Hope everyone liked chapter 1! Not all chapters will be 30k, but I will do my best!

As always,

Enjoy!

~Kyvena

~2: Wonderland Of Wings~

Wings holding an emerald coloration soared through the skies with one other. Golden medium length unruly spiked locks with longer portions of hair surrounding the handsome face to reach a bit below the chin fluttered in the wind violently as blue orbs snapped behind them, "Damn! They're still following us Leafa! Those Salamander bastards!" A female with a high golden ponytail and green eyes then scowled, "Go faster Sezuko! How did they even know that we would be out here?!"

Shaking his head over this matter, Sezuko then answered with a scowl laced on his handsome face, "I'm not sure Leafa, but we need to tell Sakuya about this! The only downside about all of this is that she told an entire room about the three of us going on this little errand, so we would never know who told our whereabouts to begin with!" Leafa could only nod at her companion concerning this matter before their third party member, Recon, caught up with the two others to then point something out.

"At least Sigurd acted as the bait so that we could get away," the short male spoke out. This made Sezuko and Leafa glance towards one another before the handsome tall male spoke, "Didn't you find that odd though? I mean, Sigurd never acts as the decoy." This made Leafa nod in complete agreeance, "Yeah, normally he would make someone else do it instead." Finally landing in the Sylph capital, the three walked all the way to their leader, Sakuya, before telling her everything.

Looking at the time, Sezuko sighed in an extremely tired manner, "Hey, I'm going to log out now. I'm really tired." The two other nodded as Leafa yawned, "Yeah, me too. I'm beat after all of that. Later guys!" Recon then hummed thoughtfully after thinking about what Sezuko had said before realizing that he was absolutely right, only to look at the two, "I'm going to shadow Sigurd around for as long as I can without being spotted. I'll text or call you if I find something out."

Finding this to be a good idea, the two who were leaving then nodded before Sezuko spoke in a low tone, "Right, I'll keep an eye out for any messages." Leafa nodded as well, "Me too. Well, see you guys later!" Sezuko then logged out first for none other than Selko's eyes to open to simply stare at his ceiling for the longest time until whispering softly, "Now I completely understand you sis... It's something that feels far more magical than what we unfortunately have in real life..."

Right then he then heard his mother yelling at him from downstairs, "SELKO, GET UP!" Groaning softly, he then took his AmuSphere off, only to then place it on his nightstand. With how it was already morning time, he forced his exhausted body out of bed before unlocking his door and stumbling out to enter the bathroom to begin taking a long shower that would hopefully wake his tired mind up. Besides, he was needed on a boss raid on this night, so that had him psyched already.

For the longest time, he used to curse the VR world for robbing him of his older sister. However, one day while visiting his older sister while she was still unconscious, he began wondering why she liked it so much. With the thought weighing heavily on his mind, Selko approached his father and asked for an AmuSphere and a copy of Alfheim Online, which he was given for free. At first, he had no clue how to even use this contraption due to placing it on and nothing happening.

Knowing that Suguha had done the same thing a while back, he called her and had asked her in an embarrassed tone, "Hey Suguha? How... How do you make the AmuSphere work? I got curious after you started asking why too." Hearing her laugh hysterically at him, she then replied as he blushed, "You have to say "Link start" to make it work! Wait, are you going to play Alfheim Online?! I just started too, so this will be great!" Telling her that he was, she squealed, "Make a Sylph!"

Agreeing that he would, he gave her his thanks before hanging up. Lying on his back, he then closed his eyes and spoke nervously, "Link... start!" Once he opened his eyes to see the starting screen, he felt amazed that he was now standing inside of a digital room. Looking at all of the races of fairies, he stopped at Sylph and clicked it before reading, "This is the fastest flying race, along with specializing in wind magic... interesting. I wonder how you do something you don't have."

When told to enter a name, he then did the same as Kazuto and typed in "Sezuko". Told that he would be automatically transported to the Sylph capital, Swilvane, and told good luck before he slammed his eyes shut. Slowly opening his eyes and blinking a few times, a girl named Leafa then rushed up to him while waving. Nervously looking down at her, his tone projected out in a slightly frightened tone, "Hell... Hello miss." Leafa then giggled and winked before whispering, "It's me Selko."

He was absolutely shocked as he whispered back, "Su... Suguha?" She nodded and laughed brightly, "Mhm! But don't use someone's real name while in game!" Once he was taught how to fly, he had to admit it... he became addicted in little to no time at all. You could actually feel the wind on your face as you flew, you could actually cast spells to benefit you or harm your opponent, you could actually feel pain when attacked and lost some health, and your emotions were not easy to hide.

Selko now understood what his sister felt in a sense when she played these games. You were far away from all of the troubles that you held in your real life and could act however you wanted, even though his personality was more or less the same. Once he defeated his first boss and claimed his first rare drop, he was psyched over the accomplishment. It was odd though, because you could even taste what your character tasted….which was quite peculiar to say the least.

The more he played, the more engulfed he became in his world of fairies that his father had originally created for his older sister before handing it over to someone else to complete. He played and played until he was completely obsessed with the game entirely. He was obsessed with how real everything appeared, he was obsessed with how he no longer felt as if his mother was making every little decision for his life, and he was completely obsessed with the absolute freedom he felt.

Turning the water off after a long time, he felt more or less awake now as he exited his room before stopping at his older sister's room to open the empty room with tears stinging his eyes until his mother yelled again, "SELKO, DO NOT MAKE ME TELL YOU AGAIN!" Closing the door to his sister's room, Selko then walked down the stairs dressed in jeans and a green t-shirt that clung to his muscular body before entering the dining hall, "I was already awake, so no need to yell... mother."

"Selko, sit down," she demanded, making him sigh heavily before sitting at the table, "What?" With breakfast brought out to him, he propped his chin in his palm out of habit of doing it in game. Noticing this, his mother then scowled, "Selko! I did not raise you to be a barbarian!" Oh, that was comical, to which made him snort heavily and grumble softly, "Raise me... Since when have you ever raised me?" Pushing his food around as he placed his hand in his lap, he sighed, "What is it?"

The mother of the two wiped her mouth before taking a drink of coffee, only to then speak, "I have noticed that your grades have begun slipping. Care to tell me as to why?" Rolling his eyes, Selko finally slammed his hands against the table before shoving himself out of his seat while yelling, "Why do you even care?! Neither of us have ever had a say in our own future! Alice isn't even awake and yet you are STILL planning her future for her! Your children are not your personal toys!"

Furious at this point, he then slapped his revolting high-class breakfast from the table to shatter against the ground as he yelled, "I'm sick of being your personal toy! I'm not going to the high school you have chosen, I'm not going to the college you have picked out, and I am not going to major in whatever you tell me to major in so that I have a "bright future"! I am going to go where I want, and I am going to major in whatever I want to major in! It's my life to live, not yours!"

A showdown of glares were now being passed between the mother and son before Selko finally gritted out, "Tell me mother... exactly how many times have you visited Alice in the hospital?!" His mother then lifted her brows at her youngest as she replied, "Naturally, I have been too busy to go visit a body that might as well be a corpse." Fury was all she witnessed from her son before he yelled out, "THAT'S WHAT PISSES ME OFF ABOUT YOU THE MOST! YOU ACT LIKE ALICE IS DEAD!"

Throughout all of the commotion, neither heard the phone ringing or a servant picking it up, "Hello, this is the Zuberg residence. How might I help you?" - "Might this be the parent of Alice Zuberg?" - "No, but I can take a message for you." - "As you wish. I have called to inform you that Sword Art Online has been cleared and Alice has woken up. Have a nice day ma'am." Hanging the phone up, the servant then walked into the dining hall calmly, "Misses Zuberg? Alice has woken up."

Nodding her head, the mother of the two children then finished her meal, "I will go to her once I have collected all of her paperwork for the high school and college she is to attend. I also have her major selected to ensure her a bright future. So, I need you to bring the car around." Nodded at, the mother was about to speak to her son until noticing he had dashed off, gathered some of his sister's clothing, and had rushed to a lowly city bus to get on so that he reached his sister first.

Capable of walking around without any help, Alice was now back at home. She hated even considering this place to really be her home and the word home merely made her remember her time back in Aincrad. Once she had been capable of movement again, her little brother spoke to her about a new form of Nerve Gear that was far safer to use. When she asked what it was called, he told her that it was called the AmuSphere and took her to purchase one to use for herself.

Once the AmuSphere had been purchased, she went through the lengthy process of transferring all of her stored data inside of her Nerve Gear to be inside of her AmuSphere. After that, she had been far too nervous to even place it on. She wanted and wished more than anything to find a new game that wasn't after any life held within the game. However, she knew that she needed to get to Yui and Akihiko again. Well, Akihiko was probably ticked off that she had done this to him.

Oddly enough, other than that, she had rarely witnessed her little brother exit from his locked room that he had moved back into so that he would be around when his older sister woke up from playing Sword Art Online. He had transferred to the school that was much closer to home and had finally dropped his barriers by making some rather odd friends. Other than that, he had moved back home to visit her in the hospital as often as he could while he wasn't busy doing other things.

Alice was well aware that Selko was not a gamer in the same manner that she was, so she merely figured that Selko was wearing his earbuds as he studied in the great attempts to finally be noticed by their mother. Knocking on his door gently, Alice then called out to him since their mother wasn't at home while he wasn't wearing his "earbuds", "Hey Selko? I am heading to the hospital now." Opening his door and smiling, Selko then hugged his sister, "Do you mind if I come too?"

Shaking her head and smiling, she then chuckled, "Not at all." As they walked out of the home together, Selko questioned, "So, you said his name is Kazuto Kirigaya, right? You told me that his GT was Kirito. Not many people pick names based off of their own names, or in your case, their own name." Blinking rapidly at this, Alice turned her head towards him, "I'm surprised that you even know that." Fanning his hands frantically in front of his face, Selko huffed, "That's just common logic!"

Looking down, Selko then smiled softly, "Well, I suppose that's not entirely true. Once you got trapped, I did a handful of research over the topics." Reaching the hospital room after some time, the two then entered for Kazuto's little sister, Suguha, to turn her head with a bright smile, "Alice! Oh, you're here too Selko?" Selko's eyes gained a well-hidden panic within his blue eyes, making Suguha laugh, "Calm down Selko! I mean, we are classmates! So, how do you know Alice?"

This made him shift his eyes down slightly, "Well, I told you that my sister was one of the two who actually beat the game... that sister just so happened to be Alice." This made Suguha's eyes widen, "What?! No way! That's so awesome! You never told me that Selko!" Looking at the time, Suguha then stood before smoothing her clothing, "I have to head home now! Selko, are you going to be online to help tutor me more later tonight?" It was obvious that she knew to use a cover for Selko.

Nodding, he then smiled brightly, "Yeah, of course!" Alice then walked forward as the other two spoke before placing her hand against Kazuto's cheek, "Why won't you wake up Kazuto..." she whispered with tears in her eyes before easing her head against his chest to cry. Selko took his tone down immensely as his sister cried, "Is there going to be a raid tonight or something?" Suguha's tone was just as low once she replied, "Something like that. The Salamander's are pushing their luck."

After Suguha waved, she smiled, "Don't forget! See you later Alice!" After a bit of time, Alice felt her phone vibrating, only to take it out to see 'Agil'. Clicking the message, she then began to skim over the message 'Yo, Ali, I found something that you will find extremely valuable. Come by the bar anytime. -Agil.' Blinking her tears away, Alice then leaned forward and kissed Kazuto softly, making Selko dash his eyes away. Standing, Alice then smiled, "My friend, Agil, needs to talk to me."

Blinking rapidly and looking at his watch to see as to how much time had actually passed, Selko nodded almost in a panic, "Right, don't stay out too late and loosen up with how proper you speak sis!" Giving her little brother a dry expression, she then released a breath, "Can you get home alone?" This made Selko chuckle before poking his sister's forehead as they walked out of the hospital room, "I should be asking you that!" Rolling her eyes, she then smiled, "I will be home soon, okay?"

The two exited the hospital before going separate ways. Walking all the way to Agil's bar, Alice then entered. With it almost being night time, there were plenty of adults now inside, only for a drunken male to stumble up to her, "Hey baby, want to come back to my home to play?" Alice, being so used to holding swords, reached behind her, only to grasp at air while thinking, 'I have got to remember that I no longer hold swords!' Agil noticed the disturbance and shifted his head to see her.

Noticing as to what she did, he almost laughed, but he did the same thing at times, so he merely called out, "Yo, Ali! Over here!" - "I would move if I possibly could," she snapped back, causing this brute of a man to walk over and toss Alice over his shoulder before walking to the bar and sitting her down, only to open his laptop, "So, I was doing a bit of browsing on the VR blogs and came across an odd picture." Pulling the picture up, Alice's eyes widened immensely, "That is Kazuto!"

Folding his arms, he then nodded, "I kinda figured you'd say that." Looking at him with her own worried big blue eyes that he could never say no to, Alice begged, "Agil, where was this picture taken?!" Of course he had to be the bearer of bad news. Pulling out the game, he then sat it down, "The game your father initially created but handed over to others to complete. Alf..." - "Alfheim Online..." she finished with massive eyes, only to glance at him, "Do you mind if I borrow this?"

Agil was actually shocked that she didn't already have a copy of the game, but nodded, "Yeah, sure. It's compatible with the Nerve Gear, so you can use what you've got." Alice then smiled softly at this, "I already bought the AmuSphere and transferred all my data. My father let me play his beta, so I should know the landscape very well." Agil then shook his head and sighed, "From what I heard, the new developers that your father handed the game over to changed everything."

This made Alice's eyes widen immensely, "How so? Can you explain?" Nodding his head, Agil tapped the game box lightly, "Well, first, how many races of fairies were there when you first played." Humming as she thought back, Alice answered, "Four or five, I think." This made Agil fold his arms again as he sternly spoke, "There are nine races of fairies now... and all of them are trying to get to the World Tree so that they become the superior race of fairies. Were you able to fly?"

Alice shook her head at this, "Hmm... no. There were wings, but my father had not found a way to make use of something that we do not already hold." Sighing, Agil then nodded, "That will be another issue for you then, because they found a way to give you flight. The nine races are fully capable of PVP without dying in real life too. They are frequently at one another's throats. Also, from what I've heard, they changed the landscape so much that when your father heard, he was upset."

Picking the game up, little miss Alice gave a soft smile, "Do not worry so much, I saved all of my gear so well that I will be able to use it in other games as well. The only thing that will change is that I will be level one and all of my stats might be gone. We will have to see. A game where you can actually die without paying the consequences in real life does not sound too threatening in the slightest. I am Osmanthus Alice after all." With that, she waved as she ran out of the bar with hope.

She was going to take a guess that the little pixie Yui had become one of her father's main creations... a navigation pixie. However, those navigation pixies were extremely daunting and almost impossible to obtain in the long haul of the aspects of the game. Hopefully, that was still the case in this changed Alfheim Online. When she had tested her father's game, there had been no such thing as this World Tree... which was where that photograph had come from to begin with.

Reaching her home, Alice kicked her shoes off and was thanking the gods that her mother was now out on a week-long trip for work, or she would be in the process of being scolded to hell and back for even placing any form of Nerve Gear back on her head ever again. Rushing up the lavish steps of the stairs of her home, Alice then called out, "Selko! I'll be busy! Try not to bother me!" Hearing nothing, she figured that he had his earbuds in as him and Suguha studied together.

Entering her room, locking the door, making sure that her heater was at a comfortable setting, and changing into one of her brother's stolen t-shirts and a pair of comfortable shorts, Alice placed the game in her computer and put the AmuSphere on her head before lying on her plush bed. Her hands slightly trembled, but not out of fear, no... she was excited to be in a new world that wasn't her own boring life. Taking an even deep breath, her eyes closed once she spoke, "Link start!"

