AN: Hey everybody! How's it going? I'm good. Personally dealing with Lent. It's good, and it's an excuse to eat fish in a landlocked area. Always good.

Responses!

To Gamelover41592: I'm glad you liked the last chapter. After this one, we go back to Jaune, Ruby, and Sora for their adventure in Gaia. I hope that this chapter is a good conclusion to the SAO:A world and that you have as much fun with it as I did!

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. After this chapter is over, we are four or five chapters from the final stretch of the story! It's been a long time coming, but we are right there!

Chapter 27: Roses in December

Mercury wanted to die. Heathcliff was trying to give some kind of uplifting speech or something, but given his audience that was going about as well as could be expected. He'd tried doing the whole thing about 'fighting as a single sword,' really driving that teamwork angle. Predictably, someone had immediately responded with, "Uh, I feel like multiple swords would be more effective, Sir."

Then he tried to explain that it was a metaphor. Which lead to explaining what a metaphor was. But that got ignored. People wanted to be warhammers, or daggers. And then Ruby decided to jump in, because why wouldn't she? "No, let's be a scythe! We are the grim reaper of our enemies, cutting them down like wheat!" she shouted, voice getting 'low' and 'threatening' towards the end.

"... Yeah!" someone shouted from the crowd. Someone started chanting 'Scythe, scythe, scythe!' and then it just caught on. Currently, Heathcliff was trying to get everyone to focus on the bossfight instead of the chanting. He looked like a very broken man.

Finally, Heathcliff just turned towards the door. "Christ, at least you finally agree on something," he grumbled before shoving the door open and walking through, the mob following and still chanting.

"Just as popular as her sister," Kirito noted dryly as he watched Ruby lead the mob into the room. "How do they do that?"

"Well for one, they treat the little people like people," Asuna pointed out, jabbing Kirito in the ribs. "And for another, they're girls in a game that's, like, 95% teenage boys. They could say hi and inspire a mob."

"Since you don't inspire mobs, something must be super wrong with you, right?" Mercury asked Asuna.

"I will kill your dog," she replied coldly, eyes not even glancing towards him.

Genie nodded. "I think I know what's wrong with her, Silver." He turned his gaze towards Kirito. "You apparently like... 'strong women,' eh Poor-man's-Guts?"

Kirito began to say something, but it was quickly drowned out by a massive screech that echoed down from the ceiling as the last of the players entered the room. The doors creaked shut behind them, trapping the party in the boss room. Fires slowly ignited around the edges of the room, casting an eerie light over everything. The walls began to glow. And from the ceiling, all present could see a Heartless of black bone and scythe-like centipede legs dangling, its yellow eyes filled with hunger for the tiny humans below. It dropped, easily turning to land on its many sharp legs. The massive head, shaped like a horrifyingly mutated human skull, opened wide and noxious gas seeped out. Some of the dumber players rushed through the gas, hoping to attack the creature while it was standing still. Their Hearts were devoured the moment they touched it.

"Everyone, hold steady!" Heathcliff ordered, drawing his sword. "And for god's sake, don't just Leroy Jenkins in there!"

Almost as if in response, someone began rushing forward by himself. "Leeeeeeroy! Jenkiiiiiiiins!" He didn't last long.

Heathcliff just watched him go into the smoke. "Any other takers? Anyone else asking themselves, 'Do I feel lucky?' Well? Punks?"

The smoke eventually cleared, and the Heartless began to advance towards the party. "Team A, take the left, team B the right!" Heathcliff shouted. "Tanks, draw its attention, but keep an eye on your HP. If you're getting low, switch in with the second line!" The party moved off to follow their orders, with Merc, Ruby, and Genie starting in one direction while Kirito and Asuna charged in the other. "Wait! You four!"

Genie grumbled out under his breath, "I'm an NPC so I don't count?"

"You four are obviously our best fighters. Separate and attack from the back. If it uses that gas attack again, we'll need you to keep it from healing while we can't get to it," Heathcliff ordered. "And you'll need to deal with the mobs that spawn when it summons them!"

"Guess you're stuck with us," Mercury said, running over to Kirito and Asuna on the edge of the arena.

"At least you aren't going to make any bad puns," Kirito responded. He smirked and added, "Did you know some scientists say puns are a sign of brain damage? Given how often Dumb and Dumber make them, I'd say I believe it."

"Hey, that's my sist – Okay, they make too many puns," Ruby admitted, appearing in front of the others. She shook her head. "She gets it from our dad." She summoned the Keyblade to her hand and jumped ahead of the group, killing a Wight Knight that had appeared in their path. She hit the ground without losing any momentum and decided to keep point. "But still, Dumb and Dumber?"

"It's not undeserved," Kirito replied while drawing both blades from his back. The black sword glowed a bright blue as he slashed across another Wight's chest, then the other a deep green as it made the final blow that killed the Heartless. Their group soon came to a stop behind the Heartless, watching its sharpened tail bone thrash about as it attacked the rest of the raid party. "Now, what the hell are we going to do about that?"

"No, we're not letting you take it on your own," Mercury said. Ruby's hand, which had shot up, went down.

"Well," Ruby said, dejected by the refusal to let her go all out, "we could always take out its legs then run up its back." She pouted before tacking on, "If we're being boring..."

"How are you older than them?" Mercury asked her, jerking his head at Kirito and Asuna. He sighed. "Who goes where?"

"Me and Kirito will try to cut the legs off," Ruby said, pulling herself together. "We're more fit for that. You, Asuna, and Genie can deal with things trying to sneak up on us."

