Author's Note: This one is longer than most of the other chapters. Let's see what happened to our hero after the events on Ilum!
Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.
Chapter Thirty-Two - Reckless with the Force
"He's been meditating in there ever since we got back to Coruscant." Klein leaned against the wall as he stood next to a door in the Galactic Senate chambers on the Republic world of Coruscant.
Master Agil stood by as well, with a finger underneath his chin. "I didn't take him for the kind that mediated this often. From what I knew of him, he seemed to be a high-energy type."
"They said he was like this the whole ride home too." Silica sighed as she tried to join in. "Remember? He didn't even say anything when Amun-din's guards grabbed him."
"Guess it makes sense, after what he went through." Klein tried laughing at the non-humorous situation. "Ya spend half the game hunting down your fiancé, who also doesn't remember you like all your other friends from the real world. Then when you finally reason with her, both faction leaders explain that you've basically just been a tool to them and their father all along...and then they put you behind bars!"
"Right." Agil shook his head. "The Mathis dad makes sense, and we already knew Lusac was just using the Empire's Wrath as a pawn, but for Amun-din to track Kirito without his knowledge..." The Jedi Master was starting to consider realigning his allegiances.
The doors to the meditation chamber swiftly opened, leaving everyone to stand a full attention, until Chrysheight revealed himself from inside the room. The door shut behind him, and his long expression spoke more words than they needed.
"Well, I'd say they'll be ready for him soon...we'll be lucky if the Sith don't attack us during the hearing."
"So what now?" Silica kindly asked. "Are we ready to go back on the offensive? Or was Ilum our only planned attack? And what about Kirito?"
"Amun-din said our next order of business is taking out the Sith capital at Dromund Kaas. She's called to have the captive bounty hunter stand trial as we speak."
"Eh, better go join 'em quick." Klein led the group of players down the hallway as they rounded the corner for the conference hall. "Knowing Lisbeth's tongue, she'll probably start a second war here in the heart of the capital."
Agil and Silica cracked half smiles, but Chrysheight lingered in the back of the group, and turned to look at Kirito's locked door again. He was alone in the hallway, and left himself with one final word as he spoke quietly, but out loud.
"Don't let her trap you here, Kazuto...you can't stay trapped in this world forever." said the voice of Kikuoka Seijirou. "Eventually I'll need you for the ministry's next mission."
Klein and the others now joined the large Senate hearing room on the west sector of the building. Many Republic-playing characters were sitting in on the meeting, and a council of five Jedi had decided to preside over the trial. Master Agil took his seat on the judge's stand, and joined Jedi Matser Amun-din and three other players. Two were loyal employees staffed underneath Amanda at Immortal Gaming, while the other was another Jedi General who joined the game from the Holocron Beta-test like Agil.
The walls were polished with a bronzed finish, and the floors were white marble that reflected the high lights of the vaulted ceiling from above. Amun-din's firm voice echoed throughout the chamber as the audience grew quiet once again.
"Right, now that Master Agil has rejoined us, please, carry on."
"Ugh, for the last time, I dunno anything about the Emperor's grand plan! I was tasked with retrieving Kirito for Asuna. That's it." Lisbeth's slightly shrill voice was growing more and more agitated with every questioned the Jedi Master asked.
Amun-din was still not impressed with her prisoner. "You say that, but were you not the same bounty hunter tasked with retrieving my planetary teleportation technology not too long ago?"
"You mean that mission that ended with the shootout in the casino? Technically, yea, that was me." She quickly defended herself. "But my friend, Sinon, was the acting Lieutenant on that mission. I don't even know what we needed the plans for. The extra ships from Asuna's fleet were breaking every line the Republic had at the time. That's how we managed to take Alderaan, not some lousy teleport trick."
"Hmm..." Amund-din quickly wrote something down in front of her, and flipped a page in her notebook. "Would either Captains Klein and Silica please step on the witness stand."