Appearing in the digital area for the game, she heard that there were nine races to choose from. However, when she looked, there were ten. Tilting her head at the last one, she realized that the wings were a sparkling blue and gold. The description of the fairy was nowhere to be found either. Maybe the fairy could do everything? She wasn't sure. Hearing, "Please input your name," made Alice then typed something to not give her away at all. A feminine version of Selko... Selka.

Told that she would be transported to her hometown, she then heard, "Good luck fairy," only for the screen she was at to fade as she vanished before something went wrong entirely. This race of fairies did not exist, so there was no hometown. Appearing in the skies, her eyes then sparkled until realizing she was falling, "Wait one moment! How do I use my wings?!" Not knowing how to use her wings, Alice shrieked as she plummeted down to slam into the ground, making her groan.

"Ow... that really hurt! They could have at least explained as to how to use one's wings..." she whined softly as she sat up and rubbed her face that now appeared different, yet similar, to her own appearance. Her hair was still long but was platinum blonde with the two long pieces of hair that framed her face being a soft gold and blue, and her eyes were a sparkling blue and gold. Feeling her ears, she felt the pointed elvish ears, to which one held a dangling osmanthus earring.

Feeling a breeze, she swore and all she could think was, 'Oh for the love of god... please tell me that I have clothing on!' Looking down, she squeaked and covered herself with her mass loads of hair before trying to access her menu with her right hand over and over again before using her other hand to open up her equipment. Finding all of her masterfully stored gear, she placed it on before sitting down to think, 'It is a rather good thing that Akihiko taught me how to do this long ago.'

Those two different strands of duo colored locks were going to distract her immensely, so she found something to help her with her hair dilemma. Pinning those two different colored strands of hair behind her head with a jeweled osmanthus clip that she had obtained in Aincrad, making her sigh as her original blue and gold attire fluttered around her. Sighing, she then huffed until remembering about Yui and Akihiko, only for her eyes to widen, "No! Tell me that she is here! She has to be!"

Opening her items, she hastily scrolled through them until finding "Yui's Heart". Clicking it and thinking that her necklace would appear, a ball of light popped out, making her eyes widen, "Yu... Yui!" Yui looked at Alice with a bright smile, "Mommy!" Catching the young girl, the two then spoke for a bit until Alice questioned her, "Yui, what even are you in this game?" Placing her hands lightly on her temples, she hummed, "The program is classifying me as a navigation pixie."

Yui then began glowing before it died down and there floated a tiny pixie version of Yui in place, "This is me as a navigation pixie!" Lords she looked adorable in her tiny pink dress. Poking Yui's cheek lightly, she then held her tiny hands up and held her mother's finger, "Mommy, stop! That's annoying!" That made her wonder... scrolling through her list of items, she then found "Akihiko's Heart", only to click on it for him to pop out and adjust to become a bit taller than Yui, "Hello Alice."

"Yui, Akihiko, how am I supposed to fly?" Alice questioned curiously. Gaining the answers, she then flew around, only for Yui to blink rapidly, "Mommy, normally there is a time limit to flying, but you don't have one! Also, you have the abilities of all nine races! You are the Osmanthus Fairy!" Alice could only blow her bangs up at the irony of that little piece of information. This made Akihiko snicker and raise his hand, "That would be my doing, Yui." Alice then peered up, "Of course it was..."

Akihiko wore a more manly sleeveless white long tailed attire that was open to show his chest with poofy black pants that tightly clung to his ankles, but he did hold longer silver hair to look as if the two mini-fairies were siblings. Folding his arms and smirking, he then chuckled, "This game was initially created by your father. Yet, what I find odd is that his programming system was exchanged for my own Cardinal System. I only know because I always claimed as to how his was superior."

Poking the mini-Akihiko, Alice then giggled, "Akihiko, you look so adorable like this!" He rolled his eyes at her before releasing a breathy chuckle, "Yes, well, by you doing this, you gave me a little sister. You were in such a rush to save my program that you accidentally added the coding "siblings" into the program, which made Yui and I siblings due to the way she calls you mommy and Kirito, daddy. A bothersome addition, but I can adjust fairly quickly to the changes you made, mother."

Hearing Akihiko calling her mother was odd as hell, but she shrugged it off and adjusted before claiming, "Neither of you... and when I say that, I only mean you, Akihiko... may call me Alice under any circumstances." Akihiko then released a huff, "You are still horrible at listening, mother." This made her internally groan and rub her temples lightly, "Okay, this is going to be harder than I had initially thought." This made the two polar opposite fairies laugh at her before Yui hugged Akihiko.

Hearing the clashing of blades in the sky, she then looked up, "What is going on?" Yui and Akihiko then sensed around while the two sat on their mother's shoulders, "There are many different players in the skies that are fighting. However, one is different from the rest! Mommy, the Osmanthus Fairy is classified as all races, so you can enter any of the territories without other fairies attacking! Your special attributes are strength, speed, auto-regeneration, and dual-wielding," Yui chirped.

This made Alice softly scoff, "Well, that is no fun at all. What else?" Akihiko then turned to his mother before exclaiming, "Your specific race is the rarest of all races. You, mother, are actually the only player to hold this specific race. You have extremely high HP and MP levels that far surpasses any other race, and you can cast spells without reciting them. Honestly, I think you should figure the rest out for yourself, or as you say, it will just be boring!" All she could do was nod at that.

Hearing a massive slam landing on the ground a bit away, Alice then turned around before opening her wings and shot forward so fast to the point that she slammed face first into the ground in front of those who were battling. Groaning in pain again, little miss Alice pressed off of her hands to land gracefully on her thigh high-heeled golden boots. Brushing her attire off, she then blinked softly at everyone who gave her a dumbfounded expression while trying to figure out her race.

Drawing her dual blades with a smirk, she appeared deadly as she spoke, "Why is a group ganging up on one guy?!" That one guy held hair that was her own natural color, but it was kept in medium length spikes that also held long portions to frame his face that reached below his chin. Turning her head towards him, she then smiled brightly, "Mind if I handle them?" He then shook his head and blinked softly while attempting to figure her race of fairy out as well, "Be my guest."

The three then mocked her, making her vanish and slice through one with ease. "That is one down," she smirked, only to sense another behind her, making her backflip and slash down to take him out. She was so fast that none could keep up with her in the slightest. With the group on the ground taken care of, she peered into the sky at the last remaining fairy, "You want to fight as well?" This made him shake his head and laugh, "I just maxed out my spear skill, so I'll have to pass."

Right as the red fairy did the smartest thing by flying off, she had to ask with a teasing smile, "What about you? Want to fight?" He could see that she was teasing him, so he shook his head, "No, I think I'll have to pass." - "So what is it with all of these glowing lights?" He instantly rushed forward and covered her mouth while whispering softly, "Not so loud, they are spectators and will be able to hear us." Once those lights faded, he released a heavy breath, "So, anyway, who are you?"

Smiling, Alice then chuckled, "My name is Selka! I was just passing by and could not let someone so cute get hurt. That is not going to happen, not on my watch!" She acted so adorable with how formal and proper she was, so he smiled softly, "That is kind of you to do and say!" He acted just as adorable as her little brother, making her chuckle as he continued, "Well, thank you for your help Selka, my name is Sezuko. If you don't mind me asking, what type of fairy are you even?"

Yui and Akihiko then popped their heads out, "Mommy - Mother! We can't breathe!" Looking down and sweat dropping, Alice then plucked the mini-fairies from between her breasts, "Sorry Yui and Akihiko!" This baffled the green-winged fairy, making his mouth gape wide open, "No way! You have two of those super rare navigation pixies?! This is the first time that I've ever witnessed one in person!" This made Alice blink rapidly as she spoke, "Oh, really? They are that rare?"

Rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, she then made up a story right then and there, "Well, they are twin siblings, so I suppose I got rather lucky when I found them." Akihiko then shifted his sparkling dark grey orbs up at her while thinking, 'Liar.' As Alice gazed at him and smiled, she then chuckled softly, "Yui, Akihiko, introduce yourselves!" Flying onto their mother's shoulder, the two polar opposite mini-fairies spoke out, 'Hello, my name is Yui - and my name is Akihiko."

Once they fluttered over to him, he smiled and held his hand out for them to land on before tilting their heads as Yui spoke, "Mommy, he kinda looks like you!" Fanning her hand, she then blew her hair up, "I have never met him... well... I think at least. Anyway, go ahead and answer for me, Yui." Nodding her head, she then smiled brightly, "Okay mommy! My mommy is the rare, and only, Osmanthus Fairy!" He had only heard rumors of them before, so seeing one was absolutely shocking.

Now that introductions were complete, the two "navigation pixies" fluttered back to Alice before landing on her shoulder as she thought, 'If I remember correctly, father made this game full of spells that take words to cast. Even if I don't need words, I'm sure that I will need to know the spells first. There's that and the fact that I need help with many things...' Folding her arms beneath her breasts, she then questioned, "Sezuko, I need some information pertaining the World Tree."

Shifting his head towards her, he then sighed, "The World Tree, huh? Well, the only place that's remotely close to here is in Sylph territory, the capital for the Sylphs, Swilvane. However, should we enter the Sylph capital, I cannot promise your safety." This made Akihiko fold his arms as he spoke dryly, "Again... mother is an Osmanthus Fairy. She is connected to all nine races... therefore, she cannot be attacked by any members of any race when in their cities, even their capital."

Sezuko found that so unfair that it was ridiculous, but he nodded at Akihiko as his wings appeared on his back and began levitating up without the controller, making Alice's mouth drop wide open, "How are you flying without a controller?!" This had him looking at her in a puzzled manner, "I find it hard that you are one of the Osmanthus Fairies and cannot fly without your controller." Opening her information card, she swiped it to him, only for him to read 'Selka - Osmanthus Fairy'

Once he skimmed over her stats, his eyes widened immensely. Okay, now he understood as to why she was graced with such a race of nobility. Landing, he then placed his hands between her shoulder blades, "Don't access your controller. Now, first envision the wings even being there." Doing that was easy enough, considering they appeared. Smiling, Sezuko then placed a bit of pressure between her wings, "Now, imagine that you have virtual bones and muscles there."

It honestly didn't take much thought for her, considering she had always wanted to be a fairy or angel. While growing up, she imagined having wings so many times that those wings gracefully opened, only for her to press off of the ground to take to the skies. Sezuko's mouth basically dropped open at this, considering there had been some that had been playing since day one and still had to fly with their controller. This was so much fun for her that she laughed brightly, "This is amazing!"

Flying up, he then smiled softly at her, figuring her imagination was so great that it honestly came naturally to her, "My, you got the hang of it quickly!" Twirling in the air as her golden and blue eyes sparkled brilliantly, she then blushed bashfully, "When I was growing up I imagined flying away from my home so many times that I lost count." This made Sezuko give a chipper laugh, "Well, it's a good thing that you catch on so quickly, or that might have taken some time to get used to!"

"It's this way! So try to keep up," he claimed as he darted off towards Swilvane, thinking she wouldn't be capable of keeping up as he thought, 'The legendary Osmanthus Fairies... they were gifted attributes from all other nine races of fairies by each race due to being a race of neutral fairies. Each race attempted to get them on their sides by gifting them their attributes. However, once all gifts were given, the Osmanthus race found this to be another way of staying neutral with all races.'

Peering back, he realized that Selka was right beside him with a gentle smile as her two mini-pixies remained perched on her shoulder. It had been shocking enough to witness not just one navigation pixie, but two. However, once he witnessed those blue and golden sparkling wings and couldn't comprehend as to what race she was, only to finally ask her to find out she was a legendary race as a whole, that had shocked him down to his very core. Now he knew that they were real.

Nearing Swilvane, he then landed with Selka right beside him, only to hear the rushing of heels clicking against the ground before a familiar tone rang out, "Sezuko, there you are! I was so worried about you whenever I heard that you had been ambushed by a group of Salamanders!" Walking forward, Sezuko then gave a gentle wave as Selka walked beside him, only to call out in return, "Hey Leafa. Yeah, I'm okay thanks to her." Leafa then came to a halt and grasped her blade.

Fanning his hands abruptly, Sezuko then laughed brightly, "She was the one who saved me! Anyway, you won't be able to harm her as you have surmised from your frozen state." Scowling hatefully as Selka hid behind him nervously, Leafa then growled out, "What race even is she?!" Sezuko then chuckled at that and rubbed the back of his head as he answered sheepishly, "Well, you see she's," pausing and humming, he then sighed as he said it as it was, "She's an Osmanthus Fairy."

Leafa then blinked rapidly at this, "No... No way... They are real?" This made Sezuko nod and begin walking with two ladies and two mini-fairies, which one was now perched on his shoulder - Yui - as he replied, "Mhm... her name's Selka." Lifting the little lass off of his shoulder and into his hands, Leafa gasped, "Sezuko, you got a navigation pixie?!" This made him sweat drop heavily, "Um, no. This is Yui, one of Selka's navigation pixies out of two. The other is Yui's twin brother, Akihiko."

Baffled that there was actually an Osmanthus fairy race that held two navigation pixies was simply unfair to everyone that had been playing since the release of the game. She had figured that the race of Osmanthus fairies were just a myth... well, now she knew otherwise. It almost made her sour and was tempted to steal one of the navigation pixies that she held so that this girl wouldn't have three advantages over everyone else. It wasn't right that this noob held that much power.

Akihiko then noticed the look on Leafa's face, only to scowl, "Sister, come back to mother right now!" Yui then innocently looked at her silver-haired big brother with confusion, "But why big brother? I like Sezuko!" Shaking his head and giving a stern look, Yui then nodded, "Okay big brother..." With that, she fluttered to land beside her big brother that sat on her mommy's shoulder, only to tug her blue and golden piece of hair, "Mommy, I want some cake to eat! Is that okay with you?"

"They call her... their mother?" Leafa questioned as she peered at the virtually clueless Osmanthus fairy, only for Sezuko to nod at her, "Yeah, I don't know why though. Maybe she programmed them that way. Who's to say otherwise?" Leafa then scoffed, "What a complete and utter freak! Making her navigation pixies call her their mother! I mean, seriously, who does that?!" Entering a bar that held an inn, Sezuko then sighed, "Listen, Selka just wants to know about the World Tree."

Sitting down as the two other Sylph fairies sat down, Selka could feel as to how tired she was, as could Sezuko. Both wanted to talk and hear everything as quickly as they could... so, Sezuko started off, "The World Tree sits in the center of all of these lands. There is a quest that allows one to enter. Each race has tried that quest at least once so that they can go all the way to king Oberon to be made into an Alf, which is the superior race of fairies compared to the rest, even you."

Leafa then nodded at these claims before adding on, "Mhm... That's the truth. As said, many races have already made their attempts to raid the World Tree, and failed, for one reason alone. Alf's have unlimited air time... meaning there is no time limit to how long they can fly. Flying is addictive... so once you get a taste, it makes you sour that you have to take breaks every so often. As Sezuko claimed, they are no doubt the superior race of fairies that even outclass the Osmanthus fairies."

This made Akihiko fold his arms before speaking, "That's not true in the slightest." Shifting his head to the male twin navigation pixie, Sezuko then tilted his head before questioning, "How might you know this?" Akihiko then laughed gently before replying, "The Osmanthus race of fairies hold no time limit as to how long they can fly. Also, they can even share that power to others. They don't need to speak a spell, they hold auto-regenerative abilities, and their HP and MP is massive."

Sighing, he then continued, "They are strength and agility based fairies that gain major boosts from just being that specific race. This entire time, I have been teaching mother all of the spells of all of the races." They then shifted their head to Selka, who had her cheek propped into one of her palms as she dozed off, yet, ended up shaking her head to stay awake. Akihiko then smirked, "You are wishing to become these Alfs... However... Osmanthus Fairies are far superior."

