Hello loyal fans! As I've said before, until I say it's dead, this story will continue living. However, I must again apologize for the length delay in getting this chapter completed. As I'm sure you all know, the world's been a crazy place these last few years; besides everything else, I graduated law school, took and passed my state's bar exam, found a job that really stressed me out for a bit more than a year, and finally transferred to a different office where I'm much happier. That finally gave me the motivation to sit down and grind this chapter out. I may have missed publishing this for Argo's birthday, but I still finished it in time to offer it as an early birthday gift from myself to all of you!

Speaking of Argo, as several reviewers have commented, we finally have her real canon name courtesy of Unital Ring. I thought for a while about how I should treat that new information, and decided that I'd go ahead and use her real name, Tomo Hosaka, going forward, and edited previous content to reflect that change. I find it to be a pretty name, and am happy to use it. However, I am not using any other details about Tomo that may have been laid out in subsequent books. As you'll see, I've invented a backstory for her appearance here that fits my story and treatment of her character, so please don't be upset if my backstory doesn't fit with what we learn in UR or later Progressive volumes.

I've also had some complaints about the length of the slice of life portions of this story. In short, although this story is technically smut, that's not the primary focus. I want these characters to be treated properly and respectfully, and the original content I've written having them spending time together and having fun is an important part of that to me. So, even if it isn't your thing, and even if you want to skip straight to the smut, don't expect me to stop writing the other content.

To be on the safe side, I'd like to offer this warning for the upcoming chapter: This contains themes of substance abuse and suicidal thoughts, so be wary if you can't handle those things.

As always, please leave a review with your thoughts! I'm always happy to have fan insight and feedback. It definitely helps me spot mistakes and improve as a writer. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Belonging

A peal of thunder that stretched on for nearly ten seconds woke Kazuto, who could feel the entire beach house shake with the force of the noise. As the rumbling faded, he could once again hear the continuous patter of raindrops pelting the roof, with more echoes of thunder interspersed between the sound of the downpour. With a yawn, Kazuto sat up in the bed, rubbing his eyes to clear away the last vestiges of tiredness.

Almost immediately, he noted that he was alone in the bed. Before he could even really begin thinking about where Sugu might have gone, movement from the open area of the room off to the right of the bed drew his attention. There, he could see Suguha deliberately going through the series of stretches that he recognized as her daily workout routine, with his adoptive sister still bare as the day she was born. Deciding to simply admire her dedication and form, and not wanting to disturb her ritual, Kazuto pulled himself into a sitting position and watched as Suguha completed her various arm stretches and moved on to limbering up her back, and finally her legs.

Finished with her stretches, Suguha proceeded to transition into form drills. Though bereft of her shinai, she still placed her hands as though she were gripping her weapon, bringing her arms up and swinging down hard; since her arms wouldn't receive proper conditioning without resistance of the weight of a sword, she appeared to be focusing more on her footwork, making slight but precise movements as she swung her arms.

Lost in the simple beauty of Suguha and her elegantly honed technique, Kazuto couldn't tell how long he had been watching her. Eventually, however, Sugu seemed to catch a glimpse of him watching her, causing the girl to give a start, her foot slipping slightly so that she stumbled backwards, catching herself against a nearby wall with her hand. Kazuto couldn't help but grin, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Geez, Kazuto," Sugu said with exasperation, "couldn't you have at least said something instead of just sitting there?"

Kazuto shrugged. "You just seemed so focused Sugu. I didn't want to interrupt your concentration."

Sugu shook her head in resignation. "I would have preferred that you interrupt me rather than suddenly realize that you were watching. Well, I had pretty much finished up what I could do without my shinai anyways. So then, are you ready to get up now too?" A smirk rose to her face. "Or are you planning on spending half the day in bed again?"

Mirroring her expression, Kazuto pulled himself off the side of the bed, standing to face her. "Nah, I think I got plenty of rest yesterday, so I'm good to go." After taking a moment to consider the pounding rain from outside, he added "not that there's likely to be any rush. I don't know what everyone is planning on doing as long as it's pouring like this."

Distantly, Kazuto considered the fact that neither he nor Suguha were wearing anything as they bantered back and forth. And yet, there was no feeling of discomfort or awkwardness at all; even just a week before, if he'd been naked around Sugu, or vice versa, he was sure that both of them would have been freaking out. Now, it just seemed like a normal thing. Strange as it was, it also felt…right. Smile broadening, he hoped that he'd have many more moments like this to come in the future.

"Kazuto, you're not thinking of something weird, are you?" Suguha asked, a slight frown on her face. Sighing, she strolled over to where Kazuto had placed his bags on the floor and began digging through them, pulling out a pair of dark shorts and a plain t-shirt that Kazuto had packed as sleep wear.

"H-hey, Sugu!" Kazuto objected as she pulled the garments over herself, "You do know those are my clothes, right!?"

"So?" she replied, "It's not like this would be the first time I've borrowed some of your clothes. Besides," she continued, "It's not like you'll be having much need of these for the rest of the trip." Kazuto opened his mouth to respond, but Suguha cut him off before he could begin. "Fine, I'll tell you what. I'll get these washed and back to you by the end of the day. Okay?"

Kazuto sighed in defeat, realizing that any further objection would just seem petty. Suguha finished pulling Kazuto's shirt on over her head, then ducked into the bathroom for a moment, returning with her clothes from the previous night bundled in her arms. "You should hurry up and get dressed too Kazuto," Suguha said, "Even if it's raining, I'm sure that there's something that we can all do. So don't take too long with it!" With that, she opened the door and nonchalantly strolled out of the room, leaving a bemused Kazuto to shake his head at the utter strangeness of the situation.


Heeding Suguha's directions, Kazuto wasted little time in quickly rinsing off and throwing on a fresh set of clothes before heading downstairs. Almost as soon as he stepped out of the bedroom, a savory aroma assailed his nose, with the scent wafting up from the kitchen below. His stomach grumbled fiercely, and he nearly bolted downstairs, eager to try some of whatever was giving off the aroma. At the bottom of the stairwell, he found most of the girls huddled around the television, which appeared to be set on the local weather station.

"Man, this sucks," grumbled Rika, "It looks like it's going to pouring at least through tomorrow. So much for getting back out on the beach."

"Yeah, but it's not like we can do anything about it," noted Shino, "We'll just have to adjust our plans and make do as best we can." Apparently noticing his presence, Shino shifted herself around to face Kazuto. "Good morning! We're just trying to figure out what our plan should be since it looks like the weather isn't going to be cooperative."

"Well, it might be raining here, but that doesn't mean that it's raining in ALO," Suguha commented, "I'm pretty sure that everyone brought their Amuspheres, so we could just make a day of it there."

"Yeah, you're right," Kazuto agreed, "Remember when we went on that one quest last year, Plunderers of the Deep Sea? I hadn't really thought about it too closely, but Klein pointed out how convenient it is that it can be a beautiful day in Alfheim even when that's not the case in the real world."

"Welp, it looks like we've at least got somethin' of a plan," Argo said cheerfully, "Maybe I'll finally get to see a bit more o' that fancy love nest that you and A-chan got yourselves! From what I saw of it before, it looks like quite the find. Plus, I'm guessin' that that kid o' yours, Yui, is probably missing you two fiercely. I don't think you've had much of a chance ta speak with her for the past few days."

"It would be nice to have some time to visit with Yui," Keiko chimed in, "With the Augma, I've gotten so used to having her around all the time, so it feels weird to not have seen her for several days."

"I guess it's decided then," Asuna said, strolling out from the kitchen, "We can make a day of it in Alfheim, since it doesn't seem like the weather's planning to clear up anytime soon. It should also give Yui a chance to start getting used to…us. Our new relationship, I mean." A tinge of red showcased Asuna's clear embarrassment about the situation. Even though she'd already told Yui about what their plan had been, now that it was a reality, things might get pretty awkward. "Anyways, first things first: breakfast is ready!"

Asuna's announcement tore Kazuto's attention from the conversation and back towards the reason that he'd previously been so eager to make it downstairs: food. He shamelessly bolted over to the kitchen, where he was impressed, but not altogether surprised, that his fiancée had once again gone all out on the meal, this time preparing a traditional looking spread: a large bowl of rice sat out, its steam commingling with that wafting up from the pot of gently bubbling miso soup. A plate of grilled salmon rested nearby and a smaller bowl with a fresh cucumber salad was laid out on a counter, adding a bit of color to the meal and providing a note of freshness.

Kazuto didn't waste any time in digging in, being sure to grab some of everything. The girls followed suit, with all of them clearly having found the same love and need for Asuna's cooking as he had discovered back in Aincrad. By the time everyone had finished, nothing was left of the food but the dregs at the bottom of the dishes.

"Man, that was some good food," Kazuto commented as he leaned back in his chair and stretched, "I almost feel like I could use a nap after eating all of that!"

"Oh no you don't Kazuto," Suguha said threateningly, "You've already slept plenty, and we're not going to waste the day away just because you're feeling lazy."

The other girls followed suit, glaring at him menacingly, as if daring him to challenge them. Kazuto just threw his hands up in surrender. "I was just kidding!" he pleaded, "I know that we've got plans made. And besides, I want to visit with Yui just as much as any of you do!"

Satisfied that they'd made their point and successfully headed off any attempts by Kazuto to completely waste the day away, the girls relaxed once again, except for Asuna, who pointedly shot an uncomfortably sweet smile Kazuto's way. That seldom meant anything good. Kazuto noted that he'd need to remember to try being on extra good behavior.

After everyone had finished eating and making conversation, Asuna began clearing up the plates, only to be headed off by Suguha, who insisted that she handle the cleanup, since Asuna had prepared the meal. Once Suguha finished rinsing everything and set the dishes out to dry, the rest of the group took that as their cue to disperse and set up their Amuspheres.

Kazuto trailed after Asuna and Argo up the stairs, splitting with the two girls at the top as they headed off to their shared bedroom to the left while he returned to the master bedroom to the right. Stepping inside, Kazuto gently closed the door behind him and shuffled through his mostly still-packed luggage until he found where he'd wrapped his Amusphere inside of a t-shirt to help cushion it during transit. Pulling out the device, he found the nearest outlet, just a few inches away from the bed frame, and plugged it in. Kazuto heaved himself back on the bed, shifting to the most comfortable position he could find, then slipping the device over his eyes. "Link start!"


Kirito opened his eyes to the familiar and comforting sight of the living room of his and Asuna's cabin on Floor 22. He smiled in comfort as he sat back; the Cardinal system's learning function truly was a marvel, knowing his habits and preferences enough to have spawned him in seated on the cozy rocking chair that he'd come to enjoy so much. Reaching up, he stretched his arms, acclimating his avatar to movement after having been gone for several days.

Standing to allow himself to stretch his whole body, Kirito noticed that Leafa, Lisbeth, Silica, and Sinon had all spawned in already, with the first three doing stretches similar to those that he was doing, while Sinon was relaxedly sitting, apparently checking her messages, based on what he could faintly see from her opened windows. That seemed like a good idea to Kirito, who opened up his own mailbox to see if there was anything important: a quick scroll through didn't reveal anything that jumped out at him: there was a maintenance announcement for ALO, a message from Klein griping at him that he was getting to go on vacation while he was stuck at work and another reminding him that he still owed him assistance in getting the Soul Katana Kagutsuchi, if the next update offered a way to delve all the way through the weapon's dungeon without being immolated, and a message from Chrysheight, apparently wanting to hire him for a new, temporary testing job for a new VR device.

Sighing, Kirito tapped the display with his fingers and closed the screen. He still didn't exactly trust Chrysheight, aka Seijirou Kikouka, but the man had helped him a great deal during the Augma incident. And besides, getting to alpha test a new VR device was a tempting offer. He was confident that Kamura would give him additional leave time for something of that nature, given the insights and ideas that getting to test such a device would offer. But, that was something that he could shelve for later.

A loud half-buzz, half-humming sound coming from further inside the cottage signaled the arrival of another person or persons. A few moments later, Asuna emerged from the master bedroom in the cottage, reflexively smoothing her dress and with an eager smile on her face. Looking around, she scanned the room and took in all of its occupants. After her cursory check, her smile changed into a slight frown. "Hang on. Where's—"

A series of loud pounding sounds from the front door echoed throughout the living area. Realization crossing her face, Asuna lived up to her old Aincrad nickname as she flashed across the room in a heartbeat, unlocking the cottage door with a few quick swipes of her menu and then opening it for their missing companion.

Standing just outside the door was an extremely irate looking Argo, a sour expression dominating her usual carefree face. "Oi, what's the big idea spawning just me outside!?" she grumbled as she made her way inside with the rest of the group, "I was almost wonderin' if y'all hadn't logged in yet."

"Sorry Argo," apologized Asuna, "I think that was my bad." Once again, she swiped open her menu and scrolled through a few pages before apparently finding what she was looking for. Satisfied, she tapped to close the menu. "I hadn't had a chance to add you to our authorized guests list yet, and I'd forgotten that the game wouldn't put you inside unless you're on the list. You should be added now though, so there shouldn't be any repeated issues in the future."

"Well, that's somethin' at least. Thanks A-chan," Argo muttered, her tone still betraying her irritation and unhappiness with the situation. Trudging on over to the couch next to Shino, she plopped down and curled up in the seat. After a moment, her face melted into a look of contentment. "This really is a great place the two of ya have here. It's a bit surprisin' that this floor ain't more popular with houses like this and the scenery bein' so nice."

"It's probably because there's generally not much to do on this floor," Asuna said with a smile, as she made her way over to the kitchen to prepare tea, her typical first task as a hostess, "Coral is about the biggest town here, and it still doesn't offer the kinds of shops or quests that most players want." She disappeared into the kitchen for a few seconds before emerging with a tray of cups, the cooking skill of Alfheim Online expediting the preparation process to a fraction of the time it would have taken in the real world. After setting the tray down on a center table where anyone who wanted a cup could take one, she noticed that they were still missing a key member of their family. "Yui, are you there?" she asked.

Almost immediately, the AI girl appeared with a bright flash in her pixie form next to her. "Mommy!" she said elatedly, flying over to give Asuna a hug as best she could with her diminutive size, "I've missed you!" After her initial excitement waned, however, she seemed to take note of everyone else in room, looking at the other girls warily.

Asuna seemed to understand Yui's concerns. "It's okay Yui," she assured her adopted daughter, "We all had that discussion that I told you about, and we agreed that it was what we all wanted. I hope that you're not upset. I know that you said that you would be okay with it when I talked with you before, but…"

Yui closed her eyes, her digital mind processing information many times faster than any human would be capable of. Specifically, she was analyzing the mental and emotional patterns and data of everyone else in the room, a part of her core function as a mental health counselor prior to being adopted by Kirito and Asuna. She had to know for certain, had to know that this really was what would make everyone happy and not just some reluctant compromise to avoid hurt feelings. And, what she found…

She opened her eyes with a broad smile. "I'm not upset at all," she replied, "I'm really happy for all of you!"

A tension that had unconsciously built within the room vanished as Yui gave her blessing for the group's new relationship. All of them had become quite close with the AI over the past years, and didn't want her to feel alienated or unhappy with the change in the group's dynamic. Or, rather, all but one member of the group had gotten to know the girl.

"You must be Yui," Argo said, crawling out of her spot on the couch to introduce herself, "I've heard so much about you from Kii-boy, A-chan, and everyone else. It's nice to finally meet ya! My name's Argo; I'm not sure if you've heard anything about me, but I'm old friends with yer mom and dad."

"Argo… I think I remember you a little bit," Yui said slowly, her memory flashing back to her time as the Mental Health Counseling Program of Sword Art Online where she'd been forced to monitor the mental states of all of the nearly 10,000 players, "But, I'm happy to get to know you better now!"

Argo grinned, but there was something that troubled Yui. She could sense something off inside the blond Cait Sith, a mix of dark, troubled emotions, but it was difficult for her to pin down their specific nature or cause, particularly as they were mixed in with feelings of happiness. She could probably dissect the root of the negative emotions if she focused on the problem, and she briefly considered doing just that. But, in the end, she decided against it; she was no longer a mental health program, and her time with Kirito, Asuna, and everyone else had taught her that sometimes such feelings needed to be left alone and allowed to be resolved and healed in their own time rather than forced out to the surface.

"Well, what do we want to do next?" Kirito asked, having finished perusing his messages and stretching, "We could always stay and hang out here, but I'm feeling in the mood for some questing."

"Yeah, I'm with you," Lisbeth agreed, "I haven't had much time for ALO lately, so I'm ready to kick some ass!"

"If that's what we want to do, we just need to figure out where we want to go," Silica noted, "We could head to the labyrinth up on Floor 30 and explore around there, since nobody has found the boss room yet. Or, I heard about a new area, Helheim, down underneath imp territory. There's supposed to be an event coming out involving it at some point, but we could always check it out ahead of time."

"What do you think Yui?" Kirito asked, "is there anything else happening right now that we might consider?"

The pixie closed her eyes again, searching through the available data for Alfheim to find any other quests or events that the group might be interested in pursuing. One thing quickly jumped to the front of her mind, and her eyes shot open again. "Someone's coming."

A series of three knocks sounded from the door of the cabin, startling everyone but Yui, and causing their focus to snap towards the entrance. After a moment's hesitation, Asuna made her way over to the door and opened it to see who was there.

Their guest appeared to be a middle-aged man dressed in rustic yet colorful clothing and sporting a beard that was almost entirely dark gray, save for a few remaining specks of black, with similarly colored wavy hair nearly reaching down to his shoulders. Asuna wasn't sure what to make of the visitor. The style of his clothing looked similar to that worn by NPCs on Floor 22, if more colorful, and certainly didn't appear to be the sort of thing that a player would typically wear. But, she'd never heard of NPCs leaving Coral or the other communities on the floor to interact with players.

"Ah, hello madam," the man said, his feet shuffling slightly, "It pains me to bother you on this fine day, but I have an urgent request. Please, allow me to introduce myself. I am Gar, mayor of the village of Coral."

That settled any question as the stranger's identity. He was clearly an NPC, and not a player. As for what he was doing all the way out here, Asuna supposed that she'd have to listen regarding his 'request.'

A chime-like sound and a small flash of movement to her left alerted her to Yui fluttering over to her. The pixie leaned in and whispered in Asuna's ear. "Mommy. He's an AI," she said, "though not as sophisticated as Urd. Most likely, he's part of another quest auto-generated by Cardinal."

Asuna nodded in agreement. If Gar was an AI, it would make sense for him to be more autonomous than the typical NPC of Alfheim, allowing him to venture forth and seek out players for whatever quest Cardinal had created, rather than passively waiting for a player to come to him and initiate the quest. "How can we help you?" she asked, hoping to get a better idea of what this quest might be about.

