A/N: I apologize if the previous chapter seemed rough. It will definitely get revised, but I know that if I hadn't put something out there, this whole thing would have never happened.

The chapter after this will have a little more direct quotation from canon, but that should be most of it.

I would like to thank Agent 94 and Patient 0 Zero for their comments, and, Agent 94, for what's it's worth, I agree with you. That will be address in a couple chapters, once I know who these people are. Patient 0 Zero, hopefully that will be cleared up with time, unless the characters fight me on that.

Anyway, without further adieu, Chapter 2, for your reading pleasure.

In the first two weeks after the announcement of the true nature of the game, thirteen hundred more players would die. The world was suffocating its players, snuffing them out, one by one. Guilds had begun to form. The Aincrad Liberation Force was the first true power to emerge, with several of the game's most charismatic warriors leading the charge. The Town of Beginnings was a safe haven for every player who needed one.

Asuna had spent the next few days hidden away in the inn. She'd saved up enough before the world fell apart to do at least that much. She couldn't stand going outside anymore. The laughter, the excitement, the joy had all dissipated. Everyone was still in shock. Some people were recovering, however slowly. It felt like only about half of the game's players were willing to brave the wilderness. She certainly wasn't. One wrong move and she'd just be dead. No respawns, no second chances. Any doubt about Kayaba's words had vanished within the first day. Too many people went out to fight, and not all of them came back. Not one of them showed up in the Chamber of Resurrection.

She remembered waking up in Aincrad for the first time. She'd panicked. The stone ceiling, the old fashioned furnishings, none of it belonged in her room. She'd jolted upright, trying to figure out what had happened, where she was. It took her a few moments, but she eventually noticed her own health bar in the top left corner of her vision. It all came flooding back, the boars, the laughter, the chatter, all burst back into her mind. She remembered the announcement, the faceless red figure. She was trapped here. She might die here. She broke down in that moment. She curled up, put her chin on her knees, and cried.

She'd done more than her share of crying those first two days. She didn't know what else to do. She was trapped. They all were. She couldn't get that notion out of her head. She didn't eat that day. When asked later, she couldn't remember what she did. She just knew that those were two of the longest days of her life.

Kirito and Sinon had moved quickly, doing everything they could stay one step ahead of the other former beta testers they knew might be out here, doing the same thing they were doing. Aincrad was no friend to its players anymore. The moment of admiration they'd shared with Klein the other day was a thing of the past. Now they just saw walls. A prison for their mind.

Kirito lost himself in battle. Each new enemy they came across, he threw himself at. He knew it was dangerous, but he wasn't stupid. He never took on overwhelming odds. Besides, there was no way to get out of here anymore without taking some risks. They could have stayed in the safety of the Town of Beginnings. But there was only so much experience to go around. Only so much money. Now was going to be the easiest time to level up, before other players starting poaching the same creatures. He let his hatred for Akihiko Kayaba drive him to survive, if only to spite Kayaba, for those first few days.

Sinon was grateful she had no attacks while she was in here. It was a game of death now, but not of killing. That let her cope with her new situation. She found it easier day by day. The fighting built her confidence. She knew she could beat these things, even without the comfort of the ability to respawn. Not that she didn't know that before, but just the knowledge that any stray wound could be fatal if she let her guard down had made her question herself. She proved to be more accurate the Kirito, if not as proficient with a sword. She was comfortable with that. Once they reached the next town, she'd be able to acquire better weapons. Ranged weapons.

On the third day, Asuna forced herself to get up and get out of that room. She needed to eat at least, or her health was going to start deteriorating. She had enough things in this world trying to kill her without adding herself to the list. She dragged herself outside and was surprised to feel the warmth of the sun on her skin. She'd forgotten how real the world felt. She supposed the inn had been comfortable, now that she thought about it, but that was the furthest thing from her mind recently.

She found a cafe, something nice and public, and ordered a couple items nearly at random. She was more preoccupied with the feel of the town than what virtual food she was going to eat. Things had changed. The despair, betrayal, anger, all seemed to have settle in. It all felt a little further from the surface.. Things weren't boiling over the way they had been. She paid for her food and thoughtlessly thanked the NPC who was running the cafe. She took an open seat, a wooden bench tucked against the wall, looking in on the rest of the cafe. She ate slowly, alone with her thoughts.

"Mind if I sit here?" A voice cut into Asuna's thoughts. A brunette lady in green clothes was standing in front of her. Asuna had never seen the lady before, but she seemed nice enough.. Asuna didn't say anything, just waved at the seat. She wasn't going to turn down company any time soon.

