AN: So in the last chapter I made the setting the 31st for a reason, as I was going to do a little New Year's scene between Hanna and Kirito, but I got distracted while I was writing that chapter, and by the time I got back to writing I'd forgotten about it. Which isn't surprising, I have a horrible memory. Stupid me. Anyway, I wrote the scene out and put it where it was supposed to be, after the boss raid meeting, but before Mike's section. For those of you who don't want to have to go back a chapter to read it I added it as an Omake at the bottom of this chapter. Also this chapter it almost 10,000 words, which is roughly double the usual size of my chapters.

January 7th, 2023- 62 days since SAO launch:

Mike was anxious. Today he'd see Marzanna for the first time since they were six, but she was stuck in that death game. He'd been waiting in Professor Snape's office for half an hour, when his mother floo called and told him to come through.

Brushing himself off, he looked around and found himself in some sort of study. His mother smiled and gave him a hug before leading him out, "We'll be going in a car, a Muggle form a transportation. Dante and Nero are coming with to visit Marzanna."

Mike nodded. His mother had told him everything a week ago, including the fact Marzanna and he didn't share a father. He'd been shocked, but after thinking about it for a week, it made some things make sense. Like why Potter, he refused to think of that man as his father or by his first name, hated Marzanna. It also explained why his and Marzanna's twin bond had been so weak.

There were two men in the living room when they got there. They both had strange silverish white hair, and wore trench coats, but the taller man's coat was pure red. Whereas the shorter man's coat was black on the outside with a red inner lining. The shorter man also seemed to be younger, but not by much. His mother had told him about Marzanna's family, so he was certain the taller man was Dante, and the shorter was Nero.

They both looked him over momentarily, then Dante shifted his gaze to Lily, "Ready to go then?"

His mother nodded. Then paused momentarily, glancing at him, "This is Dante, Marzanna's dad and my husband." His assumption about the one in the red coat being Dante turned out to be correct, when he nodded in greeting. His mother continued a moment later, "And this is Nero, Vergil's son and Marzanna's cousin." Nero lifted his hand in a lazy greeting, his mother gestured to him, "Dante, Nero, this is Mike. Marzanna's brother."

Mike was thankful she hadn't felt the need to unnecessarily mention that they were half siblings, therefore bringing up Potter. Mike nodded at them in greeting, "Nice to meet you."

Dante gave him a small grin, "Likewise kiddo. Now that introductions are out of the way, let's get going."

On the way there Mike's head started to hurt, and it slowly got worse. By the time they were at the hospital, his head felt like someone was hitting it with continuous blasting curses, but he ignored it. He wasn't going to let a headache stop him from seeing Marzanna, no matter how bad. The pain in his head continued to grow. When they reached Marzanna's hospital room, Dante and Nero went in first. As he stepped through the door the pain sharply spiked, causing him to lose his balance and grab the door frame while black spots momentarily invaded his vision.

A moment later he noticed his mother gripping his arm to steady him. Dante and Nero had also noticed, and all three of them were looking at him in concern. His mother gently guided him to a chair in the room, but the movement only seemed to worsen his headache. Once he was sitting, his mother bent down to be eye level, "You ok sweetie?"

Mike nodded, but immediately regretted it, as the black spots came back, "Migraine. I'm fine."

Nero raised an eyebrow, "A migraine bad enough to make you lose your balance?"

Mike shrugged, "It started on our way here, then progressively got worse."

Lily frowned for a few minutes, "It almost sounds like-" she cut off as her eyes widened, "Shit."

Dante glanced at her, "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, "It must have slipped my mind since Mike and Marzanna didn't seem to be negatively affected, but it's the twin bond. I don't know about demonic and angelic twins, but magical twins have a telepathic bond, and their magic is intertwined. Due to their magic being intertwined, separating twins usually causes them great pain. The further the distance, the greater the pain. However, the weakness of their bond must have negated the usual pain from being separated. Now however, their magic and the telepathic portion of their bond, in other words, their minds, are trying to resynchronize, but they've been separated for eight years. The strain is undoubtedly immense."

Nero glanced between Mike and Marzanna in worry, "Is there anything we can do to help? Or should we not interfere."

Lily shook her head, "There's nothing we can do. It's completely between them. Mike." he forced himself to focus on his mother through the pain, "Physical contact will undoubtedly make it hurt even more, but it'll also speed up the process. Grab Marzanna's hand."

Mike blinked a few times before he processed what she'd said. Then nodded. Even the small act of shifting closer and reaching for Marzanna made the pain nearly double, but Mike forced himself to grab her hand. He'd barely brushed her hand when darkness closed in, and he lost consciousness.

Color exploded around him as scenes flashed before his eyes. Some of them stuck out. She was six. Potter had dumped her in some random city in America hours ago, and night was falling. She wandered around until she found an alley, then pulled her mother's enchanted trunk from inside her arm. Opening it to the living compartment, she activated the invisibility enchantment, climbed inside, and closed the lid. The thought crossed her mind that at least she had somewhere safe to sleep.

She'd been captured by strange people days ago. Now there was some weirdo wearing a white coat examining her while talking into a small metal device. He was talking about her in fact. He mentioned someone named Nero, and something called a devil bringer. Apparently her arm was a devil bringer like this Nero person's.

The weirdo in a white coat, was experimenting on her. It hurts. It hurts so much. When he finally stopped, he started talking into that metal device again. He talked about her demonic and angelic abilities, but that couldn't be right. She'd read about Nephilim in Potter's library once. They were just myths weren't they? And even if they had been real, weren't they supposed to be extinct? Plus her mother was definitely human. Then again, she had always healed incredibly fast, and there was her arm... That line of thought was ended abruptly. The weirdo had finished talking, and was hurting her again.

