AN: In the wise words of Thundergil: (pokemon encounter noise) A Wild Update Appears! I liiiive! It's been a while, but life has been hectic as fuck, what with my dad injuring his knee and requiring surgery, my sister moving back in with her two year old, and a bunch of other crap. Even when I had some time here and there, I seriously struggled with the first part of this chapter, and it was killing my motivation, but we're finally here, seeing this chapter finally finished and published. I'll try and keep the wait until the next chapter short. Thank you all for being so patient, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Review Responses:
ShadowWolf223- Crown Jewel, or Crown Prince Kirito is absolutely the Spriggan's moniker for him. Yes, Wadjet was the canonical boss for that floor of new Aincrad in the light novels, it's actually part of an entire arc that had no place in my fic because of certain changes I made, though I won't say what exactly in case anyone plans on reading them. Wouldn't want to spoil anything. Questions aplenty, yet few answers.
orion0905- pfft! Me and Merlenyn were actually talking about this and maybe making a crack side story for (It's a Universe in Progress) where that is exactly how the conversation goes down.
DA Exodus- Then you can rejoice once again, as I've got another update for ya! Aww, thank you! That's means so much to me! Like, you have no idea. I'm pulling the, 'you'll have to wait and see' out of every author's bag of frequent responses, but I will say that I'm glad you enjoyed the Spriggan shenanigans, particularly since there's more Spriggan shenanigans that me and Merlenyn thought up a while ago that I'd like to work in sometime in the future. I'm sorry to hear about your day, but I'm glad I was able to brighten it at least a little!
Thundergil- Be careful what you wish for, young padawan.
Seele Zeit- Ch 22: You have no idea how much she skipped over and glossed. Trust me, that was her not going into a lot of detail.
flo463- Welcome to the cult, minion! And aww, thank you! Seriously, I don't think you guys understand how much it means to me and my anxiety to hear (well, read) things like that. Really, those weren't my favorites, though I suppose it's inevitable that there'll be a difference between favorite scenes an author wrote and favorite scenes a reader… well, reads. Plus, everyone has different tastes. I've never understood how Kirito managed to get in contact with all of his irl friends in canon before the SAO school starts (and not all of them are school age anyway) considering he pretty much ignores their existence for Asuna. I always try to make the story realistic despite exploring an unrealistic world, and I'm glad I hit the nail dead on for you! I don't think I've mentioned this, but Lily and Kazuto's 'base' human form remained the same after the Switch. I honestly have no idea how far down the SAO plotline this fic will travel. I already know roughly how it'll end, though I haven't figured out all the stuff in between yet, but this fics end in rooted and dictated by the Harry Potter portion of things. I'm leaning heavily towards pairing Suguha with Recon if it pops up in the story, but I'm not sure about the rest. I'm pretty fond of Lizbeth/Sinon, I've toyed with pairing Asuna with Klein (mostly for the lolz if I'm being honest, and I've also toyed with the idea of Klein ending up with Trish, also for the lolz), I honestly don't think Yuuki will survive, and I have absolutely no idea what to do with Silica.
Ceps- The weary vs wary thing was likely either me being sleep deprived (which is when I personally feel i write my best content though my spelling suffers), or a dumb autocorrect my phone did (seriously, you have no idea how many ridiculous autocorrects me and Merlenyn have laughed at my phone for doing)((we totally do, and even I don't catch everything before the chapters are posted))(but she does a lovely job anyway). As for the long author note in the previous chapter, I answer reviews publicly for two reasons, 1) so people with similar questions will get answers along with the person who asked, and 2) I only have my phone, and do you know how much of a pain in the ass it is to PM multiple reviewers? Plus, answering them privately would negate the first reason. I mean, you could flag it if you really wanted to, but all that would accomplish (assuming they removed my story) would be for me to post solely on AO3, as I'm not going to fight a site to be allowed to upload content that earns them revenue via the ads they plaster everywhere. Which in turn would tank my creativity as I draw a lot of inspiration and motivation from reviewers/commentators, but people just don't comment as much on AO3 as they do on ff, plain and simple.
Velial13- I'm gonna assume you abandoned ship after your third and final review, but really? First you get mad at the idea of soulmates (which doesn't work in my fic how you seem to think it does, and I took the liberty of drawing inspiration from your review to expand on that a bit this chapter, so thanks for that!), then your mad about "hurt/comfort, family fluff bullshit" (what did you expect them to all magically be fine after two years stuck in a death game?) and the idea of me adding "devil powers, magic, or special 'moves'" to SAO as it's "not the point of SWORD Art Online", then your mad about twin telepathy? I mean this in the absolutely nicest way possible, but why are you reading a crossover if you want straight SAO with new characters, because it sounds like you want that and nothing but that. Why not just read OC SAO? Because I think you're forgetting that the whole point of fanfiction is to explore your own ideas about a preexisting world, and that the whole point if crossovers is to take two or more worlds and your ideas for them and mix them together. Seriously, you sound like you want nearly vanilla SAO, just with new characters, and there isn't anything wrong with that, but you aren't going to find that in the crossover section. Your just going to find content that pisses you off and doesn't satisfy your current fic craving.
