Chapter VII: Ghosts of SAO

Kirito, now re-spawned, walked back into Velma's Diner to find most of his party waiting for him. They all looked up from their table when the bells above the door rang and a wave of worry washed over their faces as they saw him.

"Damn man, he got you too." Klein said.

"Yeah, it was a calculated risk." Kirito replied. "It looked like Asuna was able to get him, but it's hard to be sure as I died right before the end of the fight."

"Well her HP hasn't hit zero yet, so at worst she's still fighting." Argo noted.

"Between the re-spawn time and walking over here, the fight should have been over by now." Just as Kirito finished his sentence, he received a private message from Asuna.

Kirito, we beat The Reaper and... well let's just say he both is and isn't what we expected. It's too long to write it all out, but you all need to hear what he has to say. He's coming with me to the Diner, don't go anywhere.

"Well it looks like we got him." Kirito's words were followed instantly by a chorus of cheers from his friends.

After a few moments Klein noticed his friend's worried face and stopped cheering. "Okay, what's the catch?" he asked. "You're not exactly wearing your we just beat the bad guy face."

"I don't know Klein, it just seems like things are somehow going to get even more complicated now that... wait, do I really have one of those?"

What started as a little chuckle from Klein quickly turned into a cacophonous fit of laughter from the entire group. Even Kirito couldn't help but chuckle a little bit which lifted his spirits a surprising amount. Only Agent Nishiyama didn't join in the fun, his eyes glued to the character status screens as if he expected to gleam some additional information about the situation from them.

"So what were you actually trying to say?" Liz prompted.

"Oh right. Asuna said that The Reaper wants to talk, and that she's bringing him here."

"Wait what?!" came several exclamations from around the table.

Agent Nishiyama finally looked up from his screen, his brow furrowed. "Do you really think that's wise after all the trouble we just went through to beat him?"

"I mean, that was one of the plans from the start wasn't it?" Kirito asked. "If we can get some information from this guy, it might make our task a whole lot easier."

"You're right of course. Just be careful dealing with this one, we have no idea what his motivations could be, or who's side he's on."

"We'll be careful," Sinon assured him. "But we also need to know what he knows."

With the discussion tabled for the moment, Kirito's party sat together and enjoyed a well deserved victory meal while they waited for Asuna to arrive.

When Asuna finally made it to Velma's Diner, no one could have guessed that the man she brought with her had been the dreaded Reaper that had been besting all of the top guilds for months. He was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties with short cut dusty brown hair and a rugged face. Without his cloak or scythe equipped, he wore a simple Kevlar vest and his only weapon was a pistol holstered at his side. Even his nameplate was different, now it read Riordan.

Kirito stared for a moment, he knew that name, and he knew that face. He didn't know it well, but it was familiar enough to bring back memories of SAO. There was a warrior dressed in red and white, wielding a falshion and a heater shield that was not quite as ostentatious as Heathclif's. The memories were coming back now, he could see Riordan standing on the front lines and fighting with the assault team for over a year. When was the last time he had seen him? He was there at the battle against The Skull Reaper, then...

"That's... not possible." Kirito stammered, standing up from his seat in surprise. Now he recalled when the last time he had seen Riordan had been. "You're-"

"Dead?" Riordan interrupted. "Yeah, I already got all that from Asuna. It's kind of a long story, so you may want to sit down for this one."

Kirito stumbled back into his seat as the implications of the situation sank in and looked over his shoulder at his party. The SAO survivors all seemed confused, with Klein looking particularly ashen faced for some reason. As for Sinon and Agent Nishiyama, they seemed more interested than anything else.

Riordan took a seat at their table as he began his explanation while Asuna hovered over his left shoulder rather than seating herself. Everyone else stared intently at him, ignoring the remaining food on their plates.

"Kirito and Asuna are right to some extent, I did in fact lose my life in the death game. I guess you could say I'm a bit of a ghost of SAO."

Everyone's faces seemed even more confused by his statement than anything else and Asuna gave him a soft slug in the back of the shoulder. "I know you love your dramatic flair Rio, but this isn't the time or the place, please speak plainly for once."