She was moved to a different facility. A day later that forced her to be part of some sort of ritual. It was painful. After the ritual she was taken somewhere strange. She found out it was hell. She also found her supposedly dead uncle and grandparents. They escaped, and ran into her father. He took them home after dealing with the Hell Gate, and redoing the seal the ritual she'd been forced to participate in broke.

Her grandpa forged a soul bound blade for her. Its current forms were Shuraba- a falcata claw combination, Osiris- a large but lightweight scythe, and Arbiter- a large heavy axe. It'd get more forms later. She started her training that very day.

She was getting a familiar or familiars. She was carefully combing a large warehouse, looking for her familiar. She didn't find her til she got to the very back. Her poor familiar had a muzzle on its feline mouth and a blindfold on its snake eyes. She introduced herself as Aite. Her dad and Uncle Vergil came back a few minutes later. Undoubtedly drawn by the flash of light from the familiar bond. The employee serving them freaked out when he saw Aite, then called her an abomination. Righteous fury coursed through her, and she snapped at the man. The man explained that Aite was a Nandu/Basilisk hybrid. She was also apparently a Parselmouth. She left for a few moments to go to the half of the warehouse with the light creatures. Hedwig bonded to her immediately.

They met up with mama. She and dad talked for a bit. Mama and dad were soulmates. Mama was going to divorce Potter and move in with them. She'd never been happier. The only way it could be better was if Mike was there too.

She'd been living with her dad for two months now. She was reading in the living room. Her dad was being a bit loud. She only put up with it for a while, "Ssh. You hear that?"

Her dad looked at her, then cocked his head as he listened intently. After a moment of not hearing anything he shook his head, "No. What is it?"

She gave her dad an annoyed look, "The symphony of silence. You're interrupting it."

Her dad made an offended noise. Nero snickered from the other couch, and Vergil grinned next to him.

She was starting non-magical school. She quickly found out first grade was boring. She was horrified to discover what preppy girls were. She was even more horrified that two of the ones in her class adored her for unfathomable reasons. She ran out the door as soon as class was released. Her dad and Nero had come to pick her up. She jumped on her dad's arm and wrapped her arms and legs around it. She didn't even let go when he lifted it to be parallel to the ground, and she slid til she was dangling like a sloth.

Her dad gave her a bemused look, "What are doing."

Rather than answer, she tilted her head back til she was looking at him and whispered in horror, "Save me."

Nero tilted his head, "From what 'Zanna?"

She was about to reply when she heard the two girls yell her name. She yelped, and scrambled up til she had a knee on one of her dad's shoulders, a hand on the other, and her other hand on his head, then looked towards the girls, "Them! I swear they're worse than demons! And they wouldn't leave me alone all day!"

Nero had the audacity to laugh at her. She glared murder at him. He subsided into snickers. The girls ran up to them. Nero and her dad later told her she puffed up and hissed like a cat. Nero stopped snickering within a minute of the girls talking, giving her a pained sympathetic look. Her dad decided it was time to leave less than a minute later, with a shudder of horror.

As they were heading to the car he shifted her so she was sitting on her shoulders, then glanced up at her, "Kiddo? Don't ever become like that. They really are worse than demons."

She kicked him as hard as she could for even suggesting such a thing.

She was laying with her head in aunt Lady's lap. Lady liked to tell her about the places she'd been. She liked hearing about those places. They sometimes talked all day long.

She was sitting with her grandpa, as he was helping train her. They weren't doing combat training right that moment. Instead Sparda was teaching her how to meditate. She frowned in confusion, "Why do I have to learn this grandpa? I don't see how this'll help me fight better."

Sparda just smiled patiently, "We devils are notorious for our tempers. You must learn to control your rage, and never allow it to control you. Losing yourself to fury in battle is a quick path to death."

She sighed. Meditation seemed boring, but if grandpa said it was necessary then she'd do it.

Uncle Vergil and her mother were the primary ones who taught her magic, though her grandparents did too. Today she was with Vergil as he calmly explained dark spells, and what made them different than light spells, other than being cast with dark magic, which was redundant. Uncle Vergil's calm smooth voice was soothing. It was a good thing she always found the topics Uncle Vergil picked out fascinating, otherwise she might fall asleep.

It was her seventh birthday. After presents and cake her dad put a case on the table in front of her. She knew what was in it. Her dad had told her multiple times that she wasn't getting her guns til she turned seven. Sure enough, when she opened it two beautiful guns were inside. Engraved on their sides were their names. 'Symphony' and 'Silence'. She shared an amused grin with Nero.

She was sitting at the kitchen table while Kyrie cooked lunch. Kyrie would often hum or sing as she cooked. She liked listening to her sing, so she often wandered into the kitchen when Kyrie was cooking. Sometimes Kyrie just talked to her about anything and everything. That was nice too.

She was seven, and her dad was showing her some of the demonic weapons he'd collected over the years. She immediately felt a pull to the briefcase that he called Pandora's Box. Her dad wouldn't let her have it. She wouldn't take no for an answer. She clung to it with her arms and legs like a deranged monkey. When Dante realized he wasn't going to pry her off of it he went to Vergil for help.

Vergil took one look at her clinging to it and sighed, "Pandora's box was created by the last Nephilim queen Pandora at the end of the Nephilim/Demon war. Pandora had gone insane from so many of her people being slaughtered, so she attempted to create a weapon of mass destruction with 666 souls. 333 demon souls, and 333 angel souls. The box is semi sentient and calls to both females and Nephilim. Female Nephilim are obviously particularly affected. The box sometimes picks a female Nephilim it finds worthy and creates a bond with them. At that point it stops calling to other females and Nephilim, and focuses all its attention to the one it bonded to. The normal call is just a faint urge to open the box. The bonded call is like a sirens song demanding you possess the box."