"You see," the AI began, "every year, Coral has a summer festival to celebrate the year's harvest. It's the biggest celebration that our little community has, and everyone eagerly looks forward to the dancing, feasting, and music of the festival. However, this year our celebration was interrupted by a monstrous creature who emerged from a nearby lake and attacked my villagers, killing at its leisure. Once he was gone, we all hoped that we could resume the festival to drown out the sorrow of our loss, but each time we have tried to do so, the monster returns. I had heard that there were some mighty heroes living out here, and determined to seek them out and ask for their aid. So, here I stand before you with my plea: will you please come with me to Coral and slay this monster once and for all?"

Nearby, Sinon had initially only been half paying attention to the quest hook being offered by their apparent NPC visitor, but as he went on, she had the strange sense that the story being told was somewhat familiar to her. She couldn't quite remember exactly where she recalled hearing it, but the story of a monster repeatedly attacking merrymakers was one that she had undeniably heard before. Looking around, she noted that the other members of their group had begun crowding around the entrance where Asuna and the NPC, Gar, were standing, their curiosity getting the best of them. Not to be left out, Sinon got to her feet and joined them.

"Well, what do you think?" Asuna asked, turning back to the others, "Shall we help him and the village out?" Lowering her voice, she added, "Yui says that he's an AI, so this is probably one of Cardinal's auto-generated quests."

Kirito nodded, and everyone else followed. "I think we'd be happy to help," he said, speaking for them all.

Turning back to Gar, Asuna relayed their decision. "We'll do whatever we can to help protect your village," she assured him, "Just take us back to Coral, and tell your people that the festival is still on."


As Kirito and Asuna's cabin was relatively isolated on Floor 22, the trip to Coral took almost a half hour for the group to trek across winding paths leading to the village, with dense woods and detours around the floor's many lakes slowing their progress. They could have cut their travel time by nearly two-thirds had they flown there instead, but given the fact that they were supposed to be accompanying Gar back to the town, it seemed wrong for them to simply take to the skies. And, that would assume that Cardinal would even allow them that shortcut while on this quest anyways.

When they made it to Coral, the results of the recent attacks made themselves immediately clear. None of them had visited the backwater community more than a handful of times, particularly in New Aincrad, but what they remembered was a sleepy little hamlet kept tidy by its residents and with a tranquil atmosphere that provided a pleasant change of pace from the grittier and more dangerous floors above and below. Now, however, the village looked like a warzone, with collapsed houses, churned earth, and rubble contrasting sharply with the bright and festive decorations adorning the surviving structures and the central teleport gate. NPC villagers milled about somberly, trying their best to pick up the pieces.

As they entered the village square, the NPCs seemed to notice their arrival, slowing their work and turning to face them, apparently curious about the newcomers. Gar made his way to the platform where the teleport gate sat and stepped onto the stone slab to gain the attention of his people. "My fellow citizens of Coral," he declared, "I have brought to you seven brave heroes who have promised to rid our village of the beast that has plagued us. With their help, our festival shall go on, and our people will be avenged!"

The other NPCs were quiet for a moment, then they began to sporadically cheer and whoop at Gar's words. Suddenly, a window opened up in front of the group displaying the apparent name of the quest: Uninvited Guest. Below, the screen presented two options: accept and decline.

"Is everybody ready?" Kirito asked, quickly figuring that by accepting the quest they would likely find themselves dealing with the mysterious monster sooner rather than later. Fingers quickly began flying through the air as the girls opened their menus to equip their weapons, armor, and other items for adventuring. Realizing that he had yet to do so, Kirito followed their lead, equipping the two swords that Lis had made for him the previous year. It seemed inappropriate to use Excalibur on a quest like this, where the group was just trying to have some fun, so he left in his storage without a second thought. Once the girls gave him the go ahead, he tapped the accept button on the quest screen.

As soon as Kirito confirmed the party's acceptance of the quest, the villagers began to move with real purpose, some of them hurrying to clear rubble out of the area, some of them bringing out instruments, and others hauling tables and food. The preparations apparently complete, some of the musicians apprehensively began playing a few hesitant beats on drums and puffing out cautious notes on flutes. Although it began slowly, the beat soon began to pick up as the musicians fell into the swing of the rhythm, playing a jovial, festive tune.

One by one, the other villagers seemed to relax, many smiling and beginning to dance to the music. Before long, a perfectly ordinary festival scene took shape, with the previous atmosphere of fear evaporating. In fact, if not for the surrounding rubble and Gar's earlier story, the seven players could have thought this was a normal, festive event like those occasionally hosted by Alfheim Online.

The first sign of something being off was a slight rippling noise from one of the nearby lakes. Although this went unnoticed by the merrymaking villagers, Kirito and the girls were on guard for the party crasher. Turning towards where the noise had come from, Kirito, Lisbeth, Leafa, and Argo all brandished their weapons, while Sinon nocked an arrow to her bow, Silica prepared to issue an order to Pina, and Asuna readied a strength buff spell.

Suddenly, the surface of the lake erupted, and a large gray form pulled itself up from the depths, reaching out a massive hand towards the bank and pulling itself out of the water. With it clear of the water, the creature's form was more visible: it was humanoid in shape, though much larger than a normal human, reminiscent of Thrym and the other giants that had invaded Jotunheim. Its skin was a dull gray color, like that of an elephant. And, it was hideously ugly. The creature's right arm seemed oversized, with its left arm being less than half its size, giving the monster a lopsided appearance. It was bald, with a scalp covered in tiny bumps or spikes, and looked to be blind, with flesh covering the areas where the eye sockets would normally be. As it turned towards the celebrating villagers, a red cursor appeared over its head along with the standard three health bars for a boss monster. Lastly, the monster's name appeared: [Grendel].

The name meant nothing to Kirito, or to most of the group. However, Sinon gave a slight start as she recognized the name and realized why Gar's earlier account had sounded so familiar. Not that it really made any difference at this point though; Grendel was clearly here for a fight, and no amount of background knowledge on the quest's inspiration would change that.

"Alright guys," Kirito said, slipping comfortably into his not uncommon role as party leader, "Here's my plan: Lis and I will keep his right side busy; we're the best at taking hits, so without any dedicated tanks in our party, we're most suited to this job. While we keep him distracted, Leafa, Argo, and Silica can focus on his left. He looks more vulnerable there, so hopefully the three of you can do some damage. Sinon, you provide ranged support, and Asuna, back us up with buffs and healing. Sound like a plan?"

The other members of the party nodded; without any specific details on the boss's attack patterns or fighting abilities, beyond what they could hypothesize from its appearance, Kirito's strategy seemed reasonable enough. Besides, simple plans were typically the best way to go, as they were less confusing and easier to change on the fly should the need arise.

With their approval, Kirito braced himself to leap forward towards the advancing monster, setting up the initial motion for a sword skill. "Ready," he said, keeping his voice steady, "and… now!" Letting his initial motion carry through, he executed the Rage Spike sword skill, leaping towards Grendel and closing the distance in seconds before bringing his right sword up and slashing at the creature's leg. This particular sword skill wasn't meant to inflict any serious damage, but it put him where he needed to be and hopefully would draw some of the boss's aggro. Leafa, Silica, and Argo could handle the job of DPS.

As Kirito finished landing his attack, he could see Lis sprint in, bringing her mace swinging upward with the mace sword skill Crash Strike and catching Grendel on the wrist. On the other side of the boss, he could barely see Leafa, Argo, and Silica leaping about, using their sword skills to strike higher up on the boss, where hopefully they could do more damage.

A small icon on Kirito's display menu alerted him to the new buff that was now in place. That meant Asuna must have finished chanting her spell. With the enhanced stats from the buff, hopefully they'd be able to get some solid damage in before the boss could effectively counter. Regaining his footing following the completion of Rage Spike, he readied himself for another attack as he noticed Grendel's oversized right fist come swinging towards him. Pulling his right hand back, he felt his next skill initiate, bringing the blade forward, striking the hand once, then swinging back from the left; wheeling 360 degrees, he slashed again from the left and brought the sword crashing back down from his right side, completing the Horizontal Square technique.

At the same time, Lisbeth slammed Grendel's knuckles with her buckler, the technique not doing nearly as much damage as she might have with a heavier shield, then cracked down onto the boss's wrist with her mace. The monster drew its hand back with a howl, its attack repulsed, then stumbled a few paces backwards as it took more hits from Silica, Leafa, Argo, and Sinon.

Glancing up, Kirito took a moment to check on Grendel's health gauge, since boss monsters had a tendency to pull new tricks or change combat styles after taking a certain amount of damage. However, he wasn't expecting the information that he got.

"What the hell!?" he said, "He's hardly taken any damage!" The boss's top health bar indicated the tiniest sliver of damage, despite their sustained attacks. "Yui!" he called, "What's up with this guy? Do you have any ideas?"

Flitting forward, the pixie briefly surveyed the area where Grendel and the players were fighting before flying over by Kirito's head. "Daddy!" she said, "as far as I can tell, most of your attacks haven't done any damage at all to the boss! I think the only damage that it's taken so far has come from Lisbeth's attacks!"

That was bizarre. Why had Lisbeth been able to injure the monster, while no one else had so much as scratched it. "Hey guy!" he shouted, relaying Yui's information to the rest of his party members, "Something's up! None of our attacks have been working except Lisbeth's! We need a new plan if we're going to beat this thing!"

"Kirito!" Sinon called back, "I think I know what we need to do! Only—"

Her words were cut off as Grendel let out an earsplitting howl. Kirito's status bar blinked with two new conditions that the boss's actions had inflicted: deafened and stunned. He hoped that the stun effect would be over quickly; the game developers knew that such effects were extremely frustrating and diminished the enjoyment players got from fighting monsters, and so they had largely eliminated lengthy paralysis conditions like stuns or freeze effects. However, given that this was one of Cardinal's generated quests, he couldn't be certain. Regardless, for the moment all he could do was impatiently wait and watch.

And, that was now a problem. Grendel's hand flashed forward, grabbing him in a crushing grip. The monster drew him close to its head, and Kirito watched its mouth open to reveal an array of jagged, broken teeth.

Too late, the paralysis effect wore off, leaving Kirito to struggle vainly in an attempt to escape and avoid being bitten in half. Wincing, he closed his eyes. This was going to hurt.

Then, he stopped. Opening his eyes again, he saw that his HP gauge was still mostly full, and a crackling bluish-white energy arced over Grendel's body. He recognized the spell: thunder web, a high-level wind spell that caused short-term paralysis in its target. As far as he knew, only Leafa could use it among his party's members. With the paralysis in place, that meant he was safe for the moment, but debuffs like that rarely lasted more than a few seconds against bosses, who were designed to resist even the most potent status effects. That meant that something else needed to happen—

Three flashes of color darted across his vision, gold-brown, pink, and dark blue, as Argo, Lisbeth, and Silica struck at the boss's wrist while they had an opening. Kirito felt the grip around him loosen, and, rather than struggling, squirmed and slipped down out of the monster's grasp, falling to the ground below.

As soon as he struck the ground, Kirito had his blade readied again and lashed out in a downward diagonal arc from right to left. Slant was a crude and rudimentary skill, but it did exactly what he needed it to. The anticipatory strike caught Grendel's forearm square on as the boss, now recovered from its paralysis, attempted to grab him again. The force of the blow put the creature off-balance and it staggered backwards a couple of paces, though Kirito noted with annoyance that the boss's HP gauge didn't change at all.

Finally, the icon indicating his deafened status shook several times before finally vanishing, allowing him to hear once again. The others perked up as well as they noticed their debuffs ending too.

"Sinon!" Kirito shouted, "Did you say that you had an idea of how to beat this guy?" He didn't know whether that screech was a one-time ability or something that the boss could do again, so he wanted to not waste any time in getting potentially vital information.

The archer nodded. "I'm pretty sure I know what inspired this quest," she noted, "So, if my hunch is correct, blades aren't going to do any good and neither will my arrows. I don't even know if magic attacks will deal any damage. But, since Lis's attacks seem to at least do something, my guess is that blunt-force attacks are the only thing that can hurt it."

Kirito trusted Sinon's assessment, but if she was correct, then that created a substantial problem. Out of the seven members of the party, only Lisbeth specialized in a weapon type that dealt bludgeoning damage. However…

An idea popped into his head, and he quickly opened his menu to stow his swords. This was going to be something that he hadn't done for a while, so he hoped that his muscle memory was up to the task.

"Argo!" he yelled, "Did you ever get around to unlocking the martial arts skill?"

For a second, the information broker looked at him with confusion, but then her face broke out in a broad grin. "Actually, I did Kii-boy!" she replied. Mimicking Kirito, she removed her trademark claw-gauntlets, leaving her hands covered in sturdy looking gloves.

Kirito gave an internal sigh of relief. This plan might actually work. "Leafa!" he said, turning towards the sylph, "are you comfortable with some hand-to-hand fighting?"

She nodded grimly. "That's not my usual thing, but I think I can do that just fine," she answered him.

"Alright then," Kirito said, "Asuna, Sinon, Silica: back us up. This could get ugly, so we'll need all the support you can give." Facing Grendel once again, he brought his fists up, preparing to initiate a martial arts skill. "Okay guys. Let's hit him hard and fast. Don't give him a chance to counterattack. Let's go!"

The four frontline combatants dashed forward, zig-zagging their movements to make it harder for the boss to predict where they would be and hit them. Kirito moved into Impact Strike, a relatively simple yet powerful martial arts skill, and, leaping up into the air, drove his fist solidly into Grendel's torso. This time, to his satisfaction, he could immediately notice a change in the monster's HP bar. It seemed that Sinon's assessment had been spot on.

Around him, Argo, Lisbeth, and Leafa made their own attacks on the boss; Lisbeth maintained a relatively tanky approach, cracking at the boss's legs with her mace, making deliberate movements to keep out of easy striking range of the creature's fists and using her buckler to deflect any awkward swings that came her way, while Argo seemed to be sticking to her normal hit and run tactics, taking full advantage of her minimal gear to make otherwise impossible leaps, striking the boss mid jump and pausing just long enough to pivot around for another blow. Meanwhile, Leafa had taken to the air, being the most comfortable with aerial combat among the party, zipping around like an oversized fly and striking Grendel's head at every opportunity.

Under the barrage of effective attacks, the boss's health rapidly began to fall, with its top bar emptying out, then reaching about halfway through its second gauge. Crouching down, Kirito initiated another skill, Jolt Smash, then jumped upwards, landing a devastating uppercut to the monster that left its head crackling with electricity from the skill.

The attack also emptied out the last sliver of Grendel's second health bar, which Kirito noticed as he returned to the ground. Maybe he should have been a bit more cautious, knowing how close they'd been to that point. With two-thirds of its health now gone, Grendel let out another ear-shattering shriek, a good indication that the boss's loss of health had triggered another nasty surprise. Kirito braced himself for another status condition, but after a few moments passed he realized that nothing seemed to have changed.

Maybe it was just for show, he thought, launching into another attack. However, this time his strike found only air, the boss moving impossibly fast to avoid the hit. Before he could even register that his attack had failed, Kirito felt the impact of the monster's fist catching him midair and sending him sailing backwards. He hit the ground and bounced several times before stopping with a groan. The one hit had taken off nearly 70% of his HP.

Still in a slight daze, he pulled himself up, and saw a similar story unfolding with the rest of the party. Grendel seemed to be moving twice as quickly as he had before, and attacks that had previously been effective were now being dodged and met with deadly counterblows. Leafa went crashing into the ground after being swatted down, while Lisbeth was punted backwards by a savage kick, knocking Sinon to the ground as she crashed into the archer. Kirito's display showed that those blows had been as painful or worse than the one he'd received, with each of them having no more than a third of their health remaining. Meanwhile, Argo was just barely avoiding the same fate, her speed keeping her from being struck, but the boss's absurd movement was preventing her from getting any more hits in.

A chirping noise sounded from above him, and he saw Pina breathing out what looked like tiny ice crystals onto him and Lisbeth; as the crystals fell, he saw his HP recover slightly, moving him back to just more than half of his total health amount. Lisbeth's health recovered in a similar manner. "Thanks Silica!" he shouted gratefully, "and you as well Pina!" Normally it might seem silly to express gratitude to an NPC pet, but Pina was an exception. He'd never asked Yui for confirmation of his suspicions, but he was highly certain that the little feather dragon was a full AI, similar to herself, even if she was programmed as an animal rather than a person.

Nearby, Kirito saw the boss raise its foot as if to crush Leafa, who was still trying to pull herself up from the ground. As the foot came crashing down, a flash of dark yellow and brown zipped underneath as Argo pushed the sylph out of danger. However, they still needed to find an opening; with only one health bar remaining, it wouldn't take them too long to finish the boss off, but whatever buff had been placed on it made it a nightmare to get in close. Normally such an ability would invite ranged attacks with spells, but since those would have little or no effect here, it wasn't a practical option.

"Kirito!" came Asuna's voice, "How long would you all need to be able to finish him off?"

"I'm not sure," he replied, turning to face her, "maybe 20 to 30 seconds, if we can all get some good hits in. Do you have a plan?"

She nodded. "I don't think I can give you that long, but I can buy you at least some time. Be ready to hit it again!" As soon as she had finished, he could hear her beginning to chant what he could tell was a fairly complex spell. He'd never really gotten into spellcasting in ALO, so he couldn't identify what the spell was without seeing its effects, but he trusted that she knew what she was doing.

"You heard her!" he relayed to everyone else in the party, "be ready to do as much damage as you can as fast as you can!" As he braced for one last attack, Grendel, having no more targets nearby, began rushing towards them, causing the ground to shake as he charged. Then, Asuna finished casting her spell and the boss stopped. Ropes of water wound themselves around its arms and legs, restricting its movements and causing Grendel to roar and shake its head impotently.

Kirito smiled. Clever. Aqua Bind was the perfect answer to the monster's newfound speed and power, even if it only lasted a short moment. "Alright everyone!" Asuna yelled, her voice taking on a commanding tone, "Get in there and mess him up!"

The four front line combatants wasted no time in closing the distance, with Argo and Leafa taking full advantage of their greater speed to place two back-to-back strikes, one around each shoulder, causing Grendel to stumble back as the hits threw him off balance. Next came Lisbeth, yelling out a battle cry as she leapt into the air, aiming an uppercut at the boss's jaw with her mace.