Standing to wake herself up, she then smiled softly, "I thank you, Sezuko, Leafa, for all of the given information. Tomorrow I will be heading to the World Tree." Sezuko then watched as she turned and abruptly stood, "I'll guide you there." This made Selka smile tiredly, "Are you sure Sezuko? I don't want to be a bother to you or anything." Scowling, he then huffed, "I've already decided, so don't even try to stop me from tagging along. So it's decided. I will see you tomorrow!"

Buying an inn, Sezuko then bought one as well. Entering her room, Alice changed and laid down before Yui took on her original form and curled up with her mother as Akihiko remained in his small form to lie against Alice's breasts. Slowly, her eyes began to droop before falling fast asleep and logging out. Opening her eyes in reality, Alice took her AmuSphere off before standing and walking to the bathroom. Walking back, she then curled up under her covers to quickly fall asleep.

In Selko's room, his eyes fluttered open after speaking to Leafa for a bit longer, only to shift his eyes to his clock to see that it was four in the morning... three hours after Alice had logged off. Taking his AmuSphere off and setting it on his bed frame before mumbling, "What an odd girl..." Heading to the bathroom before heading to bed, he then curled up as well. His obsession with the game was becoming so bad that he now also dreamt about the land of fairies as well.

Once Alice had enough sleep, she stood up and walked to the bathroom to wash her face before walking down the stairs of her home before entering the dining hall where the maids were bringing breakfast out. Blinking rapidly, she then turned her head towards one of them before asking, "Where does Selko happen to be?" The maid then frowned once she answered, "We attempted to wake your brother, but he wouldn't budge. He must have studied with his friend incredibly hard last night."

Right then, Selko walked in looking drained before sitting down sloppily for once, making Alice give him a worried gaze, "Selko? Are you alright? How late were you up last night?" Tiredly nodding his head, he then yawned out, "Yeah, I did a ton of studying last night and couldn't fall asleep, so I ended up browsing the web until around four in the morning." Frowning, Alice then peered down, "Just be careful..." - 'Right, because I am one to talk...' Watching him nod did assure her though.

After eating a meal that she didn't particularly enjoy, Alice stood up and began walking out before calling out, "I should be back in an hour or so." Figuring that this would be a great way to wake up, Selko went along with his sister. Peering in his lap as they rode the bus, he then spoke softly, "You sure do visit him a lot..." Peering at her little brother, she then pinched his cheek before smiling sadly, "I would not be alive if Kazuto had not been there for me inside of Sword Art Online."

Entering Kazuto's room, she walked to him before sitting beside him, "Hey Kazuto... I do not wish for you to worry about me at all..." pausing, her tone then lowered to the point that Selko couldn't hear her, "I am coming for you, so just hang on for a bit longer..." Selko then walked in the room after filling a vase with new water, only to see his sister tenderly brushing his long bangs away from his face before leaning in and pressing her lips to his ever so lovingly and longingly.

After her time with Kazuto was spent, the two siblings left to head back home. Giving a fake yawn that appeared highly believable, Selko then waved, "I'm going to take a long nap." Nodding her head, Alice then reached up and ruffled her taller younger brother's spiked locks, "Alright, I might as well take a nap as well." Leaning down and kissing Alice's cheek, he then turned away and entered his room before locking his door and removing his shirt and changing into sleeping pants.

Placing his AmuSphere on as he laid down on his back, Selko slowly closed his eyes as a single tear streaked down his face before mumbling, "Link... start..." Alice entered her room and changed as well to be wearing one of her brother's shirts and a pair of shorts before making sure the heater was at a comfortable temperature. Placing her AmuSphere on, she then laid on her back and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Just about to say the same as her brother, she gained a text.

Sitting up and opening her phone, she then pulled up her text messages to see that it was from her mother. Opening the message she then skimmed over it with horrified eyes - 'I found you a reliable husband! It's the man who took over Alfheim Online, not that distasteful Akihiko Kayaba that your father chose! Be ready to meet him by the time I return back home in a few days, am I understood Alice?' No... she'd rather marry Akihiko than this man... but replied - 'As you wish...'

Lying back down with a deep frown plastered all over her face, she sat back up and removed the AmuSphere to bring her knees to her chest to begin crying hysterically. Selko had been hiding the fact that he knew his mother already had his sister engaged, which made him an emotional trainwreck. Right as he went to log into the game his AmuSphere let him know that it was picking up sound, only to logout and remove it before hearing his sister's hysterical sobs of misery.

He had watched as to how many times his sister had shown Kazuto her love, so he bolted out of his room without a shirt on. Rushing inside of her room that she had forgotten to lock, he slowed to a stop the moment he noticed her phone unlocked, only to read the messages from their cruel mother. Slipping behind her, Selko then tugged Alice to his chest and leaned down to press his cheek against her own, "I rebelled against my arranged marriage, so I know that you can too."

Kirito currently sat inside of his birdcage feeling miserable. He was used to being a solo player, but damn, at least he witnessed other people. With sparkling black and dark blue wings, elvish ears, and wearing his old attire from Sword Art Online, all he could do was sigh heavily until hearing his little cage open and close before hearing a man speak, "You know Kirito, I really should be thanking you and Alice. If the two of you hadn't killed Kayaba, then this would have never been possible."

Giving an overly bored expression, Kirito then gave a soft, dry, and miserable chuckle, "I'm always happy to... help. Tell me Sugou, what use is there in keeping me locked up?" Ignoring the question was nothing new to Kirito, considering he then smirked, "If the two of you had never killed that bastard that took everything that was ever rightfully mine, then I could have never transferred so many of the Sword Art Online players here to make them my tests subjects for research."

Grinning sadistically, he then raised his hands up, "The research is almost completed too! Once the work is complete, then I plan to sell that given work to an American company that has been dying to get their hands on it for millions of dollars!" - "Well good for you." That sadistic grin then grew, "You know, I was told that you and Alice were lovers while stuck in Sword Art Online." Lifting a dainty brow at this man, Kirito then released a heavy sigh, "Correction, we were husband and wife."

Rolling his eyes at this, Sugou then tapped his pointer finger against his weak appearing bicep, "Whatever, lover boy. Soon enough you will only be a bad memory of her time spent in that hell." Groaning, Kazuto then blew his bangs up, "Yeah, it wasn't actually hell for her, considering the fact that Kayaba made sure to give her "immortality". Virtually, she was unkillable by anyone or anything. If her life was ever placed in danger, Kayaba would basically freeze time to protect her."

Glaring at how many times Kayaba's name had come up, Sugou then growled out, "Who cares that, that lowlife mass murderer is dead?!" Kirito then said one last thing before becoming absolutely silent, "If he is as dead as you claim him to be, then where was his corpse? Where was his funeral? Where was any of the evidence? From what I heard... he simply vanished as if he had never been alive to begin with. Nothing more... Nothing less. When you bring me proof, I'll believe you."

As much as he hated to internally admit it... this punk was absolutely correct. There was no corpse... no funeral... no mourning... nor any evidence to prove his claims to be an accurate claim to be making in the first place. It almost was as if the man had simply just dropped off of the face of the earth. Clearing his throat, Sugou then spoke, "I do have some good news to share with you." Shifting his head up slightly with dulled orbs, the male continued, "You will be released soon."

Hope then filled his gaze until this man spoke again with words that broke his heart, "If I would have asked Alice personally, she would have said no in a heartbeat, so I made her mother believe that I was someone worth wedding. That damned Kayaba was always in my way with what I wanted to get, so it's good he's now gone so that Alice is mine for the taking. Once her and I are formally married, I will let you out of your little birdcage to attend the ceremony to see her in her dress."

Ignoring this man merely proved to infuriate him, making him turn towards the code that no matter how hard he were to squint, he could never see the code that was being inputted. The longer Kirito ignored him, the more of a spoiled child he became, considering he then stormed out like a spoiled child, making Kirito think to himself, 'He always tries to get some sort of reaction of despair out of me. So, it never proves to piss him off if I simply ignore him for long periods of time.'

A few days came and passed within the blink of an eye and he now sat on a girly appearing bed that held a mirror on it. Once that spoiled child entered, he smirked, "Alice tells me that she is happy that you have yet to wake up yet and hopes that you never do. With her being my sweet soon-to-be bride, I am tempted to oblige her dearest wish to never allow you to wake." - 'Just ignore him...' - Hearing that spoiled child grind his teeth together, he then snapped around and put the pin in.

He could now see that inputted pin number, making him smirk internally. Once he had been gone for roughly thirty minutes, Kazuto stood and rushed to the gate before inputting the same pin for that gate to open. Rushing out, he then spoke to himself in a hope-filled tone, "I have to get to a console so that I can log myself out!" Skidding to a halt the moment he witnessed a map, something instantly caught his eye, 'Testing Laboratory?' Rushing there out of curiosity was all he could do.

Entering, his eyes widened in absolute horror, "They... They are all Sword Art Online survivors!" This, he only knew due to some of the names he came across, considering the fact that everyone was under their gamertags. Slowly walking, he came to a stop in front of two, "Eiji! Yuna!" Yuna's dreams were so bad that she was gaining a violent reaction until her heart monitor went flat. Alice used to love to go to Yuna to listen to her sing, so he instantly yelled, "HELP! SOMEONE!"

"You heard yelling from inside of here too right?" - "Yeah. Someone was yelling for help." Two people spoke as they entered. At this point, he didn't care if he was caught, so he yelled, "Over here! Her heart stopped!" His head then snapped to the side to see a console panel that he could log everyone out from. Rushing to it once the voices got closer to Yuna, he hurriedly swiped the keycard down for the menu to appear to log everyone out as he heard, "We lost another one. Oh well."

Looking in disbelief, he was suddenly grabbed due to realizing that the other voice he had heard was nowhere present. Looking back, Kirito then scowled, "Don't let her die! Please, my wife loves her voice!" - "Sorry kid. If they die in a dream... they're done for. We have tried everything." - "HAVE YOU TRIED INJECTING THEIR HEART WITH ADRENALINE?!" - "Have we tried that...?" - "No, I don't think we have!" Kazuto could only gain a dry face, 'I'm not even a doctor and I know that...'

Grabbing that keycard with his hand, he then hid it up his sleeve before one of them spoke, "It's been over five minutes and the boss said whoever's heart stops for that long we should just fry their brain. He doesn't want to pay for any extra procedures that could be traced back to him." - "Hm, you're right. Hey, wait a moment... you're that black swordsman that the boss has been keeping locked up! Dammit, dammit, dammit! The boss isn't going to be happy that you escaped!"

"Here's a thought... don't tell him and just let me go," he lazily spoke to the two slug avatars. "Well... him and Alice did make this possible by beating Kayaba." - "That's true... but I would rather not have our heads ripped off or go to prison because he leaked the sensitive details. Go and call the boss." - "I already did. He said take the little black and blue birdy back to his cage and change the passcode." Kazuto felt as if he were going to rip his hair out at this point over these two.

Sighing, he then looked towards Yuna before begging, "Please just inject her heart with adrenaline and I will go back without a fight!" The two sighed and nodded. Injecting her heart with adrenaline, they noticed her heart pick back up before they spoke, "If she's brain dead then you will have that on your shoulders for the rest of your life kid." - "Look! She's still dreaming again! Good call kid!" Kirito now felt as if he were twenty years older due to these sluggish jesters that were idiots.

Carried back to his birdcage, he was then tossed back inside and the code was changed from the outside. However, blurry or not... he now knew where each number was and what size the buttons were. Sitting back down looking unenthusiastic, bored, and merely awaiting for the jackass to return so that he could witness the new code was all he could do. He wondered if Alice was actually doing fine and wasn't crying over something that was not initially her fault to begin with.

Without his knowledge, by the time the two slugs had returned to the lab, Yuna had gone into cardiac arrest and had died shortly after due to them injecting far too much adrenaline into her heart to bring her back from the land of the dead, only to end up frying her brain to make it seem as if it were all Kayaba's fault entirely. Sighing heavily, Kirito then reached up his sleeve, only to then pull out the keycard and stare at it. He didn't know what he could even do with this thing at all.

How could he make use of it? Hopefully Sugou would come back... but after that, he was sure that the jackass would merely speak to him from outside of the cage so that he never found out the passcode ever again. Thinking about all of his joyous little talks with Sugou would have him leaping for joy if he didn't have a bad back now due to sitting for as long as he did. Maybe he could challenge this man to a fight? Yeah... Sugou would never go for that due to how skilled he was.

Good lord... It fried, scrambled, and sizzled his brain to ash even trying to think of possible ways to earn his freedom. Placing his head down against the table he now sat at, Kirito sighed immensely out of sheer and utter boredom. He wasn't allowed to train or do anything except sit here appearing as if death had already claimed his life. He would love to cut this man in half before tossing him into the air and letting hit skull come into contact with this fool's eye to pay him back.

That would never happen though, and he damn well knew that to be a fact. This man claimed to be "Oberon, the king of all fairies", but this man was no king, no... this man was merely a coward sitting high on a throne to feed his insufferable ego. Nothing more, nothing less. This man even had the audacity to even call him, the famed black swordsman, the prince of fairies as if he were this joker's son. In all honesty, he'd rather slit hit own throat than ever be the king of fools son.

Calming to a certain degree, Alice gave Selko her thanks for his help, making him smile and nod before claiming that he was going to head to his room to study, only for both of them to lock their doors. Placing their AmuSphere's on, both laid back and softly called out at the same time to not alert one another, "Link start!" Alice logged in quicker than Selko, so she stood up in her blue and gold attire while stretching. Walking out of the inn, Sezuko leaned against the wall and took her hand.

Walking through the city, she could hear many different players questioning as to what race she was, making her lightly jab her finger into Akihiko's cheek while whispering to him harshly, "Do you see what you did?!" This made him snicker at her before she blew her bangs upward, "Goodness... Hm?" Noticing these odd red sticks that were extremely spicy being sold, making her hold up a finger and jog over, only to buy a bunch for herself before buying Yui and Akihiko tiny sweet versions.

Storing them, she then jogged back over to Sezuko, who now gave her a questioning gaze, "What was that about?" Shaking her seas of platinum blonde, sparkling blue, and sparkling gold locks back and forth, Selka chuckled softly and pulled out the sweet sticks before handing one to Yui and Akihiko. The two began to taste before their eyes sparkled as Selka explained, "I got my little goofballs a treat for the road. Akihiko gets extremely fussy if he doesn't have sugar after a while."

Yui took her stick and began to happily nibble on it, only to notice that Sezuko held a pocket on his chest before fluttering over and making herself at home, making Selka laugh teasingly, "Yui has taken a real liking to you Sezuko! It is almost like you are her daddy!" This made him blush furiously until Yui scolded, "No mommy! I only have one daddy! Sezuko merely has a pocket that I can rest in!" Akihiko then scoffed, "What are you talking about? Mother has breasts that we can rest in!"

Well this wasn't embarrassing that her "navigation pixies" were arguing over a pocket or her breasts. Turning bright red, Selka placed her hand over her burning cheeks, "Akihiko, enough!" Sezuko peered over to witness her face and snickered at how adorable she was, "If you aren't careful, someone might mistake you for a Salamander with how red you are." Snapping her head towards him, the jingling of her single dangling jeweled osmanthus earring could be heard, "Honestly?!"

Right as they were headed towards the top of the high platform used for taking flight, Sigurd's stern and agitated tone rang out, "Sezuko! There you are! Why did you leave the party?!" Sezuko then peered back before replying, "I told Selka that I would be her guide to the World Tree." Noticing the beautiful female that Sezuko was holding the hand of Sigurd grasped his blade and instantly felt frozen in place as he growled out, "So, you're willing to become a renegade for this one floozy?!"