"If you say so, Red," Merc said. He turned around, watching as more Heartless appeared out of the Darkness. "Get going." Ruby nodded and vanished in a shower of rose petals, reappearing behind its hindmost right leg.

Kirito glanced at Asuna. "Ha ha, I get the fun job."

"Ha ha, I'm revoking your permission to enter my house."

"Shit!" Kirito muttered. "Sorry, Hun! Just joking!" He bolted towards the left leg, hoping that apology would be good enough for her.

Asuna rolled her eyes as he ran away. "Bitch," she muttered. She turned towards the Heartless as well, rapier at the ready. Well, let's get started."

Mercury nodded and rushed forward, channeling a blast of ice at an Oni that the Genie tagged with a Fire spell. His spinning attack froze some other Heartless solid as his foot hit the Oni and shattered the armor on its left forearm. As the mask turned snow white, Genie leaped into the air and launched an Aero spell that turned the mask clear just in time for a full power kick to blast the Heartless' head off. Meanwhile, Asuna had charged the frozen Heartless, her blade puncturing their frozen weakpoints one at a time as she danced between the icy statues.

Near the back of the large Heartless, Ruby and Kirito were doing their best to cut the monster's back legs off, but they kept thrashing around as it turned to attack the humans nearby. Ruby caught sight of Heathcliff raising his shield to deflect one of the scythe attacks, sparks flying as the black blade cleaved through the air above him. He responded with a powerful counter attack, burying his blade in the arm while it was near and taking a large chunk off of the Heartless' body. Not a fatal blow, but the Heartless noticed and began to focus entire rage on him. The scytes came down, forcing the armored man to jump to the side. His allies were not as lucky.

Ruby yelped as the leg slammed down right next to her. "Right, focus on myself!" she told herself before twirling her Keyblade in her left hand, transforming it into its scythe form. "Now, you're going to see who the scythe master is, Heartless!" She raised the weapon over her shoulder, a Firaga blazing just behind the head of the weapon. She roared and swung as hard as she could right at the joint of the Heartless. The monster roared in rage and lost its footing, sliding backwards. Ruby grinned and shot backwards, avoiding the falling creature. She slid to a stop a good distance away from Asuna and Mercury, and found Kirito had destroyed his target not long after she had.

Mercury, Genie, and Asuna noticed and regrouped with them. Ruby twirled her weapon overhead, summoning four Aerogas that could send all of them flying into the air. "Next, we take it out with a full power -"

The Heartless turned and shrieked at the group, ignoring the strikes to its body that came from the raid party. With hatred in its eyes, the creature glared at Ruby, hate that turned to fear as the scent of the Keyblade became apparent. Upon seeing this, the Heartless roared once more... and vanished.

The entire room went quiet, just staring at one another. "Uh... What?" Asuna wondered aloud.

Ruby frowned and let her spells vanish. "Did it just run away?" she asked angrily.

"Oh, come on, McFly? Chicken!?" Kirito taunted loudly. "Lame!"

Mercury sighed. "Well, at least we don't have to fight it," he pointed out with a shrug. "More energy for when... something else shows up."

"You think there's more?" Kirito asked. He groaned. "Of course it'll be back."

The rest of the raid party had... different thoughts. "We won! Three cheers for Commander Heathcliff! Hip hip – hooray! Hip hip – hooray! Hip hip –!"

R W B Y

Kirito wanted to die. Well, not literally in the sword through the chest kind of way; more like he just hated everything that was happening. They'd been stuck in this room for, oh... three hours? "God, leave it to SAO to have a room where the boss not only glitches out and runs, but doesn't even flag the goddamn door to open!" he screamed into the wide open room, getting a few people to echo his sentiments angrily.

Mercury wasn't worried, but he was a little confused. Why hadn't Ruby just unlocked the door and gotten them all out of there? He assumed there was a reason, or at least more of one than her just wanting to play fetch with Genie. The rubber ball bounced a few times until the blue dog grabbed it and sprinted back towards her. "Yeah," Asuna agreed with Kirito, "I wanted the goddamn coat it was going to drop."

"Are we still not over that?" Kirito grumbled, exasperated. "I'm more than willing to give you that coat now."

"It's underleveled by seventy floors!" Asuna snapped before she began slapping him. "Those ones and zeroes are useless now!"

"I mean, it's not like you were going to get the final hit reward," Kirito protested under her assault. She began hitting harder. "I – I mean, it's not my fault it ran away and we're stuck here!"

"But you've got to look at the bright side!" Heathcliff supplied, his words momentarily stopping Asuna's abusive behavior.

"Did you find a way out?" someone shouted hopefully, their exhaustion clearly evident.

Heathcliff laughed. "Oh, oh, no. We are definitely going to die in here," he replied simply, earning a chorus of soft crying for his trouble. "But come on! We've all got to die sometime; at least we get to do it here, playing an awesome game!"

"Oh, come on, Sir. The only reason we're still playing this game is because we've got a gun to our heads. It's a dumpster fire," Asuna countered simply. "Half the players can't open the menu -" she glared at Kirito as he began to laugh under his breath. "The tutorial is terrible, crafting is seizure inducing, the teleport crystals don't work, people can kill each other by controlling someone else's menu when they're asleep, all the enemies glitched out and got replaced with monsters most players can't even kill, and -"

"Okay, that is enough. It's – it's groundbreaking technology, Asuna! Brand new, never before tested! For God's sake, it made an entire other world real! A fictional world, breathing all around us!"

