Kingdom Hearts: Path of the Keyblade Master

Volume 10: The Haunting in Aincrad

By AndrewK9000

Chapter 1: A Real Game Changer

"It's official, Asuna," said Kirigaya Kazuto into his phone as he stood in his bedroom, "aside from your appointment this afternoon, I've got the whole weekend free."

"A three-day weekend," said Yuuki Asuna on the other end of the call, "if we were still in regular high school, this would never happen."

"I guess being in the Survivor School has its benefits," said Kirigaya Kazuto, "so, we've got a few hours before we have to meet with that college recruiter from America."

"You really don't have to come with me to the meeting, Kaztuo," said Yuuki Asuna, "I've had five already since August and I've got four more lined up before Christmas."

"Well, that's what you get for having such fantastic grades," said Kazuto, "besides, I want to know what college you pick, so I can go there when I graduate."

"And that's what worries me," said Asuna, "what if we end up in different schools after graduation? And even that, I'm a year older than you. I'll be in college for a whole year while you're finishing up high school. A whole year without us being together, I don't want to even think about it, Kirito-kun. Oh, sorry, I keep slipping."

"It's alright, Asuna," said Kazuto, "you can call me Kirito as much as you want once we're logged on. So, same place as before?"

"Floor 18," said Asuna, "and this time we'll find the Boss Dungeon." She then giggled slightly, "I'm actually surprised that the Boss dungeons have been in the same place for the other floors so far."

"This isn't the same Aincrad," said Kazuto, "this version of the game has a protocol that allows it to evolve over time, to keep things fresh and challenging for all players."

"It certainly has been fun," said Asuna, "I just hope our house by the lake is still there on Floor 22."

"I hope so too," said Kazuto, "well, the sooner we beat the Floor Boss, we'll be one Floor closer to 22. See you in a bit."

"See you soon," said Asuna. With that the call ended.

Kaztuo then put his phone down, stretched for a bit before booting up his computer, preparing to activate his trusty Nerve Gear. He checked for any last minute messages from his friends and family before laying on his bead and donning the helmet that had once been the bars of his cyber prison but now was like an old friend.

Once everything was ready, Kazuto took a bracing breath before saying, "Link Start!"

One multi-colored flash of light and login sequence again, Kaztuo was once again Kirito.

…New Aincrad…Floor 18...October 17th, 2025 A.D…

Seeing his reflection in a nearby pool of water, Kirito briefly smiled at his Spriggin form, then looked around at the awe inspired countryside he had arrived in, taking in the view of hills, valleys and a partly cloudy yet bright sky.

"You may have been a murderer and a lunatic, Kayaba Akihiko," said Kirito, "but there's no denying your artistic genius."

Just then Kirito saw something in the sky, something that turned out to be an Undine that, when landed next to him, was his in-game wife and real world girlfriend, Asuna.

"Hi," said Asuna cheerfully as she embraced her in-game husband.

"Hi," said Kirito as he hugged Asuna back and they kissed briefly, "so, what do you want to do today? Monster hunting? Run a quest or go after the Boss dungeon?"

"Would you mind if we just stayed here for a moment?" Kirito asked.

"I was hoping you'd say that," remarked Asuna with a smile.

At that the two of them laid down on the grass and watched the clouds go by.

"That one kinda looks like a horse," said Kirito as he pointed at the clouds.

"And that one looks like a dolphin," said Asuna.

"Where?" Kirito asked, "that one? It doesn't look like a dolphin."

"Tilt your head," said Asuna.

"Oh yeah," said Kirito as he looked at the cloud at a slightly different angle.

Just then Yui, Kirito and Asuna's in-game daughter/navigation fairy/A.I. psychiatrist, appeared above them, also looking at the clouds, "they don't look like anything but clouds to me, mama, papa. They're not even real clouds, just data."

"Yui-chan, for someone who has the knowledge and experience of dozens of psychiatrists and psychologists," said Asuna, "you've got a lot to learn about being human. Sometime's it's nice to just lay back and watch the clouds go by."

"Mmm," said Yui thoughtfully as she looked up at the sky. With a flash she assumed her human form and landed easily on the ground. Asuna and Kirito made room for their in-game daughter and the three of them laid down and looked up at the clouds as a family.

"What about that one?" Kirito asked as he pointed up, "I'd say that looks like a bus."

"Yeah, but what kind of bus?" Asuna asked, "details, Kirito-kun."

"Well," said Kirito, "it's not a school bus, but I don't think it's a public bus either."

"It's just data programmed to form an atmospheric effect," said Yui. She sighed, "I guess I really don't know what it is to be human."

"Oh, don't say that, Yui-chan," said Kirito, "your mother and I are human and we don't know what we're doing half the time."

"That's because you're teenagers," said Yui, "you're still growing and learning as you grow. This is the time when you learn from your peers, your elders and from your mistakes."

