Author's Note: Chapter 30! Sorry for the extra delay...I wanted this one to be juuust right. Also, pay close attention to the title of this chapter...and enjoy!

Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.

Chapter Thirty - Across the Stars

Klein controlled the ebb and sway of the Pina with relative ease as snow and ice collected around the windshield. Several shots from enemy fighters passed over the hull, but Silica provided herself as an excellent call-out as she told which fighters Klein need to shoot, and in what order.

Lisbeth hated seeing these two Republic Smugglers taking out her good friends over the skies of Ilum, but the war was looking rather even-sided as the three gunmen tried to study their radar while dodging the incoming artillery.

"Any luck, Lis?" Klein was trying to keep things normal between the two of them since they were still on opposite sides of the war. "The sooner we find Kirito, the sooner we can get the hell out of this place."

"No kidding." Silica barely wanted to keep looking as more and more forces showed up on both sides. "I want to know which Republic general is leading our assault. I thought we were going into this alone."

"That was the plan...morons." Lisbeth leaned over her armrest with a slightly angry expression starting to take shape over her face. "Your lousy command council said it would just be us three, then they'd wait for our next orders."

"Well, technically it was just the Chrysheight dude, and he's a little weird anyway..." Klein tried to figure out what was going on in the heads of the Republic command. "Still, we only sent the three of us to keep tensions with Kirito and the Sith girl low. This will totally blow up in our faces if Kirito thinks it's our fault!"

"Geesh, ya think he's your worst problem?" Lisbeth's skin started to tingle as she tried to repress her worst memories of the mighty Empire's Wrath. "I once watched Asuna duel another Sith Lord just for making a girl joke. The dude even lost his eye on that one."

"I dunno..." Silica felt a haunting memory slide in as she tried to collect everything she had heard about Kirito. "I noticed Kirito went pretty crazy when Leafa was killed on Alderaan."

"No kidding." Klein barrel-rolled around a set of missiles aimed for their bow. "Plus there was the time he used that crazy attack on your sniper buddy back at the Coruscant casino."

"That was him?" Lisbeth barely remembered running into the greyed-out boy in the basement of that building, then remembered the attack he unleashed as described by Sinon the next day. "Yikes...maybe they really are husband and wife. A true match made in freak heaven."

"I think it's just a gamer thing." Silica laughed. "They're probably just dating in the real world."

"Anyway..." Klein tried to get the two girls back on track while they wizzed through the blurry skies of Ilum. "Tell me when we even get a small whiff of the kid on our scanners. Worst case, just see if you can send Asuna a PM!"

"That second one's a 'No' from me." Lisbeth shook her head. "I sent her a message once we left Coruscant. Still haven't heard back from...hold on, I think I caught something."

Lisbeth sat up, and noticed a faint glow coming from the northern end of her radar. She had Klein pass over the violent valley of the Sith camp being destroyed down below, and soon enough the three pilots noticed a column of fire and smoke coming out of the tallest mountain over the surrounding area.

"HA!" Lisbeth pointed out the hole, and patted her chauffeur roughly on the back. "All right, Smuggler-Boy! Get this thing on the ground, and let's find us a married couple!"

"Ugh..." Klein hated being slapped on the back by Lisbeth, and took no time in landing his craft somewhere secluded. "I may just send the two of you down there alone...I think I'm needing a break from this truce we started."

Asuna Yuuki sat on a wide, grassy knoll that stretched over a large hill overseeing a great green valley of tall trees, lively plains, and tiny lights showing where small towns were trying to stay awake. It was nighttime in the Japanese countryside, and the Setegaya native was sitting on quite the cozy blanket while a tent and motorbike rested a good distance behind her back. The only light available to her and her companion were the stars above, and small lights out too far for them to see. A slight breeze left the air cool, but the company she held was more than warm enough for her to enjoy the night.

"You were right, it gets dark up here." Asuna was wearing normal clothes from back in Japan. She looked out over the expansive hillside of Mount Doudaria, and tried to collect everything she could with her wide brown eyes.

"Yea," Kirito sat right beside her, dressed in regular clothes as well, and turned to view the sky as a small gadget on his shoulder turned with him. "Can you see, Yui?"

"Yep!" A small voice that surprised Asuna lit up from the little piece of equipment strapped to her host's shoulder, and let out a nice emotional reply as she scanned the night's sky above. "I can see just fine, daddy! The color balance is skewing a little green overall."

