Chapter 2: Extraction
Day 1 - Dawn
"Ready?" Yukino whispered as she shakily pulled out the tweezers and disinfectant from the first-aid kit that he had found, "I'll need you to hold her down or she may end up endangering herself."
Hachiman nodded, swallowing his words of doubt and protest as he strapped a seatbelt over Yui's unconscious figure, unsure if it was the best idea. Yet, they had no other choice but to clean and clear her injuries of glass before they could dress the wounds, and there was truly no better time to do so when she was soundly asleep in a relatively stable condition, especially when the delicate operation involved her eye of all things.
Not that he liked this at all. Not one bit.
"Make sure to keep track of her pulse and warn me immediately if she starts to react adversely," Yukino reminded as she drew in a deep breath to focus and steady her hands which could not seem to stop trembling.
"Relax, Yukino," he assured, squeezing her palms tightly even as he could barely hold in his own anxiety, "You can do this."
"I can if you let go of me, Hikigaya-kun," came the reply as she turned a little red, "I-I'm good now, thanks."
Gritting his teeth to steel himself, Hachiman pressed down on Yui's wrists to secure her firmly to the cushion as his girlfriend inched forward and started to pick away at the fragments. He could only watch in unnerving suspense as she cautiously navigated each piece out of damaged flesh, praying that the pink-haired airhead would continue to remain in a state of natural anaesthesia, even as she was probably stuck in a horrible pain-induced nightmare.
"I'm going for her eye," Yukino exhaled, pausing to catch her breath, "It's the last piece but make sure she doesn't start moving or the shard could sink deeper."
"Wait," he grunted, carefully stuffing some cloth into Yui's mouth to prevent her from biting her tongue before holding her in a vice-like grip.
With that, Yukino inhaled deeply and began the final extraction, tweezers clipping onto the jagged fragment lodged in the burst cornea before applying pressure to slide it out. Gulping, he looked away, forcing himself to concentrate on Yui's pulse and breathing as Yukino struggled with the stubborn edges stuck in flesh, with only the pale illumination of a flashlight to guide her hands.
Much to their alarm, Yui's chest began to heave, as if about to stir in a fit of panic.
"Hold her still!" Yukino managed to hiss before a muffled scream filled the air.
"Hurry up!" he snapped as he wrestled with Yui, who was trashing about like a wounded beast and trying her hardest to break out of her restraints.
"Almost there!" Yukino growled, exerting to pull the fragment out as Yui let out another tortured cry, blood streaking from her eye instead of tears. Unable to comprehend the agony and excruciation, she continued to sob uncontrollably as Yukino patched her up and Hachiman untied her, allowing her to relax for the first time since they began.
He half-expected the tight slaps across his face as he bowed in sincere apology.
"Yuigahama-san!" Yukino cried, hugging her and asking her to stop as she explained what had happened. It took a while for Yui to calm down, her expression changing from tortured rage and frustration to genuine confusion and disbelief.
"T-This is just another nightmare like the one I had, isn't it?" she stammered, unable to accept the ugly truth, "W-Why can't I see out of my left eye? Why is it so painful and why can't I stop crying?"
"Because it's real, Yui," Yukino replied, biting her lip as she handed the airhead a mirror to see for herself.
Her jaw dropped when she saw the bandage across her eye, glass shattering on the floor as she let go in utter shock and surprise. Jolting to her feet, she nearly hyperventilated as she took in the burning wreckage and the lifeless masses hanging from their seats, a cruel, merciless hell of torment and suffering.
With an anguished cry she fell to her knees, tearing at her hair, the harsh, undeniable, immutable reality dawning upon her in the dim light and bitter snow filtering through the torn cabin. What had she ever done to deserve any of this? All she wanted to do was to spend some time with her dear friends, to cherish her last summer break at Soubu High which she had hoped would last forever.
Yet here she was, having lost an eye and part of her cheek, yet so very lucky to be alive.
"Onii-chan, Yukino-senpai," a soft voice muttered as a hand clasped his, "Yui-senpai and Iroha-senpai are both stable and awake, so let's check on the other passengers, shall we?"