Not phrasing that as a question, Silica looked around from her seat in the audience, but felt Klein pat her on the shoulder as he stood and took the task upon himself. He marched slowly toward the stand, and propped his feet up on his desk as he leaned back in the provided chair.
"Captain Klein, did you not take this Bounty Hunter into custody for capturing you and Silica?"
"Uhh..." Klein thought it would be easy to defend his new friend, Lisbeth, but the Jedi Master was making it too easy. "Yea I guess we took her hostage, then used her to find Kirito."
"I see." Amund-in carried on quickly. "And how did the Bounty Hunter describe her mission from Coruscant to you when you reunited?"
"Well, pretty much how she just explained it." Klein shrugged. "Oh, she did blow the roof of the building sky high! She knows how to rig up some explosives pretty well! Not to mention a ship's engine!"
"Hmm..." Amun-din chewed on that answer for a moment. "So you're a very technologically savvy player?"
"Duh!" Lisbeth showed no fear to the Jedi Master still as she pointed to her health bar. "I'm a Power Tech!"
"That's quite a mild way to put it." Amun-din gave her a soft smile. "From the sounds of things, you must have been a very valuable asset to Lady Asuna's Team."
"Don't say her name. Don't you ever say her name!"
The hall gasped all at once, and heads turned as Jedi Master Chrysheight brought the greyed-out Kirito into the council chambers. The Jedi-turned-Sith marched down the walkway and sat down next to Lisbeth as he took his place on the defense's side.
"I'm sorry, Kirito. I'm not ready for your trial yet." Amun-din waved her hand at the door. "Guards, return him to the cell."
"Eh, he insisted pretty hard on coming in now." Chrysheight smirked as he turned toward the Jedi Master. "It's the first time he's spoken since Emperor Lusac's threat back on Ilum."
"Very well..." Amun-din looked quite stressed to see Kirito joining the group, and even Lisbeth sat up in her chair and held her arms as the intimidating Kirito took his place beside her.
"The Trial of Kirito may begin, and conclude alongside the Sith player Lisbeth's."
"You never told me why I'm on Trial, Jedi Master." Kirito's eyes were fiery with passion, but his anger was holding well back within his voice. "Is this about me working with Asuna like you ordered me to?"
"Hardly." Amun-din grew slightly uncomfortable as she took a bag from one of the fellow council members. "You were charged with the assassination of two Republic Commando's during your mission to the Sith World Tatooine. Friends of yours who survived the game Sword Art Online were taken down by your weapons."
She then powered on a crisp red lightsaber and showed it to the audience. "You also carried two of these with you during the attack on Ilum. Killing Republic players with Sith weapons on a mission ordered by the Republic is quite the crime in my faction."
"I tried playing as a Jedi, remember?" He retorted. "Only one player from the Jedi Order really believed in me, and she was killed on Alderaan fighting your war."
"I did not order Leafa to fight on Alderaan. What happened with her life was out of my hands, and had she just stayed on Tython like I..."
"THEY'RE NOT YOUR DOGS TO COMMAND!" Kirito stood from his seat and shouted loudly, the Force echoing on his booming voice. "Your father put My friends in his game, and all you and your brother have done is use them to win a war."
Amun-din looked heart-broken to hear that. "I've done no such thing with my faction-mates. They had free will. I never forced them to do anything. As I just reminded you, Leafa was the one responsible for losing her own life."
The stern Jedi Master picked up her gavel and slammed it on the table. "The defendant is too emotional to carry out a sentence. Send him back to his cell until he's calmed down."
"They only place I'm going to is an arena. I want to settle this with you one-on-one."
The audience grew loud at that remark, and even Agil stood to voice his opinion. "Master Amun-din, allow me to take Kirito back to his cell. I'd say he cut his meditation short."
"Sorry, Agil." Kirito replied as he pointed to the female Grand Master. "This ends when I kill her in a duel."
Amun-din sighed, and closed her eyes as she leaned back into her chair. "What are your terms, exactly?"
