November 23rd, 2022

It was dark and cool by the time the two of them had made it to the next town. The warmth of the day was gone which would have suited them both fine if it hadn't complicated their journey. They were in the wrong time zone, anyway. It was a relief when they had reached Horunka and could follow the dimly lit streets, and not have to stumble along the forrest with nothing but the glow from the map screen and the moon.

The first thing of note, really, was how much smaller Horunka was to Starting City. It was an observation made by a glance but it was obvious enough. Even exhausted, and all but falling into the first Inn they saw.

They'd left Starting City at roughly half past two in the morning and had been travelling since. Dudley had been complaining that there would usually be transport, but that had obviously been taken out of the official release and Transport Crystals could only take you to places you'd already been, so they were useless as of now.

That had left them journeying through the Forest Region for a good two hours, as soon as they'd made it out of the city district and they were swarmed over with mods. Just Boars and Wolves; easy enough to clear as they moved, especially after the slaughter they'd taken part in before everything had been turned on its head.

'Just keep going,' Dudley had said, weary and drooping as they'd continued forward. 'I've read forums about the scope of the first floor. It's big, Choice, the biggest floor in SAO. We'll be walking for awhile.'

'We could stop if you're tired, I don't mind,' Harry had responded despite his determination to get out of the open and somewhere more secure.

Dudley had shaken his head. 'We can't stay here. Never rest somewhere that isn't a Safe-Zone. We're fair game out here, like any mod or NPC.'

Uneasily, they'd continued. The entrance of the Deep Forest was noticeably overgrown and wild. It'd been possible to look too far inside, the distant scenery was clouded and dark. 'We could try to go around it?' Harry'd suggested, hesitant to put his trust in an area so foreboding.

'No. You remember that huge arse castle wall?'

'Sure, it was hard to miss,' Harry'd responded.

'Well, it's meant to cut through the first floor in a semi-circle,' Dudley explains roughly. 'Someone posted that it stops at the beginning of the Labyrinth but it also means that there's only one way in and out of Starting City on foot.'

Glancing back to the map, Harry saw the problem. 'They're herding us.'

Dudley shrugged. 'It's common in games; for the devs to make barriers to make sure players go the right ways. It ensures that players are levelling up or not reaching areas before they're meant to get there. It's all part of level design.'

Harry sighed but they continued their trek through the Deep Forest as Harry made mental notes of the area, the monsters that spawned and tried to remember attack patterns. The later it got, the slower they'd become. Harry had been trained to fight and respond on no sleep and in poor conditions but Dudley was just a teenager, who was tired and stressed.

By the time the trees were receding back and the terrain grew flatter, they were out of Potions and Dudley was dragging his feet. Seeing the City Wall again was enough to alleviate their strain. It took another two hours to finally reach the drawbridge with a plaque fixed to the side with the name "Horunka" engraved onto it.

Horunka wasn't a built up city like Starting, it was more akin to a town - or a settlement. Buildings were dotted around and the streets and alleys had no real organisation to them. The Inn was, thankfully, one of the first things they came across.

The hanging sign outside the stone inn - very Tudor in fashion, read: The Petite Chateaux. Harry's primary school level French was about enough to translate that: the little castle. Either way, the building held all the charm of a village cottage with plant boxes in the windows, climbing vines decorating the walls and a cute painted door. It was also easy enough to guess what it was.

With Dudley close to falling over, Harry stood awkwardly in front of the door, not quite sure what to do when a hand fell onto his shoulder. 'For public buildings, you're just meant to press your hand against it and it's meant to open,' Dudley said, face flat and tight as he looked at Harry. 'If you want to get access to a player's room or dwelling, then you knock.'

Harry nods but he's slow to extend his hand; SAO has used up his trust and he wasn't sure of its intentions anymore. If he doesn't, though, Dudley probably will so he places his palm to the wood. His thought is not about how the door creaks open, but that the texture is wrong; untreated wood that has simply been painted over should have granules and groves. This had nothing. Just a strangely flat surface. It hadn't been given the same attention as his staff or the grass, or Dudley's - everything.