Suddenly, the binds immobilizing Grendel dissipated as Asuna's spell wore off. Too late for Lis to be able to dodge out of the way, the creature swung a fist in her direction. However, a small pop sounded around the boss, and the counterblow fell short, with Grendel's arm falling slackly to his side.

Pina gave another chirp as she circled once, then returned to Silica after having dazed the boss with her Bubble skill. With the path clear, Lisbeth flew true and cracked the monster upside the jaw with her weapon. Under the flurry of blows and abilities that kept it from counterattacking, the boss's HP gauge began shrinking rapidly. But, they were bound to run out of tricks sooner or later, so it was imperative that they finish him off quickly, and at the pace they were going, they might not be able to make it.

With that in mind, Kirito had stayed back a little ways away from the action, readying one of the most powerful martial arts skills that had been released in ALO. Squatting slightly and preparing to leap into an attack, energy visibly collected around him from the ground below, a neat little visual representation of the attack that the system provided. The skill, Gaia Impact, was something that few players ever tried to actually use. Despite the immense damage that the skill caused, it required an uninterrupted charging time of a full fifteen seconds, making it impractical in PvP fights or even against most monsters. But, with Argo, Leafa, and Lisbeth distracting Grendel, Kirito had plenty of time to prepare the attack.

"You guys!" he shouted, "Get out of the way!" Glancing back to see Kirito's readied attack, the three women disengaged with Grendel, who roared impotently as he tried to strike the retreating players. Kirito took a breath as the energy around him finished coalescing. "Here goes," he whispered to himself. With a primal yell, he exploded forward, an orange aura surrounding him and with his fist swinging forward.

Grendel swung his fist back in a counterattack, and the two collided, sending a shockwave cascading from the site of the impact. For a moment, time seemed to stop as it seemed nothing happened. Then, a sickening snap echoed out, and Grendel's right arm actually tore itself off from his body. If ALO had been a gorier game, there would likely have been blood everywhere from the injury. Instead, only pixels drifting away from the stump and the boss's health bar dropping to 0 were the only indications of the injury.

And yet, despite the creature being apparently defeated, he did not disappear as they expected. Instead, after staring for a moment at its now severed arm, it gave another inhuman screech and leaped away.

"What!?" Leafa exclaimed, as confused as any of them at the odd turn of events.

"Don't let him get away!" yelled Sinon, sending an arrow towards the fleeing monster, who side stepped out of the projectile's path.

New screams sounded out, this time from the town villagers. A second later, Kirito could see the reason: Grendel had grabbed one of them in his remaining hand and had taken off running back towards the lake.

"Shit!" he cursed, running as quickly as he could in an effort to catch the beast. But, with its head start, there was no way that he could reach him in time, and he watched in frustration as the monster dove into the lake.

With the threat now gone, the commotion slowly began to die down as the villagers assessed the situation. Then, one shouted "The beast is dead!"

The remaining villagers murmured, then began to cheer, joining in the newfound celebration. "The beast is dead!"

"Our village is saved!"

"On with the festival!"

Clearly the NPCs believed Grendel to be gone for good, but Kirito felt a bit uneasy. After all, despite their victory, the monster hadn't disappeared like he'd expected. Something didn't feel quite right.

As the crowd celebrated, Gar found his way to the front and approached Kirito, now joined by the other six members of his party. "Thank you all for risking your lives, and for slaying that horrible monster," the man said, giving them a respectful bow, "I must admit, I had thought it to be a slim chance for anyone to be able to defeat the creature, but I'm glad that my skepticism was misplaced."

Asuna frowned. "We're happy to have been able to help you and your town," she said, "but the monster got away. How do you know that it won't come back?"

Gar shook his head. "I wouldn't worry about that," he assured them, "That wound that you gave him is far too severe to heal. He may have gotten away, but he only made it away to die. I'm confident that he won't be giving us or you any more trouble. Now then, I believe that a reward is in order for your assistance." A menu window opened for each member of the party, revealing their rewards: experience, a hefty sum of Yrd, and what appeared to be assorted unique food items from the festival. From his previous experiences in ALO and SAO before it, Kirito assumed that they were likely to award substantial stat benefits, be extremely expensive, or both.

With that, another notification popped up, this time for the entire group, reading [Uninvited Guest: Cleared].

"Now then," Gar said, "I must attend to other matters, and make sure that our festival can proceed in earnest. You will be welcome here any time." Turning, he departed and disappeared among the other NPCs now busy bustling about.

The group stood in silence for a moment. Then, Sinon spoke. "That seemed a bit…anticlimactic, don't you think?" she asked, "I mean, that would have been a fine boss fight at the end of a dungeon or something, but this just feels unresolved."

"Well, it is one of those automatic quests," Leafa observed, "Maybe the system just didn't think it was necessary to have anything further? I mean, I'd be surprised if Cardinal actually understood human emotional processes in the way that Yui does."

"I don't think so," Silica disagreed, "The system might not be perfect, but I've never seen it leave something as unresolved as this. Even that undersea quest we did seemed like it was setting up for something that could be revisited later."

Lisbeth shrugged. "Yeah, but technically the problem was solved, if a bit abruptly. And Gar doesn't seem to think much of the kidnappi—"

"Please help me!" a soft voice interrupted. The newcomer caught the attention of everyone in the party, who immediately turned their focus to the speaker. To their surprise, they saw that it appeared to be a young girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old, her eyes filled with tears. "That monster, it took my papa! The other villagers don't care now that it's gone, and no one else will help me!"

Sinon frowned. "I know this isn't what you might want to hear . . ." she paused for a moment, realizing she hadn't seen or heard what the girl's name was.

"My name is Hilda," the girl helpfully provided, at the same time that SInon glanced at the name hovering over her.

"Right, Hilda," Sinon continued, "how do you even know that your father is still alive? Hasn't Grendel been killing other villagers? And he dragged him down into the lake. I hate to say it, but it just seems…unlikely that he's still alive." Even trying to be as tactful as possible, it was clear that Sinon still expected Hilda to react poorly to her assessment.

Hilda shook her head vigorously. "No!" she insisted, "I'm sure he's okay! The monster's never taken anyone like that before, so he has to be alright! I know I can't afford to give you anything like the mayor did, but you're the only ones who can help me!"

The group glanced around at each other, clearly torn. On the one hand, normally they wouldn't hesitate to help out with something like this. On the other hand, there was no guarantee that this was even an official quest, especially considering that they had already cleared the quest that Gar had recruited them for. Add to that the apparent lack of any reward and the difficulty of their last fight, and some of the less openly altruistic members of the group clearly seemed reluctant to give any promises.

"I say we help her," Argo's voice cut in, making her the first of the group to vocally express an opinion.

That immediately grabbed Kirito's attention. It seemed out of character for Argo to offer to do anything without the promise of generous compensation attached; she was practically known for her intense greed and stinginess from her days as an information broker in SAO. I wonder what her angle is, he thought.

Regardless of Argo's motivations, her opinion seemed to sway the remaining potential holdouts in the group in favor of helping the girl out. Even Kirito felt slightly ashamed of his own apprehension; this was just a game after all, and the worst that could happen is that they lost and had to respawn. On the other hand, if they didn't agree to help, they'd essentially be leaving this girl as an orphan without even a glimmer of hope of reuniting with her father.

"Alright," Asuna affirmed once everyone else had made up their minds, "I can't promise anything, but we'll do what we can to get your father back."

Hilda looked like she might start crying again, but this time out of sheer gratitude and relief. "Thank you so much!" she said, prostrating herself on the ground, "I wasn't sure if you'd help me, and I'm eternally grateful!"

A new notification popped up in Kirito's display: Unfinished Business: Quest Accepted.

"We don't know if this is time sensitive or not," Kirito told the other members of the party, "But at this point, I think we should operate under the assumption that it is, and move as quickly as possible."

"Makes sense to me," Leafa said in agreement, "After all, even if Hilda's father is still alive, I can't imagine that he'll stay that way for long once Grendel has a moment to think. Or considering that he's at the bottom of a lake."

"Then let's move," Sinon said assertively, already moving towards the lake where Grendel had fled with his captive. Everyone else wasted no time in following her to the lake shore, where they briefly examined their imminent destination. Despite the waters being relatively clear, none of them could quite make out the bottom or judge how deep the waters were.

"Just a minute everyone," Asuna said, raising up her wand and beginning to chant, "Oss, naða, fjor, fiskr, bàrum, svalr, vatn!" As she finished casting her spell and the words of power locked into place around her, the waterbreathing buff icon appeared in each of their displays. "Now we should be good to go," Asuna said.

With that, the seven players entered the water, though how they did so varied greatly: Lisbeth cannonballed into the water, while Silica jumped up, took a crouching position, and splashed past the water's surface. Argo took a running entry before diving in effortlessly, seemingly at ease with the water, while Asuna and Sinon both dove in closer to water's edge. Meanwhile, Leafa and Kirito simply stepped off into the water, with the latter not seeing any need for trying a fancier entrance, and the former still not overly experienced with diving or swimming in general.

Once everyone had made it in, they gathered together to avoid becoming too separated in the vast waters of the lake. Then, they began their descent. For a little while, Kirito was on-guard, wary of an ambush by Grendel, or an attack from one of the other monsters that might lurk beneath the surface of the lakes of Floor 22, like the King of Lakes. Floor 22 had a reputation of being a fairly calm locale, with few monsters in the floor's fields, and even those tending to be substantially weaker than might be expected. However, he'd heard some rumors, particularly now in New Aincrad where the risk of death IRL wasn't present, that that was only the case on the surface. A few stories had trickled down the grapevine that the floor's lakes were home to substantially tougher foes in dungeons more appropriate in difficulty for the floor's location in Aincrad.

But, as they descended deeper into the dark depths of the lake and minutes passed, Kirito let his apprehension dissipate. At least for the moment, there didn't appear to be any notable threats to impede their progress. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any clear indication of which way they should be going either.

"Over there; I see something," Sinon said suddenly, pointing out towards what seemed like just another unidentifiable shadowy blur in the water. The other six members of the party looked towards where Sinon was pointing, but couldn't make out anything specific. However, trusting in Sinon's vision, the party changed direction towards where the archer had indicated. As they swam closer, however, the rest of the group were finally able to see what Sinon had pointed out. In the rocky edge of the lake, a notable hole appeared in the stone, looking very much like a tunnel entrance.

"Nice catch Sinon," Kirito said, "Let's take a look inside."

The seven of them made their way towards the gap, which seemed to curve upwards into an S shape. Unfortunately, once they'd gone a little ways past the entrance, the small amount of light that they'd had from the surface to be able to make things out vanished, leaving the party in complete blackness.

"Hey, Kirito, a little help here," Lisbeth grumbled, clearly unhappy with fumbling around in total darkness.

"What are you-? Oh, right," came Kirito's response, "Give me a second." After a moment, it seemed like Kirito had found what he was looking for. "Oss, náða, nótt, lysa, auga."

Out of the darkness, a pale light spread out, with Kirito as its focal point. On its own, the light wouldn't have provided enough to really see, but as it passed over them, a green status icon appeared, and their vision became almost as good as it would have been on the surface.

Leafa nodded approvingly. Kirito almost never used magic in ALO, but at least he could take advantage of his innate abilities as a spriggan. Their ability to grant darkvision was a unique trait, and something that tended to be far more convenient than light spells or torches, which only illuminated a limited area and tended to draw attention from monsters.

With the vision problem addressed, everyone could now easily make out the walls inside the tunnel they were in. Following the path as it turned upwards, Kirito gave an abrupt start as he suddenly felt the lack of lack of water around his head as he broke the surface. It seemed that the flooded passageway from the lake emptied out into an air pocket of some kind, and he could see the tunnel continue to stretch on ahead. Grabbing onto a ledge in front of him, he pulled himself up out of the water, with the girls following suit.

A high-pitched growl drew everyone's attention as Pina flapped out from where she'd been hiding in Silica's robes. For a few moments, she darted around by the right wall, apparently having noticed something. Finally, she seemed to find what she was looking for, and perched on the ground, turning her head to face Silica to let her tamer know what she'd discovered.

"What is it Pina?" Silica asked, moving over to inspect where the dragon was indicating. Everyone followed suit, clearly interested in what might be there.

On the wall, a series of dark splotches marked the stone, leading further along the tunnel.

"It looks like blood," Sinon noted, "I'd say it's a good bet that Grendel passed through here."

"Yeah, but is it his, or his captive's?" Lisbeth asked, "I was already skeptical that he was still alive anyways, and this doesn't exactly look good."

"It's Grendel's," Argo insisted, "If he wanted ta kill the girl's dad, he could'a done it well before now. Unless we see a body, he's still alive."

"I agree with Argo," Asuna said, "I doubt that Cardinal would give us a quest with no chance of success. Of course, I suppose that the quest could involve him being killed at a specific time."

"I'm not going to let that happen," Argo replied, conviction in her voice. That caused some heads to turn. "I mean, if he dies, we probably wouldn't get our reward," she hastily clarified.

"But as far as we know, there's no reward for this anyways," Silica pointed out.

"Well, ya never know," Argo retorted, "I mean, when was the last time any of you found a quest without any reward at all?"

The rest of the group decided to drop the matter, though Kirito's suspicion and curiosity was continuing to grow. Something's definitely off with Argo, he thought, Not that I expect she would tell me anything if I asked. Better to leave it for now, and see what I can find out later. "Well, we're never going to find anything out for sure unless we continue on," he pointed out, "Let's go; if the man is still alive, we have no idea how long he'll stay that way, so let's keep moving."

With that, the seven players formed up and began steadily making their way down the tunnel, keeping an eye on the blood trail along the wall. Unfortunately, it became obvious that their trail was becoming fainter and fainter as they went along, until…

"Well, that figures," Lisbeth grumbled as the tunnel split into four separate passages, "Can't ever just make things easy, right?"

Asuna frowned. "It looks like we're going to have to split up," she noted, "The blood trail seems to have vanished at this point, and I don't see any other indications of which of these paths is the right one."

"Doesn't look like we have much choice," concurred Kirito, who had likewise been unable to find any distinguishing marks even with his Spriggan enhanced search skill, "But, for all we know, all of these passages might end up in the same place." He looked around at the six other members of the party, doing some quick analysis and decision making. "Regardless, I think Asuna's right about splitting up. So, how about this: she and I take one tunnel, Silica and Lis, you take another, and Sinon and Leafa take one as well. That should keep those groups fairly balanced, with at least one good searcher and one magic user in each group. Argo, you take the last tunnel. You're definitely the sneakiest one here, so you should be able to stay undetected if there are any monsters lurking around. If anyone finds anything, send a message to the rest of us, and we'll all join you. Got it?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, none of them expressing any particular issues with the plan or the division of groups, and began making their way down their respective passageways. Once everyone else had started down, Kirito and Asuna stepped into the remaining passageway, the second from the right. "I'll take point, if you don't mind providing magic support," Kirito said.

"Sounds good," Asuna replied, keeping her wand at the ready. That split also meant that if they came across something that could impose nasty status conditions, she should be far enough back to avoid them and handle combat while Kirito recovered.

The two of them, plus Yui, journeyed cautiously along the tunnel for several dozen meters, wary of any hidden threats. However, once it appeared that they were safe, at least for the moment, Kirito held up a hand, indicating that he wanted to stop for a moment.

"Asuna, have you noticed anything…off about Argo?" he asked. As the only other member of the party who had real history with the information broker, Kirito wanted to talk about his concerns with Asuna, to say nothing of the fact that she was his closest lover and most trusted confidant.

Asuna gave a frown at his question, then slowly nodded. "I didn't want to mention anything, since I thought it could just be my imagination, but she has been behaving a bit strangely lately."

"I know," Kirito replied, glad to have his hunch backed up, "I've never known her to be all that altruistic; I mean, even in SAO when she was giving out her guidebooks for free, it was mainly her way of atoning for taking advantage of her knowledge as a beta tester, and even there she only gave them out after gouging the frontline players and other beta testers. But here, she seemed to leap at the chance to take on this quest, even with the express knowledge that there was likely no reward at all."

"It's not just today either," Asuna added, "She's been particularly impish ever since the trip started. I know that she's always loved teasing people, but lately she seems to have gone completely overboard. It's almost like…she's trying too hard to be something of a gadfly, to try to get a reaction out of people." She paused for a moment. "Or, maybe, to get attention from people."

"That seems odd," remarked Kirito, "Argo's never really wanted to have the spotlight on her. That was pretty much the whole point of her choosing to stick to her role as an information broker rather than making a name for herself with any of the guilds. Sure, plenty of people knew about her from her information services and paper, and I think she enjoyed that, but in the end, she made sure to keep most of the focus on the information itself. In fact, she loved to just up and vanish whenever there was a chance that the focus would be on her."

"Maybe she's changed," Asuna observed, "We haven't really spent any time with her since SAO, so maybe her personality is a bit different than what we remember. Still, I find it hard to believe that something like that could change over just a few years. Plus, she's older than we are, and I've heard that a person's personality tends to be relatively fully formed by the time they're a teenager."

Kirito shrugged, "I suppose we could just be overreacting and grasping at straws," he said, "She could just be letting out all of her pent-up energy, since she hasn't seen us since SAO."

"Daddy, Mommy," Yui interjected, flitting around between the two at about eye level, "I think there's something that's bothering Argo. I didn't want to pry, but I could tell that there's something on her mind, like a cloud that's hanging over her."

Their daughter's comment caught Kirito and Asuna off guard; it was all too easy to forget that the cute little girl that they had adopted was also one of the most, if not the most, advanced AIs in the world.

Kirito and Asuna shared a knowing look. "If that's what you think Yui, then we believe you," Kirito said before looking back at Asuna, "But, regardless, we can't ask her about it now, and I don't want to ask her about it in front of the others. Especially, I don't want to pry too much if she's not comfortable sharing."

"Agreed," Asuna said, nodding, "She does like her secrets after all, and we'd probably just make things more awkward if we tried to force her to share. Best to let it come out in its own time."

With their discussion concluded, they started once again down the tunnel, swiftly dispatching a few vermin looking monsters that they encountered along the way. After what seemed like an endless slog, however, Kirito finally spotted something faintly glowing from up ahead.

"Asuna," he said, "I see a light coming from somewhere down the tunnel. Let's check it out."

The two of them crept along as quietly as they could towards the soft glow further down the passageway, trying their best to avoid revealing themselves should there be any danger within. As they reached the mouth of the tunnel, the two could see a large chamber beyond, seemingly illuminated by a glowing moss that crept along the stone walls within. And within that glow…

"I'll message the others," Asuna whispered as she swiped open her menu, "and let them know that we've found him."