Selka's eye instantly twitched furiously over the name calling, only to step forward with a catlike smile on her face, "What? Are you jealous? However... a floozy?! That is rather indecent to be calling a lady, you bastard! I will take you on and show you a lesson if I must!" Sezuko then took in a sharp breath before answering, "Yes, I am leaving and never coming back! Selka, let's go!" Turning her head back, she gave a precious smile before jogging up to him to walk side-by-side.

As they rode the elevator up, Selka then questioned, "What happens to be a renegade?" Sezuko then released a breath at this before chuckling almost sadly, "It's a fairy that has defected from their race..." Almost instantly she began to swish and sway her hand in front of her face, "Oh no, please do not feel pressured to do that for me! I can find my way all on my own!" This made Sezuko laugh and take her hand, "Not gonna happen. I said that I would help you get there, so let's go!"

With that, he jumped and tugged her with him for their wings to appear, only for little miss Alice to silently hold her hand up to temporarily give him a no time limit for flight, only to hear, "Hey wait up!" Turning their heads back to see Leafa, they both gave a questioning gaze until Selka figured it out. This Leafa girl loved Sezuko and felt threatened by her, making Selka shrug, "The more the merrier!" This made her nod and follow the two without Selka thinking of Leafa's flight restriction.

Akihiko laid on his mother's shoulder to look up at the sky as Yui sat in Sezuko's chest pocket, only for him to sit up so that Alice peered over her shoulder, "Akihiko? What happens to be the matter?" He couldn't locate it, which frustrated him, but he did exclaim, "Mother, we are being followed or watched... I can't tell." They had been flying for a while now, so she stopped, caught Akihiko before he was flung off, and began looking around curiously as if not believing him in the slightest.

Humming, she then questioned and stated out, "Really? Are you absolutely sure about this? I do not see anyone or anything." Nodding his tiny head, he then chuckled, "You also might want to take a break for Leafa's sake." Noticing the time, she then nodded, "Right, you make a good point Akihiko." Sezuko then nodded his head at the mini-male, "Let's stop and take a break for a bit. I am sure that all of us could use it. We will take breaks guarding one another's avatar when we logout."

They all then landed in the small clearing and sat down, only for Selka to seem confused, "Wait, our characters remain logged in when out in the field?" Sezuko then chuckled and nodded, "Yup. That's why you never do it while alone. Alright, Selka, you go ahead and logout first. Get something to eat and do whatever. Leafa and I will take the first watch." Selka then nodded and logged out, only for him to let Leafa logout too, "Leafa, go on ahead. I can watch over both of you."

Nodding, she then logged out, only for Sezuko to feel movement in his pocket before Yui popped her head out while smiling. "Holy! You can still move while your owner's character is logged out of the game?!" Sezuko's shocked tone rang out, making Akihiko flutter into the air, "Well of course we can still move. We are our own person, you know." Yui then nodded in agreeance, "Exactly what big brother said! Mommy is her own person and we are our own person!" This made zero sense.

Taking it as it was, he then questioned, "Hey, Akihiko? What do you think of Selka?" Lifting a sarcastic silver brow, Akihiko then landed on Alice's shoulder, "I'm not sure I understand your question." Turning red, Sezuko then chewed on his lower lip before fumbling out, "Well... do you... you know... like her?" This made Akihiko sigh heavily and play the part of an NPC, "You humans are far too confusing with your emotions. You never say what you are really thinking." - "Meaning?"

Fluttering off of her shoulder, Akihiko smiled, "Like the way I tell mother I love her. So, if I love her, I'm going to show it. Like this," he then placed his small hands on Selka's cheek before kissing it, making Sezuko blush heavily and mumble, "I have never witnessed an NPC do that before..." Right then Selka woke up to see his bright red face, "Hm? Sezuko, are you alright?" Fanning his hands back and forth, he then nodded, "You weren't gone very long, did you get something to eat?"

Completely oblivious, Selka nodded, "Yeah! Go ahead and logout!" Nodding, he then logged out as Akihiko held a devious smirk, making her gain a dry expression as she pulled out one of her red sticks that she had bought prior in the day to pop it in her mouth, "What did you do Akihiko?" He shook his head, as if oblivious, only for that devious smirk to intensify before she called checkmate, "Close your eyes and open your mouth." This request had him blinking rapidly, "Why?" - "Just do it."

Closing his eyes and opening his mouth, that stick of pure stick of fire was then shoved inside of his mouth. He instantly pulled away with a red face as he fanned his mouth, "DAMMIT ALICE, NOT EVERYONE HAS A STOMACH MADE OF IRON LIKE YOU!" Lazily putting that stick back in her mouth with a brow lifted, she then scoffed, "Well perhaps you will learn to behave yourself during my absence instead of creating more mischief. By the way... I know you are not dead, so where are you?"

"Oh you know, a bit of here and a bit of there," he teased to not give her a clear answer, making Alice groan before lying down on her side for Akihiko to flutter over to then sit on the bare cutouts on her hips so that she raised her hand to begin running her fingers through his long silver locks that might as well have been made of silk. Sezuko then returned before Leafa as Selka continued to stroke those silky silver locks, making her shift her head back, "Hm...? You returned quickly."

Smiling, he then nodded, "Yeah, my family made my something to eat and left it out." Noticing that red stick in her mouth, he blinked rapidly and pointed at it, "What is that?" Pulling it out of her mouth, she then tossed it to him, "I bought it back in Swilvane. The vendor said that I could not get it anywhere else, so I got a few." Placing it in his mouth, he felt that hellfire ignite and instantly yelped at how spicy it was before hurling it, "Why in the world would you buy something that spicy?!"

"Oh, come on... that was just wasteful," she huffed as she pulled out a new one and stuck it in her mouth, not looking phased in the slightest as she replied, "To answer you truthfully, I was actually disappointed that it was not spicier." They were now waiting for what felt like forever due to Leafa taking a long bath before slowly eating. An entire hour later, Leafa returned, "Hey, I'm back!" Akihiko then became sassy before Alice could even think of doing so, "It took you long enough..."

Standing up with Akihiko perched on her shoulder, Selka's wings appeared before she silently casted that temporary spell on both of them, "Alright, let's go." All three then took off before they landed at the cave's opening to walk through it. Akihiko and Yui's heads both popped up frantically, "Mother! - Mommy! There are fifty incoming players!" Alice was then shoved to a wall before they were concealed. Narrowing her eyes in the dark, Selka then mumbled, "What is that thing...?"

Sezuko and Leafa then turned their head to see the tracker, making them drop the illusion as Leafa growled out, "It's a high-level tracker!" Sezuko then destroyed the tracker before all three began to run. Akihiko then peered up at Alice the moment he felt one of her tears splash against his face, only to speak out, "Mother, they are closing in on us... You know what to do." A wall then blocked their way inside of the town, only for her to skid to a stop and hand Akihiko over to Sezuko.

Pulling her dual-wielding blades out as the massive platoon of Salamanders came to a stop as she began stalking forward, only for Leafa to yell out, "Selka, no! We'll have to start over from Swilvane again, that's all!" Her blue and gold orbs clouded over furiously as she shouted, "I do not have that kind of time or patience!" Glaring darkly, Selka then came to a slow stop before calling out, "If you are smart, you will get out of my way! If not, I cannot promise that you will leave alive!"

Right then a mass amount of fire spells hit her, making Sezuko almost rush forward until Akihiko flew in front of him, "Calm down and watch her health." Looking at her health, he watched as it auto-rejuvenated as she yelled out, "Very well! You have sealed your fates! Osmanthus Sword... Bloom my flowers!" Those flowers instantly shot out to begin their assault before she dashed forward with impeccable agility, her Light Enchanter blade in hand to take the Salamander trash out.

The long tail of her attire fluttered the moment she flipped over those holding shields as her blade solidified. Those dual blades began a massacre the instant her darkened tone rang out, "Say your prayers..." Akihiko then smirked at Alice, 'You still have the best reaction speed that I've ever witnessed from another gamer...' Flying forward, he then began casting spells to give her more strength and agility, making Sezuko's mouth drop, "I didn't know that navigation pixies could cast spells!"

'It's because they can't. If whoever took over this game's completion hadn't exchanged Alice's father's coding out with my own, then I'd be as useless as one could get,' he thought with a smirk as Alice wrecked shop. She was doing so much devastation that people were now committing suicide until skidding to a stop once there was only left. Thigh high golden boots clicked against the ground as she neared the single survivor, only to take a deep breath before striking a deal.

Once all information had been given, she held her end of the bargain and handed over everything that had been given to her from everyone else. Her level was incredibly high, her stats were terrifying ridiculous, and she was as sharp as one got. Entering the town and taking a seat, both Sezuko and Leafa gained a message from Recon. Explaining that they needed to call their friend, Selka nodded, "Of course, if it is important then you both should logout and check if everything is okay."

Once they gained her full understanding, both logged out, only for their character's to appear as if they had gone to sleep. Taking out one of her "fire sticks" Selka began to nibble on it after handing two sugar sticks to her mini-pixies. Logging back in, they both then lowered their heads before speaking to Alice, "Selka, we're sorry... but we cannot let Sakuya or the Cait Sith's leader get attacked when they are trying to form an alliance to make an attempt for the World Tree."

Nodding her head in agreeance with them, she then turned to the exit of the town that they had yet to leave from, "Then let's go save them. They are important to you both, so let's go." Holding her hands out to both, she gifted them with her agility temporarily before nodding, "Now, let's go!" They then ran as fast as she actually could, making their eyes internally wide over everything that she held. Reaching outside, she then gifted temporary non-stop flight before they flew swiftly.

"Mother! Multiple players are up ahead! If you push your speed to the limit, you will reach the two leaders before the Salamanders can strike!" Akihiko shouted to be heard over the pressure of the air, making her nod and shoot forward. Noticing the two leaders standing in a panic as they looked at all of the Salamanders in the air, only for Alice to suddenly flip to land gracefully in front of the two leaders as her trio-colored hair blew in the wind, "Salamanders, sheath your weapons!"

Narrowing her gaze, she quickly came up with some bogus story, "I have come to the Sylph and Cait Sith's meeting as the ambassador for the Osmanthus Fairies! Now, let me speak to your commander!" Right then, Sezuko and Leafa landed beside their leader, making her look at the two, "Sezuko? Leafa?" Sezuko then nodded, "Sakuya, I know how outlandish it sounds... but she truly is an Osmanthus Fairy. She would be capable of fighting them all without gaining a single scratch."

General Eugene then flew forward to see Alice, only to hide a clearly puzzled look at her due to her blue and gold sparkling wings, only to foolishly give her five minutes to last against him in battle, for only then would he believe her far-fetched tale. Accepting the terms, she then flew up before smirking, "You gave me the ultimatum, but, I am hoping that you will provide me with some form of entertainment." Pulling out her Light Enchanter blade, she then gave a deadly smirk to him.

Akihiko then snickered as he sat on Sezuko's shoulder, "Oh, now she's just toying with this man." Sezuko then gave a puzzled glance towards the male mini-fairy before asking, "How so?" Akihiko then folded his arms as he chuckled, "She drew her Light Enchanter blade... not her Osmanthus Sword." Alice then took a gentle breath and smiled as Eugene drew his blade. The two were just about to start until he let the sunlight reflect off of it to make her squint before he dashed towards her.

Right as she went to clash her blade against his, her eyes slightly widened over the ethereal shift and that blade roughly rained down upon her before she flew into a nearby cliff, only for a massive slam to be heard as a loud cloud of dust and debris were witnessed, only for her to dart out of that cloud to roughly slam her blade against his. Yui then giggled as Akihiko sigh and groan heavily, "Honestly?! She's making him believe he has a chance?!" Sezuko then peered at them, "Huh?"

Akihiko held one hell of a dry face as he spoke, "You all are scared of that ethereal shift... however, you should be far more scared of mother. Countdown from ten the moment she grabs her Osmanthus Sword's hilt. You won't even see it happen, that's why I am telling you to count down. Not to mention, as of now, she's toying with him." Everyone blinked rapidly and looked up as Alice and Eugene were fighting tooth and nail, only for her to allow him to give her many gashes on her body.

Flying back for a bit, she then exclaimed aloud, "Hey tough guy, your five minutes is up." Grinning at her, Eugene then resent what he had claimed, only to say that he was going to kill her anyway. She had been hoping for that, so she gained one hell of a deadly smirk that completely overpowered that sweet smile she had given prior once she slowly reached back with a lazy fared expression, only for what it looked like her pulling the hilt of the blade up slightly before returning it.

Everyone that had been gifted the knowledge to countdown began to do so as the Salamander General laughed at her for being weak. Sezuko internally spoke one thing, 'One...' Right then slices that sprayed with blood appeared all over this man's body, making his eyes wide, 'The hell?! She didn't even draw her blade! If she did draw it, I didn't even see it! Not to mention that if she had drawn her blade, I don't think that anyone except her witnessed her attack in the first place!'

Swiftly pulling that second blade out and skillfully twirling her blades around, he then darted to her only to begin having his ass handed to him. Her foot came into contact with his gut so harshly that he was hurled miles back, only for her to snap her fingers for him to reappear right in front of her before she flipped and slammed her foot on top of his skull to plummet him back down to the earth while laughing, "Come now! If you are the strongest the Salamanders have, then try harder!"

He then began to ignite hellfire in her soul the moment he began to insult her. Those defiant sparkling blue and golden orbs became deadly the moment she held her blade to the side, "Bloom my flowers!" All hell broke loose quickly as he began taking all of that damage. Once those flower petals vanished from sight, so did she. Looking around frantically, he then shot his head up and squinted his eyes from the sun being right behind her as she yelled, "Fury of the Enchanting Osmanthus!"

Before she could even begin attacking, a fire spell shot at her, only to explode in her face. Not fazed by this, she shot through that fire for strike after strike was delivered until fifty consecutive strikes totaled up, making Akihiko smirk, "To this day, mother still holds the longest combination attack that I have ever witnessed." This made Leafa's eyes widen immensely, "How... How many strikes were there just now?!" Looking at the one who asked the question, he answered, "Fifty."

By the end of the combination attack, General Eugene's body exploded before she gracefully landed on those golden boots for not even a scratch to be on her body. Sakuya then gawked at how she hadn't even been injured and her health was still completely full. Yui then laughed brightly at the face that was being given, only to answer the question that had not been asked, "Mommy holds auto-regeneration! You can attack her all you want and she will never take any damage!"

"Phew! Man that was a workout and a great fight!" Alice chirped out happily as she sheathed her swords, only to grasp her right shoulder to begin rolling it around in a circle until noticing all of the dumbfounded expressions, making her slump back slightly, "O-Oh... I mean... yeah..." Akihiko began to laugh at Alice's bashfulness before flying towards her and landing on her shoulder, "Good work mother! That was a great fight to watch! It's always amazing to watch you fight!"

Sakuya instantly snapped her fan to close before pointing it at Alice while boasting out brightly, "Splendid battle!" Sezuko and Leafa then turned towards their leader and told her everything that Recon had told them. Sighing, Sakuya then folded her arms beneath her breasts, "I knew that power was important to a man like Sigurd. So, he was probably given an offer by the Salamanders that was irresistible. Rue, can you cast a moonlight mirror for me to connect to Sigurd please?"

Once the business with Sigurd was complete and he was banished from Sylph territory to become a renegade, Sakuya then turned to Alice, "Would you consider working for the Sylphs?" The Cait Sith leader then shook her head abruptly, "No way! She should work for us! She'd get three meals and a nap!" Both then clung to the lass's arm, making her blush out of embarrassment as the Cait Sith leader pouted, "Sakuya, that's so not fair! You're totally seducing her with those things!"