"I win, then Lisbeth and I go free. You win, I'm dead, and out of your hair for good."
"I will not take your life!" Amanda's voice rang from her avatar as she stood tall to defy his request. "I don't even know what happens to the players after death, and I helped create this game!"
"That's fine." Kirito did not show his emotions. "I'll still be taking yours."
Amanda's eyes drew in sadness as she looked down at the player her father invited into the game. Letting him out of her sight was her greatest mistake. She let the legend of Kazuto Kirigaya sway her mind back when they first met, and let the boy run free within both factions for too long.
Maybe, it was time for her to see who would be the one to take down her father and brother.
"Very well." Jedi Master Amun-din crossed her arms, and delivered a bow before her audience, and soon-to-be opponent. "I accept your terms."
"AGH!"
Asuna was standing underneath a single tree alone on an island, while the sun lowered over to the west and set for the evening. She stared straight ahead at a dark-haired figure yelling loudly with a sword in hand, and noticed this person had finished executing a special ability with their weapon.
Immediately after forming a scroll with her hands, the person in front of the Lightning Flash swayed back and forth, and immediately tumbled to the ground from exhaustion. Asuna could not stand by as the event unfolded before her.
"YUUKI!"
She let the sword drop to the ground, and made sure to pick up the fallen girl to try and keep her conscious. As soft field of flowers sat just below them underneath the tree, and made the scene quite comfortable despite the looming emotion.
The girl named Yuuki never made a loud breath, and slowly open her eyes to smile up at Asuna. "That's weird, I feel weak all of a sudden...I'm not in any pain or anything, though..."
Asuna remained oddly calm as she tried to remember what happened next. "It's okay, you're just a little tired is all. You'll feel better of you rest."
Yuuki wanted to agree. "Yea, maybe. Listen...Asuna, take this. It's my original sword skill."
Her voice was frail as she looked up to her blue-haired friend, trying to look into her eyes one last time against the brightly setting sun.
Asuna picked her hand up, and held it close to herself. "No, Yuuki...I couldn't..."
"Oh, come on!" She sounded weak, but the inflection in her words was kept very light and somehow, energetic. "I want you to have it! Open the window..."
Asuna noticed the weak girl in her arms was no longer smiling, which meant she was being serious with her request. He nodded faintly, and swiped up to reveal a special command linking Yuuki's gift to her account.
The scroll was delivered, and once again, Yuuki smiled. "I-I gave it a cool name...Mother's Rosario. I-It'll keep you safe when you need it..."
Asuna had kept a smile on her face the entire time, but now the tears dropping from her eyes started to betray her as she looked down at her defeated best friend from ALfheim.
"T-Thank you, Yuuki." The proud Undine Warrior gave away her proudest smile yet. "I promise I'll take good care of it...and someday, when I leave this world, I'll make sure to pass it on to someone before I go."
Asuna held Yuuki's hand tighter than before, and closed her eyes as she spoke down to her sickly comrade.
"Your sword will live on 'til the end of time."
"Thank you..."
Asuna then felt a cold break forming in her chest. Her vision grew darker, and grey fog shrouded her eyes. She could no longer hear the voice of Yuuki, nor even her own stifled breathing. All she could feel was the fear of losing her best friend, Yuuki, one more time.
Fear, that quickly turned to anger.
"The Mother's Rosario...my ultimate sword skill...I want to know...who was that girl in my vision...Y-Yuuki?"
Her blood was growing hotter with every passing thought, and even though her words were still trapped in her empty, black mind, Asuna heard herself growing louder and louder every second.
"I could feel her...in my arms...she was alive. I felt it...!"
"It would seem in your own anger you repressed that forgotten memory, along with all your others of the outside world."
Asuna Yuuki heard a second voice piercing her mind. This voice was deep, yet youthful. It was masculine, a young man's.
"You have left that all behind. Your family...your parents who don't seem to understand you."
"Mom...Dad..." Asuna's head was stirring, so much that she almost felt the cold air of the Old Republic Online once again on her open skin.