Kirito was somehow more shocked by the nickname and Asuna's familiarity with this guy than the possibility of someone surviving SAO after being killed in game. Just how close had she been with this Riordan? It's not like she had talked about him much since their departure from SAO.

"I guess I'll start from the beginning." Riordan said. "I was the primary off-tank in the Knights of the Blood Oath for most of our time in SAO. I worked closely with Asuna for much of that time and occasionally with a few of the other members at this table. Commander Heathcliff, or I guess I should say Kayaba, took a special interest in me and trained me personally in SAO tanking strategy and tactics. Then, during the final battle with The Skull Reaper, I was killed."

As he made that last statement he cast what seemed almost like an involuntary glance towards Klein who instantly looked away. Kirito's head spun even more, he was going to have to unpack whatever the heck that was once this was all over as well.

"I don't remember anything that happened directly after my death, but the next thing I knew I was standing on this weird opaque platform that looked out over all of Aincrad and there next to me was Kayaba himself. He told me that Kirito and Asuna had beaten him, cleared the game, and that it was all over. Naturally my next question was, what did that make me."

"According to Kayaba it took the SAO server some time do delete a player's data after they had been killed, this was apparantly do to the possible use of rare resurrection items as well as the sheer load that was placed on the servers themselves; deleting player data just wasn't a super high priority as the main resources were directed to the living players. However the physical nerve gear was a lot more... responsive and my physical body had already been killed by the equipment and yet somehow, I was still alive. However that left me with nowhere to go; hence a ghost of SAO." he shot a glance back to Asuna at his last statement and she rolled her eyes.

"Given my... unique situation, Kayaba asked something of me." Now everyone was listening even more intently. "SAO was his project, his brainchild, and for whatever reason he didn't want people using the tools he created to, I guess... re-create it. He never explained his reasoning to me, the damn cryptic bastard-"

Asuna coughed pointedly at the last statement.

"Come on, I'm poetic not cryptic and you now it." Riordan shot back. "Anyway, for whatever reason, he didn't want people being killed in any other VRMMO games. So since I was now reduced to code myself, he tasked me with monitoring all the new VRMMO's that would one day be created by his world seed and to protect the players from anyone trying to abuse the system."

"So you're what then, some kind of VR cop?" Sinon asked.

"More like vigilante if you want to use that kind of reference. No one gives me any real authority to do anything, but I mean honestly what else could I do? It's not like I have a lot of options with what I can do with my life, such as it is. So I figure that if I can help a few people out and find some sense of purpose along the way, then why not?"

"Well, I do actually have authority here, and you were standing in our way." Agent Nishiyama stated. "If you weren't blocking our way, we would have been able to get into Innsmouth long ago, and figure out what is going on here, potentially saving lives that have recently been lost."

Riordan leaned heavily on the table, his jovial demeanour quickly evaporating and glared at Agent Nishiyama. "Look here Mr. Bigshot, I did the best I could. If I hadn't stopped most of the players from accessing the zone, who knows how many casualties you'd have on your hands right now. Maybe if you hadn't taken your sweet time in getting here-"

Agent Nishiyama was on his feet in an instant. "Look here you little-"

"Hey!" Asuna interrupted. "We're all on the same side here, lets try to act a little more civilly."

"Are we?" Agent Nishiyama asked. "How do we know that this person even is the Riordan you all remember from SAO? After the servers went down, most of the character data went public, and stories were all over the place. How do we know that someone isn't simply impersonating your friend?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, your story is pretty out there. Why should we believe what you're saying?" Kirito asked. Personally he already believed Riordan's story based on his own interaction with Kayaba, both at the end of SAO and after, but Riordan didn't need to know that.

"If I can prove who I am to one of you, will the rest of you accept it?" he asked.

"Yes." Kirito stated.

"No." Agent Nishiyama insisted. "I'm the one he needs to convince."

"You asked us to help you with this, so you need to trust us," Kirito shot back. "Otherwise, why bring us on board in the first place?"

"Fine." Nishiyama relented.

Riordan turned in his chair to face Asuna who was still standing behind him. "Under most circumstances, I'm not a fan of fun-houses; but the infinities of reflections I see before me are-"

"The most beautiful thing I've ever seen." she finished. Asuna was very quiet for nearly ten seconds with everyone staring at her questioningly, especially Kirito, before she finally said. "It's really him, beyond a shadow of a doubt." Then she punched him in the shoulder again.