Dante frowned, "I don't like the sound of that. What kinda bond are we talking about?"

Vergil shrugs, "A parasitic bond." at Dante's alarmed looked he quickly explained, "It won't hurt her. It'll just constantly drain demonic and angelic energy from her. Nowhere near enough to cause her problems though. Even if you pry her off of it, she not going to drop the issue til Pandora belongs to her."

Dante looked at Marzanna in thought. She leveled her best puppy dog eyes at him. He hesitated. She made her eyes tear up. He wavered. She pushed her bottom lip out a tiny bit and made it tremble like she was about to cry. She added a sniffle for good measure. He broke.

"Fine! But! Only when you turn ten." He gave her a stern look.

She scowled.

She was cuddling with aunt Kat, who was carding her fingers through her hair. Aunt Kat liked to do that. She liked it too. It felt nice. She listened as Kat told her stories about the past, mostly about her dad, like she usually did.

She was eight, and demons were attacking their house. She felt a pull. She didn't even realize what she was doing til she'd tackled her dad and grabbed Pandora while yelling, "Mine!"

Dante gaped at her from his spot on the floor. Nero laughed at him.

She and Nero were experimenting with their devil bringers. They eventually learned how to share abilities from absorbed objects, and how to pull absorbed objects from each other's arms. It was kinda cool. Only the sharing ability was really useful though. Some experimenting with dad and Vergil in devil trigger made it clear that the devil bringer's abilities of absorption and a phantom arm were somehow made from the demonic overload that created the devil bringer. Dante and Vergil couldn't receive abilities without the devil bringer, but they could share abilities they got from killing demons. Dante had given her and Nero the quick silver ability when they figured that out. Almost immediately she began abusing the power by using it to read more books without being interrupted.

She was eight when she met Severus Snape. She liked his cynical sarcasm. He liked her intelligence, and enthusiasm for potions and his potion experiments. She finds his research fascinating, and the potions he's trying to make extremely beneficial. She's saddened when he tells her that he's having issues getting ingredients he needs for them. So she talks to Aite and Hedwig, then informs him that her familiars would be willing to donate some Basilisk venom, Basilisk blood, Nandu fur, Nandu blood, Strix feathers, and Strix blood amongst other things for his research. He adores her after that. She even starts going over to his house some weekends, and he lets her help with the safer parts of his experiments.

It was her tenth birthday. The minute she woke up, she ran to her parents' bedroom and jumped on her dad yelling, "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!"

Dante stared at her incredulously. Lily laughed. Dante looked at the clock and scowled, "It's seven in the morning kiddo."

She pouts, "So? It's my birthday. You said I could have Pandora on my tenth birthday!"

He makes her leave after promising to give her Pandora later. She retaliates by stroking Pandora and calling it her precious when he finally does. The pinched look he makes has everyone laughing at him.

She was ten. She was finally going on her first hunt with her dad. She didn't even care that her dad wouldn't let her go on hunts having to do with great demons just yet. Nor was she disappointed later either, even though she didn't get to do anything. Even if it was just a swarm of minor demons, her dad had a thing for being stylish and dramatic, so he'd looked completely awesome and badass the whole time he was fighting.

She was sitting on the roof with Aunt Trish, who was telling her about all sorts of things. Demons, magic, the past. Aunt Trish was a fountain of information, and when it came to her, she liked to share. Plus she liked hanging out with her. She liked spending time with everyone in her family.

She was eleven, and had finally started her magical schooling. She'd been taught by her grandparents, mother, and Vergil for years, but she'd been excited to start actual school. She was disappointed. Studying so diligently had the downside that she already knew everything they were being taught. Not to mention once of the older students was apparently related to a previous client of her father's, and had told everyone about her heritage. Now everyone was either scared of her, or hated her.

She was listening intently to her mom and Severus discussing potions, only interrupting occasionally to ask questions, which they were always happy to answer. She hadn't inherited her mom's brilliance for the subject, but sometimes they just needed fresh eyes on a potion one of them was working on. So sometimes she ended up asking a question that put them in a frenzy. They'd both taken to keeping notebooks on hand for these discussions, so they could take notes if inspiration struck.

She'd been in her magical school for three months. Nero had noticed something was wrong. He dragged her up to his and Kyrie's room, and they rocked out, and played video games til she wanted to talk. She told him about the fear and hatred she from the other students. He calmly listened to her vent, offering his opinion or advice occasionally. When she was done they went back to hanging out. She hung out with Nero all the time, but after hearing about her school troubles, he made a point to spend at least an hour with her every day after school. The only time he didn't was when he was gone on a job. He was more like an older brother to her than a cousin.

She was twelve, and she was on her third great demon hunt with Nero. It was going horribly. Nero had gotten hit hard, throwing him down a large hallway, and had slammed through multiple pillars on his way, causing the way back into the room to collapse. This left her alone with the demon. It had a ridiculous amount of thin sharp tentacle like things, and kept trying to stab her with them. Eventually it managed to do just that. She was impaled through the lungs three times, the heart once, her femoral artery was torn, and there were at least ten other places she was stabbed. It's horribly painful. It only got worse when the demon started to pull them out. She coughed up blood as black began to close in. She shook her head, she couldn't afford to pass out now. Without Nero here, the demon would undoubtedly take the opportunity to kill a descendant of Sparda. Was she dying? That thought terrified her. Demonic energy, similar to her devil bringer, began to pulse through her, slowly at first, but quickly picking up speed. That was even more painful even more than her wounds. With a scream of pain and fury, the energy reached its peak and exploded out. She didn't remember much that followed, but she killed the demon. When Nero made it back a few minutes later, she found out that she'd awoken her devil trigger. Her dad was upset about how the hunt went, but wasn't angry at Nero. He knew it wasn't his fault. He was still even more over protective than usual for the next three months.

