Well this wasn't how I wanted this chapter to go XD I planned on introducing more plot-heavy details but then this happened XD I swear all of my plans just go straight out the window when I put my fingers on the keys of my keyboard XD
Lost Memories: So Close... Yet So Far Away
Love isn't something you can just take away the memories of
and someone would forget.
The heart aches in remembrance
And over time
The heart can cross bridges the mind alone can not.
For that is the reason that love
Is the most powerful thing
In the entire world.
Love is eternal,
And it will NOT be forgotten.
An army, Kirito sighed and stared up at the ceiling above his spot lying down on the floor between his sister's bed and his own where his daughter was currently sleeping. His mind was too active from Caylee's brief but intense rundown of what she had managed to figure out while she had been contained inside the place created for science players to effectively sleep. The players of SAO are only pawns for yet another master.
Kirito rolled over onto his stomach, gazing blankly at the hardwood flooring, now that hurt. He had worked so hard in the game from what he had heard from other players about the memories that were still tightly locked away for him. Memories always just mere inches out of his reach, so close that his fingertips could touch them but he could never grab it. But of course, once he escaped the two wicked puppet masters that forced him into the spotlight, Kirito still remembered how over time he had gotten more and more attention, he found himself trapped by another.
However, the difference between the two from before and the one now was that he was completely helpless. There was no identity for his mind to forget, no knowledge of how to fight this puppet master back, rather all there were hundreds of holes in his memory.
Kirito didn't realize he hit his fist on the foot in frustration till a pair of slender fingers wrapped around his hand in an almost protective manner. So he looked up to find slender fingers, a white and red outfit, thin but sword strengthened arms, small shoulders, and mesmerizing hazel eyes that slowly shifted colors to blue and back again looking back at him.
"Don't do that," Asuna's voice was barely a whisper as she unclenched his hand for him, her fingers sending a sense of soothing warmth through his hand and up his arm with every touch. "You won't be able to hold a sword if you damage the underside of your hands like that, Kirito…"
"I guess," Kirito kept his voice down as well, watching her trace stress lines in his hand and feeling the knots there loosen with each touch of her fingers. "I'm just angry you know?"
Asuna's fingers stilled before they wrapped around his hand and gently tugged him to his feet with a look of understanding in her eyes, "come," she encouraged quietly, "we don't want to wake them up if we continue talking."
Kirito guiltily glanced between Sugu and Yuuki's sleeping forms and slowly got to his feet. Where he instantly missed the gentle warmth of Asuna's hand as she released in hand in favor of tucking her hands behind her back as she watched. He didn't have to ask to know they were going outside, her own attire of white sweatpants and a simple but elegant off one shoulder short sleeve with running shoes being enough of an indicator.
And so he threw on his shoes and grabbed two jackets, from a mental observation that she didn't have a jacket with her, and led the way for once. Asuna's footsteps barely more than a whisper compared to Kirito's more heavy booted footsteps that echoed throughout the entry as they walked.
Kirito nodded once to the player standing dutifully at the entrance, a safety precaution with child players here at the 'base' now, while Asuna greeted them.
"Good work Elicha," she greeted the female lance user of the knights of blood oath, "the base is in your hands until I return."
"I understand," the lance user crisply spoke to her commanding officer, "send me a message if you return through a different exit so I am aware of your safety Commander."
"I will," Asuna hummed and her fingers shimmered before Kirito saw her toss some sort of brain teaser to the lance user, a manipulation of her inventory through her specialized watch on her wrist. Something only high-level players had the energy reserves to use without draining themself. "The night is still young, take care to occupy the mind as you wait."
Kirito couldn't help but feel a little in awe of the rapier swordswoman as she walked past him toward the lesser-used trail near the front of the campus. She commanded her guild with ease, like it was natural for her to be a distinct leader who in reality, led the entirety of the front-liners.
"You're a good commander," he complimented and apologized, "I apologize for not saying anything sooner."
Asuna chuckled and Kirito mentally decided that he wanted to hear it again, "when you lead a guild for so long it's almost like a second nature to do your best as their leader. After all," she stopped and faced him, a cloud of confused concern adorning her gentle features, "everyone needs someone to look up to in times like these. Especially when the real truth hits them, so it's my job to prepare them and minimize the amount of chaos and mental trauma that will hit them all when it's all revealed."
Kirito didn't know what to say. Here was this young adult his age leading and protecting them all while he was still struggling to remember who he was.
"Come on," Asuna smiled at him and pointed up at the tree she stopped in front of, "lets climb Kirito."
"Come on Kirito!" Asuna's laughter bubbled up into her voice as she slipped her hand into his own and headed toward the tallest tree she could see, "the view's gotta be worth it!"
Kirito apprehensively eyed the tree, silently glad their children weren't with them or he'd likely lose his mind worrying to death about one of them falling and hurting themselves. "I'm not even sure if that tree's still in the playable game zones Asuna, you can't even see the top through the clouds."
Adventure and determination twinkled in Asuna's eyes as she stopped walking to give him a heart melting smile. "It is," she promised, "just trust me okay?"
Kirito sighed but started to walk, "you know I trust you Asuna, my climbing abilities however… not so much."
Asuna giggled, "says the guy that tried scaling a mountain and nearly killed himself testing fall damage in the early floors."
Kirito's cheeks burned, "hey I was just curious," he said loudly, covering some of her giggles with it, "there's nothing wrong with curiosity!"