"If that was something from SAO, you still can't be sure. Like I said, we don't know all the data that made it out of SAO, anyone could have accessed that information if it's our there." Agent Nishiyama reminded her.

"Not this one." Asuna stated. "When he told me this, Rio and I were had gotten separated from our group in the cavern of reflection on floor fourty-three. Would anyone care to advise our agent friend on what is significant about that location to ease his paranoia."

"The zone blocked PM's, even to other members in the area." Argo confirmed. "That section of the floor was a labyrinthine maze of caverns and mirror like surfaces. We got held up there for a while trying to rescue missing players because the zone blocked any private messaging from leaving your immediate area, isolating you from anyone you weren't within sight of and making you traverse the maze without outside assistance. Any automatic recording devices and player logs wouldn't work either so maps of the zone had to be made by hand and traded from player to player. I would know, I made a fortune on map data on that floor."

"Since we were alone when he said that, there is no way anyone other than Rio and myself could know that quote. It's really him." Asuna stated firmly.

"Okay then, let's assume for the moment that you're correct."

"I am." Asuna stated.

"How do we know he's telling the truth now? How do we know he's not somehow involved with whatever is causing this?" Agent Nishiyama pressed. "I did thorough research on all of you before I approached you to be part of this team, I know next to nothing about this man and I'm just supposed to let him join up with a top secret government operation. Oh, not to mention that he's somehow digital so he could just leak anything we tell him anywhere, it's not like I could throw him in prison for violating a governmental NDA."

"Look, I'm not going to dispute any of that." Riordan said, finally addressing Agent Nishiyama again, though now with a much cooler head. "I get it, trying to beat the tar out of you probably didn't endear me to you very much either but I've been doing everything I can to keep people out of the danger in Innsmouth. The only way I can prove I'm on your side is with my actions. I'm going to keep perusing whomever is behind this with or without your help and like you said, there isn't anything you can do to stop me. But we'll have a much better chance at this if we all work together. What do you say?"

"I'm for it." Asuna stated.

"If Asuna trusts him, then so do I." Liz agreed.

"Still against." Nishiyama noted.

"I think we should give him a chance." Sinon said.

Argo stared at him for quite a while before finally saying. "I abstain."

"I'm with Asuna on this too. What about you Klein?" Kirito asked only to suddenly notice that Klein was nowhere to be seen. "Uh, does anyone know where Klein went?"

"He mumbled something about being right back a minute ago." Liz said.

"Wait, for real?" he asked and everyone turned to look at her as if she should have said something when it happened.

"I guess I'll go take a look for him." Liz said before heading off herself.

"Look I imagine you'll all want to talk this over rather than have a quick vote, I get it. I'll wait outside while you all confer, but don't take too long. If another guild tries to make it to Innsmouth, I'll have to port back and deal with them." With that, Riordan got up form the table and stepped outside.

After the door closed behind him, Agent Nishiyama spoke. "I get that he was once your friend, I do, but even if, and I stress if, we can take everything he says at face value, what do you think years of existing as a virtual being could do to someone? He might not be mentally stable."

"We existed as virtual beings for over two years ourselves, yeah it was hard but we managed, and he has too." Asuna insisted.

Kirito turned to the other dissenting voice at the table to get Argo's thoughts, but she was now gone too. "Seriously, where the heck is everyone going?" he asked to no one in particular.

Riordan leaned against the brick wall of Velma's Diner looking out into the city and seeing the players milling about in the distance. It had been quite a while since he'd been in Arkham, or seen any players that weren't trying to kill him for that matter. It was a nice change of pace.

Then there was suddenly a blade at his throat. That felt more normal.

"You've gotten your stealth skill quite high is such a short time, even I barely heard you coming." he said without moving a muscle.

Argo's brow furrowed at the comment, he had heard her approach and done nothing? She ignored the idea as him just trying to get under her skin and got a handle on the situation. "No talking unless it's answering my questions." Argo ordered. She pushing the blade just barely into is skin causing a drop of virtual blood to run down the waepon and a tiny dip in his HP.

