Thanks for reading, all. This might be a little rough. I had a head-on collision with a trusk while I was biking home from work today, and am not feeling up to give this my normal last-minute glance-over. But in any case, here's a chapter that's mainly set-up, but should still be entertaining. Please follow, favorite, and review; I love knowing what you guys think!
Caring For A Rat: Book 2, Part 7
The sun was setting on the birdcage.
Inside, Asuna bent over to touch her toes, running through a series of stretches that weren't strictly necessary, but did wonders for centering her mind. As she stretched, her mind ran through the plan she had made.
She would use Sugou's code to escape her cell, find a map, and from there find a terminal that she could use to log out. It was simple, effective, and had minimal room for error.
The Creep had talked about his "Assistants" before, so she would need to be cautious, but it was unlikely they could stop her.
Although, with the way The Creep had lowered her stats, she would need to avoid conflict.
Finished with her stretching routine, she squared her shoulders, and walked purposefully towards the doorway. The door pad beeped beneath her fingers as she input Sugou's code. The door swung open half a second after she hit the enter button, and she let out a sigh of relief.
"Leaving so soon?"
She whirled around at the unexpected voice, her eyes widening, then narrowing as she beheld a familiar visage.
"You," Asuna snarled, grabbing the nearest object, which happened to be a flowerpot, and hurled it at the avatar of Heathcliff.
It passed through without harming him and shattered into pixels against the opposite cage wall.
Kayaba looked behind him, then turned back to meet Asuna with a bemused smile, as if she hadn't just thrown a flowerpot at him.
"That was rude."
"What do you want?" Asuna sighed, sitting down in a chair at the tea table.
"I offer my assistance," Kayaba said, looking insufferably smug in the red-and-white armor that had been a symbol of valor for so many in Aincrad.
"Please," Asuna waved a hand dismissively, "If you can offer anything of substance, then log me out right now. Otherwise, I don't want it."
"Well, that's just not fun," Kayaba said, taking a seat on the couch opposite her table. "Even though my influence in ALO is limited, I can still offer you a great many things. I might even be able to smuggle you my login info."
"And what, precisely, would that change?" Asuna raised an eyebrow.
Kayaba rubbed the knuckles of one hand against his plate armor. "Well, you could log yourself out with that account if you found an admin console, it's not like I'm using it or anything."
"I wouldn't be able to log myself out without your account?"
"You might, but it would be a sure thing if you found an Admin Card," Kayaba shrugged, "and those are kept locked up tight by Sugou. It's easier for me to just give you higher clearance than him."
Asuna's heart leapt, then, her mind set itself alight with anger.
"Why the fuck weren't you here sooner?" she yelled, standing up so fast that she knocked over the table in her fury. "I've spent over two months the prisoner of an insufferable asshole and creep who seems to believe that I'll just roll over and happily accept being his trophy if he just keeps trying long enough!"
"The process of reconstituting myself from the fractured remnants of my consciousness was quite time-consuming, I will have you know," Kayaba sniffed, "And it's thanks to you that it took so long. If your husband hadn't found me while I was in the middle of making the final calibrations to my device, I only needed approximately a dozen more subjects, I would have been able to reconstitute myself in a fraction of-"
"Subjects," Asuna said flatly, a horrific realization occurring to her. "You mean all the people you killed in SAO?"
Kayaba nodded. "Their deaths helped me refine the device I used to upload my consciousness onto the internet. I daresay that some fragments of the consciousness of some of the more recent casualties are floating around in the system somewhere." Asuna stared at him, horrified.
"You trapped them for an eternity."
"No," Kayaba said, slumping over. "Only until the internet gets shut down, and I would be surprised if even one of them is truly aware, rather than a set of memories or-" He paused mid-sentence, looking up at the stairwell that Sugou used to visit her. "Someone's coming." Asuna's heart leapt into her throat. "I can't be here."
Heathcliff turned to her, his hand flashing through a menu that had appeared without any gesture. "Here's my login info, it should let you get out without any trouble."
"Wait-" Asuna called out as Kayaba was enveloped in a teleportation effect "I don't-" The light enveloped Kayaba's body and vanished, leaving her speaking to an empty room "-know how to use this," she said, feeling very much like an idiot. She stared at the chip in her hand, reading off the login info that she had no idea how to use.