She was fourteen, and her log out button was missing. She met a couple players and talked to them about it. Their buttons were missing as well. They were teleported to the plaza for a system announcement. Kayaba explained the new rules to his twisted game. Then he gave them all mirrors. She was staring into the one he'd given her in confusion. All she saw was a female avatar staring back. Then a blueish-white light engulfed her. She felt strange for a few seconds, a tingly fuzzy feeling going through her whole body. A moment later the light cleared and she could see the mirror again. Except now Marzanna's face was staring back at her. Alarm and understanding washed through her, and she looked to Klein and Kirito. They'd been replaced by people who were both complete strangers and yet still Klein and Kirito. Klein thought she was good looking. Personally she thought Kirito was kinda cute, but didn't let the thought distract her.

She was arguing with Kirito about Cooper. Who was sitting nervously on the ground near them. He didn't dare try to leave with her sword so close to his throat. She wasn't happy when Kirito gave Cooper the «Little Nepent Ovule». Her mood lifted a bit when they managed to get their hands on two more. She was fondly exasperated when Kirito suggested they give the second away. She asked Kirito to let her carry it since Kirito was almost at his weight limit. Once it was in her inventory she bluntly told Kirito he wasn't getting the second sword back until he needed it. Kirito's pout was kinda cute.

She was furious with Kirito for making everyone hate him, and subsequently becoming the first 'Beater'. They argued for a bit. She joked around to lighten the mood afterwards. Kirito's laugh made her cheeks heat up. She gave into the urge and laughed with Kirito. She felt a lot better than she had a few minutes previous.

Klein and his friends joined the front liners. Kibaou was an asshole. She fucked with Kibaou's head a bit. She celebrated New Year's with Kirito. She was content, maybe even happy.

The rush of images, no memories, finally stopped. Mike sighed in relief. The room he found himself in was as strange as it was massive, which was saying something since though he defiantly couldn't see the ends of it, he got the distinct feeling it was larger than even the world cup quidditch pitch had been. There were enormous multistory bookshelves all over the place. Near him was a table that almost looked like an altar, on it were Shuraba, Osiris, and Arbiter. On a smaller table in front of them were Symphony and Silence. There were unmanned stalls with all sorts of weird trinkets on display, along with that were also crystals, vials of what looked like potions, and what looked like either strange bulky clothing or extremely light armor. There was also a metallic monolith in the distance that was bigger than even Hogwarts. All in all, looked completely chaotic, but he got the distinct feeling there was a method to the madness.

In the distance to his right, he saw what looked like a badly rundown quidditch pitch, but even as he watched it began to slowly mend itself. Looking to his left, he saw an area a bit removed from the things surrounding it. Everything in it looked ghostly, and transparent, like it was barely there. Scattered around in an orderly fashion were multiple computers, he only knew what they were from Marzanna's memories. Prominently displayed on a tarnished, run down pedestal was a black coat that was obviously made of cloth, but gave him the impression of being impenetrable, and was as much imprisonment as it was freedom. However, most of the area was taken up by an absolutely massive bed, with an equally large sheer oasis bed canopy(1). Both the bedding, and canopy were black.

He was pulled from his examination from a voice behind him, "Mike?!"

Whirling around he came face to face with Marzanna standing between two bookshelves. She was a few feet from him, but he crossed that distance in an instant, and grabbed Marzanna in a bone crushing hug. She didn't seem bothered at all, instead returning it immediately. He took a deep shuddering breath. She really was alive. He hadn't really believed it, even when he'd seen her in her hospital room, but it was true. Dropping his head he buried his face in her neck, "Marzanna, I-"

She cut him off before he could get further than that, "Ssh. I know, I know. I forgive you. Not your fault anyway, never blamed you. I missed you."

He gave another shuddering breath, "I missed you too. So much. So very much."

For a few minutes they just clung to each other. Then Mike forced himself to take a deep breath, and slowly pulled away. He glanced around momentarily, "Do you know where we are? I don't."

Marzanna smiled lightly, "Doesn't it seem familiar?" looking around again he nodded slowly, and her smile got bigger, "It should. This is my mindscape."

That startled Mike, "Oh. Well that explains its familiarity. Even if I've never been in your mind, our bond does link our minds together." Marzanna nodded, he grinned at her, "Soooooo..."

"So." He knew Marzanna knew what he was asking about, but apparently she wasn't going to make it easy on him, if the sharp way she replied was any indication.

He just grinned even more, "Kirito, huh?"

That's as far as he got before she punched him in the shoulder, while all but hissing, "Shut up!" His grin didn't waver in the slightest, and he rubbed where she punched him. She glared at him then smirked, and slyly continued, "You and that Hermione girl are getting awfully close rather quickly aren't you?"

He couldn't stop himself from flushing at that, and was immediately given a victorious smirk. He glared, "Well played, sister mine, well played."

She grinned, "I know. I'm awesome like that." A moment later she glanced away, then sighed, "I gotta get back, and you probably should too. Could you tell everyone I love them, I miss them, and that I'm fine?" she hesitated a moment, "And could you tell Remus and Sirius too? For those two could you also tell them I'm happy with my family, but I miss them terribly?"