Asuna drew her face in and chuckled lightly, then hugged her knees toward her chest. "For a while there, I didn't think we'd get to come here...oh, and in the end, I left without telling my mom."

"What!?" That took Kirito by surprise. He hated the idea of taking Asuna out with the Yuuki's permission. Especially knowing the temper of Asuna's stern mother.

Asuna let out several laughs as she watched Kirito react, but the black hair boy chose to speak again. "You're kidding right?"

They both stopped and looked at one another, then Kirito calmed himself, and smiled. "I'll talk to her when we get back."

The friends were both looking at the starry sky again. Several seconds passed away as they both took in their views, and Kirito slowly brought up a new conversation while he had his brief chance.

"Do you remember what we promised each other back in Aincrad, now?"

"What?" Asuna was still in a playful mood. "To go star gazing...?"

Kirito was slow to reply. "Well...yea, t-that was part of it..."

Asuna enjoyed teasing her company too much, and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Hehe, I'm kidding! I remember. You said if we ever got out, you'd give me a real ring."

She kept moving, and turned to hand Kirito a small blue package wrapped in a thin pink bow. It was sealed with a red heart sticker.

"Here, for you!"

"U-um..." Kirito had no idea what to say, and was a little confused now that Asuna stole all of his momentum.

Asuna argued back, even though Kirito never said actual words in his reaction. "It's not fair if you're the only one handing out presents, so I got you one!"

Kirito smiled without control over his emotions, and took the gift quickly. You could tell by the look in his eyes that he truly appreciated Asuna more than any gift she could possibly give him. "Thank you."

Asuna was the one to fail in an actual reply this time, and instead continued to beam as she held out a clenched fist. Opening her hands slowly, the girl revealed a small golden band with a teardrop-shaped diamond. She currently had a hard time remembering the significance of the shape, but let the moment carry out as she looked up at Kirito.

"This time put it on my finger...and this time, for real."

Kirito's eyes grew wider than Asuna had ever seen, and a small bit of air seemed to lift the boy up a few inches as he let out a large smile. He gave her a firm nod as she presented her out-stretched hand, and Kirito firmly placed the ring snugly on her left index finger.

Asuna let him place the ring on her finger, but as she did a flutter of emotions took her chest. She pulled up her right hand, and closed it to her heart, and as the ring slid on her ring finger her head drew back slightly as her own heart skipped a beat. Now holding up her hand to see that the ring had settled, she accepted Kirito's right hand as they slid their fingers together to hold on another in a quick embrace.

Asuna's eyes instinctively shut on their own, and as her body leaned forward, Kirito matched her every move, and let his face hover just over her's. They moved in closer and closer, until the small voice chiming from Kirito's shoulder let out yet another distracting cry.

"Look! A shooting star!"

Asuna and Kirito's eyes flew open, and while both the young friends gasped for air, they turned to look at the sky. They kept holding onto each other's hand, but the sights above them in the starry sky above were unlike anything they had ever seen in the real world. Shooting stars passed over head time after time, and lit up like streaking ships soaring across the galaxy.

"Wow..." Asuna was almost speechless.

The little girl's voice cheered out again. "Amazing!"

The three beings were momentarily left in total awe and silence, but that would not totally distract the two friends from their previous intentions as Kirito and Asuna both turned and smiled at one another. Asuna's memory was beginning to go blurry, but she noticed she and Kirito leaned in to whisper something as the stars passed over head. Her reaction to whatever he said was pleasant, because it prompted her to laugh at his remark soon after.

Then, they finally leaned in, and embraced one another in the only way two romantic lovers can.

But soon after, Asuna the Sith Lord's eyes opened violently as her lungs were taken back by the cold air and her dangerous fall from the sky. She sat up with a quick speed, and looked around to find her ship scattered across the frozen ground of the Ilum cave system. Small fires gave her a faint bit of light, but her head was still spinning too much for her to actually see anything in the dark of the cavern.

"What the hell was I just doing?" The confused Dark Lord of the Sith wondered where her mind ran off to in that small but ample dream of hers just moments ago, and while her arms and legs were starting to freeze with the cool air, her chest and face were flushed with warmth and emotion.

