Kirito

"You know, I wish you'd quit being stubborn, and just let mom buy you a new bike," I told Akira, as he hauled the old bike in his arms down the alley.

"It… it's okay!" He said between his gasps for breath. "A… a little… little oil, tighten the chain and… and it'll be good as new!"

He followed this up by tripped forward after his foot got caught and falling with my old bike in his hands. I still had no idea how he even peddled it, he had seen it in our old shed and insisted he could repair it and just use that instead of my parents buying him a new one. To his credit he got it working, while I was good with computers, regular tools were like a foreign language to me, but Akira seemed to have them down pat.

Sighing, I reached down and pulled the bike up off him, before helping him to his feet. He only wore a white hoodie of his along with a pair of black jeans., a white scarf around his neck His blonde hair was still wet from his shower, and he wore an annoyed look on his face as he stood up, looking down at the bike I'd leaned up against the wall of Agil's bar, the chain on the back tire broken.

"Oh man… you think Agil has tools?" He asked, looking genuinely upset at the scene. "If I… just take the old chain, wash it up a bit, get rid of the rust I could-."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Akira, as your friend, it would be irresponsible of me to ever let you ride on this bike again."

"But I can fix it, honest!" He protested, walking over to it, and reaching for the chain. "If I can get my hands on a new-."

As if to emphasize my point, the minute Akira touched the chain and went to adjust it, it fell off the wheel and onto the ground in front of him, the rust so deep it looked like a pile of dirt.

Akira hung his head. "You… think I can ride back with you?"

I patted his shoulder, trying to be reassuring. "Yeah, I think I can handle it."

He sighed and patted the bikes seat. "You served me well noble vehicle…"

The bike was at least six years old, the black paint was chipping off, and just about everything needed to be replaced. It had been a miracle it lasted Akira the month that it had. I'd been telling him every day riding it was a bad idea, but he kept insisting he could make it work. He told me it came from his time living as an orphan on the streets. You didn't waste anything, you had to use all you had, he had told me.

He also had a sister to take care of at that time. I couldn't imagine what I would have done, if Sugu I had to do something like that at the age Akira was. Of course, I would be crushed to my core if Sugu died… but after what Akira and his sister went through? I knew now why he had trouble sleeping, and sometimes I caught him simply sitting in his room, huddled under a blanket, tears in his eyes.

Still, he turned and smiled at me, and I couldn't help but think, I… I wonder if he made a choice yet, or if he… he's still-.

"Alright, we shouldn't keep Agil waiting, think he'll give us an ale?" He said with a cheeky smile on his face.

I choked on my words and rolled my eyes. "Of course not, especially if you're riding with me."

"Good point," He said, his hands behind his head as I walked towards the door. "Maybe it is time for me to break and just get a new one…"

I turned and nodded. "Good, you can't just run everywhere. You need a bike, or if you want, once I was in better shape, I planned on getting a motorbike, why don't you get one too?"

That caught his attention, he smirked and rubbed his chin. "Motorbike huh? Now that is an idea I can get behind. Maybe I will."

Laughing I turned the handle. "Let's get Asuna back first, and then ask her opinion, what do you say?"

"Couldn't agree more," He told me, as we entered the Dicey Café.

INNOCENCE OP PLAYS

SAO, AKIRA'S ARROWS: FAIRY DANCE ARC

EPISODE 2: LAND OF THE FAIRIES

Kirito

"Yo! You're both early," Agil said as we walked in, looking up from a cup he'd been cleaning.

Akira and I both smiled, Agil like all the SAO survivors looked like just as he had in the game. Tall and imposing, but just as cool, calm and collected.

"Whoooo, look at you Agil, I knew you had a bar, but this is awesome," Akira said, smiling as he walked passed me, through the few tables, and over towards the dart board. "Hey Kirito, you play darts?"

"Akira, focus," I told him, like a mother scolding a child, but even I couldn't help but smirk up at Agil. "What you do, scare all your customers away?"

Agil scoffed. "Very funny, you should see this place at night, it's off the hook in here."

"You can count me in for the next excursion then," Akira said, as we both slid up onto the barstools, placing our bags back up on stools next to us.

Agil rolled his eyes but smiled. "Ask me again in a few years…. Good to see you up and kickin Black Archer."

Akira smiled, giving the man a fist bump. "Good to be up and kickin."

"Well, as happy as we are, we got business," I said, getting their attention. I was as happy as anyone Akira was alive, but the picture of Asuna was all I saw now. "So, we're here, what's the deal with that picture you sent?"

"There's no doubt, that's gotta be Asuna," Akira said, leaning against the bar with me. "Unless someone has a very similar looking avatar…. Got any coffee in this place Agil?"

I sighed, Akira had becoming way too addicted to that stuff lately, I would have to make it a point to curve that craving before it became an addiction.

"Got you in a minute, but first, that picture will take some explaining," The tall man said, walking to the end of the bar and leaning down under it, pulling out a box. "Check this out first, don't worry, I got two of them, one for each of you."

He slid the box down the bar, and I stopped it, Akira looking over my arms to see the cover. It was a standard looking box, like any game cover you'd see. On it, were two fairies, floating up in the night sky.

"Alfheim online…." Akira said, scoffing at the name. "Quite the name, where have I heard it before…"

I looked at Akira and knew the look he had. It was the look he got on his face when he was wracking his brain of normally useless-albeit interesting- historical facts.

Agil shook his head. "Don't know if you could've or not, unless you've been playing MMOs lately. That there is one of the for the Amusphere, it's what replaced the Nerve Gear on the market."

"So… a VRMMO, just like Sword Art…" I said, my hands tingling as I looked down at the box in my hands.

Akira snapped, and Agil and I looked at him. He smirked at us, clearly proud of himself. "That's it! Alfheim is the name of one of the realms of Norse Mythology. It's commonly translated to 'Land of the Elves' or fairies."

"Spot on historian," Agil teased, which made Akira roll his eyes before he went on. "It's the most popular VRMMO in Japan at the moment, servers full of players."

I ignored my urge to laugh at Akira's annoyed face, as Agil poured tea for both of us. I looked down at the box again, and shook my head.

"Land of the Fairies huh? Sounds like a cute game…" I said, not willing to get my hopes up just yet.

"He… does got a point," Akira said, yawning as he looked up at Agil. "As interesting as a game about one of the Norse Realms sounds, the word 'Fairies' in the title doesn't really sound intimidating."

Agil scoffed as he placed our tea in front of us. "Yeah… that's not what I heard. For one, PK-ing is allowed, and it's got this hardcore new skill system."

"Hardcore?" I asked.

Next to me Akira's eyes were like saucers as he poured more sugar and cream in the tea, before stirring it and downing half the cup in seconds, making me forget about the game in my hand for a few seconds as I digested what I just saw him do.

Oh yeah, I'm gonna have to cut him off, I thought, before Agil cleared his throat.

"What I mean is the games not level based, it's skill based," The larger man explained, as the truth started to set in for me. "Which means you gotta use your skills over and over to improve them, and combat depends on your real life physical abilities."

Akira's eyes went wide again, from the tea or news I didn't know. "So you mean to say that if I'm a master archer in the real world, in this game, even if I got crappy gear, I can still go toe to toe with a more experienced player?"

"You bet, and I bet you're not lying either," Agil said with a smirk. "Gear makes a difference yeah, but in the end, I hear every fight comes down to pure skill."

"Wow… that is hardcore," I said, trying not to feel embarrassed. If a game depended on real life physical abilities, maybe I should have been going to the gym with Akira.

In the back of my mind, I felt that old gamer excitement coming to the forefront as I looked at the game, but still… we were there for different reasons. Akira-having already finished his tea- was asking Agil for more, and the older man laughed as he grabbed his cup to pour him more.

"There's no sword skills, but other then that, it's like SAO with magic," He said, placing the full cup back down in front of Akira, who wasted no time in drinking it as Agil went on. "But what's got people really excited and talking, is they say that in the game, you can fly."

"WHAT?!" "SERIOUSLY?!"

The words 'fly' made Akira choke on his tea, and I had to smack his back a few times to stop him from choking on the stuff. In that moment I remembered him telling me before in SAO, that he did have a massive fear of flying. That didn't make sense to me, since I'd seem him flying through the air after having flung himself upwards, firing arrows at the same time dozens of times.

After making sure my best-friend didn't choke to death, I thought on it myself. What kid didn't want to fly when they were younger? The idea of soaring through the sky, a wide open fantasy world below you where you could go and do anything you wanted, it was the reason I loved games so much, the freedom and feeling like you were in a completely different world.

More importantly, I could see where Agil was going with this, but I wanted to get all the facts first.

After glaring at Akira, and wiping the tea he'd spit back up off the counter he went on. "Well, you see the games got this flight engine thing, after you figure it out, you can fly."

"And how do players figure it out?!" I said, a bit more enthusiastically then I intended, the idea of soaring through the clouds enthralling now.

"You don't have to sound so excited…" Akira muttered, recovering from his choking experience.

Agil scoffed. "I got no idea man, they say it's a pain to get used too, but once you master it you're free as a bird."

"Ha, yeah I bet! How do you use something that's not normally there?" A hundred questions going through my mind. "Maybe the muscles in your back?! Oh, or maybe you have to-."

"Kirito, focus," Akira said, mocking my voice from when we entered the café.

I mentally slapped myself for a minute, before clearing my throat. "Right sorry… so, back to… Asuna."

"Yeah, come on Agil, what's this game got to do with her?" Akira asked, on the edge of his barstool like me.

