Didn't take as long this time, but still, wish it was done sooner. See you at the bottom.
Chapter 20
Moving toward finality
"…ght…Light…?"
I blinked, my vision focusing again. My mind had gone blank for a few seconds…or was it longer? I don't know.
Kimiko was sat there, looking worried. I took a deep breath before speaking. "T-that's…quite the bombshell to drop." She nodded. "How long?"
"It's been something that's been happening ever since I've been born." She leaned back, swinging her legs back and forth. "Until recently though, it's only been short term, and I've been able to deal with it. But now, I'm forgetting parts of my life." A tear ran down her face. She wiped it away. "Sorry…I'm just scared."
"I know." My voice shook. I knew somewhat how she felt. When I woke up, I had no idea who I was or how I got in Vetal. Still, it was nothing compared to going through every day, knowing that the previous could disappear at any moment. I couldn't imagine it. "Is there nothing you can do?"
"I'm already trying." She muttered. I began working that information through my head, trying to decipher what she meant. And then it clicked.
The one thing she thought would work: becoming an Integrity Knight.
Something I've never really thought about is everyone else's reasons for becoming an Integrity Knight. The only person I know about is Eldrie, who offered up the information voluntarily. But Kimiko and Luna hadn't really told me. For Luna, I could guess that it was due to being a noble and being brought up to become an Integrity Knight. But Kimiko was always a mystery until now. And finally, the missing piece had fallen into place.
And I could understand why she was so reluctant to tell me. She could tell Lilith, Luna and Becchi without it ultimately affecting them. But I had to duel her, and the winner would achieve their memories and crush the other's.
Could I now duel her with everything I had, knowing if I won, I would destroy her chance at recovering her memories and doom her to an eternity of losing her past?
"Light, I know what you're thinking." She said, her voice sharp and clear. "If I lost to you fair and square, I wouldn't care about my memories." She gripped her arm. "Even if I lose the memory of the fight, my body will always remember that I gave it my all. It's the same for you right?" I nodded. Even without my memory, my body remembers the sword. "I don't know who taught me the style we both use, but I'll always remember the skills. So no matter what, give me the best damn duel you've got, okay?"
"Yeah…" My mind finally stopped racing.
She stood up. "It's getting cold. We should probably head back." She was shivering, but I knew that wasn't because of the cold. It was actually rather warm.
She got a few steps ahead before I stood up. I walked briskly to catch her up. "Hang on." She turned to look at me and I wrapped my arms around her.
Kimiko finally lost the last little bit of resistance she was using to hold back her tears and she began crying in my arms. "I-I just…" She said between sobs. "O-out of all t-the things I don't want t-to forget…I don't want to forget you…"
"Shhh…it's okay…" I muttered under my breath.
It's weird, being on the other side of this…being the one comforting rather than comforted…
Wait…what does that mean…?
I stood outside the Minato Ward, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door. I took a step back and looked around while I waited.
Tokyo was certainly a lot more clean than back home. The streets were basically spotless, a surprise because the city where me and Light lived had trash rolling down the roads like tumbleweeds. It was extremely busy too, everyone heading to work or school.
"It's so different…" I said under my breath.
"Holly?" Yui said through my phone.
"Sorry, got distracted." I looked forwards. Apparently Yui was here to help me, but not through my phone. I had no idea how, but I just was tired of asking questions. I almost laughed, knowing exactly what Leon would've said. "You can ask questions you know."
The door opened and a Japanese man stood there. He said something that I couldn't understand. I looked down at my phone, waiting for Yui to say something, but there was silence. I looked back up, ready to apologise and walk away, when I noticed he was looking at my shoulder. But there was nothing there.
The man nodded, sighing. He went back towards the door and beckoned me in. I was extremely confused but took his direction and went inside.
The reception was deceptively normal. Just a desk, some seats for waiting, and three doors that lead to separate rooms. The man gestured to the seats and went inside one of the rooms. I caught a glimpse of some sort of monitor. All I saw was the corner of a white tower before the door closed.
I sat down and looked down at my phone. "You going to tell me what that was?" Silence came from the speaker. "Okay then…" I leaned back and waited.
Soon enough though, the man came back out, holding what appeared to be a white earpiece with a microphone. He held it out to me and tapped his ear. I took it and put it on my ear. Suddenly, a flash appeared in front of my eyes and I saw a girl right in front of me.
I recoiled in surprise. She laughed, which told me exactly who it was. This girl with long black hair and a pink pixie dress was Yui. "Have you been there the whole time?"
"Yep!" She beamed at me. "Suguha wanted me to help you while going to Rath." Weird thing was that she said that in Japanese, and a piece of text appeared in the corner of my vision to translate it into English.
"Amount of kids that show up here nowadays…" The man rubbed his eyes. "Follow me, you can speak to him yourself."
He opened the door and gestured inside. I went inside, drawing in breath at the sight in front of me. A pure white tower standing tall above a bustling city, with green fields and forests that stretched for miles, leading to ugly, jagged mountains, contrasting the beauty of the rest of the world. In the middle of the mountains, a silver gate stood strong against whatever lay beyond it.
