The first thing she notices is that the world around her is cold and dark, but not completely absent of heat and light. A small light in the darkness, a flame burning in a bonfire, provides some warmth. She's drawn to it to escape the frigid, dark environment, then she pauses as she sees the seated figure. It's her dear friend, shivering in the light. "Jaymes."

"Oh, he cannot hear you." A voice echoes in the darkness, accompanied by soft footsteps. It comes from behind Jaymes. The first thing she sees as the figure enters the light is a pair of black leather boots, then black pants that stem from the inside of the boots up his waist, covered by the bottom of a red tunic. The tunic covers the entire torso on top of a black long sleeve shirt that runs down the length of his arms down to black leather fingerless gauntlets on each hand. On his left shoulder is a plate of steel, the only piece of armor on his body. And the head…bears the features of Jaymes, albeit a few years younger dictated by the lack of sideburns the seated Jaymes possesses.

Medina has seen this armor before, at the end of the Clamp Crisis and the Otherworlder War, but it always disappears later. She never asked him about it before, but if the body wearing it is a younger him, this must be an image of him from one of the other worlds. His words, too, make Medina think. "What do you mean?" The younger Jaymes gestures down to his older form, tapping him on the head. Jaymes doesn't respond again, neither vocally nor with movements. His body is stiffly focused on the fire.

"You see?"

"He... You have to stop. You're going to kill Kirito and Asuna."

"...So what? I won't actually kill them." Younger Jaymes faces the flame, a dark grin growing on his face. "While they get to be happy, all he's known is loss and pain because of them. I want them to suffer as much as he wishes they would. After all, I know him best, for he's me."

Medina shakes her head in disbelief. Having gone through something similar with Eydis, she knows that the person speaking, while possibly true to his feelings, is not truly her friend."I don't believe that."

"Why?"

"Because the Jaymes I know went through hell just to save Kirito once before. That same Jaymes fought to defend lifeforms I thought he didn't care about from people just like him. He fought the dark god to defend Alice. He fought the Pontifex to protect this world."

"That's... Not true. I am the Crimson Warrior, and he only fights for himself."

"Then, if that's true, why did he bring me back to life?"

"Because of his pile of delicious regrets." The Warrior, as Medina decides to call him, chuckles and holds up his fingers in preparation to snap. "I wish I could show you them all, but watching him bitch and moan against our father is boring. So let's get to the good stuff… Ah, there's no better day than his most suffered one." The Warrior snaps, and the flame bursts.


"Oh, I skipped so much and got straight to my favorite part," the Warrior giddily states as the pair appears on a grassy plain not too far from a walled town. She doesn't believe they're anywhere in the Underworld, at least in Norlangarth, and the Warrior's words of the past mean this is somewhere in Jaymes' memories. But which one…is "his most suffered"?

"Koharu!" Medina immediately turns to her left, seeing a differently armored but certainly Jaymes running from the direction of the town towards her right. He swiftly moves past Koharu and the Warrior as if they're invisible, heading for a person in a dark cloak. That person vanishes, leaving behind a fallen body. Her feet move her after him but keep her distance as Jaymes slides to the ground and props the prone figure up.

The two did not meet during the Otherworlder War, but for some reason other than the name he yelled, Medina innately knows this is the Koharu. She's more beautiful than Medina pictured. Her midnight-colored hair that runs a quarter down her back, deep green eyes that definitely belong to Terraria, not Lunaria. And there, as Jaymes holds her and the two desperately speak and cry together, Medina realizes what's going on.

The day Jaymes suffered most…is the day Koharu died in the world of Aincrad.

"Why…"

"So you'll understand how unimportant you are in the grand scheme of his regrets. All those promises he made… She was first. Before he met her, he was a broken wreck because the only person who he called a friend left him alone. His father's ideals weighed so heavily on him that he rejected them altogether for no reason. He made no attempts to make friends with others at school. Yet one day he meets a stranger and before long, she's his dearest and trusted partner. The woman quickly wormed her way into his heart. The seal of his sanity in a world of death and despair…and now it breaks." The Warrior chuckles as Koharu disappears from Jaymes' hold as the two share a final kiss.

"Jaymes…"

"And then the despair settles in." The scene changes to a great battle within a cavern. People dressed in black cloaks like Koharu's murderer fight against men and women in various colored armor. Medina and the Warrior stand on higher ground to watch the chaos. From her perch, she's able to pick out Asuna in white and red robes, Kirito in his usual black, and Jaymes in his red and black armor, matching the Crimson Warrior beside her.