Argo liked to think of herself as a mostly rational person, not typically prone to letting her emotions get the best of her. After all, when one was operating a (mostly) amoral information service, it just wouldn't do to allow her feelings to interfere with an objectively good business decision. It wasn't that she wasn't emotional, but she just tended to rationalize her decisions, rather than impulsively give in to what might feel good at the time.

Right now, however, she had to admit to herself that she was breaking her usual rule. Her thoughts were distracted by too many different powerful emotions tugging her in different directions, none of them particularly good. This particular quest had dredged up some old, painful memories, ones that she'd struggled to move past and put at the back of her mind.

Spotting movement several paces away, she tried to shake her discontent from her thoughts, not wanting to become careless in the middle of a dungeon. Remaining well hidden among the shadows, she saw the movement head closer towards her, until she could clearly see the outline of what was apparently one of the monsters patrolling the dungeon. It looked like a mix of human and fish, with dark green scales covering its body and webbing on its hands. It also carried a nasty looking barbed spear, which she really didn't want to have to deal with. The display above the creature read: [Sahuagin Sentry].

The monster stalked past her, apparently unable to sense her presence past her sneak skill. Argo briefly considered launching a sneak attack at the creature, as she was fairly confident that she could take it down rather quickly. But, that wasn't really her style. No need to fight when you could just slip right on through.

That was the philosophy that had helped her survive SAO. No sticking her neck out, no drawing any unnecessary attention to herself, no getting tied down to other people. It meant no one to judge her, no one to slow her down, no one to be a burden, no one to spend time with, no one to laugh with, share stories with, or cry with, no one to hold her close, and no one to lean on…

She thought she'd finally found people to fill that hole in her life, people who could finally help her break out of that mold that she'd long trapped herself in. Kii-boy, A-chan, Silica, Lis, Sinon, and Leafa— they were all so…fun to be around. The time she'd gotten to spend with them made her feel simultaneously exhilarated and at peace.

And yet, she also felt more isolated than ever. Those six seemed to have a bond that went deeper than anything she had ever experienced, and she couldn't help but feel like an outsider. As hard as she tried, she just couldn't seem to overcome that chasm between herself and the others. Maybe she'd made a mistake, thinking that she could just walk in and integrate into group like she'd been there as long as everyone else. Maybe she should have just…"

Consumed by her brooding thoughts, Argo missed a second figure making its way down the hall, and as she darted across from the shadows along one wall to those on the other, she clipped the interloper, another sahuagin, immediately drawing its attention. No matter how good her sneak skill was, there was no way she'd be able to hide from the monster after that.

"Shit!" she gasped as she realized her mistake. The sahaugin hissed at her, thrusting with its spear. Recovering, Argo sidestepped out of the way before flashing across to the monster's right side with her claws, leaving a solid hit on the monster's side. Not wanting to give it time to recover, she spun around, raking another hit on its scales. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the haft of the spear swing towards her, and she raised her right hand to block the hit. Even though the strike only landed on her claws, the impact left a stinging sensation running through her arm. However, with her opponent's weapon out of the way for the moment, she rapidly stabbed with her left set of claws, dropping the last of its HP, and the scaly monster exploded into a cloud of polygons.

A spearhead stabbed through Argo's right leg, and she collapsed to the ground in surprise. The first sentry that she had passed by undetected earlier had apparently heard the fighting and had managed to take her by surprise. She felt the spear twist as its barbed head was pulled back out, and she winced seeing her own HP bar immediately fall below 50%. Her build was designed to avoid hits, not tank them, and at this point she was at a serious disadvantage. Sneaking away was clearly not an option, and now her mobility was shot as well.

Rolling to the side, she avoided being skewered by a downward thrust of the monster's spear. Kicking out with her uninjured leg, she swept the creature's feet, sending it toppling to the ground to join her. At that point, Kirito, or one of the other more aggro members of the group might have tackled the monster and tried fighting it while it was still on the ground. Argo knew better than to try that herself, instead pulling herself to her feet and taking the chance to regain her proper footing. Quickly checking to make sure that she wasn't about to be ambushed by another monster, she took a second to undo the clasp on her cloak, having already devised a plan of attack.

The sahaugin rose to its feet, brandishing its spear at her once again. Suddenly, the monster charged. Unsurprised, Argo ripped off her cloak and held it out, like a bullfighter, and nimbly stepped out of the way. The monster ran straight into the garment, tangling its limbs and weapon inside, and functionally blinding it as the cloth covered its head. Argo took the opening and struck, once, twice, six times in rapid succession. The monster shattered after the flurry of blows, but so did the tattered remains of her cloak is they drifted towards the ground.

Such a shame. Argo almost felt naked in a way without a cloak; it was almost as much a part of her image as her whiskers, or her claws. But, it couldn't be helped. Besides, she could always just pick up another cloak in one of ALO's towns. There really wasn't anything special about it.

A soft ringing noise alerted to a new message notification. Stepping back into the shadows in case any more patrolling monsters came along, she swiped open the message and sighed. It looked like Kii-boy and A-chan's path had been the right one. Because of course it had. With a slight sigh, Argo raced back down the tunnel.


It didn't take long for the party to reconvene at Kirito and Asuna's location. Monsters didn't tend to respawn very quickly, so it was generally safe to rush through areas that had recently been cleared. Once they made it closer to their rendezvous point, however, Kirito signaled for them to slow down and remain quiet.

After everyone had arrived, they edged their way closer to get a look at what Kirito and Asuna had spotted previously. Inside the chamber, they could see who they assumed to be Hilda's father, standing still inside a circular pattern carved on the floor. And, not too far away, lay the still form of Grendel, though they could only see the lower half of the monster's body from their vantage point.

"I don't see any threats right now," Leafa noted, "but that doesn't mean that there's not something in there. And why is he just standing there? Do you think it's magic, or is something else keeping him from escaping?"
"I don't like this," Sinon said, "The whole thing feels like a trap. If we're going to go in, we'd better be careful."

"I'll get us a look at what's inside," Silica offered. Apparently sensing her intentions, Pina crawled out from inside Silica's robe, giving a soft coo. The dragon tamer softly chanted a few words of power, and Pina took off, flying into the adjacent chamber. As the feather dragon circled around, Silica stood with her eyes closed, concentrating on something only she could see. "There's something else in there," Silica whispered softly after a moment, "it looks like a woman of some kind, and she's holding onto the monster we fought earlier." She winced slightly. "Something about her scares me," she admitted, "Pina feels the same way."

Finally, she opened her eyes again. "I don't see anything else of note in there. It looks like the only thing keeping our hostage from running is whatever that thing is." The feather dragon flew back to her tamer, with Silica giving the dragon a couple soft strokes and a scratch behind its ears before it disappeared into her robes again.

"Well, at least we have a little more to go on now than we did before," Kirito said, "Thanks Silica." He turned to the rest of the party. "Anyone have any objection to heading in," he asked, "I know that we'd like to have a better idea of what we're up against, but I don't think we're going to get much more information than what we already have."

"I agree with ya Kii-boy," Argo said, "No use stayin' here when the situation could get worse at any moment."

One by one, the other girls voiced their agreement, until only Sinon was left. "I still have a bad feeling," she sighed, "but I guess it's not like we have many other options. Let's go for it."

With everyone on board, the party made their way into the lighted chamber, weapons prepared for battle. As they came into view of Hilda's father, the man's face registered with surprise and…hope? It was hard to glean too many details from an NPC's facial expressions. However, he didn't make any moves, though his eyes glanced over to the side.

In that direction knelt the woman that Silica had mentioned earlier, though calling what they saw a woman didn't convey her true nature. She was large, at least as large as Grendel, with pale skin and long greenish-white hair. As she came into full view of the party, they could see that, rather than having normal, human arms, they were instead covered in shimmering blue-green scales, with fingers that ended in sharp claws. She wore no armor, instead displaying only a simple white and gold dress that seemed more a part of her than simply worn clothing. Noticing the party's arrival, she looked up from where she had been gazing on Grendel's form, tear streaks evidence on her face. She gave them a cold, cruel smile that did not touch her eyes, revealing a mouthful of jagged teeth.

"So, you've come," the woman said, her voice deep and powerful, "I had hoped that you would. You took my child from me. It is fitting that I should have the chance to take your lives in exchange."

"Your 'son' was murdering innocent people," Leafa growled, "He was the one who attacked the village in the first place. If he hadn't done that, we wouldn't have had any reason to kill him."

"Innocent?" the woman chuckled, her laugh devoid of mirth, "Is that what you think? Why have you chosen to protect those faithless mortals, little fairies?"

"Probably because your kid attacked them as they were trying to celebrate and have a festival," Lisbeth answered sarcastically, "You know, just a little bit of murder and mayhem. I can't imagine why we would want to help put a stop to that."

"Ah yes, their 'festival,'" the woman spat, "Tell me, did anyone explaint to you about the history of that festival?"

"What history?" Kirito demanded.

"I am the spirit of this lake," the woman explained, "Long ago, when those humans first settled here, they struggled to survive; their crops failed, and they knew nothing of fishing. I struck a bargain with them: I would bless their catches of fish, ensuring that they had plenty to eat between harvests, and in exchange, they would honor me with a festival dedicated to celebrating my generosity. For many years, the pact was honored, and the mortals flourished."

"But they are faithless, and have short memories," she continued, "And once they could provide for themselves, they forgot their oath. No longer did they deign to honor me. Instead, their festival became about honoring themselves and their own ability. So, I sent my son to remind them of their broken promise, to punish their hubris and teach them humility. Instead, they persuaded you to drive my son away and kill him, like the cowards they are."

In a flash, her right hand snapped out, grabbing ahold of Hilda's father as she pulled him into the air. "My heart burns with hatred for the oath breakers above, and you murderers before me," she boomed, her voice filled with thinly veiled rage, "They have denied me the honor I deserve, and you have stripped me of my child. For that, I will slay you all. Then, I will destroy that wretched village myself. But first…" She appeared to squeeze her captive in her hand. "First, I think I will begin by killing this man. You came to rescue him, I presume, so he must mean something to you. I can only hope that his death will—"

Her words were cut off by an imperceptible blur that shot past Kirito and crashed into the lake spirit's arm, causing her to drop her captive with a hiss of pain, before continuing past and returning to the ground. Once the movement stopped, Kirito saw that it was Argo who had sprung into action, with the Rat grabbing onto Hilda's father as he reached the ground and, speeding onward, placing him out of harm's way.

"How dare you, you pathetic worm!" the woman spat, "You will pay dearly for that."

"Worm?" scoffed Argo, calmly making her way back towards the monster, "Can't ya tell that I'm a rat? Doesn't really matter though. I don't care about yer sob story. So life hasn't been fair for you. That doesn't give you the right to take it out on others. And I'm certainly not lettin' ya kill him."

"Then you can die!" hissed the monster. A red cursor finally appeared over her head, along with an unnerving four health bars. Along with the change finally came a displayed name, though it didn't do too much to clear things up: [Grendel's Mother].

Kirito immediately realized that they were going to have to act fast; Argo was very much out of position, and he had little doubt that even a few hits from this boss would be enough to completely drain her HP. As if sensing his thoughts, Sinon had already drawn her bow, sending an arrow straight at the boss's head to try drawing her attention. While the arrow was still soaring, Kirito had burst forward with his blades drawn, followed closely behind by Leafa and Lisbeth.

Something in the air changed, and Asuna noticed some of her loose hairs sticking out, pulled by some unseen force. Realizing too late what was happening, she still tried her best to warn the party's charging melee fighters. "Watch out!"

The dim cave was suddenly filled with a flash of blinding light caused by a bright white bolt flying from the boss's hand. It arced down, right into the middle of Kirito, Leafa, and Lisbeth, striking with a thunderous boom that echoed throughout the whole chamber, the impact sending fragments of stone spraying all around. The explosion itself sent the three flying, and they hit the ground hard.

Asuna was stunned. The attack was clearly magic, but normally even monsters needed to use words of power to cast spells. That lightning bolt had come without any warning whatsoever. If this boss could cast such advanced spells without needing to chant at all, they were going to be in for a bad time. Checking everyone's status in her menu, she was relieved to see that the attack hadn't dropped anybody further than yellow territory. The bolt hadn't struck directly; if it had, she was certain that it would have been enough to completely drain their HP.

"That wasn't fun," Kirito groaned as he staggered to his feet. His ears were still ringing and his vision was still blurry from the explosion going off right next to him, but he was still in one piece. Unfortunately, he could see a glow at the end of the boss's fingers, as clear a sign as any of another incoming attack. "Shit!" he swore, scrambling to try getting out of the way of the attack. At this point however, he doubted that he had any real chance to dodge the blast. He could try to block the attack using spell blast, but between his disorientation and his failure to initiate a sword skill sooner, doing so would be next to impossible.

Streaks of flame finally jetted from the monster's fingers. To Kirito's surprise, they overshot him by several feet, blasting across the chamber and impacting against the wall. After his initial confusion, he saw that Argo and Silica had each taken the chance to slash at the monster, their blows throwing off its aim. And, it appeared that their attacks had done a fair bit of damage as well.

The wheels in Kirito's head quickly began turning. Between the ranged attacks that the boss was using, her prioritization of melee combatants, and the damage she had suffered from otherwise mundane slashing attacks, he figured that this boss was probably not designed for close-range fighting, and probably even had vulnerability to melee damage. That was welcome news, because it meant that those four health bars likely weren't as intimidating as they first appeared. But, they still needed a way to consistently deal with those spells that the boss was slinging around.

"Asuna!" he yelled, "how long do you think you could hold a mana shield?"

"It depends on how much damage it's absorbing," she called back, "maybe 30 seconds at most if it's blocking powerful spells."

"We'll try to making this quick then," Kirito said, "Do it."

Stretching out her wand, Asuna began chanting, clearly trying to finish her spell as quickly as possible without messing up any of the words of power. "Þeír, sér, lind, ásynja, burt, eimi, og, sverð!"

As she finished her spell, a swarm of blue butterflies appeared, converging around Kirito, Leafa, Lisbeth, Argo, and Silica. Protecting that many people was risky, because for each shield, it meant that the others would most likely not last as long, but, Asuna had deep enough mana reserves to take that risk.

The boss stretched out her palms, sending a pressurized stream of water crashing into Argo, striking the surrounding shield. Asuna winced as her MP took a hit, but the barrier did its job, leaving the Rat unfazed. The monster barely had time to react before she was rushed by the frontline players. Kirito and Argo slashed at her hamstrings, while Silica clambered onto the monster's back, cutting deeply with her dagger. Once they had cleared away, they were immediately followed by Lisbeth and Leafa, leaping into the air and timing their strikes to hit the boss's torso at the same time, sending her stumbling back.

Under the barrage of attacks, the boss's first HP gauge fell empty. "Hit her again!" Kirito yelled.

Diving back in, the five launched into another series of attacks, with the boss desperately flailing about with her hands, trying to swat the stinging insect around her, but it was obvious that, despite her fearsome appearance, this was not a monster designed to be in the middle of a fight.

With a growl, she threw another fireball into Leafa, Silica, and Lisbeth as they landed following another attack. The ground trembled, but once again Asuna's mana shield took the hit. Realizing the source of her frustration, she glared out towards Asuna, who was concentrating on maintaining her spell. She swept out with her arm, hitting Argo and knocking her back into Kirito, before the air crackled again, and she sent a lightning bolt out towards the Undine mage.

But, the bolt never reached Asuna. Instead, it exploded midflight, as it was struck by an arrow from Sinon's bow.

"Impossi—"

The boss was cut off mid-word as Lisbeth's mace cracked her in the face. That blow was soon followed by hits from Silica and Leafa, then Argo and Kirito once they had made it back to their feet. As they all returned to the earth, the boss fell to one knee, resting on one of her knuckles for support. Her second HP bar finished emptying out.

"How dare you…" the boss murmured softly. Looking back up at the party, her eyes glowed a vibrant blue. "You will all die!"

A rush of wind filled the chamber, quickly swirling into a tempest that howled around the party. After a few seconds, they could feel themselves being lifted off the ground by the sheer strength of the rushing gale, leaving them floating around uncontrollably, subject only to the wind's whim.

This isn't good, thought Kirito, at this rate, we'll never be able to close in consistently to finish her off. As if to reinforce his concerns, another crack reverberated in his ears and his vision briefly turned white as another bolt of lightning arced just meters away from him. That was followed by a stinging sensation of something pelting his body as he was tossed around in the air, which he soon realized were apparently hailstones. It seemed that the boss was creating a full storm inside the cavern.

Around him, Kirito could see the others in a similar dilemma. He saw that Argo had somehow managed to link up with their hostage, so at least they hopefully didn't have to worry about him being inadvertently killed amidst the confusion. But, that didn't solve their bigger problem of actually winning the fight itself.

"Kirito!" he heard Sinon shout, her voice barely audible over the tempest, "If you could reach the boss, how long do you think it would take to bring her down?"

"She shouldn't have much HP left!" he yelled back, "Even though she technically shows a full bar, I don't think that it's as much as we've dealt with already, given how difficult it would be to get close enough to hit her! But, I can't say for sure."

"We'll just have to cross our fingers then!" Sinon shouted back, "I should be able to give you guys a chance, but try to be quick about it!" Steadying herself as much as possible without a firm foundation, Sinon pulled back on her bow, her lips mouthing words of power that Kirito didn't recognize. Once she finished, she released the arrow, which managed to fly clean through the winds and just past the boss's head, burying itself in the stone of the cavern wall.

Before Kirito could wonder what the purpose of the shot was, he realized that there was some kind of glowing cord linking the arrow to Sinon's bow, similar to when she had pulled in Excalibur as it fell from the sky.

"Try to get ahold of that, and you should be able to use it to reach the boss!" she shouted, "I'll hold it as long as I can, but I can't do anything else while that's active!"

"Got it!" yelled Kirito. "Everyone! Follow me!" He swiftly opened his menu and stowed his offhand sword in his storage and then, with difficulty, he manifested his wings and struggled against the winds towards the path that Sinon had created. Reaching out, he grabbed onto the cord and held it tight. Around him, Leafa, Silica, and Lisbeth followed his lead, managing to join him. Without waiting for them, Kirito began pulling himself along as quickly as he reasonably could, trying to get within striking range before the boss figured out what they were up to. Fortunately, she seemed to be so focused on controlling the maelstrom that she had created that their approach remained apparently unnoticed.

Finally, he had made his way to within only a few meters of the boss, with the others not far behind. Bracing himself, and gripping his sword in his free hand, he gave a yell and hurled himself towards the boss. Even though the winds tried to blow him wildly away again, with such a short distance, his momentum allowed his strike to find its mark and his blade sunk deeply into the monster's chest.

