Authors Notes on 18 March 2019: So, I'm entering uncharted territory on a piece of fan-fiction for me (third chapter) just as my own country is.
To make something crystal clear I really don't want to see the UK end up like the scenario I am describing, which is why I'm writing this. After all authors have a duty to describe their nightmares as well as their dreams. It also has to be said that this scenario or something like it is one out of a variety of ones that could happen at this point. Who knows what the future holds for our set of nations?
Also, I would like to say a massive thank you to those who have read, reviewed and favourited my work so far as well as to the person who is kindly acting as a beta reader. I hope I can continue to do your support justice with my writing.
Anyway, let's keep rolling, shall we?
Chapter 3: Site of a Nightmare
What a relief…
Sergeant Shino Asano stared at the LCD screen and rose her head skywards as she saw its headline:
Foul play ruled out in Newport gas explosion.
Given that the explosion had injured three generations of the same family and a brash county councillor with ambitions to be an MP terrorism had been suspected.
Four less victims for The New Troubles and we really don't want Essex kicking off again.
Things are getting back onto an even keel there after years of fierce fighting, with pockets of THAT county becoming no go zones for liberals. Still sad though, still regrettable just like the whole damn situation.
At least we're still on a "fractured not failed" island stitched together by cops like me.
Anyway, those three should be coming through into arrivals any minute now.
She scanned the station entrance
Coast is still clear and…
A message played across her glasses
"Remember our earlier chat Sarge."
How could I forget? Two people looking grimly at each other in utter agreement yet sad about having to agree.
She clicked the thumbs up sign.
Can't afford to do anything else. This station's quiet but… anyway they're all here and Kazuto's got his black jacket on. Good time to go and meet them.
She could finally unleash the smile across her face as Asuna led the way.
"Sinonon it's so good to see you."
"Great to see you too! Hows the coat Kazuto?"
After Alicization Kirito wore a stab resistant jacket similar to the one he wore online. It fitted with his usual clothes but light enough to move around in easily. It had also been made by an English company which Sinon had recommended.
"It's great thanks. Never thought I'd be going into somewhere as tense as this"
Asuna noticed Sinons' circular badge on her coast below the Hinomaru. On it was a white map of Great Britain in a light blue background surrounded by a white laurel wreath. At the border between England and Scotland were two black and white bars on either coast.
"Are you still on Operation Senate?"
The police officer shook her head.
"I'm on secondment as a deputy special liaison to a joint NPA-Police Service of Scotland project. "
Asunas eyes narrowed
That would be…
"The one that Rika was working on?"
Sinon nodded
I can talk about that… just about.
"That's why we were asked if we could help investigate The Grandstand Disappearances. Anyway, we're going straight to The Ricoh Arena so let's move."
All of them followed Shino through the passage way into the station and towards the ticket barriers.
Straight into trouble... welcome to England people.
A woman was arguing with a steward and a policeman was standing around at the edges deciding whether to intervene.
The woman waved a plastic wallet at the steward standing erect with her suitcases at her sides.
"Look I've paid for this ticket, so I have every right to go on that train."
The steward was adamant.
"That's not the case now. If you don't have any form of photo ID then you cannot go aboard this service."
The woman was in her forties was looking distraught.
"But my family are waiting for me and it wasn't like this when I was a kid."
The steward raised their hand.
"Then go, get your passport and we'll book you on a later train. I'm really sorry but this is the way that it is for trains to Scotland now."
Shino pushed a wavering Kazuto through the open ticket barrier.
"Crowd control isn't your responsibility Kazuto and our train's a local one so we won't have the same problem. Keep on going."
Kazuto glanced behind him at the person who was now moving back.
"I know but…?"
Don't even ask it Kazuto…
Shino gave him the stare of a veteran officer who'd spent years on the border crossings.
"Kazuto do a tour of duty in Doncaster, Gretna or Birmingham New Street for one week let alone one month and you'll see far worse than that, especially on a Friday night."
Besides knowing the staff here that woman WILL get North later. There are plenty of other places where she wouldn't.
She stared ahead as they walked towards the waiting train.
"Asuna was it like this when you came here?"
Asuna glanced backwards.
He's told you, hasn't he?
