AN: So, I totally forgot to mention it last chapter, but Dezi (Mike's middle name) means, 'To be filled with yearning or sorrow', which actually has meaning story wise considering Mike's former (and still there even if lessened) guilt over not listening to Marzanna and seeing what kind of man James was. With that out of the way, I hope you guys appreciate how hard it is to write when you're coughing every 5-30 seconds and having to pause every couple of minutes to blow your nose because I've been sick and that's what I've been having to put up with. Actually, I was so sick that that was me getting better, and that didn't start happening til Friday, so you guys are super lucky that the muses were really cooperative this week because I've only really been able to work on this chapter since Friday, and even then, I'm only just finishing this at 12:33 am today, Monday, the day it's getting posted. Also, I don't know if all of you will realize this, or if you'll just think I'm wording things weirdly, but I very purposefully dropped all use of the names Marzanna and Hanna unless someone is calling her one or she's thinking about the differences between the two. I felt like this would add to the whole identity issue thing, and I still stand by that, but good god was it difficult to remember. I even struggled with wording every now and then.

Review Responses:

Tempestae Night- Yea, no kidding right? I'm the writer and I don't envy the schedule she's going to have...

Angel Winx- The idea that you enjoy it so much that I got you to at least look into SAO and Devil May Cry is amazing and humbling and it makes me smile So Much, don't get me wrong, but seriously, how did you even find this without knowing about SAO. Unlike AO3, FF doesn't slow crossovers amongst the non-crossovers of a fandom. So you shouldn't have been able to find this without looking in the HP/SAO crossover section. And I actually do try to not have large paragraphs, I'm well aware how having too large paragraphs can mess with readers after years of being one myself, but sometimes I get carried away and forget or there isn't a good place to break a paragraph. It was mostly the former last chapter. I didn't even realize there were so many large paragraphs until you reviewed. Sorry about that.

harlequin320- I know right? The only mention whatsoever that he gives to them having issues after twofucking years in a death game is that they attend counseling. That's it. Nothing else, just, 'they're in counseling'. I was really anxious and worried about not having done it right, so I'm glad to have some reassurance on that, and I'm really glad you like it! Like I said in the AN, I actually purposely dropped almost all usage of her names this chapter in service of her struggling with it. I'm honestly not sure how many people will pick up on why (which is why I mentioned it in the AN), but I felt like it'd add to her uncertainty over the issue to have the fic itself distance itself from name usage unless it made sense for a specific character to refer to her by a specific name or she was thinking of the issue herself. It was actually surprisingly difficult to drop almost all mentions of the main character's name, but I feel like it was worth it, even if most people probably won't pick up on it.

harripotterette- Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Don't worry about it, it's totally understandable, a very small percent of my readers review anyway. While lots of fic writers seem to like to try and tie everything together, and it's fascinating to read if done right, I tend to try and keep a nice level of realism, and honestly, does everything in your life tie together and relate into one large elegant web? I sincerely doubt it. While it all means something to you, you're the focal point of those different threads. Sure, some of them probably intersect, and they all probably get influenced minorly by the fact they're all happening to one person and things like scheduling and financing (for actually planned things rather than random unplanned events, though they also take a slice of one's finite amount of time) cause them to be vaguely linked, but that's about it, and other than that probably not all that many of them actually cross.

January 27th, 2025

She opens her eyes, allowing her intense concentration to fade and pulling up memories of her time in Aincrad. Almost immediately a sigh echoes around her, "I'm sorry Mistress, but that doesn't seem to have worked either. I'm still picking up on everything with perfect clarity."

She blows out a harsh breath in frustration at the latest failure to create some sort of block between her and her weapons, "I'm starting to wonder if this is even possible Shuraba. Given that you're an intrinsic part of me, it's a possibility that attempting to create a block between us is futile."

There's a growl before Osiris speaks up, "I certainly fucking hope not. It's only been a couple days and I'm already getting fed up with how pitiful you've been recently."

She purses her lips, unsure how to respond to that. Given how prideful her scythe was, it wasn't surprising that Osiris wasn't taking her recent… issues very well, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Without answering but with plenty of frustration, she goes back to studying her Occlumency book in the hopes of finding some sort of solution.

After a few minutes, Aquila speaks up in a thoughtful voice, "Lady Marzanna, has it occurred to you that perhaps you are going about this incorrectly?"

She lowers her book with a frown, "How so? I mean, we've already thought about that and tried multiple methods already. Everything from trying to alter the blocks meant to keep other people out to the type of mental defences meant to protect against possession or control from curses and cursed artifacts."

She hadn't been to happy about that last one to be honest. She'd initially skipped over the chapter about defences against cursed artifacts given that her weapons were an extension of herself, initially anyway, they'd grown to more than that, but that was still their origin. After a couple days though, Shuraba had suggested trying those to see if they'd help. She hadn't liked the idea at all, the very thought of likening her weapons to such artefacts was wrong somehow, disturbing her to her core. In the end it had been a mute point, the mental tactics for defending against such things hadn't helped in the slightest. She'd almost been glad in a way.

Aquila hums, "Well, from my understanding, a lot of Occlumency is how you think of things, correct? For instance, if you think of thoughts and emotions like the ocean in that it's in constant motion but can sweep you away, then your mindscape is likely to appear as an ocean. You think of them as the written word, as though they are snippets from books, thus your mind is a library, your thoughts, memories, and emotions sorting themselves into their respective volumes. But where are they before they are sorted? They are like… Like radio waves, invisible, but filling the air. You cannot block us from the very air, nor the air from us. Mindscape it may be, but the interaction between us is as natural and constant for us as it is for any land animal in the real world."

Snapping her book closed, she tilts her head back thoughtfully. Aquila had a point actually. If that was the case though, it should theoretically be as easy as changing how she imagines her thoughts. Though she hadn't thought of them as radio waves, she also hadn't really given much thought to how they were before sorting. They'd just been pieces of the collective whole that was whatever book or book set they belonged in.