Agil finally answered our prayers, as he reached into his pocket, and pulled out two photos. He placed them on the counter in front of us, and my heart dropped to my stomach. It was the same two photos he had emailed me, the ones Akira and I had agonized over for an hour earlier. Before we had left the house, Akira had called Mito and Argo, having them stay on standby incase they were needed, and it looked now like he was going to have to call them again.

It was her… there was no mistaken.

"Now… look familiar?" Agil said, grabbing Akira's teacup and smartly not giving him more.

"Asuna…" Akira said, shaking his head, looking over at me. "It has to be her, there's no chance it can be someone else, it'd be too much of a coincidence."

"Yeah… it… it looks just like her," I said, holding up the picture and looking at the beautifully colored long hair.

"Yeah, thought you'd say that," Agil said with a smirk.

Something in me snapped. "Alright cut the crap! Where was this, tell us Agil!"

"He's right, come on Agil we need to know!" Akira said, as Agil nodded and went to pick up the case.

"It was in Alfheim online, taken inside the game," He said, turning the game box around, and pointing to a large tree in the middle of the games map. "Right in the middle here, you got the world tree, at the top of that, there's a castle. You see, players are divided up into 9 races, and each race is competing to be the first to reach that castle."

"Since they love flying so much, why don't they fly up to it?" Akira scoffed, his mind clearly connecting the dots as to what we'd have to do.

"It's already been tried, but the games got a limit to how long you can stay airborne," Agil explained, a smirk coming to his face. "Check it out, these five players stacked themselves up, biggest players on the bottom and tried to fire themselves up like a rocket."

"Wow, that's actually pretty clever," I said, managing to smile. "A bit crazy, but impressive in a way."

"Of course, you'd say that…" Akira muttered next to me.

Agil shook his head. "You better thank them Akira, because while they only made it to the lowest branch, they were able to snap pics of something weird."

"That bird cage…" I put together, looking at the picture again, as Akira took the box. "And… Asuna."

"They got that picture after they zoomed all the way in, sent it to you right away," Agil said, leaning against the counter. "So… any idea if you're gonna go?"

I scoffed and put the picture down. "I… I don't know. If that really is Asuna, what the hell is she doing in this game? What could-."

"Hey… Kirito, check this out," Akira said, his voice low and angry as he pointed to the bottom of the case.

My eyes followed his hand, and when I saw the letters, my body began to shake. I made a mental note to thank Akira later, if the last time I saw that sick bastard Sugou was after Akira had torn his rotator cuff, it would be a blessing.

"RCT progress…" I said, looking up and meeting Akira's eyes. "That means… not just Asuna but-."

"But everyone else too…" Akira said, putting the game back on the counter and hoping off his stool. He grabbed his backpack and then my cup of tea. "It can't be just a coincidence that Asuna's trapped there. If she is, then maybe he really does have all the others who still haven't woken up too."

He downed my tea, which I didn't mind, but my hands balled into fists. I looked down at the letters, and then back to the pictures Agil had on the counter.

You can't give up now…

Thanks Sugu… and thanks Akira, I thought, nodding at him, and grabbing the pictures from the counter and putting them into my bag, zipping it up and looking at Agil.

"Agil, you mind if we borrow this for a few days?" I asked him, picking the case up off the counter.

Agil smirked and walked to the other end. "I thought you'd say that, like I said, here… I got you two."

He slid a second copy of Alfheim Online down the table, and Akira grabbed it. Smirking he slid it into his bag and nodded. "We appreciate it Agil."

"Yeah we do," I said, a thought coming to me which made me chew my lip. "Only problem is, we don't have the hardware yet…"

Agil smiled and shook his head. "Don't gotta worry, it works with what you've both got. Amusphere is just a Nerve Gear with better security."

I shuddered for a second, but that fear quickly went away. Akira however, shakily sighed and looked at us both with his lip between his teeth.

"Strapping on the Nerve Gear again… Sugu's gonna kill us," He said with another sigh, before his normal Akira-like smile came back. "But still… a game where you don't really die when you die? It'll be a nice change of pace."

I could see it in his eyes. He was apprehensive, it had been months since I've really seen Akira afraid, and the last month the times he wasn't smiling were few and far between. I knew what he was thinking about. The last time he'd strapped on a Nerve Gear, his family had been taken away from him.

But… he's doing it again… for me, don't worry, I'll be a better partner this time, I told myself, before I held out my fist to him.

"Let's do this," I said, as he nodded and fist bumped me, before I turned to Agil. "We really appreciate this Agil. I… don't know how to say thanks."

Agil scoffed and waved us off, holding out his own fist. "Battle's not over till it's over… feel me? You just get her out and come back safe, that can be your thanks."

Akira smirked, and bumped Agil's fist first. "Don't gotta worry about that, we'll be back before you know it, right Kirito?"

"Yeah…" I said, smirking at him and bumping Agil's fist myself. "And when we do, let's all meet up here!"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Suguha

I… know I've only been here a month but… you can always rely on me, Akira's voice said in my head, his pretty eyes and infectious smile prominent in my head as they'd been all day.

I… hugged him, I held him. He broke down, he… felt like he could in front of me. Maybe well… maybe he's starting too…

"Ughhh what is wrong with me!" I said, sitting up and trying to pat the red away from my face. The idea was crazy, he was my brothers best-friend, and he lived with me now, that was bad enough, but I knew the truth of the matter.

He… he probably just thinks of me like he did his sister, the thought played in my head. It was as if a tiny version of myself kept reminding my real self of that on one shoulder.

But… what if it's not that? Maybe he feels something more? Do I even feel that way? Maybe, but how would I even know?! It was as if another tiny version of myself sat on my other shoulder telling me the complete opposite.

It was incredibly infuriating the entire time.

"I need to stop!" I said, already embarrassed enough to have fallen asleep in my brothers bed with him, after that, the last thing I needed was thoughts about his best-friend. I grabbed a muffin from the plate next to me and took off the wrapper. "I should just-."

"Hey, we're back!" One voice came just as I raised the muffin to my mouth.

"What's up Sugu, oh those look good, can I have one?" A second voice asked after.

I turned and nearly jumped with muffin in my mouth when I saw Kazuto and Akira both standing there, looking much happier then they had when they both sped off from the house that morning to the city. The two did that sometimes as well, they simply went off together without explanation to do whatever it was they needed to do.

Still, seeing my brother who I had gotten caught in the bed off by the boy I thought I liked both smiling at me, I couldn't help but quickly try to swallow the entire muffin at once.

"Where… where did you two… guhhhh…." I strained out, the muffin lodged in my throat, my airway quickly constricted.

I didn't see what both of them did, but life started flashing before my eyes as with each the muffin annoyingly didn't budge. Next to me was the juicebox I had brought out, so I desperately tried to reach over to it. Still, for a minute I thought I was done for, I'd never tell Akira that I was the one leaving flowers for him in the hospital, and I'd never be able to tell Kazuto what it meant to have him back.

I would die by muffin, a horrible was to go.

"Here," Kazuto said, coming over and grabbing the juicebox for me, before he scoffed and rolled his eyes at me, but smiling as he did it. "You're such a spaz, those muffins aren't going anywhere."

"Jeez, these are good, I'll need to get more," Akira said, chewing on one of the other muffins that I'd had next to my brother. He swallowed and smiled at me. "Ha, no wonder you were choking on them."

I ignored them both, and enjoyed simply being alive, getting the breath back into my lungs. "I… I thought I was done for!"

Akira was the first to laugh. "Ha, you should chew your food you know. What have you been-."

We all turned when we heard the doorbell to the house ring. I was about to go offer to get it myself, when Akira turned, his normally Akira-like, beautiful smile even wider then it normally was.

"I got it, Kazuto, lets meet up in your room," He said to my brother, before he smiled down at me next. "Spare a lesson for me later sensei?"

I felt like I was choking again. "Um I… I have to well… study in a bit, but later tonight, of course!"

"Sounds like a plan," He said, rubbing the top of my head, before heading inside to the door.

I watched him walk through the house, before I turned when I heard Kazuto chuckle. When I turned, he was looking at me with an insufferable smirk on his face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?!" My face already getting hot.

That only made him laugh more. "Haha… nothing, nothing at all… Sugu, I wanted to talk about last night too."

Good god, as if I'm not already embarrassed enough right now! I thought, holding onto the juice with both hands. Hesitantly I looked over at him, as inside I heard Akira opening the door for whoever it was. Of course, I was happy to be able to help my brother in way that I could but being caught by the boy I thought I liked after spending a night in my pajamas with my older brother tended to be embarrassing for most people I thought.

"Y…yeah, what about it?" I asked tentatively, as he sat down on the porch with me.

"I… I just… well, I don't know… just thank you, a lot," My brother said, sighing as he looked out over our backyard. "I… also heard from Akira you helped him out too yesterday when… when I couldn't be there to talk to him."

I tensed up again. "It… it was nothing, really, I'm just trying to do all I can, for both of you."

"It wasn't nothing, thanks to you Sugu we both feel better," He said, turning to me now, a determined smile on his face. "Because of Akira and you, I'm not giving up, and I'm going to get Asuna back!"

I didn't know what to say for a second, because all I felt was a warm feeling bubbling up in my chest. I didn't know what was wrong with Asuna, why she hadn't woken up from SAO, what my brother and Akira had to do… but if I could help them in any way I was going too, I would sit with them and let them both cry as much as they needed if that was what it took.

"Well… I'm glad, good luck," I said, smiling at him. "I look forward to when I get to meet her!"

"And when you do, I know you'll hit it off," He said, smiling as he got up and rubbed my head. "So, you plan on giving Akira a match or two today?"

The good mood I was in turned to panic. I had plans for a raid later, but… could I really pass up this opportunity? I knew I saw Akira every day, but most of the time it was with Kazuto. I loved my brother, but I'd found myself the last few days wanting to spend more time with Akira as well.