Riordan looked down at Argo, someone whom he had considered, if not a friend, at least an ally for much of SAO. "Look, there's no need for that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Besides, even if you were to kill me, I'd re-spawn just like you do. I'm kinda immortal like that now."

Argo maintained the threat regardless. "Where's Kayaba? How do I contact him?"

"Wait, what? That's what this is all about?"

"How. Do. I. Contact. Him." She stressed, pressing the blade a little deeper.

"Seriously, ease up on the knife would you, I'd rather not hoof it all the way back here." Riordan said, his HP dropping a little more. "I don't know where Kayaba is and I have no way to contact him."

"Bullshit!" she shouted. "You expect me to believe that he went through all this, saving you, giving you this mission and you don't report to him in some fashion?"

"Honestly, when he set me to this task, it felt more like an afterthought than anything else... like I was just a glitch in his plans and all he wanted to do was sweep me aside or find some marginal use for me. He's not exactly the sentimental type, I wouldn't be surprised if he's forgotten all about me."

"Then why do it?"

"What else was I supposed to do? Be deleted along with SAO? At least this is some semblance of a life. It's not like I don't like living in these worlds sometimes and getting to help people is a purpose worth living for. Don't get me wrong, being stuck here and never getting to see my friends or family again sucks ass, but I'm still alive... everything else is negotiable."

Argo's hand shook slightly, then she withdrew her blade. "Fine... Look, I know that it seems weird for me to ask you a favour after all that, but if he ever does contact you..."

"Why do you need to talk to him anyway?"

"That's my business."

"What's the price?" Riordan asked. "You still have everything for sale, don't you?"

"Not this time." Argo replied sheathing her blade and disappearing back into the Diner.

Riordan rubbed his neck absently as he looked back out into the city. What he said wasn't technically false as far as he knew, but he still played it off a lot cooler that he had worried upon noticing the blade. He did truly believe that he would re-spawn like the rest of them, since he was now part of this game that would make sense but he had never had to test that theory and wasn't keen to try it out.

He looked back at the door Argo had gone in, she seemed a little more unhinged than he remembered and Agent Nishiyama certainly wasn't his biggest fan, perhaps teaming up with them wasn't the best idea. He shook his head to clear his doubts away. He trusted Asuna and Klein to have his back and while he didn't know Kirito very well, Asuna wouldn't have been with him if he wasn't an honourable man. There was only so much he could get done on his own, at the end of the day he needed them as much, if not more so, than they needed him.

Liz finally found Klein sitting on the ground in the back alley behind the diner. He was up against the wall and had his legs bent and his head resting on his knees. As she looked closer, it almost seemed like he was crying.

"Are... you okay?" she asked.

At the sounds of her voice Klein scrambled to his feet and wiped his face clean with his sleeve. "Hey, uh, what are you doing out here?" he asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. You kinda just bailed on us in there."

"Oh, I just uh... needed some air," he replied awkwardly.

"Come on Klein. I think we've known each other long enough that you can tell me what's going on."

Klein looked to the ground, not meeting her gaze. "I... don't really want to talk about it."

Liz sat herself on the ground at Klein's feet and motioned him to sit back down. "Look, whatever this is, it's clearly bothering you. I'm your friend Klein. You know you can talk to me."

Klein sighed and sat down next to her. "I know that Liz, it's just... seeing him again, he really does feel like a ghost from the past."

"Riordan? How so? You guys fought together for a long time didn't you? Aren't you glad to see him again?"

"Or course I am," Klein insisted. "It's just..." He took a deep breath. "I'm the one that got him killed."

"Wait, what? Why do you think that?"

"I don't just think that, it's what happened. I don't know if Kirito and Asuna even know, they were in the fight too, but it was such chaos that I doubt they saw anything. Riordan knows though, he must hate my guts after what happened. I am glad he's not dead, but now he's stuck in this virtual limbo and it's all my fault."

"So... what happened?" Liz prompted.

"It was during the fight with The Skull Reaper on floor seventy-five, the last boss we downed before Kirito cleared the game. How much do you know about what happened during that fight?"

"Not much." Liz admitted. "No one seems really keen to talk about it."

