AN: I feel like Act 2 was not very good, and really phoned in, so I'm scrapping it, to complete this fic. Sorry, if some really liked it. There will be a sequel, sometime.
Chapter 18: Six Months Later
It was six months. Kirito spent half in the hospital, in intensive rehabilitation.
And the other half, tracking down his guild.
Kirito got into his mom's grey sedan, along with Suguha, and Recon. Recon lived nearby their house, and was easy to track down. The rest of the guild, not so easy, but they did it!
The guild is meeting again, the first time after the incident. They collaborated, almost all of them, into organizing and meeting each other. Kirito's mom started to drive out of the street. Suguha yawned. It was 8 AM on Saturday, and they had to carpool with her mom on her ride to work, getting dropped off along the ride.
"So, how did your guild do?" His mom asked. Kirito hesitated.
"What do you mean, exactly?"
"I know how MMOs work, Kazuto! I used to play them! I didn't buy the NerveGear just because you wanted it; I liked the idea of virtual gaming." his mother shocked the entire car. Recon whispered to Suguha.
"Your mom did that?"
"I didn't know!" She responded.
"So, again, how did your guild do?"
"Okay, I guess." Kirito responded in a small voice. His mom didn't take it.
"Really? You played that beta test obsessively."
"I thought you would hate SAO. It trapped us in the game." The three teenagers started to look for his mother's response.
"Well, I know it was bad, but, it was the creator that was bad. Not the game itself."
They drove for a few minutes, before arriving.
"Dicey Café, right?" The bar's entrance wasn't much. A window, and a door. The mother saw past the window.
"Alright then. I have to go to work now. Call when you're done, but otherwise, I'll pick you up at nine." The teenagers got off, and saw the car drive off.
Kirito opened the door of the café. The interior was wooden, and there was a bar, several tables, and Agil, stretching. His face quickly lit up.
"Oh, Kirito! Nice to see you again! Have a seat."
When they sat at a nearby table, Agil quickly delivered them water.
"You're really early. You're the first ones."
"Yeah, we noticed." Recon looked around even more. There was a couple of round table booths, designed to seat an entire group. The seats were cushioned, and there was a flatscreen on a wall above the cabinet of drinks.
The door opened, and in came a person with a familiar red headband.
"Hey, guys! It's really good to see you again."
"Klein!" Recon called out. The 20-something man grinned, and was carrying plastic bags with boxes.
"Where's your friends?"
"I communicated through the Internet, but I haven't seen them physically, for a long while. They're coming. I'm sure of that."
He then started to put the plastic bags onto the table.
"What's this?" Suguha looked at a box. It was white, and slim. A picture depicted a white plastic band, with glass on the front. It was a fairly sleek, futuristic design. And the text was equally modern.
Amusphere.
"Gifts! Me and my friends bought these online, and we collaborated so that you also get these, since you can't, y'know, earn money."
Klein handed out the boxes to the three of them. Kirito noticed the three others. Klein saw his look.
"They're for Lisbeth, Silica, and Asuna, wherever they are. By the way, about Asuna…"
"The daughter of a CEO." Kirito finished his sentence. "She was really easy to find, but hard to communicate with. I kept trying, but I kept hearing his dad's voicemail. I don't know why you bothered to buy her this. She's not coming."
That left a bittersweet silence on them. Agil tried to break the mood.
"Amuspheres, eh? You're lucky to get them for free." The tall man said.
"Klein, you bought us NerveGears?" Recon asked.
"They're a lot safer. Trust me. We bought games too." Klein brought out cases.
"Alfheim?" Kirito glanced at the world map behind it, but his thoughts were interrupted.
"Alfheim!" Lisbeth yelled after hearing it, right after coming through the door. She ran to them, and started rambling. "It's really good, you should play it!"
"What's it about?" Kirito asked.
"Well, it's not really about the plot, but the stuff going on inside. There's faction wars! Klein, you played it, right?" He agreed. "It's really cool. They say it's a huge reboot of SAO. The employees that worked on it joined them after Argo, the company who made SAO, went bankrupt. They integrated Sword Skills and stuff!"
They were clearly excited. Kirito considered it.
"I'll give it a try."
Klein looked at the other two.
"What about you two? Are you going to try?" The duo looked at each other. "I dunno. I don't think my parents would like it. But, I for one, would try. What about you, Suguha?"
The shy girl shifted uncomfortably.
"No thanks." Memories of her time in SAO were remembered. Klein nodded.
"It's okay."
"So, Klein! Told them about Alfheim yet?" Dynamm opened the door in the shop, his mouth immediately opened. Kunimittz followed, sitting.
"How'd you like the Amuspheres?" Kunimittz said, looking at a menu on a table.