"Well… I… I suppose I will, later tonight," I said, not able to look at my brothers smirking face. "If, he wants we could maybe… why are you laughing?!"

"Ahaha, sorry, couldn't help myself, you just look so flustered," Kazuto said, rubbing the back of his head because he knew he'd annoyed me. "Me and him will be busy for a few hours, but after-."

He stopped, and we both turned when we heard the sliding door to the house open again. Akira stood there, but all traces of his smile were gone. He didn't even look up at us. His one hand held the door open, his other was curled around the sleeve of his hoodie. I was scared for a moment but worried a second after that. He sucked in a shaky breath, and when he looked up, my hand went over my mouth.

"A…Akira?" I asked him, getting up to stand next to Kazuto. "What… what…"

"Who… was at the door?" Kazuto asked in a softer voice.

Akira shakily sighed again, before his head came up. Tears were welled up in his eyes, his eyes red, but despite it, he forced a smiled onto his face and quickly wiped them away.

"Oh, nobody important, just a salesman!" He lied, wiping his eyes again before nervously chuckling. "Told them I didn't have two Yen to scrape together, Sugu, we'll have a match later, Kazuto, let's go, we should probably-."

"Akira…" My brother said, reaching out and grabbing his arm before he could leave.

I stepped up next to him and met Akira's eyes as well. He lingered at me for a minute, then looked to Kazuto, before slowly letting his arm fall back to his side. I ushered the both of them into the house, and after following Akira, he finally stopped in the kitchen, his back to the both of us.

He shook his head, but finally looked at us. "That… that was a woman from… from the morgue."

"The morgue?" Kazuto asked, as my heart fell into my stomach, boiling like it was a pit of acid. My brother shook his head. "What's someone from the morgue-."

"Aki…" I answered for him, hearing Akira's words from yesterday in my head again.

She's still with the morgue… Akira's little sister…

Akira shuddered, and smiled at me, new tears coming down his face. "Yeah… thanks for remembering. She… she wanted to ask me about a funeral for Aki, they have her ashes but… she asked if I wanted to have a ceremony."

"You… you told me you couldn't afford it," I said, both him and my brother looking at me now.

Kazuto's eyes widened, as he looked at him. "Akira, you don't have to not have to do that alone. Mom and Dad will help, Sugu and I will too, right?"

"Of course, we will!" I said, as I caught onto my brother's idea, I smiled at him. "Don't worry about money, if we all pool together it should be fine! I… I can get flowers together, I'm sure Mom or Dad know someone who can help organize!"

"She's right," My brother said, smiling as he held a hand on Akira's shoulder. "Then we can get ahold of Misumi, Hosaka, and I'm sure everyone else will-."

"It's not a money problem," He said, cutting us off, his head down at his feet. "She… she told me the government would cover the costs of funerals for all SAO victims. It… it'd be free."

"That's great then!" I said, coming up next to him and grabbing his hand without thinking. "We can have a funeral for her… and we can have a huge dinner afterwards. I'm sure we could-."

"No… please… Sugu… Kazuto, I appreciate it but please… no," He said, squeezing my hand, and when he looked up at me, he was crying… but smiling still. "You guys don't have to worry about me. I… I don't know if I could do it, plus… who would show up? Five, six? Maybe ten people? No… I won't waste everyone's time I… I'll be okay."

My heat shattered, my heart pounded when he squeezed my hand, and rubbed my head again. Kazuto next to me met my eyes, we both looked at each other, then back to Akira, trying to see if we both had heard him right. I looked at the boy's smiling face and tried to stop myself from feeling sorry for him. I knew Akira wouldn't like pity, it's not the kind of person he is. He liked tackling things in the most efficient way to get things done, and he always put others before himself.

That was what he was doing now.

"Akira… you don't have to do that," Kazuto said. "It… could be a way for you to feel even a bit better. We'd all be there to support you, who cares if it's only a few people. It's not-."

"I'm fine, Kazuto I promise. Come on, don't have anymore time to waste," Akira said, cutting him off, before smiling at me with his wet face, and walking towards the stairs.

Kazuto and I watched him go and thud up the steps. After he was out of earshot my brother sighed, and my chest continued stirring.

He's… doing it again, he's bottling it up, I realized… looking at the ground like he had been. Was there really nothing I could do?

"Oh man… hey, don't worry about him," Kazuto said, trying to reassure me, he rubbed my head as well before going after Akira. "He's stubborn, but I know how to get past it. We'll be busy for a few hours, we'll be done before dinner though."

I watched him go up the steps after Akira, and my hands and chest felt tingly.

I never would have guessed that boy in the hospital I left flowers for had helped save my brother in the game. And I never would have guessed I'd have these feelings for him so soon after he woke up… but beyond the beautiful smile, handsome face, pretty eyes, wonderful personality and kindness… he had done something even more important for me.

Akira had helped me get my brother back, Kazuto and he had made it clear they were only able to survive thanks to each other… so I owed him for that.

And stubborn or not, I'll do what I can for them both! First though… I need to meet up with the others, it's almost time for the attack!

I found myself smiling, maybe after getting a bit stronger, I could finally tell Kazuto and Akira about my new hobby. Who knew, maybe ALO would help them as much as it helped me.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Akira

The minute I got up the stairs, my legs started shaking, and I had to hold onto the wall to stop myself from falling forward.

'I'll come back next week dear, please, consider it, we'll cover everything. Who knows, perhaps it would be good for you, and your recovery.'

The woman had been extremely kind and informative, I had felt horrible for my short answers to her. I couldn't get the thought out of my head. Her body was gone, my sister wasn't even a person anymore. The last time I'd seen her had been during the ambush, when I had led her and Kya into that trap. I gripped at the wall and shut my eyes, willing no tears to come out, but when my eyes closed, I only saw that day.

DAMMIT AKI WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME?! WE DON'T HAVE TIME GO!

It was the last thing I had really said to her when she wasn't dying in her arms, her HP bar draining in front of me. The idea I would never get to tell her that I was sorry for that, the idea those were going to be the last words she heard from her big brother, the person she saw as the hero for her, and for her manga… it crushed at my soul every single day. Not being able to talk to her again, not being able to see her and tell her everything would be alright, to hear her talk, to just be around her, it was like a black hole churning in my stomach.

For fifteen years straight, I woke up, and my sister was there, not a single day I could remember went by where she wasn't there, where I hadn't heard her laugh, say 'good morning big brother'. Not a day had gone by I didn't see her head stuck in some book, her hands on a pencil, sketching in her notebook, practicing her Japanese, where we didn't watched anime with each other every morning, she could not leave until I had her hair braided perfectly. Even the little things, the tiny things she did I used to think was annoying, I yearned for, I craved and needed like a body needed air.

She used to put her milk in before her cereal, she'd only eat pancakes and never waffles, she didn't like it when her food touched, she would shower while blasting anime theme songs throughout the house, she'd always run off ahead of me to school, she left the oven on too much, her hands were always covered in lead from pencils, or charcoal from charcoal drawings. She used to annoyingly click her tongue and pout when she didn't get what she wanted, when we were on the streets she didn't want to eat fish because they 'had feelings too', she'd use way too much wood for our fires, and most annoyingly whenever we slept next to each other which was forced to be most nights until we moved in with Kya, she'd roll and flop like a seal, and I'd often wake up to find her sleeping horizontally across me, snoring like a cow.

But… every morning… every morning I wish I'd wake up with her across me. Every one of those things I had found annoying growing up, would scold her for it, would roll my eyes at her for it, I'd have to push her off me to get up myself.

I had hated those things… but they were what I missed the most now. Her body was gone, and the only thing left of her were ashes probably sitting in a dark room on some shelf in the morgue.

And me, her big brother, her hero in life and in her manga… was too scared to go and get them.

I couldn't do it. I didn't want everyone to waste their time seeing me cry, I wouldn't be a burden to them, especially not to Kirito and Sugu who had taken me in, and to Asuna, who I knew I needed to go save. So, I'd do what I'd been doing for the last year, for the sake of them, I would give everything I had.

"Aki… god Aki…." I whispered, my hand shaking against the wall. I knew Kirito had to be coming, so I pushed of the wall and stood back up, wiping my tears with my sleeve. "I won't fail as the hero you saw again… Kirito and I are going to save Asuna…"

"Akira…?" Kirito's voice said behind me, and sure enough I turned to see him there, a worried look on his face.

I shakily finished sighing and wiping my face. "I'm okay… I promise. Look, Kirito, I'll-."

He didn't let me finish, he just hugged me. "I'm here, you know that, just like you are for me."

It was things like this I really appreciated about Kirito and I's friendship. We didn't need to give each other long speeches about how much we meant to each other, we just knew one another so well, we knew when to press the other to talk, or when to simply be there. I knew what was going on in Kirito's head right now, he knew what was going on in mine.

And I appreciated a simple hug more then any words. I let out a breath I felt I'd been holding since the woman had left the house. I hugged him back, and after a few seconds we both pulled back, Kirito smiled and slapped my shoulder, as I wiped the last of the tears from my damp face.

Maybe… maybe one day… but not today, today, is for Asuna, I'll be your hero Aki, I thought, as with my face finally dry, Kirito finally nodded at me.

"You ready? We can wait an hour or two if you need…" He asked, but I could hear it in his voice. What he really wanted to say was, 'I can dive in and start, and you can join when you're ready'.

"No, don't worry, it's like I said, we don't have anymore time to waste… you sure you're ready to well… put that thing back on?" I asked him.

Kirito shook his head. "It was never going to be a problem for me, especially now."