She taps her fingers on her book, trying to think of how to change her perception. The first thing that popped into her mind was the term 'surface thoughts' but she hastily discards it before it can take hold. There was a reason her mind was a cavern after all. Though her brother might not have realized it, he'd circumvented the vast majority of her defences simply by using their bond to enter her mind, then had been lucky enough that she'd recognized him and subconsciously let him past the rest.

If he'd been trying to enter her mind like someone without near direct access to her nexus point, he'd have appeared at the bottom of a mountain, near the top of which a nigh impregnable fortress rests. That was her first line of defense, a complete fake out at where everything that was her was kept. In all actually, her mind was thousands of miles below the mountain and it's fortress filled with dozens upon dozens of traps and defenses, along with fake thoughts, memories, and emotions for additional realism. Of course, in one's mind everything must be connected and accessible in some manner, no matter how complicated, otherwise you'd end up with split personalities.

That said, the connection between the fortress and her underground haven was very well hidden, at least in her opinion. The entrance was quite literally hidden inside a high security vault, that contained fake highly important memories to trick people into believing that was what she was hiding. The vault in and of itself was hidden amongst the branching pathways, all leading to multiple fake vaults, of a secret passageway that was hidden inside a secret room. A secret vault hidden in a secret passageway that in and of itself was in hidden in a secret room in the dungeon of the fortress had been confusing enough for most people, despite knowing that the fortress had to be a trick due to the memories inside and knowing her so well, even Uncle Severus hadn't been able to find his way into her underground cavern, and he was the most skilled person in the mind arts that she knew, which included her grandparents.

She'd taken a bit of inspiration from Aincrad during her time there though, and added to it. Instead of one rather straightforward dungeon level, she'd memorized and included one level of the labyrinth maze from nearly every floor, including the mobs and traps, and had made those her into her dungeon levels. There were sixty four in total, and due to the varying styles in danger of each floor in the game, you couldn't really use past experience to deal with any particular level of her dungeon. She'd been a bit more clever though. Most people trying to break into someone's mind would expect there to be something on the bottom level, after all, that would make every other floor a defense or at least a stalling tactic against someone trying to invade. Though it was a bit risky since she was sacrificing the extra defenses the addition seventeen floors below it would give her, she'd placed the hidden entrance roughly two thirds of the way down to throw people off even further.

Even then, anyone wanting access would still need to figure out how to gain access to those secret areas, and opening the doors was in and of itself rather of a hidden process. For instance, the hidden room was designed to seem like she was trying to jealously guard her knowledge in rituals and was thus designed as an ideal indoors workplace for rituals. The knowledge she was 'guarding' was in books stored along the walls, but there was all sorts of ritual materials as well. Just to find the secret passageway, you had to do a very specific magic purifying ritual from ancient Egyptian times, the idea being that you were 'purifying' the magic hiding the door, even though that wasn't how the ritual actually worked at all, which was partially why she'd chosen it. Even if someone thought to use a ritual, and actually knew the specific one required, how likely was it that they'd think to use one that worked entirety differently in real life? Not very, but even if they did that was just to reveal the door. To open it, they'd have to complete an old Norse divination ritual.

Much like the Egyptian ritual, the actual thing and the metaphorical 'key' to her mental door affects didn't line up. Though she'd made that choice knowing that if an intruder somehow managed to catch on with the Egyptian ritual that the rituals weren't exact equivalents that it would only make it more difficult to pinpoint which ritual was needed to open the door. In real life, if the Norse ritual was done right it could grant the caster visions about whatever questions they had, provided they had the mental fortitude to keep the questions firmly in mind through the pain the ritual brought. In her mindscape, she'd used the concept that it was 'designed to seek knowledge' to apply it as the locking mechanism, with her actual innermost thoughts and the like being the knowledge the caster was perusing. And the other hidden doors had similarly convoluted processes to open them.

However, all of that would be absolutely fucking pointless if she viewed anything as of yet unsorted as surface thoughts, because then they'd appear on the surface, and they likely wouldn't even be in the fortress! While all her already sorted memories would be safe, basically any thought or emotions unsorted would be free game to anyone even mildly skilled in Legilimency! And while her Occlumency was advanced enough that her mind could sort everything subconsciously, and thus automatically, it didn't happen instantaneously. Thoughts needed to finish the entire line they'd been following and emotions had to fully play out before her subconscious could decide whether the entire 'chunk' could stay together or if it needed to be 'cut' and sorted in separate places due to abrupt shifts, and if it was the latter she needed to decide where the cut needed to happen, and if it could be clean or if she needed to duplicate some the bits before and after the cut so that both segments would still make sense on their own. That all happened rather quickly, but quick wasn't instantaneous. No. Surface thoughts was a very bad, filthy term for her to allow her mind to apply.

After taking a deep breath to calm himself from the mere thought of negating all her hard work with such an amateur mistake, she returns to the problem at hand. Surface may be bad terminology for her in particular, but roof wasn't necessarily so. The roof to her cavern was just as protected as the rest of it was after all. Maybe… When she'd been freaking out that last day in Aincrad enough to disrupt her automatic sorting, her emotions had appeared as electricity, and her thoughts as scraps of paper, at least, that's what she'd been told later. It would be easy enough to think of her unsorted emotions as electricity clinging to the roof, but she wasn't sure the scraps would work. Her thoughts had probably appeared like that because her panic had disjointed them somewhat, despite being different aspects of the same subjects, the subjects being the boss fight and Kirito's duel with Kayaba of course. It was a bit more difficult to think of things already cut up when they shouldn't yet be as her thoughts.

She ponders the problem for a few minutes before her thoughts are abruptly cut into by Eryx's voice, "Maybe you're not thinking of it right, Anna."

She blinks rapidly in surprise. The personality of her demonic gauntlets tended to be rather quiet and didn't often speak up, unfortunately when she did she tended not to feel the need to fully elaborate, like now. She didn't exactly want change her weapons personalities, but the incomplete ideas often left her more confused and since Eryx tended to remain quiet even when a more in depth explanation was asked for, it usually had to be explained by Aquila, who was most familiar with the other personality and often had a good idea of what she meant.

