DISCLAIMER : Sword Art Online does not belong to me, but to its respective writers, developers, publishers, etc. You know how it goes. I do, however, have the right to any and all OCs than can and will appear throughout the story. That being said, let's get it done!

Eyes of the Falcon : Chapter 4

Maybe I can tactfully discuss my way out of this. They're leaders, aren't they? They're bound to listen to an earnest voice of reason.

I cleared my throat, "Excuse me..."

Then I spotted the High Priestess being surrounded by a bunch of glowing gold rings made of flowing, scripted words while she loudly whispered a strange-sounding chant. In a flash, a bright green wave of energy hurtled in my direction. On instinct, I dived out of the way, landing neatly on my feet as the blazing green streak blasted away part of the stone block, making it look like a rocky firework.

Magic?! That's not fair! We can't use magic!

I ran towards the far end of the sanctum, leaping to the left as another energy wave narrowly missed my boot.

I glanced back as I ran. The High Priestess was about to fire again when the Dark Elf raised his hand.

"Allow me, my Lady." He told her with a sound of an unsheathing blade punctuating his sentence.

I went into contact with a pillar and leaned onto it as I flicked through my inventories.

Throwing picks. Throwing picks. Come on, throwing picks.

Bingo!

Just in time. I looked up to see the Dark Elf sprint at full speed with two dangerous-looking daggers in either hand.

Three of my selected throwing picks flew and were embedded into the guy's left arm. I really didn't want to go all violent, so I thought I could hurt his foot, or slow him down, make him keel over, or stumble and fall, or something.

But that only made him madder.

With a war cry, he lunged at me with a dagger which I, of course, backflipped away from and sprung upwards to land on a—

Argh!

My landing base exploded into rubble and I guess it was the acrobatics system or something, but I automatically zeroed in on the larger exploded chunks and used them as aerial platforms to get to steady ground.

"Wait!" I called out to them, quickly selecting the [Stolen Artifact] and holding it before them as it manifested, "I didn't steal this. Here, take it." I gingerly set it on the floor, like some sort of peace offering.

The High Priestess glared, "You dare insult us like that? The very secret it has been assigned to protect has been breached." She raged, gesturing to the bow in my hand.

The Dark Elf zinged back to her left and pointed his daggers threateningly at me. Their health bars glowed an acidic green; the Dark Elf's down by a small fraction while the High Priestess' was still full.

"You hold the true treasure in your hand, so blatant about your thievery. You betrayed our trust. And that..." He raked his blades together. "... is unforgivable."

"Indeed, it is not. And you will taint the bond of the Elves no longer." Agreed the High Priestess. "Shall we?" She asked her companion.

"Do let's." He started running to me again as the High Priestess unleashed a series of magic spheres my way.

I dodged a few but was hit by several others.

Agh...! ... Oh no!

The green in my HP bar dwindled.

They're going to kill me! I can't die here.

I realized I was still holding the bow. I needed both my hands to fight if I wanted to live. No time to stow it away in my inventory, I settled for slinging it on my shoulder before interlocking throwing picks between all my fingers and flinging one set from each hand to the Dark Elf and High Priestess.

As they got hit, I quickly figured out a tactic. Higher ground, further distance. Good thing I'm into long range.

I jumped and flipped onto a beam, continuing my pick-throwing spree. Unfortunately for me, the Dark Elf was a pretty good gymnast as well and tried to throw himself at me like a nutcase. A nutcase with knives, that is.

I weaved myself around – jumping away to another beam as the Dark Elf sprang towards me; aiming at and attacking the two elves when I got the chance; evading the High Priestess' energy blasts.

I don't know how long this went on for, but I gradually worked myself into a pattern. I was hit on some occasions but I mostly managed to stay safely in the green, thank goodness.

As for the elves, I was able to get their health bars to almost three quarters down.

I directed more sets of throwing picks and moved to another beam. It's like this room was made for this battle.

I bounded to the top platform of a large pillar and took cover.

Ok, here comes another round!

I reached into my pack to grab more picks.

-Throwing picks x0-

Shit.

That's it, I'm dead. Dead dead dead dead...

And I noticed another blinking entry on my inventory that went unnoticed, bleeping in time to my chant.

Still mindlessly chanting in panic mode, I touched the blinking bar.

I vaguely felt something materialize across my back and then a weighted thoop.