I laughed. "Ha… you always did feel more at home in VR anyway."

"Thanks to Asuna and you, I feel at home in both now," He told me, pulling the two copies of Alfheim Online out of his bag and handing me on. "But… you are right, what about you? You ready to put it back on?"

"If you had asked me yesterday, I would have told you no," I said, looking at the game case. "But now? It's not even a question."

"Alright, let's do this… partner," He said, holding out his fist.

I smiled as we did the handshake we'd perfected. "Yeah, let's go… partner."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The Kiriguya guest room may not have seemed like much to a normal kid, but to me, someone who had lived in a tiny studio apartment with three people, then on the streets? It was like a five star hotel room. Even back when I had stayed with Kya, the Tanaka's guest room was a lot like the Kiriguya one. I had a simple bed in one corner, with windows like Kirito's room. I had a desk which let me look out the window but no computer, I just used Kirito's or my phone whenever I needed something online. Kirito had said once we both settled in more, and I got my job he'd help me build my own computer, which I believed he could probably do with his eyes closed, but me? I was clueless.

I had a tall dresser near the foot of my bed, and a tall shelf to which I had placed the few belongings I had. Hanuko had been able to bring two boxes worth of my things with her that day in the hospital, which was mostly clothes and other essentials. The shelves had been mostly empty… the biggest thing there, being the old, battered Nerve Gear which now sat in my lap.

It had plugged in and started up like it did that day it had for me, Aki and Kya that day everything changed. Before SAO, I had only for a very short time played another VRMMO with Kya, but SAO had been my first real taste of full-dives.

It ended up being quite the first time I'd say.

I should be terrified… but why aren't I? I had asked myself that question the entire time while I had plugged the rig in, while I put the game cartridge for Alfheim Online inside the back of it.

It had been a question I'd been asking myself since I woke up. Would I ever be able to put the Nerve Gear back on? Play another VR game, play any other games at all?

I wouldn't blame any of the six thousand who survived if they had never wanted to see another VR game ever again, it was perfectly understandable.

However, after two years of moving around in a virtual body, having that be my life for over 730 days, two years of my life… I almost felt like I was heading home in a way.

"So many horrible things happened when I put you on… but… you gave me so much too," I said quietly, looking down at the gaming system in my lap, before sighing. "Please… give me the strength to save everyone again… help me…"

I lost the two most important things in my life, my family… but I'd gained one back. I couldn't imagine my life without Kirito, Sugu now, Misumi and Hosaka.

And especially Asuna.

My phone dinged before I put the rig on, and I grabbed it to check the notification. A smile grew across my face when I read the text I'd gotten.

From Misumi Tozawa (Mito)

Argo says she can get two copies of the game by tonight. We'll dive in the minute we get it, and meet up with you and Kirito. Be sure to text me your new character name.

I almost laughed at the last part. "That's right… I'll need to actually think of a name. Can't go by Akira in there."

Of course, an archer named Akira would probably raise flags if any players happened to be SAO survivors, but I doubted I had to worry about that.

"Okay… enough stalling, let's go…" I told myself, leaning back to a comfy position on my bed, and letting the Nerve Gear slowly slide onto my head of messy blonde hair.

I remember waking up and seeing how long it was… please just let there be a log out button, I thought, as the minute it was on my head, I saw the lights in the screen begin to slowly churn.

And then, I said the words I never thought I'd be uttering again.

"We're coming Asuna…okay…. Link Start!"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

I had forgotten how nauseating the first flash of the Nerve Gear turning on was. I watched as it made sure my five senses were all intact, and I was just waiting for an error message to pop up, or for some kind of electric shock to wake me up and tell me this was all some crazy dream.

That never came however, and I yelped when I felt myself falling out of the air for a split second.

"GAHHH!" I yelled, before I realized I landed right on my feet, a spiraling void of blue and black around me. Dozens of blue squares circled around me, and when I felt my feet on the ground, I breathed out a huge sigh of relief. "Okay… so far so good, no psychos trying to trap me yet."

"Welcome, new player, to Alfheim Online," A robotic voice said, as I spun around, seeing a keyboard and other screens pop up in front of me. "Please enter your gender, and the name you wish to be identified as."

Seeing a screen pop up midair again gave me such deja-vu it hurt my head. After composing myself, I gingerly reached out my hand, and clicked the tab that said 'male', but then came the real dilemma.

What… what do I call myself?

In SAO, since Kya and I wanted Aki to be able to find us in the game, we had named our avatars with our real names. We both said we'd change our avatar names to something different later, making different accounts to do so. However, Kayaba had trapped every player with just the account they logged in with, and there had been no way for us to change them.

So, Akira the Black Archer was born. It became my identity after Kya had died, with my Black Bow of Fate, and eventually became official thanks to Argo and Liz literally naming my customer armor, 'The Black Archer Armor'. I missed the armor, I realized then how much it would suck if I didn't spawn with a bow right off the bat and just a sword. I could handle one well enough, but I didn't know if I'd feel right without a bow in my hands in a game like this.

I didn't know if I could not be The Black Archer. It was to the point even that sicko Sugou knew what I was known as in the game.

"Mhm… maybe something simple… OH! That's it!" I said, typing in the name on the floating keyboard.

I didn't want to be on the nose and call myself The Black Archer. People would shorten that anyway if I named myself it, and plus, if even Sugou knew I was The Black Archer, I didn't really want anyone else who could know about what happened in SAO figuring out it was me.

Kirito, I knew would name himself Kirito, since he'd told me that had been his name for all his games, so it was a part of him, but me, I looked at the name I had picked and it glew green signaling it was available and the system confirmed it. It popped up above my head, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Feels a bit weird… but it's me," I said, looking at the name with a bit of awe. "Archer… it's a bit on the nose, but still, pretty cool."

Archer. That's what I was, something that linked both my real and virtual self. I thought it was fitting.

An even bigger smile came to my face, plus, in the Fate series, that's what the Archer Heroic Spirits are called! Argo did put together I was basically trying to look like Emiya in SAO, this is fitting…. But I'm definitely not going to admit that to Kirito.

If Kirito knew I was naming myself after a Fate character, he'd do his damndest to try and get me to watch One Piece or Attack on Titan, claiming they'd be my new favorites, and Fate was only mine because I hadn't seen 'real anime' yet.

I would not let myself be swayed.

"There are nine playable races, please select the race you wish to play as," The voice said, after my name was approved.

Above me, the nine races of fairies appeared in a large wheel, life-sized player models of each race staring down at me. My eyes widened, trying to examine the details as I pressed the arrows to scroll through each one. I recognized some of the names as famous old fantasy species which tugged at my historian brain. Normally, I would take the time to read up on each class, their abilities and what they specialized in, but then I remembered Agil said skill was all that mattered really in Alfheim.

As I scrolled, I saw descriptions at the bottom, clearly trying to tell me which class was best suited for, but I decided to ignore them, because as soon as I saw an elf dressed in black, I didn't hesitate in picking it

Because I know for a fact Kirito's in a rush too, he probably saw the black clothes and that was all he needed, I thought as I pressed the confirm button on the race.

If I was right and Kirito picked the same on, we'd probably be teleported to the same are, it would be easier for us to link up that way.

"You have selected Spriggan, your avatar will be randomly generated," The voice told me, as I saw blue light start traveling up my legs. "You will be teleported to a town in Spriggan territory, good luck, and enjoy your time in Alfheim online."

I could help but laugh as my body turned into blue vapor. "Ha… looks like the Black Archer's back."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

I had never been more terrified in my life.

"GAHHHHHHHH NO, NO, NO SHIT GOD DAMMIIIITTTTTTT!" I screamed as I fell through the sky, too busy flailing my arms around to take in any of the world I'd been dropped into. All I saw was that I was falling.

And I was falling from very high up.

Wind shot up y body as I fell headfirst down towards a massive forest. I was scared for a moment that my Nerve Gear was going to malfunction again and kick me out back to the real world by force. That was what the systems did if your heart rate got too high or something happened to your real body. In my screaming, I managed to look down and see myself covered black clothes, black leather armored pants, a black coat, and on my back I could feel a sword strapped and jingling around as my body flailed. I didn't even have time to think, as I managed in my flailing and screaming to turn around and look at myself plummeting towards the ground.

"SHIT NO NO NO AGHHHHHHHHHH! WHAT, WHAT THE HELL'S-."

My screaming was cut off by static. I felt my body begin to glitch out and I had horror flashbacks to SAO. During the first few days of the game, and sporadically throughout the two years, players would glitch or lag like an old TV that needed with a loose antenna. Kya had speculated that it was due to all the players bodies being moved to hospitals or other care facilities, it had caused their in game bodies to glitch like they had. Every player it had happened too, described massive headaches and their bodies going stiff and lightning like effects happening around them.

"AHHHH WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, DAMMIT!" I had already been petrified enough falling like I had, but something like a giant bolt of lightning shot out in front of me.

It cut the virtual world in half, and my body went stiff in midair.

Heartrate level critical.

I saw the message pop up in front of me, and since I wasn't moving of falling anymore, I had time to suck in a breath and calm myself at least for the time being. I saw my heartrate start to drop, and finally took the time to look around the virtual night sky I had been dropped into. The sky was beautiful, full of stars and light, I was upside-down, so I looked down at the forest stretched out before, and what looked like an old alter like pyramid beneath me. I let out the breath, realizing that had to be the town in Spriggan territory I was supposed to be dropped into. The lights were gorgeous, and finally being still, I was able to admire everything around me, the feeling of being back in another world.

"Wow… this is beautiful," I said, the blood starting to rush to my head. "But what… what the hell am I… OH NO, NO NO NOT AGAIN!"