"Yes, Komachi," was all he said as he saluted the girl who was truly a member of the Student Council and the President of the Service Club.
"Let's help the rest," Yukino echoed as she wobbled to her feet, only to fall back onto the cushion, grasping her knees in agony.
"Just go, you two!" she urged, shooing them away before they could even ask, "Whatever it is, I'll take care of it myself."
Don't push yourself, Yukino, he thought aloud as he reluctantly turned to leave, I'll carry you off this mountain if I have to.
In the dim light of dawn, Hachiman and Komachi went to work, joined quietly by a young man in black and his two female companions as they checked and inspected each and every motionless body for signs of life, careful - desperate - not to miss the slightest sense of warmth. Yet, all they could feel and hold in their quivering hands were stiff, icy, unresponsive corpses that had died from various injuries, internal and external - not that there were many rows in the broken tail end that had remained relatively intact. Hachiman counted twenty-nine casualties, excluding the innumerable disentangled masses of charred flesh lining the ground around the rest of the aircraft that was still in flames.
"How many?" the young man in black asked no one in particular as Hachiman struggled to suppress the nagging thought that they may have been able to save a few lives in the time it took to help their own friends.
Stop blaming yourself, Hachiman, you can't save everyone, he reminded himself, even as he could not bring himself to meet the blank, lifeless stares of two dozen dead teenagers who were living, breathing and screaming barely two hours ago.
"How many are dead, Asuna?" the young man repeated his question.
"Does it matter?" Hachiman snarled, clenching his fists, unable to look at his own bloodstained palms, "Why don't you count them yourself?
"Twenty-eight, excluding the hundreds that we can't even begin to count in that wreckage ahead," came the firm reply as he gazed resolutely at the frozen faces, as if to burn their final expressions into his memory, "I will not let anyone else die here, that is my vow and my resolve. Not when the twelve of us, including our android friend, have survived on so many sacrifices."
For a long while, Hachiman could only stare at him in puzzlement and curiosity, rendered speechless by his sudden declaration that nobody had asked for.
Who on earth is this guy? Who does he think he is to be making such promises as if they don't mean a thing? And did he really just say 'android friend'?
"Name's Kirito by the way," the young man extended his hand, and Hachiman was surprised by the warmth, "This is my girlfriend Asuna and my little sister Suguha."
"Hachiman," he muttered, still a little taken aback by his forwardness and candour, "And my little sister Komachi. First names are fine with me."
"Thanks for helping," Kirito bowed before continuing in a serious tone, "Now that we're done with first-aid, does anyone have a functioning phone that we can use to call for help?"
"None of our devices seem to be working," Komachi was quick to report, "They're all dead for some reason."
"I hate to do this but I guess we'll just have to try theirs," he muttered, motioning at the rows of bodies.
For the next few minutes, they fumbled and dug through bloodied pockets in search of a usable device. Yet, much to their chagrin, most of the phones were out of order, and the few of the older models that worked were out of signal range.
"What the hell," Hachiman cursed, frustrated, "Where are we, in the Himalayas?"
"I don't know, onii-chan," she sighed, shrugging, "I think most of us were either asleep or watching movies when it happened, and I doubt anyone here was paying attention to the in-flight feed in the middle of the night."
"Based on the approximate timing of the crash, we should be around the midway point between Europe and Japan - in West Asia or Eastern Europe," Asuna suggested, referring to the frozen hands on her broken watch.
"Thanks, but I don't think it really matters without any real bearings or sense of direction," he said dryly, "What's important now is to decide if we should stay here and await rescue for god-knows-how-long in freezing conditions or risk venturing for lower altitudes without a proper map for navigation."
"Well, about that," Kirito pondered for a moment, choosing his words carefully as he spoke, "I'd say we can stay here for a few more hours for our injured friends to rest up. But we'll have to make preparations to head out because help won't be coming."
"W-What do you mean?" the others spluttered in unison.
"That girl Alice over there is a national asset," he explained, gesturing at the android who appeared to be beyond dead to Hachiman and Komachi, "RATH's been tracking our flight the entire time and should've come to retrieve her at first notice. Yet a few hours have passed and we haven't seen the slightest trace of them, have we?"