Kirito blinked, the words making his heart contort in a mix of unexplained grief and nostalgia. Had he climbed with someone in SAO like this? Yuuki was never allowed to climb tall trees without her mother, her reflexes fast enough to catch her before she even started falling. "Mother's Intuition," he remembered her saying after lifting Yuuki from a branch right before it snapped and fell, but… he couldn't remember anything else.
"Kirito?"
Kirito broke out of his thoughts at Asuna's voice and her fingers just barely brushing against the fabric of his shirt sleeve. "Are you alright? You look rather pale."
"Huh? Oh," Kirito cleared his throat and mentally pulled himself together, "I used to climb trees with Yuuki's mother and Yuuki," he explained as he walked toward the tree, "just another blocked memory is all."
When Asuna didn't respond Kirito turned around to look at her and found her staring into the air where he had been, her gaze visibly unfocused.
Is that what I look like when I zone out? Kirito couldn't help but wonder and cautiously approach her, no wonder Sugu says I become a zombie. When a memory hits I just lose connection to the world around me for those brief moments, but I still can't remember the memory's details when my mind returns to reality.
"Asuna?"
Asuna visibly stirred and looked around her in a disorientated fashion before her eyes made contact with Kirito's.
Making his chest seize itself into holding his breath. Asuna's hazel eyes showed a rare vulnerability after what he had no doubt was a memory. She was scared, fear shown in those beautiful eyes along with a want to understand; frustration in a want, no need to remember; and a deep seated longing to remember those who she had loved in SAO. Asuna was still just a human, and Kirito could see that more than ever in that flash of unbridled emotion in her eyes. However he felt his heart twist as tears welled in her eyes as she looked away, still visibly disoriented and confused.
"Asuna?" He carefully held out a hand toward her but stopped before he could grasp her arm or touch her face. His fingertips barely grazed her sleeve in an act of rare unexplained openness on his part. He didn't know why, but there was a part of him that wanted to comfort her in any way he can despite how awkward he had a tendency to be and how he barely interacted with girls like this. "Asuna… you're crying."
"W-what?" Asuna seemed to finally return from whatever her mind went to and she lifted a hand to her face, seemingly stunned to see tears lingering on her fingers.
"Are… are you okay?" Kirito asked a bit awkwardly but sincerely. "The memories are hard to recover from when they just hit you like that."
"Oh," Asuna gave a watery laugh and rubbed the tears from her eyes, "I'm okay, it's no big deal! Come on, let's get up this tree," she said with a tear ridden but bright smile.
Okay, he wasn't going to let her just blow it off or bottle it all up like that, not when she could talk to him about it and put her trust and faith in him.
Kirito caught her wrist just before she was to leap up with her high dexterity abilities about ten feet up the tree, "Asuna…"
Asuna looked a little startled, and Kirito could see some remaining tears still escaping her beautiful almond eyes and rolling down her cheeks.
Kirito looked at her, trying to convey what he was feeling without messing it up. "Asuna you don't have to hide it all the time… bottling up the memories and the things you feel can make you sick…"
"I'm fine," Asuna smiled at him, "it just hit me harder than usual, we can go back inside if you don't want to climb anymore." She gently slipped her wrist from his grasp and nodded toward the campus before she started walking, "come on, lets go."
Some minor details clicked in Kirito's head all of the sudden and he spoke, looking partially down at the ground, "you have nightmares all the time."
Instantly Asuna stopped in her tracks, "w-what?" She breathed.
"You don't let the memories roll like they're supposed to Asuna," Kirito lifted his head to look at her, trying to convey his plea to understand while speaking firmly, "you push them aside to take care of your guild and Yui, but what about yourself?"
He walked closer to her till he was standing in front of her and softened his voice, "what about taking time for just yourself?" He looked at her, "you and I are the top two in here in terms of the amount of memory blockages Asuna, I don't know about you but I…" his voice hardened, "I… I want to remember them. It's painful, I wake up feeling numb all over and feel confused and frustrated when I escape a memory while I'm awake, but… but how else am I supposed to find the memories I'm missing?" He clenched his hands into fists, slightly shaking and stubbornly blinking as a way to avoid possibly crying in front of the strongest person he had ever met. "I miss my wife, my other child, my family, my friends, and remembering the adventures that brought us together, and… it hurts because I can't!" He blurted out, "it hurts so bad I want to yell and rage and break something and even tear my own heart out because-"
"-because it feels like you're silently dying every second of every day," Asuna cut him off with shaky words and Kirito slumped the fight taken right out of him because she was right, one hundred percent right. She had effectively stolen the words right out of his mouth.
"Yeah," he spoke softly, "but I can't, because I have a daughter that relies on me and everyone relies on me too."
"I know what you mean," Asuna breathed a deep breath and smiled at him, but her smile was wobbly and Kirito could still see the tears rolling down her face. "I…" she swallowed hard and gave him a smile, "I miss my partner in SAO," she told him in a hushed voice before she swallowed again and shifted a little on her feet before she gestured at him, "you remind me of him from what little I can remember."
"Well…" Kirito swallowed himself, "I don't know if I am, but… but you can rely on me Asuna, I hope you understand that now."
"Thank you Kirito…" Asuna breathed before a second later had a girl crying in his arms. Asuna had run to him and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face deep into his shirt and just sobbing.