Another flash of blue lightning flashed across my screen and I started falling again, into a black abyss that had ripped open.

But after that, I barely had time to scream, before I felt my head smash into the ground.

"Ow…." I groaned, as my hands felt the ground, then my back fell to the grass as well.

Pain shot through my back, and for a minute I didn't dare open my eyes. However, soon, I heard a familiar humming sound, the sound of the virtual world. It was an ever present sound in SAO, one that had just become part of everyday life during those two years. Whenever you moved, you heard the sound, whenever you did anything you heard the sound. My life had felt much quieter without it, and for the first few weeks I had been back, I almost missed it.

Now, I heard it again.

My eyes eventually flickered open, and the first thing I noticed, was the HP bar in my upper left corner.

Archer.

It was a bit odd not seeing 'Akira' underneath it, like I had for two years, but seeing the bar, hearing that humming sound as I lifted my arm up in front of my face… it almost felt peaceful. I had thought that at first I'd have some for of vertigo or panic when I got back into a VR game like this.

But I didn't, because it all felt so familiar. Comfortable even.

Testing my luck, I lifted my legs up and jumped. I stumbled a bit, grasping for the air when I landed on my feet, but simply having my feet on the ground was enough for me to let out the breath I'd been holding for several minutes. I looked down at my sleeves, long black sleeves from the coat I had spawned in with, I flexed my fingers, I steadied my breathing, I shook my legs a stretched my arms out over my head.

"Oh man… I missed this," I admitted to myself, stretching more and feeling my body move like it hadn't since I had fought Heathcliff over a month ago.

I jogged in place, even did jumping jacks, if another player came along and saw me they'd think I was crazy, but they would also have no idea what it meant for me to be back.

But then, that panic I thought I'd have after diving in, finally came to the for front.

"Please, please, please, please…." I said, taking my left hand and swiping downwards.

Nothing came up.

"Shit… shit, shit, shit SHIT!" I yelled trying with my left-hand dozens of times to even open up my menu. "No, no, no not again, not…. Oh… wrong hand."

I took my right hand and swiped down. Sure enough, a familiar looking menu opened up. It made sense, if RCT had used the old SAO servers to make this game a lot of the UI would look familiar. Agil had said it was basically SAO with magic and no sword skills.

If there's no sword skills, then there's no bow skills…. But I wonder how magic works, maybe I can use that to bring elemental archery back, I thought as I looked through the menus, but other then just my old fighting style, I needed to make sure something else far more important was there.

I clicked settings, and when I saw it, I almost fell to my knees. I'd never been so happy to see a 'logout' button before. To be sure I clicked it, and then a prompt came up, asking me if I was sure, and that was enough for me to finally relax.

"Okay… first order of business, find Kirito," I told myself as I closed the menu, looking around at the forest I'd been dropped into. "It said I'd be dropped in Spriggan territory, but I don't see that pyramid city, and if I glitched out, he may have too… maybe-."

I stopped when my ears twitched… I had heard something. The faint sound of running water. It shouldn't have been able to be heard by anyone in the real world, but I heard it and a shot of deja-vu ran through my chest. Back in SAO, this was common, as my perception skill was maxed out in the game, I could hear just about anything. On instinct, like I'd never left the virtual world, I turned to the direction I could hear the running water, and I took off in a run.

And I was fast… really fast.

Ha… finally! I missed this, my god, I'm moving just like I used too! I thought, as with my arms back I saw trees zipping past me. I hadn't moved at speeds like this since even before my fight with Heathcliff in SAO, for the entire month I'd been trying to get this back. I didn't feel sluggish, I didn't feel tired, I could only smile and laugh as I ran.

We had always said, Kirito had the fastest reaction time, Asuna had the fastest attack speed, me? I was the fastest in terms of pure movement.

"Ha… yes, yes WOOHOOO!" I hadn't felt as blissful as I did in that moment for a very long time.

I dodged around trees, leapt over fallen branches and rocks, moving as nimbly and dexterously as I had back in SAO. It only last a few minutes, before I came to a skidding halt in front of a flowing river, the same river I had heard moving from miles away.

"Oh man… I'm back, I'm really back," I said, as I knelt down in front of the stream. "Look out Alfheim, Akira…. No, Archer is coming for you. Now what… oh god, I look like Kirito."

I finally managed to see my reflection staring back at me in the water. Like I expected, most of my outfit was black, a black coat with white accents that went to my midriff, a black t-shirt under it, long black pants, and then on my back, a small sword that just screamed beginner.

But then I saw my face, and shuddered. It was odd, not seeing myself as a blonde. The avatars were generated at random, but luckily enough I looked just like myself enough to not freak out. My hair was black instead of blonde, it still fell in a charming mess around my head, and my eyes were still green, but I couldn't feel I kind looked like Kirito in real life minus the eyes. It really would be odd every time I saw my reflection in the game, but I could have gotten a much worse looking avatar.

"Alright… good enough, now… how the hell did I even hear this river," I asked myself, standing and pulling up the window again. "That should require a high perception, and my speed… it… what the heck is this? God, please don't be a bug."

I scrolled down the status list, looking at all the different skills in the game. Like SAO there were dozens upon dozens of them, everything from fishing, to bartering, to lockpicking, to the normal combat skills.

All of mine were high, almost to the cap. Sure enough, I didn't see a level in the top right corner under my HP bar, but all the skills I saw… they shouldn't have been this high. My perception I scrolled past was 1,000, my acrobatics 897, my lockpicking 901, my stealth and other rouge skills were up near the same rank.

And then I got to the combat skills, and I saw the line that said 'bows'.

"My bow skill… it's 1000…maxed out," I said, scrolling to one-handed swords and seeing it was at 687. That made me realize what happened. "These… are all my old SAO stats. Wait… maybe… no… I guess that was just wishful thinking."

My SAO stats being back were good enough, but I went to my items, hoping to find my Black Bow of Fate, and the Black Archer Armor Liz had made for me. My luck didn't last however, as all the items on my list had a question mark, their item tags all having the same. I scrolled through the entire list and saw nothing.

"Oh man… and I don't even think I have a bow now," I said, going to the weapons tab, and the only weapon that was recognized by the game, was the simple longsword that was on my back. "Okay, first order of business, find Kirito, find a bow."

They seemed like reasonable priorities to me. After I linked up with Kirito, together we could find a town, whether it was the pyramid one, or another one. I also had no idea where I was, and even when I pulled up the map to look, I wasn't going to know anywhere or any locations. If I ran into any hostile players, I'd be in trouble. My sword skill was around 600, which at least in SAO, put me in the category of not necessarily being elite like Kirito, Asuna, Klein of Heathcliff, but good enough to hold my own, still that wouldn't be enough.

No, if I was going to save Asuna, I needed to find Kirito and find any kind of bow I could get my hands on.

"Alright, let's see what this is like," I said, grabbing the sword on my back and sliding it out. It glinted in the sun, I saw my reflection in the metal and shuddered, the black hair would take some getting used to.

I swung it a couple of times, getting used to the weight and the movements of the game again. It didn't surprise me, when it didn't take long for me to get the feel of the blade again. I would miss my Sword of Takemikazuchi, that was for sure, but I'd like to think between the training from Kirito, and now my kendo lessons with Sugu, my sword skills would come back quickly. I dashed forward with blinding speed and cut down one of the trees that stood in front of me, and then I looked down at the blade to see there was barely a scratch on it, despite it being a low-level sword.

"I see, the higher your skill, the easier it is to wield and higher the durability," I realized, flicking at the metal. "Higher skill level probably means you can access better weapons with effects, maybe I can find a bow that was like-."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a light, a bright blue light and spun around with the sword in my hands. I almost dropped it as I instinctively reached for an arrow, only to realize there were not there. The blue light shimmered high above the trees, lighting up the forest as it went on for several seconds. After it had gone away, my brain was already kicking into overdrive.

It's either Kirito, or another player, either one is a good start, I thought, sliding the sword on my back and taking off in a run. I sprinted and leapt over the river and darted into the forest again. The wind picked up as I ran, and at the prospect of seeing another player, seeing new gear or items I hadn't seen before, I found myself excited. After everything that had happened last time I was in a game like this… I was crazy enough to be excited at being in this one.

It was the first step, it was like Agil had said. The fight wasn't over yet. Kirito and I's fight from SAO wasn't done. It wouldn't be done, until we had Asuna back, and just like we had planned, all of us were around a table having dinner together in the real world. My life had taken new shape in that game, been given a new purpose.

Now, I was going to launch headfirst into the final fight.

My hand went to the sword on my back as I burst through the treeline. It came out of its sheath, and just as it did, I heard another sword doing the same.

And then, when I looked up, my knees did finally buckle.

"Stop… who are you?" Kirito said, pushing the tiny girl behind him, sword out, a careful tone to his voice.

I scoffed and slid my sword onto my back. "Kirito, it's me you idiot, what's wrong my hairs a different color and you don't recognize the guy who lives with you?"

Kirito let out a sigh and roll his eyes. "Okay, just to be sure, tell me something only me and Akira know."

"You couldn't fish in SAO, you sleep in too much, and you have a crappy mainstream taste in anime," I told him, crossing my arms.

Kirito rolled his eyes, putting his sword away. "Yup, that's you alright, I got worried after I glitched out, did it happen to you too?"

"Y… yeah… it did," I said, my voice choking up, as now… I wasn't worried about Kirito.

"Huh? What's… oh, sorry," Kirito said, kneeling and looking down at the girl. "Look who it is Yui."

Yui looked exactly like she had the last time I had seen her, when she had disappeared out of Asuna's arms.

When she asked me to look after her parents, to keep them safe.

