon?" Kirito argued back. "You know Lisbeth went missing after we left for Tatooine. I heard you and Sinon talk about getting her back. Heck, the two of them were stranded in Coruscant after a failed attempt to get a device from the Senate, and you sent them a rescue ship nonetheless! I tried to talk with Sinon, myself, but she won't even look at me..."

"Stop that!" Asuna slammed her cup down. "If I wanted to lose valuable soldiers to a mission, I would have left them for dead, and been replaced as a leader. I value my cause, and my cause is the Empire. We need what we can and who we can to defeat the Republic players."

"I see..." Kirito used his telepathy to retrieve a bottle of red wine from her side of the table, and after topping her cup off like a true gentleman, he brought it over to fill his glass, and set the bottle down at the center. Both sat for a little while longer in the silence, chewing their food and sipping their wine. Kirito stopped noticing the guards stationed around the room, and leaned back in his seat as he tossed his napkin from his lap onto the table.

"So, where to next?" He asked reluctantly as his eyes wondered beyond the bay window and out into the starry void. "If you're so charged to help your Empire, then I suppose you're taking me back to Korriban for further research?"

"No, I'm not done repaying you." Asuna did her best to keep her emotions hidden as she removed her napkin from her lap as well. "I'm giving you a real gift for all you did back on Tatooine."

"Is dinner not enough?" Kirito gave her a second smile. "I figure you have to be max cooking in this world too."

Asuna ignored that, and looked out the large bay window to watch the passing stars as well. "I know it's not easy to take out former friends you once fought with. I even had a hard time with the logic of cutting down Darth Trentyn at the beginning of our fight, so I can only imagine the feelings you felt after we defeated your Republic friends over the camp..."

Kirito's smile disappeared, and he tried to convince himself to be angry after hearing her bring that up, but Kirito also wanted to hear her arrive to the point.

"That being said, there's a planet with very valuable resources on it reserved for only end-game players. It's so valuable for end-game content, that every two days, the Republic and Empire trade our control over its territory, and we make sure both factions get equal the amount of time to harvest its minerals safely."

"It's like a safe-zone from PVP?" Kirito was surprised to hear Lucas and Amanda would be so kind to each other. "I didn't even know it was possible to disable PvP on the planets."

"It's not disabled. "Asuna was very proud to admit that. "It's just a code of honor held by all the veteran players left in the game, Jedi and Sith. It's also the home to most of the galaxy's saber crystals, and the specific location for some of the rarest lightsaber colors in the game."

"That sounds pretty cool." Kirito perked up in his seat the moment he heard the word rare. "I could use some PVE action after all this player vs player stuff."

Asuna agreed. "It'll be a nice distraction from the rest of the war, and once you see the illuminated caves of crystals all over Ilum, you'll probably never want to leave."

"Ilum?" Kirito actually heard of that planet before eating dinner that night. Ilum was the planet he first discovered after leaving Kayaba behind on Mortis. It was the first planet that started his journey, and the place where he found Klein to meet with the Republic.

He also remembered something Leafa told them all on their way between planets early on. She found time to mention how pretty the crystal caves of Ilum were when the sun went down over the system. Apparently the dark, icy caves light up with brilliant colors of blue, green, purple, and white, and it's been said to be the most romantic scene the galaxy of The Old Republic Online has to offer.

He remembered his original plan now. The reason Seijirou Kikuoka sent him off to Dagobah in the first place. He needed to win Asuna back to his side, and snap her out of the trance held so tightly by the Sith Empire. He needed to make her fall in love with him all over again.

Kirito would get Asuna to look at him the way she used to back in the real world. He needed to set the mood, and use all the manipulations he had up his sleeve thanks to the power of the Force. If Ilum was so irresistibly beautiful, then Ilum would be the perfect place to reconquer the broken heart of his long-lost wife.

The Blood Oath left the large hanger of the Mother's Rosario as the Imperial fleet from Korriban finally made it to the outer rim system known as Ilum.

The mountainous ice planet Ilum was home to one of the Jedi Order's most distant outposts. Nestled between snow-covered crags was known to be an enclave used by the Jedi for generations, a shelter from the cold and a launching point for journeys into Ilum's exotic crystal caves. These caves were responsible for producing some of the most rare and powerful lightsaber crystals in the galaxy.

Ilum itself hosted no indigenous population, although a number of larger animals survive in its environment. Its temperatures failed to reach the extremes of Hoth, but it had never been a target for colonization or occupation. Currently, end game players used this system as a resource gold mine, and control of the planet's surface switched constantly between the two warring factions.

"Even in a state of total war, this game has quite the impressive economy." Asuna looked out the window of the Blood Oath as her pilot flew her and Kirito to the surface of the icy world. "This version of the Old Republic is different than Bioware's original product. Right now, more of the game's rare crystals can be found on Ilum, but the super rare colors and powerful ones needs to be unlocked before you find them. A lot of players just come to get basic blue and green ones too, though, for some extra credits in the trade center."

"Glad this place has some value, unlike the last frozen wasteland..." Kirito's bones were still chilling after arriving from their previous destination. "Did we really need to stop off at Hoth and go sightseeing before coming here?"