Kirito's first instinct was to flee, but there was another part of him, a bigger part, that wanted to let her cry, let her cry in his arms where he could protect her and she could feel protected.
So that's what he did. Kirito carefully knelt down on the ground, pulling her into kneeling in front of him as he pulled a jacket from over his shoulder and draped it over hers. Silently shielding her from the pressures of the world they lived in before without consciously thinking about it, Kirito closed his eyes and pulled her close, cradling Asuna to him and wrapping his arms tightly around her slender body.
Before silently, without either of them really noticing, crystal-like tears highlighted by the moon's silver light, rolled down Kirito's cheeks.
Asuna giggled, her long hair spread out messily in the grass while her arms slipped lovingly around his neck. Hazel eyes twinkling gently with love and peace while out here in the grass of floor twenty-two. Where they could just act like two people in-love instead of high-level clearers and an adopted mother and father. "What took you so long asking me?" She hummed as she looked at him, her fingers idly carding slowly through the short hair at the base of his skull. "I mean I was going to do it if you hadn't asked within that week most likely."
Kirito opened one eye and gave her a lazy glare from above her, his hands placed carefully on either side of Asuna's head beneath her long hair. "Excuse me for being busy with helping Silica and Liz raid dungeons while you had a hundred guild meetings."
Asuna laughed, causing Kirito to shut his eyes at the carefree sound, "I know, but it's been almost two years since SAO started Kirito and we've been together with Yuuki for almost six months."
She gave him a playful glare, "sounds to me like someone was too nervous to ask me if you ask me."
Kirito rolled his eyes and opened them to look down at her, Asuna easily getting lost in the dark silver depths. "If I wasn't nervous then I wasn't sincere," he deadpanned then smiled, which made Asuna's heart flutter, "besides, I asked you eventually, you said yes, and now here we are on a short honeymoon without two kids constantly running around beneath our feet."
Asuna smiled bashfully at him, truth be told she loved having Yuuki and Yui running around even though her apartment in Selmburg was much too small for two adults, a seven-year-old, and a toddler who was almost two and got into everything.
Kirito seemed to know what she was thinking, "I love Yuuki and Yui very much," he explained and gave her a semi-awkward smile. "But the apartment's too small and Yui's a monkey whenever you're not around Asuna." He then leaned down and gave her a brief peck on the lips, "plus I get a few days of you almost completely to myself."
Asuna gave a content sigh, her body melting into the kiss but also at the knowledge that she was temporarily free to be just Asuna. Today, tomorrow, and the day after she wasn't the lightning flash or second in command, she was just Asuna. Just Asuna with her new husband taking a break so she could happily give him her undivided attention and receive it back in turn. "Same goes for myself," Asuna smiled at him and tugged him down by the neck into another kiss, "I get the 'totally emo' Black Swordsman Kirito all to myself."
"Aaeeh!"
Kirito certainly got her back for the nickname as he leaned over and blew a raspberry against Asuna's neck. Causing her to shriek with laughter and fight to push him away as he repeated it again for good measure before he let her calm down and instead hummed the floor's background music where he also pressed short kisses to the side of her neck in a lazy content way.
Asuna soaked in the affection like a sponge, comfortably lying there in the warm Aincrad sun and mild breezes with birds chirping with Kirito's warmth on her left side, his arms looped comfortably around her slender waist and her fingers carding through Kirito's soft fluffy hair.
Between Kirito's lazy kisses and the warm sun, it didn't take long for the girl's mind to have turned to illogical and unhelpful mush. Her mind comfortably straying without any particular bindings or direction while she half dozed in the sun. Kirito's breathing had deepened and his head was just resting at her neck now, his breath tickling her skin as he dozed in his usual 'if I'm not doing something then I'm asleep' mode. "I love you Kirito," she hummed drowsily and heard a sleep garbled response, but she hadn't really been looking for one anyway.
How long had she been telling him that? Telling him her feelings of love, of affection, or companionship, and even of mild irritation when he was being an idiot, all rolled up into three to four words?
However long it had been, she was determined to make the answer be 'forever.' Because she would do everything in her power to keep him safe, them all safe. Their little family in SAO that Asuna Yui held dear to her heart and would always come back to them.
Asuna groggily roused herself, hearing the sound of a sliding door along with a child's cry. Which she instantly identified as Yui's, and it meant she had a nightmare and was likely about to completely dissolve into hysterics.
So Asuna forced her tired limbs into movement and kicked off her blankets before she got up from the bed. She swiped Yui's blanket from her bedside table and hurried down toward Yui's room which was far down the hall.
The last thing she wanted to do was wake up Kirito and his daughter because Yui was fussy and didn't sleep well on top of having frequent nightmares.
"Mamaa!" Yui's footie pj clad form came toward her, the four-year-old crying too hard to really run properly.
"Sshh," Asuna encouraged her to lower her voice with a finger to her lips before she squatted down and hugged her. Letting Yui decide if she wanted to be picked up tonight or just hugged and would go back to sleep. "What's wrong honey?"
"Mamaaa! Mamaa!" Usually Yui didn't cry this hard, or at least she'd settle down the moment Asuna picked her up or hugged, but apparently not tonight. She just wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and bawled into the sweatshirt Asuna has thrown on over her usual nightgown and now shorts; out of modesty with a guy living in the same place as her and Yui.