"B-But why?" it was Asuna's turn to ask in the burning silence.
"Because it wasn't an accident, Asuna, our aircraft was knocked out of the sky by an Electro-Magnetic Pulse."
"An EMP? You must be kidding, right?"
"Think about it - a bright flash exploded in the sky the same time Alice froze, and the plane lost all power halfway through the captain's announcement. Even our phones–"
"C-Couldn't it have been lightning?"
"We were flying high above the clouds in relatively calm weather, and I don't remember encountering any turbulence. And I honestly don't think any regular storm would've been powerful enough to strike down a modern commercial airliner with protective countermeasures, while also frying dozens of phones and a sophisticated android within the fuselage which would've acted as a Faraday cage."
"B-But this can't be–" she broke down, collapsing to her knees.
"I'm sorry, Asuna, but I'm afraid the situation may actually be worse than we think - as you know, an EMP of this magnitude could've only been caused by a nuclear explosion, and I saw multiple flashes in the horizon–"
"Stop! This is absolutely crazy," Hachiman snapped, ready to walk away at the sheer ridiculousness of his explanation, but found himself unable to refute his arguments. Geopolitical tensions between the East and the West had indeed been simmering in the past few months, and all it would have taken to end the age of man, to wipe out, destroy, obliterate human civilisation from the face of planet Earth would be but a few lines of code and key-turns with no chance for guilt, remorse or regret.
"I really hope I'm wrong about this," Kirito exhaled through gritted teeth, "But we'd know soon enough if I am. If the world hasn't ended, this place would be crawling with RATH agents in a few hours. But if it has–"
He left his sentence hanging in the silence.
"We'll just have to fight on, onii-chan," Suguha exclaimed, glaring at the distance in raw determination, "We didn't survive a plane crash to die on mountain."
"Of course," was all he could say as he hugged her in a tight embrace, the rays of the rising sun warming his back.
Thank you, Sugu. I didn't live through a death game to give up in real life.
Hours seemed to drag on like decades as they laboured in the frost, throwing open luggage bags and ransacking suitcases for precious food and water. It had turned out to be more difficult than expected for Kirito to explain the complexity of the situation to Yui and Keiko, though they were quick to join in the efforts to help salvage whatever they could from the doomed plane and its dead passengers, if only to distract themselves from the ubiquitous reminders of their pain and trauma, and to find a renewed meaning and purpose to persevere and work towards amidst the bitter, soul-draining cold.
Slowly but surely, a sizeable pile of supplies began to form, only to seem so pathetically little and insufficient when Yukino systematically redistributed the messy heap into a dozen equal packs of provisions. Grunting in exertion, Hachiman told himself to try harder as he tore through the plane, searching every inch, nook and cranny for usable supplies from aircraft food and bottled water to batteries and hand-tools to medicines and extra layers of clothing, while Kirito focused on creating sleds out of fabric bags held together with plastic wraps to accommodate the unconscious Rika and the ever-motionless Alice.
Yet, as the sun approached its zenith, Hachiman found himself counting down the minutes that passed like years, no longer able to concentrate on the task at hand. The inevitable moment of truth was drawing close, the deadline they had set upon themselves to decide their fates hanging in the balance. To continue waiting or to leave for good was the question of a lifetime - with no other options, choices or alternatives nor room for errors and second chances.
"L-Let's check out the rest of the aircraft, shall we?" Hachiman stammered, pulling on a sweater and venturing out into the snow before he could even receive a reply. He was halfway through before he realized that Kirito was following closely behind, clad in a black jacket which stood out against the snow.
"You really like that colour huh," he muttered half-heartedly, unsure if he really cared to hear the answer.
"It's a long story, Hachiman, but I think it kind of stuck on after I equipped the Midnight Cloak, which marked a new beginning for me, for better or worse, as a beater and an outcast in the game."
"I won't pretend to understand any of that lingo mumbo-jumbo, Kirito, but I know what it means to be a loner and you don't seem to be one."
"Well, I guess things changed after she died, and I went all the way to an icy plain like this one to kill an event boss, only to find that she was already long gone and couldn't be revived. Ever."
"I-I see," Hachiman remarked simply, touched by the genuine sense of grief behind what he had thought to be just a game, of all things.