"The bloodiest fight between two groups of players. If I remember correctly, we killed five of the twenty who died on the enemy side. And death in this world meant they died in the real world… Which makes Jaymes a murderer. That blood on his hands was meant to avenge Koharu, but now we know better. She lives, so the lives he took are meaningless." He chuckles and turns around. "Well, actually, not all of them. If he hadn't crushed the murderer's head underneath that water wheel, she would have been raped and killed like many other poor girls."

Medina turns to see Jaymes kneeling beside a water wheel inside a town. Right behind him is a girl with pink hair and a red and white dress. Another person she did not meet during the war, but she saw this one recently. Jaymes spoke to her when the two of them were camping out in the Lodend Mountains. Her hair's different, but she overall looks just like the girl he called Rika.

"But he avenged Koharu nonetheless, and found some solace with Rika."

"But did he really find peace?" The world spins rapidly now, showing various scenes as the Warrior continues to talk. "No, the cycle repeated for two years, all because of Kirito and Asuna. He went with Kirito and Leafa to save Asuna. They would come to his rescue months later when he narrowly escaped death from a betrayal. And up until the current day in their world, it would continue, two of them going to rescue the third. And if it's not them, he's risking his neck for another, like when he saved his childhood friend Kureha from the traitor Itsuki. Again, again, again, and again, but not because he cares for them. No, it is because of her."

"No."

"No?"

He points to his left, where Jaymes and Rika sit inside a strange contraption that looks to have a purpose in transportation. Rika cries as she speaks to Jaymes. "Like Asuna to Kirito, Koharu will forever be in the forefront of your heart. All I can do is stand in the background. You will never admit it, and that's kind of you, but you deserve someone who can truly fill her role., I saw her today, by your side when you, Asuna, and Kirito beat that thing. For the first time in two years, you two fought together...and that's when I knew what I had to do for myself. I love you, Joshua, I really do and that will not change for a while. You're my hero, my best friend, my everything. I tried my best, and we both did... But I think, if guilt is going to eat me up, I would rather be free of it than fight it every day."

While Medina stands speechless as Rika gets out and runs for the nearby house, the Warrior crackles in laughter. "Oh, this is delicious. And does this sound familiar, Medina? Rika's heart is broken, shattered, all because she couldn't fully conquer the other girl who resides there. Just like you with Eydis… Although, if it brings any comfort, you've conquered more of his heart than she has."

Medina gasps, then shake her head. "No, you lie. Eydis...won."

"Well true, in the romantic sense, she's won. But the heart has many forms of love, and you filled most of the spaces Koharu left behind so well that…hehehe, when you died, it was deja vu for us. After you died, for the first time since he killed those five poor saps, he accepted me. He was the Crimson Warrior in name for years, resisted me even, but against Administrator, he truly became the Crimson Warrior."

"You want a fight, Quinella, you got one. But not with the Lord of Knights! You have now picked a fight with the Crimson Warrior…" Medina watches as Jaymes engages the former ruler of the Human Empire in battle after she sacrificed herself and became a sword. She remembers fleeting moments of the battle as her consciousness slowly faded before it was restored to the body of her ancestor, Miriam Orthinanos.


So he's shown her, with a lengthy explanation, her friend's past and inner turmoil, but why. "What's the purpose of this? Why show me all this?"

He clicks his tongue and steps away from Medina as the world around them becomes cold and dark again, except for the space around the flame. "You want to know the real Jaymes? I gave you that. Murderer. Failure. Deceiver. Traitor. Your savior is nothing more than a slave to a formerly dead woman's promise. But in doing so, he's hurt not only himself but many others, you among them. One day, Eydis will suffer too. That is the path of the Crimson Warrior, a chain of suffering for him and those around him. See for yourself."

The Warrior gestures to the darkness behind him, where a series of stony rocks can be seen, a graveyard of sorts. She walks to the graves, looking at the numerous names etched on them. She recognizes Leafa's name, others she recognizes from his stories, and others are unfamiliar to her. She notices that Kirito and Asuna's names are here, for obvious reasons, and there are people from the Underworld here too. Hers, Eydis', Ilia's, and Mia's. These people Jaymes have hurt, are hurting now or will hurt in the future. He may have done so knowingly or indirectly.

Yet something is off.

She backtracks to the front, where most of the familiar names are, and gives them a second glance. As she looks at the names again, the weird feeling grows. One, Koharu's name is missing, but that isn't much of a shock given what the Warrior said, that these people were hurt because of the promise Jaymes made to her. The other feeling is that someone closer to him than most of these names isn't present. After all, she just heard their conversations.