It's for that reason that she doesn't bother prompting Eryx and instead turns her attention to Aquila, "What exactly does she mean by that? How else would I think of it but with the written word? They're thoughts! A collection of mental observations, opinions, and ideas!"

There's a brief pause, and even though she'd only known about her weapons personalities for five days, she knew them well enough to know that Aquila and Eryx were silently staring at each other as Aquila tried to figure out Eryx's thought process. After a moment of this quite, Aquila hummed in understanding, "Lady Marzanna, the thoughts being in words wasn't what Eryx was referring to as wrong, it was the idea that they are papers that need to be cut into the correct segments. Perhaps you should think of them instead literal words not on paper to be put together in their proper places during sorting."

She tilts her head slowly as she contemplates the thought. What they were suggesting was like that trick some people used where they wrote in the air with their wands, only it would be her thoughts popping into existence as they occurred and waited to be sorted. The idea certainly had merit, and she couldn't see any other problems with this latest attempt, so she closes her eyes in concentration. For a skilled Occlumens, it was a simple matter to shift one's way of thinking of things if you simply focused, so changing her perception to have her emotions and thoughts represented as the color varying electricity and unanchored floating strings of words respectively was easy. Thinking about it for another moment, she creates a simple translucent shield between her unsorted thoughts and emotions and the memories they join together to form, though she specifically creates it with the thought in mind that messages meant for each other should be able to pass between her and her weapons personalities easily. Once she's done, she opens her eyes and allows her thoughts to drift to what else in Aincrad she can take inspiration from to increase her mental defences. Perhaps using some of the bosses as obstacles?

After a few moments of her musing, Shuraba speaks up again, though she sounds anxious rather than apologetic this time, "Mistress? Can you hear me? I'm assuming you've already tried testing the new set up, but we didn't get anything, nor did you react when I was asking the others if they picked anything up, so I'm assuming it's working. Please tell me the purposeful messages are getting through though, this solution doesn't work if it blocks us from each other completely…"

She smiles happily at the success, then purposely 'directs' her thoughts towards her various weapons, "I hear you just as clearly as before Shuraba, but no I didn't hear you talking amongst yourselves and yes I was already testing whether you'd hear regular thoughts. You can hear me, yea?"

There's a sigh of relief, "Perfectly Mistress. It seems to have been a resounding success."

With practiced ease, she appears at the nexus point of her mindscape, where her weapons personalities are gathered, with a grin, "That's great! Not that I exactly have anything to hide from you guys, I mean, ignoring the fact you're part of me, you've got total unrestricted access to literally everything in my mind, but there's something about it being whatever I'm thinking and feeling right now that makes it… weird, more personal somehow, if that makes any sense. I'm glad to have the privacy, in any case."

Shuraba smiles, "It makes perfect sense to me Mistress, besides we have privacy between ourselves and even from you, so it's not very fair that you didn't have privacy from us."

She nods lightly. A bit of experimenting had revealed that Shuraba and the others didn't have their own mindscapes. Being extensions of her soul that had gained sentience of their own, they shared her mindscape. Though they could technically change her mindscape as they pleased, there wasn't any bookshelves or anything storing their memories. Eventually they came to the conclusion that their mental forms were basically walking talking storages for their memories.

A sudden idea hits her and she looks around thoughtfully. Though they could change her mindscape to their will, they tended not to out of respect of it being hers, despite the fact they shared it now. She'd tried telling them that since it was as much theirs as it was hers as long as they didn't mess with any traps or outright get rid of anything, which would damage memories at the least and her mind at the most, they were free to change things to their liking. She was fairly certain Osiris was the only one to take her up on the offer, making a little room for herself near Pandora's box.

With another grin, she concentrates hard on expanding the nexus point, pushing everything outwards as the center expands. Once it's large enough for her satisfaction, she builds a fairly large house in it. Another few moments of particularly fierce concentration and her mindscape bends around Mike's quidditch pitch as it drags itself to be at the back of the house. Another thought moves Kazuto's open aired room(s) to be an actual master bedroom suit, just without a bathroom seeing as that wasn't necessary here.

Finally opening her eyes as she finishes, she turns a grin to her surprised looking weapons, "You don't have to if you don't want to, but I figured since no one else had taken me up on the offer to make themselves more comfortable, I'd make someplace where you don't have to worry about changing anything that already exists. There's plenty of blank empty rooms, or suites if you want to expand, for everyone to design to their preference. Just don't mess with the black door, that goes to Kazuto's connection to me. It's impossible to miss, every other door is white." She turns her gaze to Osiris, "I didn't mess with your room, it's still out by Pandora. Do you want to keep it there, or move it here? Of course, you could also have two rooms if you want, and could even link them via portal doors."

Osiris tilts her head in thought, then shrugs, "Don't know yet, but I have basically the same amount of control here that you do, so I can change things later myself depending on my decision."

She nods, then turns to the others and gives them a go ahead gesture. All but Eryx heads inside, so she turns to her faithful if quiet and sometimes confusing gauntlets. Eryx was pale with dull grayish blue hair held by a lazily worn headband that actually did little to nothing to hold her hair out of her eyes which were dark orange eyes and usually half lidded, like she was bored with what was going on around her, though that was rarely actually the case.

Those same bored looking eyes were staring at her as everyone else disappeared inside, "Something wrong?"

Eryx shakes her head with a slight frown, "... Don't know what I want Anna."

She smiles warmly, "Sure. Do you just want me to design your room for you right now? You could always change anything later."

The other girl nods slowly after a moment of thought, "... Near Aquila."

Her smile widens, "Of course. We can put you right next to her in fact, and if you both agree, you could connect your rooms with a door."

Eryx smiles slightly, "... Thank you Anna."