Harry lowers his arm in discomfort, fingers curling into a fist as he enters the establishment with Dudley by his side. They're welcomed into a rustic looking pub, with a rounded counter, coasters running along the top and connected pumps that'd look at home in the heart of England, rustic but homely. Standing behind the bar was a woman with a cursor hovering above her head.

She drew Harry's attention instantly. The woman was in her early to mid-twenties, looking unnaturally stiff with a distant expression made up on her face, completed with a vague smile. Seeing her dress, with an apron tired around her waist, blonde hair kept out of her way with a scarf, had Harry thinking back in history.

Angelo Saxons, Maybe? Whatever, it'd been a long time since Harry had thought about his studies in primary school and it probably didn't matter much. 'Um…' Harry tried to begin and then realised that it didn't look like this woman was breathing. 'Excuse me?'

With speed that had Harry stepping back into Dudley, she turned to look at him, blinking as if just waking up from a dream. 'Choice?' Dudley says in askance but her big eyes are fixed on Harry and it was unnerving him.

'Hello me lovelies!' she greets after a pause, mouth stiff for a moment before she livens up. 'I'd be Madame Rosalie. What cann'ee do fer youse?'

'Er…' Harry falters.

'She's an NPC, Choice. Don't worry, she's fine,' Dudley said measuredly.

Harry blinks and then is forced to remember the "NPC's" that occupied a few of Dudley's other games but they hadn't - they hadn't reacted like her. Well, he could ask Dudley about it later. 'Me and my - friend, would like a room,' Harry says hopefully. 'Please,' he adds on as an afterthought. He doesn't feel particularly polite after the day he'd had.

Madame Rosalie blinks at the both of them. 'For me double that'd be ten Cor ah piece ah night. Interested?'

Harry was preparing a verbal answer. He knew they had enough money with the mods they'd killed throughout the day, but he was interrupted when a screen popped up in front of him.

The Petite Chateaux Double Room Is Now Available.

Ten Cor Per Night

Do You Accept?

[O] [X]

Harry sighed and glance to the side to see the same window in front of Dudley. He had a feeling that this would get very tiring, very quickly. Despite this, he pressed the accept button. A key was tumbling into his hand not a moment later.

Madame Rosalie nodded. 'Pleasuah doin' business wit' yer.' She winks, smiling wide as she gestures to the door near the back of the pub, not far from the edge of the counter. 'Yer be going up them stairs tah yer room.'

Harry didn't feel particularly welcome as he thanked Madame Rosalie and walked towards to door, peering up it to find a narrow, rickety staircase, wooden and steep. He glanced to Dudley who shrugged but gently pushed him forward.

It was easy enough to climb with two working legs even if every step Harry felt like he was about to fall through the rotting panelling. Once they were at the top, they went a long a hallway of doors. Examining his room key, and seeing a number "5" on the small plank attached, it was easy enough to find which one was theirs.

Inserting the key into the doorknob of room number five, Harry needn't even turn it before the door started to pull away from him. He couldn't help but tense, finding it a little ominous. Dudley's hand was back before he had the chance to pause for long. 'Don't worry about it,' he reassured tiredly. 'Security may seem a bit lax but things can't be stolen in SAO, you have to transfer things over through your menu to hand something over. It's safe.'

Harry nodded and stepped through. There is a gaslight Dudley turns on through the game's system, though Harry's pretty sure that light is in the wrong era. Not like it mattered, SAO was made by a Japanese company who was probably going for aesthetic rather than historically accuracy.

Near the front door that closed behind them was another which - luckily - turned out to be a bathroom. Harry didn't know how their bladder functions were made to work here, but having to go in an outdoor bathroom would be terrible. The addition of a shower, however haphazard the plumbing appeared, was also a relief.

Dudley is more concerned with getting on a mattress and walks past Harry, to collapse on one of the twin beds. It was more a cot than anything, but it was better than nothing and Harry had grown used to a floor.