"Not very well. We've been trapped in here for hours!" someone pointed out.

"It is literally the first of its kind!" Heathcliff screamed at the crowd.

"Hey, I'm with you, Old Man. I love this game, despite its, uh... shortcomings," Kirito supplied earnestly. "In here, I can be the coolest guy in the world. Out there I... uh..."

"Sweetie, it's okay. We all know you aren't cool," Asuna said, patting his back.

"On that note," Kirito muttered angrily, "I love this place because it gives me a real outlet for all the aggression I never got out there. I can say whatever I want, and these meathead idiots get laughed off for trying to fight me. But it's still a frickin' Gordian Knot of terrible design."

"Maybe you're all just too stupid to understand the systems!" Heathcliff screamed, his accent gone.

"He's getting real angry," Mercury pointed out from where he sat beside Ruby.

"Huh?" she asked, glancing over as she tossed the ball again. "What's going on? What time is it?"

Mercury sighed and began to ignore the screaming of Heathcliff. "Have you been paying any attention?" Mercury asked.

Genie ran up and dropped the ball. He panted happily before licking his jowls. "Well, no. But can you blame us?" he asked Mercury. "It's so boring in here."

"Yeah, we've been here for days, Merc! Days!" Ruby shouted. Mercury glared at her dryly. "I can't handle doing nothing like this!"

"It's been three hours, Red," Mercury responded with an eye roll. "And – wait, if you've thought it's been days, why didn't you just open the door?"

She stared at him, confused.

"Your Keyblade?" Mercury supplied.

"Oh! Right, they can open any door!" Genie realized. He laughed at himself. "Can't believe I forgot that. I feel dumb!"

"Crap, I forgot!" Ruby shouted, slapping her forehead. She jumped up. "We could've gotten out of here forever ago!"

Mercury sighed and fell to his back on the ground. "You are a child. A child." Mercury groaned and covered his eyes. "Just get us out of here so I can find Em."

"You got it, Buddy!" Ruby said, leaping to her feet. She walked over to the door, summoning her Keyblade to her hand. The shouting Heathcliff went suddenly silent as she passed, her whistling cutting through the shouting.

Heathcliff coughed once and asked, "What is -"

Ruby raised her Keyblade when she reached the exit door. "Okay, here we go!" She held the weapon above her head, summoning a swirling ball of light around the tip of the weapon.

"Seriously, what is –?" Heathcliff continued, his accent returned.

And then Ruby aimed the Keyblade at the door, shooting out a white beam of Light. After a moment, a loud unlocking noise echoed through the air and the door slid open. "What the hell!?" Asuna screamed, jumping to her feet. "You – Your weapon actually has admin privileges!?"

"Admin privileges!?" Heathcliff shouted, enraged. "Dammit, I know I never coded a Keyblade into this godforsaken game, and I would never give it admin privileges even if I did!"

Kirito's eyes widened. "Wait a goddamn second," he whispered under his breath. He slowly rose to his feet. "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?"

Mercury glanced over. "Yes, she opened the door. We can move on -"

"No, about – Goddammit, I really hope I'm right about this," Kirito said, putting his hand on his sword's handle. He sighed, then turned around and sprinted with his sword aimed directly at Heathcliff's throat. The blade stopped an inch from his neck, colliding with an invisible wall. A purple hexagon sprang into existence next to Heathcliff's head, with the words 'Immortal Object' inscribed within.

Ruby walked over through the once again stunned into silence room. "So, what's going on?"

"Commander... What's going on!?" Asuna finally asked, wide eyed.

"Uh... This glitch! It... it saved me from this assassin's blade! I... He..."

"Commander... What. The fuck. Is that?"

Heathcliff sighed and his accent vanished once again. "So that's not flying, huh?" he asked. He sighed. "Eh, can't fault a guy for trying."

"I am so lost," Ruby muttered, glancing between Kirito and Heathcliff.

"Oh, good. So it's not just me," Genie sighed in relief.

"You wanna tell 'em? Or should I?" Kirito asked, sheathing his blade and glaring at the armored warrior.

"No, by all means. You seem to have this whole thing figured out," Heathcliff said, holding his hand out and bowing slightly. "Wouldn't want to step on your big moment."

"What is going on, Edgelord?" Mercury wondered, edging closer to this bubbling confrontation.

"Well, it turns out the good Commander here has been hiding something from us. Something so dark, so sinister, that it would shock you to your very core!" Kirito explained as seriously as he could. "For you see, this whole time, Commander Heathcliff has actually been... Kayaba Akihiko!"

Mercury nodded slowly, then sighed. "Who?" he asked.

Kirito stammered and turned, flustered, towards Merc. "I – what!? Really!?" Kirito shouted, his surprise turning to rage. "Kayaba! The creator of this game? Inventor of the NerveGear?"

"Nerve...Gear?" Ruby wondered.

"The guy who trapped us in this game for two years!" Kirito snapped, now at the end of his rope.

Mercury, Genie, and Ruby traded a look. "Ooooh..." they muttered. It was a guy who was responsible for this world's troubles. Troubles that none of them were even vaguely aware of or connected to, really. "We're in a game? I mean! Uh! Right, Kayaba! You see, we always called him... Bad Game Maker?" Ruby supplied as best she could. "Kind of, uh, forgot his name! Yeah! That's it!"

Kirito glared at her. "You really are the blonde's sister," Asuna muttered beside him.