She smiles again before leading the other girl inside. Eryx had taken to calling her Anna due to her identity issue. As Eryx reasoned, they both ended with Anna even if it was pronounced slightly differently, so no matter which she was it was technically correct. Most of the others had tried following Eryx's lead, but hadn't possessed the natural edge that Eryx had, often they'd stumbled over her name. She appreciated the sentiment, but she'd eventually just asked them to stop forcing it. They were just another thing that Marzanna had and Hanna lacked. That had been much the same reason Osiris had been the odd one out in the attempt from the others, barring Shuraba who didn't actually use a name but a title. As far as she was concerned, Hanna had never used a scythe once, much less her so it was Marzanna alone, the girl who had been the one to forge her as an extension of herself to begin with that claimed the right to wield her. It does make her wonder though. Undoubtful as it was seeing as Marzanna had her family, if for some reason she did decide she was Hanna and Hanna alone, would Osiris no longer respond to her?

She brushes the concerning though aside when she sees the mostly blue and white form of Aquila waiting outside the bedroom she'd clearly claimed, the dark blue door covered in stars was a bit of a dead giveaway. She smiles at the other woman who'd clearly been waiting for Eryx so she'd know which room she picked, "Hey Aquila, do you want a door connecting you two's bedrooms? I'm pretty sure Eryx does."

The no-nonsense personality of her only throwing weapon nods firmly and gives them a brief smile before entering her room, likely to decorate. Aquila had dark blue eyes, hair, and clothing, but was rather pale and had bright white angelic wings. One of the only two of her weapons manifestations that had wings at all in fact, the other being Arbiter who had demonic bat like wings, though unlike Aquila's full sized ones, Arbiter's wings were a bit on the small side. She could understand why Aquila had angelic wings and Arbiter demonic ones, those were their respective natures as weapons, but more than once she'd wondered why only those two had them. Personality maybe? But then, that didn't really explain Arbiter's. For all that her appearance could be a bit on the unnerving side and her rough way of speaking, she was actually generally very sweet by nature.

Shaking the wayward thought off, she turns to the ever patient Eryx and gives her another smile before leading her inside her new bedroom to get started.

February 1st, 2025

She's revising for her exams in the kitchen, mostly to soothe her mother who worries nowadays if she disappears into her room for to long, when the sound of the floo in the study roaring to life reaches her. Using her finger as a bookmark in her textbook, she heads off to the study to sate her curiosity.

She's a bit surprised to find her twin waiting off to the side of the fireplace, but before she can ask her question is answered by Hermione stumbling through. The brunette would've fallen flat on her face if Mike hadn't caught her, and she lets out a frustrated sigh as she straightens and pulls away, "Ooh, I hate floo travel!"

Her twin smiles warmly, "Only because you're not very good at it. Unless someone's there to catch you, you always end up on your face."

That earns her brother a light smack on the arm before Hermione sighs again, "Thanks for catching me…"

His smile widens, "I'll always be there to catch you."

Hermione blushes, and she feels her brother begin to panic at his possible mistake. Without hesitation she steps into the room fully to both save her brother and simultaneously greet him, "Mike!"

Her brother whirls around with a huge smile, and a mental wave of relief and gratitude, "Marzanna! You're looking a lot better already!"

She hugs her brother in greeting, which he enthusiastically returns, and immediately her breath hitches as that knot of anxiety in her chest that's been there almost the entire time she's been home loosens considerably. Without thinking about it, she tightens her grip on her brother, burying her face into his neck. She feels a wave of concern from him, but simply shakes her head. She honestly doesn't know why… It hits her like a speeding train. Mike had been Marzanna's brother when they were younger, and after they reunited, but he'd also accepted Hanna with ease when he experienced her memories, including one where he was literally in her place as she killed someone. Admittedly one of the ones that had threatened her mate and she didn't much care for, but he'd nonetheless lived through one of her murders from her perspective, plus he knew of the others and he hadn't pushed her away in the slightest. Mike was the only one that accepted her, no matter who she was and despite the blood on her hands. Even if he called her Marzanna, that was simply because that was her name as far as he knew, she was certain that if she told him it was Hanna instead that he'd accept it with ease.

She trembles at the realization, and Mike tightens his grip, "Marzanna?"

She shakes her head again, and just clings to him for a few more moments before reluctantly pulling away a bit and changing the subject back to the previous topic, "Nephilim and all. Fast recovery. Not that I'm fully recovered, mind you. Dad and Uncle Vergil think it'll be about another week to a week and a half at the pace we've been going. So, how on earth did you two manage to get away?"

He hesitates briefly, clearly unsure if he should just let it go, then shakes it off gives her a relieved look, "I'm glad your recovery is going well." Then he gets a mischievous grin, "But technically speaking, we didn't get away. As far as anyone but Uncle Severus knows, we're somewhere in the castle, even if they don't know exactly where. And since it's Saturday, it's unlikely anyone will be looking for us."

Her lips twitch, "Uncle Severus let you escape through his floo? Really?"

Mike shrugs, "It took a lot of convincing, but yea, he did."

She shakes her head with a grin then turns to the brunette, "You must be Hermione. I've heard quite a bit about you."

The other girl smiles, "I am, and likewise Marzanna." Her gaze drops to the book and her eyebrow raises, "Intermediate Transfiguration? Are you revising for your OWLs?"

She gives the book a rather irritated look, "Yes. I was pretty far ahead in most of my classes due to private tutoring from my family, enough so that I'm fairly confident I can at least pass my OWLs with a bit of revision, but Transfiguration has always been my worse subject. Though that's probably because I hate it."