'Don't just stand there, bro,' Dudley murmurs into his pillow.

Harry plonks himself down heavily on the bed opposite Dudley's. 'De?'

'Hm?' Dudley voice is muffled, exhausted.

'You need to stay awake a bit longer, De,' Harry says, sleepy himself as he watches the lump Dudley has become.

'Why?' Dudley groans.

Harry buries any guilt he might feel at keeping Dudley awake. This is quite literally a matter of life and death at the minute. 'I know it's late and that you're late but time's a resource we can't be sure we have. You can sleep in a minute, I promise.'

Dudley blew out a fatigued breath and pushed himself into a sitting position.

Typical, Dudley thinks as he forces himself to sit rather than sink into his admittedly uncomfortable bed. 'What's this about? Cuz I'm honestly still processing the whole thing.' Everything felt so…surreal. Like it was meant to be normal but the log out button was gone and Dudley wasn't brave enough to think that Kayaba's words had been a lie.

'It's…a bit of a shock,' Harry mutters as he glances down to the hands in his lap. The lines under his eyes look like they've been etched in with a hammer and his skin looks unhealthy in the low lights.

Dudley snorts. 'That's a bit of an understatement,' he retorts dryly. 'Harry -'

'I think you - we need to get our heads on straight,' Harry cuts in lowly. There's a strain about him that has't been so restrictive since that first day, when Dudley had opened the door to him and that wizard that had left him. 'Just…'

'Okay, okay,' Dudley concedes. He blows out a fatigued breath as he forces himself to sit up. 'Get on with it though, will you? Before I regret listening you.'

Harry grins weakly, pressing his hands into his thighs. 'You would regardless. Are you…' He hesitates, watching him, assessing. 'No, that'd be a stupid question. You be sure, no matter what, to keep your head, okay?'

'What's that head for, kid? Decoration? If you want to last in the ring, keep it screwed on. You can't keep rushing in half-cocked,' coach had said once upon a time but it'd taken more than that before Dudley had started to listen. Here it was again. 'Sure, I get it,' Dudley responds. 'But -'

'No, that's lesson one: control your thoughts, don't let them control you. Keep your calm.'

'What, of your survival tips?' Dudley's not surprised per se. He'd seen that look in Harry's eyes before, however long ago it were. 'Though ain't something I expected to come outta your mouth.'

'Some things have to change.' The statement was flat, seemed overly candid while being not quite right. 'You mentioned when we were leaving Starting how the game wouldn't let people attack others…could you, explain? How sure are you of that?'

'Ah…' Dudley thinks of swallowing on reflex but there isn't a mechanic for that without eating involved. 'So, for the game to run there's all these systems. The main system is called the Cardinal system. It manages resources, and processes and events and stuff.'

'And it would keep players from attacking one another?' Harry asks dubiously.

Dudley shakes his head. 'No, it can't like…control players. It just stops actions from taking effort. Like, if I were to try and hit you right now, even if I were ta hit you, the Cardinal wouldn't allow you to take any damage. Because we're in a Safe Zone.'

'…you're sure that, that those rules the Cardinal insists on are in place?' The question is an uncomfortable one and a bubble of fear begins to form.

'…I guess not but…it wouldn't make any sense for the Cardinal to be disabled. Besides, remember when that guy backed into you? That warning that popped up after? That was the Cardinal System.'

'So…there are rules,' Harry states. 'And you know them?'

'Well, mostly. I guess.' Dudley shrugs. 'I mean, I read a tonne of forums to get an edge but the betas didn't get that far, only reached like, Floor Ten. I think. So, it's not like there was that much information and some of it I had to use Google to translate. So…'

'Right, but you'd know more than most. You're not going into this blind?' Harry's insistence on this is a bit strange but Dudley supposes he's not wrong.

'I guess not.' He pauses and tries to understand what's creased Harry's brow. '…and neither are you.'

Harry's smile is fractured. 'I'm the bodyguard here.'