"Well, now that I'm found out anyways, there are a few important things I would like to say," Kayaba said. He gestured at all of the warriors around him. "First,with what every content creator has ever wanted to say to their audience... Fuck... all y'all. Do you know what it was like leading you people? Do you know how many of you died screaming Leroy Jenkins? More than that idiot today, I'll tell you that much!" He turned around and slammed his shield into the chest of someone trying to sneak up and stab him. "You idiots, you morons! You lack the pattern recognition to see that attacking me isn't going to work! By some leap in logic no mere mortal can understand, you tried what Mister Delightful here showed wouldn't work! Jesus, I – You know, give me a second." The entire room, save for Kirito, Mercury, Ruby, and Genie suddenly went stiff as a board and hit the ground. "There, now I don't have to teal with you idiots doing things." He glanced over at Mercury, Ruby, and Genie. "That... should have affected you, even if you logged in without my permissions, I..." he trailed off. "I see. The World Seed."

"The what?" Asuna asked as Kirito knelt beside her, checking if she was okay.

The Heart of an Unborn World, Mercury remembered, and his heart skipped a beat. "You have it?" Mercury wondered, eyes wide. He took a step forward. "You have to give it to -"

"I will do no such thing," Kayaba responded in disgust. "Give my life's work to... well, I guess you don't want everyone to know, do you? I guess I can give you that much."

"Okay, now it's my turn to be confused," Asuna said, her eyes towards Merc and Ruby. "What secret do you guys share with Kayaba?"

"Other than how to best kill my soul? Well – " Kirito was cut off before he could explain.

"You had a soul?" Kayaba gasped in surprise.

"Shut up, old man!" Kirito snapped. "Yeah, unlike you, I had one. And unlike you, I never killed anyone that didn't deserve it. You, though? You've killed hundreds of us!"

"As if you care about them," Kayaba said, gesturing around at everyone. "No, you – for all your goddamn, annoying faults –, you're like me."

"Oh, I can already tell I don't like where this is going," Asuna muttered from Kirito's lap.

Kayaba continued, smirking. "You're a brilliant mind burdened by... well, to say animals would be cruel to animals," he said, nodding at Genie.

"Oh, I agree," Kirito said as he carefully placed Asuna's head down. "On the other hand, at least they have the bravery to fight and risk dying. 'Waaah, look at me. I have a shield that can block anything and a sword that deals infinity plus one damage and can cut through anything. Even Wolverine claws and shit because I am so cooooooool!' Sound about right, Kayaba, or was it too low pitched?"

"Truly, you are the voice of a generation," Kayaba muttered. He snarled and raised his shield as Mercury suddenly shot forward, fire exploding between them.

"Give me. The World Seed," Mercury demanded, shoving as hard as he could against the unbreakable item. "Or I'm going to kill you."

Kayaba's eyes widened. "W-wow. I just got through how this wasn't going to work!" he said. "I am immortal in this game!"

Mercury's eyes narrowed. "Won't stop me," he growled.

"Fight me, then. One on one," Kirito shouted. Mercury glanced over his shoulder but kept pushing against Kayaba's shield. "Just you, me, and none of your bullshit GM safety nets."

Kayaba raised an eyebrow. "And you get..?"

"You let everyone go and shut down this dumpster fire," Kirito said. He glanced over at Mercury. "And you give this knockoff Sonic character what he wants."

"You just want to cut this off 25 floors early?" Kayaba asked. He stepped to the side and Mercury yelped before barely avoiding falling on his face. "Sounds a bit anticlimactic to me, but okay."

"Yeah, I'm with the Commander. You love it here, why do you want to leave!?" Asuna shouted in confusion.

Kirito glanced first at Mercury, Ruby, and Genie, then down at Asuna. "Like I said, I love it here. I'm everything I want to be in here," Kirito said. "But... Dumb and Dumber and all their friends, they are more interested in helping us than whatever it is they're trying to do. I'm an asshole, and I hate everyone in here, but... Shut up and fight me again. I've got something to fight for this time, so it's not going to end the same way."

Kayaba grinned. "Careful. You're starting to sound like them," he said before drawing his weapon. "Soft and stupid."

"At least I'm not like you anymore," Kirito responded before drawing his swords. He looked over at the others. "Let me do this myself."

"I want a piece of him!" Mercury growled.

Ruby grabbed his arm. "You've got it," she said, her grip forcing Mercury to back down.

Kirito smiled. "Thanks... Merc. Ruby." Then he charged Kayaba, slashing with his swords one after the other. Mercury glared angrily, wanting nothing more than to charge in and fight. He wanted to break this guys legs and make him listen. Make him hand the Seed over. Ruby's hold on his arm tightened, a silent threat that she could easily stop him. So he let the fight happen.

Kirito was, for once in his life, silent. He slashed at Kayaba's head, but the game maker dodged easily. The sword in his left hand came up quickly, only to slash across the shield's face. Kayba shoved back, forcing Kirito to spin to the side to avoid losing his footing, then raise his swords to take the incoming attack. "You know, your 'friends' have some big secrets, right?" Kayaba asked when their swords slammed into each other, sparks flying as the edges pushed against each other. "Huge. Ones I didn't even believe were possible until they asked for the Seed."

Kirito thought about it for a moment while keeping his guard up. Finally: "What, that they can log in and out of this game whenever they want?" he asked. He slid to the side and slashed upward with both weapons. The tips collided with the shield. "Or that they aren't exactly from our world."