Almost instantly, the tempest vanished as the boss's concentration broke. Kirito grinned. This was their chance. "Finish her off!" he yelled, wrenching his sword out and throwing himself backwards.

Behind him, Leafa and Lisbeth followed suit, bringing their weapons crashing down on the boss. The monster gave a wail, and Kirito could see that the three hits had taken off roughly two-thirds of its remaining HP. But, it wasn't finished yet, and now the three players were sitting ducks.

Trembling, the boss raised her left arm, stretching it out towards them with the clear intent of loosing another destructive spell. But, the attack never came. Instead, a silver blade erupted from the monster's throat before vanishing moments later. The boss gave several sharp jerks until Silica hit the ground next to her, dagger in hand, having apparently stabbed the boss in the back several times as she fell. At the same time, the monster's HP gauge fell to zero, and the boss shuddered and crumpled over before shattering in a cloud of polygons.

For a moment, all was still and silent in the cavern, everyone taking in the fact that they had finally won. Then, the menu screen popped up, revealing the experience and items that their victory had awarded and Kirito gave a grin. "I guess that's it then. Good hit Silica, and good job all of you."

"Ugh," sighed Lisbeth, bringing her mace behind her head and stretching back, "What a pain. I didn't know that they were giving monsters magic attacks like that. One of the biggest things that makes mages balanced is that they need time to cast their spells. Take away that weakness, and, well, you see how dangerous they can be."

"It could just be a unique thing for this particular quest," noted Sinon, "I doubt that they would give too many monsters that kind of ability, even bosses. But as a one-off feature, it certainly made the fight more challenging and unique." She stowed away her bow with a quick swipe of her menu. "Regardless, I think we should get back to the surface as soon as possible. It looks like that was the last of the fighting in this quest, but who knows if they decided to have any more surprises for us."

"Sounds good ta us!" Argo said chipperly, walking over with the NPC that she had rescued. "This is … Unferth?" she said, a sheepish smile crossing her face, "I hope I'm pronouncin' that correctly. Anyways, I think he'd appreciate it if we could get him back to the town as soon as possible."

"Let's get going then," Leafa said, stretching her arms back and giving a yawn, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling pretty beat after that fight." With that, the group seemed to have reached an understanding and headed back down the tunnel that would lead them back to the surface.


With the quest complete, the party didn't feel as much need for caution heading back, and so the trek only took around ten minutes, even with Asuna needing to take a moment to recast her waterbreathing spell before they swam back out into the lake. Back in Coral, most of the village NPCs had seemingly returned to life as usual, a few of them still cleaning up the last remnants of the damage from Grendel's attacks, the rest carrying food or festival decorations now that the event was back in full swing. No one seemed to pay any of them much mind as they returned, not even one making any comment on the safe return of their fellow.

Argo's eyes narrowed as she took in that fact. Were Unferth and Hilda some kind of outcasts here? Or were the villagers just so self-concerned that they didn't care whether their neighbors lived or died, not even if it left a little girl as an orphan. As long as things were good for them, who cares if she was abandoned? This place was no better than the real world.

With difficulty, she shook those thoughts from her mind. Dwelling on such things would lead to nothing but pain, and her mind was already clouded with doubts and dark thoughts. She needed to just focus on the present, how things were now.

Finally, Unferth seemed to find where he needed to go, turning and walking straight towards one of the houses on the far outskirts of the village. The simple home sat next to another of the floor's many lakes, thought this one was far smaller than where they had just hunted down Grendel and his mother. In fact, the body of water was more of a small pond than a lake. Unferth stepped up to the door of the home and opened it.

"Papa!" came the exuberant voice of Hilda as the girl ran out of the home and leaped into her father's arms, "I was afraid that I would never see you again! I insisted that you were alive, but…"

Unferth smiled as he returned the hug, apparently whispering something unheard into his daughter's ear. After a few moments, the two released their embrace. "It's all thanks to these kind adventurers here," he said, "if they hadn't saved me, well, I don't really want to think about what would have happened."

Hilda pulled on his hand and, after he lowered his head toward her, whispered something into his ear. He gave a thoughtful look, then nodded. Straightening back up again, he turned towards the party and bowed, while Hilda ran inside. "Thank you all so very much," he said gratefully, "I know that you all risked yourselves to rescue me, and I wish that I could reward you as you deserve. But, we are poor, and have little to offer you. However…" Hilda returned with a long bundle in her arms; the object was obviously heavy, as she seemed to have difficulty hauling it out. Unferth took the object and walked over to where Argo stood. "My daughter tells me that you were the first person to insist on rescuing me," he said, "and you were also the one who kept me safe during your fight." Unwrapping the bundle, he revealed a longsword, unadorned save for sinuous red glyphs that had been inscribed on the blade. Although the weapon was clearly old, it appeared well cared for.

"My grandfather was an adventurer, not unlike yourselves," Unferth said, "and this is his weapon, Hrunting. I've heard that the sword has special powers, but I've never used it. I am only a simple fisherman and have no use for a sword such as this; I wouldn't even know how to use it if I tried. I think it would be a fitting gift for you."

Kirito glanced at Argo, and his concern returned. The Rat had a faraway look in her eyes, not seeming to really be noticing what was going on in front of her. In fact, Unferth had to take her hands and press the sword into them himself. That at least seemed to snap Argo back from wherever her thoughts were, at least to some extent.

"I believe that my grandfather would prefer to have his sword out in the world being used once again, rather than sitting here collecting dust," the man continued, "Please, take it with my gratitude. Know that you are always welcome here." Giving another bow, he turned and ushered Hilda inside the house as he followed her in and gently closed the door behind them.

A congratulatory flare of music blared as a notification popped up letting them know that they had completed the quest. Kirito walked over next to the information broker. "Congratulations Argo," he said with a smile, "It looks like you got a unique weapon of some kind. You'll have to figure out what it does!"

She gave a weak smile. "Thanks, Kii-boy," she said.

Kirito couldn't help but frown. Were those tears forming in the corner of Argo's eyes?

"I, uh…" the Rat said, shocking him by being at a loss for words, "I need to head out. I'll see you all later." Before he or anyone could say anything, she had swiped open her menu and logged out, vanishing in a brief flash of light.

Asuna shot Kirito a knowing look. Something was up with Argo, they just wished that they knew what.

Even the other members of the group apparently found the Rat's behavior odd. "What's up with her?" asked Lisbeth, "That was pretty abrupt for her to just leave like that."

Silica tugged on her sleeve and whispered something to her, and the mace wielder gave a lecherous grin. "Ah, nevermind," she said, "She probably just has some things she wants to take care of."

"It is getting a bit late," Sinon noted, "How about we head back to the cabin, then we can all log out for a bit. Once we eat, we can always dive back in if we want."

That sounded agreeable to the rest of the group, and the party began making their way back to the cabin.


Blinking his eyes open, Kazuto came out of the dive back in the main room of the beach house. After pulling off the Amusphere from his head, he gave a stretch before turning and standing up. Unfortunately, Argo's behavior was still weighing heavily on his mind. The Rat's behavior had seemed off for some time, but even just within the last few hours that they were in ALO, it had crossed the line from merely odd to rather concerning. He considered trying to find a moment where he could talk with her alone, but dismissed the thought. If anyone was going to talk with her, Asuna was the obvious choice. The two of them had developed a close friendship back in SAO, and Argo would certainly feel more comfortable speaking with another girl than with him.

But, that wasn't something he could do anything about for the moment. For now, he made his way downstairs to rendezvous with everyone. Upon reaching the first floor, he found that almost everyone else had already arrived, with one notable exception.

"Argo isn't here?" he asked, confused, "She dove out before anyone else, so I assumed that she'd have been here somewhere."

"I haven't seen her anywhere," Asuna said, shaking her head, "but she did sound like she had things to take care of. She could have even taken a trip into town for something. I'm sure she'll turn back up before too long."

"Guess she's gonna miss out on dinner then," Rika said, "I call dibs on her share!"

"I believe I've told you before that that's not how it works," Asuna chastised her friend, "Besides, I'm not doing anything fancy anyways. We have plenty of bread left, so I was just going to fry up some pork for sandwiches. That'll make things easy to portion…and easy to save some for Argo," she said giving Rika a stern look. "Now, if you all don't mind getting the bowls prepped, I'll start taking care of the cutlets…"


For Kazuto, dinner felt like a rather subdued affair. Rika, Keiko, Shino, and Suguha made plenty of conversation amongst themselves, but distracted as he was, he didn't really feel particularly talkative. Despite Asuna's professed assurances and the lack of concern from the other girls, something still didn't sit right with him. During his time trapped in Aincrad, he'd learned to listen to his gut feelings when they indicated something was wrong, and those feelings had kept him alive on numerous occasions. This feeling wasn't quite the same, since there was no looming danger, but it was telling him that all was not well.

For her part, Asuna seemed to understand his continued reservations, and did her best to keep the other girls distracted. For that, he was grateful; it wasn't as though he wanted to keep secrets from them, but they didn't know Argo like he and Asuna did, and it didn't feel right to be spreading his apprehensions with them without having a chance to speak with Argo first.

After hastily finishing his meal, or at least as quickly as he could given that he took a second sandwich, Kazuto slipped away upstairs. That was nothing unusual, since it had become the established routine, but it would hopefully allow him at least a few minutes to ponder the issue.

He may not have been the most observant person, but even he could tell that Argo was hiding something. Most of the others hadn't had enough interaction with the girl to be able to pick up the fact that her behavior wasn't simply part of her eccentricity, but he, Argo, and Asuna had all been quite close during their two years in SAO. The real question was what specifically she was masking.

The pieces themselves were rather disorganized. Firstly, her behavior during the trip had generally been off. As he had noted to Asuna, she seemed to be trying to draw attention to herself, which was very uncharacteristic of her. Certainly, she loved to mess with people, and loved taking any good opportunity to create a bit of mischief, but she never actually liked being the focus of attention. She'd told him once that being rather inconspicuous was a good quality for an information trader; it made it easier for her to slip around and gather info, and kept the customers' focus on her business and the secrets they wanted to buy or sell rather than on herself. Notoriety was great for drawing people in, but once you had a person's business, you didn't want them prying too deeply.

Then, her behavior today was even more baffling. Greed and Argo were practically synonymous, even if part of that persona was admittedly misdirection, drawing peoples' ire on her similarly to how he himself had embraced his "beater" persona to draw fire away from other beta testers. He'd never have believed that she would not only accept a quest devoid of any monetary reward, but actually be the one pushing to take on said quest. It was so contrary to her usual MO, but he couldn't understand why: why had that particular quest had drawn her attention.

Unfortunately, wracking his brain for answers didn't do Kazuto any good. Argo was a rather unique and complex person, and even with all the time that he had spent with her, it would be foolish to assume that he understood everything about her. Trying to decipher her motives like this wouldn't get him anything but a headache. It would be easier to just ask her; Asuna might have thought to just wait until Argo felt like sharing herself, but he got the sense that she might not ever be inclined to share her thoughts without any prodding.

Besides, Kazuto knew that he would be having a visitor soon, and he didn't want any heavy thoughts detracting from his evening. It wouldn't be fair to whoever wanted to share the night with him for him to be distracted over the matter. So, he flipped on the television and tried to allow his concerns to vanish. Fortunately, it didn't take long to find something, an old superhero movie. It was one of those "team-up" films, where the villain was a rogue artificial intelligence program with a plan to commit genocide. He'd seen it before, but it was certainly entertaining enough to keep his attention.

The one thing that bothered him was the typical assumption that an AI would be innately evil. In his experience, he had yet to encounter a single such program that behaved in such a way. His own daughter, Yui, was an AI, and he couldn't imagine her ever having such murderous desires. Nor had Yuna, though granted her personality was derived from Yuna Shigemura. Even Cardinal, a program that had caused him much grief, wasn't overtly malicious. It fascinated him that there was still this ingrained thought that artificial intelligence and humanity were somehow incompatible, rather than considering the idea that the two could live together and cooperate.

As the movie came to a close, Kazuto realized how much time had passed. Of course, there wasn't exactly a specified timetable that they had laid out for when whichever girl was going to meet with him on that night would come up, but it was noticeably later than when Keiko or Suguha had come up the previous nights. Maybe they just needed extra time to prepare. In any event, it wasn't something for him to worry about; this was about the girls after all, and he wanted them to take their time and not do anything that they didn't want to do.

And so, he waited and began watching the next movie that came on. He had been watching that for nearly forty minutes when the door swung open, causing Kazuto to jolt in surprise. Even with the television running, he'd been listening for any approaching footsteps, but he hadn't heard anything until the door opened. Looking over to see who it was, he saw Argo peering inside the room, a broad grin plastered across her face. Her appearance was a pleasant surprise to Kazuto; while this was to be her night, hopefully he'd have a moment to broach the topic of her behavior at some point, maybe in the morning.

However, those thoughts vanished as he noticed something was wrong. Argo's eyes, normally sharply discerning and usually filled with hidden mischief, looked slightly glazed, and rather than her trademark smirk, the smile on her face looked broad and somehow stupid. And then there was the smell, which hit him after a few moments, the unmistakable pungent sour scent of alcohol.

"Hey Kii-boy," she said, her words slurred, "Have ya been waitin' fer me? Sorry fer bein' a bit late. I just lost track of the time ya know." She made her way unsteadily inside the room, swaying back and forth before closing the door softly behind her. As she fully entered the room, Kazuto could clearly see a large glass bottle held in her right hand. It looked to be nearly half empty.

"Argo…are you drunk!?" he asked incredulously. Of all the things that he might have expected tonight, this was certainly not one of them. On the one hand, he was impressed that she was managing to be so stealthy, inebriated as she obviously was. On the other hand, she gave off the impression that she had spent the last few hours in a brewery.

"Pshh, of course not," Argo said, giving a soft laugh, "I just had a few drinks, that's all. I found where A-Chan's folks keep their booze and thought I'd try some of it."

"Was that bottle full when you found it?" he asked.

She held the bottle in front of her, looking at its contents as if just now realizing how much was missing. "Yeah, I s'pose it was. Guess I had a bit more than what I thought." Half stumbling forward, she made her way to where Kazuto was standing and threw her left arm around him. "Never mind that though," she said, "Ya wanna help me with this?" She offered him the bottle, "I know yer technically not s'posed to have any, but I won't tell if you won't!"

"Uh, no thanks," Kazuto said in a deadpan.

"Suit yerself," Argo said with a shrug, deftly moving the bottle out of the way as Kazuto subtly tried to take it from her hands. Setting it off to the side, she drew in close to Kazuto. "I guess you wanna just get right to it then, huh," she said in a sultry tone, "I can't tell ya how long I've been wishin' for this." Her words were noticeably slurred, and with her face so close, the alcoholic odor on her breath was more pronounced.

She pulled in for a kiss, but Kazuto moved his head out of the way, causing Argo to give a pouting expression. "I didn't think ya'd still be nervous after the last two nights," she teased, "don't worry. Just let big sis Argo help ya out."

"That's not it!" he protested, "I just don't think you're really thinking clearly right now. Why don't you lay down and rest for a bit?"

"Now tha's just silly Kii-boy," she assured him, "There's nothin' wrong with me." As if to mock her statement, she suddenly slipped, falling to the ground. Fortunately, Kazuto caught her in time, slowing her fall and helping set her gently on the floor.

"I think maybe you should lay down and get some rest," Kazuto said, trying to get some control over the situation. The idea of Argo being absolutely smashed may have been amusing at first, but given just how much she'd potentially had to drink, this could be dangerous.

"Now, why would I do that?" she mumbled in objection, "I don't feel sleepy at all!"

Well, it seemed like she wasn't keen on being too cooperative. He didn't feel especially confident in his ability to handle this situation on his own. It would probably be best to go see if one of the others would be willing to help him out, preferably Asuna, since he certainly didn't want news of Argo's intoxication to get spread around any more than necessary. Slipping free of the Rat's grasp, he slowly made his way towards the door. "I'm going to go out for a moment," he said, "I'll be back in a bit."

"No!" Argo's mood immediately shifted, and the panic in her voice caused Kazuto to give a jolt. "Please don't go," she pleaded, crumpling down on the floor, her eyes wide and fixing him with a desperate stare, "Please don't leave me alone! I can't be alone again! I can't…"

Tears filled her eyes, and she seemed like she was completely broken. Kazuto was stunned. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to ever see the usually unflappable Rat break down like this; it seemed not only bizarre, but unnatural. Seeing her so vulnerable, so obviously in pain and terror, reminded him of his own similar low points. Even though he had been prepared to go and get one of the others for help, he couldn't find it in his heart to leave her along like this, even for just a few moments.

"It's okay Argo," he said, trying to comfort her as he shifted direction and returned to her side, "I'm not going anywhere. I won't leave you alone; I'll be right here for you." He sat down on the floor beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders, holding her closer to him."

"Ya promise?" she sniffled, pressing closer against Kazuto for comfort, "Promise you won't leave me?"

"Of course I won't," he reassured her, "How long have we known each other? Have I ever let you down before?"

"Point," she muttered. The girl snuggled against him as the two sat in silence, and Kazuto could feel her breathing slow as she seemed to calm down from her previous panic. After a while, she shifted and rested her head on his lap. "I think I'll take that nap after all," she murmured softly, closing her eyes.

As she lay there, breaths growing slower as she fell asleep, Kazuto sat with his hand in her hair, gently stroking it to reassure her that he was there. This strange day just continued to get stranger, and continued to raise new questions. When Argo woke up, he was definitely going to have a long discussion with her about all of this. For now, however, he committed himself to watching over the Rat as she slept.


The first thing that Tomo felt as she awoke was a dull but persistent throb throughout her head. Blinking her eyes open, she found herself laying down on a bed, though she could tell that she wasn't in the room that she and A-chan were staying in. Where am I? she thought, I dove out of ALO, but I don't rem

Her thought cut off as she suddenly did remember, though her memory was hazy. That's right, she thought, I found that bottle, and then… Her face turned a deep crimson as her behavior from earlier came flooding back. Not only had she shown such a shameful side of herself, but she'd also broken an important promise that she'd made to herself. And all in front of Kii-boy no less. She wanted to curl up into a ball under the covers and disappear forever. Instead, she forced herself to slowly, almost agonizingly, sit up in the bed.

"Good morning," Kazuto said with a smile on his face, "I'd say you slept like a rock, but it was more like a freight train with all the snoring." He'd pulled a chair over by the wall near the bed and was sitting in it, watching her intently.