Asuna got the cue and stood up, lifting Yui up and cuddling her close as she bawled while she also tucked her favorite blanket around her little body. "Sshh, it's alright, you're okay Yui," she gently hushed her, trying to get her to be more quiet and to settle down some more while searching her pockets for her soundproofing remote and holding Yui in one arm. If Yui was going to keep crying she needed to activate the more advanced sound proofing, which would prevent Yuuki from being woken up by Yui's crying, and possibly Kirito if he actually had his door shut for once.
That guy has a habit of leaving his door open at night, which makes it even more nerve-wracking to calm Yui down before she wakes him up. Asuna sighed as she clicked the remote and bounced Yui just slightly, the action only able to be done through her enhanced strength and SAO stats. "Yui you have to stop crying for me to understand what you want," she spoke gently to her daughter, holding her and rubbing her back while pacing a little.
She was so focused on her daughter she didn't notice the dark silver eyes silently observing from the hallway of his bedroom, concern written all over his face.
"Mamaa!" Yui hiccuped, her embrace around Asuna's neck tightening as she blubbered to her mother through her tears, "mamaa!"
"Sshh," Asuna soothed, "mama's right here honey, it's okay…" hearing her daughter cry like this and repeat her name broke her heart into a hundred pieces. She wanted to help her, to make her feel better, but she didn't know what was wrong and Yui was so distraught that so far she hadn't told her what was bothering her.
"Mamaa I want daddy!"
Clatter.
The sound proofing remote slipped from Asuna's fingers as she completely froze. Her heart dropped to her stomach and twisted violently.
"I want daddy!"
Of course she wanted her father. The one thing she couldn't help her get or show her.
Asuna's eyes watered and she wobbled a little on her feet, completely unaware of Kirito's tensed form as though he was going to rush in if needed.
"Daddy! Mama I miss Daddy!" Yui sobbed, breaking Asuna's already fragile and damaged heart even more.
Asuna held her free arm out beside her. Stumbling backward till her fingers hit the leather of the couch and she collapsed on it, bringing her knees up toward her chest and hugging Yui tightly. She ignored the sting of tears in her eyes and tried to hush her daughter, "oh honey, I'm sorry…"
Yui buried her face into the collar of Asuna's sweatshirt, bawling, "I want daddy! I want my daddy!"
Asuna let her cry for a few moments, lightly rocking from side to side while she tried to put herself together enough to effectively soothe and comfort her daughter when she missed her father and Asuna couldn't just make all of the memory blocks go away. "I'm sorry honey…" she apologized, feeling like she had to apologize for not remembering the identity of the man that had helped raise her own daughter.
However, once she took a few deep breaths and managed to pull herself somewhat together, Asuna got to work being the parent Yui needed.
"Yui," Asuna gently pulled her daughter away from her shirt through the crying, "Yui look at me."
Yui kept balling and threw herself back at her shirt, crying into her mother's body and Asuna had to strengthen her resolve.
"No Yui," Asuna pulled Yui away again and gently sat her on her stomach, her small back resting back against her thighs.
Yui rebelled, crying and reaching for her in a way that Asuna knew she wanted to just be cuddled and held while she cried, but she swallowed hard and refused. She couldn't just comfort her, she was Yui's parent, not someone to just coddle her, even if it broke her heart she had to do this. "Look at me Yui, look at mama," Asuna soothed and grasped both of her hands. The four-year-old's hands were tiny compared to her own sword strengthened hands.
Yui cried, her crying broken up by her hiccups, but she did look at Asuna. Looking at her, through eyes that she knew briefly in that moment matched her father's, eyes wet with tears and filled with a child-like misery that Asuna so desperately wanted to change but couldn't.
She herself was shaking, Asuna realized as she swallowed hard once again and held her small hands in both of hers, fighting the trembling and trying fruitlessly to keep her eyes dry.
"I… I miss him too, and I love you so, so very much," she spoke through trembling lips and took a second to draw the strength she didn't have as she shut her eyes for a moment and pressed her lips to her daughter's small hands before reopening her eyes. Finding her vision magically clear for the brief moments as she continued, "but Yui… I'm so sorry…." her facade broke, looking at her daughter through miserable eyes and trembles from her emotions with tears welling back up in her almond-shaped eyes. "I'm sorry… I love you but…" her voice broke and Asuna gave a shuddered breath, tears spilling down her cheeks as she looked desperately at her young daughter, "I can't bring him to you Yui… I don't know where your father is…"
The clinking of ceramic against glass woke Asuna from her miraculously dreamless sleep.
"Mmph…" Asuna groaned, feeling her neck instantly complain from how she had fallen asleep.
"Morning," Kirito's voice was concerned and Asuna witnessed the concern first hand when she groggily managed to open her eyes and saw it on his face plain as day. "You alright?"
"M'fine…" Then her brain registered the missing weight that should've been across her stomach and chest. Which told her that Yui wasn't where she had left her and her groggy mind panicked, "where's Yui?"
"Asuna, give yourself time-" Kirito warned but she ignored him, mentally panicking.
She floundered a little, struggling to get up while her muscles screamed in protest and she uttered a pain-filled moan as she sat up straight. A hand immediately going to the back of her neck.
"Relax Asuna," the new voice and reassuring hand on her shoulders made all of the stress and panic drain from Asuna's body.