Her tiny white dress fell around her shins, and when she walked out past Kirito, her eyes widened, her mouth opening into a tiny o. I choked out a laugh and got to my knees… she was here again. Kirito had always said he'd find a way for us to see her again… and like usual, Kirito was right.

"Y…Yui, you… you remember me, right?" I told her, holding out my arms, feeling my eyes well up again. "I… looked after them for you, just like you asked I… I missed you."

I… I thought I had failed again, I thought, remembering the day she had disappeared, hearing Asuna cry before Kirito had rushed to the GM console. That had been a reason I hadn't minded dying in SAO, if it meant Kirito and Asuna getting back. I always knew Kirito would find a way for her to be brought back, so that she could live with her mommy and daddy again… so I was ready to do anything for it.

I had done everything… but I hadn't thought I'd be able to see her again myself.

Yui smiled, before rushing over and launched her arms around my neck.

"I… I remember," She said, squeezing her tiny arms around my neck. "Thank you…. Big Brother."

I hadn't been so happy to hear someone call me that in a very, very long time.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

It hadn't taken Yui long to look through her database to confirm Kirito and I's suspicions, that the world of ALO, had been copied directly from the old SAO servers after RCT took over. After explaining to the girl what was going on and what game we were in, she'd confirmed that it was the Cardinal system that was running the ALO servers now, and the world of ALO had been ported over from the old SAO data. I had almost forgot that Yui was an AI of the Cardinal system, so her knowing all of this made sense now.

The tiny girl sat between Kirito and me, as we sat on a log, a waterfall to our backs a rapidly flowing river beneath us. I was still looking at my reflection in the water, tugging at my now black hair, while Kirito nodded.

"It makes sense that the game was ported over from SAO… but when I checked, I still had my old stats," He said, before looking from Yui over to me. "What about you? Did your stats carry over?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah they did," I said pulling up my status window and gazing down at all the high numbers again, before looking to Yui. "It is weird… I'm not complaining, but you know what's going on Yui?"

Yui looked at both of us, compared to when we first met her in SAO, she simply seemed more aware, more mature. I assumed it had to do with her finally having full access to her memories and the database of the game. It would be useful to have her with all her memories back if Kirito and I were going to save Asuna.

"Mhm… that is strange, one moment, let me take a look at the data for both of you," She said, before putting her tiny hands to her temples. After a moment she nodded. "You're both right… this is interesting. You both have the same character data you both used in SAO, the save data formatting is almost identical. It seems whatever skills you had that were similar in both games, were ported over and merged together."

"That makes sense if they're the same server… but, my Elemental Archery, and all my bow skills are gone," I said, looking over at Kirito. "I'm guessing you don't have dual wielding anymore huh?"

Kirito shook his head, looking dejected. "Yup… it's gone. Still, it's better than nothing."

Yui nodded in agreement and looked between us. "You're correct, but it's not just skills that ported over, but your items as well. Seeing as many aren't in the game, you should probably both delete them, before the error detection system finds out."

That sent a chill up my spine. I knew what the girl said was right, if I couldn't use any of the old items anyway, there was no point in keeping them. I would rather have the high skills then weapons and items I couldn't use. If the system detected all the items, it could wipe our character data clean. I looked at Kirito, who was biting his lip as well, I knew he had to be thinking the same thing.

Finally, he was the one to say it. "Yui's right… come on Akira, let's do it."

"Alright…" I said, dejected myself as I went to my item inventory.

My list of items, all the items I had spent two years collecting in SAO were there, the items I'd risked my life for.

It was question marks, but i also knew The Black Bow of Fate was in here somewhere… me and Kya's bow, the weapon Aki would always draw me as a hero with.

"I'll find you again… I promise," I said, before pressing 'yes' on the prompt asking if I wished to delete all my items.

If The Black Bow of Fate wasn't in Alfheim Online, I'd make one. That weapon was part of who I was… me and Kya's bow.

"That was like deleting my child…" I muttered, as I looked over at Kirito who had done the same.

"I know… still, it was for the best," He said, looking down at Yui again. "Okay Yui, now… what we do about our skill levels?"

Yui nodded. "Well, nobody else can see them, except for the game masters. So long as they don't see it, which is unlikely, you'll both be okay."

"That's a relief…" I said, before I found myself smirking. "Still, if real life archery skill is all I need I think I'd be fine. I need to get my hands on a bow…"

Kirito scoffed, but smiled. "Ha, that's just like you. By the way… Archer? Really?"

"What, what's wrong with it?" I defended, looking at my name in the top left corner. "It was that or 'The Black Archer' and everyone would have shortened that anyway!"

"Mhm, I'm sureeee that's why," He said, before smirking at me. "I guess it also had nothing at all to do with the fact that one character you like in Fate is called 'Archer'."

"His name is Emiya!" I corrected, knowing he got it wrong on purpose. "And I also have no idea what you're talking about, that's a complete coincidence!"

"Right, sure, totally believe you," He said, rolling his eyes at me. "You know that show is nothing compared to stuff like Attack on Titan, you need to stop being stubborn and just-."

"We're not having this discussion right now, stop gatekeeping!" I snapped, rolling my eyes before muttering, "I swear you better log out before me or I'm gonna put a bucket of water over your door."

Kirito-his face red- looked like he was going to fire off a quip of his own, but Yui laughing stopped us both.

"Hehe, I'm so happy you and Big Brother get to live together Daddy!" She said, leaning against Kirito and hugging his arm.

Kirito's red face went away, and he smiled at her, then at me. "Yeah… so am I."

I sighed and nodded, he was right after all. "Yeah… me too."

Kirito smiled back down at Yui. "So, Yui, what's the game identifying you as?"

Yui smiled and nodded. "Okay let me see…." She put her tiny hands to her temples. "It's classifying me as a player support program… the game calls it a…. Navigation Pixie!"

"Pixie?" I said questioningly, looking over at Kirito. "What do you think-. Hey gah, easy!"

I was cut off, when Yui started glowing in between us. For a minute, I got terrified the tiny girl was going to disappear again, but after a few seconds of Kirito and I being blinded by the light she emitted it went away, and that was when I heard a tiny fluttering sound.

"And this, is what I look like as a pixie!" Yui said excitingly, as she floated in front of us in the form of a tiny flying fairy.

She wore a tiny pink dress and had small wings. She was no bigger than my hand as she floated between the two of us. I looked at Kirito who looked just as surprised as I was, as Yui laughed and did spins in the air, making me sick just looking at her. I remembered in that moment you were supposed to fly in this game.

"Woah…" Kirito said, reaching out and poking the tiny girls face. "You had admin privileges in SAO, do you still have them?"

"Daddy stop, that's annoying!" Yui complained at first, before I laughed and held out my hand for Yui to float onto.

"Ha, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life," I said, using a finger to pat Yui's hair.

She tried her best to stop me. "Stop it, Big Brother that's annoying too! But to answer your question Daddy, I don't. I only have access to the wide area maps and reference database…"

That wasn't the answer Kirito or I wanted to hear. I could see the disappointed look come to Kirito's face as he sighed and looked off into the woods. I let Yui out of my hand to float between us, and chewed at my lip. As cool as this new game was, and as fun as it'd be to explore it with all of our old SAO stats, Kirito and I knew were on a time crunch, and needed to get to Asuna as soon as possible.

We only had one week, which wasn't a lot. If Yui still had admin privileges, she could have gotten us where we needed to go with ease.

Finally Kirito sighed, and looked at his daughter. "Look Yui… your brother and I are here because well… we think your mommy… may be stuck here somewhere."

Yui's face lit up. "Mommy?! Really? What do you mean she's stuck…?"

She floated up and landed on Kirito's shoulder looking at us. Seeing Kirito was still beaten up over the news, I looked at Yui and nodded.

"Yeah, we think she's here…." I said, sighing with my arms crossed. "You see, after SAO, Asuna didn't wake up in the real world. We… saw a picture that we think is of her here in Alfheim, but we still need to confirm it."

Yui was quiet for a moment, before she looked at Kirito. "Daddy… what are we going to do."

I leaned over and nudged Kirito with my elbow, and it seemed to wake him out of his stupor. He sighed and looked up with me. "Well, we got a pretty good idea where she might be. It's the World Tree… and I think that's it over there."

Sure enough, I looked out over the river with Kirito. In the dark night of the game, following the kilometers upon kilometers of spiraling rivers and vast forests, was one massive tree. It was only a dark outline, but it dominated the landscape as it shot up into the clouds above.

Asuna… if you're there, we'll get there too….

Kirito sighed after a minute, before he looked at me and Yui. "Hang on… the character creator said I was supposed to start at a town in Spriggan territory, you get that too Ak… Archer?"

Hearing Kirito call me anything other then my real name sounded weird. I shuddered and shook my head. "Unless we're around other players… please call me Akira, it's weird not having you call me that. But… yeah you're right. I picked a Spriggan, because I thought it was what you'd pick."

"That, and it was for the black outfit, wasn't it?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, absolutely," I confirmed, and we both had a small laugh, before I shook my head at him. "I thought it would make it easy to find you, but then well… it glitched out."

"Yeah… the same thing happened to me," Kirito said, before looking at Yui. "Do you have any idea how we got here?"

Yui looked confused. "I… don't know, perhaps your location data got corrupted? Or, perhaps there was some interference."

Kirito chewed at his lip, before he shook his head. "Oh well… nothing we can do now, we better get moving, you ready?"

I saw he was looking at me and nodded, stepping up with him. "As ready as I'll ever be… so, what do we do… oh no."

I saw something shimmer into existence behind me, and like I was a dog chasing his tail I spun around trying to take a look at them… but then I saw them on Kirito's back as well.