Sezuko instantly shot his hand out and grasped Alice's belt tightly, "Will you two stop it?! She's my... uh..." Everyone then peered at the young man that was now blushing furiously as Alice tilted her head back curiously towards him, only for her to then blink rapidly, "Yeah Sezuko?" Sezuko blushed even further the moment he heard her voice, only to then slowly release her belt, "I... uh... sorry about that... I'm merely taking Selka to the World Tree right now, so she... uh... can't..."

The leader of the Sylphs then tilted her head, "Oh? Are you going sight-seeing or something?" Shaking his head, he then clenched his fists tightly before shifting his head away, "No, but, until I get her there, I won't be returning to Swilvane. So, I respectfully ask for your understanding Sakuya." Nodding her head and smiling, Sakuya then gave her full understanding, "It's not a problem you two, just be sure that you do come back once you both are all done with your business."

Waving at the two, they then made the final stretch to the World Tree, only for Yui and Akihiko's head to shoot up, "Mommy! - Mother! We can sense... DADDY - FATHER! He's up there, in the tree!" Her head then shot up with tears in her eyes before she shot forward with an immense amount of pressure, making the two Sylphs eyes widen immensely before yelling, "Selka, hold on! Wait!" Landing, her wings then opened before shooting up into the air, only to slam against the barrier.

Leafa understood now and let Sezuko go after the enchanting Osmanthus fairy. Watching her trying to force her way through a barrier, Selko grabbed her around the hips, "Selka, stop! No matter how much you might want to, you can't fly any higher!" Tears flowed down her face miserably as she struggled against his hold, "Let me go! I have to try!" Yui and Akihiko then began to send distress calls to Kirito before telling her, "We sent our alerts to him, but we don't know if he got them."

Up in the tree, Kirito sat there until he noticed alert signs once he heard two voices, "Daddy! Mommy is here to get you!" - "Father, just hold on for a bit longer! Mother is here below you!" With widened eyes, Kirito's head snapped around frantically, "Yui?! Akihiko?! Where are you?! I'm here!" Pausing for a moment, he snapped his head around, "I have to do something to show them that I'm here!" Remembering the card he took, Kirito gained a determined look before dropping it.

Looking up into the sky, Alice then held her hand out to catch the card, only to question, "Why would this drop from the sky...?" Yui then looked at it for a moment before gaining a determined face, "It must be from daddy! Yes, I'm sure of it!" Sezuko was finally successful at dragging the three to an inn due to noticing as to how late it was in the real world, "Get some rest Selka." Lying down in one of the beds with Akihiko and Yui fast asleep beside her, Alice frowned until falling asleep.

Slowly opening their eyes in the real world, Alice and Selko took their AmuSphere's off before setting them to the side. Needing to eat, Selko stood and unlocked his door before slowly exiting. Stopping in front of his sister's room and about to ask for her advice over the matters, he shook his head and walked down the stairs before making something to eat. Eating while thinking, he then sighed before walking back to bed and climbing in, only to curl up beneath the warmth of his blankets.

With the day to come, Alice got up and bathed before getting dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, knee high dark brown boots, a blue and gold button up blouse that held a hood that was filled with faux fur, and a necklace holding a single diamond-studded osmanthus flower. Brushing her long locks, she then walked out of her room before entering the dining hall to see Selko pushing his meal around as he yawned heavily, making her chuckle, "You must have studied hard last night Selko."

Lazily shrugging his shoulders, he didn't say anything as he continued to push his food around. Sitting down, Alice was then served a meal that she picked her fork up to eat with, only to blink rapidly at her little brother, "Selko? What's wrong?" Keeping his eyes down, he then softly questioned once he looked up at his older sister, "Alice? What... What does it feel like to be in love?" Humming, she then sighed heavily, "Well, it almost feels like a curse and a blessing mixed all together."

This had him shifting his head up slightly to look at his sister, "What do you mean?" Tapping her chin lightly as she took a bite of the high-class food that she hated, she then chewed before swallowing, "Well... you're always worried about the other person and are constantly looking out for them. However, in the same manner, you are always wanting to be close to them. You want to hold their hand, share smiles with one another, and hear their voice. Well, that's just what I think at least."

Finishing up her meal, she stood and thanked the maids for their hard work before turning away, making Selko shift his head towards her, "Where are you going sis?" Shifting her head back and smiling, Alice then let that smile fall the moment she spoke, "Oh... just headed to the hospital for a bit. Once I get home, I have to study for the rest of the day so that I catch up with schoolwork." Selko then nodded his head at her, "You mind if I come along as well? I don't like you going alone."

Nodding her head and smiling, Alice chuckled, "I would like that very much! I am sure that Kazuto would like it too!" The two then left and reached the hospital while speaking to one another, "So, how have your studies been going Selko? You seem to be studying quite a bit as of late," she spoke as they got off of the bus. Walking forward, Selko rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, I guess you could say that I've been studying a lot. My studies have been going pretty well... I think."

Entering the room with a bouquet of osmanthus flowers, Alice smiled, "Suguha, it is rather wonderful to see you!" Changing out the flowers in the vase held, she noticed Suguha had been crying, making her worry, "Suguha, are you doing okay?" Jolting back, Suguha nodded and quickly swiped her tears from her face before standing, "Oh, hey Alice. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Kazuto... I'll give you two your space though." Once she noticed Selko, she ran out of the room.

"That was weird," he softly exclaimed as Alice sat next to Kazuto with hurting eyes before placing her hand in his tenderly. That's when Selko looked back to see her face and remembered what she had said, "It almost feels like a curse and a blessing mixed all together." Looking at Alice as silent tears fell down from her face while holding the unconscious teen's hand in her own, all Selko could think was, 'From where I stand... love appears to be nothing more than a painful curse.'

After an hour passed, Alice knew it was time to leave to continue her rescue mission to get her husband back. With determination in her soul while holding such sad eyes, she then leaned over and pressed her lips to Kazuto's before whispering softly, "Just hold on a little longer Kazuto... I'm coming to free you from your prison for good." With that, she gave one more kiss and stood up before wiping her eyes, "Come on, let us be off. We both need to study, so we had better get started."

As they walked out Selko then smiled at his sister softly, "So, how's your new school been treating you?" Shifting her gaze down, Alice then released a shaky breath, "Selko, so many kids were stuck in that game for over a year, so you have to imagine what that did to us. This was just the government's convenient place to stick all of the survivors to make sure that none of us crack. It is more like an asylum for all of the kids that stared death straight in the eye for as long as we did."

Reaching their homes, Alice then waved to her little brother, "Study hard Selko." Nodding his head, he then gave a soft smile, "You too sis." Entering his room, closing and locking his door, he then removed his shirt before changing into sleeping pants, only to end up sitting on his bed for the longest time to think. Alice did the same as her little brother, yet, changed into one of her brother's t-shirts and a pair of shorts before placing her AmuSphere on to mumble out, "Link start..."

After fifteen minutes of thinking, he finally placed his AmuSphere on and laid back while mumbling, "I can't keep her waiting." Taking a deep breath, Selko slowly closed his eyes and also mumbled out, "Link start..." Appearing in the game, he then witnessed Selka standing up and going through all of her gear before pulling out the item that had been dropped, only for Yui to land on it for her eyes to widen, "Mommy, this is a system admin card!" - 'Alright then... Thank you, Kirito.'

Turning her head, she then smiled towards Sezuko as he spoke, "Ready to go? I'll take you to the entrance of the World Tree now." Nodding her head, they walked and talked until making it to the gate, making her stare at this massive gate before furrowing her brows, "So, this is it." Sezuko then nodded before gaining a slightly worried face, "Yeah. So, you planning on trying?" Once the quest popped up, she then accepted it, "Yes. I will not ask you to follow me, for that would be foolish."

He wasn't understanding her line of thought at all. From what he had been told thus far, the race of Osmanthus fairies far exceeded the normal parameters of the average gameplay... even better than an Alf. So what was so important that she needed to take on this quest?! Selka began walking forward once the gates opened, only for her to stop and turn towards him before speaking with a smile, "Thank you for everything Sezuko, you have been a good friend. Take care of yourself."

Right as she turned back around, Selka drew both of her blades with a heavy scowl, "Akihiko, since you can cast spells, you'll be my backup. Yui, you are to stay hidden in my holster." - "No can do mommy! Big brother taught me how to use spells too! Therefore, I can help!" Nodding her head, she then smiled. Leafa then rushed up to Sezuko with widened eyes the moment she witnessed only Selka, plus Yui and Akihiko, entering the World Tree's final quest, "Is she insane?! She'll be killed!"

On the inside Selka witnessed all of the golems littering the skies as Yui and Akihiko both boosted all attributes on her, making her direct a single hand back to the two and silently hand off a limited version of her auto-regenerative properties. Her auto-regenerative properties were not only directed towards her HP, for it also auto-regenerated her MP as well. Smirking, Selka's wings then appeared before she shot into the air as her two mini-pixies began taking enemies down as well.

The more she took down, the more that appeared until the skies were completely blocked by a sea of enemies, "NOW BLOOM MY FLOWERS!" Noticing the bots redirecting their gazes towards Yui and Akihiko, her head snapped back in a panic, "Yui, Akihiko!" Akihiko then grabbed Yui and shot away from danger, making Selka release a heavy breath until Akihiko shouted in a panic, "Mother, look out!" Yes, she held auto-regenerative abilities, but, if weapons remained in her, it wouldn't heal.

She had taken so many down, but they continued coming as if they were never truly meant to cease. Gritting her teeth in absolute pain as her health began to deplete at a rapid pace, she ripped those blades out and heaved, "Come to me, my flowers!" Those flowers came to her and began healing her as she continued her aerial battle. Akihiko then frowned, "I made a few flaws when I created the Osmanthus Sword..." Yui then turned her head, "How so, big brother? It's so awesome!"

Humming as he sent healing to Selka, he then frowned, "The blade itself is awesome, that's true. However, the flaw lies with the fact that she is completely incapable of using the actual blade when using the flower petals to attack... or... more importantly... healing. In other words, she normally would've been completely incapable of defending herself if she did not hold that dual-wielding skill. Not to mention I made the healing cooldown one hour before she could use that ability again."

With them being targeted again, Akihiko and Yui relocated swiftly as he continued to speak, "I must add in another flaw, which would be the fact that those flowers will only heal consecutively for a grand total of five minutes, which has already passed. So, if we did not hold the ability to cast healing spells, mother would have fallen by now. She is only one person against so many. The NPC's seem to be extremely weak... but that isn't the problem she is currently facing right now."

Akihiko's eyes then slightly narrowed as they healed before continuing, "The issue is that it almost appears as if this quest was made difficult intentionally so that no one, no matter how skilled one might be, or how great the numbers are, will never be capable of completing such a daunting task. Pay attention sister..." Yui then watched as Selka destroyed a massive chunk with magic while panting heavily, only to see just as many that had been destroyed then reappear into the fray.

Right then, that time limit on the two mini-pixies' auto-regeneration then ran out, making their eyes widen slightly. "Get out of my way!" Selka shouted as she slashed through many more. With no more magic after a bit, Yui and Akihiko dashed inside of their mother's holster, only to feel when she was hit. Yui had to place her hands over her ears as she cried, making Akihiko step up as her big brother and hold his little sister close while feeling when Alice was impaled by many weapons.

"No... I cannot give up..." she spoke weakly as she reached a single hand out, only for various other weapons to then finish off the rest of her health. Lying in spirit form with a brilliant blue and gold flame flickering, the doors then slammed open for Sezuko to slash through the NPCs in his way until reaching Selka. Sheathing his weapon, he took hold of her flame and began to fly out as fast as he could, but he did not leave unscathed, considering many arrows lodged into his back.

Leafa then administered a revival drop, only for Selka to reappear with saddened eyes, "I thank you for the help... but, Sezuko, promise that you will never do that again." Turning and beginning to walk back inside, Sezuko then shouted, "You can't do this alone!" Coming to a slow stop, she didn't even turn her head to look at him once she softly spoke, "Perhaps you are correct." Sezuko then shouted out, "You know I'm right, so listen!" She then stubbornly spoke, "I am going anyway."

He couldn't understand her logic a single bit! What was so damn important to her that she would risk it all?! The feeling of his heart clenching tightly within his chest could be felt once she began walking away from him again, only for him to then rush forward and wrapped his arms around her from behind, "Stop..." pausing to collect all of his thoughts, Sezuko's mind felt fried, but he continued anyway, "Just stop this. Go back to being your normal self. I just... you mean so much to me..."

Stiffening up with a shocked face, Selka then placed a single dainty hand over one of his masculine paws, "Forgive me... If I do not get up there, nothing will end... nothing will begin. I have to see him again... I have to see Kirito." This made Sezuko's eyes become immense as he fumbled out, "What... What did you just say?" With no breaks given, Selka sadly spoke out as she stared up at the gates she meant to enter again, "His name is Kirito. He is the one I have been looking for."

Sezuko's arms instantly dropped from around Selka and he took steps back, "But then..." This made Selka confused, considering she turned around to face him as he placed his hand over his mouth and continued, "Then you're... oh my god." The longest pause was then heard as the sound of the silence lingered around the two before Sezuko gulped heavily before speaking, "Is that you... Alice?" This made her gain a shocked expression once she put the puzzle together, "Sel... Selko?!"

Placing his hands over his face, Selko actually cried, even though he was not the type to do so, only to keep his face covered as he cried, "This... This is so cruel! No!" Opening up his menu to logout, Alice instantly reached out to him, "Selko!" This was the first time he had actually ignored her as he logged out. Almost instantly, she then realized everything... "Alice? What... What does it feel like to be in love?" - 'No way. He was asking due to all of the time we have spent together in here?!'

Well, this was one hell of an awkward situation. Yanking Akihiko out and holding him by the back of his tiny attire, Alice scowled, "You knew this entire time, did you not?!" Trying to avert his eyes from those furious blue and gold eyes, he then released a heavy breath, "That's correct." Noticing the fire held within her eyes, she then growled out, "Now then! You are going to do me a favor without any complaints. Am I understood Akihiko?!" Abruptly nodding his head, she then explained.

Once she finished explaining as to what she wanted done before she logged back in he then shifted his gaze down, "But... But I might not..." He was then swiftly cut off by Alice yelling, "I DO NOT WISH TO HEAR ANY OF YOUR EXCUSES! NOW GET IT DONE!" Nodding his head again, Akihiko then gave a small salute, "Yes ma'am! I will get it done!" Grumbling in an agitated sense, she then shoved him back into her holster before opening her main menu, only to then logout of the game.

Logging out and setting her AmuSphere to the side, Alice walked out of her room to stop in front on Selko's room to hear him crying. Looking down, Alice then walked inside silently and pulled her little brother to her chest, "Selko... I am truly sorry..." His arms shot around her as he cried against her chest. Stroking his hair with a gentle smile, Alice then kissed the top of his spiked locks, "Selko, you will have your time to find love. Whoever does get your heart will honestly be lucky."

Once his innocent orbs peered up at his older sister, she then smiled, "We grew up with so much fake love forced down our throats that I am not sure that either of us truly know the meaning of what love is supposed to look like. However, I do have a gift for you. Unbeknownst to you, Akihiko is a replica of Akihiko Kayaba, and Yui was a program originally made by Akihiko. So, do not be surprised. Now, meet me in front of the World Tree. We will do this together as siblings should."

Standing and smiling at him, Alice then walked out of his room before logging back in. Selko wasn't understanding what his sister had meant by that, so he put his gear back on and called out, "Link start!" Before he could log in, a notice popped up for him to read - 'Notice! A slight alteration has been made to your character. We hope you enjoy!' - Extremely confused, he logged into the game to see that his character now held a similar appearance to his sister's character, "No way..."