Dudley frowns. 'I…don't want you to take that too seriously.' Not now. He wouldn't have Harry doing anything stupid now. Not with so much at stake. Dudley wouldn't be able to live with himself if anything happened. 'We're both in this together.'

Harry continues to smile. 'Together.' That's an agreement but…why doesn't it sound like one?

Dudley huffs. 'We'll probably need to think about making a Guild. Maybe.' He decides to allow the subject to change. Bringing something up that'd require some contemplation. 'Safety in numbers and all that.'

Harry's face turns into something more thoughtful as he considers that. 'It - yeah.' He inclines his head carefully. '…yeah, that….we'll need more players, right?'

'The party's enough for now.'

'So…a guild later, but sooner…what do - we need to do?' Harry enquires.

'Ah. Er…I mean, levelling up and the - the quests?' Dudley suggests hazily, because he's so exhausted he can almost sense how heavy his eyes are.

'Quests,' Harry repeats. 'They'll be like the type of thing I've done before, in other games?'

Dudley nods in confirmation. 'Pretty much, yeah. We can earn rewards and there's more chance for quickly earning SP.'

'Alright,' Harry says in agreement. 'Alright, we'll try that. When - we wake up.'

There was something halting about the way Harry spoke, something that made a thrum of worry hit Dudley. There was something that Dudley wasn't getting. That hadn't clicked like it had for Harry, it seemed. 'So…unless you want to talk about the marriage system, are we done? Can I sleep or is there something else?'

'M-marriage system?' Harry stuttered as his eyes widened. The green of his eyes weren't quite the same but maybe that was the lighting. It was still better than having to go through this with a cousin that had changed his eyes to purple. Dudley preferred Harry looking like himself.

And despite the situation, Dudley finds himself snorting. 'What, commitment not for you, Wizard?' The pigment of Harry's skin reddened on his cheeks but went nowhere near his neck, like how he usually blushed. An oversight, Dudley supposedly numbly.

'But - why?' Harry asks.

'Dude, this is a role-playing game. It's meant to be as realistic as possible to that. Besides, there are advantages to marrying someone in-game.' Dudley gestured dismissively. He'd gotten married once, to an online friend but it hadn't ended all that well and Harry probably didn't need to hear about that.

'Advantages, De. Your mum will be so disappointed,' Harry teases with a weak grin pulling at one side of his face.

'Like I said, SAO is very realistic.'

Harry blinks as he picks up on at what Dudley is hinting at. Boarding school did that to a bloke. 'What, really?' The shock on Harry's face was good enough to frame and Dudley couldn't quite hide the chortle pushing at the back of his throat. 'Are you pulling my leg? De?!'

Dudley smirked and waited a moment until he raised his hands in defence when Harry picked up his pillow and started to threaten him with it. 'Alright, alright. Don't get your virginal nickers in a twist.' Harry took that the wrong way and sighed in relief and Dudley couldn't have that. 'With your Moral Code enabled, you can enjoy the censorship to your innocence hearts content.'

Harry's face is a shade of horrified that Dudley hadn't had the pleasure to see before. 'W-wha-?'

'Oh don't look so worried,' Dudley says in reassurance even if he's amused.

'I…don't get it. Can players really -?'

'Yeah, it absolutely killed the age rating but it's not like players have to. And no one can force anyone to either.' Dudley said that part more seriously as assault had been a worry that had popped up often enough. 'Really, though. Don't go worrying about it. I mean, you're sixteen so you can and it'd be no one's business -'

'So…the Moral Code is independent from the marriage system?' Harry asks in confusion.

Dudley's head tilts. 'Well, yeah. Sex and marriage aren't exclusive in real life, why would they make it like that here?'

'Right.' Harry shakes his head. 'Right, sorry. Of course. I've gotten distracted.'

'Aww, look at you,' Dudley coos, delighted with how flustered Harry's become. 'Don't worry, bro. I'll make sure to check out all your…prospects. Gotta do my due diligence as your big cousin.'

Harry makes a show of rolling his eyes. 'There won't be any "prospects."'The smile was still there and the tone was off. 'Can we get back on track?'