Guest- I am genuinely confused where you got these ideas from. I never once said that serial killers, be they the randos from chapter 15 or members of Titans Hand or Laughing Coffin, were normal. Nor do I think Marzanna or any of the characters who killed in self defense are monsters, but that part of the story is told from Marzanna's point of view. She sees herself as a monster. Her reaction would be perfectly normal for a human much less someone whose been taught her whole life that she's physically and magically superior and should not abuse her power. To quote some snippets from mine and Merlenyn's conversation on the topic, as well as a previous response I gave to this:
"so she has the double whammy of guilt and stuff because first, she's too caring really to want to just kill and be ok with it, and two, she's not fully human, part of her being demon which would go around killing humans for fun, AND her family prides itself on protecting humans" -Merlenyn in out messages on the subject
"The subsequent guilt at having broken those rules in her family, and learning to accept what she'd had to do and learn to move on and live with herself is something of a rather large plot point. And considering they wouldn't have realized that there would be a time when she didn't have access to her powers, and be separated from them, who while they have occasionally had to deal with humans who have made deals with demons, have always shielded her from that part of the job until she's older and more capable of seeing the necessity in it -something they didn't bring up while trying to get through to her about the killing humans in Aincrad thing because she had enough to deal with at the moment without being presented with the possibility that she might have to kill humans again in the future-, neither Dante nor Vergil would've thought the 'sometimes it really is necessary to kill human' conversion needed to happen just yet, especially since she was only 14 when SAO started, therefore Marzanna grew up believing the 'don't kill humans' rule her family has was absolute." -From my response to Arch Sariel
June 22nd, 2025
She knocks on the door with a nervousness she'd never experienced any of the previous times she'd visited her mate's house. She felt it was justified though. With how busy with work the woman was, and how similarly occupied her own time had been, first with recovering, then with catching up in school, she was only just meeting Kazuto's mother for the first time today.
Her mate answers the door almost immediately. She really hoped her nervousness wasn't obvious and that the sympathetic smile her mate shoots her as he steps back and to the side is simply because he can feel her nerves over their bond, she wanted to make a good impression and looking like a nervous wreck wasn't going to help any.
Once he closes the door behind her he turns to her, "Come on, there's no reason to be nervous. It's not like you're facing down a dragon, it's just my mom."
Glancing away she can't help but mumble, "I think I'd honestly prefer to be fighting a dragon, that I'm at least confident enough in my fighting abilities that I wouldn't be worried. Not to mention it's not going to make the decades in the foreseeable future awkward and tense as hell in the likely event the dragon doesn't like me. Your mom however… And with my questionable social skills… Not to mention what we need to talk to her about tonight isn't likely to do her opinion of me any favors…"
Her mate laughs, "True, but I'm pretty sure my mom will love you. I'll admit it will probably get… a bit tense and awkward after we tell her everything we need to, but my mom is a pretty understanding and reasonable person, not to mention she's always been rather big on letting me and my sister make our own choices, much like Lily in that regard. I've- We've made our choices, and there's not much that can be done about them at this point anyway. It'll be fine in the end."
She sighs, "I certainly hope you're right."
He smiles, then leans over to press a kiss to her cheek in reassurance, "I am. You'll see. It'll all work out. Now come on, enough dawdling."
With that, he turns and leads her further into the house. Kazuto's mom, Midori, looks up from where she's putting the last of the food on the table, which Suguha was already sitting at, giving her a warm smile as she greets her, "Ah, Sparda-chan, right on time. Come, come, sit down, help yourself!"
She hesitantly follows her mate to the table and sits down next to him. Once the four of them are settled and have food on their plates the woman that was technically her mother in law, though she didn't actually know that yet, continues, "It's nice to finally meet my son's girlfriend." Then she gets a look, on her face, as though she's half bemused half worried "Or, well, Soulmate I suppose is more accurate…."
Marzanna does her best to swallow down her anxiety, "You have concerns."
It's a statement, rather than a question. A prompt, and Midori takes it, "It's just… The way Lily described it, how it's practically unheard of for someone to reject their mate... It almost sounds like it… forces those involved to feel something for one another."
Almost before she finishes speaking, Marzanna starts shaking her head in denial, "It's not that it forces affection. It's that, whatever it is that selects couples and pairs them together selects people that would naturally go together so well that they'd be two halves of a whole anyway, then basically enhances the natural bond and draws the two together." She smiles faintly, "Basically it puts the magical equivalent of a neon sign on the other person that loudly flashes 'Hey! You two will get along like a house on fire!'. The times when someone rejects their mate tend to have either extreme circumstances attached, or something drastic happened that changed one of them so completely that they cease to be two of a kind and no longer mesh together. That's why it's so rare for people to reject their mate. Because whatever force of magic it is that decides soul mate pairs, it's not dumb enough to, say, put a racist and equal rights activist together, or even people who would clash in less… drastic ways."
Midori relaxes, then smiles with a shake of her head with a faintly amazed look, "Magic is truly a wonderful thing… It's still so astonishing to think that all that is real… I mean to think that things like soulmates, potions, spells, vampires, werewolves, unicorns, dragons, and all of that actually exist... And the magical shopping districts! I've gone a few times with Lily and they're so… well, magical, to put it simply if a bit redundantly. It's astonishing some of the things I've seen already that magicals treat like an everyday occurrence! Like those bottomless bags, they're awfully useful and marvelous, yet you magicals hardly bat an eyelash at them!"
She smiles hesitantly, "Yes, I've been told it can be rather overwhelming, though I really wouldn't know, given that I was born into this world. I can sort of see where your coming from as a non-magical, but other than from a purely scholarly point of view, I've honestly never given much thought to spatial enhancement charms and runes, though that might be because my mother used to attend one of the magical boarding schools and owned a trunk that practically has an entire house inside it that she used to use as a personal retreat at school but gave to me as a child."
The others, even Kazuto, give her astonished looks at that, then Suguha leans forward, "Really?!"
She laughs awkwardly, "Uhh, yea. It's pretty cool, though given that I've never attended boarding school, I haven't had much use for it, beyond storage."
Midori shakes her head with a bemused smile, "Well, if nothing else I suppose that magical world probably never has issues with overpopulation and housing availability."
She grins lightly, "No, we don't, but it's never been much of an issue to begin with. I've told Kazuto this before, but magicals only make up about three percent of the global population, so we only number roughly two hundred forty three million, which may seem like a big number on its own but that's roughly double Japan's population, not to mention that given the total global population is about eight point three billion… Well, let's just say that if the global population was comprised of only magicals the world would be a whole lot emptier. I mean, the magical population in Japan is only four million."
Midori's brow furrows, "Are magicals really so few in number? I mean, I assumed that despite the fact I thought you all should be thriving beyond belief as a whole that you had to be in the minority if you were still keeping magic hidden from the rest of the world, but I never imagined the population was that small."