Hermione's eyes widen, "Hate Transfiguration?" The brunette says it with such dumbfounded disbelief that it almost pulls a smile from her. Hermione shakes her head wildly, "How could you hate Transfiguration? I mean, it's so fascinating, changing the matter of one thing into that of another. I suppose it is difficult, but that's no reason-"

She shakes her head and the other girl cuts off to give her an inquisitive look, so she explains with a bit of a sheepish smile "It's not exactly fair to Transfiguration, but it's not because of its difficulty that I can't stand it. If that were the case I wouldn't be taking things like Warding and Spell Crafting. No, that's not why I can't stand it. The problem I have with Transfiguration was that it was always Potter's favourite branch of magic, his forte, and it always reminds me of him. Which again, isn't very fair to Transfiguration and it's probably a bit silly as well, but…"

She shrugs, "It didn't doesn't change how I feel. Nor does it change the fact that I've always struggled with it because of that hatred. Which is why I'm studying it now. It's the only OWL I'm actually worried about, and I'll definitely have to do revision on it multiple times if I want to pass. Which I do. I figure if I had to be forced to take the class for four years because it's a core subject, that I better at least fucking pass."

Hermione nods, "Yea, that's understandable I suppose. Both things that is. Err… Would you… like some help revising? I mean, we just came by because Mike wanted to see everyone, but if you struggle with it I'd be happy to help…"

She nods with a smile, "Sure. Thank you."

The other girl flushes, "N-No problem. I'm actually pretty good at Transfiguration anyway, so…"

Turing to her brother she tilts her head, "Aunt Trish and Aunt Lady are manning the New York shop and Dad and Nero are seeing to the Japan shop. Grandpa is in the forge making some replica weapons. Uncle Vergil is going over some finances right now, but you can't go see him at the moment because Grandma is also meeting with a client, from what little I heard, it sounds like a couple of that bastard Agnus' pseudo hell gates have cropped up in the UK, though the client obviously doesn't know what a hell gate is, so I can't say for sure. Aunt Kat is out with Kyrie grocery shopping, and Mom's going around tidying up."

Mike nods, "I'll go say hi, see how everyone's doing, then join you two in a bit, alright?"

They nod, then part ways. Heading back into the kitchen, she opens her book and sets it on the table before turning her gaze to the brunette seriously, "Listen… I'm not going to beat around the bush. My brother has feelings for you. Romantic feelings."

Hermione flushes brightly, "W-What? D-Don't be preposterous. Mike doesn't-"

She shakes her head, "He does. Did he even tell you what happened that first time he came to see me? How after so many years apart, our bond allowed us to see some of each other's memories as it resynchronized?" Hermione nods slowly, clearly unsure, but she simply continues, "That was after the Yule Ball. Do you have any idea how much you hurt him when he had to backtrack and say that he was asking to go simply as friends?" Hermione's eyes widen, but she continues with a tired sigh, "I'm not saying you have to reciprocate my brothers feelings, I'm just saying that you have to make a decision and tell him. That fool brother of mine… Your friendship means to much too him to even remotely hint at it after the ball, but at the same time he's only letting himself wallow in what he firmly believes is false hope because you've never outright rejected him, simply hesitated about the ball. It's tearing him up, so you need to say something, whatever that decision may be. That said… I like you Hermione, I think we could be great friends, but if you do reject my brother, you better damn well do it gently, because if you break my brother's heart, I will hurt you."

Hermione stares at her for a few moments, "I understand, but are you kidding me? I've been trying to hint at us going on a proper date, not just wandering down to Hogsmeade as friends, for over a year now and he just doesn't seem to freaking pick up on it! Though now that you tell me that, I suppose it makes more sense… Idiot boy! I didn't hesitate when he asked me to the ball because I wasn't unwilling to try, I've never had anyone even remotely interested in me like that, of course I- Urgh!" She fumes for a few moments, then let's out an aggravated sigh, "I'm going to have to be blunt with him, aren't I?"

She hums in agreement, "Undoubtedly. My brother can be a stubborn, blind, idiot sometimes."

There's a few moments of silence, then the very person they were talking about wanders in, stopping beside Hermione, "Everything alright I'm here? I thought I heard shouting."

Hermione turns to give him a look that's partially irritated and partially thoughtful, "Perfectly fine. We were just talking about how moronic boys can be. You in particular."

Her brother jolts at that, "M-Me? What'd I do?"

Hermione shakes her head before seeming to reach a decision. Standing up, she quickly reaches out to grab his collar just as he starts to nervously back away, then yanks him down into a frustrated kiss. She grins as her brother flails momentarily, practically feeling his brain short circuit before pointedly blocking their connection, having no desire whatsoever to know what starts going through her brother's head after he recovers from the shock. As soon as he begins eagerly returning the kiss and she's therefore sure he isn't going to muck it by doing something stupid like pulling away in panic, she pointedly turns her attention back to her Transfiguration textbook in smug satisfaction.

After a few moments, the sounds of the two kissing stop, and a panting Hermione firmly informs Mike, "You are a dense moron, and I fully expect you to take me on a proper date soon, not just going to Hogsmeade as friends, like I've been hinting at for over a year now, understand?" She glances up to see her brother, seemingly to dazed for speech, nodding absently as he stares at Hermione with a sort of fragile but hopeful awe. Hermione nods, "Good. As long as we understand each other, you should go back to visiting your family while I help your sister with her Transfiguration. We'll have plenty of time together at Hogwarts after all."

He looks reluctant, but nods and begins to wander out before seeming to realize something and whirling around, "Wait a second! Marzanna, you told her?! You-"

Hermione cuts him of, "Never mind that, she was only trying to look out for you." He opens his mouth to protest, but Hermione pushes on, "Besides, I wasn't joking or exaggerating when I said I'd been hinting at you taking me on a date for over a year. Honestly, I was beginning to think you did notice and just weren't interested, and give up on it."

Mike gives her a horrified look, then nods shakily before leaving. Hermione blushes a bit after he leaves, "... I didn't expect him to take that last part so badly."

She shrugs, "My brother's got it bad for you. I'm sure you'll see for yourself in time if you're going to be dating. So, Vanishing?"

Hermione jolts out of her thoughts, then gives her a slight smile, "Right, of course."

February 7th, 2025

She nervously stares at the building in front of her. Being a 'SAO survivor' it hadn't taken much for her mother to set up counseling sessions, especially since this entire facility was on the grounds they were working on setting up the school and like the school was for those that had been in SAO, they'd also gotten a bit of help from Kikouka in order to make sure she got one of the counselors who knew of magic. She was rather nervous though.

