Rewrote: 2/2/202.
Please keep reviewing and tell me if you like the new details that are being put in!
Sugu didn't know how long she sat there for but before she knew it, she engulfed in an embrace from her mother. The familiar action caused tears to fall from her eyes again as her mother stroked her back up and down in an attempt to calm her. Yet Sugu knew that if she looked up her mother would also been crying, no one expected this. No one was prepared to lose a member of their family. Even though the risk was there none of them thought that Kazuto would be one of the ones to die. She couldn't express the pain in any other way then tears and while she had lost her brother, her mother has not only lost her nephew and son but also the only thing she had left of her sister as well.
Kazuto's nurse -Nurse Aki Sugu remembered- walked in shortly after her mother. "I'm so sorry for your loss. He was too young to have to suffer through this." She said sadness lacing her tone, most of the Sword Art Online players were children excited to play a new game but instead they were thrown into a war that was rigged against them. Sugu turned back to her brother expecting to see no change, he was dead after all. Yet something shocked her, something had changed. Instead of that painfully peaceful expression that had haunted her for 2 years, his face was screwed up in pain. Sure, his heart rate had increased at times where they expected he was in battle but he never looked like he was in pain before.
Here was another mystery around this crazy event.
"Hey! His expressions changed!" She said quietly, her voice weak from crying. She didn't want to but she couldn't help but cling to this small hope, was something happening that would return her brother to her. Nurse Aki turned to look at her patient quickly moving towards him checking for a pulse or something. Anything that meant that this young boy was still alive. Yet she found nothing. She gasped and spun round to leave the room.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Sugu exclaimed as the nurse started walking away. Sugu couldn't believe what was happening, why was she leaving now when it could be possible that Kazuto was alive. She should be doing something!
"To check if the other patients are like this!" She called to the pair not turning back as she left the room. As the door shut behind her, Sugu and her mother turned back to Kazuto's body the drawn-out dreaded beep of the machine still in the background. Shakily Sugu copied Nurse Aki's movements checking for a pulse and sighed when she found none. She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. The small hope she had left was squashed out as she realised that her brother was truly dead, this change must have something to do with the Nerve Gear.
Suddenly, his body became surrounded by a turquoise light. "What the..." Midori whispered staring at her son. She, much like her daughter, had decided to give up hope that all these changes were a sign that he was alive. After a while his body shattered for lack of a better word into green-blue triangle shaped particles. Just like that the body was gone. The family members just stood and stared at the discarded Nerve Gear that lay on the now empty hospital bed. Midori clenched her fists in anger, not only had Akihiko Kayaba taken her son from her but he wasn't even going to give them to closure of burying their bodies.
"What just..." Sugu started to say before her voice failed her, her brother had just disappeared in what looked like video game particles from what she could tell. They looked like the particles that were in ALO and she had seen them many times but never in real life. She didn't even have time to mourn her brother and now he's gone.
The nurse walked in casually, no one noticed her until the door shut jolting both Midori and Sugu out of their thoughts. "So, it is everyone." She said casually as if someone shattering into particles was something that happened every day. To be honest when looking after comatose patients stuck in a video game for two years barely anything surprised her, besides no one knew what Akihiko Kayaba had planned.
"What do you mean!?" Midori exclaimed annoyance evident in her tone. While she held great respect for one of the people who kept Kazuto alive for so long, she was classing her nephew/son dying and technically blowing up as an everyday occurrence.
"Do you know how I said that all the Sword Art Online players died?" She said taking Midori's harsh tone in her stride. She smiled grimly as both of them nodded.
"Well, this happened to all of them as well." She said sadly as she looked at the discarded Nerve Gear and IV that was attached to Kazuto only a few moments prior.
*Mini time-skip brought to you by Grell chasing Sebastian. (If you get that reference ^V^)*
The Kirigaya's stayed in the hospital for the remainder of the day, talking to other families that have been affected by this tragedy. They had become close to some of them who they saw often, throughout all of this the biggest support they had was each other. All the conversations were suddenly interrupted as the TV screens flickered to life crackling until someone's voice became clear for everyone to hear.
"Hello everyone!" The voice said plainly. Everyone in the room looked at each other confused. While the rest of the country was in mourning for the over 4,000 lives lost this person seemed unaffected, happy even.
"I am Akihiko Kayaba." Sugu and Midori growled at the name of the man that took their loved one away from them. That man had become one of the most hated in the world, not that anyone could blame them for hating him.
"And I am here to bring you good and bad news." Confused murmurs echoed around the room, what was this good news this monster was talking about?
"As we speak the Cardinal is translating the codes from Sword Art Online into the real world. Earlier today all the alive SAO players disappeared in particles. Let me explain why." Sugu leaned forward curious about what this person had to say to explain himself. If what he was saying is true then maybe just maybe Kazuto was alive but was being... translated?
"As I said the Cardinal is creating the SAO server in real life. That includes the monsters as well. So, to help you defend yourselves I killed off the players real bodies and changed their avatars into their real body instead." He said with a hint of pride in his voice that made Sugu feel sick. Then it hit her. Kazuto was alive. Maybe he was one of the ones that were converted.
"You will find the players bodies outside the Tokyo General hospital, the players without family members should be relocated to the hospital until they awaken. You have a few hours to get them ready for when they wake up. At the beginning of the game, I changed their avatars appearance so it matched their real bodies, this will help you find your loved ones. When they awaken, they will be confused so you have forty-eight hours to debrief them before the Cardinal has completed the conversion and the monsters appear. Good day." And with that the screen turned off.
There was a brief moment of silence before the families ran towards the door of the hospital. As they opened the door gasps of shock echoed around. It was true, thousands of bodies were laying on the ground surrounding the hospital. The bodies all seemed real even if they were all in armour and had swords/weapons attached to them, Sugu knelt down next to the closest one feeling for a pulse. "They are all alive!" She said happily, it seemed like this was all the families needed before running around looking for the player that was a member of their family.
She ran around the bodies careful not to harm any of them looking for Kazuto, Kayaba said her brother should look like himself. A small part of her wondered if she would recognise her brother. For 2 years the only image of him she had was the helpless, gaunt figure on a hospital bed, but now he would be alive...
"Over here!" Her mother called over the sounds of the other families frantically searching or happy exclamations. Sugu ran towards where her mother was and gasped in shock and happiness. It was Kazuto. An older, more mature looking Kazuto but still him. He lay on his back, his eyes closed and his hair short. But what shocked her was that he was in full armour with two swords attached to his back. "Mom." She said voice laced with happiness. "He's back!" She exclaimed jumping and hugging her mother laughing.
Sugu looked around noticing that some of the younger players were already waking up while her brother remained motionless. She looked to her mother nervously but relaxed at the reassuring smile sent her way. "He's fine." Midori said answering Sugu's silent question. "Looks like the conversion took a toll on his energy." She said as she smoothed Kazuto's hair back in hope of comforting him.
Sugu couldn't help but smile more as she looked around, she jumped as she noticed a girl around Kazuto's age next to his body. She had long orange-brownish chestnut hair and she had a ring on her right hand. She looked at her curiously, this woman obviously married someone quickly in case they did not survive. She silently wondered if he was alive or if he was nearby.
"Sugu. Lets take him home." Midori said picking up Kazuto bridal style and walking towards the car. "Coming!" She said happily, her thoughts about the nearby woman disappearing.
Her brother was finally home.
And that was all that mattered to her.