"Fuck."
Her misery was interrupted by a weary voice that sounded as if the owner had long ago given up on trying to do anything meaningful with their life. "I don't know what you're talking about WeedHorse, I'm not sensing…" A golden-haired fairy, presumably the same type as Oberon, although his wings were shorn in half, climbed up the steps
Asuna decided then and there that she didn't want what was probably Oberon's assistant getting anywhere near her, but her options were limited. She was still right next to the open door, and it wouldn't be hard to determine that she had opened it. The code would be changed, and if she was unlucky, there would be a 24/7 guard posted on her. This was her one chance to escape. The fairy started walking closer to her, and Asuna made a snap decision.
God this is stupid, she thought, and ran outside of her cage, dodged the pathetically obvious attempt by the fairy to grab her, and threw herself over the edge of the branch.
The cry of shock and outrage from the fairy followed her down as she fell.
As she vanished into the clouds, Sugou's assistant spiralled into a panic attack, barely remembering to change his avatar back into the form Sugou made them use in his presence before making his report.
30 minutes earlier…
I was standing in one of the streets of Alne, looking up at the branches of the world tree, trying to figure out where Yui was pointing.
"You're certain Asuna's up there?" I asked Yui, who nodded.
"It's her ID, I don't know who else it could be." My pseudo-daughter said. She had all but confirmed our suspicions that the missing 300 SAO players were trapped in Alfheim. Now I just needed to meet up with Argo. Her friend marker was moving toward me at a steady clip when I pulled up the map, but it was still outside of Alne. If I hurried, I could meet her at the gates.
"You know, I half expected you to try and go right for the grand quest," Leafa said, far more relaxed now that we had left the Sylph and Cait Sith leaders far behind. "Given the way you've been hurling yourself at all the things in between Swilvane and here, that is."
"I didn't throw myself at everything." I tried to defend myself, only for Yui to undercut me.
"You kinda did, Papa." I looked down at her with a betrayed expression. "But you promised to meet up with Ago-mama first." I scratched the back of my head, my lips stretching into a lovesick smile.
"Yeah, I did."
"You know," Leafa said, walking beside me, her hands behind her head. "I keep wondering which one of them you're dating." She waved one of her hands towards Yui. "I mean, your nav pixie keeps referring to them as her 'Mamas', and you keep getting this big dopey grin on your face whenever you think about Argo, but you keep visiting Asuna in the hospital, and I don't think I've ever seen you as at peace as when you're with her, so who is it?"
"He's m-" I hastily covered Yui's mouth before she could reveal anything about my complicated relationship with Argo and Asuna. Leafa already hadn't taken my being in the virtual world again well, and the only reason we were even still online is because she had promised to escort me to the World Tree.
"You know, you could log off now," I said, in a transparent attempt to change the subject. "I mean, you probably have your workout to do, right?"
"Eh, I can delay my workout for a bit," my sister said, a wicked gleam in her eye. "I really want to meet this 'Argo' that has you so lovestruck."
I sighed, resigning myself to the inevitable storm that would follow. Argo would inevitably gain access to a wealth of childhood stories and maybe even photos through Leafa. It was an inevitable part of being in a relationship, I supposed, sharing the embarrassing things about your childhood with your loved ones.
Whatever, maybe we could laugh together at the phase where I had decided to emulate Batman.
"She's coming!" Yui yelled joyfully, shooting off of my shoulder and into the air, heading outside of the gate.
"Yui! Wait for me!" I called after her, already activating my wings. I was half a second slower than Leafa, who was already caught up with the much smaller nav pixie. She was heading out past the gates, narrowly missing the top as she headed for a string of spriggans heading towards us.
"Ago-mama!" Yui yelled, diving for a cloaked figure near the head of the caravan. She pulled back her head, and I felt the air leave my chest. Somehow, she looked even more beautiful than I remembered.
"Yui?" Argo called, peering up at the sky, her wings activating, making her hover.
"Ago-mama!" My daughter cried again, slamming into my partner with all the kinetic force of a sheet of paper tossed from a skyscraper. "Ago-mama."
"Heya squirt," Argo said, holding Yui against her chest. "It's been a while."
I came to a halt next to Argo, still hovering in the air.