Marzanna hums, "It's less to do with how well off the magical world as a whole is and more to do with magical society itself. Magic tends to slow the aging process by about half once a magical hits their prime. Even humans that are entirely normal beyond their magic tend to easily live well past a hundred. Because of this slower aging, women in the magical world also tend to be capable of having children much later in their lives. A side effect of both of those facts though is that most magicals tend to wait longer until they settle down and have children, the most notable exception being noble families, which tend to do their best to make sure there's a healthy heir around as soon as they're adults, just to make sure there's someone to either take their place as the head of the family, or if it's a particularly small family to make sure there's someone around to continue the family line in case anything happens to them."
Glancing up from her food to make sure everyone was still interested in the topic rather than just politely letting her go on, she finds her mate nodding in understanding, clearly invested in the conversation. Which wasn't a surprise, given that he was still trying to learn everything he could about the world he now found himself a part of. Midori also seemed interested, but there was a slight troubled furrow in her brow. Suguha… Well, she didn't look bored per say, but at the same time, it was clear that it certainly wouldn't have been her first choice of conversation topics. Her brows were also furrowed, though hers seemed to be born of confusion if her tilted head was any indication.
The younger girl leans over the table a bit to be closer to Marzanna as she speaks, "Wait, hold on, I'm confused. If anything, shouldn't longer lifespans and all that just lead to more kids?"
Marzanna sighs, "You'd certainly think so, especially since magic reduces the cost of living so much. Discluding those magical species that can't naturally reproduce, like vampires, or those with difficulties reproducing, I've honestly never exactly understood why but magical families tend to only have two to three children each, and it's a tendency that's lasted the past thousand years in the magical world so I doubt it's going away anytime soon. Families that have four or more kids are actually really rare in the magical world. The thing about populations and their growth though, is that if the majority of couple only have two kids, you're only maintaining the population. If the majority only has one child each, the population is on the decline and will eventually die out, and the majority have to have more than two if you want the population to increase."
She shrugs, "It all basically means that the majority of parents in the magical world have pretty much spent the last thousand years simply maintaining the population, and we've only been slowly growing due to those couples that have three or the rare few who have more. I mean, I've met thousands of people traveling because of my families job, and I still only know of like, six families who have more than three kids."
Suguha leans back, "Oh. That makes sense I guess." Then she glances at Midori who was now frowning lightly at Marzanna, "Err, is everything alright mom?"
Midori nods, "Just fine." Then she eyes Marzanna and Kazuto, "I'm simply thinking that while I absolutely better not hear anything about a pregnancy anytime soon, I absolutely don't want to be waiting until I'm eighty for grandchildren, and that I better get more than two. I'm serious about the pregnancy thing though, well I'm serious about all of it but the rest of that isn't important for a couple years at the least. I'm neither stupid nor naive enough not to know what happens between two hormonal teenagers, particularly ones in love. I'm not going to even attempt to stop you, I'm well aware it's an effort in futility to try and separate teenagers, especially when your not against the relationship itself. You two better be responsible though, because I swear if I hear there's a baby on the way anytime soon there are going to be dire consequences."
The rest of them blush to varying degrees, and her beet red mate cries out in horror, "Mom!"
After a moment of uselessly opening and closing his mouth he buries his face in his hands, much to his mother's amusement. Marzanna clears her throat as she wills away her blush, "Well, I don't really know how this sort of thing usually works in the non-magical world, but in the magical world it's customary for females to start taking birth control potions as soon as they're, err, sexually mature. That is, uhm, when they start bleeding. Given that unlike non-magical birth control the aforementioned potions are one hundred percent guaranteed to work as long as they're correctly brewed, unplanned pregnancies are practically unheard of in the magical world. They only happen if you forget to take them, and given that for the majority of those potions a single dose lasts six months to a year… Furthermore, both my mother and one of my uncles are Potions Masters, which is basically the magical equivalent of getting the highest possible college degree on a subject, and my mother has always been exceedingly cautious about me taking my doses, which started back up practically from the minute I woke up. So I assure you, it absolutely won't happen."
Her mate and her sister in law both still look rather embarrassed, but Midori seems pleased at her reassurance, "Good. Then i suppose the only thing I have to worry about regarding grandchildren is that I get some before I'm eighty."
Marzanna blushes again, "I guess… We'll definitely need a little help though."
Midori gives her a concerned look, "Why?"
She shifts unsurely, "Um. My mom mentioned that we're… not human, right?"
Midori nods at the anxious prompt, "She told me, or rather us," A brief pause to gesture at Suguha to indicate who 'us' was, "about how reality was layered, and briefly about Angels, Demons, and the Nephilim."
She glances up unsurely, "My family's species of demon, Devils, have quite a lot of difficulty reproducing. I was conceived rather quickly with a strong fertility potion and a good bit of luck, but my grandparents started trying for children a few centuries before they got my uncle and dad. Mind you they weren't using futility potions or anything of the sort, and those make it vastly easier, but nevertheless, Devils absolutely fall into that category of magicals that struggle to reproduce without aid. There's a reason why even at its highest historical peak the population of Devils was only eleven thousand. It doesn't matter much, as I said, when that time comes a simple fertility potion will do the trick, but there's a reason, other than my being on a birth control potion, that neither me nor my family have been worried about unplanned pregnancy."
Midori starts to nod, then seems to freeze, "I'm sorry, did you just say that your grandparents were trying for centuries?"
Now it's her turn to freeze, as she realizes what she left slip. To be technical, they had been planning on telling Midori and Suguha about Kazuto's extended life span tonight, but she'd been intending to ease into the topic, not practically blurt it out, "Uhh…" A quick glance at her mate's 'oh shit' face tells her that he won't be about help, "Well, you see… That is, this is part of what we wanted to talk to you about tonight?"
Midori gives the two of them an unreadable look. Then sets her chopsticks down and folds her hands together to give them her full attention "Alright then. Talk."