"That's no surprise; the boss was like a giant skeletal centipede that looked like it had crawled out of your worst nightmare. As for the fight itself, well... to say it was a shit-show is putting it mildly. We'd lost half a dozen players before even making much of a mark on the boss' HP."

"Wow... it was that bad? I had no idea."

"Yeah, it was. It was so chaotic that almost all our tanks were scattered about and out of position. So Kirito, Asuna, and Heathcliff took the lead, trying to keep the giant bone scythes it had for front arms busy while the rest of us attacked it. We knew we wouldn't last in a sustained fight with how many casualties we'd already taken, and that made people reckless trying to score damage on the boss... I was no exception.

"The creature had a giant, almost rib-like bone structure that went down most of its torso. When it reared up I used the opportunity to get underneath it and drive my Katana into one of it's joints as it came back down. It was a critical hit and did a lot of damage, but the ribcage section wasn't just for show and the talon-like ribs tried to slam shut around me."

"Riordan jumped in to save me in that instant. He pushed me aside and got his shield in front of the first of the ribs, stopping them in their tracks. Problem was, the ribs came at him from every direction; they pierced his armour from behind before he could get away himself. He was a tank, so his HP was high enough to take it, albeit barely since he had already taken some damage; but then the boss took off across the room, trampling him underfoot. The last I saw of him before his HP hit zero was him being tossed like a rag-doll underneath the monster's dozens of jagged legs. Then he was just... gone."

"Oh, Klein..." Liz said as she subtly slipped her fingers into his. "None of us are to blame for any of the deaths that happened in SAO unless we killed them ourselves. Kayaba was the one that trapped us in there and set the rules; he bears the burden for Riordan's death, not you."

"It's easy for you to believe that."

"It's not easy!" she shouted. Her expression turned stern in a flash and her eyes glistened as tears began to form. "You really think it's that easy for me?!"

"Liz, I don't... what do you mean? You never fought on the front lines."

"No I didn't, but I forged the weapons for many of the people who did." She used her free hand to quickly wipe away her own tears. "Do you know how many people came through my doors during our time in Aincrad looking for a new weapon? More than I can count. Do you know how many never came back again? More than I want to count."

She looked deep into Klein's eyes, her own eyes pouring forth her own pain, sorrow, anguish, and frustration that she felt in SAO. Yet those eyes were also tempered with the resolve to fight through it and carry on.

"Do you know how many nights I spent unable to sleep because I couldn't stop wondering if those people were dead because my weapons had failed them? In the end, I almost closed up shop and just went back to floor one to wait it all out... but I knew in my heart that it would just make things worse. I had to come to terms with the fact that I was doing the best I could and that Kayaba was the only one truly responsible for all the deaths in SAO. You need to understand that too."

She was right; he knew that in his head. Convincing his heart however, that was another matter entirely. Even so, he did feel a little better about everything now that she had opened up to him about her own feelings. "Thanks Liz. You're right, I don't think you're responsible for any of those deaths, so I should try to think the same about myself... it's not easy to do, but I'll try."

Only now that he was starting to calm down and return to the present situation did Klein finally realise that Liz was holding his hand. "Uhh... hey Liz," he said looking down at their joined hands.

"Don't make it weird," was all she said.

Normally he'd be totally freaked out by the prospect and start rambling incoherently or trying to act super cool, but none of that jumped into his mind this time. This time, he just felt warm, comfortable, and safe. He slowly tipped his head in her direction aiming for her shoulder, but since she was so much shorter than him he ended up resting his head practically on top of hers.

Without saying anything, she tilted her own head to rest on his shoulder, making things more comfortable.

The pair of them sat together for a long time, happy to have someone else who understood what they had gone through and what they still struggled with every day.

"I understand your position, but I'm still in charge of this operation and I'm not bringing along some random person who's motives are unclear." Agent Nishiyama insisted.

"Look, you wanted us on this mission because you needed our help. You saw how good he was and we know he is who he says he is. We need all the help we can get on this. We need him." Asuna countered.

"This isn't a democracy. You still seem to be having trouble with the "I'm in charge" concept."

"You're right, you are in charge," Kirito agreed. "But we're also here voluntarily. We're willing to do this on our own if we need to, we've done it before."