Kayaba's shield dipped, and Kirito took advantage. His sword slashed across Kayaba's face causing the man to scream in pain and frustration. He backpedaled and slapped the sword to the side with his shield on reflex. Kirito smirked and returned to a ready stance. "Oh, did my big brain confuse you, Mister God?"

"How?" Kayaba asked, clutching at the red mark on his face. "How could you figure that out!?"

"Besides the fact that they have Keyblades and don't know Kingdom Hearts is a video game?" Kirito asked dryly. "How about the fact that they use magic, which the game literally doesn't allow? These idiots aren't smart enough to code that in."

"No offense, right?" Ruby asked.

"... Oh, or that they bleed? Actually bleed, not the whole 'red lines' bull you programmed in? They've never seen a tenth of the movies I reference, Red over there didn't know it was a game? So, in the words of Batman – or me – quoting Sherlock Holmes – or me, but dumber – "

"What a fucking ego," Asuna muttered, rolling her eyes.

" 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,'" Kirito said, grinning. He charged again, sword stabbing at Kayaba's unprepared head. The man snarled and jumped to the side, barely avoiding the sword that cut through his hair.

"Wait, they're aliens?" Asuna shouted from the ground.

"Later, Dear," Kirito said as Kayaba slammed his shield into the swordsman's chest and sent him stumbling backwards. "I'm a bit busy fighting for the greater good!"

"The greater good? The greater good!? I am your wife!" Asuna screamed angrily. "I am the greatest good you're ever going to have!"

"Nice! Incredibles!" Kayaba shouted before he tried to cut Kirito in half.

"What?" Asuna, Ruby, and Mercury asked.

"Nice!" Genie agreed.

Kayba glared at Kirito. "You love that?"

Kirito shrugged. "She completes me... somehow." He slashed at Kayaba again, the duel starting up once more. Blades flashed in the light, colliding with each other as they tried to kill one another.

"You know, I've always enjoyed killing people that deserve it. A little. Maybe there's something wrong with me, I don't know," Kirito began as he slashed his swords apart, forcing the shield out of the way before pulling back with his left sword. "But I'm more than enjoying this one!" He roared and stabbed his forward, knowing within his heart of hearts that he had just won.

And then the blade shattered against a large blade made of shifting Darkness. He was blown backwards as out of a black portal appeared a young woman with green hair and glowing yellow eyes. She twirled the blade she had used once before dismissing it and placing the physical weapon on her hip. The entire room was silent. "Wait, they're aliens!?" Someone in the crowd suddenly screamed.

"Em!?" Mercury shouted, tearing out of Ruby's grip. "Em, it's me! Merc? Your lovable partner in crime."

She ignored him, eyes turning towards Kayaba instead. "I have a bad feeling about this," Kayaba mumbled worriedly. She raised her arm towards him and the world for him disappeared. For everyone else, they could only see Kayaba go stiff as a board as all of his senses were cut off by an illusion. Mercury gritted his teeth and sprinted towards her. If he could just touch her he could save her! A circle of solid Darkness appeared around her and Kayaba before he could make it and he slammed face first into it, bouncing off with twice the force he had collided.

Kirito scrambled to his feet and put himself between Asuna and Emerald. "Why do I get the feeling Emerald over here has been 'Mathew Bennell'ed?" he asked, eyes narrowing on her.

"Body snatched is a pretty good comparison," Genie agreed, crouching to get ready for a fight. "She isn't in control."

Emerald, despite the readiness of everyone to fight and Mercury's insistent pleading that she look at him, ignored all of them. She walked around to stand behind Kayba and raised her hands to either side of his head, guiding the illusion she had placed him under. She stood there, stock still, for a few minutes. Then she pulled away, allowing Kayaba's mind to clear. "What? Where -" Then she buried one of her blades of Darkness in his Heart. Kayaba let out a silent scream as his body was invaded by Darkness, the force spreading throughout his body through his arteries and veins. Emerald took a step back and turned away.

"Al!"

She paused and turned to glare at Mercury. "Come on. You know you love me," he said, putting on the best cocky grin he could manage when faced with her marionette of a body. He stood up and held his arms out to her, inviting her to come with them. If the blonde idiot could break out of this, then Em could do it no problem. "Em, you're stronger than him."

She met his gaze for a while before a black Corridor of Darkness appeared behind her. She blinked once, then turned and marched through the portal. Mercury remained frozen the entire time, unable to do anything as she left. He just fell to his knees the moment the portal shut, feeling utterly hollow.

But things had not stopped just because he had lost her. The Darkness that had entered Kayaba had continued to spread throughout his body to the point that the noise of his screams had vanished, replaced with silence as he thrashed where he stood. "What the hell did she do to him?" Kirito muttered carefully raising his swords. Kayaba, now little more than a human shaped pit of Darkness, fell to his knees and clutched at his head, where his gray hair was being consumed by the Darkness, leaving only his eyes as they once were. And when even those vanished under the Darkness, he went silent. The entire room held their breath, staring at the man shaped void. Kirito turned his gaze towards Ruby, who had raised her Keyblade in sword form to make it easier to defend with.