"Hey," I said, internally cringing. I hadn't seen her in hours and the best greeting I could come up with was "Hey?" I might as well hang a sign over my head that said socially awkward.
Argo took one look at me, and burst out laughing. I looked down, and felt my cheeks color in embarrassment. I never did change my clothes. "Are we settin' new fashion trends Kii-bou?" My partner asked, still chuckling to herself. "'Cause that's a very unique style ya got there."
"Hey, don't knock it 'till you try it," I defended myself. "This shirt gives me +30 bleed resist." It was also a very bright canary yellow, but that was beside the point.
"It looks very good on ya," Argo said with a very unconvincing, yet perfectly straight face.
"Whatever," I sighed. "Is there a dye merchant in your caravan?" Hopefully they could help me turn these clothes into a less eye-searing color, as I didn't have the time right now to buy new clothes, and they would probably need to be dyed anyway.
"Yep," Argo said, holding out her hand. "Give me your clothes and I'll get them dyed for ya." I was halfway through unequipping my shirt before I realized what she was after. I laid an unimpressed stare onto her.
"What?" Argo asked, grinning.
"Nice try Argo, but somewhere private next time, okay?" I closed my inventory. "Let's go see the dye merchant together, okay?" A cough interrupted my thoughts as I started planning out the color scheme I wanted for my clothes. I turned slowly, to face my sister. She stood with her arms crossed, tapping one foot.
"Aren't you going to introduce me, Kirito?" Leafa said, smiling icily.
"Oh, sorry." I hastily gestured toward my sister after making sure that the rest of the caravan had moved out of easy earshot. "Argo, this is Leafa, the Sylph Liaison I've been working with, and the one who helped me get to the World Tree. It would have taken a lot longer without her assistance. Leafa, this is Argo, my partner. We've known each other since the beta for SAO and been friends for almost as long."
Argo grinned, "Nice ta meet ya, Lii-chan, I'm one o' the best info broker's you'll ever meet." She bowed dramatically, like a magician at the end of his show, and landed on the ground without stumbling. The rest of us made our own descents.
"Kirito?" Leafa said, not taking her eyes off of my partner, "Can I talk to Argo alone?" I glanced over at the info broker, despite myself. She had handled far worse than my sister.
"Dye merchant's named Kroozin, he's the small spriggan with a scar on his left cheek," Argo said, and I took it for the implicit dismissal that it was, turning and leaving to go and dye my clothes. Yui was still with Argo, they should be fine.
It didn't take long to find Kroozin, although it took significantly longer to negotiate the dye job. Dyeing worked differently here than it did in Aincrad, where as long as you had the appropriate mat, you could color an item any way you wished. Here, you had to have the proper mat that mixed with the item's base color, and sometimes materials, to create the pigment you were looking for.
Just dyeing my shirt took almost a full minute to figure out what pigment was needed. Nonetheless, fifteen minutes later, I walked away from Kroozin some 10,000 Yrd lighter and with a newly dyed grey-and-black set of armor. My weapon was still red, though. I couldn't change that as easily.
As I was walking back to the spot where I'd left Leafa and Argo, I encountered my partner stomping up the road towards me. She looked a strange mix of amused, angry, and worn out. Yui was buzzing about her head concernedly.
She didn't stop as she walked in to me, and it was only that I had stopped when I had first seen her that allowed me to grab her and keep her from toppling over. Argo sighed against me and rubbed her head in a very distracting way against my chest.
"Why didn't ya tell me that your sister was playin' ALO?" She asked, leaning against me. "Or that she thought we were datin'?"
"Sorry," I said, rubbing her hair. "Did she try to give you the shovel talk?" Argo nodded against me.
"God, never thought I'd be facin' that down."
"I'll talk to her about it."
"Don't bother." Argo shook her head, standing up again. "It's kinda flatterin' that you didn't bother ta correct her." When I looked at her puzzlingly, "I mean, shows that you're really… invested." My partner dragged a finger down my chest, and I felt my mouth go dry as liquid was redirected elsewhere in the body.
"Ago-mama, Papa!" Yui called out, distracting us from the quickly growing sexual tension. She was looking up at the branches of the world tree, her wings frozen mid-flap. "I'm sensing another familiar ID up in the World Tree." Her voice was tinged with panic.