"Sorry, I just felt like saying it," Kirito exhaled, his warm breath forming a cloud of condensation as he stopped before the smouldering husk of the aircraft, careful not to step on the glowing ash and heated dust, "I guess I got a little nostalgic, but we really can't hold on and stall for time forever, when there's nothing left for us here but death and painful memories."
"B-But–"
"It's time to go, Hachiman, rescue is late and won't be coming," he breathed, turning to leave, "I'm no longer a solo player, so come join our party and let's clear this game together."
"I'm sorry, Kirito," cried the bespectacled short-haired girl as she stumbled through the snow to greet them on their way back, "I-I just couldn't–"
"It's okay, Shino," he assured, patting her head, "I understand - we all do - and we're just glad that you've come round after all."
"I'll be strong, I swear. Just like Sinon."
"As long as that's what Shino wants," he smiled, ruffling her hair.
"H-Hikki," stammered the pink-haired airhead beside Shino as she too bowed in apology, "Sorry–"
"How're you feeling?" he cut her short before she could finish.
"Better, thanks to you and–"
"That's good to hear. Let's get moving then, while the sun is still up."
"Hikki, I–" she trailed off, stepping aside as he continued to walk towards the tail-end of the aircraft where Yukino and the others were waiting.
Hachiman was pleasantly surprised to see that Iroha was finally awake, a little dizzy and weak but otherwise stubborn as usual in declaring that she would have to work doubly hard to make up for having slept through the morning. Rika, however, was still unconscious, as was Alice, and it seemed that neither of them would be stirring anytime soon.
Glancing at the sun that had begun to drift west, Kirito could only steel himself as he lifted Rika from her seat and placed her carefully on one of the sleds that he had made, and was about to do the same for Alice when Yukino suddenly spoke up.
"Is there space for one more?" she asked, biting her lip, "I think I must've hurt my knees in the crash, I-I can't seem to feel my legs. I-I'm sorry I–"
"Yukino!" Hachiman and Yui almost shouted, exploding with worry and concern.
"Of course," came the simple reply, "Hachiman, can you help me with Alice? She's a little…heavy. We'll just place her with Rika and leave the other sled for your girlfriend."
Hachiman tried not to look at the android's wide-open eyes as they lifted her stiff, motionless body to the empty spot beside Rika. Kirito left Yukino to him in order to make final preparations, and in the speechless silence, Hachiman could not help but turn a little red as he inched towards her.
"Trust me, I don't like this either," she sighed, blushing in a bright shade of crimson, "I really would've preferred to stand on my own feet if I could. But if you're going to carry me, you'll have to come closer."
"S-Sorry," he muttered, averting his eyes in embarrassment as he lifted her in a bridal-carry, "You're right, I-I don't like this at all."
He jumped a little as she clung on to him, grasping his shoulders as she made herself comfortable. She felt soft in his arms, her warm breath and long, black hair tickling his cheek as he brought her to the sled parked outside.
"I-I was just holding on for my own safety," she insisted, tightening her grip to emphasise her point, "D-Don't you dare drop me, Mr. Dead-Fish Eyes, you hear? It kind of hurts so you'll have to be gentle."
Focusing his full strength and attention, he plopped her onto the fabric as tenderly as he could, helping her extend her legs before draping a blanket over the skin exposed by her rather short pants. It was supposed to late summer after all in both Europe and Japan, and she had only managed to pull on an extra pair of leggings amidst her injuries and the nonstop flurry of activity.
"Don't think about anything else and just rest," he assured, holding on to the rope with Komachi as Yui supported Iroha, "The journey may be a little bumpy, but I hope you'll bear with us."
I'll try my very best, Hikigaya-kun, she told herself as she pushed the bottle of pain pills deeper into her pocket, but thank you for bearing with this weak and useless version of me.
A/N: And the plot thickens with our group of 12 survivors (7 from SAO: Kirito, Asuna, Suguha, Rika, Keiko, Shino, Alice + 5 from Oregairu: Hachiman, Yukino, Yui, Komachi, Iroha) deciding to take matters into their own hands instead of waiting for help that may never come.