"My name's Karin," the brunette player informed her as she sat down. "I don't really know anyone, and you looked like you could use some company. . ." her voice trailed off, slightly embarrassed with herself. She wasn't the best at introductions.

Asuna gave a small smile. Now that she looked, most of the people in the room were here with friends. How had she missed that? "No worries. You're right, anyway. My name's Asuna."

The other girl smiled in relief when she realized that she hadn't messed up. "Asuna? Well, good to meet you, Asuna," she paused for a moment, taking a bite out of her food. Then, having swallowed, asked, "You think we can really do it?"

Asuna looked at her quizzically for a moment. "Do what?"

"Clear all one hundred floors. Do you think it's really possible?"

"Oh, that, sorry. I don't know. I like to think so. I'd hate to be trapped here for the rest of my life." She'd hate even more to die here.

"Yeah. Me too," Karin looked past her for a moment. She snapped back to reality a moment later. "I was supposed to have a history test today. Doesn't seem so important now."

Asuna held back a laugh. "Well, maybe you really should have been studying, instead of gaming."

Karin gave her a horrified look. "Anything is better than school. Anything." She looked dead serious for a moment. The facade quickly cracked, and she was taken by giggles. She was trying to stay positive. Fighting the memories of the friends she might never see again. "At least with this I can take my time on. Those tests'll get you in under an hour."

Asuna found herself laughing at the comment. It wasn't that she found it funny, it was just refreshing that they could try. She hadn't even tried to laugh in days. Still smiling, she confided, "You know, I haven't left the town since the announcement was made."

Karin just gave a nod in response, the giggles gone. "Me neither. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I want to help, but I don't know if I'm cut out for the frontlines."

"Why's that?" Asuna inquired.

"I. . . I don't know. I just feel like that's not where I need to be. Sure, I can fight, and I'll have to, since those animals really can kill people now, but I'm not spectacular. I'm no good for clearing dungeons. Just not sure what I can do." Karin was looking at her hands, folding them, interlocking her fingers. She was obviously uncomfortable admitting she didn't plan on being a fighter. She looked up after a few moments, having regained her composure. "What about you? You planning on going back to the front?"

It was Asuna's turn to shy away from eye contact. She suddenly found something very interesting on the table in front of her. "I haven't given it any thought. I'm too scared. I just want to live," she honestly wanted to just hide in her room until the game was finished, but she didn't think that would work. "I don't know what to do. I can fight. The boars didn't seem too tough. But I don't know. That was when players were immortal, you know? Just die, lose some items, wake back up and go right back at it. Now. . . We've already lost so many."

Karin put a hand on her new friend's shoulder. There were no light hearted conversations to be had in Aincrad right now. Not if anyone was being honest with themselves. "Hey, that's alright. None of us know what we're doing right now." Karin hadn't checked yet how many people had been lost. She wasn't always sure she wanted to know.

Asuna gave her a half-hearted smile, but there wasn't much substance to it. "I'm sorry to end things on such a downer note, but I need to be going. I need to figure these things out for myself."

The other girl nodded knowingly. "That's fine. Hey, tell you what, meet here again tomorrow, same time?" Karin made a point of checking the time as she asked, knowing she may well forget, given everything that was going on.

Asuna nodded, then excused herself. She made her way back to the inn. The girl had asked a fair question. What did she do now? Did she keep fighting? Now that she thought about it, how much did she have to go back to, anyway? Her mom and dad loved her, sure, but sometimes, sometimes it was just more than she could take. And her brother. . . her brother. She'd forgotten. This wasn't even supposed to be her spot in the game. It was his. She'd taken his spot. She smiled, the half-hearted smile that she'd been wearing so much lately. At least she'd found a way to pay him back. She cried herself to sleep for the third night in a row.

Kirito and Sinon stuck together through the following days. The game's second town was almost empty when they arrived, but people slowly began to trickle in. They quickly found that there were only a few other players who were as successful as them, but the game was already starting to be split off into various guilds. Kirito didn't care to be part of one, not yet. He was going to clear this game. He was going to beat Kayaba. His overwhelming anger had subdued somewhat. He would live, for himself, and for those who were trapped. To do that, he needed to fight. He didn't want to be weighed down, he was doing well enough on his own. Well, he and Sinon. They'd stuck together. They each had their reasons. She was acting reckless, throwing herself into the fray, pushing herself to the edge, trying to get to the next town, and he felt he needed to protect her. She was his friend, after all.