He sighed, "Of course you silly girl. I'll miss you, the rest of your family already does, so get through that twisted game as quickly as you can, ok?"

She nodded, "Of course. I'll miss you too. You better be careful in that stupid tournament, or I'll kick your ass, and never forgive you. Oh, and the egg is Mermish. You need to listen to it underwater. It also means the second task probably has something to do with water. I have a book on water related spells in my devil bringer. Ask Nero to retrieve it, he'll know what I'm talking about."

He snorted in amusement, now well aware how easily she could kick his ass, then nodded. Moments later, the world around him rapidly faded to black.

Hanna had been having a late breakfast with Kirito when her head started to hurt. As it progressively got worse Kirito noticed something was wrong, "What's the matter?"

She frowned heavily, "Headache."

Kirito grew alarmed at that, "What? But that should be impossible here." She just shrugged in response. He stared at her in worry for a few minutes, then grabbed her hand and started pulling her along, "You should lie down. Maybe it'll help."

She wasn't resisting, she didn't want to, nor did she want the system city crime prevention code to think Kirito was harassing her, "If I'm feeling pain, then theirs probably something wrong in the real world. If that's the case, I don't think lying down will help. It-"

Seeing Kirito's jaw tense she cut off in realization, 'He already knows that. He's doesn't want to feel useless when he knows I'm in pain.'

Later she'd blame the headache impairing her judgement on why she made that particular joke, "If you're just trying to get me into bed, I'm afraid I consider myself too young for that sort of thing." Kirito choked and almost tripped, and she blinked, "Sorry, I joke when people around me are tense. This headache is impairing my judgement on what is appropriate."

That managed to draw a laugh out of him, and he glanced at her his cheeks more than a bit flushed, "Ya, I can see that."

They made it back to the inn in silence after that, and it continued to get worse the entire way. By the time she was lying on the bed, with Kirito sitting at the table near her, her head felt like someone was using a jackhammer on it. Awhile later, she groaned, when abruptly the pain spiked heavily. Kirito started to stand up with a worried look, but she shook her head at him. He reluctantly sat back down. It was only a minute or two when it doubled, and she passed out.

She was immediately assaulted by a plethora of images. He was six. He woke up, and immediately noticed something was wrong, wrong, wrong. It only took him a minute to place it. He can't sense Marzanna. He can't sense Marzanna. Throwing his covers off he ran out of his room and across the hall to Marzanna's. Rushing in without bothering to knock, he found her room empty. Immediately turning around, he ran to his dad's study. Bursting through the door made his already irate dad mad at him. He didn't care, he needed to know where his little sister was. He demanded an answer from his dad. He was told she went missing last night and to get out, as he was already mad, and didn't need to deal with him right now. He left in a daze, wandering back to his room. Sitting in his bed it suddenly him. Marzanna was gone, and he couldn't sense her. The only time twins can't sense one another is if they're a great distance away or... dead. She couldn't be though! There was no way his little sister was dead! She'd been just fine yesterday when... When she told him dad was feeding mom love potion. And he hadn't believed her. Now she was gone, and it was all his fault! Pulling his knees to his chest and hugging them, he buried his face in his knees and cried.

He hadn't seen his mother all day, and it was dinner time. He asked his dad. His dad refused to answer at first, clearly furious, but he persisted. Dad finally told him. He said a half breed had fed her some love potion and she ran away with him under its influence. Dad hadn't been able to track her down.

It was his seventh birthday. There were dozens of people, and tons of presents, and lots of amazing games. He didn't care. This should've been his sister's seventh birthday too, but now she was gone, and his mother had been forced to run off with some sicko, who force fed her love potion. He didn't want any of these people here. The only people he wanted to be around right now were his dad, Remus, Sirius, and Dumbledore. He'd told his dad that, but he'd insisted on a big party. He only stuck around for cake and presents. Then he slipped away to the kitchen. Remus and Sirius found him a few minutes later. They didn't make him go back like his dad would if he found him. They understood why he wanted to be alone. They loved Marzanna too after all. They missed her almost as much as he did.

He was eight when he met Ron. He was pretty dumb, but Mike thought he was kinda funny. He hadn't found anything funny since Marzanna disappeared. Ron didn't like people who were a lot smarter than him. Mike pretended to be less intelligent then he was to keep the only person who'd made him laugh in two years around.

He was eleven, and was finally, finally, going to Hogwarts to learn magic. He wasn't disappointed. The magic they were leaving was basic, but interesting. Dean and Seamus were kinda funny too. Neville was shy, but nice. The twins, who he hadn't had a chance to meet before since Ron was always staying at his house, were outright hilarious, and they were smart. Even better, they didn't mind that Mike was smarter, so he didn't have to hide his intelligence around them. He thought he might be able to get along with Hermione since she was smart too, but she turned out to be a no nonsense prude.

The philosophers stone was going to be stolen, and McGonagall didn't believe them. If she wasn't going to do anything, he would. Neville was still awake in the common room when they tried to sneak out. They ended up taking him with them after being forced to explain. There was a harp making Fluffy sleep. Neville immediately recognized the devil's snare when they jumped down the trap door. He lit it on fire. He flew on the broom to catch the key. Ron played them across the chess bored, sacrificing himself in the process. He left Neville with Ron. He figured out the riddle and drank the correct potion. He was surprised it was Quirrell instead of Snape. Quirrell made him look into the mirror. He almost broke down crying when he saw his mother and Marzanna standing with his reflection. Marzanna smiled in a secretive manner at him. She held up a red stone, then put it in his reflections pocket, while putting her finger to her lips. He lied to Quirrell. Quirrell shoved him out of the way, and he tried to leave. A voice told Quirrell he was lying. Quirrell bound him with a spell. Quirrell had Voldemort on the back of his head. Voldemort tried to convince him to join him. He refused. Voldemort tried to kill him. He almost succeeded. Dumbledore arrived. He passed out.

