The Captive Swordsman

Chapter 3— A Lead

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Original Title: Sword Art Online(ソードアート・オンライン)

Original Concept by: Kawahara Reki

written by: wrathie

Author's Notes: Thank you bowpurity for the beta!

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'Asuna-san, look at this!'

Asuna hadn't believed that the meeting would have gone on so well, or that she would have so many people from so many different parts of the world, of different profession, and expertise helping her out in her quest. She wasn't alone after all, even if her reasons for doing so was a little selfish, it wasn't just Kirito-kun that they had to save, it's the rest of the players as well.

After Asuna's explanation, the gathered group of players had quickly gathered themselves to groups that could help out. The programmers, or those with background in information-technology, had all gathered to try and analyse a sample of the source code that Asuna had managed to obtain from an employee due to her connection. Another group had been tasked with searching the many websites, and forums for information about the VRMMORPG, AIfheim Online or ALO, to correlate with what they already knew of SAO. This was to familiarize themselves with the game, as well as the mechanics in the event they had to actually go in to save them.

Another group of them had started to try and sift through either their own contacts, or through forums, posts to look for any oddities within those games themselves to look for clues.

There were a few individuals who simply helped by giving moral support, or by voicing suggestions to those groups. Asuna was one of them, only she was constantly being questioned by the first group on how RECTO Progress was monitoring and maintaining ALO itself. Apparently it would form a bigger picture on how the VRMMORPGs were developed, and if they could piece together the history, they could then see whether it was possible for Asuna's theory to hold.

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'In theory, it is possible, but if that was the case, it would also be possible for those involved in this to transfer our own player data during the SAO incident itself, right?'

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That was something that had been debated about at the start, but it had been abandoned in favor of just trying to locate the players. The reason wasn't important at this point, it was the where and not the how it was done. Besides, Agil had raised the issue of how the servers of SAO would probably have been monitored close during the whole process anyway.

So when someone excitedly called out to all of them about an interesting screen capture available in a trivial trivia website about AIfheim Online. Asuna approached him with a mixture of trepidation as well as anticipation, the entire afternoon had been filled with false leads, discouraging news and with nothing gained so far.

'T-This is-'

There was no mistaking it, dual swords, dressed in an all black outfit, and looking very intimidating as he singlehandedly took on an entire legion of monsters? That was no doubt in her mind that it was Kirito-kun. It was too much of a coincidence if it wasn't him, he had the exact same pose when he drew a sword after all, and even if he did look different, Asuna wanted to believe it was him.

'Woah, that's kinda scary and odd, when did Kirito had elf ears anyway?'

Klein commented even as the player who had stumbled upon it explained that this screenshot of ALO was taken when one of the players had exploited a glitch to enter a hidden dungeon within the game itself.

'The monsters there were horribly over levelled, but he was able to take this screenshot of someone inside the hidden dungeon as well. And this is what he saw inside the dungeon.'

Even if it didn't really look identical to Kirito-kun, just having something like that was enough to give Asuna hope.

'R-Right, let's focus on that hidden dungeon then, mine if we take a look at the source code again, Asuna-san?'

One of the programmers gave her a smile even as they headed back to the corner they had monopolized. Asuna was sure that she might get into trouble for trying to look deeper into the source code like this, but at this point, she really didn't care.

Not when it could be where Kirito-kun was!

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'What are you doing, Asuna, defying your father like that last night.'

Asuna had to fight to keep her temper from flaring again at being reminded of what happened last night; where her father had broached everything that was important about Sword Art Online by himself. Was her mother, Yuki Kyouko going to do the same?

'Mother, Sword Art Online is not a game; it's something more than that. I can't believe father would say that to me.'

Asuna answered evenly as she made her way upstairs to her room. She had a lead, it was a slim one, but it was definitely somewhere closer than she was a day ago. Now she would just have to act upon it right now.

'No, I was referring to why did you not accept that you are going to get engaged to Nobuyuki-san. It is something that your father and I had agreed on after all.'

Asuna could only stare at her mother even as she felt a little faint. As she clutched on to the railings of the stair for support, her mother continued with a small smile on her face.

'He is a reputable man, Asuna, and with his research as well as management skills, would be able to take care of you for life. Why would you reject someone like that, Asuna? You would probably never get someone else with as good a resume as Nobyuki-san. You should be honored that he was so eager in having you as his wife.'