Dudley's more positive expression falls. 'Sorry,' he finds himself apologising. Had he crossed a line? Plodded against something sore? Something more exposed than the rest of Harry's guarded vulnerabilities. 'You're right. I just - Sorry. I'm…this isn't…It hasn't quite settled in yet, ya know? I am - I will take this seriously. But, I've never…'

'This isn't your typical Tuesday,' Harry acknowledges as he looks upon Dudley in that way of his. It wasn't unkind. But not a lot about Harry was.

'N-no. No,' Dudley takes a breath, vaguely feels it catching at the back of his throat - his physical throat. 'It's…not the type of thing that - shit, I'm…sorry. It's just that, outside of you. Well, you're the closest thing to - fiction I've come to. I didn't expect…'

Harry's face became kind of stiff. His cousin, who was only here cuz Dudley had had this grand idea. 'I can't believe this has happened. I can't…I'm so sorry your stuck here too,' he finally manages to get out. In the Square, with Harry in his arms as he held on through each and every revelation the avatar had brought down on their heads, all Dudley could feel was numb.

Now, that was hours in the distance but didn't feel any more real. Pretending it wasn't though, would probably get Dudley killed and he'd rather stay alive.

'What?' Harry blinks at him, surprised at the apologise and Dudley tries not to let that get to him.

'Sorry, for dragging you into this. It's - well. You know.' Dudley gestures weakly. 'You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me, I should have tried harder to talk you out of it when you'd started to be stubborn about it. It's not like you cared all that much about gaming.'

Harry'd had polite tolerance for most of what Dudley had wanted him to do and would learn what Dudley tried to teach him. 'What're you talking about, De? I didn't mind doing things with you and this - this isn't your fault.'

'Well, it's not yours either,' Dudley finds himself snapping. 'I, just - look, can I level with you?'

'You can if that wasn't a pun,' Harry responds before he sighs. He droops forward, hands pushing through his hair. Dudley barely pays the ruffling stands any heed. 'Please, you know I'd prefer it.'

'I know I gave you the third degree about sharing personal information but we're alone now and I need - I thought that, this would be… I wanted you to play SAO cuz I was thinking that it'd help.' Dudley tries not to fidget or squirm as Harry watches him.

'Help with what?' Harry's face has this expressionless mask on again but Dudley can sense the tension.

Dudley exhales quietly. 'With - with your…stuff, from the war.' He tries to be delicate but he feels like a bull in a china shop. 'I thought that being somewhere else, might…help. But, it's not like that anymore. and, I need to know - will you be okay? Okay with…this?'

Harry looked up from the bed duvet he'd been fiddling with. Dudley half wishes he hadn't. 'What do you mean?'

'Well, it'll be dangerous, won't it? And…' Dudley fought for the right words. 'I know you're strong, Harry. I know that, even if I've just introduced you to gaming but - that's not the problem. I just…need to know, okay? Will you be okay?'

PTSD was really serious, Scott had made sure that Dudley got that and this idea had gone very wrong. 'Will I be okay?' Harry repeated and before Dudley could say another word, asked: 'why?'

Dudley began to get a sinking feeling but restrained himself from reaching forward. He'd learnt not

to when Harry's shoulders became drawn like this. 'Look, I don't want to start a fight, not now.' Especially not now. 'Look, I'm sorry - I'm sorry. It's nonna my business. We can - there's still stuff I can tell you about. Like - like, career paths or - duels, -' Dudley tries desperately to backtrack, not wanting to work Harry up. This conversation could always come later, but not if they had a tiff.

Harry's not having it though and his expression is already closing off. 'What did you mean.'

Dudley shifts. 'look.' He raises his hands in a "I'm harmless". He wasn't sure how well it worked. 'I don't want to start a fight - not now.' Especially not now. 'I'm just - I'm just worried about you. You haven't been…right, since, well, you know.'

It was like a door door slamming shut as everything about Harry straightens up; tenses in a imperceivable way. His cousin gets up to rid the room of light and Dudley has to sigh. 'Harry… Can't you just let me - try to be a good cousin?'