Right then, another notice popped up onto his screen as he noticed that he was now in his lounging clothing that was now an altered coloration - 'Notice! You now hold new gear! Good luck player!' - Even more confused, he opened up his equipment to place on the new gear that looked so much like his sister's gear in a manly form, but, instead of gold, it was silver and blue; but it did hold all of the same stat bonuses without him ever being stuck in Aincrad in the first place.

Opening up his stats, his eyes became massive. These were not his stats in the slightest... so who's were... Alice. Peering below his name, his eyes became even larger the moment he witnessed 'Sezuko - Osmanthus Fairy'. The only thing Akihiko couldn't give him were her two blades, reaction speed, or dual-wielding skill. However, he now held a brand new blade that was legendary in this game... the Moonflower Sword. People tried forever to get this blade, yet, could never get it.

The appearance of it had been taken from the original Osmanthus Sword though, but, the blade was a black and blue coloration with silver moonflower's etched into it. Equipping this blade... he found it gorgeous. Looking at his appearance, he noticed his hair was now platinum blonde and the two long portions framing his hair were now a gentle gold and blue. Looking at his wings, his sparkling blue and gold orbs then witnessed the sparkling gold and blue wings before rushing out.

Alice now stood at the gate while holding Akihiko furiously, "Akihiko, you had better done as I had told you!" Fanning his hands frantically in front of his face, he then fumbled out, "Mother, I... I promise that I did!" Sighing and nodding, she then released him, "Maybe he just did not want to get back on..." Walking to the gate, she accepted the quest for the gates to open. Walking inside, she gave Akihiko and Yui their limited auto-regeneration spell for their HP and MP before starting.

He had never flown so fast before, along with never having to stop. Reaching Swilvane, Sezuko rushed to Sakuya before bursting in, "Sakuya! Please help, my sister needs backup at the World Tree! She has to get passed all of the guardians no matter what! After that, you can just leave! Osmanthus Fairies outrank the Alfs, so you don't have to worry about her wanting to complete the quest! She's only going in there to take something that was rightfully hers back!" - "Right! Let's go!"

Gifting Sakuya and all who joined him with his temporary non-stop flight and agility before they all shot to the Cait Sith capital to tell Rue the same thing, only for her to swiftly agree and command that all able bodies to get on their dragons and be ready for combat. Gifting everyone with his temporary speed and non-stop flight as well, they all began to shoot towards the World Tree to lend Alice a hand in this battle to let her know that she was most definitely not alone in this effort.

Back at the World Tree, Yui shouted out, "Mommy! Your auto-regeneration is about to wear off!" Feeling it casted on their bodies again, Yui chirped out happily, "Thank you mommy!" Alice then shifted her head, "Huh?! What are you talking about?!" Suddenly, Selko appeared in front of her to clash his new blade against an enemy before chuckling, "That's unlike you to get so distracted while fighting. Sorry, it took a bit of time to wrangle everyone up to gain a helping hand over this!"

Smiling at her little brother, she grinned, "Selko, cover my back for me!" The two now had their backs pressed against one another as he nodded, "You got it Alice! We'll get you up there no matter what!" The only two living Osmanthus Fairies now fought with their backs covered as Akihiko and Yui kept the troops healed. One fought with one sword while the other dual-wielded. Both were deadly fighters as Alice then blocked with her Light Enchanter sword, "Now, bloom my flowers!"

Akihiko quickly explained the Moonflower Sword's abilities to Selko, "Selko, that sword you now wield is virtually the same as mother's Osmanthus Sword! It has a long-ranged ability, but I wouldn't do it unless at a distance since you only hold one blade! For long-ranged attacks, call out, "Bloom my moonflowers!" It will also be capable of healing you for a consecutive five minutes each hour by calling out, "Come to me my flowers!" You got all of that?! It shouldn't be too hard to remember!"

With two blades that were essentially the same... "Selko, get behind me and use your long-ranged abilities with me!" Both held their blades out to the side once Selko was behind her, only for the both of them to narrow their blue and gold eyes at the massive group of guardians before calling out furiously, "BLOOM MY FLOWERS!" - "BLOOM MY MOONFLOWERS!" Gold and silver flower petals then shot out as the dragons also shot out their fire, only for Selko to place his feet against hers.

"Ready Alice?!" He shouted, making her give a stern nod once Yui and Akihiko were in her holster before he grinned, "Then go and get the man you love!" With that he pressed off of her so harshly that she was hurled through the guardians at a speed that was frightening as the two different colored flower petals continued to pave the way for the female Osmanthus Fairy. Gritting her teeth over how rapid of a speed she was going... Akihiko and Yui shouted, "Almost there! Be ready!"

She planned to get her husband back on this day no matter how long it were to initially take her... and she didn't care as to how many times she had to die to make that dream a reality. She would get him back in the real world no matter the cost. Slamming to the top of the ceiling, she then heard all of the people who had come to help retreating. No quest notices were popping up, the doors were not automatically opening, nor was there any teleporting sequences happening for the three.

The longer she stood there with absolutely nothing happening had her panicking as she pulled her blades out of the door before yelling, "Why is nothing happening?!" Beginning her fifty hit combo on the door, she stared in disbelief at the door with tears stinging in her eyes, "No... why will it not let me in?!" The two mini-fairies then frowned at their "mother's" current distressed form of being so close, yet, so far from their "father". Fluttering out of her mother's holster, Yui landed on it.

Scanning the properties, her eyes widened, "Mommy, I don't think that this door activates through any quest!" Akihiko then landed on the door and did his own scan, "Sister is right. This door... was never meant to open at all!" Slamming her fist against the door roughly with tears sliding down her face, she then remembered the card that had been dropped and held it out, "What about this you two?!" Both scanned the card and nodded, "Yes! Inputting the code now! It's going teleport us!"

Taking hold of both mini-fairies, they were then teleported before blinking rapidly. Yui was in her original form, while Akihiko was only slightly taller than her, still looking like her twin brother. "Daddy is very close!" Yui chirped before Akihiko nodded, "Yes! Father's... he's this way! Come on!" The three now ran before Yui demolished a wall in her way, only for the three to follow the rushing and almost frantic little lady. Seeing the birdcage, Alice's eyes filled with tears once she saw him.

"Kirito!" - "Daddy!" - "Father!" The three yelled before right in front of the cage, making Kirito snap his head up and rush to the gate, only for Yui to break the bars of the cage once she arrived. Alice stumbled and tripped over herself to get to him before slamming against his chest, "I... I found you!" Leaning up and pressing her lips to his, he then leaned back after a long-lived moment, only to blink rapidly at the silver-haired boy that was the same age as Yui, "So, uh... who's he?"

Alice then leaned to his ear and whispered, "Akihiko Kayaba in program form. Before you arrived, he tried erasing his program, but I kind of screwed that plan over. I have missed you dearly Kirito... I cannot keep going to a hospital room each day to see you still unconscious when so many others have awoken! My heart cannot take such agony any longer! Now... are you ready to go home?" This made Kirito nod with tears in his eyes, "Yes! I've been ready since Sword Art Online ended."

Smiling at him, she then nodded, "Well, we need to get you to a console to log you out. I am going to guess that you have no clue as to where one is." Kirito then shook his head until remembering the testing lab, only to nod, "I was not the only one brought here. Hundreds of the survivors from Sword Art Online are being kept here in a laboratory against their will!" Nodding her head, she agreed, "Right! We shall free them as well!" However, all good things come at far too high of a price.

Right as they went to leave, their bodies began to feel incredibly heavy, only for them to slam to the ground before Sugou walked out and slammed his foot against the back of Kirito's head, "How do you like it? Want to know why you can't move?! It's a little something called gravity magic that's coming out in the next update. You think the players will go for it?!" He dared not put his foot on Alice due to the "special" nature of what their relationship was going to be if all went his way.

With Akihiko being unrecognizable in his current form, him and Yui gave them their warnings as their programs began to get rejected from the world before vanishing as Sugou spoke out dryly, "I thought that I saw two programs running that I didn't recognize near my blackbird... I just never thought that I would find them with my future wife-to-be. Speaking of, how did you even get up here?" Alice then scowled at this man as her wings appeared, "I flew up here... using my... wings!"

Sugou then gave a snarky smirk as he picked up one of her blades and unskillfully began to twirl it around, "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I'll just ask your mind. But, before I begin tinkering with your souls, why don't we have ourselves a bit of fun?!" Snapping his fingers, chains then fell from the ceiling to clink to the ground in front of Kirito, making him gain a blink in confusion until his wrists were chained, only to then snap his fingers again so that he was pulled to his tiptoes.

Having his shoes removed by force, he struggled on the tips of his toes as if in excruciating pain over being forced to do such an action, only for Alice's eyes to widen as Sugou laughed, "I wonder how long Alice can watch this." Sliding his fingers up his belly, Kirito shot his head away as Sugou's fingers brushed against his pectorals while licking his lips in a disgusting manner until Alice growled as she forced herself to a kneeling position in the attempts to stand up, "Sugou, you bastard!"

Releasing a sharp scoff, Sugou turned around and walked towards Alice before kicking her across the face, "Why don't you be a good wife and shut up so that our son and I can speak!" Well, Alice had held intercourse with this said "son" before, making smack her forehead against the ground her and blush heavily over the memory alone while thinking, 'Oh god! Of all times, my brain chooses now to think of that?! How depraved can I actually be?! Stop thinking about it! Stop, stop, stop!'

Taking tight hold of Alice's Osmanthus Sword, he then rammed it into Alice's gut before twisting it around, only to hold his hand out while speaking, "System command! Change the pain absorber from level ten to level eight!" Watching Alice's face gain an agonizing expression, Kirito yelled out, "Stop it! Leave her alone!" As ignored as he was, Sugou then spoke in a mocking tone to the former great Osmanthus Alice, "I'll gradually keep lowering it to give you something to look forward to."

As he made his way back to the chained up teen, Sugou then smirked, "Oh, by the way, once the pain absorber drops below level three it will begin affecting your body in the real world." Walking back to Kirito, who now felt completely exposed and embarrassed once his top was removed. After an entire explanation of what he was going to do to Alice once they were forcefully married to Kirito, he then began further insulting him by licking his shocked face that had filled with tears.

This sent Alice over the edge as he ripped off the long black skirting that held black shorts beneath before Sugou began licking his tears, making Alice yell furiously, "You bastard, get your filthy hands off of him! I will kill you so slowly that you will wish for death before it has truly been delivered! Do you hear me?! I will kill you, do not think that I will not do it, because I most certainly will!" The fury held in her frustrated and infuriated growls over this despicable human being projected out.

Tears began to slide down her face the moment she became silent as she thought, 'Why is this happening? Am I being punished for thinking that I was some kind of hero, for thinking that I was the only one who could save Kirito? For thinking that I was strong enough... even though I am well aware that I am not...' Out of nowhere Akihiko's voice rang within her mind, "Are you giving up... Are you giving up?!" - "No, I am not giving up... I am merely facing the stark reality, that is all."

Akihiko's annoyed tone then continued to ring out, "Then you ARE giving up to the power of the system that you and Kirito once defied!" - "Tell me, what given choice do I have?! I am simply a player, and he happens to be the GM!" - "Then our final battle was what? A joke? Do you remember how the two of you showed me how the human will was superior to the system, how you showed me the possibility of the future? Get up Alice... GET UP!" He hoped that he got through to her.

Kirito was in the process of being absolutely mortified when Alice finally began to push herself up while straining out, "Your attacks are weak! The blades in Sword Art Online hit much harder!" Finally gaining her bearings, Alice then growled out one final thing, "And the pain that they delivered was far superior!" Sugou was going straight up pedophile when he heard her Osmanthus Sword clank to the ground, only to gain an annoyed tone that he couldn't continue, "Unbelievable..."

"It looks like I still have a few bugs to fix," he growled as he raised his hand to backhand her, only for her to catch his hand and speak darkly, "System login... I.D Heathcliff..." Noticing that it was actually registering, Sugou then frantically spoke out, "Who's I.D are you using?!" Now it was his turn to be ignored as she darkly spoke out, "System command... enable administrator privileges... set I.D Oberon to level one." Panicking, he spoke, "An I.D that outranks mine?! That's impossible!"

Completely frantic at this point, Sugou continued digging his grave deeper, "This is my world! I'm the creator, its ruler, its king, its god!" Lifting her head with a smirk, Alice then spoke in that same deadly tone, "No, I do not think so. You stole everything in this world... EVERYTHING! Including its people!" With a twitching eye, Sugou then glared at her, "You little punk! You dare... You dare speak to me like that?! System command! Generate object! I.D Excalibur!" Nothing.

Turning her head towards her man, Alice smiled at him, "Do you think that you can wait? This should only take a moment or two." Seeing Kirito smile in return, he then nodded, only for Alice to get her game face on before shouting out, "System command! Generate object! I.D Excalibur!" With that the blade materialized for her to take hold of before snickering, "A simple command generates a legendary weapon, who knew?" With that, she then tossed the blade to the pedophile with ease.

Stepping on the hilt of her Osmanthus Sword, it was then hurled into the air before she caught it and pointed it at Sugou, "It is time to settle the score! The king of thieves versus the Osmanthus QUEEN! System command! Set pain absorber to zero!" This made Sugou flinch, knowing that this furious little lady held far more experience with a blade, "No... not that!" Smirking, she then mocked, "Did you just flinch? Because the other guy never flinched, no matter how bad things got!"

Continuing on with her verbal bash, she pushed on, "You know him... actually... he was just here a bit ago... Akihiko Kayaba!" This made Sugou basically spaz out, "Oh my god... KAYABA?! That was his I.D! Why?! You're supposed to be dead! Why are you still getting in my way?! You were always doing this! Acting all high and mighty, like some big shot, and taking everything that was rightfully mine!" Alice then snickered and held her hand out, "Akihiko, how long are you going to tease?"

Popping out and sitting on her shoulder, he then chuckled, "I wasn't aware that I acted high and mighty." Alice then release a heavy groan before puffing out a heavy breath, "It happens to be that lazy look you always held. Now go away, you dork." Kissing her cheek, he then nodded to her, "Yes mother." With that, he vanished and Sugou began to attack her, each which she parried perfectly before slicing his cheek open and making him whine as he held the wound she had inflicted.

Stepping towards him, she then growled out, "It is nothing compared to the pain and shame you just made Kirito endure!" Raising her blade up, she then swiftly brought it down while yelling, "Not even close!" With that, his hand was severed off. Sugou screamed and wailed out, "My hand! My hand, my hand!" Furious, she then stepped forward and swiftly cut him in half so that his upper body landed on the ground, only for her to reach down and grab him before holding him up.

For the longest time she stared at him with those furious blue and gold orbs until that fury became pure unadulterated evil. Gritting her teeth, Alice then tossed him up into the air and held her sword up to pierce his eye, making his body completely shatter. Taking gentle steps forward, she then sliced through Kirito's chains so that he fell to his knees, only to collapse and press her face against his chest to cry softly, making him smile and tug her closer, "You are my hero Alice."

Looking up at him, he then stroked her cheek, "You look cute like this." Winking, he then lightly flicked the single dangling jeweled osmanthus earring, only to notice her gear was from Sword Art Online, making him sigh softly, "You masterfully stored all of your Sword Art Online gear, I see." Laughing softly, she then sniffled and wiped her eyes, "Well, I saved all of your gear masterfully to your Nerve Gear as well. However, it is time for you to wake up. I will be there soon... promise."

Nodding his head, he then smiled softly, "It's finally over." Smiling, she then gave his hand a tender squeeze and winked, "Do not be too shocked when I am not different in real life." This made him chuckle softly and squeeze her hand in return, "It wouldn't change as to how much I love you at all." Opening his logout screen, plus everyone being used as a test subject, only for Alice's eyes to fill with tears as he spoke, "I can't wait to meet you for real." With that, everyone was logged out.