"You'd seriously just go off on your own like that to stick up for this guy you haven't seen in over three years?"

Kirito looked over at Asuna who nodded to him. They would need to have a talk about all this later, but for now he wasn't about to abandon her when she'd set her mind to something. "We are." he confirmed.

Agent Nishiyama sat back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you really think you know him well enough to know if he starts acting stage and threatening the mission?"

Kirito and Sinon both turned to Asuna. "It's been years, people change in that amount of time, but yes, I do." she said.

"Okay, but on one condition."

"What's that?"

"This is the last time." he stressed. "I can't have you all doing whatever you feel like in a crisis situation. I'm in charge, you do what I say when I say it. Are we clear?"

The three of them exchanged looks and nodded. In unison the said "we are."

"All right then, I guess I'll go tell him the good news." Agent Nishiyama said and got up from his table.

Sinon looked between Kirito and Asuna sensing something bubbling under the surface. "I'll go too and make sure he doesn't go to hard on Riordan." she said.

As they made their way to the front door, Argo came back inside. Sinon quickly directed her to join them and took her back out of the diner.

"So..." Kirito began awkwardly. "What's the story with you and Riordan? I remember him from a bunch of the boss raids, but I never got the impression that you two were terribly close."

"We used to be." Asuna sat down and sighed. "It's all ancient history now and doesn't really matter, but we're partners so you have the right to know. Honestly I really just didn't want you getting jealous over nothing."

Kirito didn't say anything and quietly sat down across from Asuna.

"After we parted ways and I joined The Knights of the Blood Oath, I spent nearly all of my time with the guild. It wasn't just the front line players either, I worked with the lower level members to level them up, led farming runs for materials and all sorts of other things. I made a lot of friends there, a lot of whom weren't very happy when I just up and vanished to go gallivanting off with you."

"You make that sound like it was a bad thing." Kirito said.

"It wasn't, but from many other people's perspective, it was. I had duties and responsibilities, people who relied in me that I just left twisting in the wind. I didn't just leave for you, I had been starting to get disenfranchised with the whole guild before that, you really just pushed me over the edge. Even so, lots of people saw you as the cause and that's why not many of the KOB members never really bothered to get to know you, even after you joined the guild."

"Yeah, I suppose that's fair, it's not like I made it very easy on them either."

"Being our second best tank and a fellow guild officer, Rio and I worked together a lot. We were a great team as we progressed through the floors, he had an implacable defence, second only to Heathcliff himself... a skill I've grown to respect even more since we found out the truth about Heathcliff. I was our top DPS as you know, so naturally we were paired together a lot."

"Anyhow, we were leading a farming run through the crystalline caverns on floor forty-three. We were on point when the floor gave out beneath us and we were separated from the rest of the group. Since we couldn't contact anyone else and we had fallen into an unmapped section of the zone, we were trapped down there for quite a while. On the second day we found what looked a lot like a hall of mirrors, like you'd see in a fun house and that's what he was taking about."

"Okay, but why that? It seems weird that he would just have the exact moment on the tip of his tongue that would prove he was who he said he was."

"Yeah, he did, but I don't think it was for the same reason I said it was."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you see... when he said that, he wasn't referring to the mirrors themselves, he was referring to the reflection in them... to me. After he said that, he asked me if, assuming we made it out of there alive, I would go out with him."

"Wait, you dated him?!" Kirito exclaimed.

"What? No. I turned him down." Asuna looked deep into Kirito's eyes as if trying to be certain by sheer force of will that he would feel the truth of her words. "There has never been anyone for me but you. Even when we weren't together, I couldn't see myself with anyone else."

Kirito gently took hold of his girlfriends hands and squeezed them gently. He had told her about his time with the Moonlit Black cats, but he had never said that after being apart from her for so long he had started to get over her, even if it was only for a little while. Here she was worried that he was going to be jealous, instead he just felt worse about his own feelings in the past.

"Hey, even if you two had dated in the past I wouldn't care. We're together now and that's all that matters to me." Kirito insisted.

Asuna squeezed his hands back. "Thank you." she said softly before continuing her story.

