Chapter incoming at last, but first anon review replies.

Kamigaya- Probably won't be writing anything from Fairy Tale anytime soon, even if I love the series. I've just never had any inspiration for a story in that universe weirdly enough. I've said it before, but I've got like 20 stories just sitting in my fanfiction folder that probably won't be published possibly ever. None of those are Fairy Tail, just never had any inspiration for it.

RealisticFantasy- Just keep on reading. Usually things aren't as simple as they seem.

As a quick reminder

Kirito = Kazuto

Lisbeth = Rika

Leafa = Suguha

Aurain = Ryan

Chapter V: Life Runs Its Course

Kirito rushed forward and enveloped the surprised girl in a tight hug. Once over her shock, Asuna hugged him tightly back. She was smiling so widely I was afraid her face was going to break. Tears were streaming down her face in a wave. Yui quickly joined them, growing to full size. Suguha let out a small squeak of surprise at Yui suddenly growing, but kept silent. I just smiled and let them have their moment, and Suguha did the same beside me.

After a few minutes of hugging her 'family', Asuna turned to me, still grinning. She enveloped me in a gentle hug as well.

"I missed you Aurain."

"Me too." I squeezed back.

Asuna separated from me after a few moments, and headed back over to Kirito to sit next to him. Once there, she threaded her finger in-between his and leaned her head on his shoulder. Leafa looked at them shyly, not entirely sure how to approach her brother's girlfriend. Lucky for her Asuna made it easy.

"Who's your friend?" Asuna asked while looking at Leafa, a gentle look on her face.

"That's my sister." Kirito replied, "Her in-game name is Leafa, but if you want you can call her Suguha. We're among friends here, and it's not like anyone's gonna overhear us if we use our real life names."

"Oh this is your sister!" Asuna looked excited, "Pleased to meet you Suguha! Hopefully I'll be able to see you in real life soon."

"Thank you. I'd like that too."

Everyone exchanged pleasantries for a couple of minutes. It was nice getting to talk to Asuna again, and I know Kirito felt that even more than me. Eventually though I had to ask.

"So how you'd manage to escape anyways Asuna?"

Asuna looked up startled, but didn't mind answering. She replied quickly.

"Well I'd been watching Sugou put in the pass code for my cage for a long time. Eventually I was able to piece together the code so I could put it in myself and escape," I watched Kirito's facial expression morph into one of anger at Asuna's reply. I wondered what exactly was up.

"Sugou?" He asked, his tone like a sharp blade, "Like Sugou Noboyuki?"

"Yes." Asuna replied, "Do you know him Kirito?"

"Yes." Kirito's eyebrows slanted further down in anger, "He and I are acquainted. We've had a few talks next to your bed at the hospital. You're telling me he's the one that's behind you being kept in the game?"

"I can only assume."

Kirito let out a grunt of anger and a few choice words about Sugou while Asuna tried her best to calm him down. It sounded like he really hated him for other reasons aside from the ones just revealed. I wasn't particular fond of the guy for what he'd done to Asuna, but I didn't really have face to put my anger to, so it was hard being angry at all.

"So once you got out of the cage you managed to just jump off the tree?" I asked

"There's a barrier though Aurain." Leafa immediately rejected that idea.

"There's a barrier?" Asuna's face twisted in confusion, "I just fell through just fine. I figured the worst that would happen would be me respawning when I hit the ground."

"Maybe it doesn't go both ways?"

I shrugged and laid down on the bed, ignoring the incredulous looks from the rest of the people in the room. Then I continued.

"As a guy familiar with programming, I know how lazy people can be. Why put a barrier that goes both ways when it takes less work to only block people trying to fly up? People get lazy when it comes to code."

With that I sighed deeply and closed my eyes. Today had been a long day. I just dearly wanted to sleep. Life had other plans however, as a voice suddenly echoed throughout the capitol

"Attention Players. Alfheim Online will be undergoing an overnight maintenance soon. Please log out promptly to assure your data remains intact. Thank you for your cooperation."

Asuna froze up. Kirito and I both exchanged looks with Leafa. That'd mean we'd have to leave Asuna defenseless. Likely Sugou would be able to find her using his GM powers once he realized she was gone. I bit my lip, not entirely sure what to do. We could come back the next day sure, but by then Asuna would likely be back in her cage at the top of the world tree. And according to her the only way she was logging out was if she used a GM console. I was stumped. Of course if we didn't have to leave...