Sinon felt the same way. She needed to be strong. She would be strong. But Kirito was reckless, bordering on crazy sometimes. Luckily for the two of them, they were both good. They'd worn through a few weapons at this point, but they'd accrued more than enough funds to replace their old weapons. He was still using just one sword, no shield, nothing else. She'd managed to pick up throwing darts, for the moment. She'd find better ranged weapons later, but at least now she could play to her strengths.

This was another of their monster hunting days. They'd just finished clearing the last of the beasts in the area. More wildlife animals. Boars, big cats, the like. Nothing particularly magical yet. To her, the fighting was just part of the day. Sometimes she enjoyed it. Sometimes it was wearisome. But it was something, and that was what counted.

"Hey Kirito," she started, finally deciding to ask something that had been bugging her for sometime, "what gives? What's with you and this game?"

Kirito blinked at her, he was sitting on the ground, trying to catch his breath. "What do you mean? This game is trying to kill us."

Sinon sighed. "I figured that out. I mean why are you so fixated on this? Why did you yell Kayaba's name when we started all of this? When we were running, you seemed lost in thought. I'm not sure you even realized you said it out loud."

"Why am I so fixated on Kayaba, then? Aside from him trying to kill us?"

"Yeah. Most of us were angry, or hurt. It seemed personal to you. The anger in your tone was different from mine or Klein's. We were disbelieving. You were certain. And ticked."

Kirito was a bit surprised by the examination. He hadn't thought anyone was paying that much attention to anyone else when Kayaba's avatar had made is announcement. "I guess I did feel like it was personal. I was a fan of his. Had been for a long time. To see someone I looked up to for so long suddenly turn out to be such a monster. . . I don't know. I guess it felt like a betrayal." He noticed the look on her face in response to that last part. "A personal betrayal."

"I guess that makes sense. I hadn't done much research on him apart from the game itself. Sorry, was just trying to put it into place. So why yell at him? You think he could hear you?"

"I don't think so. Even as the GM, I don't see how he could process ten thousand people all the time. No. I was just angry. I couldn't think about anything but beating him. Escaping this reality and keeping myself alive. I had to get out. I had to keep moving forward."

"Does it ever bother you that we left all those people behind?"

Kirito paused here, looking at his feet, betraying his response. "We need people on the front line, fighting. This game needs to be cleared. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. But everytime I'm around people I keep hearing about the body count going up. The game is emptying way too quickly. I feel guilty sometimes, yeah, but I'm not sure I could have done anything else."

Kirito looked around again. He could lose himself in the heat of battle. He didn't have to think. He could just act. Maybe that was how he got past it. He knew that, as one of the beta testers, more would be expected of him. People acted like they should just do everything, could fix everything. The testers were human too.

"What about you, Sinon? You started talking about becoming strong that night. What was that about?" he inquired, feeling that it was only fair that he was allowed his own questions.

"The game is trying to kill us, Kirito. Strength is kinda important."

It was his turn to sigh in response. "There was more to it in your voice. There was steel in it. I thought you said you panicked."

Her face just fell slightly. She thought for a moment. "I do feel guilty for those people behind. But I'm not sure what we could do for them. Kayaba betrayed us all. They idolized us yesterday, we were so lucky, remember? They kept saying that. Now, they're entitled to our everything. I want to help, but there's no way we can do enough." Her voice turned bitter for a moment, "Sometimes, you can give everything to help someone. Make any sacrifice. They'll still throw it back in your face."

Kirito decided it was better not to push his luck. He turned his attention back to the horizon. These were long days ahead. He'd find out in time. For now, they were alive, and they weren't alone. That was good enough.

Asuna and Karin made a habit of meeting up for the next few days. They talked about anything. They talked about nothing. Sometimes they just tried to enjoy the scenery, to remember the time when this whole thing was just a game for everyone. The reality had set in now. They were imprisoned here.

Karin had returned to clearing the floor. Asuna still wasn't ready for that. Things were getting easier but. . . names just kept creeping off the list, the monument where the Chamber of Resurrection should have been placed. Every name of every player. Crossed out one at a time. Asuna had only gone in there once. It had been more than enough for her.

It had been a week and a half now, and around nine hundred people had died. The streets seemed quieter, though Asuna knew that might just be the dwindling number of people who stayed behind. Asuna still couldn't bring herself to leave her room except to eat. She was running out of funds, but by now some of the shops were being taken over by players characters. She was sure she could find better prices with them sometime soon.

She and Karin were walking along the edge of Aincrad, admiring the view, when Karin began talking. "It feels hopeless out there, you know? Every day, every time I'm out there, I watch someone new die. I don't know them. I've usually never met them before. But I keep feeling like I couldn't do enough. Like I should be stronger." Karin had been voicing these feelings for a few days now. The front really seemed to be getting to her.