"And your friend...your foolish friends who try and lead you down their own path."
"Everyone..." Asuna felt water forming under her eyes, but soon the water was replaced with fire under her chest. "They all betrayed me...they let me turn to the Dark Side."
Emperor Lusac's voice continued. "And your former lover...Kazuto Kirigaya. He betrayed and murdered your trust. He was taken in by the Jedi Order of all people."
"Kirito...a Jedi...no. NO!"
"He will join us, or die...you said it, yourself." Lusac reaffirmed her with a sly expression waiting over her surgical table as he looked down at the unconscious Dark Lord of the Sith.
No words ever left Asuna's lips. All her thoughts stayed firmly inside her mind, swelling up like a cloud of hot fire. Rage.
"He will die."
Her eyes shot open, and her mind returned to the Galaxy far far away. Darth Rosario felt her breathing grow lighter, as all the air in her lungs passed out of her mouth and into a metal breathing apparatus covering her lower face. Despite her easy breathing, though, her chest felt heavier, almost as if a larger sheet of metal was placed over it for protection.
And then, she pulled her right hand up to her eyes. It was covered in a black glove, now, but moments later, Lady Rose removed the protective hand piece, and revealed a black robotic hand in place of her once natural one.
"Now." Emperor Lusac stood by his powerful apprentice as she slowly pulled the glove back over her cybernetic hand. "Darth Rosario...Rise."
"Master Kirito...I'm sorry."
A loud raucous filled the great training arena the Jedi Order had established inside the Galactic Senate offices ever since the great terror attack set out by the Sith. Grand Jedi Master Amun-din stood with sorry eyes as she waited on one side of the open floor, and looked on to her aggressor on the other side.
"You think saying 'sorry' will make things alright?" Kirito spoke with a low tone, then raised his voice as he made one step closer to the center of the field. "You're no better than your brother, Lucas. Which is why I'm ending this here and now."
The Jedi-turned-Sith turned on his two red lightsabers, and swung them to his side as the crowd continued to roar with anticipation.
Amun-din sighed, and removed her brown Jedi robes. Beneath her cloak, she wore a sophisticated tunic made of bright white material, with small accents trimmed in gold. Her pants were light brown, and firm leather boots kept her still to the ground as she reached down and grabbed her single-bladed lightsaber. The brilliant mint-green blade shot up, revealing its unique color signature to the rest of the audience. Jedi Master Amun-din rarely ever used her lightsaber or her Jedi training, but when she did, the enemy to her other side rarely survived.
"I say sorry...because everything that has happened is a result of my family's corruption."
"AGH!"
Kirito ignored her, and ran for his opponent at full speed. He brought two red lightsabers to the middle of the confrontation and slashed them back and forth to dismantle the enemy.
Amun-din settled into to her stance even more now, and blocked both attacks, while also keeping up her defenses for Kirito's imminent onslaught. Wave after wave of crimson red flurries came down on her mint green saber, but the Grand Master of the Jedi Order was wise, patient, and sturdy.
The grey swordsman kept up his brutal assault as he usually did versus his stronger opponents, but made no scratch to the enemy on the other side as his energy depleted more and more. He tried spinning around to power up a few slashes, but the iron wall of Amun-din's saber was still holding strong.
Finally, he slammed his weapons into hers, and stood as the two duelists held a momentary cross-block together.
"You have been trained well, Kirito. I sense both the light and the dark wavering in your hands." Amun-din hated admitting that one of her allies had turned to the Dark Side, but she was happy to see that Kirito's aggression was not all formed out of negative anger.
Kirito finally gave the Jedi a smile. "Your defenses are really impressive, Master Amun-din. They remind me of another Game Maker that I fought long ago!"
"Hmm...I wish to hear about that story after this battle is all said and done. Once I force you to step aside, I'll manage to release you and your friends from this game, and you can go on to return to those games you once loved...if you still feel safe playing them."