The man began pressing a few buttons on the control panel. The world disappeared and two screens replaced it. One showed a reflection of me and the man. Despite that Yui was hovering above my left shoulder, she wasn't there on screen.
Soon the other screen activated. Two men, one standing and the other sitting. The one standing sighed as he saw me. "Maybe we shouldn't have let Asuna have that phone call."
"Asuna had nothing to do with me being here. Even if she never called me, I would still be here." I immediately felt a pit of anger towards this man. Something about him said he couldn't be trusted.
"Come on Kiku, give her a break. She's travelled here all the way from the UK." The sitting man smiled. He certainly gave off a much more friendly aura than this 'Kiku'.
Kiku sighed and relaxed a little. "Well, I suppose it isn't hard to find that place, thanks to that little AI Kirito and Asuna took in." He stared at my shoulder, as if knowing Yui was there. "Well then…Flower, is it?"
My eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?" Ever since The Land Beyond, I had left that name behind, opting for 'Rose' instead. Being a government official in contact with Mr Miamo and Crystal though, I guess it made sense…
His answer though was something I didn't expect. "Light calls out that name sometimes. Along with Holly. He says he needs to get back home for you."
Honestly, I almost welled up at that. Fortunately, I had become very good at stopping myself from showing large displays of emotion in front of others. I took a deep breath. "So he is there, isn't he?"
Kiku nodded. The sitting man rolled his chair back from his keyboard. "He's alive at least. And recovering…almost at an alarming rate."
"And that's bad because…sorry, I don't know your name."
"Ah, sorry. It's Higa." He scratched the back of his head. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka." He grabbed the edge of the desk and pulled himself towards it again. "In terms of Light's recovery, it's very good. At this rate, he could come out just after Kirigaya. But the issue is the rate is far too high than a human mind should be able to handle. It's actually incredible that he hasn't had some sort of mental shutdown."
I laughed. They both looked confused. "Oh you don't know Light at all. This is nothing compared to…" I trailed off, remembering again that night two months ago. "He'll make it out. As long as he's recovering."
"Well, then the issue might be the STL…" Kikuoka muttered. He put on a big smile though. "But if you're certain of his recovery, then I can at least relax a little."
He will. I know he will.
"Holly?"
A familiar voice came from the monitor. I looked around the edges for the source. Yui suddenly starting beaming, her smile bright. "Mama!"
And into frame came a girl. She had to be older than me, on the edge of adulthood. She was beautiful, almost unrealistically perfect. Chestnut hair that flowed halfway down her back, braided around the back to form a small ponytail. Large hazel eyes that were framed by long eyelashes, shining bright thanks to a soft smile.
It was the first time I had seen Asuna, and she had seen me.
"Hi." I returned the smile.
She let out a small laugh. "I thought I heard you on a plane. I didn't think you'd find that place."
"Well, I had some help." I pointed to the pixie that now stood on my shoulder, fists on hips with a proud expression. It made me realise how similar the daughter was to her mother, despite the fact that Yui was an AI.
"Y-Yui?" Asuna looked shocked. Something tells me that Asuna didn't know that Yui and the others had contacted me. "I'm going to have to have a talk with her when I get back later today…"
"You're coming back already?" I frowned.
"Yeah. I'll be able to see Kirito before I go though." She looked genuinely happy.
I gave a little laugh. "Any chance we can swap places then?" My voice almost cracked as I said that.
Kikuoka shook his head. "We'll get the Minato Ward word when Light's awake. They'll call you and then you can establish contact." He looked up. "This call has been going on too long. We should shut it down to reduce risk of being compromised."
I nodded, understanding. It still didn't stop me from feeling a pang of sadness. Higa began typing. "Hey Asuna." She looked up. "When this is over, let's all meet up. Me, you, Light and Kirito."
"Sure." She nodded. "It'll be a double date."
The suggestion made me smile. The screen suddenly went black, the connection severed. I let out a sigh.
If what Higa said is true, Light should be awake either later today or tomorrow. Maybe then he can finally rest.
Well, we had some more time with Holly. I wanted to have a small interaction face to face with her and Asuna. And I always thought that the Augma could be used as a translation device if it was in the real world. It would certainly make communication easier.
Small time skip next chapter. We'll be ending Part 2 next chapter, and then moving into Part 3, The Four Empire Unification Tournament and the aftermath of that. I can't wait to share it (if I get the motivation to write that is). And this aftermath will be the first time Light directly affects Kirito and Eugeo's journey.
Reviews:
blackbutterfly1313: Hehe, don't worry, it won't be long until Eugeo returns. I'm kind of glad I can keep you on edge, because that's kind of what adding Light into Alicization would do, add this unpredictable element. But...even in the darkest times, there's always hope. And hopefully moving forward with this story, I'll be able to show that. Especially in the Epilogue story ;) I answered your question before, but for the sake of answering it here too, Lilith knew about Kimiko's condition from the very beginning, as she would've been directly effected by it.
Guest: Thanks. Don't worry, I haven't changed the overall story too much. It's mainly the ending that I changed. And I changed it to be much darker...including more deaths. So don't worry, not everyone is going to survive. It wouldn't be much of a War of Underworld if only one side suffered losses.
Thank you all for reading again. I hope to see you next time for the finale of Part 2. As always, Stay Cool.