He hasn't been receiving his mail for some reason. It's fine. The only people he wanted to write were Neville, Seamus, and Dean. He floos them to inform them of the issue. They're relieved he wasn't ignoring their letters.

A house elf visits him. He introduces himself as Dobby. He finds out Dobby has been stealing his mail. He demands he give him back his letters. Dobby says he will only give then back if he doesn't go back to Hogwarts. He refuses. Dobby tries to get him in trouble. It doesn't work. His dad doesn't care about those vases.

He and Ron floo to the platform as usual. The twins set off some of their pranks. It's hilarious.

He's being stalked by a first year, Colin Creevey. He is pretty awesome. So he supposes he can't blame the kid.

He and Ron were invited to Nick's death day party. The heedless hunt shows up and ruins it, humiliating Nick in the process. On the way back to their dorms he hears a voice. They followed it. They found Mrs. Norris. Some people think he's Slytherins heir.

He breaks his arm during quidditch when a bludger goes rouge and targets only him. Lockhart vanishes the bone. He officially hates Lockhart. Colin Creevey gets brought into the infirmity petrified that night.

He goes to the dueling club, and immediately regrets it when he realizes Lockhart's running in. Lockhart gets his ass kicked by Snape. It's the first, and probably last, time he's ever rooted for Snape. Lockhart makes him duel Malfoy. Malfoy summons a snake. The idiot Lockhart tries to banish the snake, but ends up agitating it instead. The snake tries to attack a student. He instinctively tells it to stop. It does, but the other students are looking at him in fear now. He leaves. Ron tells him he spoke Parseltongue. The meaning is not lost on him. By the next day, almost the entire school believes he's the heir.

Someone threw a diary at Moaning Myrtle. It turns out to be a diary belonging to one T. M. Riddle. Later, it introduces itself as Tom, and tells him Hagrid is the heir. He doesn't believe it one bit. It's later stolen. He doesn't care. He has no use for a lying diary.

He finds Justin Finch-Fletchley and Nick. He's furious. He likes Nick.

Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater get petrified. Not long after, Hagrid gets arrested and Dumbledore is forced to leave the school. As Hagrid is leaving he tells them to follow the spiders. When they do later, they meet Aragog, an acromantula. He tells them a bit about the chamber being opened 50 years previous. Then he tries to feed them to his children. He almost succeeds, but Firenze, who he has befriended in his many walks through the forest, saves them.

Ginny gets kidnapped. They try to tell Lockhart at Ron's suggestion, against his own idea of going to a different, competent teacher. Lockhart is a fraud, just like he thought. There isn't enough time left to go get another teacher. Ginny doesn't have enough time. They go to where he'd figured out where the chamber was. Myrtle's story makes him realize the monster in a Basilisk. It makes him nervous, but he won't abandon Ginny. He shoves Lockhart down the opening, then listens for his landing to see if the drop is safe. Upon determining it is, he casts a strong cleaning charm and slides down. They make Lockhart go ahead of them. He faints when he sees the snake skin, then lunges for Ron's wand when he gets close. He tries to cast obliviate. It backfires horribly causing a cave in, and separating him from Ron. After finding out if Ron is ok, he continues. A while later, he reaches a large door with snakes on the front. It opens to a Parseltongue command. He runs to Ginny when he sees her, but stupidly sets his wand down. Tom Riddle takes his wand. Tom turns out to be a preserved version of Voldemort's memories. He summons the Basilisk. Fawkes arrives with the sorting hat, then blinds the Basilisk. The Basilisk chases him for a while. He eventually ends up tripping while trying to get away, as he's crawling backwards his hand brushes the hat. He glances back at it, and sees something metallic materialize, so he grabs it, and holds it towards the lunging Basilisk. It turns out to be a sword, which the Basilisk impales itself on. It shoves a fang through his arm in the process, the fang breaks, and he is dying. Tom gloats. Fawkes saves his life with his tears, then brings him the diary. He stabs it with the fang, and it's the one who dies instead.

Malfoy Sr. shows up while he's telling Dumbledore what happened. Dobby apparently belongs to him. He tricks Malfoy into releasing Dobby. Dobby bonds himself to Mike.

His third year is relatively quiet, but exciting now that he can visit Hogsmead. He loves Honeydukes, and the three broomsticks like the other students. Unlike the other students, he also enjoys The Quill, a bookstore in the village. He often sneaks away from Ron to go there.

His dad gets tickets for them and the Weasley boys for the world cup. It's awesome, until death eaters attack. Then his dad makes him flee into the woods with Ron. Someone summons the dark mark near them, and they almost get attacked by ministry officials. They retrieve his wand and a house elf. He gets accused of summoning the mark, til they realize who it is they're accusing. Then the blame shifts to the house elf. That idea gets thrown out the window too. The house elf gets sacked anyway, just for inadvertently associating her master with dark magic. He feels bad for her. She was only trying to not get trampled in the attack. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He's fourteen and starting his fourth year. He's angry when Dumbledore announces that quidditch is cancelled for the year, but his anger is quickly forgotten when Dumbledore explains about the triwizard tournament. He's disappointed when the age limit is announced, but still looks forward to watching the tournament.