"The hill...that little girl...Kirito." Asuna tried to decipher more memories from the dream, but the distant layout of Mount Doudaria made no sense to her now in a galaxy far far away. Asuna stood tall, even with her legs sore from the crash, and swung her red lightsaber on to guide a path through the subterranean passage.

"I need to find Kirito...I need him to tell me about what I just saw."

Kirito was walking through the cave on his own accord. He apparently got separated from Asuna as their ship flew through the expansive crater of Ilum's upper mountains. His red lightsabers guided him along a bumpy path, and no signs or sounds from the outside world could be heard in the frozen depths he was trapped in now.

"I need to find Asuna." He mirrored her language, even as far away as they were from each other. "I need to explain everything to her. She probably thinks the Republic attack is my fault...what if they're tracking me here, somehow, and it is my fault?"

His red lightsabers did not make the best color for walking through a cave, and the dense white core centered at the middle of the blade stole most of the view from his peripheral vision. Kirito passed a few oddly placed green crystals now and again, occasionally with blues mixing themselves in here and there. Even as deep as he felt, the wondrous crystal caves of Ilum were turning out to be picked clean in this sector of the planet.

"Great. The caves on this planet are all famous for crystals, and I get trapped in the one that's totally empty. Just my luck."

He climbed a steep ledge once he heard the sound of dripping water, and was forced to put his weapons away as he blindly grabbed what he could within the glowing green of the cave. The moment his head emerged over the upper ledge's new, expansive chamber his heart stopped beating as his eyes opened up like giant saucers.

The ceiling, walls, and all sorts of speleothem structures were coated to the last inch by wondrous jewels of green, blue, purple and gold. Brilliant white crystals were dotted in the mix as well, and all the sparkling gemstones produced a faint glow that reflected off the still underground lake that sat at the edge of his feet. He held no words or remark for the beauty before him, and now realized why experienced players from throughout the galaxy traveled to this system for extracting rare minerals.

"I don't believe it..." Kirito was still left in awe even as words poured from his lips. "I thought Sugu was just over-exaggerating."

He thought to himself, just as his cousin once told him before her death, the caves of Ilum looked like a starry sky. The natural light within each force crystal matched the blackened blue of the cave rock so wondrously, that a mural of the starry heavens was painted over his head, and when paired with the glassy waters at his feet, it surrounded him with an expansive view of a miniature galaxy all to his own.

The star-struck boy's eyes were lost in the wonder around his view. He remembered Asuna wanted them to travel to this planet so they would each get a new color for their lightsaber. Kirito, though, did not care about any of that. There was only one thing he wanted to do here in the mysterious caves of Ilum.

"I need to find Asuna...I need her to see this place with her own eyes."

Over the scene of Ilum, Admiral Sinon was barely holding on to her sanity as she tried to scramble all the reinforcements that she could aboard the Mother's Rosario. Anti-air ship batteries shot large blaster bolts from the side of her vessil, and the great space naval confrontation lit the night skies of Ilum with a fiery glow.

"Get more men down to pick up the stranded Sith players! We need to evacuate before we lose our Holocron players!"

"But Ma'am, what if we lose Ilum?" Shouted out a lieutenant to her right.

"We don't need it!" She tried to explain herself after taking command of her own laser canon. "Saving our players is far more important than this planet. We cannot lose a single man to this assault!"

"No, you can't."

Sinon felt a drastic chill take her skin, and turned to find a walking hologram droid coming towards her topped with the frightening image of Emperor Lusac.

"Admiral Sinon. Where can I find Lady Rose?"

"Asuna?" Sinon tried to calm her nerves as the Emperor kept his eyes glued to her face. "She's down on the surface of the planet. We believe her shuttle was shot down trying to evacuate the camp."

"The Blood Oath was shot down?" He sounded genuinely surprised to hear that. "I take it that boy was with her? Were they gone together on a mission?"

"I'm not sure what they were doing." She turned away to shoot out a Jedi fighter flying past her window. "I also don't know why the Republic came to attack us right now."

"You may have a rotten egg in your basket, somewhere within your ranks."

"No, we found and killed the smuggler girl back over Korriban." Sinon thought back to Alicia getting the best of her, and capturing Lisbeth with Klein and Silica.

Lusac corrected his suggestion. "No, not a spy. Someone has been compromised. My sister has been able to capture someone within your fleet. That is the only way you would have been discovered by her forces."

"I have no idea who would be tracked by Master Amun-din, and as far as I can tell our fleet hasn't had contact with the Republic since..."