She swallows nervously, then begins, "You said my mom told you briefly about our species. What I know for a fact she didn't mention, as she thought it was Kazuto and my place to tell you, is how those three species' life spans differ from humans. We don't really… age. I mean, we grow up when we're children, until we hit our prime, but beyond that…" Seeing the incredulous looks on the faces of the other two women at the table, she adds, "I realize it's astonishing idea, but it's true. My grandparents are both well over six thousand years old. The thing about soulmate bond is that if there's a gap in expected life spans like that, the lesser always changes to be able to match the greater."
She trails off right before dropping the last bomb, and Kazuto reaches over under the table to squeeze her hand along with sending her a mental wave of apology for leaving her to fend for herself during an explanation their supposed to both be giving. A split second later she feels him steel himself as he takes a breath, "Mom, what we're trying to say is that I'm… well… I'm basically half Nephilim now." Then he adds on, "And by magical law we were married as soon as we bonded." Then he mutters to himself, though the sound easily carries to everyone in the pin drop silence in the dining room, "Though I don't think that's technically a correct phrase. If a Nephilim is a natural hybrid, then being half Nephilim is really just a shorter way of saying you've got more than demonic or angelic blood in your veins…"
Deathly silence descends over the dining room after Kazuto is done muttering to himself. For approximately thirtytwo of her incredibly loud, way too fast heart beats, she can't even bring herself to even look at the other two women at the table. Finally, she manages to drag her gaze up. Suguha looks back and forth between the three of them with a conflicted confused expression maring her face, but Midori's expression is eerily blank, her body unnervingly still but for her carefully measured breaths. Looking at her feels like looking at a guillotine, seconds away from descending on her neck. Or worse, Kazuto's.
Just before she drops her gaze though, Midori stirs, then tightens her clasped hands with a shuddering breath, "You knew before you bonded that this would happen?"
She wants to defend herself, to rail against the idea that she'd bond with her mate without telling him everything first, but Midori is clearly and firmly looking at Kazuto. The feeling of being insulted along with more than a faint hint of anger pulses from him over their bond as he pursues his lips in displeasure, "Marzanna would never allow me to make such a choice without making sure I had all the facts before hand. If anything she dragged her feet double and triple checking that I knew what I was getting into and still wanted this."
Midori scrutinizes his face thoroughly, then releases a breath, one far more stable and measured than her previous inhalation, "... Ok."
The two of them share a stunned look, but before either of them can get their vocal cords to look Suguha beats them to the punch, "Ok? That's it?"
Midori smiles wearily, "Mm." Then she takes a huge breath before sighting, "On one hand, I don't like the idea of you dragging your way through centuries, through millennia as the world ages around you, passing you by, with nothing more than brief acquaintances and friends who are gone practically in a blink. On the other, every mother wants their child to live a long happy life. Perhaps not that long, but…" Finally her gaze turns to Marzanna for the first time since they told her about Kazuto, and she smiles, a faint but undeniable warm thing, "It's not like Kazuto will be all alone. And it was only a matter of time before you two got married, so that's not really surprising." Then she looks wistful, "Though I would have liked there to be a regular wedding or the magical equivalent."
She gives a shy hesitant smile, "Well, it's, um, it's not uncommon for couples with non-magicals bonding to a magical to have a wedding later, since it's what non-magicals expect. And it's not like most consider it a chore to go out of their way to have a proper wedding to someone they'd give the whole damn world to if they could. So it's not like I'd be against having a proper wedding ceremony."
She shoots Kazuto a glance. He smiles warmly at her and shrugs, "You said it yourself. I'd give you the world. It certainly wouldn't be a chore to properly marry you."
Midori claps happily, "That settles it then. It'll have to wait till your a bit older of course, but we'll have ourselves a proper wedding for you two!" A moment later, Midori picks up her chopsticks, then pauses before she continues eating, eyeing them both thoughtfully, "Are there any other bombshells you two have?"
They share a glance, then she hesitantly says, "Well… there is Yui…"
Midori leans back in her chair, "Oh? Whose Yui?"
They share another glance, then Kazuto bluntly tells his mother, "A truly sentient AI child that we met in Aincrad and sorta… adopted."
For a moment, Midori does nothing more than blink rapidly in astonishment, then she smiles wearily, "Well. I did say I wanted grandkids before I turned eighty but didn't want to hear anything about pregnancy for at least a couple years. I suppose this is a 'careful what you wish for' scenario?"
They all shift uncomfortably for a moment, then Suguha blurts out, "I met her in Alfheim. She's actually really adorable and sweet!"
Midori laughs, "You all look like I'm about to bite your heads off! Relax. I can't really complain all that much. You did do exactly what I told you to." Then she shakes her head, still smiling, "Tell me about her. How you met her, what she's like, when I can meet her, the whole shebang."
She finally begins to relax as she and her mate share a smile before he happily launches into telling his mother all about their daughter. As food is consumed and laughter shared she can't help but think that perhaps dinner with her inlaws wasn't that bad after all.
July 19th, 2025
Kazuto woke with a start, panting heavily and covered in sweat. For a while he just stared at his ceiling, wide eyed at the image from his nightmare, the twisted faces of the three people he'd killed. He honestly didn't know how long he lay there, but he flinched violently as the sudden ringing of his phone cut through his rather heavy thoughts. Sitting up and grabbing it from the edge of his desk, he takes a moment to compose himself before looking at the screen.
Seeing Marzanna's name, he answers it quickly, attempting to sound casual and hoping he doesn't sound nearly as shaken as he feels, "Hey Marzanna."
There's an irritated huff on the other end, "Hey yourself. Where are you?"
Confusion sweeps over him, "I- What? I'm at home?"
A hum before his mate replies casually, "Really? It's nine in the morning and your sister is gone for the weekend. I'd have thought you would've already left in search of food."
That wasn't just casual though. It was too casual, instantly telling him that there was something wrong. It takes a second before realization hits him like a ton of bricks, and a quick glance at the clock leaves him cursing. He was supposed to meet his mate for breakfast before she took him out to patrol for demons half an hour ago! She was undoubtedly angry at him. Especially since demonic activity was worrying as of late, particularly with people disappearing, not in unfortunate but constant ones and twos but by the dozens lately. Understandably, along with sending Alessio and Vergil to check the new seal, her family had been patrolling more, and this was only his second time out.