"I'm kind of new to all this, too, but... I think he's becoming a Heartless," Ruby explained. She moved forward and pulled the stunned Mercury behind her and Genie. She glanced at Merc. "Mercury, you have to wake up. You're a sitting duck like -"

There was a wave of Darkness at that moment, calmly pushing at everyone in the room. But as calm as it behaved, there was a hidden strength behind it. Ruby looked at Kayaba just in time to see that his body was subtly changing shape. The shield on his left arm was melting into it and growing large blades all along the edge, each serrated like the teeth of a shark. The armor became bone white with red and black lines crisscrossing while reaching up to a bone mask forming across his head in the shape of a crown. The silvery sword in his hand lengthened and widened, though it retained its shape. Finally, the Heartless emblem grew out of the shield, another shard of bone in a sea of Darkness.

The new Heartless cast its gaze around, quietly observing the room. Ruby swallowed a pit of worry in her throat; if it attacked someone in the room, she didn't know if she could anticipate which it would be and be able to get there in time. And if she didn't, that would just be another Heartless out to attack everyone else here. But the creature remained where it was, eyes searching everyone before settling on Ruby. She felt her heart beating in her ears and raised the Keyblade, the source of its fascination, to prepare for a fight. Instead, the creature launched towards Kirito, surprising everyone.

Everyone except Asuna, which was made apparent when he jumped in front of Kirito at the last moment, taking the attack square in the chest. "NO!" Kirito screamed, dropping his weapons and catching Asuna as she tipped backwards.

Ruby gasped in horror and rushed forward, eyes glowing a brighter silver as she watched Asuna glitch, barely holding on despite the massive red wound on her chest. The Keyblade slammed into the shield, caught between two of the serrated spikes. The Heartless shrieked in rage and shoved, driving Ruby backwards. She pushed back, sliding to a stop before she could hit Asuna and Kirito. Summoning all her strength, she roared, pushing back and sending a wave of Light magic cascading from her eyes. The Heartless was hit head on, the wave picking up the Heartless in its burning grip. Genie saw and leaped into the air, launching an Aero spell that pushed the paralyzed players out of the Heartless' path, then cast a barrier around their group and the Heartless, protecting those unable to defend themselves from a painful death.

Kirito wasn't paying any attention, though. "Asuna, wh- why – I – Don't..." he begged, eyes filling up with tears. "Asuna..."

"Oh, it's my turn to make you cry," Asuna said, smiling despite the obvious pain she was in. "Cry your... little... bitch... tears." And then her data shattered, Darkness swirling around the Heart she left behind. Kirito reached out to it, trying to grab it. "Asuna, you can't..."

Ruby ran up before the Heartless could heal. "Do you trust me?"

"No," Kirito snapped. "I just met you!"

Ruby nodded, a pained and worried look in her eyes. "Fine. You want a chance to save her, no matter what it takes?" she asked, clearly uncomfortable with what she was about to do. "Even if it hurts you more than anything?"

He froze, dark eyes searching Ruby's face to try and find out what this could mean. Finally, still having no clue about any of it, he nodded. "I'd do anything."

Ruby nodded. "Then get up, and don't get angry when I do this," she replied before turning on her heel and cutting through the Heart floating in front of Kirito. The Darkness swirling around the Heart was burned away by the Light the woman wielded, purifying the core of Asuna's being of the Heartless' taint. The Heart floated for a moment before floating off, leaving them behind before it disappeared completely.

Seeing Asuna's Heart vanish completely, Kirito felt a surge of panic and anger. His eyes widened and he picked up his sword, enraged and swinging at Ruby. She blocked the attack with a quick movement and met his gaze with a solemn stare. Taking a moment to let him calm, she finally said, "You need to find her, I can't help you with that, not right now. There are things I have to do first. But if you find her... and... and you kill the thing that looks like her, or you somehow can make her feel again what she felt for you right there? She'll come back to you, I promise."

Kirito pushed against her, teeth bared and eyes filled with rage. "You... you..." He sighed and backed away, hitting his foot against something on the ground. He looked down, finding a thin rapier with a green basket. He bent down, lifting it slowly in his off hand, staring at the blade with a longing look. Finally he turned to look at the Heartless, which had floated back to its feet. "If she never shows up again... I have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you Do aliens get that?" He turned away from her and decided to channel his rage constructively, rushing at the Heartless.

Ruby shut her eyes and thought of Raven, how she had sacrificed her own life to save her husband and her family, and how Morrigan still couldn't get rid of that connection forged at the end of her life. "You'll find him again," she said to the absent Asuna before opening her eyes and setting them on the Heartless, with whom Kirito was trading blows once more. She twirled the Keyblade above her head, causing it to unfold into its scythe form. She began to run towards the fight, then stopped and looked around at everyone. "Uh, don't tell anyone what you saw here." Then, without waiting for a response from anyone, she sprinted into the fight. Her scy

Mercury pushed himself up. Em did this because he couldn't get through to her, so this was his responsibility. Asuna had been killed because he hadn't saved her. He charged the Heartless, too, black flames licking his boot.

He and Ruby hit the monster at the same time, rushing past Kirito and attacking from both sides. The Heartless' shield came up and turned sideways, catching both attacks at once. When Ruby's attack had bounced off, the shield turned and blades twisted around Merc's leg, catching him. The Heartless spun around, taking the assassin screaming with the shield. Then the Heartless threw him and the shield, the blades hurtling towards Ruby. The Keyblade wielder narrowed her eyes and ran towards the attack, holding her weapon over her shoulder. She slammed the base of the scythe into the ground at an angle and polevaulted up, freezing the point of contact when she reached the apex. The shield stopped suddenly and Merc was released, hitting the ground and rolling away. Ruby then dismissed the weapon and resummoned it to her hand, running across the shield face as it fell before launching into an overhead slash at the Heartless.