"Aren't you Peter Mathis's daughter!? Surely you don't want this game to come to an end!" Kirito cried out as a white orb of light formed between their three lightsabers.
Amun-din's eyes glimmered for a short second, yet her expression grew dim. "I did, at one time! I did before my father and brother ruined everything! I want no part in this company or universe anymore!"
She swung down, and sent Kirito flying back into the wall, momentarily separating them before the grey swordsman from Aincrad leapt from his spot again, and bright down two powerful blows from above to try and disrupt Amun-din's firm stance.
The blonde Jedi never wavered, and tossed his attack to the side with a swipe of her own saber. Kirito returned to his hacking and slashing from the side now, but Amun-din's speed was staying caught up quite well with his.
Kirito powered up a unique bit of energy into his right hand, and swung from his lower side to catch the Jedi Master off guard, but she caught on to the attack quickly, and not only bounced his right saber back the way it came, but she also managed to twirl her lightsaber back the other way, and hack Kirito's left red saber in two with a gallant swing.
The crowd roared, some upset and some enthused as the two fighters were growing more and more equal in their craft. Kirito discarded the broken left saber in his off hand, and raised his remaining blade over his head like he was back in the Kendo studio of the Kirigaya family.
Amun-din rarely strayed away from her stoic Jedi attitude, but finally felt a smirk pass over her lips after a long time of being trapped in her father's galaxy. "You have learned much, Kirito. It seems you had excellent Masters training you after all."
"You'll find I'm full of surprises!" Kirito slammed his red saber down on to Amun-din, and the Jedi Counselor knocked it away with a simple bash to the right. Kirito's blade stuck in the ground, and left him with a hasty option of slashing through part of the floor up toward Amun-din.
She blocked it again, and now made her own attack for Kirito's arm. The boy remembered Leafa telling him how Jedi mainly look to disarm their opponents. He knocked her attack away, and brought his sword down like a hammer, trying to dislodge the weapon from his opponent's hand. She dodged, and once again his blade entered the marble floor of the arena, and left him with another attempt to slash up from the ground and into her body.
This repeated for several moments before finally, Amun-din stepped back, and held her lightsaber to her side. Despite his technical short-comings, the Jedi Master was starting to admire the boy in grey. "Your aggression does not come from a bad place, Kirito. You can still be saved by the Light Side of the Force. Let me speak with you in a better setting than this, and maybe we can both decide a way to defeat my brother and father together."
"I'm not totally against everything you just said." Kirito smirked, and looked up after letting her finish. "But first, let's start with finding a new place to finish this conversation!"
He raised his leg, and slammed it hard into the ground, and right at the same time, the boy raised his free hand, and pushed a Force shockwave deep into the floor with it.
Amun-din looked puzzled when she noticed Kirito acting in such a way, but quickly widened her view as each of the previous holes that Kirito had created were strategically placed to loosen the ground surrounding the two of them in the arena.
The Force pressure from Kirito's double blast broke the small area of the arena off from the rest, and sent it crashing down below into an open room with a long table and several chairs. The crowd ignited with a gasp of confusion, and all lost sight of the two fighters as an alarm sounded from the main chamber above.
"Impressive." Amun-din nodded as she looked around at the now flashing red room. The light was flickering, but other than the scrambling crowd from above, the new fighting stage was much quieter than before. "You managed to relocate the entire battle. Most Impressive."
"I did...so spill it." Kirito lowered his blade, but did not shut the lightsaber off as he kept the sword down but ready. "Why did you betray me!?"
"I did no such thing." Her voice remained slightly calm, but it was still the most emotion Kirito had felt coming from Amun-din outside of her discussing her family matters. "We agreed that the original plan was to try and turn Asuna to our side."
"That was Kikuoka!" Kirito shouted back, raising his blade once again. "I wanted her on my side, not yours! I needed her away from the Mathis family to try and break her mind control issue, myself. You saw what happened when she learned about your involvement!"