He quickly climbs out of bed, pinning his phone between his shoulder and ear as he frantically begins to dig through his clothes for something to wear, "Damn! I'm sosorry Marzanna. I overslept and it completely slipped my mind. I-"
His nervous rambling, which is admittedly mostly to stall Marzanna, is cut off rather abruptly, "What's bothering you?"
Kazuto fumbles a bit, almost dropping his phone as the sudden question catches him off guard, "I- What? Nothing's bothering me."
His mate clearly wasn't buying that thought, if her tone was any indication, "Mmhm. Nothing at all. You completely and totally forget about plans we make all the time."
Kazuto stopped. Now would be the time to tell her, the problem was he wasn't sure if he wanted to, "I really am sorry Marzanna. I'll be there as soon as I can."
There's a sigh from the other end, though it sounds strangely patient, "Kazuto. Do you even want to go out?"
He lowers the two shirts he'd been scrutinizing, "I... No, not really…"
"Ok."
He carelessly drops one of the shirts to grip his phone, sure he'd misheard somehow, "Ok?"
There's another of those far too casual hums, "Mhm. Ok. I can just pick something up and bring it over."
He licks his lips, suddenly nervous as to why his mate was so casual and willing to change their plans despite the fact she had to have been waiting at the meeting spot so long already, "A-Alright?"
A sigh carries over the phone line, "Kazuto, I'm not going to try and force you to go anywhere if you don't want to go, not unless I think it'll make you feel better, and certainly not on patrol. Especially not on patrol where distraction can quickly lead to catastrophe. Seriously, if I remember right, Nero has the most open schedule right now, so I'll just ask him if he'd be alright with us switching patrol days this week. Take a shower and change if you haven't already and I'll be over with food in about forty minutes. Ok?"
He swallows thickly, unsure how he could possibly deserve such a wonderful mate. Then he lets out a croaky pathetic, "Ok…"
He can practically hear her gentle, warm smile as she says, "Good. I'll see you in forty minutes. I love you."
He can't help cracking a weak smile at that, "I love you too. See you soon."
With that, the call ends and Kazuto sighs. He still couldn't believe he'd actually forgotten about meeting up with Marzanna. Glancing into his mirror he grimaces. He's a complete mess, definitely in need of a shower and change before Marzanna got there, but there was nothing he could do about the bags under his eyes.
Gathering up clothes more sedately, he heads off to clean himself up.
He checks himself over one last time in the mirror before heading downstairs to let Marzanna in. Opening the door, he was greeted to the sight of his smiling mate, however her eyes go wide and her smile disappears when she sees him. There's a slight panicked confusion at her reaction. Other than the bags under his eyes he thought he'd sorted himself out nicely. However Marzanna stares at him with mounting concern before abruptly pushing past him. To dump the food onto the nearest available surface.
He's so surprised by her pushing past him instead of politely waiting for him to step aside like she usually does that it takes him a moment to gather himself and close the door. As soon as he turns to his mate, he finds her arms around his neck, as waves of comfort travel through their bond. There was a beat of silence before Marzanna quietly asks, "Laughing Coffin?"
His froze momentarily, "I- How-"
Marzanna tightens her hold, "I've been expecting it for a while to honest. We all have, everyone that was there that is. After that fight, you just shoved it all away without dealing with it in the slightest. It was bound to come back sooner or later. I- We've all been worried about you. Everyone else was facing it and trying to find ways to cope and move on, but you-"
She chokes off, and he feels tears fall onto his shoulder. His heart breaks all over again as he realizes what he's been putting his mate, not to mention their friends, through. There was a lump in his throat, and he can't help but bury his face in her neck, "I'm sorry." A sob rips it's way out of him, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
He doesn't even know who he's apologizing to. Marzanna and their friends, or the ghosts that now haunt his dreams.
It takes about twenty minutes for him to stop crying and calm down, but eventually he reluctantly pulls away. As soon as he does his mate, his wonderful Marzanna starts gently running her thumbs under his eyes to wipe away his tears. He blushes at the careful, loving attention, having been planning on just roughly cleaning his face with his sleeve.
Only when his face is as clean as it's going to get without actually washing it does she stop, though she doesn't remove her hands. Instead she switches from rubbing at his face to gently stroking it with her thumbs, "Better? For now that is. I know very well that's not the end of it." Her eyes darken with the grief and guilt that's been dragged down her mind from the same day he was haunted by in last night's nightmares, and he musters up a weak smile and nod, which she returns before continuing, "Good. Come on, let's go eat."
For once, his stomach turns, ready to revolt at the very idea of food, and he weakly mumbles, "I don't think I could keep anything down. And I'm not very hungry anyway."
She smiles sadly at him, "I know, trust me, I know, but you gotta eat, honey. You can't just go without food. Please? At least try for me."
He remembers very well how her appetite had nearly vanished after Laughing Coffin. He remembers saying those very words, please, for me, himself. He remembers watching worriedly as she wouldn't eat unless he asked, and watching her pick at her food. And that was in Aincrad, where his biggest concern was her going so long or eating so little that she'd get a starving debuff that could cause her huge issues in a fight, or worse start draining her health and possibly kill her all on its own if left alone for too long. They were back in the real world though. If he didn't eat, he really would starve. It wouldn't take as long as starving in Aincrad to start impacting his health, and her worry was undoubtedly worse than his had been back them because of that.
So, though his stomach is reluctant to even try, he just releases a sigh and nods rather than try to argue. She gives him a small but warm smile, "Thank you. I got you your regular serving size, but you don't have to eat all of it. Just try and get half of it down at least." He nods again and her smile gets a bit bigger, "I've got a bit of incentive too. My mom finally finished the animagus potion for you."
He smiles faintly, "Can't remember the last time someone tried to bribe me to eat something. Vegetables when I was six? Something like that."
She smiles again, then drops her hands from his face. Her left hand immediately grabs his right, while her right scoops up the discarded bag of takeout, then starts guiding him to the kitchen, "I suppose it's a good think I had the foresight to put warming charms on these. If they hadn't gone cold on the way over here, they certainly would've by now otherwise."