The creature's blade came up and took the attack, the massive force hitting it sending powerful winds all around the arena. Kirito held his arms up, blocking dust from hitting his eyes, then charged the Heartless while it was distracted with deflecting Ruby's next volley of lightning fast blows. He jumped in as her attack was blocked by the sword and she was forced to flip over the Heartless. Kirito stabbed at the monster's armored chest with Asuna's rapier, angling the weapon towards one of the thin breaks between the bone plates that protected the Heartless. One of the monster's eyes glanced at him from between the peaks of the crown and it flicked its off hand up. Kirito barely had time to throw himself out of the way as he realized what was coming, the spinning shield flying just over his head and onto the monster's arm.

Mercury seen this coming, of course; the creature wouldn't toss its most valuable defense in a fight against four opponents without knowing it could summon the shield back at the wave of a hand. He knelt next to Genie. "If I get it to throw the shield again, can you freeze it to the ground long enough for us to kill it?"

The dog frowned but nodded. "Well, Silver, I'll do my best."

"Thanks, Blue," Merc said, petting the dog's head before standing up. He took a deep breath and charged the Heartless again, leaping over Kirito as his swords were countered by the shield again. Mercury spun in the air, bringing his heel down in an axe kick aimed at the Heartless' head. The creature turned to dodge Ruby's next attack, bringing the sword around to block the kick. The creature shoved back quickly and turned its shield up to take Ruby's next attack while swinging at Kirito, forcing the swordsman to roll backwards to avoid losing his head.

"Make it throw the shield again," Mercury commanded. "I have a plan." He rushed forward again, dropping to his back to slide beneath the shield that came around to slam into his chest. He went right beneath the Heartless, spinning when he was between its legs. The Heartless stumbled as his ankles crashed into its own, putting it off balance. The creature stumbled right towards Kirito's dual slash, barely managing to counter the attack with its massive sword while raising its shield up to deflect Ruby's attack. The pair of hits connecting at the same time further destabilized the Heartless and it spun away, its cape of Darkness swirling as it struggled to find its footing again. But find it did, slamming its shield down and stopping its momentum, setting its feet and glaring at the three humans now lined up with one another.

"I want the last hit," Kirito snarled as they glared at the Heartless. "He killed Asuna... I kill him back."

"It's a deal," Mercury agreed, fists clenched tight.

He and Ruby rushed forward, trying to distract the Heartless and get it to throw its shield. The creature backpedaled as they fought, slowly drawing towards the wall the Genie had created. Its sword flashed to defend against Rub's constant attacks while its shield was always in Mercury's way to absorb his kicks. Spells collided with the Heartless' guard, their energies uselessly splashing against the ground around their bout. Sparks flew as metal clashed and scraped against each other. The serrated teeth of the shield carved away the leather of the boot on Merc's foot, leaving just his prosthesis and weapon. But it wasn't enough to get it to throw its shield. "From the front, opposite sides," Ruby ordered as they reset again. Merc nodded and rushed forward, charging his foot with black flames as he had earlier while Ruby attacked from the right. And, just as before, the shield twisted to take both attacks, capturing Merc's leg.

"Oh, this isn't going to be fun," he muttered as the creature spun him around again and threw him right at Ruby. Merc detached his leg, hitting the ground and letting the shield soar over him as he rolled across the ground. Again, Ruby leaped over the attack, though this time she landed on top of it and launched an Aeroga above her, sending the shield to the ground with the force of her spell. The Genie's Blizzaga froze it to the ground the moment it fell.

Kirito made his move then, rushing forward, sword slashing at the Heartless' throat. Its own weapon came around to block the attack, but this left it open to Ruby, who came in at full speed. Its off arm vanished in an explosion of light, and the Heartless responded violently. Its sword waved around erratically, though with the full force of the Heartless' body behind it. Kirito raised his swords, taking the attack, but the blades in his hands shattered and he was tossed back. He rolled to his feet as quickly as he could and sprinted towards the Heartless. "SWORD!"

Ruby complied, tossing the now sword-form Crescent Rose to him. He deserved this much, she knew, so she would let him have it. The Keyblade landed in his hand and she slid behind the Heartless, slamming her foot into the back of its knee. The monster hit the ground, its sword going wide in a vain effort to compensate, which gave Kirito the opening to bury the Keyblade in the monster's chest.

And then everything went white.

R W B Y

Emerald walked out of the Corridor of Darkness into a world vastly different from the one she had left, inside of a modern building with computers connected to a tube holding an unconscious man with a helmet over his head. Despite these differences, this world was one very closely connected to the world she had just left. He was dressed in a long lab coat over white button up shirt with a black tie. Coming from the tube was a long, thin IV tube plugged into his arm. On the tube was a name: Kayaba Akihiko. Beside the tube was a collection of medical equipment; the heart monitor was beeping as usual, but the brainwave monitor was a long, singular note. But that made sense; after all, his Heart had been consumed by Darkness while in the body he had created for his 'game.' This one remained uncorrupted by that Darkness, but without its Heart it would remain exactly as it was, empty and barely alive.

Emerald turned away from him, far more interested in the information she had found when guiding his illusion before turning him into a Heartless. She moved towards a large computer in the back of the room and pressed the power button for the monitor. The screen beeped, then came to life. The screensaver was a picture of the man inside the tube holding up a box for a video game. Sword Art Online. Emerald clicked on one of the icons and began to delve into the maze of his file sorting system as she had seen him do in his mind, searching for the one thing that she had been sent to this world to find.