"Kirito." I grabbed my friend by the shoulder. He turned his face towards me. He looked upset, "I think I might have an idea."

"Have I ever told you how I got into SAO in the first place?" I typed rapidly on my laptop. We'd logged out as fast as possible after the announcement. Asuna and Kazuto had a somewhat tearful goodbye since they'd only just been reunited. I told them to keep it short since we'd be right back into the game. When Suguha asked if we needed her to come with, Kazuto had replied with a simple no. He told his little sister to just get some sleep. Suguha didn't argue. She was probably as tired as we all were.

"No actually." Kazuto scratched his head, "Is it important to getting back into the game?"

"Very." my hands were now flying across the keyboard, laughing a little in my head at Kirito's one-track mind when it came to Asuna, "I hacked my way in past the security wall that prevented people from outside Japan from playing. I then modified a pirated copy just enough to fool the system. I was probably lucky that the loophole worked like it did though. Or unlucky I guess, since SAO turned out to be what it was..."

"Wasn't Kayaba supposed to be a genius when it came to this kind of stuff?" Kazuto raised an eyebrow in awe, "That's amazing that you were able to do that!"

I felt my face flush, and I muttered that it was no big deal. I kept on typing, and pulled up the old files I used to get into SAO in the first place. I hoped that ALO had the same loopholes that SAO had had.

'Now... I know that ALO is like any modern MMO in that most things stay active while they do maintenance, they only really log players off to prevent data loss. If I can just get past whatever line of code they're using to prevent players logging in, I'll be golden. Shouldn't be toooo different from SAO...'

My eyes lit up as the light next to the word connection turned green. I couldn't help but feel the rush of happiness associated with outwitting someone else's code again. Hacking was a guilty pleasure of mine for years, something the CIA had found out when they were questioning me about SAO. Luckily they let me off since none of them had actually been felonies, just an innocent kid poking his nose into places. I'd never been happier for the statute of limitations. They'd even offered to hire me after the ALO business was over and I was of a legal age. Providing of course I didn't hack into anything else illegally. Said I had a natural talent.

"We should be good to go." I looked up from my laptop and passed over a mini usb flashdrive over to Kazuto, "Just put this into your computer and run the program inside at the same time as your ALO client."

"This'll allow us to log in even though the servers are down?"

"It should. You're the one who wanted to try to protect Asuna from being taken back by someone with GM powers. And I'm the idiot who's agreeing to help you out. You know Kazuto, we know his name in real life. If we just gather enough evidence we could probably incriminate him no problem."

"How?" Kazuto pocketed, "I'm not saying you're wrong Ryan, but there's two things we've got working against us. We're only teenagers, and we don't really have anything to use as evidence in the first play. You know that adults tend to disregard kids. We have to save Asuna first things first, then we can worry about getting Sugou thrown in jail."

I thought about arguing for a few brief moments, but in the end I knew Kazuto was right.

"...You're right." I looked down at the floor biting my lip. I thought about using my CIA connections for a few brief moments before shaking my head. They weren't going to be concerned with any of this. This was Japan's problem, not the United States'. Not to mention they couldn't be bothered with one weirdo kidnapping one girl.

I grumbled and waved Kazuto out of the room. He gave me a cheeky grin and practically skipped out of the room. He was probably ecstatic as hell after seeing Asuna awake again instead of her comatose state he'd been seeing for months. Even if it was only in virtual reality. I couldn't blame him. I smiled softly and plopped the nerve gear on my head for the third time that day.

'When am I gonna get to sleeeeeeep.' I let out a small tired sigh and started the link.

ALO was a strange place when it was 'offline'. I sat up in the inn's bed and took a quick look outside. Everything was stagnant. There didn't seem to be any wind, and I didn't see any NPCs moving. I shivered, the air feeling colder than usual. I stepped outside, walked down the stairs, and walked past the innkeeper NPC. Her face was completely blank, looking like one of those creepy wax dolls in a museum. I shuddered and kept on walking till I was outside. There I leaned up against the wall of the inn, waiting for Kirito and Asuna to show up. It didn't take long for them to show up. Kirito's face looked so relieved. He probably expected to Asuna to be kidnapped again. She was powerless in her current state, no skills or offensive stats.