"My involvement has kept all of your friends on the Light Side alive!" Amanda's voice shout back at Kirito as she swung her green saber to her side, and ignited the energy in her chest to yell at her aggressor once again.
"My father told us that we had to split Kazuto Kirigaya's party up in two. My brother hand-picked Asuna to join his side. He was so caught up in sealing her fate to the Dark Side that he gave me a majority hold on the rest of your friends! I was told your 'sister' and 'girlfriend' entered the Holocron holding lab with you, and after realizing Asuna was not related to you, I grabbed your cousin, Suguha, and managed to get more of your friends from the Sith."
"You both divided my friends up from me right after logging in?" Kirito knew he was separated from the others after powering on the Holocron Unit, but he had no idea how quickly the others were whisked away to the Light and Dark after his own Full-Dive.
Amanda continued preaching through the voice of her Jedi avatar. "I saved half of your close friends, and like I mentioned before, once I knew the game had taken their minds, I was sure to reprogram things to get their free will back in-tact."
"And then you forced them to fight for you either way?" Kirito ran forward, and slammed his lightsaber into her space, but before the red blade hit her chest, the green blade from her saber blocked its momentum. "Why the hell did Lucas want Asuna on his side so badly? And why did that make you pick Suguha!?"
"Because...he claimed Asuna first..." Amanda was struggling to hold her defenses after the crash down below, and finally shouted to get the boy away from her. "Lucas helped someone else try to take Asuna's mind once before!"
A wall of Force energy swelled from Amun-din's presence, and caused Kirito to flip back into the air, and right toward the back wall of the broken conference hall. He let the crack from the wall suppress his impact, but still felt the pain as he stood with a shake in his legs, and watched Amun-din hurl large pieces of rubble right for his face.
"I've let Father and Lucas dictate my whole life for me every step of the way, AND IT ALWAYS ENDS WITH ME HURTING OTHERS IN THE PROCESS! I NEVER CHOSE TO DEVELOP THESE WORLDS THAT SHATTER SOCIETY!"
"You...developed...worlds?" Kirito was continually slashing through the broken pieces of the ceiling flying from Amanda's hand, and managed to hold his conversation while defending his life. "You...you've worked with VR technology before, haven't you?"
Amanda finally stopped, and lowered her head while her stance remained strong. A small shadow appeared under her feet while the broken lights from the conference room ceiling flickered on and off. She let out a bit of emotion before telling him anymore.
"I helped develop the game Sword Art Online. I was one of the lead designers of the map for Aincrad, and the Sword Skill system when I worked for Argus...I knew Akihiko Kayaba personally."
Kirito almost dropped his weapon, and lowered his jaw to try and gasp as much air that he could. "And...your brother?"
Amanda looked up, and showed Kirito the tears falling from her saddened eyes. "My brother was an employee for RECT, and at a young age was hired by Shouzou Yuuki. Because he was the son of my father, he followed Sugou Nobuyuki into the FullDive division at RECT to help create ALfheim Online. All at age 18."
Kirito almost lost his footing, and stumbled backwards as if a small cloud of Force energy pushed him slightly off his feet. He had no way of truly grasping what she had just revealed, and decided to just let her finish her words.
"I wasn't aware of Kayaba's death game plans, obviously, but once the game locked everyone down, I thought me and the other developers were the ones at fault. We lived in fear of prosecution for an entire year before people realized Kayaba acted alone during all of it. And that was just the group that never managed to log in the first day! After that, I noticed a new title growing more popular in the VR market, and found out my brother was helping develop it at my father's recommendation. I wanted to help with the first development of the AmuSphere, to ensure the same thing would never happen again like the NerveGear, but my brother wouldn't let me apply to work for the company. He kept his work secretive, and eventually pushed me away..."
"What?" Kirito wanted to know more about the tears falling from her eyes. He turned off his saber, and stepped forward to hear her better. "What happened then?"