The other schools arrive in showy ways. Then the Goblet of Fire is brought out. The next day, on Halloween, the champions are announced. He's surprised when his name comes out, but excited at the opportunity. He's questioned about entering his name. In the end it's decided he had to compete no matter what, since the magical contract will strip him of his magic if he doesn't.

Later that night Ron confronts him. He tells Ron he didn't enter his name. Ron doesn't believe him. His betrayal hurts more than he ever thought it would.

Hagrid tips him off about the dragons. He figures the other champions know, even though they're not supposed to, and tells Cedric so it's fair. He wants to win, but he's not going to do it unfairly.

He draws the Hungarian Horntail with a four around its neck from the bag. While he's waiting for his turn he fingers his wand nervously. His confidence had dropped significantly since Hagrid showed him the dragons. When he's finally called he takes a calming breath, and goes out to face the Horntail. He goes through with the plan he came up with, and summons his broom. As he's trying to lure the dragon up high enough so he can dive for the egg, the chain restricting her snaps. A wild chase follows. He almost gets eaten twice, burned to a crisp six times, and nearly falls off Hogwarts after being forced to temporarily crash land. Circling back to the arena, he swoops in and grabs the egg, as he's unsure if failing to complete a task will strip him of his magic. When the dragon catches up seconds later, the dragon tamers subdue her.

He's studying the egg with Hermione, when he makes a joke about the egg sounding like Ron singing. Not having expected her to laugh, it startles him when she does. He thinks her laugh is beautiful.

He asks Hermione to the Yule ball. She hesitates, and the rejection hurts. He tells her he wants to go as friends. She happily accepts. When the ball comes around, they have a blast together. He almost forgets that he asked to go as friends. Almost.

Ron, Hermione, and he were arguing again. He didn't really care until Ron said Hermione love potioned him, and called her a mudblood whore. In fury, he punched Ron as hard as he could. He thought he felt something brake. It wasn't his hand. Hermione made him calm down, then took him to the library. He ended up telling her about Marzanna and his mother. Her fingers running through his hair are soothing. Then Snape came along and took them to his office. He was incredibly shocked to see his mother. The longer she explained the more astonished he became.

Two days after punching Ron, he was cornered by the twins. They were mad he'd punched their little brother, though that anger faded after he told them why he punched Ron, and proved he was telling the truth by swearing a magical oath. Normally if Ron did something they didn't like, they just pranked him, but Ron calling someone a mudblood whore was serious to the Weasleys, who were Muggle and muggleborn supporters. So they told their mother. She didn't send a howler, like she usually did when she was displeased with her children. She and came to the school to deal with it personally. The Weasleys made Ron apologize to both him and Hermione, then apologized themselves. Of course, Mike got in trouble for punching Ron, but it was nowhere near as bad as Ron's punishment. The twins later told him that their mother said that Ron was grounded for the entire summer when school ended. Ron has been avoiding him since. He's completely fine with this development.

Marzanna blinked as the memories faded, and she found herself in her mindscape. She stared at her feet for a few minutes. Though almost all of that was important, she couldn't help but focus on one thing. That crushing guilt and endless sorrow Mike felt for her. She shook herself from thinking about it a few moments later, when she did she realized she could sense someone in her mind.

Making her way to the intruder, she was surprised at who it was, "Mike?!"

He whirled around to face her, and gaped for a moment, then suddenly he was hugging her incredibly tightly for a human. She happily returned the hug.

Mike took a shuddering breath, then a moment later buried his face in her neck, "Marzanna, I-"

She remembers that crushing guilt, and knows he's trying to apologize. She'd never blamed him though, so she doesn't want to hear it, "Ssh. I know, I know. I forgive you. Not your fault anyway, never blamed you. I missed you."

He let out another shuddering breath, "I missed you too. So much. So very much."

They cling to each other for a few minutes, then Mike takes a deep breath, and slowly pulls back. He glanced around for a moment, then looked back at her, "Do you know where we are? I don't."

She smiled at him, "Doesn't it seem familiar?" looking sound again he nodded slowly, and her smile got bigger, "It should. This is my mindscape."

He jerked in obvious shock, "Oh. Well that explains its familiarity. Even if I've never been in your mind, our bond does link our minds together." she nodded, then he grinned at her, "Soooooo..."

Considering what Marzanna just saw, she's certain he saw something similar about her. So Marzanna knew exactly what he wanted to know, but she wasn't going to tell him anything if she could help it. As such it was no surprise her tone was sharp, "So."

Mike continued to grin like a cat that got the canary, "Kirito, huh?"

She punched him in the shoulder while hissing at him to shut up. Even as he rubbed his arm his grin didn't budge. She glared, before remembering a certain brunette, then smirked at him while slyly asking, "You and that Hermione girl are getting awfully close rather quickly aren't you?"

Her efforts were rewarded with blush, and she immediately flashed a victorious smirk. He glared at her, "Well played, sister mine, well played."

She grinned, "I know. I'm awesome like that." she glanced away, then sighed, "I gotta get back, and you probably should too. Could you tell everyone I love them, I miss them, and that I'm fine?" she hesitated as the memory of Remus and Sirius, both depressed over her 'death' went through her mind, "And could you tell Remus and Sirius too? For those two could you also tell them I'm happy with my family, but I miss them terribly?"

Mike sighed, "Of course you silly girl. I'll miss you, the rest of your family already does, so get through that twisted game as quickly as you can, ok?"

She nodded, "Of course. I'll miss you too. You better be careful in that stupid tournament, or I'll kick your ass, and never forgive you." she paused then added, "Oh, and the egg is Mermish. You need to listen to it underwater. It also means the second task probably has something to do with water. I have a book on water related spells in my devil bringer. Ask Nero to retrieve it, he'll know what I'm talking about."