He hums as he sits at the table, "We really need to get around to getting me a wand. Magic is freaking useful."
She grins at him as she hands him his to go container, "It is, but between catching up on school work, training with my family, working on Yui's body, and you insisting on reading up a bit on magic before trying it, I figure we've taken so long and gotten so close to completing Yui's body and since you haven't even been to a magical shopping district, maybe we could put it off until we finish Yui's body? Then you two could experience it together."
He can't help but smile at that, "I do quite like the sound of that… Speaking of, have you made any progress since we last compared notes, because I certainly haven't."
The aggrieved sigh his mate releases is answer enough, but she elaborates anyway, "No. The answer is just out of reach, I can feel it, but I just can't find it."
He hums, "Your family doesn't have any answers?"
She shakes her head, "No one does. Something like this hasn't ever been done before. With my family that wouldn't matter much on it's own, not with millennia of combined experience to call on, but unfortunately they aren't really familiar with it. With my grandparents and Vergil, it was invented while they were prisoners, my mother and uncles have never been particularly interested in it either, so I'm basically the leading technomancy expert in our family."
Then she pauses before smiling softly, "Well, I was. Not anymore I suppose. With your interest and expertise in technology in general, you've been picking up on technomancy damn quickly and have easily overtaken me in expertise, which given that were married, automatically makes you the family's leading expert." Then she sighs again, "Of course, that isn't to say they have nothing to contribute, not with so much collective experience with magic in general, but with this new demonic activity they're all incredibly busy."
He releases a sigh of his own as he stares at his food morsley, "If only you could just detect when demon came through. But to my knowledge nothing can sense demons except people."
He looks to her for confirmation of that information at the end, and she hums, "Basically. There are industria effusio crystals, which as their name implies if you know Latin, absorb energy. If you give them a demonic charge, they react if anything with demonic energy comes close, but they've only got a range of five feet. And it starts reacting as soon as anything with demonic energy comes close."
He squints at her unsurely, "... So why hasn't anyone tried to just, I don't know, boost the range and build some sort of device to interpret the readings?"
Marzanna shrugs, "My mom and Vergil gave it a try, and they did make some progress, but when they realized it just always reacted to anything demonic they dropped the project. Or rather that realized that, had a couple ideas, but couldn't design anything magical to read and differentiate between so many signals, then SAO happened, and the project was forgotten about until I came back, at which point after reexamining it they decided it was a dud and abandoned it."
He pauses, ideas circling in his head, "That was the problem though? Reading and differentiating between a plethora of signals?"
She eyes him, "It was. Why what are you thinking?"
A slow grin unfurls across his face, "I'm thinking that it sounds like they were struggling to build something capable of processing and sorting a lot of data, and I'm thinking that when it comes to data processing and sorting nothing beats a computer, even in the magical world, and I'm thinking that this sounds like a technomancy project, rather than whatever your mother and uncle were trying to do." He pauses then adds, "I'm also thinking that I've basically contributed all I can to Yui's body and that the rest is up to you but if I don't have something to work on I'll go crazy."
She grins at him, "Sounds like a job for the Sparda's technomancy expert."
He smiles, "So can you get me some of those…" He hesitates, then decides not to make a fool of himself trying to remember what they were called, "energy crystals?"
Her grin turns knowing, "Industria effusio crystals. And absolutely. The family uses them in some of our weapons, primarily our guns, so we've got plenty."
He grins, "Sweet, that's one project to start working on." Abruptly he remembers something, "There's also that teleport gate thing I wanted to look into as an alternative to all the terrible transportation options the magical world has, but I think that'll probably end up being a joint project between us."
His mate hums, "I still think that one gate connecting to every other gate in existence wouldn't be possible, to many connections to sort through and it'd be hell to get it to connect to the one you want in a timely fashion. And that we should start with the magical doors my mom and uncle Vergil made."
He tilts his head, "Maybe. However, I think you're once again overlooking what technomancy could bring to the table. It could very likely solve the problem of so many connections, just as it could solve the problem of so much data to sort through in a demonic detector. Though I agree that the doors your family made would be an excellent starting point."
She gives a sheepish grin, "It's a possibility. I keep forgetting about technomancy to be honest. I may have been the family's leading expert, but that's not saying much to be honest, and I wasn't an expert compared to other people in general by a long shot."
He smiles teasingly, "Well then, I guess it's good that you've got me now, hmm?"
She laughs. After a moment, he begins to get lost in thought about the two new projects in front of him. His gaze drops as he thinks, only for him to be jolted out of his thoughts as he registers the lack of food in front of him. He glances up at his mate, only to get a smug knowing smile. He can't help but huff out a laugh, realizing that she'd been purposely distracting him, knowing that he'd start eating on autopilot out of habit.
He shakes his head with a smile, then pushes the empty container away so he can rest an elbow on the table and prop his head up with it, "So, I believe I was promised a damn cool, but inevitably terrible tasting potion?"
She laughs again, "So you were." She digs through her satchel for a moment, then pulls out a bottle with a vivid red liquid in it, "Now remember, when you take this, you'll enter a trance and see a vision of your animagus form, but there are still plenty of steps you'll have to go through to actually become an animagus."
He nods, as he accepts the bottle, eyeing the undoubtedly nasty tasting liquid within, before smiling faintly at his mate as he opens it, "Bottoms up, I guess."
He chugs it down as quickly as possible, wanting to get the unpleasant experience over with. As soon as he's removed the bottle from his mouth, his mate snatches it away and replaces it with a bottle of water, which he also starts chugging in an attempt to get the foul taste out of his mouth.
Dropping the empty bottle on the table he sighs, "Hell, that's even worse tasting than the Dementor's Blood potion, and I didn't think that was possible."
She smiles faintly at him, "Unfortunate but inevitable."