"They're great, thanks." Kirito smiled a bit. The rest started to arrive, a sudden influx. Harry One silently sat nearby, and tall, big Dale started to walk to him. And, Issin, strangely, seemed very happy.
"Kirito! Man, we're back together! Well, almost." The large man said excitedly, lounging on a booth. Agil decided to turn on the mounted TV, to a local news network.
"If you don't mind, I put an ad up for SAO survivors to come here. Private party, and I used your guild's name." Agil grinned slyly. Kirito sighed.
"Really, Agil? Really?" The teenager had a pained look on his face, though, Kirito wasn't too serious.
"Relax! I'll be fun!"
The group's happy expressions faded once they see a news report. Of the remaining 300 trapped NerveGear players. Apparently, police think it's related to RECT Inc., but they haven't found proof yet.
"I checked the list of people trapped. None of us is in there." Kirito remarked. "But, there's still that."
"The Amusphere's safe, right?" Suguha asked curiously. Lisbeth nodded, and decided to change the mood of the room. "It can't fry brains. And Alfheim's fun. You can fly, and fight in this massive war between races! Issin's a leader of one race!" She was interrupted by the skinny man himself .
"Yeah, I'm the elected leader of one race. The smallest one though. Only around 40000 thousand. The race isn't a popular choice." Issin partially gloated, and admitted. Kirito sniffed.
"Forty thousand is pretty large, isn't it?"
"Compared to a million, it's four percent. Almost half of the players is in three races. They're really popular. One makes you control fire, another makes you the fastest in flying, and the other makes you a beast tamer with swords and all that." They were interrupted by Silica, who came in, hearing about the Beast Tamer Race.
She's the last guild member that would arrive.
"I heard about the Cait Sith. I wish I could play, but my parents really don't want me to touch anything remotely VR anymore," Silica said, almost disdainfully, but she understood why the restrictions in place.
"Well, that sucks." Recon responded, sympathizing. Lisbeth then finally remembered something crucially important.
"Oh, and your SAO skills and levels carry on to Alfheim."
"What?! You're serious?!" Kirito said out loud, surprising everyone. Lisbeth nodded. "Yes, but your equipment has to be deleted to avoid corrupting the game. Why do you think Issin's a leader? Because of his charisma?" Lisbeth joked, earning a few chuckles.
"Really, Lisbeth? Just like that?" The man himself replied sarcastically. Kunimittz grinned at him. "That was a good insult. Feel the shame, Issin." Kunimittz drawled, in between sips of coffee. Issin simply told him to shut up, shrugging off the casual insults, and explained more of the game to Kirito.
"Anyway, the game's extremely cool: There's these big wars for power between races, and apparently, the first race to reach the top of this huge tree would get to fly around all the time, and be glorious."
"Wait, how does flying work?" Recon asked.
"Everybody's fairies, so you get to sprout wings and fly. You first need this assisting controller, but you can train yourself to fly on your own easily. And you got a time limit. Around 10 minutes."
Kirito nodded, sipping a glass of water. Suddenly, half the guild cheered when Agil brought a tray of grilled chicken skewers to the table. Everybody took one, and Kirito bit into it. The gums in the back of his front teeth immediately flared.
"Tew hawt," Kirito sputtered awkwardly, then held the skewer up to cool it down. Klein sat down next to him.
"So we were thinking, because of the huge wars in Alfheim, we should try to unite everyone together to team up and complete the main quest." Klein suggested.
"What's up with the main quest?"
"Each race can't do it by themselves. They have to team up, y'know. Now, due to the SAO save corruption, delete all your equipment. Also, you're gonna land in Alne, the central city, instead of your race's home country. We'll be meeting at the base of the world tree, with two giant statues."
Kirito memorized the instructions.
"Is Kirito on board?" Lisbeth asked.
"Yeah, I am."
"Yes! I finally have something to do in school!" The girl grinned at herself.
"Oh, it starts in three months, right?" Suguha entered the conversation.
"Still," Lisbeth said. Platters of steaming food started to arrive at the table.
"Dig in!" Agil laughed.
The party was in full blast. SAO survivors cheering and laughing as they remembered memories from the game. Kirito didn't really like the attention, as everyone recognized the Twin Swordsman, and slipped away, outside, under the pretense to cool off.
Kirito leaned against the wall, soaking in the cold evening air.
" I didn't miss anything, did I?" A light voice called out. Kirito looked at the source. Asuna. She blushed when he looked.
"You're really late,"
"Sorry,"
"No, no, it's okay."
An awkward silence passed.
"Kirito, back then, when I kissed you, do you hate me now because of that?" Asuna said, looping her hair with her fingers.
"N-no, I actually... liked it," he confessed.
And her elation was worth it.