"What, and pass up that gorgeous view from the mountains?" Asuna teased. "I found it easier since we stopped off at Tatooine first. This'll be a little worse since we're going to back-to-back cold worlds."

"Yea, way to remind me..." Kirito crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "So can the Sith get red crystals from Ilum too?"

"I guess, but not from the ground. They'd have to kill other Sith to get them. Red isn't a natural color, and thus, Sith crystals don't spawn in the open world. We're responsible for stealing them from ancient tombs, or making our own."

"That's why you had me loot the catacombs in Korriban." Kirito was starting to understand how the lightsaber colors worked in this world. "So, my purple ones weren't good enough to be in your army, I take it?"

"Ehhh..." Asuna leaned her weight over to one hip, and scanned Kirito's belt. "Purple is okay for Sith Inquisitors, but the color you had was pretty bright. Kinda off for Dark Lords of the Empire to have."

"Hey, I didn't choose it." He defended himself. "I found that color in my tutorial. Mortis was really different, so I guess my color choices were different too."

"Yea, Mortis..." Asuna put a finger underneath her chin. "You mentioned that was the planet you landed on when you logged on. Peter Mathis was waiting for you there."

"Yea, I'd like to find it again when the war is over..." Kirito narrowed his vision, and looked out to the approaching winter winds of Ilum on the horizon. "I have a feeling we're not done with Peter Mathis after the war's been ended."

Asuna felt the weight of that realization, and let her shuttle land before making her own decent onto the frigid world of Ilum. She threw on a dark red Sith cloak to cover her command armor, and Kirito did the same with a black shroud as the door parted, and howling snow and wind entered their frame from the harsh environment outside. Asuna strode out confidently into the snow, and Kirito followed as both of their hoods barely stayed on their heads while they surveyed the land. The winds were still rough, but they eventually died down as the two Sith noticed other advanced players scurrying about the frozen wonderland.

"Our faction still has 36 in-game hours left on Ilum before we leave for the Republic, but some people still get carried away when trying to mine for their goodies." Asuna had no choice but to laugh at the ridiculous Sith players running and flying around the surface of Ilum as day changed to evening for their own adventure to begin.

"Okay," Kirito paused before the two warriors mounted their bikes. "Where exactly are we going? If we're here to find saber crystals, I keep hearing those caves might have a good supply..."

"Psh!" Asuna slid onto her burgundy speeder bike, and tied her hood down more. "We're not here for basic colors. We each need to find something...unique. Starting with mine!"

"Are you serious?" Kirito groaned as he mounted his black speeder bike next to her. "You take me here to give me a present for my work on Tatooine, then decided to get yourself something, first?"

"It's not like that!" Asuna laughed, and Kirito was almost fooled that the old girl he fell in love came out to join him again for just a moment. The tactical Asuna returned, though, and carried on explaining. "I just happened to know what I want, and where my desired color is. I love the sharp red of the Sith lightsabers, but now I'm looking for something a little more...me."

They flew through ice and snow as more wind swelled over the frosted fields of the system. Kirito was an excellent speeder pilot, but Asuna's quick turns and lack of directions made her a very hard companion to follow. They passed several Dark Side players throughout their voyage, and when Asuna made the effort to wave to friends of hers now and again. Kirito simply nodded and kept his head slightly lower than usual.

The two finally arrived at a series of rocky crags, cut like prisms piercing the icy floor of the planet's surface. Asuna stopped off at a large glowing rock with a grey based and bright blue geode flashing in the center. Kirito noticed small angular crystals sitting at the bizarre rock's base, and looked around to find no other beings near them, except for a few NPC friendlies.

"Where are we?" Kirito asked with a slight bit of nerves, nicely paired with a chill from the cold air. "These just look like blue crystals to me."

"These are, yes." Asuna knelt down and patted one of the tiny crystals with a frozen substance obtained from Hoth. "But when one of us uses our Hoth water item on these little guys, a max level champion will pop out and give us a duel!"

"Really? That's pretty cool." Kirito smiled as his girlfriend worked around the game's system to discover her Easter egg, but then snapped back to reality as he grabbed both of his saber handles. "Hold on, did you say a max level champion!?"

"Yep!" Asuna stepped back as the main rock started to glow brighter now. She grabbed her curved handle, and turned to face her partner. "Every time I bring a friend out here, they die, and I'm not strong enough to solo it since I'm always geared for PvP. Lis and Sinon hate fighting world bosses with me since they use blasters, but now I have a worthy apprentice to help me out!"

A large, ominous figure flew from the crags of Ilum, and carried two ghostly lightsabers in his hands powered by pure white beams. Asuna let a Sith's grin take her face as her basic red blade turned on, and Kirito followed her into the battle as they flanked the Force Ghost from both sides to start their attack.

Once Kirito weakened the great ghost's legs with several lacerations to his calves, Asuna shot bolts of electricity at the boss's knees, and stunned him to the ground. Kirito easily dispatched the Force Ghost's left arm and blade, while Asuna cut the right from the other side. The both stabbed the beast from either side of its torso, and turned the world boss to a fallen pile of frost and rock. Several pieces glowed brighter than the others, though, and this is where Asuna's face lit up like Kirito remembered in the good old days.