"You can't blame yourself. Everyone out there is responsible for their own safety, right? It's not like you can do anything that everyone else can't," Asuna found herself in the awkward position of playing depressed counselor. At least she'd gotten used to it. And at least it made her feel useful.

Karin's face shifted a little, she looked more distant all of a sudden. "I wish I could say that were true," she began, registering the confused look on Asuna's face, "but I've been here for months longer than anyone else. I remember when the open sky was beautiful. When this game was a means of escape."

It dawned on Asuna what she was talking about. No one used the word anymore. It had become the game's own internal racial slur. Her eyes widened as she asked, "Are, are you a. . . a. . ." she couldn't bring herself to say it. The word had turned ugly. Beta testers were blamed for anything and everything that went wrong in this world.

"Yes, I'm a beta tester," Karin finished, almost spitting the word. It had become a burden, a curse. "That's why I'm out there fighting. I let hundreds of people die while I panicked. I let people who didn't know how to play fight in my place. We've lost eight hundred and fifty three people. And I can't tell you the name of one of them," she started walking towards the edge.

Asuna reached out to grab her, to pull her back, but Karin shrugged her off. "Is that why you reached out to me?" Asuna asked, unsure of how she felt about either answer.

"No. Yes. A little of both," Karin had turned, her back now to the golden abyss. "You looked like you needed a friend. I know I did. I still do. Wouldn't have lasted as long as I did without you. But just as I felt it was my duty to try and help you here, it's been my duty to fight on the battlefield. And I didn't. I abandoned everyone. I can't make up for that. When I dream, I see the blood on my hands."

"You're human, Karin. You can only do so much," Asuna tried to calm her friend.

"I could have told people. I could have stood at the gates and made sure people didn't run off on their own. I could have done more." Her voice was starting to break. "I could have done more."

"You've done every-"

"Don't tell me that!" Karin's voice broke. "Don't tell me that. You don't have to live with the mocking. I hear them, everyday. Everyday someone remembers the beta testers. Remembers the things we didn't do. Most of us ran off on their own to start fighting. Maybe to help clear the stages, maybe to get stronger, keep themselves alive. I didn't have the strength to do both. I can never do enough. I hear them in my dreams. I feel their eyes boring into me. I can't do it, Asu. I can't survive this game. I deserve this." Her voice was broken, but there was conviction behind it now.

"You deserve to live, Karin. You've done everything you can to help people. You're out there fighting every day, aren't you?"

Karin laughed, a dry, mirthless laugh. "I'm out there. But half of the time I can't even bring myself to fight on the front lines. I let others die in front of me. How sick is that? I just cower and let them die. I don't deserve to go on."

"Yes you-"

"No. I don't." She yelled the last word. "I don't. I can't take it anymore. Just promise me one thing, Asuna. Promise me you can be stronger than me. Promise me you won't let this game beat you."

Asuna tried to step forward but Karin shook her head. "Why did you bring me out here? Why are you telling me this?"

Karin was crying now. "Because I don't want to be forgotten. I wanted someone to know. I wanted to scream it to the world, but they don't care. You're the closest friend I have in Aincrad. Maybe my only friend. More than I deserve. Don't let this game beat you. Promise me that."

Asuna tried to speak, but a lump stuck in her throat. She could only nod as tears started to form in her eyes. Karin stepped backward into nothing. Asuna couldn't bear to watch. She cried herself to sleep again that night.

Asuna kept her promise. That was the last night she cried herself to sleep for a long time. She'd promised her friend not to let this game beat her. She left the inn the next day changed. she wasn't the scared little girl she'd been days before. She purchased a cloak as she headed towards the plains. She wasn't here to socialize anymore. She was here to help clear this game. To fight on the front lines. If she died, fine. But she wouldn't do it cowering in her room. She was going to keep on living, whatever that meant in this world.

She had purpose in her eyes and her stride as she came across the roaming boars. She remembered the speed she felt the day she started the game. Back when this had been a matter of fun, not survival. She focused, poured herself into the moment, and dashed forward. The boar charged back, squealing its battle cry. She speared it with her blade, right through the eye, and sidestepped it, continuing on her way, not bothering to look at it as it dissolved into shards. Two more stood in her way. Her blade seemed to be too quick for them. They'd both been gouged repeatedly before they could hit her. Again, she twirled around them and ran, her cloak flowing in the wind.

A/N: I think I've found my version of Asuna, though the release of Mother's Rosario in the anime may change that. As for this chapter, I felt that there had to be something to cause the whole cape thing in episode two, and just that in a month, something interesting had to have happened.