-Equipped: Arrows x100-

Wow!

I don't know if it was because I couldn't wait to try it out or something, but I immediately unslung the bow and reached for an arrow, spinning around from the cover of the pillar.

I nocked the arrow and coolly scowled at the elves, "Take this."

And I let it fly.

*TWOING*

I watched speechlessly as the arrow bounced off two inches away and dropped, clattering as it fell to the floor and disappeared.

"The sacred knowledge!" The High Priestess and Dark Elf yelled, clearly not registering the disastrous first attempt.

"Okay! Maybe what I did just now wasn't a nice thing to do but I swear, I didn't mean to wrongfully take this– this secret knowledge." I said as a last ditch effort to change their minds.

And just to prove it to them, I grabbed another arrow and readied it.

"See... I don't even know how to use it."

As I pulled the bowstring back, I noted a glow that I doubted was there before to the arrowhead and the bow's sight window. I mentally shrugged and fired the arrow, bracing myself for another lame shot.

The arrow stuck fast to the Dark Elf's knee and worked up a spray of digital red.

Oh, now system assist works.

"As of this moment, your mockery ends." The High Priestess' cold voice rang out.

"Wait... wait, please... this is a mistake. I would never harm or commit thievery on purpose."

"Silence! No more lies. We will extinguish your life now." They advanced towards me.

I would've walked away and let them be, but these guys are intent... intent, on making sure I get chopped into a billion little cubes.

It's them or me. They'll be back. I won't. They're just NPCs. What am I so sorry for?

That's what I kept telling myself. It's not like I haven't "killed" before. After all, they are NPCs... and yet... they treated me kindly; accepted me as a comrade...

I can't. I can't... but... I have to.

Then I felt my heart harden.

I just kind of let my mind go blank and went along with my instincts, aided by the system assist. The only thing I thought of was survival.

With every arrow pulled from the quiver, my motions became quicker, more fluid; the arrows hitting them fast and direct as I resumed my acrobatically evasive pattern.

Their health gradually turned an angry shade of red while mine fell into the yellow zone.

The High Priestess was the first one down. She was particularly easy because she didn't move around; taking the hits with grace and carrying on with her attacks. Her health bar very slowly depleted down to its last remnants of deep red.

The Dark Elf looked up in shock, "My Lady!" He cried out, "I shall avenge you!"

He actually sounded upset, and it's a really big change from his previous attitude. If he seemed crazy before, well then, this is bonkers mode.

"Thief! Murderer! Miscreant!" He shrieked, lunging at me with almighty fury.

That got me mad. If they'd been willing listen to justified logic and—

"Diiiiiiiiie!"

It wasn't in slow motion, but I saw it all. The direction he charged at me from. Hair flying; teeth bared. Wild eyes; dagger blades poised at me with barbaric precision.

In a singular motion, I sidestepped to the right, dodging his attack. From the corner of my eye I could already see him reversing the grip on his dagger, preparing to stab me in the back. Using the momentum of the dodge, I spun around, my hands shifting to the edge of my bow and my arms swinging it along with the motion of the spin. I was just a bit faster, and struck him in the head with a crushing blow; the visual on the impact of solid wood bruising the bone beneath flesh was more deafening than the sound of it.

The Dark Elf flew backwards several feet and fell to the floor with a groan.

"You have bested us. We concede." He sighed unhappily. He looked up contemplatively at the ceiling before turning over with a groan; feebly dragging himself and collapsing next to the High Priestess.

"My Lady...?"

No answer.

"My Lady…?" He breathed tiredly before trying again, "… Chiyoko-san?"

My eyes widened. Chiyoko-san?

Her laughter then came, soft, but clear.

"Chiyoko… yes… yes. After so long, we finally remember." Tears began to glaze her eyes.

"Don't cry, Chiyoko…" he begged, but, he too, started to tear.

"Wait… what's going on…? You're talking like you're… normal…– why?" I asked hesitantly, trying to keep bewilderment from controlling my tone.

The High Priestess, or rather, Chiyoko took a deep breath and eyed me somewhat apologetically, as if the confines of her mind were telling me that I was owed an explanation for all that took place.