Her mother smiled warmly at her, a little eagerly too, no doubt trying to persuade her to accept, or expecting Asuna to agree with her. But all it did was to make Asuna feel even sicker as she felt a little light headed. Her relationship with her mother had been a pretty normal one, all things considered, if not for her always reminding Asuna on her hardship in life, of how she wanted the best for Asuna.

Her mother had always been one who tried to impress on her about their standing in life, that they were of a higher 'status', than the rest. It was a very out-dated concept, but one that Asuna had continued to accept in the past. Perhaps it was partly due to her own compliance, belief, and her surroundings moulding her to accept it, or perhaps it was how her mother had always looked more than a little sad about what she had been through. Asuna had believed her mother, and who wouldn't believe their parents, and had agreed with her. If her mother's experience was so traumatic, she wouldn't want to experience the same as well.

However, after her experience in Sword Art Online, her perspective had changed, not to mention her own personality as well. She was stronger now, definitely more stubborn, and in love. With all that, it wasn't surprising that she sounded more than a little rebellious.

'I refuse to be a trophy wife, mother.'

Asuna replied bluntly even as her mother's eyes widened in shock. Even since she had waken up, Kyouko had known that Asuna had changed. Whether for the best, she wasn't sure, as the obedient and compliant Asuna was gone, the Asuna that she had helped guide down the right path was now heading straight down the one that she did not want her to have. As a mother, there's nothing that hurts more in seeing one's daughter suffer, or go down a very hard path in life. She wanted Asuna to be happy, and if she didn't follow what she had planned for her, it was just not going to happen. Instead, the person that had awakened after the two years, was a stubborn young lady who did not even find fit to listen to her parent's advise. It was enough to cause any mother to despair.

'Now Asuna...'

Even as she tried to continue without really berating Asuna by keeping her temper in check, her daughter continued on wearily while glaring a little at her.

'Even if it wasn't just that, I would never accept Sugou, he would never treat me well, mother. He doesn't want me, who I am, but he wants Yuki Asuna, daughter of the CEO of RECTO Progress.'

Asuna replied bluntly even as she pressed her other hand onto her chest, imploring her mother to listen to her.

'Even if you are fine with it mother, I'm not. I'm myself, I already love someone else. I don't care about what plans that Sugou has for me, or what plans you've made for me mother. It might be good, and it might be bad... but I just can't accept being forced into something that I hadn't agreed to, mother. I'm... your daughter, and I know I won't be happy about this... I can't accept this, please... if you really love me... why must you force this onto me?'

Asuna asked softly, even as her mother continued staring at her in silence. Asuna loved her mother, who wouldn't, but if her mother was merely using her as a tool, or was being so controlling of her, even in this age and time, she wouldn't know what to say, or what to believe in any more. She would have thought that her parents would want her to be happy, that much she had ascertained when her father had given her his blessings to be with Kirito-kun if she so wished, but if her mother did not feel the same?

But as the awkward silence dragged on, Asuna shook her head and excused herself.

'I'll be in my room, mother. I... don't want to be disturbed tonight, mother.'

Asuna smiled sadly at her even as she started climbing up the stairs again. There was something that she could do, at the moment, even if it was extremely dangerous, and that it would open up new wounds.

But most importantly, it was something that might be her first solid step in saving Kirito-kun.

If Sugou was right, there was just less than one week left... and to think that the person who could help her, was just one step away from her all this time.

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'Well, at least we know that's possible.'

Agil commented as the group of programmers told them of their findings, that the source code for ALO was identical to SAO in it's very core.

'The base of the entire game itself runs on the some engine, the same source code, and they might even had simply copied it whole sale, modifying how the world looked and some of the mechanics within it.'

'We know that ALO has magic, and SAO didn't, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't be implemented after ALO was created.'

One of the programmers quipped even as the others agreed that the limitations for searching only in games without the implementation of magic could be overthrown.

'Even if the mechanics, as well as the concept and look of the game are different, if they ran on the same engine and source code, they are entirely compatible. I wouldn't be surprised if it feels the same inside ALO and in SAO, since they ran off the same modifiers as well as recording, and sensing devices.'

Asuna nodded in understanding as it became clear that ALO had the highest chance that the players could possibly be trapped in, with the screen capture of Kirito-kun within it, the chances were greatly increased as well.