She soon found it. The data for something called the World Seed, a program that Kayaba had found on his computer before starting his magnum opus. Once, he had thought it simply was a gift to help design a massive game world. At the end of his life, he understood it much better The World Seed was the ability to build a real world, though not the Hearts of any real denizens. He could craft shells, monsters without souls that behaved according to his own whims. Monsters, but not people. For those, he could simply send people into those shells, special ones he marked as 'players.'That he did not understand the program when he used it was why people died in it – they were dying in a real world. In the years since, he had corrected that issue in various altered copies of the program. It was more of a game world, now. But this original program, the true World Seed, remained. Impossible to delete or remove just as it was impossible for him to create it.

But taking it, that was an option.

Emerald reached towards the screen, concentrating on the Darkness to create a small portal. The flaming void sprang into being after a moment, swirling around in front of the computer, and she reached in. Emerald quickly managed to grab what was inside and she pulled it out. The portal shut, leaving her with a glowing white sphere of energy. On the computer the original World Seed's data had vanished, replaced with an error. Emerald looked at the swirling Light in her hand, the World Seed's physical form, and in her deepest Heart she screamed. She wanted to shove it back or toss it out into the void, anything to keep it out of OJ's hands. But she couldn't. Instead her body began to type on the screen, entering the code to destroy Aincrad and everyone within it. Then she just began to walk away on its own.

"But Mercury is still in there!" she screamed into the Darkness.

And for a moment she stopped, her legs finally listening to her, the Light exploding around her and the wall keeping her from herself coming down. She already knew she didn't have long. The Darkness was already closing in on her and the wall slowly coming back up. She turned and set the World Seed down, going through the computer, desperately searching for something she could use to save Mercury from the dying world. The Darkness encroached, faster and faster now. Emerald couldn't find anything. As the Light began to fade entirely, barely more than a single, lone star in the Darkness, she found it. A command, so readily available that she had overlooked it. It would force the log out of every player in Sword Art Online as soon as a boss floor was cleared. "Merc... you better find me," she whispered as she started the program. Then the wall was up and her eyes returned to their yellow.

Emerald watched her body grab the World Seed once more before it turned away and opened another Corridor. But she could live with that. After all, now she knew Merc would be okay for another day, all because of her. Now he owed her another one.

R W B Y

Mercury, Ruby, and Genie looked around, very confused. One minute, they had been watching Kirito bury Crescent Rose into the chest of Kayaba's Heartless, and the next they had been sitting in the Gummi Ship. "Uh... What just happened?" Ruby wondered aloud, her brain suffering disconnect from suddenly having everything change around her. She didn't even have the benefit of some weird portal to segue with, or a fainting spell. Just one image, noise, smell immediately replaced with another. Not what a brain is built to process.

Mercury was clutching the arms of his seat as tight as he could, similarly frazzled by the sudden shift in his sensory input. He looked straight up out of the viewport and felt his stomach spin. "Whatever it was, Aincrad is gone." Ruby looked up after he said this and her jaw fell open. Instead of a castle floating in the Darkness between worlds, there was just... nothing. Empty space between the stars. "What the heeeeell?"

"For once, I'm a little lost," Genie admitted, staring up as well. He glanced back down. "But I think the world we were on just vanished and we got sent back here instead of just dying."

Upon hearing that, Ruby yelped and raised her hand, summoning her Keyblade. "Good. Didn't lose it with the world..." she sighed.

"Certainly better than the alternative," Mercury said. He slowly let go of the seat's arms and tried to calm their shaking.

Ruby looked over at Genie, who was reshaping himself into his normal form. "Did everyone else survive, too?" she wondered, eyes worried. She glanced back at her Keyblade. "If Kirito had this, is he still alive? Would it have come back if he got destroyed?"

"Best I can guess... yes?" the blue man supplied cautiously. "Honestly, unless I cast the magic, I'm a little fuzzy on how it words. Those that can't do, teach. And I can do, so why would I have to understand or teach?"

"I guess that's fair," Mercury said as he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. "You were created with magic, so it's not like you're smart enough to be smart enough to figure it out like the rest of us."

"Ha ha," Genie muttered, tossing the silver haired assassin a glare. "Hilarious. I haven't heard a joke that funny since the roast of Dennis Leary."

"Whatever that means," Ruby sighed, also resting in her chair. She eventually opened her eyes and grabbed the ship's steering. She sighed, exhausted from what had just happened. "We should get going."

"But we didn't find the World Seed," Mercury protested, forcing his eyes open. "We have to keep looking."

"Al probably already has it, Silver," Genie said, floating over and placing a comforting hand on Merc's shoulder. "And until we regroup, we aren't going to find her."

Merc stared at the Genie for a while, taking in those words. Finally, he sighed in disappointment as he admitted, "We should get going." Ruby nodded and pushed forward on the accelerator.

"We'll find her, Silver," Genie said as the ship began to fly away.

Mercury sighed and leaned back in his chair. "But I couldn't snap her out of it here."

"But she didn't kill you." Mercury looked back up at Genie. The blue man suddenly turned into a square jawed man with well done hair. "Small miracles, Lana. Small... miracles."

Mercury snorted and shut his eyes, hoping he could drift off to sleep. "Sure, Blue. Sure. Just... wake me when we get back. Hope the Blondes and Keyboy got luckier than us." He placed his elbow over his eyes and laughed bitterly. "... Who am I kidding? We'd have to have good luck for that."