/December 20th, 2025

You come back to GGO when you can't handle hearing another windchime or seeing another wingspan. Sometimes you can't breathe ALO's air without tasting blood.

Sinon finds you and drags you by the sleeve back to her hole-in-the-wall apartment.

Guns line the walls and extra medkits pile next to the mini-fridge. Reflected neon light from the window and the smell of old grease overtake the room.

You clutch your drink, sitting on Sinon's bunk, the one piece of furniture in the room. And you can't speak.

"Why do you keep coming back here?"

Because of the smog. Because of the gunfire. Because of the desert. Because nothing reminds you of then.

You can't talk to Asuna, or Suguha, or Klein. You can't. You can't handle them telling you nothing's changed, can't handle their hesitant touches. You can't handle more pity.

But.

Sinon isn't someone who knows the hero, the black swordsman. She only knows Kirito, the killer and lightsaber-wielder. It helps.

She's seeing who you are, after. And finds you still strong.

You breathe.

And you start to talk.