In VR, Tomo had gotten to be pretty good at vanishing whenever she wanted, but right now she wished that she could truly disappear. Not that she had all that long to dwell on her further embarrassment, as a wave of nausea rolled over her. Desperately glancing around, she saw the door leading to the bathroom and forced herself up out of the bed; her legs felt like jelly, but she willed herself ahead as quickly as she could manage, slamming the door closed behind her, and keeling over by the toilet, retching into the bowl as her body tried to rid itself of the remaining poison.

After what seemed like forever, her nausea finally subsided, though she was exhausted enough that she remained kneeling over the bowl for some time. Finally, she picked herself back up and half-stumbled to the sink. She was not impressed by what she saw in the mirror; her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was a mess, and spots of dried vomit touched around her lips. Sighing, she began rummaging through a set of cabinets, hoping that they contained what she was looking for. Fortunately, the house was apparently well stocked. Reaching in, she grabbed out a clean hand towel, a bottle of mouthwash, and some over the counter painkillers.

After wetting the towel, she gingerly cleaned her face. Then, setting that to the side, she unscrewed the lid of the mouthwash and filled it with water before downing two of the painkillers, grimacing as the water washed some of the remaining vomit back down her throat. Lastly, she refilled the cap, this time from the mouthwash bottle, and swished it around, trying to clean out the vile taste. Once she was reasonably certain she'd done enough, she spat the wash back out into the sink. With a sigh, she turned and made her way back out of the bathroom.

"Are you alright Argo?" Kazuto asked with concern, "You were in there for quite a while."

"Yeah," she halfheartedly grumbled, "I'm fine 'cept for a killer headache." She couldn't meet Kazuto's eyes as she trudged her way back towards the bed, still filled with shame. Sitting back down, she glanced at a clock on the nightstand. The display showed 3:30 A.M. For several long minutes, she and Kazuto sat, neither of them ready or willing to say anything. But, Tomo knew that Kazuto deserved an explanation, painful as it might be for her. She tucked her legs up under her chin, trying to make herself as small as possible as she braced herself.

"I guess ya deserve an explanation," she finally said softly.

"Argo," he said, "I might not be as perceptive as you are, but even I could tell that something's been bothering you, pretty much since we started on this trip, but especially today. I can't force you to share anything with me, but I think it would help if you would tell me what's going on." He looked away. "I know that it's helped me on several occasions, even if it was painful at the time."

Catharsis. The word leapt into Tomo's mind, reminding her of younger days when she loved reading tales of Greek mythology and drama. The purging and cleansing of emotion. In at least some way, that was what Kii-boy was talking about. It had been so, so long since she'd ever really opened up to anybody.

"You should probably get comfortable then," she told him, "because this is likely going to be a long story."

"I'm not planning on going anywhere," Kazuto reminded her, settling into his chair and watching her intently, clearly waiting for her to begin.

Tomo shifted to make herself as comfortable as she reasonably could, knowing that she could only delay the inevitable for so long. "I've never really told ya much about myself, have I Kii-boy?" she asked rhetorically, "Since that's the case, I'll start at the beginning." She took a breath, steadying herself as she began, her words coming unnaturally to her as she'd never really told her story to anyone.

"Growin' up, my family wasn't exactly what ya'd call well off," she began, "I say my family, but it was really just my papa and me. My mom died when I was very young, before I could really have any memory of her. Dad was a fisherman. It was hard work, but even with the long hours out on the boat, he'd always make time to tell me stories; some of them were well known legends, like I found out later, and some of them he made up all on his own, but they were all full of adventure and wonder."

Kazuto noticed that Tomo's eyes took on that faraway look that he'd seen in them earlier in the day. "That was what really sparked my love of mythology and fantasy, ya know," she said, "Do ya know where I took the name 'Argo' from?" she asked.

Kazuto shook his head. He thought he'd heard the name somewhere before, but he couldn't place it.

"It's the name of a ship in Greek mythology," she explained, "crewed by some of the greatest heroes in their tales: Heracles and Orpheus, Jason and Medea, Castor and Pollux, and so many others. Together, they went on a quest to find the Golden Fleece. Over the course of its long journey, that ship acquired so many stories, knowledge, and secrets."

Seeming to realize that she was rambling slightly, she shook her head before continuing. "Anyways, that was the beginning of my love for fantasy. I used to try to write my own stories when I was younger." She gave half-mocking laugh. "Such absurd trash they were, but they gave me a passion for writing. I even got to the point that I started submitting some of my writing off to various magazines and competitions. That's actually how I ended up in the SAO beta; the storyline that I sent in was good enough that it won the top prize, along with a NervGear and a spot as a beta tester. No way I could ever have afforded one of those otherwise." She gave a sigh. "Unfortunately, that was also where everything started to fall apart…


(flashback)

November 6, 2022

"Ridiculous. This is not up for discussion, Tomo."

Tomo wanted to grit her teeth in frustration. "What's the big deal dad?" she demanded, "Not everyone wants to go to college; what's wrong with me staying here, helping out so I can take over the business someday?"

Her father laughed. "Business? Even I wouldn't call what I do a 'business.' It's barely been enough to support the two of us. It's getting harder and harder to compete with larger scale fishing operations, especially with prices going up the way they have been." He frowned at her. "There's no future here, especially for someone as bright as you Tomo."

"If things are as tough as you say, then how do you expect me to be able to afford university?" she demanded, "I know things have been tough, and even with scholarship money, college won't be cheap. Where do you plan on coming up with that kind of money?"

"The reason that I approved of you taking a gap year was because you said you wanted to be able to make some extra money to pay for school," he said, "plus, I've been setting aside a little bit of money for a while now. It's not much, but it's a start." He gave a grin, but she could tell it was forced. "Maybe I'll sell the boat to some sucker trying to get into the fishing trade. That might be enough without anything else. Maybe then I can find something that would bring in more money"

Tomo's eyes widened, then narrowed in angry disbelief. "Are you listening to yourself? You love that boat! Even without considering that you use it for fishing, you've always loved to be out on the water! How can you be so casual about selling it!?"

His smile softened, becoming more authentic. "I do love that boat," he conceded, "but a boat is just a boat. The love I have for it, or even for the sea itself, is nothing compared to my love for you. Whether I like it or not, my adventuring days are done; it's been getting harder and harder to operate the boat on my own as the years go by. But you? Your life is just beginning. My hopes and dreams are now bound up in you. It's time now for you to spread your wings and chart your own path."

"But that's exactly why I want to stay and help you out!" she nearly yelled back, "I've seen how you've been struggling this past year. You've been trying to hide it, but I know how often you've been injuring yourself out working. Most days, you're too exhausted to do anything but eat and then go to bed when you get back. And the worst part? I saw that doctor's note, you know. You fell and hit your head bad enough that you thought it was necessary to have it checked out, but you wouldn't tell me anything about it? How am I supposed to leave you on your own after that?"

"You're making it sound worse than it actually is," he said defensively, "I should have known that hiding it from you wouldn't do any good. Although, maybe I should have taught you to be more respectful of peoples' privacy. Sometimes you're just a bit too curious for your own good." He looked at her sternly. "Regardless, you shouldn't be worrying about me. Like I said, I can sell the boat and find a less physically intensive job. But no matter what, you're going to university."

"This is not up for discussion," Tomo said, echoing her father's words earlier, "I'm not going to leave you by yourself. If you won't let me help you out on the water, I'll find some other job nearby."

"I don't understand why you're being so stubborn about this Tomo," he said tiredly, "You've always talked about university, ever since you were old enough to really begin thinking about it. If you truly didn't want to go, I wouldn't be so pushy, but you're giving up on something important to you. I'm not going to let you do that just to put yourself in a dead end here looking after me."

"Maybe it's because you're more important to me than university," Tomo said, turning to leave. "If you really want to argue about this more later, we can, but for right now, this conversation is over. I've made up my mind."

Heading off to her room, she closed the door and curled up in a sitting position on her bed. Why couldn't her dad understand? All she was trying to do was look after him; he was the only family she had. He was right, of course, that she did still want to go to college; she'd wanted to go from the moment that she first began writing professionally. She'd excelled throughout middle school and high school, and her entrance exam results were good enough that she could have a broad pick of schools, with many of them likely to offer her additional scholarship money. But how could she just abandon her father like that?

Looking over at her bedside table, she saw the NervGear resting there. Oh yeah, she thought, Today's the official launch for SAO, isn't it? That'll be the perfect thing to take my mind off of this stupid argument. Grabbing the device, she placed it over her head. It would be nice to get to see the bright, colorful world of Aincrad once again. Maybe she'd even get to meet up with Kirito; he was always fun to hang around with. And fun to tease too, she added. Laying back into her bed, she closed her eyes. "Link start!"


November 7, 2024

Argo stood in front of the Monument of Life in the Black Iron Palace of Aincrad's first floor, watching for new changes in the list of surviving players during the latest raid on the boss of Floor 75. The information broker looked over the tablet with a clinical attitude, attempting to remain as detached as possible. It was the only way that she could stay sane dealing with the constant knowledge that at any time, more players, more people, could be marked off, evidence that this world had taken yet more lives.

The assault team had managed not to lose anyone for 6 floors, but then the painful reality returned when the Army had lost three of its member in their suicidal attack on Floor 74. From everything she'd gathered, it could have been even worse than that, if not for Kii-boy's heroic intervention. And with two swords no less! On the one hand, she had been very impressed that he'd managed to keep that little trick a secret from her for so long. On the other hand, she was a little bit miffed that he hadn't offered to disclose that to her. Of course, she'd probably have charged him a hefty sum to keep it secret, so it wasn't like she could really blame him for his decision.

This current floor had already claimed the lives of 10 players, even more than she could have feared. Everyone had tried to keep it hush-hush, but even so she'd learned of the disaster that had befallen a scout group investigating Floor 75's boss room. Although a few new players did still occasionally grind up enough to join the top guilds and the assault team, for the most part players had settled into their roles and determined what level of risk they found tolerable. That made any losses amongst the assault team particularly painful, because they couldn't simply replace those players.

Her eyes caught a change in the Monument as a name was crossed off. She opened her menu and jotted down the name to keep track, but as she was doing so, another name was crossed off elsewhere. Then another. And another.

Argo felt cold as more and more names were scratched off, each one signifying another high-level player that had been killed. An hour passed, with the flow of fallen players slowing, but still continuing until it finally seemed to stop. She checked how many names she'd recorded: 14.

She checked for anyone whose names she knew: Lord Helix, Rand Althor, and Gilgamesh. Those were three of her reliable informants for inside information amongst the assault team, whom she had developed a solid rapport with over the last year. Finding new contacts to replace them would be difficult, especially with the dwindling numbers of players within the ranks of the floor clearing group; ever since Heathcliff had taken over as the commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, she'd found the guild's members to be far less willing to trade information with her for some reason, and their prevalence meant that developing new information connections would be harder than ever.

A deep part of her felt sick that she was being so callous: here were three people that she knew well, that she could call good acquaintances, even if they weren't exactly friends, along with 11 other people, who were now dead, and all she could think of was the loss for her information network. Part of her knew that she needed to be that callous to maintain her sanity, yet she still hated herself for it.

The gnawing feeling of guilt inside her didn't help. She'd originally planned on joining the initial reconnaissance team checking out the boss room, but ended up being called to meet with one of her contacts on a lower floor. Without that quirk of fate, she could easily have been among those mysteriously killed. Would anyone have noticed my death, had I been among those killed? she thought. She knew that she wasn't exactly a popular figure within Aincrad, even though most people would reluctantly take advantage of her information services. At least there are a few people who would miss me. She could think of at least two.

Suddenly, she noticed another name being crossed off. That's strange. I thought that the boss fight would be over by now. Looking up to the top left corner of the stone, she froze, her body feeling numb as she stared with shock, unable or unwilling to process what she was seeing. Asuna's name had been stricken from the Monument.

No, no, no. Please, gods no. She refused to believe what she was seeing, that one of the few people that she genuinely considered a friend, someone that she'd grown to know, grown fond of over the last two years, was dead. But, the Monument was never wrong. Poor Kii-boy, was the next thought that came to her mind. He'd been so dense about how crazy A-chan was for him, but they'd finally hooked up and gotten hitched just a few weeks before. A few weeks of happiness before tragedy. And after he's been through so much already, she thought despairingly. She knew that the monument would list the cause of death as well, but she couldn't bear to look, not with the emotional wound being so fresh.

Then, she noticed more movement. Morbid curiosity forced her to look, and when she did, the world seemed to stop. Now, Kirito's name was scratched off as well.

She felt hollow inside, her earlier attempts at detachment over the recorded deaths completely shattered. The two people that she cared for the most in this messed up world had just been killed within a few moments of each other. All she could do was stare blankly at nothing, praying to whatever god or gods would listen to let her wake up from this nightmare. Vaguely, she wondered what the point of it all was anymore; they'd lost 26 of the best players to this floor, and they still had another 25 to go. Why bother trying any more?

Her strength leaving her, she collapsed to the ground, eyes staring at nothing in particular on the Monument of Life. Was this what Kayaba intended? she thought to herself, was this the kind of world he wanted to control? Did he just want to see how much despair he could inflict on all of us? Most of the remaining players in Aincrad had essentially given up on clearing the game. With this many front-line players dying, she figured that the rest would give up now too. After all, if she was feeling this defeated so far away from the action, how much more despair would those witnessing all of those deaths be feeling?

Then, something happened that Argo never would have expected: the Monument's face changed removing lines, instead of adding them. Kii-boy's name was now back to how it had been before. Blinking previously unnoticed tears from her eyes, she stared at the stone, afraid that she was just seeing what she wanted to see. But it was no mistake. Quickly, she turned back towards the top left corner and saw that A-chan's name had similarly been restored. As she did so, she heard an automated voice boom around her: "On November 7, 2024, the game has been cleared. Repeat: the game has been cleared.

Argo felt life within her again, and she began to sob, this time tears of joy. Everything's going to be okay now, she thought, I'm alive. Kii-boy's alive. A-chan's alive. The world in front over her seemed to disappear into a cloud of pixels, leaving her in a small white chamber with a progress bar that read: Executing Final Phase. She assumed that once that program finished, that she and everyone else would finally be logged out of this death game. Or they could all just die anyway. Best not to think about that, she decided. Papa, I can't wait to see you again. I'll have so many things to tell you…


November 8, 2024

Tomo opened her eyes, which still remained sticky after two years of being closed, and noticed that her hospital room was empty and relatively quiet. That was a substantial change from the previous day. She didn't remember much from when she'd first woken up after being logged out from SAO, other than faintly noticing a swarm of hospital staff racing around everywhere, the room and indeed the entire building being awash with noise as nurses and doctors rushed to assist the awakening SAO patients. When she had woken up, she had felt totally exhausted despite her body having been essentially asleep for years. She vaguely recalled a nurse quickly pulling the NervGear off her head and running some brief medical checks, but after that, her exhausted body had compelled her to sleep and get some genuine rest.

Now though, things appeared to have settled down, and she was feeling better, if still weak. She sat up in the hospital bed, wincing as muscles that had been neglected during her time in Aincrad were finally being called upon once more. A strange sensation tickled her neck and back, and as she reached back to check what it was, she realized that it was her hair, grown out while it had been covered up by the NervGear. Normally she liked to keep it fairly short, so having longer hair was an odd sensation.

As she examined the room, she noticed that there was a camera mounted in the corner that appeared to be centered on her. Nearby, a light flashed on a panel of monitors and medical instruments. After only a few minutes, a nurse came hurrying into the room.

"Ah, Miss…" the nurse looked down at some brand of tablet, "Hosaka. I'm glad to see that you're awake. I apologize for the delay; I hope you'll understand how busy we are, having so many patients waking up and needing care all at the same time. Now that you're up, I need to do a quick interview to make sure there aren't any specific problems that need to be addressed. Are you okay with that?"

Tomo nodded, and the nurse offered her the tablet, now displaying a consent to treatment form. She quickly scanned the document, trying to make sure nothing seemed fishy, then weakly reached out and tapped the "Agree" button on the screen. Once she did so, the nurse took the device back and wheeled around a chair, taking a seat and pulling out some kind of electronic pen, presumably so she could jot down notes as she spoke.

As it turned out, the "quick" interview lasted nearly an hour, with the nurse running through a comprehensive checklist of potential symptoms and concerns. If they were having to do this for however many other SAO players were in this hospital, then no wonder it was taking them longer to check in on her.

"Well, it looks like there aren't any specific medical problems that you'll need to deal with," the nurse concluded, putting her tablet away, "It seems like you'll just need a physical therapy program to recover from your muscle atrophy. And therapy, of course, though that's not something we provide here; we'll be happy to recommend you several therapists that we outsource to." Standing up, she began to make her way out of the room. "If you need anything, just press the call button," the nurse advised, "It's on the lefthand side of the bed, so it's within easy reach."

"Actually, there was something I wanted to ask," Tomo said, wanting to catch the nurse before she left, "I was wondering if you could let my father know that I'm here. I'm sure that he's eager to see me now that I'm awake."

"Sure," the nurse replied, "We tried to notify family members as soon as everyone began waking up, but I can certainly check in for you. It might be a bit, since I have other patients to take care of, but I'll give you an update later today. For now, get some rest; you'll need it once you start your physical therapy regimen."

Tomo thanked her, then laid back down as the nurse left. Even though the nurse had recommended that she get more rest, she wasn't feeling especially tired after her prior day's sleep. Instead, she found a remote for the television in the room and flipped it on, skipping past channels until she found the first news station. Setting the remote aside, she watched the program and tried to absorb as much information as she could, curious to see just how the world had changed in the past two years…

It was several hours later that the nurse finally returned. Tomo smiled as best she could, but her smile quickly vanished as she analyzed the woman's facial expressions. Something was definitely wrong.

"Miss Hosaka," the nurse said softly, unable to meet her eyes, "I'm sorry, but it seems that your father passed away about four months ago, from prostate cancer." An icy feeling gripped Tomo's heart at the news. "I'm sorry. I know this must be a shock for you." Tomo just stared blankly ahead. "We have grief counselors on call if you'd like to speak with someone."

Tomo shook her head, and the nurse frowned slightly, though she appeared unsurprised at the decision. "Is there anything else that you need?" Not receiving any further response, the nurse reluctantly turned to leave. "If you change your mind, or need anything at all, just let us know," she said, exiting the room and letting the automatic door slide shut behind her.

Tomo continued to stare ahead for some time, memories of her father cycling through her mind, and one above all: If you really want to argue about this more later, we can, but for right now, this conversation is over. Her last memory with her father was an argument. She'd always assumed that there would be more time, another chance to talk with him. But now, he was gone. She shuddered uncontrollably as tears welled up in her eyes and began pouring out down her cheeks.


