][][][

"This is strange"...

"Why did some of you choose to fight?"...

"Why did some of you remain behind? while others chose to die?"

"Is it because they felt like they had no other option?"

"Is it because they felt like the choice had already been made for them?"

"Or was it because they thought that they had a choice?"...

][][]

Asuna looked at Kirito, she knew what she had to do but she didn't want to do it, these last few days had shown her something that she now understood.

Kirito wasn't adjusting to the world like everyone else, the players could be divided into two groups, those that had accepted their reality and those that didn't.

Unfortunately, Kirito fell into the latter category, she already knew that he wasn't the best at making friends, and now that Klein was gone things hadn't gotten any better for him.

She didn't know if she adjusting to the fact that she was somehow alive again, but there were so many things to do that she hadn't had any time to think about her situation.

Being the second in command of the Knights of the Blood Oath meant that everyone had turned towards her for some form of guidance and even if she didn't want to do it the responsibility had been thrown upon her and the other guild leaders.

During most of the time that she was awake, she had spent her time going over everything with the rest of the guild leaders, and unfortunately, that meant that whatever food- water, and healing crystals the players had had to be shared with everyone.

Needless to say, no one was happy about that.

Everyone was slowly spreading out searching for anything that might be useful but they weren't going to risk everyone else around them.

The videos that the members of Fuurinkazan were sending in were helping a lot, they now knew how some of the robots attacked.

She turned her attention towards 9s the android that one of the players had fixed and she tightened her grip on Yui's hand.

She kneeled and turned toward Yui.

"Yui your dad's going to go away for a bit can you make sure that he sees your smile before he leaves," Asuna said to Yui who just looked at her.

Her daughter had instantly stopped smiling but after a brief moment, she began to smile again.

"Is daddy going to come back?" Yui asked her and Asuna just nodded.

She stood up and led Yui towards Kirito who was sitting on what looked like a giant piece of metal.

'Kirito" Asuna said to her husband

"Yeah," Kirito said to her but he never turned to look at her.

"Look, I have a job for you to do." She said to Kirito who slowly stood up and turned to look at her, he noticed Yui was with her and he instinctively rubbed her head.

"Okay, you aren't going to be the only one doing this so don't think that we're just sending you away" Asuna began hoping that Kirito wouldn't ask any questions.

"Okay," Kirito said as he tried to understand what Asuna wanted to say to him.

"Look ever since Klein and his guild left, we've been using the information they have been sending us to make a map..."

"Why is this so hard." Asuna thought to herself as she continued to talk to Kirito.

"...and since we're starting to run out of supplies." Asuna said to Kirito who realized what she wanted to say to him.

"And the guild wants me to go look for supplies and help make a map of the place." Kirito said to her before she could finish liying\ and telling him what she wanted.

"Yeah." Asuna said to Kirito, as she tried not to show to him that she was lying.

"Alright, it's not like I'm doing anything here, so any ideas of what I'll be looking for?" Kirito asked her

"Oh you know the usual, things to help fix some of the buildings, anything that we can eat and freshwater"

"Oh, and if you run into anything interesting feel free to look into it." Asuna said to Kirito who immediately hugged her and kissed her before letting go of her and hugging Yui.

Asua watched as Kirito began to walk away. "Kirit!" she called out to him before she let go of Yui's hand and walked to him again

"I know that you have a lot of things to think about, try to find your answers while you're out there." she said to him.

They both looked at each other and this time as Kirito turned and walked away, Asuna didn't try to stop him she just watched him leave.

Asuna could feel her chest tighten and she cursed the fact that for whatever reason night never seemed to come here, she wished that she could cry while the lights were off, that way no one could see her cry.

Even if she had to cover her mouth with her hands to stop herself from making any sounds, she could at least let her tears fall without anyone ever noticing them.

She strengthened herself and turned towards the Android boy who was once again playing with the kids.

"9s, I have a job for you." she said to 9s who immediately stopped playing and turned to look at her.

The android's bright blue eyes looked u into hers and he immediately stopped smiling then he started smiling again, Asuna could see how eager he was to hear her tell him what to do.

She remembered what he had said to her when he was fixed," Please tell me that You are Humans"

She wanted to ask him why he had said that, but she chose not to, even if they had all of the answers to what happened to the people of this world, what good did any of that do for them right now?

It would just add more problems, problems that they didn't need.

"Kazuto...Kirito has just left, I need you to help him out with whatever you can"

"9s I don't know what happened to you before they found you, so you might have things to think about...do it while you're out there with him," she said to 9s as she pointed in the direction that Kirito had walked in.

Asuna hated herself for what she had just done, she had sent something that, someone that could have killed the people in this world to be with Kirito.

While she knew that Kirito could take care of himself, she didn't know what 9s could do.

It wasn't as if she had completely lied to Kirito, the Guilds were planning on sending scouts to map the surrounding areas, but the people they were going to send...

Were those that looked like they had given up, people who looked like they would lay down and die.

"Mommy," Yui said to her and Asuna held back a tear, she hoped that she had done the right thing.