She managed to look up, feeling a migraine announcing itself behind her eyes and sinuses from the whole incident with Yui, but mostly ignored it as she smiled at them. She slouched a little and gave her a tired smile of relief through her migraine. "Liz, thank Aincrad."
Her tired eyes went from Liz to the sleepy looking four-year-old in Liz's left arm dressed in a white shirt and brown shorts with folded edges and a pink hoodie. Liz had brushed her hair, woken her up, gotten the drowsy girl into clean clothes as Asuna could tell, and she could make an educated guess that Liz hadn't fed her, which Asuna was thankful for. She loved cooking for her daughter, more so in this distorted version of IRL than in SAO.
"Thank Kirito," Liz gestured a thumb toward the young man who had slunk away to stand nearby but keeping a close eye on his own child. "He called me earlier and figured you needed some help. After all," she adopted a mild teasing stance and voice, "the proud commander of the knights of the blood oath and the lightning flash doesn't sleep on a couch in the worst position possible if she's okay."
Asuna blushed and rolled her eyes, "whatever Liz, just help me get off of this couch." Her muscles were screaming at her just sitting up, locked in place from her fitful sleeping position, but she would've been able to handle it if she hadn't been running on very, very, mild amounts of proper sleep over the last week. Lots of secret ten minute naps in her office or when Yui was down for the rare nap, which didn't happen often, and hiding in the trees that bordered the camp. While she was definitely now a master of sleeping sitting straight up and not moving, she still didn't sleep much around Yui's nightly nightmares.
"Just be careful," Liz obediently held a hand out to Asuna, "move too quickly Mrs. Sleep-Deprived and it may make you collapse on us."
Asuna gratefully took Liz's hand and slowly stood up, grimacing the whole way up and flinching when her neck popped rather loudly. "I need to get ready for leading the drills-"
Kirito approached her, his ten-year-old bouncing around his feet tugging boredly on his sword sheath straps, "I'm capable of leading them, Asuna." His dark silver eyes were stubborn and clearly he was determined to get his way here. "Yuuki's been begging me to take her to watch them anyway and you need a break. Let me switch in for you…"
Asuna's gaze unfocused, a memory hitting her unusually unguarded mind.
"Asuna behind you!"
Asuna didn't turn around, instead her sword glowed a soft pink, "switch!" She then shot forward into another enemy at nearly the speed of light. One-hit KOing the small creature and decimating it's companions while she heard the activation of another sword skill from behind her.
"Raargh!" Kirito shouted before as the creature vanished and Asuna walked backward, their footsteps clinking on the marble beneath them before her back hit his and they held their swords out in front of him.
"Watch my back," Asuna told him as she lifted her sword. The silver blade twirling through the dim lighting till it was level with her left ear and pointed directly at the main boss.
"I'm right behind you," Kirito replied simply, and Asuna understood it perfectly as they both sprinted off toward their respective enemies.
They rarely spoke, their communication formed and executed without words through their fight.
That always looked like a dance, a sword dance of black and white.
"...the drills."
"... ahead Kirito," Liz's voice and hand on her shoulder broke Asuna from the memory's firm grasp. "I'll keep an eye on her. It's visiting day for her anyway so it's going to be a long day."
Asuna blearily refocused, completely missing most of Kirito's sentence due to the memory that had engulfed her tired system for a few moments.
Asuna vaguely register a mildly concerned glance from Kirito before he spoke up, "come on Yuuki," he gestured to his daughter and headed off.
Liz gave Asuna a sad smile as Kirito's footsteps and Yuuki's excited babbling faded and Asuna heard her put Yui down on the couch before she felt her wrap her arms comfortingly around her. "Aincrad Asuna, I'm so sorry."
Asuna almost numbly lifted her arms and paused, another memory smashing through her delicate mental barriers.
"Honestly Asuna," Liz snorted into her coffee mug from where she was sitting comfortably on the couch in Asuna's apartment with her feet propped up on the coffee table. "You two have been virtually stuck to each other by the hip since before I met you and he still hasn't proposed to you."
Asuna sighed and adjusted her hold on the sleeping baby in her arms. "We've only been dating for six months, and even then that's including the two weeks Argo had us pretending we were dating for publicity purposes before we actually started dating." Yui stirred in her arms as Asuna moved, the eighteen-month-old child had been asleep for close to ten minutes, taking her nap in Asuna's arms today instead of asleep in her room, which Asuna didn't mind.
Yesterday had been a long day, clearing out the forty-eighth floor's dungeon and then she scrambled to get a full team ready fast enough to take on the boss to protect a group of players that had wandered inside. They had all made it out, every last person, but it had taken a lot out of Asuna. After all she had spend an hour fighting the boss one on one while she ordered her team split up and protect the weaker players till Kirito and other reinforcements had arrived.
So when she had woken up this morning mentally exhausted and unable to keep up with her usual standards; Kirito had firmly told her no dungeon raiding guild order or not while he went out and helped some mid level players.
Liz rolled her eyes, "who cares how long you've been dating? Asuna he practically lives here with you in your apartment and you can't just pretend that you two used to play that game of making us all believe you were together but weren't in the earlier floors."
Asuna blushed, "come on Liz, I was fifteen and it's not like anyone assumed anything different anyway."
Liz gave her a flat look, "you're sixteen now, how does that make a difference?"