"No, Scotland hadn't declared independence then so no Saxena Settlement to think about. But some of the older players were told to take precautions and when I've been north of The Line, I've heard announcements about queues at the international platforms while going through Edinburgh Waverley."
The domestic terminals at airports aren't better either which is why a few like Prestwick and Cambridge had to shut. At least Kouchiro's in Glasgow working in Edinburgh where RECT used to have an office in along with another one in Dunbar. In fact, dad has a street named after him in a new housing development there: Shouzou Street.
Half an hour later and they arrived at the oblong of the Ricoh Arena. Asuna stood looking at the stadium and gripped Kazutos hand.
A couple of extra rugby players on the outside walls including Jonathan Hasketh. But it's how I remember it.
Anyway through the metal turnstile into the cavernous passageway between the grandstands.
Sinon watched Asuna as she looked for some steps, found them and walked into the stands.
Coming here can't be easy for her but she's taking things in her stride so far. But at least she's got the two people she cares about following her. Anyway I'd better do the same.
Standing at the barriers Asuna stared at the pitch with its rugby posts raised high above the ground and the rows of sky-blue seats surrounding it.
Its floodlights are off so it looks less intimidating but it's still the same place.
Those bloody posts though…
Asunas phone vibrated and she glanced at the text message written in English
"I'm where you'd expect me to be Skipper."
Asuna turned behind her to face a tall man in his late thirties and black hair sitting at the edge of one of the rows close to the back windows of the stands. Wearing a blue and green tartan shirt with matching scarf Felix Martin Mulcahy MSP smiled sadly at her as he stood up and paced towards the group.
Asuna rolled her eyes as she joined him.
"I should have guessed you'd sit this far up. Taking the high ground as usual Felix."
The MSP shrugged
"Eh, I was one of the archers in our team."
Only because you dabbled in archery. You were far better with a Claymore or a spear. But you were good as an observer otherwise though always looking around, always interested in what was going on whether at my side or Heathcliffes' one. Then telling me in no uncertain terms what you thought about the situation or my performance in a meeting!
He bowed at them
"Good to see you again Asuna although I'm really sorry about the circumstances that we're meeting in. Kazuto, nice to see you in person at last after that damned Venus fly trap that was Unital Ring."
Kirito offered a thin smile in return.
"It was equally nice to hear that you were helping out behind the scenes Felix."
Felix shrugged
"Can't take all the credit for that. Some of the other Internationals were also liaising furiously with their governments before all the jaws snapped shut and The Seed locked everyone in it was what, 200,000 people from 130 different countries trapped?"
You must be tired Felix, it was 200,000 from 135.
The MSP sighed
"At least we had a better idea of how to help than people did over the SAO incident. But it was still up to you along with the rest of the New Assault Team to find out what was going on and put a stop to it."
Putting a stop to something that wanted to be part of the real world but not in the way that Yui is now. Speaking of which...
His eyes fell on Yui.
"Oh and I almost forgot Yui, we've never met but I've heard a lot of things about you."
Yui retreated behind Asuna as Felix winced.
"What kind of things?"
Asuna put a hand on her daughters shoulder. Although he's intelligent Felix can be so ham-fisted with small talk at times. Not great with an anxious kid and he's cottoned on, good!
"Like how you saved tens of thousands of people when The Seed wanted to effectively overwrite all of them in its bid to cross over into the real world with its "children"."
Yui looked at Asuna and then back at Felix coming forward.
"You've talked to…"
The MSP studied her carefully and shook his head.
"Not just your mum Yui. I spoke to survivors of the final battle who told me how you saved them when you could have easily become fully part of The Seeds' forces. Instead you were ready to sacrifice yourself for the people that you loved. No wonder the new Cardinals gave you the choice that they did."
He offered his hand
"In any case it's nice to finally put a face to the legendary name!"
Asuna smiled as Yui shook it carefully.
"Felix is who I said you should talk to about where you fit in. In fact, we were going to meet him in Tokyo several months ago but you and Papa-chan had something to do at the time."
One of Yuis' assessments. I would have normally gone but Kazuto offered to go with her instead.
Felix waved it off.
"I was just enjoying some successes in my new job then."
Kazuto was interested
"Which is what exactly? Asuna told me that you'd just been made the equivalent of a minister without portfolio."