Easily picking up on it, Nero places a hand on her shoulder, "It's alright Zanna. We did a thorough check, and while one of the counselors was working for demons, they've been… taken care of. You don't have anything to worry about, alright?"

She bites her lip, but nods slowly. Her dad, Aunt Kat, and Nero had come with her in a show a support, but it didn't do much to soothe her anxiety. Taking a deep breath, she makes her way through the door, then scowls. The door had a small hallway that led into a reception area, but the end of the hallway was blocked by a few people who were chatting amongst each other. She didn't recognize most of them, but she was pretty sure she vaguely recognized one of them as a member of the DDA, which meant the others likely were as well.

Moving forward, she crosses her arms, "Excuse me, but you're kinda blocking the door."

One of them begins to turn to her with an irritated expression, "Can't you see we're-" He cuts off and pales as he sees her, "S-She-Devil Hanna! D-Did you need something?"

His friends all jolt in shock and whirl around to stare at her nervously. She scowls, "You. Are. Blocking. The. Door. Move."

He nods vigorously, "R-Right! Of course! S-Sorry!"

Without another word, he and his friends scramble away. She stares after them for a moment before Nero pulls her attention away, "She-Devil Hanna? What was that about?"

She sighs, "An ironically accurate moniker. Long story short, I lost my temper against a boss and ended up scaring the shit out of the other front liners, who ended up giving me that moniker. They never really got over it, despite the fact it was fifty floors and a year and a half ago." She shakes the memory off as she reaches the receptionist, "Err, I'm here for an appointment?"

The receptionist looks up, then smiles reassuringly, "Of course dear, name?"

She hesitates, but Kat quickly answers for her, "Sparda Marzanna."

The receptionist starts navigating her computer, likely looking for her on the schedule, then nods with a smile, "Ah, here we are. Your appointment is in five minutes. Why don't you take a seat, and I'll let them know."

She nods lightly, "Thanks…"

She flops down into one of the chairs with a sigh, but it feels like she's barely settled herself before one of the doors opens and woman calls out, "Sparda Marzanna?"

She hesitantly gets up, and the woman smiles at her, holding open the door for her. She slips by wordlessly, and the woman quickly leads her to a comfortable office, "Hello, I'm Maki Hiroko, I'll be your counselor for the foreseeable future, why don't you make yourself comfortable and we'll get started."

She seats herself on the couch unsurely, and the woman gives her another smile, "Before we get started, how do you prefer to be addressed? By your birth name, or your screen name?"

She gives the woman a started look, "Err… I… Don't really know."

Hiroko gives her a look of sympathetic understanding, "That's quite alright. Identity issues, while not the worst of the side effects we've been seeing, are perhaps one of the most common. Still it does leave me unsure how to address you."

She stares at the ground for a minute before hesitantly offering, "You could call me Anna. Eryx, an… acquaintance of mine has taken to calling me that, since it technically works either way."

The older woman smiles again, "Anna-san it is then. You've never been in counseling, correct?"

She flushes lightly, "... Is it that obvious?"

Hiroko laughs lightly, "It is rather obvious, but it being in your file doesn't hurt either. You really have no reason to be nervous Anna-san, the only intention I have is to do my best to help you." She nods in understanding, but her hesitation and nervousness don't really dissipate all that much. Seeming to pick up on that, the older woman smiles again, "We don't have much time today, but I've always felt it's best to just have a short session getting to know each other a bit first, so why don't we do that? I'll start. I recently turned twenty-six and am married. I have no siblings and I'm an orphan, but I have two aunts and three cousins I grew up with. I like coffee, rain, and manga. I can't stand strawberries or people who don't even try to understand others. A hobby of mine is drawing, though I'm admittedly not all that great at it. My goal was to be a counselor and help people, but I'm doing that now quite happily."

She fidgets slightly, then hesitantly begins, "I'm 16, and while not bonded, I was lucky enough to meet my soulmate in Aincrad." The older woman's eyes widen, but she doesn't interrupt, gesturing for her to continue, "Err, I still have my parents and even my grandparents, three aunts, four uncles, a cousin who is more like a big brother than anything along with his wife, and my older twin brother. Technically, my aunt's and all but one of my uncle's aren't actually related to me, but they're still family. Though it can be… rough, I like my job as a Demon Hunter since it lets me help people, and though I never really had a preference for any particular sort of weather before, my mate's love of cold weather and snow have caused me to enjoy such things immensely myself, and I've always loved reading. I can't stand prejudiced people, utter idiots who are as much a danger to others as they are to themselves, and manipulative assholes who think it's their right to take anything they desire. One of my hobbies is playing video games, and despite everything that still holds true. My goals are to be a great Demon Hunter and to become a Crafter, of Spells, Rituals, and Wards."

Hiroko chuckles, "Quite ambitious, aren't you? And lucky as well, to not only have met your soulmate but at such a young age…"

She hunches in on herself, "... Yea. I guess…"

Hiroko raises an eyebrow in astonishment, "You don't consider yourself lucky to have met your mate?"

She shakes her head firmly, "No. That's not it at all! I… I'm incredibly lucky to have Kazuto in my life… for however long that may be…"

Hiroko frowns upon hearing the last mumbled bit, "You think your mate will reject you?"

Her gaze drops to the floor as she gives a bitter smile, "Why wouldn't he? I… He knows about magic, but…. I don't know if you were informed, Hiroko-san, but we Spardas are Nephilim, hybrids between angels and demons. I can't imagine him wanting to stay with me when he finds out his wif- his girlfriend is not only not human but part demon. No matter who I am, his mate is either Marzanna the half demon or Hanna the murderer."