"It makes a difference because," Asuna straightened up out of her comfortable slouched position and grabbed her own coffee mug from the coffee table, "I feel like I've aged a few years already. I'm pretty sure we all have, after all you're sixteen too Liz-"
"Sixteen-and-a-half," Liz butted in with a smirk.
Asuna rolled her eyes, "-and you own and maintain a full on business. I'm the second in command of a full army, and spend my days fighting with my life depending on the paper thin tip of a rapier." She took a sip of the liquid inside her mug before she put it down and smacked Liz's feet, "and get your feet off my table Liz, that's bad manners." She then got comfortable again in the couch cushions.
"That rapier is state of the art weaponry thank you very much," Liz sniffed in indignation but obediently removed her booted feet from the table before she gave her a smile and gestured toward Yui. "Don't forget about Yui, You're all she's ever known, Asuna."
Asuna looked down at the baby sleeping in her arms and couldn't help but smile gently at her, "yeah, can't forget about Yui now can we." She adjusted her daughter's blanket to be tucked more snuggly around her small body.
"You know…" Liz leaned further back into couch cushions and brought her knees up to her chest in a comfortable manner. "It's kinda weird that despite the fact that you found Yui on floor ten way back in the beginning of the game, she really does look like a mix between you and Kirito."
"I think it's cute," Asuna chuckled and brushed some of Yui's bangs from her face, "she has Kirito's eyes and hair."
She looked back up at Liz, "plus if anything it's more weird that we age in the game don't you think? I mean, Yui's growing all the time, Kirito's hitting a point where he's almost taller than I am, and Klein's even more perverted as you and I get older."
"Says the one with actual improvement," Liz sulked into her cup.
Asuna couldn't help it, she started giggling, "Good... grief... Liz!"
"What? It's true!" Liz complained, "the only one who doesn't see it is Kirito! I haven't changed an inch and you have a good amount since the last time I saw you IRL before SAO!"
"I just turned fifteen a few months before SAO Liz, what do you expect? The human body makes changes slowly, not all at once," Asuna pointed out through her fit of giggles, her body trembling out of sheer laughter.
"Pfft whatever," Liz sulked, "brag about it all you want you rich princess."Asuna could tell there wasn't any bite in the tease though.
Asuna broke into full laughter, throwing her head back to laugh and Liz joining her till Yui stirred awake in Asuna's arms with a complaint and snuggled closer to her mother's body in an attempt to go back to sleep.
Asuna bit her lip and covered her mouth, trying to muffle her shaking laughter while Liz bent over her coffee mug snorting in laughter.
The apartment door opened and Kirito stepped inside, her expression confused as he two the two awake occupants in the apartment's living room. "What did I miss?"
Liz just snorted harder into her cup.
Liz's arms tightened around Asuna's frozen form, pulling Asuna out of the memories again. "Come back to us Asuna…"
Asuna jolted back with a sharp breath and she felt her best friend pull back enough to look at her, but her vision struggled to focus, her friend's worried brown eyes covered by pink contacts were blurry and Asuna could hear a faint hum of static ringing through her ears.
"Liz… I…" her tongue refused to work, making her sound slurred and unable to really speak.
"Asuna, focus on your breathing…"
"Asuna!"
'Where am I?' Asuna wondered as she finally came around, hearing her partner's voice bouncing around the stone walls.
"Asuna!"
"Asuna focus!"
Asuna barely focused on her friend and struggled weakly in her grasp, her mind disoriented and confused on what was memory and what was reality.
"Asuna! I'm here! I'm in…"
Asuna giggled as she dropped out of the large tree and landed beside her spread-eagled husband where she neatly folded her legs beneath her. "You're such an idiot," she told him through her giggles and leaned down to kiss him.
"Asuna! Listen to me!"
Asuna tried, she really did, straining her ears to fight through the increasing volume of the buzzing of distorted static and listen to what her friend was saying. She couldn't see her anyway, her vision too blurry and unfocused for her to see straight.
"You have to…"
"Mmm," Asuna hummed against the kiss and slid her arms around her husband's neck to pull him closer. She had to give it to him, occasionally ignoring guild duties had it's perks. "I love you," she hummed as he pulled briefly away.
"I love you too, even if you overwork yourself all the time and leave no time for me," he teased and Asuna shut him up with another kiss.
Someone shook her, and Asuna reached blindly for the person who did it, she felt blind, unable to truly see and focus her vision on the world around her. She couldn't really hear anything but the thick static in her ears and the rapid uneven pace of her breathing. She heard herself groan weakly, but the sound echoed and distorted in her own ears.
"Asuna… br… you're… breath…"
"Daddy!" Yui squealed and both of them froze, Asuna staring at the almost two-year-old girl with her mouth just slightly open. She was too well trained for it to gape like her boyfriend's was, but her mouth still fell slightly open.
Yui giggled and lifted her arms toward him, "carry me daddy!"
Her boyfriend's daughter looked proud standing beside the smaller girl and she puffed out her chest a little, "I taught it to her dad! Happy birthday!"
Asuna whimpered, the sound abnormal and strange and could hear someone speaking but she felt like she was underwater, none of the sounds made any sense to her scrambled brain. She sagged, leaning hard on the other person while her stomach rolled, her heart clenching itself at the bout of memories she could consciously remember.
"I'm gonna get you!" He was throwing Yui up into the air and catching her before blowing raspberries into her stomach."I'm gonna get you Yui!" The toddler was half dressed in her pjs, dressed in pink pjs pants, and was giggling and squealing with glee every time he caught her.