"Whose is it?" Argo asked, stepping up beside Yui and peering upwards, as if she could break through the barrier of clouds that now surrounded the base of the tree and see what Yui was describing.
"It-" Yui was shaking mid-air. "It's- it's the one that locked me away." Argo and I exchanged a glance. Kayaba. I carefully wrapped Yui up in my hand, bringing her close to my heart. "He's right next to Una-mama."
"We're not gonna let him get to you, or do anything to Asuna. I promise." I said, readjusting the grip on my sword as a bead of sweat rolled down my cheek. "Argo, do you have a spare blade?" I asked, the blades I had acquired on the path to Alne feeling woefully inadequate.
"Not one that's specced for your build, no," my partner said, nonetheless opening her inventory. "Best I can offer is something barely above beginner-tier equipment." I shook my head.
"Keep it then, I'll make do." I equipped another sword, just to dispel any of Argo's lingering doubts. From the way she looked at me, I had failed. But I didn't have time to keep trying. I needed to get to the top of the world tree before Kayaba could do anything to Asuna.
I didn't know if it really was Kayaba, or someone who'd managed to get their hands on his ID, but either way, they were dangerous. The Cardinal system was mostly autonomous, but someone in the position of admin could wield terrifying levels of power. Kayaba had exploited that to make his own death game.
Leafa was waiting only a little bit further down the road, wearing a stunned expression. "Kazuto, your-" I cut her off with a hand.
"Not the time, Kayaba, or someone with his ID, is here in ALO." my sister's eyes widened, and her hand bolted for her menu, scrolling through it frantically. She let out an enormous sigh of relief when she hit the bottom. I could see a [Log Out] button through the somewhat transparent menu, easing a tension I didn't know I had felt.
"We're headed towards the World Tree entrance, can you take us there?" I asked as my sister closed the menu. She nodded.
The walk was silent. I kept scrolling through my menu, trying to find the best combination of swords that would give me the best combination of survivability and raw damage output. Argo was checking her daggers again.
We weren't ready.
But I couldn't just stay here while Kayaba was doing who knows what up above, especially in such close proximity to Asuna. Yui had dived into my pocket, and curled into a shivering ball. I wanted to comfort her, but I needed to be prepared.
I cupped her tiny form with one hand as the other kept scrolling.
Leafa fiddled with the strap of her katana in front of me, the scabbard rising and falling as she tightened and relaxed her grip on it.
No one spoke, even as we entered the plaza that contained a majestic gate that led deeper into the World Tree.
We stopped approximately fifteen meters away.
"Argo?" I spoke hesitantly, not wanting to anger my partner. "If things go bad…"
"I'm not leavin' ya," the info broker said, crossing her arms defiantly. There would be no budging her on this. "If I did ya might run off and accidentally seduce some other woman."
"This again?" I groaned. One of Argo's favorite things to tease me about was my nonexistent seduction ability. It was flattering, but also extremely unrealistic. Most of the women I met looked at me like they were trying to suppress severe amounts of revulsion.
"Kirito? A ladies man?" Leafa scoffed, crossing her arms. "You're joking."
"I'm not jokin'," Argo said, grinning widely. "Kii-bou here has slept with more than one woman he met the same day!"
I sighed as Leafa's face turned beet red. "Kazuto did- he did- he had-" My sister let out a high-pitched whine, circling around disbelief, embarrassment, and mortification.
"Look, sleeping in the same room as someone doesn't count as sleeping with them," I told Argo, before turning to my sister. "I'm sorry, she loves to tease me about my nonexistent 'prowess'."
"You're the only one who believes that, ya know," Argo said, kneeling me playfully. It was a welcome distraction from the weight of Kayaba. I could almost forget that we were about to embark on a suicide mission, not only to reach the top of the world tree, a quest that had remained incomplete after a full year despite being open from the beginning, and then defeating someone with admin access, even if he was no longer the GM.
Unexpectedly, Yui popped her head out of my pocket, looking upwards with enormous eyes, before disentangling herself from my shirt, slowly flying upwards. "Kayaba's gone," She said, apparently not quite believing it herself. Her next words were more urgent, with an undercut of panic.
"Una-mama's falling!"