Amanda's weapon was still on, but she turned to face the wall, away from the boy in front of her. "The SAO survivors were released. A player named Kirito freed everyone stuck in Aincrad from the hands of Kayaba. I was so happy, I almost had faith in the promises of the virtual world again, but my brother didn't care though...he was too angry, and too driven by something in ALO...he just wanted to continue his research for Mr. Nobuyuki."
"Lucas." Kirito repeated to himself, and tried to put everything together. "I guess he got his attitude from Sugou?"
"I don't know." She sobbed slightly in her small backlash. "He's always been competitive, and regularly tried to one-up Nobuyuki, his supervisor. Eventually that man was arrested for what he had done with ALO, but my brother vowed to carry out his incomplete research. My father had just gotten Immortal gaming off the ground, and once Lucas showed his ambition, he started grooming him for a role to take over his next game. He found Lucas's work with brain research at RECT fascinating, and decided to lead another project from our family office in the US."
"And what about you." Kirito kept his distance safe, but wanted to show he was still listening. "What about your involvement with SAO?"
"I...I...I couldn't help but hate myself. A game created with such beauty was solely designed to trap people inside a death game! And I helped make it...my father never even cared. He just sat back and continued to fuel the very market that was destroying people's families and lives."
A swell of shaking energy started to fill the room, and Amun-din raised her open hand into a fist as her right hand and lightsaber shook with growing rage.
"I vowed to stop my family from ever taking part in another mistake of a game again...but here we are, the Mathis Family Strikes Back! I...I'm...I'M STILL TRYING TO DO THE BEST I CAN TO STOP THEM!"
Kirito blocked a very powerful assault from his front flank as Amun-din rammed into him with a mighty barrage of attacks. Hit after hit, her green blade was turning into a blur as Kirito failed to keep track of her weapon. He could only defend himself by merely seeing the movement of her arms, and still kept himself at a safe distance while the broken girl continued breaking down in front of him.
"MY FATHER LET MY BROTHER PUT HIS EVIL INTO THIS GAME, AND THEN HE FORCED ME TO FIGHT WITH HIM IN ORDER TO SAVE THE COMPANY! I WILL NOT SEE THIS UNIVERSE RUIN THE LIVES OF ANY MORE PLAYERS! I NEED TO WIN MY FATHER'S COMPANY BEFORE ANYONE ELSE GETS HURT!"
"Why..." Kirito asked a quiet question through his grinding teeth as he tried to hold firm with his defenses. His single red blade was keeping the powerful Jedi Warrior away from his body, and as the Force continued to swell with his opponent, her angry energy grew as well.
"I will get you out of this game, Kirito! You need to trust me!"
"Why..." Kirito was not asking 'why' to that direct quote from Amun-din, but instead was trying to formulate a thought of his own.
"THEN WHY...WHY DID YOU TRY AND STOP ASUNA AND LEAFA FROM TRAINING ME!?"
Kirito hit upward with a great volley of force from his laser sword, and grabbed Amun-din by the wrists. He cut the hands from her stiffened arms, and forced her to drop her weapon on the cold metal ground.
Then, Kirito twirled his blade down below his arm, and stuck it into the exposed chest of Jedi Master Amun-din, hitting her in the heart, and releasing a gasp of air from her lungs has she crashed to her knees.
Kirito finished screaming, and tossed his lightsaber aside after turning it off. He swiftly turned to grab the falling Amun-din's limp body, but noticed her eyes were still alive with light.
"I didn't want to kill you..." Kirito replied with his own emotion trapped in his throat. "Why did you try and stop me from gathering my friends?"
Amanda Mathis's voice cracked as blood came to her lips, and a small cough let her speak to her new victor. "I...was trying to...protect them."
"What?" Kirito was taken back. "But you hated Leafa? And Asuna was the apprentice of your brother?"
"I didn't hate Leafa...I cared for her dearly...I respected the amount of grace and elegance that she brought from ALO into her role as a Jedi...I also never forgot that she was brought here with you by my Father's orders."