Asuna just watched from the doorway with a fond smile, peeking around the corner and watching him effectively not put Yui into her pjs while Asuna had been cleaning up the apartment and putting on her KoB gear. She watched for a few more moments, a rare wish of being able to stay home with her boyfriend and the two girls that drove them both crazy popping up into her head before she let it be. 'As long as she's asleep by eleven it'll be fine…'
Asuna's knees buckled and she felt herself be lowered to the ground, her own hands gripped tightly around the other person's arms like they were her lifeline.
"What are you two doing?!" Asuna couldn't help the shriek of pure panic at finding Yuuki sitting up in the RAFTERS of their new cabin when she got back from a guild meeting with her husband. What made it worse was Yui was up there too, the almost two year old girl mimicking her older sister and sitting perfectly still up on the rafters close to fifteen feet up from the ground.
"Hi mom!" Yuuki greeted but Asuna didn't pay attention, her brain in full panic mode.
"Oh my god," she couldn't help the panicked rambling as she scrambled to find anything that would help her get them both down, sprinting around the cabin looking for anything that would help her get them down. "Oh my god, I have to get them down, oh my god." Being a semi religious person, Asuna rarely did anything to break those rules, but when her two children were fifteen feet up in the air and Yui was barely two years old all rules went out the window.
"What's going…" her husband had finally arrived, "what the hell?!"
"Language _! Now move!" Asuna snapped at him and shoved him out of the way she backed up onto the porch.
Asuna couldn't hear the name, the name just didn't sound for her during the memory. "I don't… I want…"
"Really? You're criticizing my language when our children ARE IN THE RAFTERS Asuna!" Her husband snapped, panic in his voice as well. "I'm going to kill Klein! He's so f-freaking dead!"
Yuuki giggled from where she was and both adults' attention snapped to her.
"YUUKI!"
"Oh crap," the seven-year-old said meekly and instantly slid off the rafters to land on the couch, effectively cushioning her fall before she bolted toward her bedroom.
"Yuuki get back here!" Asuna's husband sharply spoke the child's name, but Asuna was preoccupied as Yui moved to follow her sister's lead, the toddler giggling at their antics.
Asuna had never moved so fast as she had in those precious five seconds. She didn't think, she didn't plan, she didn't think logically, she just ran. Running straight for the opposing wall where she ran part way up the wall and pushed off it. Propelling herself toward the rafter where her husband was now standing below with his arms open.
However, Asuna caught Yui with one arm, before she fell more than a foot at most, and simultaneously grabbed the rafter itself. Asuna's fingers creating finger holds in the wood itself due to her strength stats and the insane amount of adrenaline pumping through her system.
"Oh thank Aincrad," Asuna breathed as she held the toddler close to her chest, just dangling there from the rafter. Her body was shaking like mad from the close call and the adrenaline while the unfazed toddler just giggled into her KoB breastplate, blissfully unaware of what would've happened if Asuna hadn't just performed a super human miracle..
"Thank you mama!"
Then Asuna's cheeks turned red and her eyes narrowed. She was still wearing her guild outfit, a long white dress-like tunic and pleated red skirt and… her husband was still standing below them. "_," she spoke slowly, her voice rather frosty, "you better be still standing there because you're waiting to catch me or so help me, Klein isn't the only male that's going to die today."
"O-Of course, ma'am," her husband stumbled a little over his words, instantly treating her with extra respect out of what Asuna knew was guilt and likely fear of her anger. "Holding my arms held out with my eyes c-"
Asuna gasped, her chest heaving as the ice water trickled down her face to her head, the water enough of a shock for her brain to shut down the memories and jerk her back to reality for good.
For a moment she just breathed laying there on the floor, fighting to catch her breath and reorient herself as she looked around without really registering anything. She sat up, sitting side saddle on the floor and leaning on one of her arms. Her right hand twitched toward her left hip and when she looked over she realized as well that her sword wasn't there either.
"I'm still working on Lambent light here," someone's feet came into view before their knees did and Asuna numbly looked up from the floor where her sword should've been according to the memory.
Liz's worry pinched face came into view along with a small blonde's with whisker-like marks in her cheeks and another with blue eyes and curly brown hair.
"I haven't finished the handle yet," Liz's voice was rather cautious as if she expected Asuna to suffer under another memory, "forging the light but strong alloy took more time than expected."
Asuna nodded and lifted a hand to her head, hazel-blue eyes searching around her. She was in the living room of her new home in the SAO survivors base. "Where's Yui?" she asked, her voice was rough and scratched as she spoke and she grimaced before she pulled her sweatshirt shirt away from her body, realizing that the front was wet and damp. "And what happened to my shirt?"
"Yui's with Sasha," Liz explained, "I called Argo and she brought her to Sasha when you fell."
"I fell?" Asuna wracked her still fuzzy brain, trying to remember what happened besides the memories still near the front of her mind. However she came up empty-handed, there were no memories of her falling down, even if it made sense seeing how she was on the floor now.
"As for your shirt," Caylee butted in, putting the now empty cup down on the table, "I tried to get some medication in you to make the memory episode stop after the seizure stopped but you kept turning away, spitting it out and getting it all over your shirt."