Asunas eyes narrowed as Felix shrugged his shoulders.
"Given sensitivities here Kazuto, that's code for something."
Asuna shook her head
SAFA and Felix's normally FAR more open about it. There's a lot of cryptic language going on here, why?
She looked at Sinon who was checking the stadium.
Do you know anything about this?
But the police officer had an even expression on her face as she scanned the rows of seats.
As if she's not trying to give something away but what?
The Scotsman sat down on one of the hard-blue plastic seats and motioned for the others to do the same gesturing at the pitch.
"In any case we're not here to discuss my role as much as we are why you're here. This stadium was where the final and third place playoff of the inaugural Junior Women's World Rugby Championship 2024 took place. Twelve teams contested the tournament including Japan who faced New Zealand in the final."
He paused
"Not much was expected of you, was it Asuna?"
It's time…
Asuna shook her head a bitter smile playing across her face
"Everyone expected us to score only a few losing bonus points in our pool and finish dead last in the classification matches. Instead we made it to the final almost undefeated beating England who were favourites to win in the semi-finals, something no one gave us a chance of doing whatsoever!"
We were so pleased after that match and the English team were so nice about it! They really wanted us to "win for them".
But we let them down, I let them down.
Felix took something out of his trouser pocket
"Coming from the tournaments' top point scorer that's a fair assessment. By all accounts the team could score tries for fun with you and Megan Naismith being among the star performers."
Megumi, why has he mentioned her?
He showed a photo of a younger Asuna wearing a red scrum cap sprinting down a pitch with a rugby ball held clutched to her chest brown hair flowing behind her
Yui smiled at her mother for a moment.
That's mama chan? No, wonder she was so fast in Aincrad!
But then she looked up at her mother and saw a pained look on her face.
"What happened in the final mama-chan?"
Asuna grasped Yuis hand.
"In the second half we chose to take a penalty kick that, if I'd scored it could have put the match out of reach for New Zealand with only a few minutes left to play. Our best kicker had been injured early on in the first half so I had to take the shot."
She paused "It was a difficult kick, thirty meters out from the goal line but with a light breeze. I'd twisted my left leg earlier but still felt I could take the shot. I was kicking to dad..."
Shino stole a brief glance at Asuna.
"But your shot missed?"
Asuna closed her eyes seeing where the ball landed and the disappointment on her parents faces.
"Hai and after the restart their half back, Bianca Rydell scored a try that won the match. In the aftermath people said I should have kicked the ball into touch so we could have played on until full time. Put the ball "up the jumper" as they say here."
She saw the player sprinting towards their opposite line.
"Could you have?"
Asuna looked down
"We could have lost that way too. It was a tough game and we were exhausted by one intense game too many. No I made the right decision, just couldn't finish it off."
Yui looked at her mum
"Did you play rugby for Japan after that?"
Asuna shook her head
"No, I threw myself into studying then Aincrad happened and the rest as they say is history. After that I played occasionally for the Survivor School but nowhere near the same level. Mum was having none of it and besides I was starting to get interested in refereeing."
Yui looked at her
"But when did the nightmares start mama-chan?"
"After my first mission as a team leader for the Knights of the Blood. We had to deal with a sub-floor boss on the 27th floor. In the middle of the battle I froze."
Felix looked surprised
"But we won that fight wi-"
Asuna cut him off.
"I still froze leading you Felix and I could have gotten us all killed. In any case that's when the nightmares started."
She paused her eyes narrowing.
"But you wouldn't have brought us all this way just to talk about my nightmare Felix?"
The former squad leader gestured to the pitch.
"No, we're here about the future and it starts right now."
Afternote- Red: You hit upon a key headache for me with this fanfic: Are Kirito and Asuna married by 2029? The short answer is had Yui not come in to the real world they absolutely would be. In fact, depending on Asunas own path in life they might even had their first kid by now. But there's also a plot point too. For me IF both Kirito and Asuna survive and stay together (which is not certain) then the end of Sword Art Online will be the end of an era in their lives with any wedding marking the dawn of a new one. Unlike Japanese eras there's always going to be a sort of period in between chapters, an inter-regnum so this is the end of that interval.