The wings were extremely pretty, even I would admit that, however, the idea of taking off with them almost made me sick on the spot. Kirito on the other hand, seemed elated.

"Ha… wow these must be my wings," He said, looking over at me. "What's that look for?"

"Oh god… I can't do this, good lord…." I muttered, before Kirito rolled his eyes and Yui floated in front of us.

Yui smiled and held up her left hand. "To do it, you need to access your controller. Raise up your left hand and reach out like you're grabbing something."

My hand stayed firmly rooted to my side, my stomach churning like a hurricane.

Kirito on the other hand, didn't hesitate. He reached out his hand, and what looked like a joystick appeared in his left hand. Yui then went on to explain how to fly, bring it towards yourself to ascend, down to descend, turn left and right, press the button to accelerate, ease up to decelerate. I took in all the instructions, and realized it sounded like an easy enough system, but that didn't mean I was moving from the ground.

"Woah! This is awesome!" Kirito said, after finally getting the system after a few tries. He flew around above me in circles, before coming to descend and float with Yui in front of me. "Okay Yui! Tell us, where's the next… Akira?"

"Big Brother?" Yui said, as they both looked at me.

My blood was like ice, as I shot my head up and laughed. "Ha…haha, yeah come on Yui tell us where the closest town is!"

Kirito seemed to realize what was happening and rolled his eyes, but Yui looked confused.

"Big Brother… aren't you going to fly?" She asked me, floating in front of my face.

I laughed nervously and rubbed the back of my head. "Um… no, no not me, I think I'll walk, or run, walking or running's fine, I think I'll do that."

Still, Yui looked confused. "But… why would you-."

"He's afraid of heights Yui," Kirito said, rolling his eyes still as he floated down in front of me. "Akira, come on we need to go!"

I shook my head. "Oh I agree with you, so let's go!"

"Get in the air Akira," He said with his eyes narrowing."

"Nope, nope, not going to do that, you fly, I'll follow you."

"You won't be able to see me from the ground!"

"Oh yes I will, I promise, I'll walk, you can stay up there."

"Akira!" He urged, sounding annoyed now. "This is the fastest way to move!"

"Daddy's right Big Brother!" Yui said, flying onto my shoulder with a pleading look in her eyes. "The closest town is in Sylph territory, it's dozens of kilometers away! You'll get there in minutes if you fly, it will take over an hour even running at your speed!"

"Then I'll meet you there! Hahaha…. Ha… yeah, no I'll run," I said, keeping my feet firmly on the ground.

Kirito groaned and landed in front of me. "Akira I've seen you fly through the air to shoot arrows at bosses dozens of times, and now you don't want to fly?"

"Yeah, sounds about right, they're completely different," I defended myself.

"How are they different?!" He yelled back at me.

My body shook and my arms stuck to my side. "They just are! I… I can't…. I…"

"Big Brother, with your high speed, you'll only have to be in the air for a small time!" Yui said, floating down to my shoulder again, an encouraging smile on her face. "You can do it, I know you can!"

"She's right Akira, come on, every minute we waste is another Asuna's trapped!" Kirito pleaded, a desperate look on his face.

His words seemed to do the trick, because a shot of guilt ran through my chest. I couldn't help it, ever since I had flown to Japan from San Francisco when I was younger I'd hated being in the air for long periods of time. I got sick to my stomach, I got a headache, and I always felt like I was going to crash.

Still… come on Akira, if Asuna's in trouble… I thought, thinking of the smug face of Sugou looking down at Kirito and me in her hospital room.

"Fine…" I said, sucking in a shaky breath and holding up my left hand. "Okay… so hold-."

"Daddy, Big Brother!" Yui said suddenly, turning around to face another direction in the forest.

"Huh? What is it Yui?" Kirito said, landing next to me.

Yui pointed out towards the sky in another direction. "I can sense it, there's players nearby!"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Leafa

I could sense it, the Salamanders had even more then we had expected! It was almost as if they'd been waiting for us, but I knew I couldn't think about that now. My wings flapped behind me, as I knew they were on our tail, at least eight or nine of them, but I only had to hope Sigurd and the others had managed to take out one or two. They had magic, that much I did know, so staying airborne and not getting knocked to the ground was key. Sylph's best attribute was speed, and I knew I was the fastest, my hand stayed near my sword as the moon got bigger and bigger, I knew Swilvane had to be close by.

"Le…Leafa!" Recon's squeaky voice yelled, and I took the second to turn back around and see him laboring after me.

I growled and yelled. "Come on Recon! You can't stop now, keep going!"

The small green haired boy labored. "I… I'm trying! You're too fast, we should-."

"Look out!" I yelled, seeing the flash of the spell coming.

Recon yelled and dodged a massive fireball. I pulled up to a stop as I saw the group of Salamanders who'd been chasing us. A small bit of panic caught up in my throat.

That's even more, it looks like Sigurd and the others couldn't take them down, I thought, counting eight of them in total.

Grinding my teeth, I knew we didn't have much of a chance, but if I could pick them off one by one, I could thin their numbers and even the odds.

"Looks like we'll have to fight, Recon, prepare for battle!" I yelled, pulling the sword from my waist, getting in my normal pose.

I raised up the sword and my mind drifted back to the day prior, mhm… the way Akira was trying to fight me may actually work here! He tried to attack and dodge, only going when he saw the right moment! It didn't work too well in the real world but still… in here it'll be perfect!

"O…okay," Recon yelled out behind me, I saw him shakily pull out his knife, his flight stick in his other hand.

I rolled my eyes, I knew he was afraid, but he was all I had. "Just try to pick one off, don't let me get overwhelmed, let's go!"

I darted down towards the group. Four of them came for me, while I saw three more in reserve, while I knew another was firing spells from a distance. The first one came barreling forward, and I spun mid-air and jabbed my katana at his chest when he gave me an opening. I clipped off a good bit of his HP, and instead of pressing the attack I backed off and spun out the way of another attack. I tried to remember what Akira was trying to do the day before during our match. He'd attack, then leap back, then try to duck attacks, which is he was faster like I was now in the game would have worked!

All four came at once, and I weaved in and out of their attacks. I was just way too nimble for them in the sky, that all their attacks were met with open air, and little by little I slashed and stabbed my way through their armor. One went wildly for a charge his buckler and lance up, I flew up but stayed close to him, when I came down I spun and cut across his back, kicking him and defeating him. He smashed into another player and suddenly only two were surrounding me.

But then I heard Recon yelling behind me. I spun to see him holding his own against one of the salamanders. He was nimble and went for attacks with his knife, he cut deep across the salamander's chest, but that was when another ball of fire came soaring for us and Recon stopped midair and drifted back to avoid it.

"You idiot! Don't stop now!" I screamed for him, but just as he looked over the salamander as he was dying drove forward with his lance and stabbed at Recon's chest. It hit my only comrade and sent him flying back.

"Gahhh, I'm sorry!" Recon yelled as he disappeared, respawning back in Swilvane.

I growled, but I didn't have time to be angry or even think of another plan before a new fireball came blasting towards me. Spinning around I narrowly avoided it, but the minute I was on the defensive, all three of the remaining salamanders attacked. One clipped my shoulder, and I just barely parried another as it came from the right. I had lost my balance in the air, and I got sent flying back just as another fireball came my way.

"ARGHHHHHH!" It smashed into me and I saw my HP bar drain, my wings fluttered away and I was sent shooting down towards the ground.

I smashed into some trees but managed to prepare myself for the landing. I forced my wings back up and was just able to stop myself from hitting the ground with full force. The landing still wasn't very pleasant, my virtual body ached like hell, but when I got back up to my knees, my HP bar was still in the yellow, probably a few points away from going red.

Arghhh… damn Recon. I need to move, quick!

I heard the laughter of the salamanders, and it was all I could to scoop up my katana and burst out into a forest clearing, more open space to move before I saw the five remaining come flying down from the sky, laughing the entire time. I tried to break for the woods, but one came to hover just above the ground and swiped at me. I parried away the sword before another attacked my right, before I knew it I was out of breath up against the only tree in the area, my sword held above my head like my shinai back in the real world.

The group floated down, laughing, before one who I assumed was there leader, spoke above them. They all held their weapons and shields out, ready to strike at a moments notice.

I'll bring at least two down with me, that's for sure! Other then Sakuya and maybe Sigurd, even though I'd beaten him a few times, I had my pride as the strongest sylphs to look after!

"Sorry about this, but we're on a mission," The leader spoke from above his other five lackeys. "Give us all your money and items, and you'll be free to go."

Before I could say anything, one of them scoffed. "HA, what are you being such a gentleman for?!"

"Yeah, it's been ages since we fought a chick! Come on, lets waste her!" Another said excitedly.

The rest snickered in agreement, and I had to roll my eyes. Hunting for female players was common in a game dominated by males. Still, I was going to show them just how much 'wasting' a girl could do.

"Fine by me, but I'm taking at least three of you with me!" I yelled out, holding up my katana again, looking at all five of them. "So whichever one of you don't wanna die, come on!"

The leader scoffed. "Bah, you're a stubborn girl… suit yourself…."

It all happened in a flash, all the salamanders took off in the air preparing to attack. The leader was in front, and with shields and weapons at the ready. I could hear one starting to chant a spell, and got ready to move one direction or another, I gritted my teeth and tried to guess who'd attack first.

I'll be as strong as my brother, as strong as Akira! Come on! Getting a death penalty would be annoying, but this would be a good test of my true skill.

But that chance to see never came, because me and the salamanders all stopped when we heard wild screaming.

"GAHHHH GET OFF ME!" "TO HIGH IT'S TO HIGH GET ME DOWN!" "GOD DAMMIT YOU IDIOT!"

