AN: Did I mention that the Beside You two-shot was for my college classes? Yup, you read this right, I wrote an SAO AU for college ;)

Totally spaced uploading this half which has been done for a while XD And yes yes, I'm aware it's short, just deal with it Xd

Keep focused.

She had to keep up with the pace of the whirring machine beneath her feet and ignore the rasping of her lungs. The feeling of her feet slapping the rough tread of the unique treadmill was reassuring; she could almost imagine being back inside the game breathing in the fresh air of her favorite floor and walking the gravel pathways of her home while her ears were filled with the floor's softly swaying background music.

The plastic pinching the sensitive flesh of the bridge of Argo's nose brought her back out of her thoughts and it wasn't the first time she had the urge to rip the plastic oxygen mask off of her face. Only firsthand experience on what the punishment would be for it kept her hands from going anywhere near the clear plastic.

See, others called the world outside the game freedom.

Those like Argo, survivors of the game itself, called it a prison.

When her world had gone black and she had dizzily woken up to a white room, Argo had known right off the bat something was wrong. Why? Well that was simple, she hadn't felt any different than she had in the game. When she had outrageous agility and dexterity that could top the comicbook hero 'the Flash.'

The outrageous beeping of a timer told Argo that it was safe to stop moving. The blonde felt the now familiar feeling of her body going from moving somewhere close to the speed of light to normal speed as she planted her feet on the ground.

The whiplash from the action would've killed a man were they not the short and mousey Akira Yuuki with the gamertag Argo. Argo however merely felt the force ripple through her back and fade before she so much as twitched a finger. Her deep brown eyes flickered from the wall she was facing to the thick bulletproof glass wall that seperated her from those she knew was watching her. Sure enough, as per usual, there was a triage of lab-coat wearing men standing behind the glass, but by now she had expected them to be. One gets used to having people standing there staring at them as they appeared to the scientists as a blur and ran like a hamster in a hamster ball as they produced enough power to power a small city. Not that Argo trusted them to actually use the power generated toward anything but their ridiculous scientific tests.

She could feel the marks the mask had made in the sides of her face as she pulled the strap around her head over it and held the malleable clear plastic in her other hand. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the men, one with salt and pepper grey hair, press a button on the console next to the glass. One they were probably glad she couldn't touch since she'd press every button just to grate on their cumulative nerves.

"How're you feeling Argo?" He asked and Argo bit her tongue to keep from snorting at the question. Clearly this guy was new to the project, whatever project she and thousands of others had gotten themselves roped into.

"'Ine," Argo shrugged and unbuckled the mandatory wrist device from her wrist, "Can I go now?" Her breathing was already back to normal, as though she hadn't just spent the last ten minutes running at a pace equal to the speed of sound. Even the lingering burn of the workout in her calves was gone now. Leaving the now ex-info-broker feeling how she usually did after she rolled out of bed in the morning and reluctantly trudged over here like she was legally required to do every day.

Like usual, they ignored her, "any fatigue or muscle aches?"

"No," Argo deadpanned with an eye roll, of course they had no interest in listening to her. Just like her own disinterest in listening to them when she would've preferred to have made it out of the testing room by now.

"What about sweating?"

Argo glanced over at her arms before she replied, even though she had already known the answer. "No," the last time she remembered sweating of any kind was back as a junior in high school. Back before she had gotten herself stuck in a VR game and narrowly managed to break out of the memory brainwashing via technological help of her girlfriend's.

Though she now understood why it was necessary and why it hadn't been reversed yet, so everyone knew each other and what roles they had each played in the game but almost nothing of their lives outside of the game.

"Very well, you are free to go."

Argo nodded and headed toward the door that unsealed and opened.

She was the only conscious survivor that had most of the full picture, and there were many days where she wouldn't wish her situation on anyone.

"Hey… Wow, you look seriously glum Argo."

Argo wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to anyone as she entered the elevator, but that wasn't to say she was surprised to see the messy black hair and dark silver eyes of Kirito the Black Swordsman. Not when he was technically married to her younger sister Asuna via events of the game.

She didn't have the heart or will to tell him that they'd never met before the game.

"Ya ever tried ta 'un at da speed of sound Kiri-boi?" Argo rolled her eyes and stepped fully into the elevator.

"Nah," Kirito grinned and Argo didn't bother to press the floor button she was aiming for, not when she already knew Kirito was going to the same place. "I don't have the speed for it, but seriously," his expression sobered a little and Argo looked up at him at the serious tone, "you're pretty hard to get down, everything okay?"

Everything wasn't okay, not to Argo. When was the last time she had actually said anything about what was going on besides the obvious? Months ago, right after she had woken up most likely. Not that it mattered, she couldn't tell him anyway. Still, she didn't really want to say that it was all fine, like she usually would, especially not today. Not when she was going downstairs to see what she was going to see.

Sub basement floor one.

The home of the tubes and devices that each survivor had been inside at some point or another. It was in those tubes that her sister, and her childhood friend, were still unconscious inside, like the other ninety-seven players who had never woken up from the game.

"Yup, 'll good Kii-boi," Argo responded on auto-pilot, the words just falling out of her mouth and startling even herself. Still, she strengthened the comment by flashing him a cheeky grin and an 'okay' symbol with one hand while she shoved the other into the pocket of her oversized hoodie.

Once Kirito gave her an odd look but didn't pry, Argo tucked her head down into the hoodie's collar. The jacket still had traces of her, the almost honey and vanilla-like smell that had always clung to her and her clothes.

Long fingers deftly swiped through her menu screen and caused it to dissolve.

"Ey!" Argo looked up to meet the gentle, artificially blue, eyes of her partner as she dropped onto the couch beside her, "Ki-Lii why'd ya do 'at?"

"Eh? I felt like it," she hummed to the blonde, "besides, it's fun taking a leaf out of your book sometimes Argo.

"Argo?"

Argo blinked when the sound of her name pierced through the memory like a hot knife, "huh?"

"You sure you're okay?" Kirito was standing outside now holding the doors of the elevator open, waiting for her.

Guilt stabbed Argo in the heart and she hastened to scurry through the not hold him up any longer. "Yeah, Ima 'ine," she reassured and hurried ahead when she heard the names being called of the various players still unconscious in the tubes. Tubes Argo knew she had been in before she woke up, just like everyone else.

Everything was fine. She definitely wasn't about to pull her girlfriend, who also grew up with her, had taken her in when her own family disowned her, and worked beside her every step of the way, out of some scientific goo still unconscious and as comatose as the day Argo herself had woken up. Nope, definitely wasn't about to do that.

"Will the person designated for Caylee Mitsuko, Galaxy Warrior please step forward?"

Heart in her throat, Argo stepped forward.