"I found it!" Asuna picked up a brighter red-shaded item from the pile, and dusted it off to reveal a brilliant magenta-colored saber crystal resting in her hand. "This was a rare color for lightsabers when the Old Republic first came out in the early 2010s. After a while it lost its value because of farming advances and the stores offered to players, but in this VR version of the game, it's one of the rarest colors offered to a Sith player."

"Wow, it is pretty...eh, pretty! I suppose." Kirito laughed at his own joke, and gave his friend a congratulatory nod of approval. "Now let's find me a cool color and get off this dreary rock!"

"Thank you again for helping me through that, Kirito." Asuna provided her helper with a genuine smile, unlike her Dark Side's usual attitude. "Trentyn usually laughed whenever I talked about getting this color for my lightsaber. I really had no one to help me out here."

"I can only imagine." Kirito tried to tease her further. "After all, his blood orange sabers were pretty cool."

"Don't ruin your invitation." Asuna ignored his tease, and hopped back on her bike. "Now, for you I'm thinking...we could look through some of the caves to try and find you something! I know there are some excellent dark purple colors that would fit a Sith Warrior fighting at my side!"

*BOOM*

Both players heard a loud explosion coming back from the Imperial's main base. They ran around a side of the hill to try and make out what looked like a pile of smoke rising from a building, and then gathered their mounts for a quick trip back to see what the commotion was. As they arrived, both friends were taken by an unexpected surprise.

"The Republic!?"

Asuna shouted with a slightly violent anger, and a bit of heartbreak as she saw several Victory-class cruisers enter the atmosphere of Ilum. She noticed her Mother's Rosario was now being joined by several other ships in the Korriban fleet, but an obnoxious dog fight had taken the skies of the once tranquil Ilum, while players on the ground were facing off against Republic foot soldiers invading their time to harvest minerals.

"I don't get it!" Kirito shouted over to Asuna as a second explosion let loose in their direction. "I thought you said The Sith have this planet for another day and a half?!"

"We do!" She sent a few laser bolts back to their dimwitted owners as two Republic vanguards met their fate to the hand of the Empire's Wrath. "These lousy Jedi are breaking our terms of agreement!"

She cut down more approaching Jedi, and Kirito reluctantly followed as he tried to only take the lives of those who threatened his own health. His defensive style of sword play was still just enough to take out the Republic's foot soldiers, but both expert fighters were growing more and more confused as swarms of Jedi fighters flooded the valley.

"This isn't normal." Asuna was convinced something was off. "Why would the Republic choose to attack Ilum now of all times. They get the planet in a few days, and nothing of any value is here."

"Nothing...except you."

She turned to see an even more worried Kirito looking at the downpour of ships from above. "Yulier and Thinker told me their mission on Tatooine wasn't to take the planet. They were asked to capture Sith leaders. They wanted Darth Trentyn for interrogation back on Coruscant. They probably want to take you captive. That way they're one step closer to bringing Emperor Lusac down."

"Me?" Asuna was lost in that thought. "But how would they know I'm here on Ilum? We can't track players from other factions!"

Kirito was worried that he had no answer to that half of the question. He led her around a cliffside to get a better view of the battlefield, but noticed the fight was picking up way too fast even for seasoned veterans like them.

"We need to get to the Blood Oath, and get out of here. They probably want me as much as they want you. I haven't bothered checking in with the Republic ever since I left for my mission. They no doubt suspect me of turning my cloak over to the Sith."

"Your mission?" Asuna lingered on that phrase as Kirito tried to find the ship. "What was the mission they sent you on...?"

*BLAST*

Kirito deflected a large blaster bolt from the sky, and took Asuna by the hand as they both slid down the hill and onto the Sith' primary docking port. The ramp to the Blood Oath was still down, and as the two Sith warriors slashed through the aloof Jedi guards, Asuna slid into the pilot's chair, and buckled herself in.

"When we get back to my cruiser, I want you to come clean to everything you're hiding from me. Starting with why the hell Lisbeth found you on Korriban in the first place."

"Asuna." Kirito watched the battle erupt all around them as his heart skipped several beats in their escape. "If we get back to your cruiser, I'll tell you all the secrets I know about the Republic, and anything else you ask for, but..."

"But?" Asuna slid around several shots as she maneuvered the large Sith Infiltrator around gun fire and snow. "But what?"

"But..." He paused a brief moment as his Force sensitive clairvoyance finally kicked in. "I don't think we'll make it back just yet."

She took a second to catch what he said, because as the words left Kirito's lips, two rockets hit their shuttle, and sent Asuna and her confusing apprentice through the sky in a blaze of fire, and down through a series of rocky cave openings jutting from the side of a low mountain to the north. Their ship pierced a large whole in the surface of the earth, which left them to free fall through a natural cave only illuminated by the ominous glowing crystals, and the fiery death from above as evening turned to night.

The relationship between Kirito and Asuna seems to be very similar to the one they had in Aincrad now, before they were married. Hopefully this goes well!

New chapter soon! Until then!