"Right." I pushed off the wall, "We need to find a GM terminal so we can log you out right?"

Asuna nodded, and pulled out the same card from earlier.

"Do you mind if I hold onto that Asuna?" I held out an empty palm, "Just in case Oberon shows up and captures you again," At Kirito scowl, I hastily added, "Not t-that t-that'll happen of course, but just for safety!"

"I understand," Asuna smiled softly and pressed the card into my hand. She then glared over at Kirito who was still giving me the stinkeye. He gulped and looked the other way.

"Honestly..." I heard her rebuking him, "He's just trying to help Kirito. Be a little more sensitive."

"Sorry..." I heard him mutter back

"So." I clapped my hands together, trying to ignore the lovers spat "Do we even know where to start? If not we just need to hide Asuna someplace and come back tomorrow. I'm about to fall asleep on my feet."

"There's a GM console at the top of the world tree." Asuna replied almost immediately, "I almost managed to log myself out, but I got interrupted by some weird slug things. If we can just get back to that one we should be fine.

"Got it." I turned to head towards the world tree. I didn't make it very far. Life had it out for me lately.

I felt a stabbing pain in my chest. My eyes shot wide open, barely noticing Kirito's and Asuna's own expressions of horror.

"The game gets so much more interesting when you turn the pain sensors way up." I heard a voice behind me, "Wouldn't you agree mister savior?"

"W-who?" I coughed out, trying my best to ignore the excruciating pain in my stomach. I didn't succeed.

"Just the man you've plotted against for the last few minutes. I must admit it was charming listening to children wanting to challenge a man unlike to a god, at least in this reality. But it got old, so I figured I might as well make my appearance and ruin your dreams. I can't let all my work keeping Asuna in this game as my plaything go to waste after all."

I grunted, and spat out blood on the ground. Tears were running down my face from the pain. It was not pleasant having a sword in your chest with the pain sensors set all the way to maximum. I couldn't help but cry out when Oberon shoved the sword hard and let it drop from his hands. I fell to the ground, gasping, my eyes losing light. I saw my life bar slowly decreasing in the corner of my vision, but the pain was too much for me to muster the strength to pull the sword out. Dimly I heard Kirito and Asuna crying out my name, before my life bar finally ticked to zero and everything went black.

'You have died'

The pain blissfully left me, and I opened my eyes again. Everything looked ethereal and ghostly to me. To my upper left was an option to either revive at the Spriggan capitol, or to wait for revival. I hit the wait button, and noticed a sixty-second timer appear in front of me.

'That must be how long till it automatically respawns me in Spriggan territory...' I frantically looked around for Kirito and Asuna, but I couldn't even turn my head. I dimly heard talking off in the distance, but it was all muffled. I could only watch helplessly as the time ticked down to zero, and everything faded black for the second time that day.

To my great surprise I woke up in the spare bedroom of the Kirigaya household. Not in the Spriggan capitol. I felt something drip onto my chest, and I reached up to feel my face. I was crying. A wave of pain shot through my chest. I assumed they were phantom pains from being stabbed, and I let out a whimper, the tears still coming.

'Sugou must've forcefully logged me out.' I rubbed my eyes tiredly, trying to shut out the pain and to gather my thoughts. Asuna was most likely captured again unless Kazuto pulled off a miracle. Today felt like a rollercoaster of emotion. I sighed and sat up in the bed, trying to keep my eyes open.

A scream of rage sounded off in the distance, and I knew that had to be Kazuto. He'd probably just been forcefully logged out by Sugou. I pushed myself out of the guest bed wearily and headed out the door.

After a quick trip down the hall, I was at Kazuto's room. I pulled down the handle, only to find the door locked. I tapped lightly on the door, but no one answered. I sighed and pressed my ear to the door, trying to see if I could hear anything. My heart dropped at the suppressed sobbing I could hear inside.

'Kazuto must be torn up about losing Asuna so soon after being reunited with her.' I slid down the wall and sat next to his door, 'Guess I'll talk to him tomorrow about what kind of options we've got. Honestly I'm all out of ideas. I almost want to call up Klein or Rika and see if they've got any ideas.'

"Is everything alright?" I heard Suguha softly ask.

I looked up to see her in an over-sized shirt with a concerned look on her face. I just shook my head. She frowned deeply and moved to knock on the door. I reached up and grabbed her arm, and shook my head when she looked at inquisitively.