January 18, 2025

The screeching of the subways, the bustle of people hurrying about on their way to work, and the lack of tension or nervousness in the air all felt foreign to Tomo after two years trapped in Aincrad. She'd finally been released from the hospital two days prior, though her physical therapist had warned her that she needed to maintain her treatment regimen and make their appointments until she was fully discharged, or she might end up being recommitted to the hospital. Upon being released, however, Tomo had found herself aimless. She'd checked into her old house, and found that it had been sold, with the proceeds used to cover outstanding medical debts, and without any other close family members, she really had no place to go to.

Fortunately, she did have some resources in the form of a hefty settlement payment from Argus that had been deposited into her bank account. That had been more than enough to get set up into an apartment and handle immediate necessities, with a leftover balance that was large enough to support her for some time. And, there was something else, which was how she'd found herself traveling deeper into Osaka, with just an address and a few sets of numbers to go off of.

Glancing at the signs marking block numbers of streets she passed, Tomo deduced that she must be fairly close. Up ahead, she saw a relatively ugly, squat looking structure with an array of metal sliding doors extending down the side. That must be what she was looking for. Slipping into the alley by the building, she checked for unit 27. It ended up being on the back side of the building, and once she found it, she punched in the entry code she'd provided on the numeric pad next to the door. With a click, the lock disengaged, allowing her to roll up the metal door and see what was inside the storage unit.

There was far less inside than what she'd hoped, though the unit's contents were still substantial. Her nurse at the hospital had been kind enough to do some independent research and had found out where all of her belongings, and whatever of her father's belongings that hadn't been sold, had been moved to for safekeeping. This way, she at least wouldn't have to start completely from scratch.

Of course, not everything was of tangible value. She made her way through, mentally inventorying what was there and allowing herself a bit of nostalgia, not having laid eyes on any of her old things for over two years. There were stacks of books, boxes of clothes that she hoped would still fit reasonably well, and crates of dishes, cutlery, and other household items that had apparently been too difficult or not lucrative enough for creditors to have tried to sell off.

Near the back of the unit, she saw a black canvas bag. Making her way over, she opened it and smiled when she saw her laptop inside. It looked like someone had the good sense to have kept her personal effects distinct from those of her father. Though, this had been a gift from her father for her graduation…

Shaking the thought away, she slung the bag over her shoulder and tried to finish appraising the contents of the room. It wouldn't be easy to transport everything from here to her new apartment on her own, but now that she had an idea of how much she would need to move, she could hire a truck to have it relocated. As she neared the end of her inspection, she noticed a small cardboard box with a few binders and frames inside.

Sitting down, she pulled out its contents, already anticipating what they were. They all contained various photographs, many of them of her, her father, or both of them. There was one of her at her high school graduation, one of her father out working on his boat, one of him next to her as she proudly displayed an outstanding writing award back in elementary school…

Then, at the bottom of the box, she found an ornately bound book compiling most of the better known myths from Ancient Greece. Tomo smiled sadly as she looked over everything. Flipping open the book, she read the inscription that her father had written before he gave it to her: Happy birthday Tomo! May life bring you greater adventures even than those within these pages. Love, Dad.

An unexpected shudder rippled through her body, and she suddenly felt sick. Laying the book aside, she fell to her hands and knees, heaving as if she were about to vomit, yet nothing came out. All of those feelings of grief, of loss, of loneliness that she had felt after first hearing about her father's passing came crashing down on her once again. Gasping, she tried to steady her breathing and, once it was clear that she wasn't going to throw up, she spun herself into a sitting position, leaning back against one of the walls of the storage unit for support.

Maybe coming here hadn't been a good idea. She obviously wasn't ready to confront these memories. After she felt able to stand again, she picked herself off and hastily exited the room, abandoning the idea of bringing anything back with her. She couldn't deal with these memories and feelings right now. She'd just call and have them all delivered to her new place. For right now, however, she just needed to get away…


April 22, 2025

This had not been a good day for Tomo, though that seemed to be the case more and more often lately. She walked briskly down the street out of the office building where she had just left from an interview, trying to keep as low a profile as possible. Her thoughts were dominated by equal parts anger, shame, and despair, having been curtly rejected from yet another job application.

'We were quite impressed with your credentials, Miss Hosaka,' they had said at the beginning of the interview, 'You appear to be an excellent candidate for a position here. We're even willing to consider taking you on and supporting you in going to university, to polish your talents. However, we were curious about the two-year gap in your résumé…'

Thinking about how things had gone after that made her want to punch something. 'We're sorry Miss Hosaka, but after further consideration, we've determined that you're not a proper fit for our company. We hope that you understand, but without sufficient research to determine if there are any lasting effects from being in that dea—, I mean, trapped in a full dive for so long, we aren't able to extend an offer to you. It would be too great a potential risk to the company. We do hope that you understand…'

This had been the fourth time that this situation had repeated itself. Each time it had almost gone the exact same: the company liked her skills and experience, but as soon as they found out that she'd been trapped in SAO, their interest vanished and was replaced with fear or pity. It wasn't fair. She was trying so hard to move on, to forget the last two years, to find something to fill the emptiness and loneliness inside her. And yet, it seemed like life wouldn't let her forget; the stigma of SAO kept following her wherever she went.

By now, she was completely over it. Being stuck inside for too long reminded her of her grief and loneliness, but without anything else to occupy her time, she didn't have much of a choice. Her therapist that she'd been directed to by her rehabilitation doctors wasn't helping much either. She seemed more concerned with making sure that Tomo didn't pose any dangers to anybody else rather than working through her trauma or helping her readjust to the real world. Most of the time, she suspected that the therapy sessions were intended primarily to allow the government to keep an eye on her more than anything else.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tomo saw a bar as she walked by, and stopped. She'd never had a drink before, not in real life anyways. She had, of course, heard from people who had, and many of them had sworn up and down about how great liquor was for forgetting about their problems. On the other hand, she'd heard plenty of stories of people going too far and making fools of themselves. But, she was certain she could control herself. And, after the two years in SAO, she was actually old enough to legally drink now.

Making up her mind, Tomo turned and walked into the building. The faint smell of smoke permeated the building, but there weren't many people inside, courtesy of it still being fairly early in the day. She made her way over to the counter. "I'd like a drink," she said curtly, too tired to bother being more polite.

The bartender looked at her. "Let's see your ID first," he said, sounding clearly suspicious.

She fished out her ID and slid it over the counter for the bartender to examine. He only gave it a cursory inspection before passing it back to her. "Alright, what do you want?" he asked.

Tomo blinked as she realized that just asking for a drink probably wasn't very helpful. "I'm uh, not quite sure," she admitted, "I've never had a drink before."

"I see," the man said, giving a smirk, "In that case…" He turned back and pulled a bottle from the shelf, along with a glass. He poured some of the bottle into the glass and slid it over to her. Inside, a golden colored liquid shimmered as it reflected the indoor lighting. "Give this a try."

She took the glass and carefully took a sip. The drink had a sweet and sour flavor that she found more enjoyable than she'd expected. Tipping the glass back, she drained the rest of its contents, leaving a mild burning sensation in her throat. Despite that, she found herself wanting more. "I'd like another please," she said, smiling as she savored the flavor that the drink left in her mouth.

"I thought you might like that," the bartender said, "but since this is your first time, how about you try some other drinks? That way you can figure out what you like, and what you don't."

He raised a good point, and Tomo nodded in agreement. The next drink offered looked similar to the first, though it was more yellow than gold. Sampling it, she found that it tasted a lot like lemonade, with a hint of extra tang that she assumed was from the alcohol. Pouring back the rest of the drink, she found herself feeling a bit warm, but also much more relaxed than she was before. Suddenly, her fears and frustrations seemed so far away. That was a blessing she hadn't had in some time. "I'll take another," she said, happy to retain this feeling for as long as possible.


December 15, 2025

Tomo's apartment was a disastrous mess, but in her intoxicated state, she hardly noticed. Over the past seven months, not much had changed, but she found herself going out less and less often, mainly to pick up groceries when she needed them. There wasn't much point in leaving her apartment, after all. All of her job applications had continued to be rejected, leaving her with entirely too much empty time on her hands, time that would be haunted by painful thoughts. Fortunately, the liquor helped keep those at bay, though lately even that wasn't enough to maintain a pleasant mood.

Empty bottles and cans littered her apartment, remaining where she'd dropped them. It was hard to find the motivation to even do simple things like get her trash taken out, so unless it was absolutely necessary, she was content to let them lie where they were. A sharp sour smell caused her to crinkle her nose. Looking down, she blinked as her hazy mind finally realized that she hadn't changed out of her present clothes for more than two days. Little wonder that they reeked, with not only normal smells but also spilled alcohol imbued in them.

Stumbling over to her bathroom, she stripped down and took a quick shower, trying to rid herself of the pervasive smell that had clung to her. Once she was done, she dried off and looked at her face in the mirror. Her hair hung far past her shoulders, reminding her that it had been months since she'd gotten a haircut; not having properly cared for it, her hair was also badly tangled, looking like a crazed mess. Meanwhile, her eyes were sunken, courtesy of the lack of quality sleep over the past months.

When she did sleep, her dreams were haunted by nightmares of her multiple near-death experiences in SAO, or dreams of her father or of being locked away alone, which left her waking up to tear-stained cheeks. While her store of liquor had been failing to raise her spirits for some time, it at least still warded off such dreams. She couldn't recall the last time that she'd gone to sleep sober.

Tomo gave an empty laugh to herself as she realized what she'd become. Even in her stupor, she could still think clearly enough to understand how miserable her living situation was, how much of a pitiful addict she'd turned into. What was even the point in making it out of SAO alive if this is all there is to look forward to, she thought despairingly. Her life was a wretched, empty, pointless thing, with nothing for her to look forward to except her next drink.

Barely finding the motivation to pull on fresh clothes, she slowly walked back out into her apartment's living room. Slumping down into a chair in front of her computer, she reached over and grabbed a nearby bottle. Not even bothering to pour it into a separate glass, she took a gulp and grimaced as the strong alcohol taste of the shochu lingered in her mouth and the liquid burned down her throat. She didn't care as much for the taste of such stronger liquors, but they were much more potent when she needed something to quickly take the edge off her thoughts.

And yet, even after a few more drinks, she was still feeling miserable. Slamming the bottle down in frustration, her eyes were drawn to the small plastic bottle resting on the corner of the table. Inside were a supply of antidepressants that her therapist had prescribed, but which she had largely neglected in favor of her alcoholic self-medication. She remembered the warning labels on the bottle that said that the pills should not be taken with alcohol. Dark thoughts swam through her mind, not for the first time, but stronger now than ever before.

Would it really be so bad for it all to end, she thought, There's nothing for me to live for. No one is left to miss me if I'm gone. And, the way things are going, it'll all be over before too long anyways. It'd just speed up the inevitable. She took the pill bottle and unscrewed the lid, pouring out a handful of the medication contained inside. If she was really going to do this, dosage didn't really matter.

Her computer gave a beep as a notification popped up, interrupting Tomo's plans. Annoyed, she looked at the notification, which appeared to be from an old gaming news site that she had subscribed to. What she saw, however, caused her to unconsciously drop the pills in her hand, letting them scatter across the floor: Previous Unknown Cuts into GGO's Competitive Scene: Photon Sword Wielding "Kirito" Ties for Top Spot in GGO's BoB.

This was the first time that Tomo had heard anything about Kii-boy since escaping from SAO, assuming that this was in fact Kii-boy and not just someone else coincidentally having the same name. She wasn't familiar with this game that he was apparently in though. After a quick check, she found that it was another full dive game using the Amusphere, which she distantly recalled being the replacement for the discontinued and confiscated NervGear. Apparently, it was a first person shooter, not exactly the kind of game that she was interested in, and not one that Kii-boy seemed like he particularly cared for either.

Her previous despair was now replaced by curiosity, centered around two major questions: why had Kii-boy returned to full dive gaming after SAO, and what was he doing in a game like this. Her need to have her questions answered driving her, she dove into the rabbit hole of internet searches, trying to find anything and everything that she could.

What she found filled her with both hope and shame; much of the information had to be pieced together from fragmented sources, secondhand accounts, and hearsay, but there was enough for her to put together a solid idea of the truth. Apparently, Kii-boy had been making a name for himself in another game, Alfheim Online, which seemed much more like the style of game that he would enjoy. There were some rumors about SAO players that hadn't been immediately released from SAO, with a list of names that she found on an old forum page including A-chan, who had apparently been trapped in ALO, for over a month, until Kii-boy had somehow beaten a supposedly impossible to clear boss room. The correlation of those two events were unlikely to be simple coincidence.

That meant that both Kii-boy and A-chan were alive and well, and she found a multitude of other accounts involving them and a fairly consistent roster of other players, including Klein, Lisbeth, and Silica, who she had interacted with on at least a few occasions back in SAO. By all accounts, they were all doing well and enjoying life. The contrast between their experiences and hers stung Tomo, who had a profound feeling of self-loathing roll over her. They had all managed to move on from the nightmare of Aincrad, not letting their experiences define them, and were enjoying life, while she wallowed in her self-pity, despair, and alcoholic fueled escapism. She'd allowed herself to give up to such an extent that she'd actively considered ending her own life just hours before.

Suddenly furious, she grabbed the partial bottle of shochu and threw it against the floor, causing glass shards and alcohol to litter the ground. She remained seated for several seconds, surprised at her actions, and allowed her anger to fade away. When it did, resolve settled in its place. She'd been so convinced that she was alone that she'd never even tried to contact Kii-boy or anyone else that she'd met in SAO. Not only that, but she'd allowed her fear and despair keep her from ever giving full dive another chance, opening up an opportunity to make new, better memories to replace those that had long been haunting her. But it wasn't too late. She still had that chance to follow Kii-boy's example.

After cleaning up the mess on her floor, she continued on to the rest of her apartment, tossing out all the junk that had piled up everywhere. Then, she found every remaining can and bottle of alcohol and poured out all of them into her sink, resolving to not give in to the temptation to drink ever again. Once she was done, she sat down and began typing up a list of goals. It wasn't going to be easy, but she wanted to be able to be with Kii-boy and A-chan again, and to get to know their other friends as well. Whatever it took, that's what she would do…


(End Flashback)

"After that, I started going back to therapy again," Tomo said, "I cleaned up and dried myself out. I finally got an offer from a small digital newspaper company, who finally decided that my skills outweighed any risks from having been stuck in SAO. Then, once I felt confident enough, I got into ALO and finally introduced myself to all of yer friends. I'd hope that I could finally find somewhere that I belonged, a new family to replace what I lost." She averted her eyes. "That's why I asked you to call me by my Avatar's name, to try and restore that old connection. But it hasn't worked out. Everyone seems so close already, and as much as I've tried, I've just felt out of place. I should've known that it wouldn't just be as easy as showing up and integratin' into yer group of friends, even having known you and A-chan before."

Kazuto listened silently to Tomo's story, his heart breaking as she recounted her experiences. He remembered how hard it had been to readjust to life in the real world after coming back from SAO, and that was with support from his family, from Asuna, Rika, Keiko, and everyone else he'd met in SAO, and from the survivor's school, which had provided an abundance of resources and counseling to help he and others recover from the loss and trauma of Aincrad. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like to return and have nothing, no one, to return to. It was little wonder that Tomo had struggled so badly.

"So then," he began slowly, "today was because…"

She nodded. "I guess seein' that girl losin' her father reminded me a bit too much of myself. And bein' sent off on my own again…" She shrunk back even further into the bed. "It all just came crashing down at once. All those pains and insecurities were back worse than ever. All I could think of was that I needed a drink ta make it all go away." Tomo turned away from him. "Tonight was what I had been lookin' forward to ever since we organized this trip, for the last four years to be honest. But now, it looks like I've just ruined everythin'. It about figures, given everything else that's happened."

"Anyways, I'm sorry, Kii-boy," she said, "I had a chance at the thing I wanted most, but I managed to screw it up. You and the others deserve better." She started to get up from the bed. "I'm just gonna go get my things and head back home. I think that's what's best for every—"

Before she could finish, Kazuto reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a deep hug. "I'm sorry Ar—, no, Tomo," he said, causing her to widen her eyes in gratitude when he used her real name, "I wish that you hadn't had to go through the last two years alone. It isn't fair that you had to do that. I wish that I'd thought to reach out and see how you were, to make sure that you were alright. You were my first real friend in SAO, and I don't know why I let myself forget about you. Maybe it's because I was trying to forget what happened in SAO too."

He gently pulled back, keeping his arms around her, but separating them enough for him to lock eyes with hers. "But, you're wrong, for once," Kazuto said, "You haven't ruined anything. Actually, I think that, if anything, you've created a chance to start over, now that you're not having to hide your problems any more." He smiled at her. "I don't want you to leave again Tomo," he said, "and I know Asuna doesn't want that either. Having you back has been wonderful. As for everyone else, they just haven't had the time to really get to know you yet. But, once they have, I'm sure they'll come to love you just as much as I do."

His last comment took her aback. "You…love me?" she asked, not really believing that she had heard him correctly, "even with all my baggage?"

"Of course," he replied, his voice full of conviction, "Do you think I would have agreed to your original proposal if I didn't? You should know how obstinate I can be." He grinned. "You might be a pain in the butt, but when the chips are down, you've never let me down. Besides, do you think you're the only one haunted by what happened in SAO?" Kazuto's smile faded. "The survivor school makes all of us go to regular counseling sessions, and monitor us constantly to make sure none of us display any suspicious behaviors." He looked away. "Plus, you don't have anyone's blood on your hands. That already puts you in a better spot than me."

Tomo had forgotten about that. News of the Assault Team's raid on Laughing Coffin had been quick to make it her, as much as the players involved tried to keep it hush hush. And one of the details that she'd heard repeatedly was about the beater with the group having killed two of the murder guild's members on his own. Sure, her own troubles were substantial, but at least she didn't have to live with the knowledge of having killed someone. She reached behind to where his hands were on her back and took one of his hands in hers.

Kazuto smiled but shook his head. "It's okay," he assured her, "It still bothers me, but I have people who've helped me come to terms with it. The point is, we all have baggage. It just comes with having lived life. So don't think that your baggage means you don't deserve to be loved." Even as the words left his mouth, Kazuto couldn't help but feel like a hypocrite, knowing that he had often felt the same way. "And if it's bothering you that much, we're all here to help you. You could talk to Asuna, or Shino; she's actually working to become a therapist, and she's helped me work out some of my own problems. You're not alone Tomo. We're all here for you, and none of us are going to let you be left alone again. You're part of our family now, for as long as you want to be."