Before she could log out, Akihiko's conscious that she hadn't turned into a program then came to her, "Alice, I'm giving this to you." Blinking rapidly at him, she then tilted her head at the golden glowing pure data before asking curiously, "What is it?" Akihiko's conscious then chuckled at her softly before answering, "It's a new world. I call it the seed. What you do with it is up to you. You can even delete it... but if you even have the small fondness left for the VR world, you will nurture it."

When her eyes finally opened with her AmuSphere on, Selko was leaning over her curiously to know if she had succeeded, only to smile brightly, "Alice! How'd it go?!" Smiling and taking her AmuSphere off, she then nodded, "I logged him out." Feeling a swift whack to the back of her head, Alice then rubbed her swatted skull while groaning as Selko winked at her, "Why are you just sitting here? Even I know that you are the first person that Kazuto will want to see! So get a move on!"

Smiling at him, Alice nodded and stood up before changing into a pair of skinny jeans and a baby-blue t-shirt before yanking on a pair of knee high light brown riding boots before tugging on a black jacket that held faux fur on the trim. However, before Alice could run out, the voice of her little brother rang out, "Alice, I challenge you to a duel. Be at the ruins tomorrow at six at night. We will see who the superior gamer is once and for all. Do you accept my challenge or not?"

Smiling at her little brother, she then nodded towards him, "Of course I will be there. Count on having your butt kicked Selko!" This made him laugh at her, "Yeah, we will see about that!" Smiling at her little brother that she adored so much, Alice then waved at him before running out of her home to make it to the hospital that Kazuto was at with a bright smile while rushing as her long golden locks fluttered behind her in the cold air. She was so excited to finally meet him when awake.

With the darkness that surrounded her, tears flowed down her face as she thought to herself, 'Hold on Kazuto, I am coming! I will be there soon!' Even when her legs felt as if they were on fire, she continued running as she turned into the parking lot of the hospital he was at... only to gasp sharply and wince the moment she felt her arm cut. Coming to a slow stop, her opposite hand grabbed her bleeding arm with fear-filled big blue orbs as she instantly leaned against a van in pain.

"You're late Alice..." A snarky tone rang out, making her lift her head in fear, "Who's there?!" Slowly, Sugou walked out into the light while holding a knife, "I've been waiting out here for so long that I might catch cold." Yikes... she had really done a number on him in-game to reflect on him in real life, "Sugou...!" His tone now gained a scolding tint, "You did a very bad thing Alice." Scowling at him, she then cringed out, "It is over Sugou, you had better turn yourself in... you are finished!"

Hearing a soft scoff, he then replied, "Finished? Hardly. There are lots of companies that would kill to have me and my research, and once complete, there won't be anyone or anything standing in my way. Oh, but first... First I'm going to kill you... Alice!" Right then, he rushed her and she stumbled to fall onto her side while still cringing. Walking towards her, he then growled out, "Come on, get up!" Kicking her gut swiftly, he then grew further agitated and kicked her again, "I said get up!"

Shifting her eyes down, she noticed as to how much blood now pooled from her arm as Sugou fumed, "Did you think I'd let you slow me down?! Wanna know what the punishment is...? Death." She appeared terrified as her eyes filled with tears, 'I... I cannot die yet! I just got Kazuto back!' Rearing his arm back, Sugou then spoke in a spiteful tone as he brought that knife down, "I won't accept anything less!" That knife slammed right in front of her terrified form as those tears fell.

Rubbing his right eye, he then grouched out over barely cutting her cheek, "Damn, my right eye is all foggy... but I won't miss again." Rearing that knife back, his hands began to tremble as he shakily spoke, "You bitch! You don't have any real power!" When she looked at him, all she could see was his VR character, making her scowl, "Tell me, if I have no power, then why are you so desperate to marry me?! The answer is rather simple! It is because you do not have any power either!"

"Die, damn you!" Sugou yelled as he brought that knife down, but, she owed it to Kazuto to keep fighting until the bitter end. He was waiting for her... and she would be damned if even his family arrived before she did! Grabbing his wrist... she realized that this man had even less muscles than she had. Pushing him onto his back, she took the knife and scowled, "Such a weak weapon... it is far too light and has no reach. However, it is all that I will need to kill you once and for all!"

Grabbing the top of his hair with a murderous gleam in those beautiful blue eyes, she then slammed his face against the car before holding the knife to his throat while taking in deep breaths in the attempts to calm herself, but, all she could see was flashes of what he had done to Kazuto in the virtual realm... yet... in her eyes, it might have well been reality for her. About to do it, he screamed in a panic before she simply dropped the knife to the ground as this man passed out cold.

Walking inside of the hospital while clutching her bleeding arm, she waited for the blood to stop, only to wash all traces of blood from her arm off before making her way to Kazuto's room. Entering once arrived, she moved the curtain away to see him sitting up with the Nerve Gear removed from his head. Walking forward, he then turned his head towards her before smiling weakly and holding his hand out to her, "Alice..." Sitting down, she took his hand and wrapped her arm around him.

Noticing the cut on her cheek, he then lightly traced it, "What happened?" Remembering as to how she couldn't hear too well when she had first taken the Nerve Gear off, she curled up against him, "I am quite alright... Kazuto." Damn, she was just as proper in real life, making him chuckle softly as he held her. His bones protruded unnaturally from his skin, making her chuckle, "I am quite sure that I will need to fatten you up a bit." She was tired... and he could hear that far too well.

Despite her tired voice, he then took her chin and tilted her face up before capturing her lips momentarily. Tugging her to bed with him, he then laid beside her and she rolled onto her side for his thin arm to wrap around her. He was in desperate need for a haircut when morning rolled around... but... for now, she would simply allow sleep to overtake her while in the safety of the arms of the man she deeply loved. She also forgot to text Suguha to let her know that Kazuto was now awake.

The next morning a nurse chuckled when she noticed the splay of long golden locks covering the sleeping two that held one another as if the world were coming to a screeching halt before Selko entered the room and burst into laughter, completely shocking the sleeping couple awake. Blushing furiously, Alice then scowled before having a proper freakout, "Oh... Oh my god! I forgot to let Suguha know that Kazuto is now awake! Selko, text her for me while I cut his hair!"

Standing with a gentle smile, Alice then gave Kazuto the haircut that he so desperately needed before making Selko stay while she rushed home to make a breakfast with a high fat and calorie intake. Returning with the breakfast, she handed him the food, making him smile brightly before beginning to eat. Almost melting over how delicious it was, Selko huffed, "Man, I'm so jealous... sis is never allowed to cook unless our mother is away from home in the same manner that she is now."

Alice's cheek had already healed up and looked perfect again, only to wink at Selko before handing him breakfast, "There you go!" He gave her one hell of a dry face over this before groaning, "You need the weight more than I do! Now eat sis!" Rolling her eyes, Alice then huffed, "I did have to make sure that it tasted good, you know!" Oh, she was screwing her poor brother over, considering he gave up the fight and took a single bite... only to feel as if hellfire had been set to his mouth.

"Sis! I don't have an iron stomach in the same manner that you, and apparently Kazuto, have!" Selko fumed, making her pat his cheek lightly in a teasing sense as Kazuto questioned, "Wait... you think that this is spicy? I just think it tastes good." Slapping his open palm to his face, Selko released a heavy sigh, "Good grief..." Peering at the siblings, Kazuto chuckled, "Alice is way more proper than you. How come?" Selko peered down at this, but he did answer, "Sis is older than me. Get it?"

By the time she left the hospital, Selko had already left. Reaching her home, she took her clothing off to change into a t-shirt and comfortable sweats, only to make sure the room was nice and warm before she placed her AmuSphere on while thinking, 'Very well little brother... let us see who is superior!' - "Link start!" Logged in, she blinked softly before opening her wings and pressing off of the ground to head towards the ruins where her little brother already awaited her arrival.

Opening his blue and gold eyes to mirror her own, he smirked, "Right then." The two then pulled out their virtually same blades, yet Alice chuckled, "I shall take it easy on you by only wielding one blade." - "Don't you dare go easy on me sis! Fight me!" Selko yelled furiously, making her smirk devilishly, "As you wish." Pulling out her Light Enchanter Sword as well, she gained a composed facial expression the moment she got into her battle ready stance, "Get ready to fight then Selko!"

Holding his blade up, he watched in horror the moment Alice vanished to appear right in front of him, causing for him to instantly scowl and slam his blade against her own blades. The harsh clashing of blades could be heard echoing out until she jumped over his blade before she swiftly swung her foot around to slam into his gut so severely that the pressure of such a hit was heard by many as Selko shot back to slam against one of the many floating islands so hard that it crumbled.

Shooting towards her little brother with her wings out, he smiled as he thought, 'Alice... you became strong because you were forced to be stuck in Sword Art Online. I used to call you so many insulting nicknames... such as nerd, loser, and freak. At the time, I believed that you couldn't face living in reality. However, I understand you now. Wherever you are... that is your reality. I know... because I now hold the same beliefs as you. I just wish that I had been stuck in there with you.'

"COME ON SELKO! FIGHT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE GOT TO OFFER!" Alice roared, making him snap out of his train of thoughts, only for his wings to open for their blades to begin slamming against one another in a fury induced fight. Suddenly, he smiled at her as he slowly allowed his blade to slip from his fingers as she brought her blade down, only for it to slam into one of the floating islands before allowing his wings to simply vanish so that he would plummet to the ground.

Noticing his blade drop, she dropped her blade as well for it to embed right beside his, only to hastily reach her arms out to catch her younger brother. Holding him close to her as they spun in gentle circles within the confinements of the air, he merely laid his head against her shoulder, "You're too strong Alice..." Feeling a harsh clobber come to the top of his skull, she then held him tightly, "Do not scare me like that ever again, am I understood?! Who is that foolish?! Honestly?!"

Nodding, he then held her close while speaking softly, "I admit defeat." Alice then ruffled her little brother's hair playfully, "Akihiko." Popping out, he then nodded, "Yes mother?" Laughing softly, she then sighed, "Change my name back. You hold all true admin properties." This made the long-haired silver fairy laugh at her before nodding, "As you wish. System command! Change I.D Selka to Alice!" Looking at Selko's face, he then nodded, "System command! Change I.D Sezuko to Selko!"

Alice's face then drained of color, "Selko, do not do that to yourself!" Chuckling, he then gave her a squeeze, "Why? I want to be known as me. I am going to guess that for your creation of your character in Sword Art Online, you couldn't think of a name that you'd be happy with, so you simply went with your own." Looking at Akihiko sternly, he then gulped, "I understand mother! Please just stop glaring at me like that! System command! Change I.D Selko to Sezuko!" - "Honestly..."

A few months came and passed quickly and Kazuto had filled out rather nicely and had packed on plenty of muscle. Alice and him made it official in real life and were now dating one another. Walking hand-in-hand to Agil's bar, Kazuto then ran his fingers through her long free-flowing locks as she questioned, "How have your classes been?" He then hummed softly and sighed, "Tough, but, I am getting the hang of it again. I think that I am going to become a technology creator."

Clasping her hands together happily once they released hands so that he could open the door for her, she then smiled brightly, "Wow, that sounds amazing! Do you mean for games, or, do you mean for the actual technological side?" He laughed at her bright and bubbly nature as she entered the bar behind her, "The technological side." Smiling brightly, Alice nodded at him, "I bet that you will do nothing short of amazing in that line of work! It suits your personality rather well!"

Noticing Asuna, Alice then rushed over to her, "Asuna, how have you been?! Are your studies going well?" She found out rather quickly that Asuna had an upbringing that had basically mirrored her own upbringing, so the two were now a support for one another. Asuna then gave a hug and smiled, "Well, to be honest... I'm falling behind a bit. It's hard to keep up with all of the work. I heard you and Kirito both picked out your majors for college! So, what are you both going to do?"

Alice frowned at the first bit of information, only to then smile softly, "I would be more than happy to help tutor you on the subjects that you are currently struggling in. As for the majors, yes, we both have decided to do advanced technology creation. I have actually been working on a project to make the first life like A.I. Honestly, the body is done. Now I just have to make a program for it to either follow instructions, or, build its own personality by learning and processing data."

Asuna appeared absolutely shocked at this until Alice chuckled softly, "Well, actually, this is my second one. I already built one for Yui. She has tested it out, but I need to make a few adjustments with Kazuto's help. The sight and smooth human-like movements are giving me a bit of trouble." Looking shocked at this, Asuna beamed, "My best friend's not only awesome in-game, but out of game as well!" This made Alice bright red before fanning her hands, "No, no! I am nothing special!"

Shifting her head to look at Kazuto as he spoke to Agil over matters concerning the seed, Alice smiled softly, "I honestly would not have got as far as I had if I did not have Kazuto's help..." Blinking softly, Alice then snapped her fingers, "Oh, that is right! I am also working on a way to initially copy another person's personality... or even soul. So, if someone died, they could have a second chance at life just by having their very essence copied. That has been a daunting task to put it lightly."

With sparkling amber orbs, Asuna appeared enchanted, "Oh, wow! I wonder how that is even done!" Alice then smiled as she spoke, "Well, I first went to a neurologist to have an M.R.I and E.E.G. When we went over the scans," she paused and pulled out her scans to show the brain, Alice then tapped at a singular spot that almost seemed like a black hole, "It is to my belief... that this is where a person's soul is held. Holding memories, self-image, emotions, process of thought, etcetera."

Taking in a deep breath, she then pulled out a cube that held a golden glow, "So, with that, I used Kazuto and copied that so called "black hole" with his permission. When I inserted it into my computer, I was amazed when my hypothesis..." Asuna really hoped that Alice claimed that she had been wrong due to how wrong it sounded to copy someone else's soul, only for her to continue, "Was absolutely correct. I was shocked that our soul was just so easily accessible to begin with."

Tapping her finger against the table she now sat at, Alice then gave a soft smile to finish her process of thought, "So, when my research is complete, I plan to give all of this knowledge to hospitals all over the world. Only patients wishing to continue living would have their soul scanned. Then, we would take perfect photographs of the patient's body to, in a sense, "re-create" their body before inserting their soul cube inside of the body. So, I am doing it for those who are dying..."

Noticing Kazuto fishing his phone out of his back pocket, he then answered, "Hello? Oh... what do you need Kikuoka?" Shifting her head towards her boyfriend, she then blinked softly the moment he huffed and attempted to whisper in a miserable and failed attempt, "Why do you need to speak to me and Alice?! I told you Kikuoka, stop trying to drag my girlfriend into whatever plots and schemes that you might have! Wait... what? You need to speak to her about her recent invention?"

Hearing her boyfriend release a rather massive groan, he then scowled softly before replying, "I will speak to her about it, alright? But I can guarantee she won't be happy about the matters of you attempting to leech off of what she accomplished on her own. I won't have you taking the credit where it is truly due." Alice then held her finger up to Asuna, making her nod before she walked up to Kazuto, only to snatch his phone from his hold with a scowl laced on her face over this.

Huffing, the blonde then spoke in an agitated sense of fashion, "Kikuoka, how many times have I told you to stop pestering Kazuto over your work related matters, especially if it concerns me. I know that you are well aware of how protective he is! Now then, if I have to remind you one more time to stop calling him to gain his permission over me, or one of my inventions, as if I am his beloved prized pet, then I will force him to change his phone number again! Am I understood?!"

Turning back towards Kazuto, she hung up the phone without listening to what this man had to say or offer to her. Tucking his cellphone back into his back pocket of his pants, Alice gave a cute wink once he turned bright red over the initial contact, she then approached Agil before speaking, "So, how is the seed doing Agil?" Agil then snickered at the sassy lass before replying, "Like I was telling your man, it's doing better than okay. Thousands of new worlds have been made."