He gave an amused snort, then nodded. A moment later he faded away. Nodding to herself, she left her mindscape as well. Kirito was probably worried, depending on how much time had passed.

Omake/Missing Scene(Explained in AN at top):

The boss raid meeting had finished a few hours ago. Since then, Hanna and Kirito had gotten some lunch, went to some shops to make sure they had everything they needed, and did various other preparations for tomorrow's raid. Now it was 6:38:

Hanna glanced at Kirito, "Do you what to do some grinding?"

Kirito hummed in thought, "The sun will go down soon. The mobs will be twice as ferocious then."

Hanna nodded, "Yes, but they'll also drop more xp and items. An extra level or two is always a good thing."

Kirito laughed lightly, "To true. Alright then. Where do you want to grind?"

Hanna grinned, "Let's go to the labyrinth."

Kirito jerked, "What? The labyrinth? But the mobs there are already twice as strong as regular mobs. Since it's almost night time they'll be more ferocious than usual."

Hanna nodded, "Yes, but the system always boosts drops and xp whenever mobs become stronger. Which means we'll get a lot more xp and drops than usual." seeing Kirito hesitate, Hanna sighed, "Alright, if you think it's too risky we'll go somewhere else to grind. It was just an idea."

Kirito seemed to contemplate for a moment, then sighed, "No. We'll go to the labyrinth. The stronger we are, the higher our chances of surviving this twisted game. The higher the gain, the higher the risk. So it'll be worth it, but..." he gave her a worried glance, "Promise me we'll be more careful than usual. We'll heal more often, and retreat earlier at the very least."

Hanna nodded with a smile.

Kirito and Hanna had been in the labyrinth for over five hours. Currently they were sitting side by side resting in one of the safe zones. From the outside, all the labyrinths looked like solid stone, but they weren't. Sometimes they had windows, or stairs circling the outside. This particular one, had safe zones that were large balconies.

Hanna looked at her clock when she noticed a change in her peripheral. It read 11:59:01. She nudged her companion, "Kirito, look. The clock is counting the seconds until New Year's."

He blinked, then glanced down and to the right, "Ya. I'd forgotten it was New Year's Eve, to be honest."

She nodded. They silently watched the clock tick away til there were ten seconds left, then Hanna started counting down out loud, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Happy New Year's Kirito."

Kirito smiled at her, "Happy New Year's Hanna."

Abruptly a large 'boom' and a flash of color startled them. Looking out over the rest of the floor, they realized fireworks were going off. Hanna smiled lightly, "I guess Kayaba programmed then in to celebrate New Year's."

Kirito nodded. Two dings notified them both to new messages. Sharing a glance they opened them to find a system generated message. At the top was a large banner, in bold letters it said, "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's!" Below that was a short letter, "Congratulations for surviving so far. Please select one of the following as a Christmas/New Year's gift:

250,000 col

30 large health potions

Two of every type of crystal"

Hanna glanced at Kirito, "Potions or crystals? We may not be rich, but we aren't hurting for money either, so I don't think either of us should go for that."

Kirito hummed in agreement, "Two of every type of crystal? Then there'll be teleport crystals in there, those alone make that option amazing. Healing crystals too, but at this point we don't have enough health for a potion to not be able to fully heal us. So the 30 health potions is very tempting. Technically we could each pick one, then split them. One of each crystal each and 15 health potions for each of us. On the other hand, having four teleport crystals instead of two would be fantastic."

Hanna nodded, "Potions aren't overly expensive, but having 30 large healing potions would be very nice." Kirito nodded, and Hanna sighed, "But, I agree having four teleport crystals would be awesome." contemplating it for a few minutes Hanna shook her head, "We can buy potions if we need them, let's just both pick the crystals."

Kirito thought for a moment, then nodded. After picking the crystals and confirming the choice, a little message appeared in front of them, "Items received:

2 Antidote crystals

2 Healing crystals

2 Teleport crystals

2 Message Record crystals

2 Screen Shot crystals"

Hanna gave the message a strange look, "Message Record and screen shot crystals?"

She glanced at Kirito who just gave her an equally perplexed shrug. She shook her head with an amused grin, then sighed in contentment as she leaned her head against Kirito's shoulder, "Today's been a good day hadn't it? We've got the next boss planned out. My idea on grinding in the labyrinth worked spectacularly, bringing then both up to level 21(2). And we secured ourselves four teleport crystals."

Kirito had been mildly startled when she leaned against him, but relaxed and leaned his own head against hers while she was talking, "Ya. We should start grinding in the labyrinth at night regularly. Four levels each is pretty crazy."

Hanna hummed in agreement, "It's not that crazy. The mobs are a lot more difficult, so we had to retreat from almost a sixth of the fights. No the results aren't crazy, but other people would probably think we are for trying it. Most people refuse to even go out to regular grinding spots at night. It's pretty much considered taboo to go to the labyrinth.'

Kirito nodded, "They'd either think we're completely insane, or consider the fact we survived as more evidence that we're beaters."

Hanna nodded, but couldn't find it in her to be annoyed at the mention of their beater statuses. Both the outcome of her day and leaning against Kirito made her far too content to care.

(1): Normally I don't call things by their name unless I think the character whose pov I'm writing in would know the name, but I wasn't sure how to describe this, so I just called it by its name. If you don't know what it is, just Google it. Though the canopy would be hung much farther up then the pictures there show.

(2): I looked it up, in canon around this time, Kirito was level 17 and Asuna was level 16. So it's not far off.