"He needs his space, and the door's locked anyways. We can harass him in the morning if he still won't come out."

Suguha looked like she wanted to protest, but sighed and nodded her agreement. Rather than go back to her room though, she slid down next to me.

"What happened in ALO when you guys went back in? I've never heard my brother sound that angry. Good thing my mom doesn't get back till later."

"Well..." I subconsciously grabbed at my chest in the place where Sugou had stabbed me, the phantom pain returning again, "We ran into a bit of trouble."

"Trouble?"

"Yeah."

I quickly related the entire portion of events to Suguha. She let out a small gasp when I told her about the whole stabbing in the chest with the pain sensors jacked up thing. I ended on saying I didn't exactly know what happened to Asuna and Kazuto after I was killed, and probably wouldn't know until the morning.

"So you don't even know if you can get back into ALO to save her huh?" Suguha frowned

"Nope."

"Well... if it makes you feel any better," She patted my hand, "I'll save her myself if I have to. This Sugou guy doesn't know about me after all."

"Thank you. I know Kazuto'd appreciate hearing that too."

I felt my lips twitch upwards into a small grin. Suguha smiled back, and I wondered again how she didn't have a boyfriend. She was really pretty and her personality was actually pleasant. I inwardly shrugged. Maybe she just didn't want one.

"Well." I pushed myself to my feet, "I'm gonna go get some rest. Tomorrow's probably going to be a busier day than today was."

"Alright."

I headed back to the guest bedroom, noticing Suguha still hadn't left her position in front of Kazuto's door. I guess if she wanted to try and get to her brother she could try. She'd do a better job of it than me anyways, she was his sister. I opened the door to the bedroom and flopped down onto the bed. Unfortunately I wasn't particularly tired anymore. The phantom pains in my chest kept coming back, and I felt restless. This wouldn't do.

I knew exactly what I needed. I hoped that she was still up. I dialed pressed the one button on my phone, which was set to speed dial Rika's cell. I sighed and leaned back into the fluffy pillows of my bed. I breathed a sigh of relief when her sweet voice answered with a quick 'hello'.

"Hey Rika." I replied back softly, "It's been a long day. I don't suppose you mind just talking with me till I fall asleep?"

"...Sure." I could almost hear her smile. That gentle smile she always put on her face when we used to sleep next to each other in SAO.

"We found Asuna." I began, "But that's where it all went downhill today."

"Go on." Rika was trying desperately to keep her voice neutral, since she could probably tell there was bad news to go with finding Asuna

"The GM showed up while we were trying to figure a way to log her out of the game. Turns out he's the one behind it all. Rika he... he..."

The phantom pains in my chest surged forth again and I let out a small cry of pain. I knew Rika had heard, but I wish she hadn't.

"Are you okay!" Rika asked in a whispered yell

"I'm f-fine." I replied back weakly, "You'll understand if I just keep explaining. He... the GM... he stabbed me in the chest with the pain sensors in-game put extremely high. My brain keeps remembering them and making me relive the pain. I'm not actually hurt, don't worry."

"That bastard! Ooooooh when I get a hold of him!" her voice actually turned into a shout this time. A warm smile went across my face. Rika was always so willing to defend me.

"I trust that you'll give him hell." I chuckled warmly, "Thanks Rika."

"Damn right I will."

"Anyways. That's all I really know. He forcefully logged me out after that, so I don't know what happened to Kazuto and Asuna after I was gone. I'm gonna assume something kinda bad considering Kazuto's holed up in his room right now crying."

"He's what."

Uh oh. I recognized Rika's tone of voice. She was about to do something I wasn't going to be able to stop. I decided to just reply and not risk her wrath.

"He's holed up in his room crying," I replied meekly.

"Is he now. When you should be thinking of options of saving Asuna he's just being a giant baby? Don't go to sleep, I'm on my way over."

"Wait Rika I don-" I heard the tone that denoted she had already hung up. I let out a great big sigh and ended the call myself. I let out a moan of annoyance

"When am I going to get some sleeeeeeeeeeep..."

Will Ryan get to go to sleep in the next chapter? Probably, but the jury's still out on that one. Oh and keep your eyes out for something new from me in the Sword Art Online archive if you don't have me on author alert. I've been working on something secret.

-Forscythe