Showing his laptop to her, Alice leaned in a bit with a smile before her phone began to ring. Taking her phone out, Alice smiled tenderly before answering, "Yes Akihiko?" - "Mother, when will father be done with his invention?! I want to feel as if I am there with you!" Giving a soft chuckle, she then handed her phone to Kazuto, making him believe that it was Kikuoka again, only to growl out, "Kikuoka, how many times have I told you to stop harassing my girlfriend before you get it?!"

Silence was all he heard for the longest time, making Alice face Agil and mouth as to who it was on the other end of the line, making him purse his lips tightly due to how Akihiko absolutely detested being called Kikuoka. "Father..." Akihiko's rather agitated tone rang out, making Kirito's blood just about run cold as he gulped heavily, "O-Oh... that was my mistake Akihiko, please forgive me for yelling! I should have checked the caller I.D first before using such a frustrated tone with you!"

Ever since they returned to the real world, Alice had transferred Yui's program to Kazuto's AmuSphere while she held onto Akihiko's. With how Akihiko was not scolding Kazuto to hell and back, he wasn't really listening to when Agil spoke to Alice, "So, are you pumped for tonight?" Smiling brightly, the long-haired blonde then smiled brightly, "Oh, you know it! So, who is resetting all of their character's stats from Aincrad?" Agil then chuckled, "From my understanding, everyone except you."

Alice then huffed softly, "Well, excuse me. It took so long for me to gain the stats and gear that I have. Plus, Akihiko told me that if I started all over... my Osmanthus fairy would vanish and I'd have to be one of the regular nine races. It's no different for Selko or Kazuto's rare fairy. There is only one of his Midnight Fairies... though, he told me that he will be resetting all of his stats, despite knowing that it will force him to recreate a new character in general. In a sense, I understand."

This made Agil lift his eyebrow, "Understand what?" She then lowered her head slightly as she spoke, "They all want to forget that it ever happened... but I do not wish to ever forget. However, I can especially understand for Eiji..." This made Agil fold his arms and tilt his head, "Who?" Alice then peered up and blinked softly before smiling, "In-game, he went by Nautilus. I actually knew his real name. Yuna, his girlfriend, died while being a test subject, yet he blames S.A.O for her death."

Placing her hair in a braid, she then sighed, "However, since I remembered what she sounded and acted like, I recreated her in the form of a navigation pixie for him. Though, I did give her a few upgrades per-her request! Her character in S.A.O originally had waist long silver hair with two braids, and she wanted that back, so I made her that way. Just like Akihiko and Yui, she can take full form to put on concerts from time to time. For an AI that I made, she's become quite famous!"

Tapping her finger against the bar as Kazuto was still being nagged at by Akihiko, Alice spoke, "I gave her a program that, honestly, I am still working on. However, she seems to function quite like a human despite all of my other failed attempts. She was my first true success. However, Eiji then told me many times about how when he became terrified in game, his character would literally freeze, so I ran some scans on his Nerve Gear out of curiosity and found it had a major defect."

This made Agil's eyes widen, "You're kidding right? The Nerve Gear had those kind of defects?" Nodding her head, she then sighed, "Unfortunately, yes. While the rest of us constantly looked as if we were players that were in fight or flight mode while running on pure adrenaline twenty-four-seven, there were many players that held this defect. The fear of dying would completely overrule any other in-game functions and would actually paralyze them in place so that they could not move."

Shocked was all he could feel as he spoke, "All of us were scared of dying, so why were we still capable of movement." Giving a soft hum, Alice then answered, "It was that single defect in their Nerve Gear. Nothing more... nothing less. Believe me, when I scanned the Nerve Gear, I pulled up the functionality of my Nerve Gear, and then pulled up Akihiko's program to speak to. When I pull his program up on my PC, he appears on screen and is capable of going over the data with me."

The tapping of her finger became a bit louder to hold her concentration, considering the fact that Kazuto was arguing with an intelligent AI of all things, "When Akihiko and I went over the two different scans, he pointed out the flaw to me. He had been shocked that someone had been so careless to not test it before placing it on the market. Actually, he was quite furious over the matters. Akihiko has one of those human-like personalities, so he actually fumed and ranted for hours."

Shifting her eyes to the clock, her face paled, "Oh my god! I have to go! My mother will never let me hear the end of it if I am late for dinner!" Knowing that Asuna lived next door and her mother was the same way as her own, Alice shouted, "Asuna! Look at the time! We are going to be late if we do not leave now!" Asuna looked at the time and paled before shooting up as Alice snagged her phone, and shouted as she ran and waved, "I love you Kazuto! See you in game later!"

Crashing through the front door heaving like a madman, Alice peered up at the clock, only to think, 'I was late anyway...' Walking to the dining hall after changing into a high-class blue dress and re-braiding her hair, she wore her house slippers as she entered the dining room to notice Selko uncomfortably sitting at the table. Sitting down and sighing, Alice forced a smile on her face, "Forgive me for being late to dinner mother, I was needing a bit of help with some programming."

Her mother's stern tone then rang out, "Next time, I want you at the table five minutes early." Alice was about to speak up, yet, lowered her head, "As you wish..." Selko peered at his sister's miserable face and felt horrible for her. Alice held no given freedom to do anything she wanted, making him brighten the mood, "So, I saw the AI you made named Yuna! She's simply amazing sis!" Alice kept her head lowered as she began to eat her meal, only to meekly speak, "I thank you..."

"Alice, soon, we will be speaking about your grades, the high school I have chosen for you, the college I have chosen for you, and the major I have selected for you to become successful," her mother spoke, making Alice's head further lower until Selko slammed his palms down on the table, "I told you once! We are not your personal toys! Our futures are our own, not yours! Did you not hear what I just claimed?! Alice actually made a human-like AI, yet you won't even see it!"

Their mother then rolled her eyes, "Fine, let me see it Alice." Gaining a slight look of shock, she grabbed her phone, only to look at her mother, "Her body will be on screen. I'm working on her real body." Pulling up Yuna's program, she then waved and laughed, "Hiya Alice! You here to insert some new data?" Shaking her head and smiling, she then spoke, "No, actually, I was wondering if you would be willing to sing for our dinner." Yuna then nodded brightly, "Oh, can I?! I would love to!"

Having her microphone appear, she then winked and began to sing beautifully as Selko gained a soft smile, "Each song Yuna sings, she actually wrote herself." The mother then gained a scrunched up face and released a disgusted scoff, shocking Yuna to stop, "Was... Was it not good? I... I am so sorry!" Tears began to fall against the screen of her phone, making Yuna panic, "Alice, please don't cry! It wasn't your fault, it was mine! I'll sing... uh... no not that... I'm so sorry Alice!"

Besides Akihiko and Yui, Yuna was the most human-based AI with high intelligence that had ever been created. She had so many requests for many others like Yuna to be made, but she was far too busy. Many companies had even offered her plenty of money for Yuna's program. Selko then sighed, "It wasn't you, Yuna. Our mother's just an unlikable bitch, no matter what angle you look at her." An AI began to scold Selko, "Selko, don't talk about your mother that way! That's rude!"

Huffing at the adorable little AI, Selko then whined, "Sis... I want Yuna! She's so cute that I can't handle it!" This made Yuna giggle at him, "Oh, come now Selko! Your sister is the one who recreated me!" Selko dramatically whacked his head against the table, "That's exactly why I want you! Anything she makes is precious to me. In a sense, you're like sis's first child!" Yuna burst into laughter over this, "You say the funniest things Selko! Though, now that I think about it, you're right!"

Alice placed her hands over her face before fully breaking down, making Yuna reach out, "Alice, please don't cry... it makes me sad." Standing up abruptly, Alice then ran from the dining hall, forgetting her phone. Selko then reached out and propped his sister's phone up so that he could talk to Yuna, only for her to crouch down to look at the food, "Ooh, that looks so yummy!" Selko then scoffed, "Hardly... it's disgusting. Alice's food though, man that is some tasty food!"

The mother watched as her son held a full blown conversation with an AI that held a process of thought, held feelings and emotions, and would answer questions that held an opinion. She never showed it, but she was immensely impressed over what her daughter had made. Puffing out a breath of air, Selko sighed, "Yuna, Eiji hasn't started playing has he?" Yuna then shook her head at this, "No, but I do get to speak to him!" This made Selko huff dramatically, "How about a deal then!"

With her interest peaked, Yuna nodded, "Sure! Let's hear it before I think it over and decide!" Selko then pointed to her before snickering playfully, "Until Eiji begins playing, why don't we be partners in crime?" Yuna tapped her chin as her red eyes shifted upward, "Hm... Alright Selko, you're on! You will have to tell Alice though! I mean, she brings me out every so often to make sure my program is still running correctly!" The mother was further shocked. This AI... knew she was a program.

Her son had picked up on those infuriating games as well in the same manner as his sister. She thought she would have at least one sensible child, but, that didn't seem to be the case. Finishing his meal, Selko stood and accidentally forgot his sister's phone after he went to the bathroom. The mother then peered over, "Tell me, what is your name?" Yuna then peered over and smiled brightly, "My name is Yuna! It's nice to meet you ma'am! I was made to act just like the girl that died."

After some time, Selko rushed in, "Yuna, I'm so sorry!" Yuna released a burst of chipper laughter at this and fanned her hand back and forth as Selko began to walk away, only to shock him once he was far away from his mother, "Your mother said that she was extremely impressed at how well-designed I was. She said that it was no simple task to make an AI act just like a human. Though..." - "Though what?" - "She admitted to me that she did not approve of Alice and Kazuto dating."

Selko released a heavy breath, "I already knew that. I also know that she has hired a private investigator to know every little thing about his life. Let me know your opinion Yuna... should love be forced on another, or should love be free?" Yuna then frowned, "Alice asked me the same thing, so I will tell you what I told her. Love is something that you find for yourself. It doesn't matter what shape or form it might take... because there are many different forms of love in this world."

Smiling at her, he then nodded, "You're right Yuna. So, as long as Alice still loves Kazuto, I will protect that love." Yuna then winked cutely, "That's a noble thing to do Selko! However, I am excited! If Alice lets me, then I will finally get to play the game anytime you are on!" Stopping at Alice's door, Selko knocked before walking in, "You forgot Yuna! She wants to ask you something though!" Alice looked up as Yuna pleaded, "Alice, Eiji doesn't play games! Can I please team up with Selko?!"

Nodding her head and smiling softly, Alice then chuckled softly, "I do not see why not. I'll send your file to his account under the item name "Yuna's Voice". You will be a support pixie like Akihiko and Yui, sound good?" Yuna then nodded and smiled brightly, "Hooray!" Standing up, she then walked to her little brother's room before looking at Selko, "Selko, should Eiji begin playing, you will have to say goodbye to Yuna. Until then, she is all yours. Just do not become too attached to her."

He then huffed, "Oh hell, then I've already failed that task. I love talking to Yuna. Having her around is beyond fun too. Can't you just make Eiji a bogus version?! I want to keep the real Yuna!" Rolling her eyes, she then laughed, "You're going to make Yui jealous if you keep this up. I'll prioritize on making you an adorable human-based AI as well." Selko chuckled out, "Then I want a mini-you that acts as adorable as Yuna." She then scowled, "Are you implying that I do not act adorable?"

"You act too damn proper for your own good," he sighed heavily, knowing that how she acted had been forced upon her at such an early age. Every word she used was instantly corrected by their mother. That's when it came to him, "I want an AI that acts the same way that you did when you were young!" Shrugging, she then nodded, "Very well." Plugging her phone into his AmuSphere after closing Yuna's program, she then input the item name of "Yuna's Voice", "There you go."

Walking back to her room, she already knew she was running late. Locking her door and changing into one of Selko's shirts and a pair of shorts, she flipped her light off and got into bed before placing her AmuSphere on and lying back. Slowly closing her eyes, she called out, "Link start!" Entering the game, she looked into the sky to see the new Aincrad float into the sky before lighting up in a brilliant golden coloration, only to smile, "Akihiko." Popping out, he then smiled at the sight.

Witnessing many fairies heading towards it, she simply sat down and hugged her knees to her chest as she trembled lightly, but not out of fear. It was the same, yet, at the same time, new world. Looking down, she then released a gentle breath, "Hey, Akihiko?" Tilting his head at her, he then nodded, "Yes mother?" Tears began sliding down her face at that moment, "I wish... that we were still stuck in your world..." Akihiko knew that her life at home wasn't the best, or, the easiest.

It was like being tormented each and every day. Compared to being stuck in Aincrad, her home was like the true manifestation of being in hell. She never held a smile while at home unless she was stuck inside of a game. Sighing, she then stood after there were no more wings ascending towards the floating castle in the sky. Opening her wings, she then shot towards the new Aincrad, only to enter the first floor and do something that she had never done before while in Aincrad before.

Even though people were everywhere gazing im complete and utter awe over the sight in front of their very eyes, she honestly just didn't care. Her mother had killed her mood for anything and she just didn't want to be here no matter how much she tried to make herself cheer up. With no clear goal, she slowly turned away from any and all people before heading to an inn for the night, only to rent a room to do something that she had never done before. She logged out of the game.

Kirito opened his friends list to see that Alice had already logged out, making him turn towards Sezuko before speaking, "Hey Sezuko? Do you know if Alice is okay? She was online for a short period of time before she logged out. I mean she didn't come and say hi to any of us or anything. I mean, normally when she has to log out that quick, she sends at least sends a message. She was on for maybe a grand total of five minutes before she logged out as swiftly as she had logged in.

Humming in a dejected manner, Selko didn't have to say a word, considering the fact that Yuna then perched on his shoulder before speaking, "She showed me to her mother and became alarmingly distressed whenever her mother gave her no compliments over being the only other person, besides Akihiko Kayaba, to create an AI that held all of the properties of an actual human being. Selko then folded his arms and sighed, "Alice is always yearning for some sort of approval."

Gripping his biceps tighter, he continued, "However, she should have known better by this point in time. When seeking approval or applause from our mother, it simply just doesn't happen at all. She normally sets herself up for that behavior... so even I was shocked when she didn't. I mean, she wants our mother's praise more than anything in this world. Ever since we were little, she has done everything that was asked of her perfectly, yet never gained approval from our mother."

Biting his lower lip rather roughly to the point that blood slid down his chin, he then released a shaky breath, "Alice used to be a care-free, sensitive, and a genuinely loving individual. However, the more she was put down as if everything she ever did was wrong, the more she began to crack beneath the weight and pressure of it all until she completely shut down and turned to gaming to ignore all of the heartache that she was feeling in the real world as if doing so would erase the problem.

Shifting his gaze down, Selko then soldiered on, "I was the second born, and thus wasn't as important in the larger scheme of things concerning our family. That's why I speak so much differently than her... I simply wasn't as important. I'm going to take a wild guess that she just shut everyone out and it also took a long time for her to truly open up to anyone while you guys were stuck in the game. If that was the case, then she had a good reason, in her eyes, for doing so to begin with."

Tears then filled his eyes, yet, refused to escape as he shakily spoke, "Alice didn't want to be given no praise, shown no gratitude, or bashed for all of the good that she had accomplished in the long haul. If she had expected such things, she surely would've gone mad, or, would've cried on a daily basis. She's far more fragile than she leads others on to believe while hiding all of her pain and sorrow behind the fake facade of a smile. She holds the belief that all good things don't exist."

Hastily wiping his eyes, he pushed on, "She is aware that, for her at least, all good things come at far too hefty of a price... and she's fully aware that she can't shoulder a responsibility like that on her own. If it appears as if she is beginning to pull away from even you, then there is a reason. She knows that even you will one day be forcefully ripped away from her by our mother. She yearns for that bright love that you have to offer her... but knows that it will soon be taken away."