The screaming continued until it was followed by a loud thud of two people hitting the ground.

What…? What the heck are two Spriggans doing here?! I thought, panic setting in, I could see their gear and it was the default sets for new players. If a couple of newbs were here to get in the way, it'd be terrible! I also had a soft spot for newer players, seeing as despite how far I'd advanced, I'd only been playing ALO for a year myself.

The two of them looked the same, both had black hair like all Spriggans did. However, the one who was on the bottom of the pile, his hair was spike straight up, and his eyes were as black as that hair. He annoyedly sat up and glared at the one he'd landed with, who was currently on top of him, gripping his partners coat for dear life.

"Why the hell did you grab onto me?!" He yelled at his fellow Spriggan.

The other one groaned and sat up. "That… that was the most horrifying thing I've ever experienced in my entire life."

"Right of the top of my head, I can probably think of one thing that was more terrifying," The spikey haired one said.

The other one glared. "Don't be a smartass…"

The one who'd landed on top of the spikey haired one… made my breath halt for a minute. I'd never expected to see a Spriggan with such green eyes before. He got up off his friend, before reaching down and helping him to his feet. They both dusted off their coats, and I realized the green eyed one had hair that was down and mess around his head. The two both carried the same sword, and had the same armor on, definitely newbs.

"You okay?" The green eyed one asked his partner.

The spikey haired one groaned. "I'll be fine… we gotta work on that."

"I know…" The green eyed one said dejected.

I started panicking again, what the heck were they doing?! I knew for a fact they saw the battle before them right now, and I knew it wasn't beneath salamanders to pick on new players like this. After they both finally finished dusting themselves off, they looked towards us finally.

Words came from my mouth before they could talk. "What do you two think you're doing?! Get out of here!"

"You sure about that?" The green-eyed one said, his arms crossed. "Because it looks like you're in a bit of a sticky situation."

Before I could yell back at him that I was not in sticky situation, spikey hair nodded in agreement.

"Ak…. Archer's right," The spikey-haired one said, saying the green-eyed one's name-Archer-like it was hard to do. "Would someone tell me why five big guys gotta gang up on one single girl? That's pretty uncool if you ask me."

"Yeah, he's right, freaks like you make me sick," The green-eyed one-Archer- said with distaste in his voice as he looked up at the group. "What's wrong with you guys? Never felt the touch of a woman before?"

Spikey hair scoffed out a laugh and I was so floored I couldn't say anything. The guy-Archer- was right, some players did act like that whenever they got around a girl player.

The salamanders however, weren't laughing.

"What did you say?!" One of them yelled.

Another growled. "You better get out of here newbs, fast!"

They all floated up and around the two Spriggans, but they didn't even move. Archer ever seemed like he was excited, his green eyes sparkling in the night as he looked at his spikey-haired partner and nodded. Spikey hair just smirked, and turned to the group that was surrounding them.

"Alright… you both asked for it!" One of the salamanders yelled, going for a charge. "Get ready to die!"

I closed my eyes, I never liked seeing newbs cut down like that, but there was hardly anything I could do for them now… but I didn't hear anyone scream, I only heard the strangled struggled of the salamander. Looking up, my jaw dropped to the ground.

Spikey hair had caught the tip of the salamanders lance in his hand, and was holding him in place as if he weighed nothing.

Your strength needs to be off the charts for that! I thought, as spikey hair smirked and looked at Archer.

Archer chuckled. "Ha… show off."

"What can I say, it's good to be back," He said, turning to the salamander. "See ya!"

He tossed the salamander back, sending him smashing into another one of them, and after that all five backed off. For a minute, I saw an opening, and was going to strike out myself, when I looked and saw both Spriggans coming up to me.

"Hey, blondie, you mind if we take a crack at this?" Archer asked, stretching out his arms with his partner.

I stammered for a minute, as he was smiling the entire time. I didn't know how I felt about being called 'blondie', but I didn't sense any bad intention in his voice. He simply sounded excited.

"Yeah, do you mind? We don't wanna steal your kills or anything," Spikey hair asked, as they both stood in front of me.

I wanted to fight with them, it wasn't fair to make these two newbs try to do it on their own. However, I was far too low on HP and MP, plus my curiosity was simply too high.

"Um… yeah I guess, it's not like they were going to let you go anyway…" I told them, only for them both to smile at me.

Spikey hair laughed and pulled out the basic longsword everyone started the game with. "Ha, well then sit back and let us handle it. Ready… Archer?"

He seemed to feel weird about calling his friend by his name, which weirded me out. How could that be the case if they clearly knew each other well?

Archer laughed and cracked his knuckles. "Always ready…" he turned back to me with a nervous smile now. "Ha… sorry to ask for another favor but… you wouldn't happen to have a bow on you by any chance, would you? I'll give it right back, cross my heart!"

The salamanders seemed so confused, and so was I. A bow? He was fighting flying enemies, using a bow was something you only did when you were doing land based quest, it was sort of a secondary weapon for most people. It was a perfectly viable option for someone on the ground, but in a fight like this the sword on his back would have been a better option.

Still… I found myself nodding. "Um… yeah sure, but it's just a crappy beginner one, my bow skill isn't high, I got it cause well…. I was gonna try it out and it was the only one I could use."

The truth of it, was after Akira had told me yesterday, he loved archery and wanted to give me lessons one day soon, I bought the bow to practice in ALO. I thought maybe if I could get kinda good in the game it would translate to real life, and he'd be impressed.

My face got red as I quickly went through my inventory, and soon a simple white short bow appeared in my hands. "Here... and um... well, I only got well… two arrows."

The truth of the matter was on my shopping spree yesterday I bought the bow on impulse to impress Akira, but forgot to buy arrows, the three arrows were from random drops in the last raid.

Spikey hair laughed, looking at the salamanders. "Ha, don't worry about that, he only needs two."

"He's right, I'd probably only even need one," He said, looking at the bow reverently before taking it, and after i handed over the two arrows he smiled at me. "Thank you, I really appreciate it!"

"Um… you… you're welcome," I told him, a small distinct thump ringing through my chest.

He nodded, and I felt a bit embarrassed. I had so few arrows they didn't even appear in a quiver when I brought them out of my inventory. Still, Archer took them, spun one arrow in his fingers, and held up the bow like it weight nothing. He slipped one the spare arrow into his waistband, and like he'd done it a million times loaded the one into the simple whitewood bow.

My jaw dropped, that's a crappy starter sword and the simplest bow in the game, they won't do anything against them, they're fully armored.

Still, spikey hair and Archer didn't flinch as the salamanders closed in.

One laughed, and with his shield up he made a divebomb for both of the Spriggans

"HA, let me teach you a lesson newb!" He said and seemed to be aiming for Archer. "Using a bow is ridiculous! You won't make it past my-GAHHH!

A collective gasp and sounds of shock went up from me and every salamander, as their one warrior fell to the ground like a sack of sand. A white arrow sprouted out of his eye before he burst into flames with his HP hitting zero.

Archer chuckled and slid the second arrow out of his waist. "Never underestimate an archer. They never learn."

"You bastards! We'll end this, come on!" One more salamander yelled, as he and one other got ready to charge. "They're just-. What?! Where'd he-."

It all happened in seconds! The Spriggan with spikey hair dashed forward and like he teleported he was across the clearing, his sword at his side. The salamander who had yelled out of nowhere burst out into flames, they covered all of the clearing for a moment as he disappeared, beaten and spikey hair turned around with a smirk on his face.

Archer chuckled in front of me. "Show off…"

"Okay…." Spikey hair said, raising up his sword again. "Who's next?"

My heart skipped a beat, who the heck are these guys?

Next Time, Episode 3: Siblings: After being saved in ALO, Leafa questions her saviors, two powerful Spriggans, one with a sword, one with a bow. Back in the real world however, Suguha takes a trip into the city with her brother and Akira. Meanwhile, Akira takes a trip down memory lane, and realizes just how pain he's been holding inside himself, and what it means to care for yourself.

A/N: Chapter 2 is done and man have I been waiting for a long time to write that last scene! Kirito and 'Archer' swoop in to save Leafa from the Salamanders, and our trio for this arc is officially assembled! Next chapter we're going to have a small bit in ALO, before we get some real good stuff back in the real world, I'll have Akira, Sugu, Kazuto, and a little cameo for you all!

In my honest opinion as I've said, ALO is often put as the worst arc of sword art even by people who like it, but I've never thought that it was bad AT ALL. I heard one of my favorite SAO youtubers say it, when you realize that each arc after Aincrad isn't really Kirito's story, you'll see SAO in such a different light. In this arc, it's Sugu's journey to reconnect with her brother, and even in the anime and LNs I found it really great.

In this version, it's Sugu trying to figure out her feelings for Akira, she's never been like this with a person before, and it's her best-friends brother, someone she wants to help and be there for, but can't help but develop further feelings for. It's that along with her reconnecting with her brother.

Also, this arc as you see for Akira so far, is about learning to move on and not blame himself for things that were out of his control. It's about him learning that it is OKAY for HIM to grieve just like everyone else and learning how just like everyone else he does deserve to be helped, learning that his grief isn't a 'burden' on anyone else and that he doesn't have to grieve alone.

Which I personally think is a pretty great message to give.

SO next episode we'll finish up Kirito and 'Archer' agreeing to party up with Leafa, and after that we'll have some good stuff in the real world! We're getting closer and closer to some of what I've been waiting to write for a long time and I'm excited!

I hope you guys can find the time to leave a review if you enjoyed, and I can't wait to bring you all the next chapter!

PS: Any other Fate fans reading this appreciate the Fate references xD