Asuna grimaced and pulled a hand through her long hair, feeling it wet from the ice water and grimey from what felt like cold sweat.
"Ya alright A-chan?" Argo's thin fingers pushed some of Asuna's long fringe out of her face, calculating brown eyes fixed intently on her. "You were havin' a seizure or somethin' when I got 'ere."
Asuna didn't speak, letting everything process first. I had a seizure? Why? Even if I have a memory episode like this it usually doesn't do anything more than worry Liz half to death, not get Argo and Caylee involved to try and make it stop.
Asaun mentally shook her head to clear it and cleared her throat, feeling like her throat and mouth were full of sand paper. "What time is it?"
Liz cracked open the lid of a water bottle and slid it toward Asuna over the floor, "it's twelve-thirty, we just missed lunch."
Asuna froze, her hand inches from the water bottle. It was twelve-thirty? But didn't she wake up at ten?
The look on Liz's face confirmed it before she did vocally. "Asuna you've been out of it for close to two hours. I tried everything I could to break you out of it. I tried talking to you, hugging you, shaking you, putting Yui on your lap and having her talk to you, pouring normal water on your head, everything. But when you just started having a seizure I knew I needed to get someone who knew what to do."
Caylee's presence solidified Liz's claims, because otherwise Caylee stayed in her and Argo's quarters working on secret stuff nobody but Argo truly knew the contents of.
Caylee cleared her throat and Asuna looked at her, paying dazed attention to her, Asuna's brain still mushy and disorientated. "Asuna the thing you just experienced is something we're calling a "Memory Seizure," she rolled her eyes at Argo's snort, "I know, it's such a cool name. Anyway," she pushed her glasses higher up her nose, "I've only seen it happen to science players until now and the reason for it is science players have memory blockages everywhere and I mean that. Most of us can't remember SAO's events, people, our research and stuff like normal players, but it's abnormal to remember your IRL research, family, and friends. That's why someone like me doesn't have a visiting day, we're not supposed to remember anything really."
Despite what Caylee said, Asuna knew the brunette remembered more than she seemed, just like Argo. From what Asuna had seen so far Caylee had no hesitation in remembering events, details, and even the programming inside SAO.
"The seizures result from the microscopic electrical currents that are blocking memories from being able to be consciously remembered, but if something with enough strength happens that is only able to half overpower the currents then this happens. Seizures, memories you're now mostly able to remember but with certain details missing, etc. These seizures are very rare and by the memory blockages numbers here in the base I believe only you and Kirito the Black Swordsman would ever suffer under them if they happen again."
Asuna nodded slowly, enough of the details registering for her to understand but a decent amount of it flying over her head due to how groggy and disoriented she felt. "How high is the risk that I will have another one?"
"Not very high," Caylee reassured the swordswoman, "they rarely happen to anyone more than once so I wouldn't worry too much about it." She stood up and picked the cup up with her as she went, "as for what I recommend, seeing how we don't have any trained doctors here on base, I recommend rest, supervision through the old buddy system, and try and mentally take it easy for the day."
Asuna felt her hand on her shoulder and she looked up at her, not sure what her expression was showing.
"I also recommend Asuna, especially for you, to talk to Liz or Argo about the memories you can now remember."
"Well we actually 'ave a visit from our parents in abou' ten minutes," Argo admitted to Caylee and Asuna grimaced. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with her unreasonable parents and older siblings right now. Well besides Argo, seeing how she was already here with her and wasn't going anywhere any time soon.
"Seriously?" Asuna looked at Argo with a sigh.
Argo nodded, "I agree, it's irritatin'."
"Alright, well you two have fun with that," Caylee walked over to Argo and leaned over, shocking the hell out of Liz and Asuna by giving the informant a casual kiss before she started to walk away. "Asuna practicing your sword as in practice swings and air fighting is fine-"
"Wait," Liz stared at the retreating brunette while Asuna had her attention fixed on Argo. "Did you…"
What did I just see? Asuna blinked, doubting her own vision. There was no way Argo, her older sister, got kissed by a girl Asuna had known longer than Liz.
Caylee ignored Liz, "just no guild activities, if somebody asks say it's because I said so." With that she was gone. Leaving one cool acting, but slightly pink Argo and two other shocked girls.
At Liz's intense stare now on her, Argo narrowed her eyes at her into a rare sharp glare.
"Ya tell anyone 'bout this and I'll blackmail ya so hard Rikka," her threat was emphasized by using Liz's real name. (Still working on getting back into Argo's accent)
Liz held her hands up, "okay okay, geez, as long as you actually told us about it I didn't need the threat to not say anything."
Argo turned to Asuna.
Asuna shook her head, "what am I going to use it for? Liz's the blabbermouth, not me Argo."
Liz opened her mouth to defend herself, then just sighed and closed it as she stood up. "Whatever, lets just get up from this floor and eat," she said as she offered a hand to Asuna to help her up.
Argo stood up and Asuna followed her lead, taking Liz's hand in the process.
I feel like I'm in some weird dream at this point, Asuna mentally groaned and hissed a little when her muscles protested in getting up. Random memories that I can remember, missing two hours from my day, and Argo getting kissed are enough weird events for at least a week.
Reviews are encouraged - Next chapter of the mini-series is already in progress! Along with a fluffier chapter written in the Lost Memories World (That one will probably come out first.)
P.S I maaay be obsessed with Caylee x Argo in this mini-series...