"We are–... were normal. We used to work as programmers at Argus. An official from a rival company approached Argus with a proposition; an interesting one at that – without Akihiko's knowledge, of course. The man saw SAO as a free chance to test out a beta of a game that his company was working on, so he pulled some strings to get some testing ground. It was supposedly a fantasy themed elf-related RPG. Yusachi-san and I were offered a chance to participate. We were unknowingly fooled into trapping ourselves here by – ugh… what was that bastard's name again?" She turned to her partner.

"Nobuyuki Sugou." He reminded her through gritted teeth, as if the name left an acute taste of spoiled eggs and rotten fish.

"Right, him. Our consciousness were streamed from RECT's headquarters and uploaded into the SAO system. The point of this was to obtain an honest opinion of what it feels like to be an elf… to be the star of the show– you know; more research data for his stupid RPG. So we were given the roles of NPCs here in the game. The cardinal system was tricked into reading our psychological signals as engineered character codes for SAO. And we were tricked into thinking it, too."

"But you weren't really NPCs. Wouldn't you have been able to remember anything?" I asked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing… but in this mad world… what wasn't possible?

"Only slivers here and there. It only starts every time we regenerate… but it goes blank after that. The cardinal system will have overridden our senses, making us the pre-programmed NPC models that we are. Most RPGs nowadays have multiple ends; we've lived and re-lived… but never seemed to properly recall. It was assured that our memories would come back to us once the quest is completed. And Sugou – that worthless sack of shit – didn't tell us that it only applied to the true ending… one that would have ended with our deaths regardless, but this time, permanently." Tears started streaming angrily down her cheeks and she sobbed furiously, "He had us set up to die – that sick, deranged fuck."

Guilt clawed at me. Even if it was someone else who twisted their fate like that, it was I who sent them to their deaths, "I'm… so sorry…"

"No." The Dark El- Yusachi objected.

"We were already dead the moment we agreed to this trial." Chiyoko nodded, "If anything… If anything at all, you've freed us. Thank you." She smiled faintly at me and wiped her face with her sleeve.

"Yusachi-san." She called.

He chuckled weakly, "I think we can skip the formalities."

"…Hayate."

"That's right." He glanced at her and started to go red as he continued... "Chiyoko, just so you know… I… I went along with this to get closer to you."

She laughed… a tragic and beautiful sounding laugh. "You should've told me sooner, you dolt."

Then she coughed and appeared to reach for him. He bridged out his arm, closing the gap that separated them.

"It's over for us. But at least I know in the end... this end..." he grasped both her hands and held on tight, "... that we're finally making it out together."

She smiled sadly at him, "Yes... at least there's that."

I silently watched their exchange. There was nothing more to do or say.

Their fingers intertwined as their remaining health disappeared in unison. Then they were gone in a gentle, pixelated shroud.

I stood there, stunned and confused.

Was it my fault?

I walked over to the [Stolen Artifact] and grimly picked it up.

As I exited the sanctum, its heavy stone gateway, almost mournfully, rumbled closed.

It was a numb, slow walk to the entrance.

The Elven guards, both Forest and Dark clans, stood at attention outside the temple with their eyes trained on the far horizon.

I didn't know what was going to happen, now that the quest has been finished.

Noticing I was there, a pair from each of the clans stepped up to reproach me, "Halt. Your kind is not welcome among these parts. State your business, or leave immediately."

I viewed them all again, standing side by side as a group, with absolutely no animosity between them; waiting for leaders that would never arrive.

I exhaled wearily, "Yeah... I was just leaving", and went on walking.

Author's Note : I know I'm late. Please don't kill me :C

BirnaBerry : Thanks for clicking on my story regardless! :D I really do try to have each chapter around 3k words, but around 2k I seem to have this issue where I get a brilliant idea to put into the story but it would only work if it was in a new chapter. Hope you keep reading!

2lazy2signin : I hate Gary Stu's :C I like you tho :3 Hope you sign in next time!

MyriadLies : And probably one of the slowest in updating too D: I will keep writing indeed! Thanks for reviewing!

ScourgeofShadowsKarx (Guest) : Hi again! How's this chapter for depth? :3 Thanks for the review, hope you sign in next time! Still awaiting the fuzzies!

ProwlHawthorne : I can understand that people won't click on this story at all for a few reasons. For instance, my summary is crap, there's a low word count and I update slower than a turtle walking in peanut butter. I do have high hopes for this story, and I hope you stay with it too!