She raised her maimed arms up, and dropped them down in her weakened state. "I was trying to keep her on Tython, away from the fighting, to keep her from dying, and ending up one of their research pawns."
Kirito had no words. Leafa was ordered to stay on the planet Tython by Amun-din's command, but she had always thought the Jedi Master made the isolated role for her out of spite.
"Agil too...you knew he came in with me...you forced him to remain on Coruscant."
Amanda smiled softly. "It was one of the reasons why I managed to get along with Agil the most, he's never even left Coruscant after leveling his character to the maximum rank...he never tried to put himself in harm's way. There's just something about your group of friends...they really crave excitement and danger."
Amanda was growing weak, but as she tried to lay down more, Kirito kept her head propped up slightly to allow her to continue. "Silica and Klein were smugglers, so I didn't expect them to face any trouble out in the open...but that Klein...Argo was the same, though I only found out she was your friend after hearing it from the group. She mostly worked by herself in SAO...she also turned out to be working for my brother though. Yuilier, Thinker, they were off my radar, but I knew them as SAO survivors...Alicia was just lucky. I only found out they were all your old friends when...it was too late."
Kirito quivered as Amanda released all this information. "And what about Asuna and the others? Three of my friends were taken by Lucas, along with others like Sakuya and Eugene."
"I know. Sakuya and Eugene were tops players in ALO." Amanda pleaded. "My brother had played Gun Gale Online in his spare time while developing TORO...he knew Sinon from a BoB tournament, and I assume he picked Lisbeth because of her connection to Asuna...I strictly forbid all of your friends from engaging the Sith Command in any combat. Leafa met Sakuya on Tython during an early attack, but failed to engage once I arrived with reinforcements. She never fought any of your Sith friends directly after that, until her confrontation on Alderaan with Sakuya again...and then with Asuna...if she had just stayed at her post on Tython."
"It was just like me on Dagobah." Kirito sadly admitted. "You were trying to keep me away from the fighting too."
Amanda started to tear up once more. "I knew you and your friends were targeted by my father for a reason. I knew you were our only hope when you came into the game with that grey-out faction. I didn't want you to find Asuna because...I was worried what it might do to you."
Kirito glanced over at his fallen Sith lightsaber, and kept his eyes away from the dying girl. "You tried to bring balance to the Republic side of the game, and the Light Side of the Force. All while trying to keep my friends and I out of trouble."
"I still have no idea what happens to players who are killed using Holocron units. People say they are stationed in a dormant state, and after my brother's work with ALO...I...I don't trust my family anymore."
"Then you'll have to trust me. I'm going to end this game, Amanda. For you, and Asuna, and all the others. I'm going to find your brother, and then your father, and end this game once and for all."
"Kirito..." Amanda was taken back by his determination, and tried to release one final thought to her champion. "Don't be destroyed by the Dark Side like Asuna was...you can still become a Jedi. And please..."
Her eyes had finally shut, but one more breath of words left the lips of Jedi Master Amun-din in her dying state.
"Don't confront the Empire's Wrath."
Kirito let Amanda's body fall limp in his arms, and sat still as a single tear rolled down his check. He could hear the crowd above had finally cleared out, and also noticed several marching feet coming his way from door to his back. The boy's right hand found her fallen lightsaber, and placed it in his inventory.
His other hand was then placed on Amanda's forehead. Kirito felt her body disappear into the void of the game moments later. "It's okay, Amanda. You can be one with the Force, now."
So Amanda's been an oddly neutral character from the point of view of the audience. She's definitely better than her brother, or at least we're told that much, but she never showed us why that was until now. I wanted the Mathis family to have some connection to SAO and ALO to help explain why Peter Mathis was so hell-bent on getting Kirito to be his new heir. Kirito respected that from her, bu could not respect the way she chose to lead the players in the Republic. He meanwhile had no choice but to let Amanda rest and carry on with trying to win the game his own way.
So what happens next? One Mathis down, two to go. And then that whole thing with Asuna...Until then!