Hiroko gives her a contemplative look, "I was informed, yes. I'm assuming from your little stumble that you two were married in Aincrad?" She nods, mentally preparing herself for the 'you're too young' or 'it doesn't mean anything to have gotten married there' arguments she'd already gotten tired of in just the couple days she'd been in the hospital. To her surprise however, Hiroko simply nods, "I see. Personally, I don't think it's very fair to consider unions that happened there as illegitimate. If anything, they're even more meaningful, considering the higher level of danger present in that world. While some argue that it pushed players to emotionally exaggerate their bonds with each other and find false love as a sort of coping mechanism, from what I've personally seen, it almost seems like the opposite. With players being so focused on survival and escape along with being so suspicious of each other and jealously guarding their inventories, it seems to me like it took far more for the average player to even consider such a thing at all, given the shared inventory function."

Those words cause her to relax a bit, "For the majority of the game that was true. Towards the end though, about three months before we prematurely got out, players started to get used to Aincrad, or maybe just resign themselves to not getting out despite the steady progress the front liners had been making. I'm not quite sure which was the case, but marriages became more and more common towards the end."

Hiroko tilts her head, "I hadn't heard about that before, but I suppose it makes sense. It's surprising the sort of conditions people can acclimate themselves to given time, and after almost two years…" The older woman shakes her head, "And what of you and your mate? Were you one of the ones who married towards the end?"

She snorts, "We got married a little over a year into the game. We'd been party members since day one, and started dating about six months later. Honestly, it was pure luck we ended up meeting at all though. As I'm sure you realized on your own, I was one of the international beta testers, and while more local, he was a beta tester as well. We never actually met in the beta though. My dad had let me stay up for the official launch as long as I was asleep by a certain time, and being determined to make the most of my time I'd gone grinding almost immediately. When I couldn't log off or reach a GM, I started to get a bad feeling and took to grinding as quickly as I could. Kirito, that's his screen name, had run into a player by the name of Klein that had realized he was a beta tester from the fluidity of his movements and how he knew where he was going and had convinced him to help him learn the basics. When I got close to my weight limit, I started heading back to town, and ran into the two relaxing on a hill after Kirito had finished showing Klein the basics. Considering Kirito likely would've gone off to grind as well if they hadn't met and that we might not have met if that had been the case, you could say the only reason we met was because of Klein. He actually ended up becoming one of Kirito's best friends, and a rather good friend of mine as well…"

The woman smiles, "That's incredibly lucky then. What of Klein now? Did he survive?"

She nods with a slight smile, "Alive and still poorly flirting with basically every remotely pretty girl he meets."

Hiroko nods in understanding, then sighs, "I'd like to move back to something you mentioned earlier. You called Hanna a murderer." She tenses, and the other woman's eyes soften, "Your mother came in with Kikouka-san in person to make sure you got a counselor in the know about magic, and we talked a bit. From my understanding, while you did kill six people and 'assisted' in the deaths of two others, they were all in defense of yourself, your mate, and the other players of Aincrad, as seven of them were ruthless murderers and the last was Kayaba Akihiko, who needed to be defeated in a battle to the death before the players could go free."

She purses her lips, "That as it may be, I still killed people. While I can't bring myself to care much about the two I assisted in or the first I killed seeing as they all tried to kill my mate and my instincts won't let me care. When it comes to the other five… the ends don't justify the means. They may have been murderers that needed to be stopped, but to kill them without hesitation… What makes me any better than them in the end? I'm just as bad, aren't I?"

Hiroko sighs, "Though not magicals, two of my clients were there that day against Laughing Coffin. From what I've been told, hesitation led to the deaths of more than a few front liners when it came to those that refused to surrender. So let me ask you something. Did you kill all of the Laughing Coffin members you fought, or did you let them live if they surrendered?"

She jerks at the question, "Of course I let them live! I wouldn't just- just straight up murder someone willing to give up!"

Hiroko gives her a sad smile, "Then why is it that you can't accept that you only did what was necessary to stop those that wouldn't?"

She scowls, "Just because they wouldn't surrender doesn't mean I had to kill them…"

Hiroko raises an eyebrow, "Oh? Then tell me, how would you have subdued them otherwise? Surely you aren't seriously suggesting that those taking the ones who surrendered into custody should've attempted to subdue those who wouldn't? They would've gotten killed trying."

She purses her lips, "No of course not! I- I could've- I don't know! Broken their weapons I suppose! In that game, any weapon was liable to break if you hit it in just the right spot at the right angle. I could've done that!"

Hiroko sighs, "At which point they would've either drawn a backup weapon or teleported away. It's doubtful they could've been captured before they could do one of the two. Besides, from my understanding, unless it's a weapon that all but announces its weak point by being overly flashy, finding that 'sweet spot' and precisely striking it is nearly impossible. And again, even if you could've, they likely would've just used another weapon or escaped."

She shakes her head, "There had to be something else I could've done."

Hiroko tilts her head, "Then why didn't you think of it at the time?"

She purses her lips, "Maybe because I was selfishly more focused on my mate who I'd been separated from?"

The older woman sighs tiredly, "Perhaps. And you feel like this, along with your race will drive your mate away?"

She looks towards the ground, bitterly biting out, "How could it not? I'm a monster, plain and simple. A half demon, murdering monster. Who would want that for a mate?"

Hiroko hums, "That's a matter of perspective though, is it not? A person could just as easily argue that you're a half angel savior." She purses her lips, and Hiroko continues, "Tell me, did your mate kill anyone in Aincrad?"

She gives the woman a confused look, but answers anyway, "Yea, Kuradeel, someone who tried to kill us and one of the deaths I assisted in, Kayaba, for obvious reasons, and three others during the fight against Laughing Coffin."

Hiroko gives her a questioning look, "And do you think any less of him for that?"

She scowls a touch angry the older woman would suggest such a thing and her tone becoming sharp because of that, "No."

The older woman holds up her hands in a placating gesture, "I meant nothing by the question. I merely wonder why, if you don't hold it against him, why you think he will hold the same against you."

She purses her lips, "It isn't the same."

Hiroko raises an eyebrow, "Why? Because you aren't human?"