Fresh tears filled Tomo's eyes, but this time they were tears of joy and happiness rather than of grief or shame. Family. It was what she'd wanted, needed, ever since she'd learned of her father's death. And now, her was Kii-boy, the man she loved, offering her her heart's deep desire, even after all of her ugliness had been laid bare. "Thank you Kii-boy," she said sincerely, "You have no idea how much I needed to hear that."

She brought her arms around and finally returned Kazuto's hug, pulling him back into her, wanting to be as close to him as possible and not wanting to let go. For a long while, the two wounded souls held their embrace, content to enjoy each other's warmth and being safe and needed by the other. After an unknown amount of time, however, Tomo suddenly turned, without releasing the embrace, pulling Kazuto on top of her on the bed.

"If ya really mean that," she said coyly, "about me bein' a part of yer family and all, then I still want to start expandin' that family." Giving him a serious look for once, she wanted to confirm that this was what he wanted as well. "I'm not gonna lie, Kii-boy," she said, "I do want a kid with ya. We all do. But I'd understand if yer havin' second thoughts. It is a big decision after all. Just havin' the chance to be with you is more than enough for me."

Rather than respond immediately, Kazuto just leaned down and kissed her. Tomo closed her eyes as any remaining tension or insecurity vanished. This kiss was more intimate and comforting even than their recent hug.

"You're right," Kazuto admitted, "it is a big decision, and it'll mean big changes for all of us. It's definitely not something to be taken lightly. But, you all would be the most effected of all, and as long as it's what you want, I'm willing to take that next step. I want that future with all of you, of a happy family where everybody feels like they belong."

"Then let's take another step towards that future," Tomo said, perhaps more confident than she felt. Deciding to be aggressive, she reached for the waistband of his shorts, but Kazuto grabbed her hand. Confused, she looked at him questioningly.

"You pulled me on top of you," he noted, "that means that I'm in control here." That would certainly be a first; he wasn't sure he could recall a single time that he'd ever truly gotten the upper hand with the Rat. "Besides," he said, "after what you told me just now, I think you deserve some special pampering. So just relax, and let me take the lead."

Trusting in Kazuto's promise, Tomo laid back and, for once, let someone else have control. Smiling gently, Kazuto rolled her onto her stomach and began kneading her with his hands, starting up around her neck. He wasn't exactly a professional masseuse, but he could at least give a basic massage.

Tomo sighed as she felt the last vestiges of her earlier headache fading away at the boy's treatment. As Kazuto's hands followed down the trail of her spine, soothing more of her back, she gave a near purr of contentment. "I gotta say, I never expected ya to have a side like this Kii-boy," she teased, "It doesn't really match the image that ya try to project, but I like it."

"I think you'll like it even more in a moment," he replied, carefully rolling up her shirt from its hem. Following his lead, Tomo squirmed a bit, so that he could remove the garment completely, leaving only her bra to cover her from the waist up.

Kazuto continued his massage, his fingers feeling pleasantly cool on her back as he continued to rub away her build up stress and tension. Tomo gave a soft squak of surprise and excitement as Kazuto casually unclasped her bra, followed by him digging deep into the tissue of her back, though he was careful not to overdo his ministrations. Making his way down to her lower back, he eventually reached her waist and buttocks.

As he began massaging her rear, Tomo hummed contentedly for a moment, but then looked at him with a pouty look on her face. "Don'tcha think this'd be better without the extra layers in the way Kii-boy?" she asked. She grinned as Kazuto seemed to get her point and pulled her shorts back over her legs, revealing a simple pair of gold-brown panties with blue polka dots.

"Nice fashion statement," he said, causing Tomo to blush furiously.

"Cut me some slack!" she said, "They were cheap, and I liked the color!"

"I didn't say they looked bad at all," he replied, holding his hands up in surrender, "I actually think they're pretty…cute." Giving compliments on something like this wasn't exactly easy, so he hope that he hadn't accidentally set the Rat off.

Tomo covered up her embarrassment with a cocky smirk. "Well then, ya'd better enjoy 'em while you can, 'cause I hope that they're gone shortly."

Kazuto shook his head in bemusement. He was glad to see that Tomo was feeling better and was back to her incorrigible self again. He could definitely notice the difference this time though. Now, she was acting more fluid, letting her natural snark come through, without forced exaggeration. Rather than respond, he groped her ass, enjoying the firmness of her skin as he moved his fingers in small circular patterns.

Just as Tomo was getting comfortable, however, Kazuto moved on, gliding his fingers down her smooth legs. Even though she didn't have a good view, facedown as she was, she could tell he seemed to be lingering there. "I knew it!" she said, "You do like my legs, don't ya Kii-boy. I may not have what A-chan's got up top, but I've still got my charm points!"

Well, she wasn't wrong about that. Tomo might have been counted among the shortest in the group, but her legs seemed longer than they had any right to be. Maybe it was just because she tended not to show them off very much, making them all the more alluring when they were revealed. After thoroughly enjoying them, Kazuto finally moved on and rubbed the girl's feet.

"Oi, Kii-boy," she protested, "you don't have to do tha—" She cut off as he continued, sending light jolts of pain followed by immense relaxation as the tension that had accumulated in her feet was massaged out. She wiggled her toes in satisfaction. "Man, you really know how to treat a lady, don'tcha?" she complimented, feeling thoroughly relaxed after the massage, "But now, how about I return the favor?"

She flipped over onto her back, a hungry look in her eyes. Her bra, having been previously unclasped, slipped completely off, revealing her bare breasts to Kazuto. While he drank in the sight of her, she returned to her original plan, hooking a thumb into his shorts and pulling them down, then using her other thumb to repeat the process with his boxers. Now it was her turn to take the image of him in, his arousal evident. "Almost exactly as I imagined," she murmured to herself.

Not quietly enough however. "You've thought about my dick before?" he asked, incredulous, and more than a bit scandalized.

"Of course!" she said, "Come on, don't tell me ya never thought of A-chan or one o' the others naked before. If ya did say that, I'd wager all that coin I made in Aincrad that you were lyin'." His awkward silence confirmed her hunch. "Bet'cha didn't realize that I was the one who figured out that 'moral code removal' thing in SAO. I had to think of someone as I was testin' it out…" she trailed off as she realized just what she had admitted. "I never thought I'd get the chance for real though. I knew almost right away that you and A-chan would end up bein' a thing." Shaking her head, she decided to deflect from any potential somber change in tone. "Ya know, I often wondered how much I could sell information on this for if I ever got it."

Now it was Kazuto's turn to red as a beet. Tomo couldn't keep a straight face for more than a few seconds, trying to seem like she was seriously considering how much she could extort from people in exchange for this intimate information, before bursting out laughing. "Not sure if I've seen that expression on ya before Kii-boy," she teased, "You should know that I'm not gonna betray someone's trust like that, especially when it's you."

"Not funny, Tomo," he said, firmly, but not harshly, grabbing her hair.

"So, you're gonna be a bit rough now?" she said, "I can work with that." Leaning in, she boldly took his length in her mouth, showing far less hesitation than Keiko had a few nights before. Kazuto locked eyes with her, and he could see the goodhearted mischief lurking behind her orbs. That mischief was soon evident, as she slowly began working her way back and forth on his shaft, creating a simultaneously euphoric and agonizing situation as she balanced pleasure with deprivation.

Of course, if she could work with him being rougher then…

Using his grip on her hair like a handle, Kazuto eased Tomo's head forward, then back, then forward again, controlling her movements to better pleasure himself. She moaned in pleasure, clearly happy with him being a bit more controlling. As she was bobbed back and forth on his cock, Tomo began humming a little tune of her own making, the vibrations in her mouth and throat adding to the pleasure from her blowjob.

While she couldn't exactly smile outwardly, inwardly Tomo grinned. This was turning out to me more fun and enjoyable even than she had hoped for. But, when she felt his length noticeably throbbing against her tongue, she knew that they needed to slow down a bit. She tapped on Kazuto's thigh, hoping that he would understand her signal.

Apparently he did, because he let go over her hair, allowing her to remove her mouth from his shaft with a pop.

"Can't be goin' off too quick now, can we Kii-boy," she said teasingly.

"We can't be "going off" at all if you're not ready," he retorted, tipping Tomo backwards onto the bed. Before he could make any other moves, she had already removed her last bit of clothing, tossing her panties off to the side before returning to her position on her back. Her entrance was already glistening. "I don't think you've gotten enough attention here yet."

Reaching down, he began stroking the inside of her thighs, intent on getting payback for her teasing just a few minutes earlier. She shuddered at his touch, so tantalizingly close to her entrance, and so incredibly sensitive, and yet not quite enough. Writhing, she internally cursed herself for having teased Kazuto like this. Then she externally cursed. "Dammit Kii-boy," she begged, her breath ragged, "I'm sorry, alright! Just please stop teasin' me already and get to it!"

"If you really insist," he replied, taking pleasure in finally getting one up on Tomo. Gently prying apart her folds with his fingers, he stuck his head down into her entrance, trying to use both his tongue and his hands to generate the maximum amount of pleasure.

For her part, Tomo no longer had any motivation to do anything but lay back and enjoy the treatment that Kazuto was giving her. Reflexively, she snaked her legs around his head, keeping him positioned to continue. In turn, it wasn't long before Kazuto found something that really triggered her.

"Ah, ah, yes!" she gasped, "right there! Please! More!"

Kazuto obliged her, zeroing in on the spot he'd found and redoubling his efforts. As he attacked that spot, he began to feel Tomo convulse as waves of pleasure arced through her. Finally, she gave one last shudder before stretching out, stiff as a board for a moment. A jet of fluid squirted out as she did; most of it jetted off the bed and onto the floor, but Kazuto caught some of it in how mouth. He reflexively spat it out; it wasn't that it necessarily tasted bad, but his body instinctively rebelled to the unexpected intrusion.

Tomo lay flat on her back, panting heavily. "I'm…not sure…I've ever come like that before," she said between breaths, "How…are you…so damned…good at this!"

"It must just be a talent of mine," he replied, deciding that cocky was the right stance to take right now.

"Must be all the porn you've watched," she said casually, pointedly ignoring his statement. "But, now we've still got that problem to take care of," she said, indicating his now painfully pulsing hard-on, "and I know right where to put it." She spread her legs, inviting him to take her.

Kazuto obliged her, positioning himself near her opening. With a nod, Tomo gave him the go ahead, and he slowly eased into her, pushing until he was all the way inside. Despite a slightly uncomfortable feeling at having something penetrate her for the first time, Tomo was happy to finally be one like this with Kazuto. Her smile was one of pure joy as she beamed up at him, a pleasant feeling of fullness having replaced her previous discomfort.

As he withdrew from her and began to thrust back in and out, Kazuto leaned down and locked his lips with Tomo's, kissing her deeply. Wanting more, she wrapped her arms around his head, wanting to enjoy this feeling for as long as possible. But, she still wanted more.

"You don't have to treat me like glass, ya know," she whispered seductively, "Wanna try something a bit more wild?"

Despite some apprehension, Kazuto was curious to see what Tomo had in mind. Withdrawing from her depths, he sat back on his haunches for a moment, as Tomo crawled up and spun around on her hands and knees, waggling her ass at him and offering herself once more.

"Where did you get this idea Tomo?" he asked exasperatedly. She opened her mouth to reply, and he cut her off. "On second thought, I don't really want to know. But…I've never actually done this before. Isn't it supposed to pretty strenuous?"

"I have faith in ya Kii-boy," Tomo said, "and from what I've heard, it's supposed to be particularly good."

Bracing himself, Kazuto kneeled behind her and aligned himself with her walls once again, and resumed driving into Tomo. At first, he was concerned that he might be doing something wrong, but it wasn't long before more moans of pleasure began filling the room again.

"Aye, that's it…" Tomo said, "Just like that…" Her words gave him renewed motivation as he continued ravishing her folds. "More!" she gasped, "More!" He drove on, ignoring the faint burning in his thighs, focusing instead on the pleasure of being inside Tomo.

"I think…you were right…about this position," he managed to get out, "this feels great. You feel great." Reaching down with his hands, he grasped her modest breasts, fondling her nipples as he continued to thrust.

She giggled at that. "I like the way you think Kii-boy," she said, managing to get a coherent sentence out amidst her euphoria. The dual feeling of being pleasured both from Kazuto's dick and from his hands on her breasts was incredible. Then she felt him withdrawn and enter her again, and she felt like an indescribably pleasant jolt of electricity had coursed through her. "Whatever you just did, do it again!" she begged.

Kazuto wasn't quite sure how he'd inserted himself, but he tried to replicate his movement. This second attempt elicited a shiver from Tomo. "Yesss," she moaned, "just like that!"

Obliging her, he continued hammering into her as close to that angle as he could. For her part, Tomo felt amazing, as Kazuto seemed to reach deeper and deeper into her depths with each thrust. And at this angle, he was hitting something both incredibly sensitive and pleasurable. In and out, in and out, in and out, Kazuto's length stroked against it each time he plunged in and retreated out. She squirmed and her vision went white as the pleasure overtook her. Finally, her rear end shuddered, as fluid squirted out over the bed's covers once again.

Similarly, Kazuto was also feeling close to his limit, both of pleasure, and from exerting himself in this position. The tightness of Tomo's pussy squeezed his shaft, a sensation that only intensified as Tomo came. That was enough to begin pushing him over the edge.

Tomo seemed to sense his end as well. "Inside!" she pleaded, "Please!"

At this point, Kazuto had no intention to pull out. He wasn't sure he could have even if he'd wanted to. With a groan, he buried himself one last time into Tomo's channel, pushing in as deeply as he could. Buried inside her, he felt his length twitch as he loosed his essence inside her, delivering his load into Tomo's waiting womb.

The two remained in that position for several minutes, Kazuto filling Tomo's insides as much as he was able. Then, thoroughly spent, Kazuto pulled out of Tomo's snatch and collapsed next to her on the bed, trying desperately to ignore the pain in his legs.

Tomo seemed to understand as she snuggled up next to him. But, she couldn't just keep quiet. "Worth it?" she said with a wink.

"Yeah," he admitted, smiling back at her, "it was definitely worth it."

For a while, neither of them said anything further. Then, Tomo finally broke the silence. "I really wanna thank you, Kii-boy," she said, "Not just for tonight, but for everything."

"Of course," he replied, "I meant it when I said I loved you, and you can ask anyone else here: I'll do anything I can for the people that I love."

She nuzzled his neck. "Then I'm glad," she said, "Glad that I met you, glad that I fell in love with you, and glad that you love me back." After a moment, she sat up, and looked down into Kazuto's eyes. "Kii-boy, can I ask ya one last favor?"

He nodded slowly, hoping that she wasn't trying to get one over on him. However, her serious expression signaled that she wasn't just teasing him right now.

"Would…would you visit my dad's grave with me?" she asked, pain evident in her voice, "Obviously not until the trip's over, and not right away afterwards but…I've never been able to work up the courage to go. The others can come along too, of course, but I want you to be there with me." She gave a vulnerable smile. "You've given me strength for a long time, ya know?"

Kazuto knew just how important this was for her, and it was obviously difficult for her to ask him this. So, he knew what his answer would be immediately. "Yes, I'll go with you," he assured her, "I told you that you're a part of my family now, and as long as I'm around, I'll be there for you."

"Thank you," she said quietly. Glancing over, she saw that it was nearly 5 in the morning at this point. Between that and her heavy drinking just a few hours earlier, she was really going to be feeling it tomorrow. "Give me just a moment to try and clean this up a bit," she said, indicating the various stains on the bedsheets, "I'm sure there's got to be some spares around here somewhere…" After finally finding new sheets to replace their soiled ones, she curled up next to Kazuto, who'd already fallen asleep. She flicked off the light and curled up next to him, wrapping her arms around her lover, and allowing herself to drift off into sleep.


And, that's a wrap for this chapter! Writing this one was a bit tricky, because even with Argo/Tomo being my favorite character, there's still a ton of holes in her backstory. Given some of her behavior and mannerisms, I long ago imagined her to be someone who didn't have a huge amount of money, hence her typical stinginess and greed. In turn, that led me to wonder about what life would be like for someone who woke back up from SAO without any support system and suddenly missing the most important person in their lives; the rest of the gang largely return to familial conditions that are largely unchanged from when they dove in to begin with, so I thought it would be worth exploring how someone might react when they found that everything they knew beforehand had changed. The scene where Tomo begs to not be left alone again is one of the earliest pieces that I planned for this story to include, so finally having it fleshed out and recorded here is immensely satisfying.

As always, there's a ton of inspirations and references that I included here, so I can run down some of those:

The quests in ALO here are obviously inspired by Beowulf, the Old English poem that has become rather famous. I thought it would be just the sort of thing that Cardinal might draw inspiration from, and the challenges posed by some of those foes could be quite unique. As for some of the skills used, there are annoyingly few names mace or martial arts skills that I could find with some quick research. Some of those used here are taken from the novels, others are derived from skills used in games like the Unleash Blading mobile game, with my own interpretation of how they might work.

The work offer from Chrysheight is an obvious nod to the STL and Alicization. I'm not sure that that will ever come into play in this universe, but given the time frame of this story, some shoutout was warranted.

The movie that Kazuto watches later in the chapter is intended to be a reference to The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Given the previous shoutouts to the MCU that SAO has had, I thought that was appropriate here, particularly since it gave a moment for Kazuto to be introspective on the nature of AI and how they're seen in pop culture.

Kazuto's comments to Tomo after she wakes up are a mirror of his statements to Asuna at the beginning of the Murder in the Safe Zone storyline. I guess that she's a lot more peaceful in her sleep than Tomo, huh?

Lastly, I included several shoutouts in the names of Argo's contacts that didn't survive the Floor 75 boss raid. Lord Helix refers to the infamous Twitch Plays Pokemon stream, where a majority of the player base that chose the Helix Fossil there ended up treating it as a deity. Rand Althor is the second Wheel of Time shoutout I've had, referring to the main protagonist of that series. Finally, Gilgamesh is a twofold shoutout, both to the Fate series, where he's a principal antagonist, and to Marvel's The Eternals which SAO made a mirror poster for the Aria of a Starless Night movie, where Argo is featured. To my knowledge, this is the first time that Argo has appeared in any promotional materials for the animated adaptation.

Again, please like, favorite, and review! I'd even love to see any fan art that people might be inspired to make of this story, if that's your inclination. I can't give a promise as to when the next chapter will be up, but I'll see you then!