'What ore we going to do now? Are we going to tell ALO about this? We don't have any proof after all...Well we could hack the system to access the player logs to see if anyone had been logged on since we were logged out of SAO.'

One of the programmers suggested, causing some of the group to nod their heads till Agil vetoed that idea.

'It would be best to use that as a last resort, the last thing we need is to spook the people who are doing this. They have full control of the game, and the players if we are right. That means the guys are their hostages.'

Agil grimaced even as the crowd fell silent in agreement, without actual proof, it would be hard for anyone to intervene without risking the ire of the ones responsible. Even if Asuna knew one of them, the others might retaliate, and that was the last thing they could do.

'I guess for now all we can do is to keep researching on ALO, perhaps if we had access to more information...'

The group of programmers looked at Asuna hopefully but was disappointed to say that it would be difficult to ask for any more.

'I wouldn't want them to be suspicious as well.'

Asuna explained sadly, and the room was silent again till a young girl spoke up.

'Then, we could try and visit that place that we saw in the screen capture right? If it's really Kirito-san, he can tell us what is going on, right?'

That idea drew merit and it made the entire room abuzz with activity at that simple solution. Sadly, it wasn't that easy, as always.

'ALO is quite popular.., it'll be hard to find a copy that easily now. Well, I can probably see us getting a few copies... but for so many of us...'

One of the more established garners commented even as the rest commented that the bug that they trivia website exploited was patched up, and that it took quite a high level for them to actually even navigate the dungeon. '

We can try to work together to level up... but, not everyone would want to come with us, right?'

Some of the players swallowed nervously and Asuna knew why. Even if it wasn't the Nervegear's fault, they were the devices that trapped them for two years after all. And it wasn't a stretch to imagine that some of the players would have developed a phobia for it.

Asuna broke the silence by saying that they have done more than enough for her.

'It wouldn't be fair for me to ask anyone of you to take that risk to look for them... I'll try to do some investigation of my own too.'

Asuna gave them a reassuring smile before some of them protested as well. One of them was Klein, who said that there was no way he was sitting this one out.

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'You'll have to order me to stop me from helping, Vice-commanderl'

His remark made the room chuckle even as Asuna blushed.

'You'll need a reliable blacksmith yes? Anyway, Kirito-kun totally stole the flourent that I mode for you. So you'll need all the help you can get.'

Lisbeth gushed even as she winked at her friend. To her surprise, the younger girl who hod raised that suggestion said that she'll help out too.

'I... I was helped by Kirito-san, so please, let me help as well, Asuna-san.'

As the room started to descend in chaos again, a voice of reason cleared his throat and said that it was probably a bad idea to involve all of them right now.

'If the guys are right.'

Agil gestured to the group of programmers, who looked confused, even as he continued.

'The ones behind this would also be monitoring the players who are inside the game, that means that they could monitor anyone who was playing as well.'

Agil's words mode sense and the programmers nodded their head in agreement, saying that it's more than possible that they would have GM powers inside the game.

'It'll be suspicious if such a huge number of us played at the same time... and it would be hard for all of us to get a copy at the same time anyway. And seeing so many SAO players suddenly log in... might make them suspect something was up.'

'So you're suggesting that only few of us should try to locate them in-game first?'

One of the players asked, and Agil nodded his head even as the rest of the groups protested at being left out.

'Please, we shouldn't argue amongst ourselves.'

It was Asuna who spoke up again, this time in a more authoritative manner while still being apologetic.

'Agil-san makes sense... but that doesn't mean that all of us can't do our part. It's difficult to coordinate a huge party, and since we are all new to the game, I think.., that it'll be best if we split up into groups within ALO itself.'

Asuna suggested to everyone, and even if it was embarrassing to be treated as the vice-commander again, judging from the way everyone calmed down, it was also a relief.

'I... I have to find Kirito-kun soon.'

Asuna confessed even as the rest of the room looked confused. Asuna wasn't sure whether Sugou 's words were truly the truth, or just a ruse, but either way she wasn't sure why Sugou would give himself away that easily anyway, but she had to be cautious, and not to be lured into a trap.

'There is a chance that... by next week, something might change.'

After all, what did he mean by the two of them getting engaged by next week? He would no doubt be planning something, and that itself was dangerous. But the only thing that Asuna could do now was to wait for Sugou to place his first move.

It was frustrating yes, but she had nary a choice in the matter.