"He took my rejection very gentlemanly and we stayed friends afterwards, but we were never as close. Then when you and I got together he and I drifted apart even more, to the point where we barely even spoke. Now though, it's like the old Rio is back, the jovial knight who I became friends with in the first place. It feels like he's back from the dead two-fold, both physically... more less, and as the friend who I lost touch with."

"Not that I want to be a buzz-kill here or anything, but doesn't that make you worry about what Agent Nishiyama said? If he's acting a lot like he did at the start of SAO and not the end... could Nishiyama be right about him?"

"No, that's not it." Asuna replied. "We had a good talk on the way back here. He apologized for being a stoic idiot after I turned him down and told me how much he regretted not just staying proper friends with me. I told him that I wished he had done that too and just like that, we fell back into our old friendship as if it had never left. We all lost so much in Aincrad, and I just got to recover a tiny piece of that."

"I'm glad you've got your friend back and after the show he put on in our fight, he's going to be one hell of an addition to the team."

"Come on," Asuna said as she stood back up. "We shouldn't keep the others waiting... Oh that reminds me."

Asuna quickly typed up a PM to Liz. Did you find Klein, what's going on?

A few moments later she received a reply back. Yeah we're fine, on our way back now.

Asuna and Kirito stepped outside to see most the group waiting for them. Argo was sitting on a nearby bench absentmindedly extending and retracting her Katars. Sinon was leaning against a wall next to Agent Nishiyama, but the two weren't speaking. Riordan was standing by himself next to one of the diner's windows looking out into the city.

Kirito slowly approached the former Reaper. "Hey, you good to make this official?" he said, offering Riordan a party invite.

Riordan took a moment and looked between the people gathered around him. "Yeah, I'm in." he said, accepting the request.

Klein and Liz came around the corner of the diner a moment later. "Looks like you got everything sorted out." Liz noted as she saw Riordan's status bar join their party.

"We should get going before any other guilds make an attempt at Innsmouth, I wouldn't want to have to bail halfway through our investigation." Riordan said and headed off in the direction of the train station.

"Five seconds in the party and he's already giving orders." Agent Nishiyama grumbled before following suit.

"It's a valid point and that was where we knew we were going anyway." Sinon said joining everyone else as they all headed out.

Kirito quickly jogged up beside Riordan. He had never really gotten to know the man in SAO, but if Asuna held him in such high regard, the least he could do was try to build some bridges. "Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for helping out with all this."

"Yeah, no problem." he said. They walked silently for a little while before Riordan finally said. "Hey Kirito... are we cool?"

"Huh?"

"I figured that Asuna was filing you in our history back there. I just want you to know that I only think of her as a friend, I have no intention of stepping on your toes."

"It's cool, it was in the past. Besides, I should really be thanking you more than anything."

"Really, what for?"

"When Asuna and I stopped running together, I knew she was skilled enough to handle herself... but I still worried about her. I should thank you for being there to watch her back when I wasn't... when I should have been."

Riordan cracked a small smile at Kirito. "I suppose I could say the same thing to you."

Kirito smiled back and offered out his fist. "Friends?" he asked.

Riordan gently bumped Kirito's fist with his own. "Friends." he replied.

Hello everyone, thanks for reading as always. :) I hope this chapter turned out well, there was a lot of backstory and character development to get through without it getting too info dumpy, so I'm hoping that I stuck a good balance here.

Little update on my plans for this series going forward; to say it's not going anywhere would be a bit of an understatement. I've had Fractured Code plotted out since before I posted my first chapter, but I knew that while the main conflict would wrap up at the end of this story, there would be leftovers for more. I've finished plotting out a trilogy now, with each story having it's own central story and arc, but with a connecting one that spans all three. So as I said, still a long way to go. At the moment, Fractured Code is all plotted out and planned, the sequel is named and has an outline of the major plot points and progression, and the final one has been named and the general plot and finale ideas set.

So yeah, been getting lots done on this. It's got a long way to go, but I'm glad you've all seemed to like it so much so far, it really makes me want to pump out these chapters faster. In that regard, the next chapter's well on it's way so I'd say probably 2-3 weeks until it's up.

Thanks again, and I'll see you all next time,

-Tawnis.