Lusac already knew the answer, and was waiting for his underling to catch his suggestion. "She fooled you all. The boy Kirito is trying to take Lady Rose from me. Find them, now."

"Yes...yes, My lord." Sinon's face was looking down at the planet, frozen of all her emotions. She tried to turn to give her Emperor a real confirmation, but in her silence, he spoke up anyway.

"Find the two of them, and hold out the assault. I will be there momentarily."

"Kirito?!" Asuna charged up the steep entrance of an underground waterway to try and follow the echo she heard from before, but the super charged emotional Sith Lord was hard to stop as she barely noticed the eloquent scenery around her.

"Kirito! Are you in here!? We need to...!" Her eyes froze on the open space for only a brief moment, as Kirito stole her focus by jumping on her from behind. They rolled together along the rocky slope above the cave lake, and stopped just a foot or so from tumbling into the waters below.

"AGH!" Asuna was trapped under Kirito as she tried to wiggle her way free. "Get off me, now! I need to talk to you!"

"Asuna..." Kirito made no effort to hold her down, and let the weight of his body rest over her as his legs straddled her waist. "Asuna..."

"ERGH!" Her eyes were tensed shut, and a swell of flustered anger was building as she tried to fight her way to freedom. "FOR THE LAST TIME, GET OFF OF ME!"

"ASUNA!"

Her eyes opened with an alert shock as Kirito shouted down into her face. Tears falling from his eyes hit her on the cheek. She tried to study his expression, but felt her eyes lose control as they passed beyond his forehead, and into the starry oblivion above.

Her mouth was even more open than Kirito's was before. She tried to collect all the brilliant colors lighting up about their embrace, but had no way of measuring all the beauty with the mere thought of her twisted up mind. Her lips stuttered, and her breathing picked up as she tried to figure out all the different emotions stirring inside her.

"Asuna, please...look at me."

Kirito pleaded with her, and Asuna finally obliged as they shared the cave with one another for only a brief moment. His eyes were forming tears again, and as the confusing imagery from the star gazing vision returned to her frazzled mind, small bits of water formed under her eyes as well.

"I've been all over this game...all over this galaxy. I've fought for the Republic and the Empire...the Jedi and the Sith...light and the dark...I've seen friends killing other friends, enemies made from my former allies. I've been lost ever since Peter Mathis sent me off on my own..."

Asuna's eyes were still wide opened as they tried studying every emotion that came pouring from Kirito's words. She never said anything in return, and let the poor boy speak as his heart fell to the open floor.

"I've struggled trying to control this game and the Force...but...the moment I found you...even though the Dark Side took me into places I never want to go again...I kept my trust in being by your side. I missed you, Asuna...I just wanted to see you again."

"Kiri...to." Asuna's lips trembled, as this once-named pawn of the Emperor, this once mindless apprentice to her master plan, emptied his thoughts and feelings out for her to hear.

They said Kazuto Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki shared a relationship with one another in the real world, and even shared a marriage in others still. However, for the first time on her voyage with the greyed-out sword master, she finally thought she understood why this Kirito was so important to her, even if her thoughts were still locked away from her grasp outside this virtual world.

The two students of the Force slowly became students of one another. Kirito's head lowered to meet Asuna's as her own slowly rose off the ground. Their faces were dangling so very close together, and while the battle between good and evil raged on the surface above, these two players were creating a new adventure of their own down below.

Tonight, among the wrath and ruin made above, Kirito and Asuna would travel together, not beneath the earth in a cave, but surrounded by an imaginary night's sky made by breathtaking crystals of all different colors. They were quickly enveloped by twinkling lights simulating the brilliance and mystery of space.

That night, holding each other in their arms, Kirito and Asuna would surely travel across the stars.

1. Lisbeth is with the good guys? Has she broken herself from the Emperor's grip...?

2. That flashback scene of Asuna and Kirito with Yui is actually the last scene of the SAO movie Ordinal Scale. I took the dubbed dialogue from it and everything!

3. Emperor Lusac is on the move!

4. Kirito discovers the Ilum caves.

5. Ahhh this scene was inspired by one of the magnificent prequel scores titled Across the Stars. A beautiful piece composed by the ever brilliant John Williams. Oh how he makes me proud to be an American!

Very romantic chapter. 31 next! Until then!