She understands what truly plagues him in the darkness, his sins, and the suffering of the past. The one person who can save him is not Kirito, not Asuna, and not Medina. In the darkness in his soul, there's one spark that propagates those flames, and it's not Koharu.

It's the person who he protected from the murderer the second time. The person who rallied others to save him against a traitor. The person he had to betray to save another, and continuously feels guilt for doing so. The person who summoned thousands of warriors from another world to this one to help him fight. And now she understands what truly plagues him, and the one person who can save him again.

"Where's Lisbeth?"

"...What?"

"Rika. Lisbeth. Where is she?" Medina looks at the Warrior, who expresses confusion. Medina walks back to the fire, placing a hand on Jaymes' head, but her eyes pierce the Warrior's form as he stands on the opposite side of the fire. "If you 'killed' those whose names are there to create this world… You didn't kill her...because you can't kill her."

"What do you mean? Didn't you just hear-"

"You didn't kill Lisbeth, I don't know why, but of all those people behind me that are dear to you, only her name is missing. The only reason must be because she's the only one besides Koharu you cannot kill. Her very existence...is stronger than the darkness. It's the only idea greater than anything, so much greater than when he betrayed her, he couldn't feel anything but crippling guilt. You can't kill Lisbeth...because then you kill the person she created, the Crimson Warrior. Jaymes, my savior, do not feel despair in the face of your past. Had you not killed Annihilator, Lisbeth would have died. Koharu and his victims would have gone unavenged. You faced a traitor to save your friends, even at the risk of your life. You troubled yourself against Lisbeth to fight for Kirito and Asuna again and again, even if it did hurt you to do that. I gave my life to save you; in turn, you saved the world. Because of all of those things, you...you kept your promise to Koharu, to protect everyone and bring them home... And you. 'Crimson Warrior,' must be Eva's younger brother. Noxium, son of Vecta."

"...The defect and the reject found me out." The Warrior morphs form, becoming a figure draped in a dark cloak. She cannot make out much of his features, but she can see bright red irises full of malice and deception and a smile that makes Medina's insides churn. "And here you are, playing hero. It's too late for that. In the depths of his soul are these sins, and all it took was to trap him here. Make him feel so much regret that the cold would become his prison, while at the same time, the side of him that he inhibits takes control. The Crimson Warrior up there, and all other versions of him-Joshua Hardin, Lucky Red, your beloved Lord of Knights-are here. So easy to separate that side of him, all I had to do was take the most vulnerable memory-the death of his partner-and use it against Kirito and Asuna."

"But you failed."

He raises an eyebrow. "Have I? It's true, I haven't been unable to extinguish this light, but how long until he does it himself? What makes you believe he'll come back to you?"

"You may have manipulated everything, but you cannot change who he is," Medina shouts to First Children as she holds Jaymes' head against her abdomen. "Yes, he's done unimaginable things and broken hearts, including his own. I don't know who he is in his homeworld, nor the person who did all those things, but I know my Jaymes. He made a girl who thought her personal mission impossible become possible. That girl betrayed him, but he made amends with her. He denied her love, but he told her that they'd be together in spite of it, that they'll make as many memories as possible together. I have made many concessions in the last two years, and I'll live with those regrets until I die...but the one thing I'll never concede is that Jaymes is the strongest person I have ever known. He's my best friend, my most trusted ally...my savior. And no matter who he is, whether it's the Crimson Warrior, the Lord of Knights, or the Dark Emperor...he'll always be that pesky, annoying, idiot swordsman who I love with all my heart! The man who, like the lycoris flower that has become my family's symbol, has given me so much hope. Noxium, let him go!"

"And why would I, when we've reached the climax? It is you who needs to leave!" Noxium raises his hand, and out comes several tendrils, all honing in on Medina...but they never reach her. They bounce off a barrier surrounding her and Jaymes much to her surprise. As she begins to question the reason for the barrier, the boy in her arms begins to tower her. She looks up to his face as he opens his eyes, seeing the familiar warmth in them. She sighs softly and feels her eyes well up.

"Hey, you're crying."

"No, I'm not. You are."

"No. It's just raining, right?" He smiles and takes her cheek in his hand. She melts into his touch while losing the fight to her swelling eyelids. "Thank you, Medina, for...for reminding me who I am. I owe you big time."

"You can get started by ending what's happening to you."

"Right." Jaymes lets her go, dispelling the barrier. He turns around, his eyes on Noxium. "I don't know who you are or what you've done to me and my mind, but whatever you did with it, know that you have failed. Know that when I get my hands on you, I'll make you wish I'll end your life."