He hums lightly, then sways as the vibration makes him dizzy, "Oh. I think it's kicking in…"
It's a struggle to get even that much out, as his tongue feels thick and heavy, his mouth dry and fuzzy. His heart feels too big for his chest, its beat stronger, every throb easily felt throughout his whole body. Smoke seems to creep into his house, twisting in strange hypnotic ways. Some distant part of his mind thinks he should be choking with so much smoke. Yet his lungs simply seem to expand far more than they should be physically capable, as though they're trying to pull in every molecule of the smoke. Warmth accompanies the smoke, spreading from his lungs. It coursed through his veins, pulsing with every amplified beat of his heart, settling in his bones, and relaxing his muscles to a degree he's never experienced before.
A peaceful eternity seems to pass by him as he breathes in the smoke and watches it twist and turn. Coalescing before thinning randomly, creating strange incomprehensible shapes and images. His mind feels slowed with tranquility as he watches color begin to bleed into the smoke, as though ink seeping through paper, black and red dancing with flashes of silver. The colored smoke starts condensing more than ever, nearly solid now. Before long a creature is in the room with him, familiar in more ways than one, given the illusion of life by the ever shifting nature of the smoke it's made of. Instinctively he inhales deeply, breathing in the colored smoke of the beast.
Sparks fill his lungs, a strangely pleasant sensation. It ignites a wildfire in his veins, in his mind as he feels the creature settle into his being, a knowing living thing.
All at once the world drops out beneath him, dropping him through a sheet of ice. Between one lazy blink and the next the vision disappears and he finds himself staring at his mate's worried face hovering over him, and steadying him with a hand on his shoulder. He gathers himself despite the fact his thoughts feel like they're being dragged through molasses, "I'm… fine. That was… It was just strange. Intense in an unexpected way."
She smiles hesitantly, then sits back down, though next to him this time rather than across from him as she had been when they were eating, "Well? Did you see anything? Not everyone has an animagus form after all…"
She trail of as he shakes his head, "No, I saw something. A lizard." Then he muses over the vision for a minute, "Or, more accurately, I think it was a dragon."
She smiles at him, "That wouldn't surprise me." Before he can ask her to elaborate a blue flash heralds the removal of an item from her Devil Bringer, and suddenly she's holding a book, "I took the liberty of bringing… Well, pretty much an entire comprehensive index of creatures, magical or otherwise, with me in the form of various books, in case you did see something. After all, the first step to becoming an animagus once you've seen it in a vision, is to identify the creature and learn about it. This is a book on pretty much any dragon ever, so unless you misidentified it, you should be able to just flip through and find your animagus form pretty easily."
He accepts the book eagerly, impatient to know exactly what his form was. He flips through the book rapidly, only paying attention to the images of the dragons, before finally finding what he was looking for. The image was incredibly familiar, and not just because he'd just seen it in his vision. He also recognizes it from a shifting reflection in a dark cavern. Recognizes rage on behalf of his sister and daughter. Recognizes vicious sharp delight and fiery retribution.
He recognizes it from Legrue Corridor.
He traces his fingers over the image, "This one. That's the one I saw." He hesitates as he tilts the book towards her, then adds, "Do you remember when I told you about all the crap I got up to on my way to on my way to save you and Asuna?"
Her attention had started to turn towards the book as he tilted it towards her, but snaps back up to him at his words. Her brow furrows in confusion, but she nods nonetheless, so he pushes on, "See, the weird thing is, when I used the Metamorphosis spell, that's exactly what I turned into."
Her eyebrows raise in surprise, "Really now? Hh. Interesting." She gets a thoughtful look on her face, "Well… I'm assuming you want an explanation, but unfortunately I don't really have one. My best guess would be that it was because you were on that neutral precipice of changing because our bond had fully developed as far as it could. At that point, though you weren't fully a magical, you would've had a bit more than the average squib. It's possible that you had just enough magic for it to kinda recognize what was going on and interfere? As in, it recognized that you were trying to turn into a beast of some sort and presented your animagus form. Mind you though, that's just a guess."
He nods thoughtfully, "Is that why it felt so natural and easy to move in that form?"
Now it's her turn to nod, "Undoubtedly. I can't help but find myself curious as to how this will affect you learning the animagus transformation. On one hand, the change was entirely done by Alfheim and you didn't control it in the slightest, your developing magic simply reacted. On the other hand, you do now technically have experience shifting, maintaining, and existing in your animagus form."
He hums in agreement. For a few beats they both get lost in thought, then his mate shakes herself as she casts those thoughts aside for the time being, "Anyhow, lets see what you've got, shall we?"
He nods and they both return their attention to the book in his hands. A beat later, she lets out a huffing laugh, "A Japanese Jaggedclaw. I'm not surprised."
He gives her a baffled look, "You're not?"
Her expression turns amused, "I'm not. You recall that my brother had to face a Hungarian Horntail in that blasted tournament?"
He nods, "You said it was one of the most vicious and dangerous species of dragon there is when I asked you why that was such a big deal, other than the fact he was forced to fight a dragon in general."
She hums, "One of, but not the most vicious and dangerous species of dragon. It ranks third under the Bulgarian Blazewing, and right at the top of that list sits the Japanese Jaggedclaw. Most of the time, they're actually very calm and even playful. Usually they're slow to anger as long as you don't fuck with their families or something else they care about. If you do though, if you're foolish enough to ignite their fury… Well, there is a reason why they're ranked as the most vicious and dangerous species of dragon there is despite their usual nature and how slow to anger they generally are. Only a fool messes with a Japanese Jaggedclaw. So no. I'm not surprised. It fits you quite well."
He blushes at his mates evaluation of him. He wasn't that overprotective of their friends and family, was he?
July 26th, 2025
He tries, he really does, but he just can't help but snicker. This of course, draws a glare from Klein, "It's not funny dude, it really isn't."
Lizbeth laughs at him unrepentantly, "You deserved it. I'm honestly surprised you managed hit on her that long before offending her and getting slapped."
Agil grins, "I'd almost say he's getting better at flirting, but I heard some of the things he was saying and he really isn't. His flirting and pick up lines are as terrible as always."
Klein glowers at their taller friend, "Oh, fuck off Agil. I'm great at flirting. And I have phenomenal pick up lines."