'So, I'll need all of your help in helping to find him-I mean, all of them. If you hove any friends who played ALO, please try to team up with them in the mean time. For now, I'll try to find things out from father as well. Let us all keep in touch, and when we do have the evidence we need, or when we do need to rescue all of them, we'll do it together.'

Asuna promised all of them, making the room settle down again for a bit. She was sure that regardless of what they were all going to meet, they would meet it together. For they were all in the same boat, they all went through the similar experiences.

'It'll be a piece of cake.'

Klein commented even as Asuna looked at him in surprise. Agil agreed for he gruffly replied as well.

'A game that we can die in is too easy for us, isn't it, Asuna of the Flash.'

Asuno had the grace to look embarrassed as everyone nodded in agreement.

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With that tiny bit of good news, and a huge lead, Asuna hurried over to visit Kirito-kun after the meeting. The group had wanted to have dinner together, but since Agil-san had a business to do, they had went their separate ways. Lisbeth would have came with her, so did the younger girl, which had introduced herself as Silica, or Ayano Keiko, but the two of them had appointments to attend to.

Of course, they had practically threatened Asuna to tell them where Kirito-kun's ward was at, but considering what they did earlier, Asuna gave that information readily.

It hadn't been that easy to find Kirito-kun 's ward when she had woken up, but she had strong-armed her parents into helping her to search for Kirito-kun's ward, literally so as she had demonstrated first hand how desperate she was to find him. It had taken them three nurses, and doctor helping to get Asuna strapped into bed. It was also the time that her parents knew of how Asuna had changed.

Gone was the weak and complaint girl, and it was replaced with the 'warrior' who had spent two years in a life-or-death challenge. It wasn't just that she was impossibly stubborn, but she had her way with words as well. Despite being constrained and confined to her bed, not to mention still very weak due to the toll the two years had done to her body, Asuna had managed to persuade her father to locate where and who Kirito-kun was.

The trade off was that, due to her odd behavior as well as personality compared to how she was before, Asuna was quickly referred to a psychologist after she was finally pried away from Kirito-kun by the nurses and doctors.

Perhaps it was how she had clung on to Kirito-kun so desperately that had set off alarm bells for them, that Yuki Asuna wasn't really in the most state of mind right now.

Unfortunately for her parents, Asuna, and most of the Sword Art Online Players who had awakened, were perfectly normal, and considering the amount of stress they were forced to endure, they actually were more stable than all the psychiatrists as well as doctors had thought they would be. Asuna for one, was found to be mentally stable and of sound mind, much to the confusion of her family.

Like most of the players in the front lines, Asuna had found that although their allegations were baseless, they could more or less understand their fear, as well as their uncertainty of the Sword Art Online players.

There were very few reports of what had happened in SAO, partly due to how the government and the investigation units desire to keep details classified, it wouldn't be a surprise to them if many of the players hadn't just gone insane or at least, be socially awkward or would have retreated into themselves after such a long period of isolation.

To see the players actively interacting with each other despite their testimonies or mentioning of deeds like killing monsters, player-killing, suicides, lost comrades and etc was unnerving indeed.

There were a few exceptions, like individuals from the Laughing Coffin or Titan's Hand, but those were players who had totally abandoned their own ethical codes. Asuna had heard that at least the Titan's Hand Guild had broken down after being confronted with the truth of what they had done.

She had serious doubts that the members of Laughing Coffin would have done that, she just hoped that they would forever stay in jail, where they belonged.

Asuna wasn't sure of how she should acknowledge or view the apparent drastic change in personality that her parents wasn't quite sure about. But it was how she was like now, and even if it had taken two years to build her confidence, her strength, as well as her determination and stubbornness, Asuna felt like this was her real her. The old her, was like a dream. She was right then, she had acknowledged it then, but had never voiced it out.

Besides being just a political glass vase, and trophy, Asuna felt that her personality was like a glass vase as well. Easily broken, easily shifted, and admired by others and not by herself. She didn't like that, she didn't want to be weak, she had felt that once, when facing the monster, Gleameyes, and watching Kirito-kun almost die from defending her. She didn't want to be a burden to Kirito-kun, to herself, or to anyone else at all. She didn't want to be a glass-vase that broke easily, and was so easily misplaced due to how she was.

Author's Notes: Somehow, 's formatting got weird suddenly. Anyway, if you have been keeping track. I've published another SAO Story, it's titled: 'Shields and Swords' Do support it if you like my work!