"Impossible!" Noxium runs forward and puts his foot over the flame, hoping the stamp out the last light. His foot, however, bounces off the flame, causing him to stumble back. "Wh-What? How?" Just as confused is Medina until she sees a ghost-like figure standing within the flames, it's the pink-haired girl, seen several times over now in many forms. She faces Noxium for a moment, then turns to Joshua, a warm smile on her face, one he returns in kind as he walks up to her.

"Thank you, Liz, for protecting what little left of me remained. Now I'll finish this." He reaches for her, in which Lisbeth hands him a crimson-bladed sword with a black hilt and a red and silver shield. He takes it and faces Noxium. "On this blade which was forged to avenge the one I loved and lost, I will avenge all you've made me done. And on the one who forged this blade and armor...on the girl who has protected me more than I ever deserved, I will make you pay." He surges forward and thrusts the blade on Noxium, causing the cold darkness to recede to the light and heat of the flames...


"Welcome, Jaymes. We need to chat before you return to them."

I find myself in a world that's nothing but white clouds and orange to pink sunset. My feet are not even on solid ground or even a cloud. I could be flying, but... Something tells me I'm not in the Underworld or ALO, or at least in the former case, I don't recognize where in the Underworld I am. I have no clue how long it has been since...since that world of darkness began. I don't know how long it has been since I saw Medina and she saved me. Could be seconds, hours, days...years, for all I know. Or worse... "Am I... Am I dead?"

Then it all comes back to me. I should be in the Underworld, and I just suffered a terrible ordeal. In the conscious part of my mind, Koharu was killed by Kirito and Asuna and I had just done battle with them, and in the suppressed side of my mind, I had my deepest regrets laid out in front of me to keep me down. I subconsciously "killed" anything that could revitalize my soul, all except one person, the crafter of my appearance. I almost killed my best friends and not just the ones from my world. I remember choking Medina, punching her apprentice, and then, in the end, simultaneously thrusting Asuna's sword through Medina while Mirage ruptured me.

I had become a plaything for the First Children.

Forcing a laugh, I look at the sunset before me, smiling weakly. "I messed up."

"It's been quite a while, Crimson Warrior. And yes you have." A voice to our left gathers our attention, and there is a man somewhere around Klein's age with brown hair and a long white coat. He gazes at the sunset attentively. I never met this person before-or should I say, I never met this form of his before. Without the red armor and the more aged face, I almost didn't recognize the old commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, the unintended author of the last four years of my life.

"Akihiko Kayaba."

"Hello again, Jaymes. You know, I met Kirito and Asuna here in this likeness as you and the other survivors logged out. I also thought of bringing you here, but decided we'll meet again sooner or later, if ever."

"How true that became. I haven't seen you since..."

"Mhm. I did not, however, calculate that one person would survive the death game after dying. Of the total 10,000 players, 6,147 survived to the end of the game, 3.852 died, and one person died in-game and survived in life." He chuckles to himself then glances at me. "Truly you two continue to subvert my expectations to this day. I thought SAO would go along the path I determined, but pretty quickly the world I conceive begin to change before I had any involvement myself. Every time I believed the game would win, you two found a way. Kirito and Asuna, yes, would be the sung heroes, but as the master of SAO, I know there was another pair who did just as much with unequal praise...And I need you to continue onward, Jaymes."

I feel my brow drop. "Me?"

"What you've experienced surely was traumatic. It would take someone with steel in their hearts to pick themselves up after having all their regrets laid bare in front of them, to have their minds toyed with, to be played with like a puppet. But I watched you...and I know that all of those things are not who you are." He looks down, and my eyes follow him to the dome-shaped structure far below our feet. "I created a world to surpass our laws and restrictions, and a few anomalies surpassed them. I've seen what their willpower can do. I believe... I believe the castle I dreamed of is close to being found...so I ask this of you to protect it. You, Kirito, Koharu, and Asuna."

"But..." I shake my head, unable to really say what I want to say. That they don't need me, that all I am is a bystander in their feats. All I do is encased in my rage, my failures, my regrets. That's the Crimson Warrior, but Kayaba beats me to those words as if he's reading my mind.

"I'm not asking the Crimson Warrior. I'm asking the Jaymes that gain my curiosity and respect to the very end." Kayaba looks at me again. "The Jaymes who fought by her side. The Jaymes who made the impossible possible before his partner fell, and did so afterward. I'm asking the one being the Black Swordsman and Lightning Flash cannot do anything without. I'm asking the person who subjugate what I call the 'Integral Factor'...and became it himself. Will he finally put aside his past? Will he save the Underworld? Will he save - and eventually find - my castle?"