It's almost eerie, how well all of them synch up as they unanimously inform him, "No, you don't."
He glares all around at them, "I. Hate. Every last one of you."
Asuna sighs, "No you don't, but you really did deserve that. Especially since you were supposed to be finding a last minute gift for Hanna while the rest of us were finding party decorations, since you forgot that her birthday is coming up."
He winces at Asuna's last harsh words, "I'm sorry, ok? Not all of us can easily keep up with the sudden influx of birthdays to remember from all the people we met in SAO!"
Lizbeth grins, "Idiot. That's what your phone calendar is for."
Klein growls, "That only tells me when the actual birthday is!"
Asuna rolls her eyes, "Has it ever occurred to you to, I don't know, add a second calendar notification to go and get a present? At least until you memorize people's birthdays well enough to no longer need it? Or maybe just buy presents in advance when you remember or just when you see something you think they'd like?"
Klein scowls, but his retort is lost to Kazuto as his skin starts itching and his instincts start screaming at him. His gaze darts around the train, trying to find whatever it was that made his spine as stiff as steel and his fingers ache from where they're clutching the bags, longing for the familiar weight of Elucidator and Dark Repulser.
He meets Asuna's gaze, intending to silently ask if she feels it to, but immediately gets his answer when he sees how tense she's gone. He sees the same wary confusion he feels reflected in her eyes. After a moment her gaze flickers to their friends, and he registers that the conversation has nearly petered off, what's left becoming stifled and awkward as instincts honed by Aincrad ignite. No one else on the train seems to notice anything wrong, all of them going about their business as though nothing's wrong.
Something flickers out of the corner of his eye and he turns just in time to see a crackle of red electricity dissipate. He's not the only one who sees it either. Lizbeth squints unsurely as though she's questioning her senses, but not quite able to brush it off as a trick of the eye, not after Aincrad, and Klein jumps, a startled expression taking over his face.
He feels more than sees Asuna shift over to nearly press against his side as another tiny bolt travels all the way down from the top of one of the trains bars into the ground before dissipating harmlessly. Lowering his voice enough that even Agil standing next him went hear, he hisses at her, "I think we need to evacuate the train. That's demonic magic."
He hears her growl in annoyance, not at him, but at yet another red bolt, "Undoubtedly, but how? We just left the last stop, and it's not like anyone is going to take what we'd have to say at face value anyway."
He pursues his lips, then after a minute of thought admits, "... I don't know, but I'm pretty damn certain everyone on this train is in danger."
Asuna lets out a frustrated sigh, "You and me both."
He glances at her, "Is there anything you could do with magic?"
She bites her lips, "I… I might be able to throw up a quick non-magical repelling spell? The ward version is stronger, so it'd be pretty weak. It might not even be strong enough to drive them away though, and it won't do anything to any magicals on the train, but you could just flash your necklace and tell them they need to leave."
He gives her a blank look, "What's my necklace supposed to do?"
Asuna gives him an incredulous look, "You mean you don't know? Hanna gave it to you, right?" He nods, "It's the Sparda family crest. Didn't she tell you?"
He tilts his head, "Well, yeah, but…"
Asuna sighs, then mutters, "So Hanna didn't expressly tell you because she thought you'd figure it out on your own. She's likely so used to the idea of people knowing who the Sparda's are that she spaced that it was critical information for you to work it out for yourself. You know that the Sparda's are some of the best demon hunters in the world?" He nods, "Good. Thing is, they aren't some of the best, they're the best. Most magicals know who they are and can recognize their crest. So yes, if you start flashing that necklace people will listen."
He stares at her blankly for a moment, then shakes himself back to the present, "That's certainty nice to know. No pressure to live up to expectations or anything either. None at all." Then he clears his throat, "Anyway, don't you need to cast that repelling spell?"
Asuna shakes her head, "Not yet. Like I said, the spell isn't anywhere near as powerful. If I cast it too early, they'll have to put up with the unpleasant, nagging sensation that they're meant to be anywhere but here until we reach the next station, and they might acclimate to the feeling."
He nods. His gaze is drawn to Agil as he hesitantly pipes up, "I- I'm not the only one seeing this, right?"
He gets various murmurs and head shakes in response. Asuna and he share a look, and he opens his mouth to reassure his friends, but also throw some bullshit out there about exposed cables or wires or something and that maybe they should get off at the next station anyway, just to be safe.
Before he can make a single sound though, a wave of red light rushes by the windows and the train gives a heavy jolt, nearly throwing him to the floor. Others aren't quite so lucky, though he notices his group of friends manage to stay on their feet. Likely another left over from Aincrad.
The calm casual atmosphere that had permeated the train dissipates almost immediately, worried murmurs break out as people huddle just a bit closer and check on those who were knocked to the ground. A few seconds later, another wave of light goes by them, accompanied by an even stronger jerk.
It doesn't end there. The waves get closer and closer together, dangerously destabilizing the train, until there's nearly a solid wall of color rushing by outside the windows and the train shakes ominously.
People start to panicking, and he just has enough time to shout at everyone to brace themselves before the dizzying rush of color stops. There's a brief instant where everything seems fine, then a loud shriek rends the air, followed milliseconds later by a massive cracking noise. His stomach makes a valiant attempt to hurl up his throat. He registers vertical mention out the window and has just enough time for one last realization before all hell breaks loose.
The train is plummeting.
AN: A cliffhanger?! Since when does Vorpal do cliffhangers?! Well, actually I a few of the chapter endings where cliffhangers depending on what you feel counts as a cliffhanger, but none of them were nearly as… dramatic. Soooo, since now apparently! Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! I'll try to keep the wait until next chapter, short especially given how this one ended.
I have a decent idea of what I want the Sparda crest to look like, but I'm terrible at drawing. However, I do know a couple people who are pretty good at drawing, so I'm going to see if I can't get it, and maybe even the soulmate marks, drawn up. I make no promises, but I'll try.
Also, when I looked up eastern dragons, there was one was the one that inspired the Japanese Jaggedclaw, the link will be on my profile (assuming ff has stopped being mean to me and breaking my links.)