That stilled Harry for a moment who was navigating back to his bed by the dim light shining through the shutters. Harry eventually settles back on his bed without a glance in Dudley's direction. 'It might not matter, anyway,' Harry whispers, voice stilted and devoid of inflexion. He methodically un-equipping everything but his basic clothing.

'In - probably, a couple more hours, Aunt Petunia will be up and the first thing she'll do after making breakfast, is turn on the news,' Harry states duly as his menu closes and the light it produces, vanishes. It left his expression indistinct. 'And if that happens, she might just do you the favour of pulling my plug if you're so worried about having to - party with me.'

Dudley gets the vague sensation of going cold. Dudley hadn't thought about that. Even after having all those articles thrust in their faces, Dudley hadn't even thought - but, his mum knew nothing about technology, wouldn't understand the consequence of trying to force the NerveGear off. She panicked too; neither of his parents were very good at keeping calm and thinking things through.

'So,' Harry continued stiffly, 'maybe, if I survive to evening, we can assume I'm not going to be offed by your mother and then we can talk about my mental capabilities.'

'Harry -'

'You have a good basis for survival here, you just need to keep your head and avoid heroics,' Harry states like that's advice he'd abide by. 'Remember about what to do when you wake up.'

'When we -' Dudley attempted to insist but Harry was already curling upon his mattress, back to Dudley.

'Goodnight,' Harry interrupts.

'Arse,' Dudley can't help but hiss in frustration as he himself goes to remove his armour. 'Fine, we won't talk but when we get through tomorrow and onwards, you - you great, whooping prat - will give me the courtesy of an honest "I' fine, De,' or an "I'm not fine, De." Or so help me, I'll - I'll…well, I'll do something!'

He closed his menu with a snap of his wrist and violently got into bed. Silence settled between them and it was tense as he tried to settle. He bit his lip but he could barely feel it. Everything was muted, suddenly so very fair away. Dudley forced his eyes closed even when his mind asked if he really wanted to; if it was safe to do so.

It was wondering if he would wake up all on his own; left alone with the other players in SAO, in his do-or-die situation with an impossible goal. He could feel tears start to bite at him and he grit his teeth as he forced them away. He weren't no girl and wasn't about to start brawling.

Fuck, Dudley thinks as he listens to his cousin's breathing as he starts to pray that he'll wear it later today. If he woke up with it gone -

Guilt crashed down around him, knowing that this would be all his fault; that if Harry died, it would be completely his fault. Harry had lived through a war, he couldn't go out like this. It - it wouldn't be fair. Fuck.

'You're a scrawny prick with magic hands, playing hero,' Dudley whispers harshly, from the back of his throat. 'You're too stubborn to let Mum off you and you too much of a good-two shoes to let me die here. You're my bodyguard, you said so. You're not going to leave me here.'

'If something happens to me…' is murmured back and Dudley almost thinks he's hearing things. 'If something happens to me, you need to go on that Quest; the one you mentioned before. Go and get prepared and be strong.'

'Not without you,' Dudley says stubborn as his heartbeat kicks up a gear, because he honestly doesn't know how to even begin contemplating that. He'd fought in boxing matches but that was - contained, there was a ref and there wasn't any real rick. Dudley wasn't brave like Harry, he wasn't strong either.

'Not without you.'

'You might not have a choice.'

Con/textual Vomit:

PlotBunnies4u (adorable handle btw) thank you for your review. I've just been really busy. It doesn't have much to do with the length of my chapters ^^". I'm just slow.

So, important question as to whether Harry will be able to use his magic inside the game and the short answer is: no. This story is really focused on realism or as close as I can get it to, trying to go the whole game function and mechanics route. Magic and tech aren't compatible, besides, SAO wouldn't have any corresponding code and - yeah. No, I'm sure that could make for an interesting story but not for this one.

(Originally Uploaded: 15/04/2017) (Rewritten: 18/03/2018)

OZ