She shoots to her feet angrily, "Yes! It isn't right! I'm so much stronger than a human could ever be, I could easily break even the most durable of them in half if I wasn't careful! It's a disgusting abuse of power! When you're so much stronger, have so many different skills like my heritage gives me, there's always another option!"

Hiroko tilts her head, "That's true… in the real world. In Aincrad however, you were on the same playing field as everyone else. In Aincrad, you may have been stronger due to levels, but you were never inherently stronger."

She clutches her fists, "It doesn't matter. I still should've been able to find another way- I should've- should've-"

She isn't even aware her breathing is becoming dangerously erratic until Hiroko lifts her hands in a placating gesture again, "Easy Anna-san. Just take it easy. Why don't you sit back down and take a few drop breaths. The last thing I want is to drive you to a panic attack." Sitting down reluctantly, she starts forcing herself to take deep breaths, "That's it Anna-san, deep breaths. Just take your time and calm down."

After a few minutes, Hiroko smiles gently, "That's better. Why don't we come back to this topic another time, and you tell me a bit more about your time in Aincrad."

She sighs, rather reluctant to come back to the topic at all, but glad to be off of it for the time being, "Like what?"

Hiroko hums, "You said Klein was a friend of yours. Surely there were others? Why don't you tell me a bit about them? That seems like a lighter topic."

She nods lightly, "Hmm, already talked about Klein a bit, so I suppose a good place to start would be Diabel. He's one of my best friends, and the only friend I had in the beta. He can be a manipulative little shit sometimes, but I still love the guy. Non-romantically of course. Argo is the other person I'd consider my best friend, minus Kazuto but he's sort of a given as my mate. She was an information broker, she was known to be willing to sell anything but the identities of the beta testers for the right price, but I always found her far more reliable than that, though I admittedly was probably shown favoritism as one of her best friends."

She hums in thought about who she should mention next before continuing with a smile, "Silica is basically an adoptive sister to Kirito and I. We'd actually been trying to track down a small murder guild called Titan's Hand and just happened to run across her while she was in a rather tight spot. Her familiar had just died and she would've followed if we hadn't come along when we did. She was utterly heartbroken at the loss of Pina, her familiar, and Kirito ended up offering our help. Admittedly I wasn't too sure at the time, because while I did want to help, we'd already made a promise to a man named Manu to do our best regarding Titan's Hand. Lucky, it worked out rather well on its own After making it back to town we found out that Rosalia, the leader of the guild, happened to be Silica's former party member. Neither of us were too comfortable with the idea of using Silica, but the best way to help both her and Manu was to use her and the rare familiar revival item as bait. Thankfully, in the end we managed to capture all of the members of Titan's Hand without any death and revive Pina."

She lifts her gaze thoughtfully, "Agil is the other person I'd say is one of Kirito's best friends, along with Klein. He was a regular front liner from the very first floor onwards, but eventually he stepped away from that a bit to open a shop. He used the majority of his funds to help mid-level players out, though for some reason he went out of his way to hide that from the other front liners. He never really slacked off in his leveling though, and he ended up taking part of the last boss fight before Kayaba was discovered."

She tilts her head, "Asuna wasn't a friend at all for the longest time, being far too much of a slave driving, workaholic, bipolar bitch right up until about six months before we cleared the game, then some shit happened and she loosened up quite a bit and nowadays I'd consider her a rather good friend. She's actually the one who introduced Kirito and I to another friend, Lizbeth, though in a sorta roundabout way. She actually just pointed us to Lizbeth's blacksmith shop when she overheard us talking about getting Kirito a new sword. I actually missed out on it because Argo needed our help so we did something incredibly rare for us and split up, but apparently there were considerable shenanigans on Kirito's part involving breaking the best sword Lizbeth ever made, conning her into making an even better one for him, going to a mountain, fighting a dragon, getting stuck in said dragon's nest for a night, then stealing a ride out of the nest on the Dragon and coming back with the material to forge Kirito's weapon all in the span of less than twenty-four hours after meeting her, but surprisingly she wasn't mad at him by the end and actually became a pretty good friend of ours."

The older woman looks rather bemused, "That sounds rather crazy." She glances at the clock and sighs, "Unfortunately, we're out of time today. Was your father one of the people accompanying you?" She nods in confusion, and the older woman nods, "Good. I'd like to speak with him briefly before you go."

Standing up, the older woman leads her back to the reception area, then moves over to where her family members have seated themselves, "Sparda-san, may I have a word about your daughter?"

He nods, but before he can get up, she simply wanders away knowing that Aunt Kat and Nero will probably want to know and be told at some point anyway. Hiroko's fingers twitch slightly, and she feels the buzz of magic being cast, likely some sort of privacy or silencing spell. While it does keep others from overhearing, it's rather pointless with her considering she actually knows how to read lips, which she does so shamelessly.

Hiroko glances at her, likely making sure she's outside of the barrier, "Sparda-san, your daughter mentioned that her mate doesn't know of her heritage and that they were unbonded. Assuming her mate doesn't reject her, I believe it would be in her best interest to change this as soon as possible. While it would by no means magically solve all her problems, it seems to me that a good portion of their severity stem from the fact she's convinced herself he'll reject her. Again, this won't miraculously fix everything, and she'll likely still need counseling, but I believe it would help immensely."

Her dad seems to sigh, "Yea, my wife said she got that impression as well when they talked after we found out about the whole having to kill people thing…"

Hiroko nods, "I'm not surprised. Normally as a counselor if I have a solution that might help the problem I share it with the client themselves, but given the nature of this particular solution it didn't quite seem… appropriate for it to come from me."

Her dad nods, "I understand. Thank you for your help."

Hiroko nods in return, "Of course. Now, I've got another appointment soon, so I really must be going. Don't forget to schedule your daughter's next appointment before you go. Have a good day Sparda-san."

Without waiting for a reply, the woman releases her barrier and hurries off. As her dad leads her up to the receptionist, she can't help but wonder if her mother and Hiroko are right.