"Spoken like a real shrink," said Asuna, "oh, Yui-chan, I wish you could come with us to the real world. It must be so boring for you here in New Aincrad without when we're not logged on."

"I keep busy," said Yui, "I look in on other players, help those who need counseling and..." at that Yui paused, sat up and looked to her right, her expression that of one lost in thought.

"Yui-chan?" Asuna asked as she and Kirito sat up, "what's wrong?"

"I don't know," said Yui, "I…something's coming…something big."

"What's coming?" Kirito asked.

"I don't know," said Yui, "but…it's going to happen on the first Floor, the Town of Beginnings."

"All of a sudden I'm having d jé vu," said Asuna in a worried tone.

"Me too," said Kirito.

"It's probably nothing," said Yui as she gave her in-game parents a reassuring smile, "a random glitch in my programming, nothing to worry about."

Just then Kirito received an indication of an incoming message. He opened his Main Menu and accessed the message feature, "it's from Lisbeth," said Kirito, "she wants us to meet with her back at the Town of Beginnings."

"Well, if that's not an excuse to go back down to Floor 1, I don't know what is," said Asuna, "and we can check out whatever Yui-chan sensed while we're there."

"It's nothing, really," said Yui, "don't worry about it, Mama, Papa, I'm alright, honest."

"Better safe than sorry, Yui-chan," said Asuna, "besides, I'm curious."

"Me too," said Kirito, "if you can sense something at the Town of Beginnings, all the way up on Floor 18, then it's got to be big."

"Okay, let's go," said Yui as she flashed back to her fairy form, "let's go together." She then flew onto Kirito's shoulder, while Asuna took Kirito's left hand as he pulled out a teleportation crystal with his right.

"Teleport! Town of Beginnings!" said Kirito. With a flash of light, he, Asuna and Yui had relocated to the very start of the game.

…New Aincrad…Floor 1...Town of Beginnings...

"Look at all the new players!" said Asuna as she, Kirito and Yui saw thousands upon thousands of newly arrived gamers experiencing the wonders of Kayaba Akihiko artistic vision for the first time.

And not just players specific to the new version of Sword Art Online. Not only were there players using the avatars designed for Alfheim Online, but also avatars for various VRMMORPG's of different genera's.

"All thanks to the World Seed package," said Kirito as he, Asuna and Yui looked around at the diverse array of players.

"Hey! Kirito! Asuna!" shouted a familiar voice. There across the main square stood Lisbeth, blacksmith extraordinaire, "haven't seen you here in a few days!"

"Lisbeth!" shouted Asuna as she, Kirito and Yui hurried across the square and met with their friend, "we've been busy both here and the real world. So, what's up?"

"I'll bet it's a quest for a rare metal and need our help getting it," said Kirito, "or maybe you've found a new design for a sword and want one of us to test it."

"Nope," said the pink-haired blacksmith as she smiled cheekily, "it's something better. Come and see! You're gonna love it!" with that she lead her friends through the town, occasionally saying hello to familiar faces and costumers as they reached a smaller yet still crowded square. In the middle of the area was a raised stone platform that was being looked over by players with masonry, carpentry and other crafting skills.

"This area wasn't part of the original Town of Beginnings," said Asuna.

"It's part of the evolving software," said an eagerly smiling Lisbeth, "and it's perfect for the memorial."

"What memorial?" Kirito asked.

"For those who never woke up," said Lisbeth, "obviously," she pointed at the stone platform, "that's where the actual monument will go. We haven't decided on exactly what it'll be, but there'll definitely be a large plaque dedicated to the 3,853 players who died in the original SAO. While in another square on the other side of town, there'll be a monument for the 6,147 who did wake up," she looked at Kirito and Asuna, "you'll be at the top of that list."

"What? Oh, no, that's not necessary," said a slightly nervous Asuna in a modest tone.

"Why not, Mama?" Yui asked, "you and Papa saved everyone."

"Not everyone," said Kirito, remembering those he knew who died during the two years he and thousands of other players were trapped in cyberspace.

"Well, you're on the monument and that's that," said Lisbeth confidently, "we hope to have both monuments ready by November 6th, it's just a question of picking a design and going with it."

"Well, whatever it turns out to be, I'm sure it'll be great," said Kirito, "especially if you build it, Lisbeth."

"Oh, I'm not the actual architect," said Lisbeth modestly, "I'm just the head of the memorial committee, though I guess I could do it, I do have a few ideas."

"It's coming!" said Yui in an urgent tone, "it's coming!" with that she took off and flew towards another part of the city.

"Yui-chan!" exclaimed Asuna as her wings appeared on her back, "get back here right now!" with that she took off and flew after Yui.

"Asuna!" shouted Kirito as he too materialized his wings, took off and flew after his in-game wife and daughter.

"Hmm…kids," said Lisbeth in an offhand manner.

It took a while for Kirito and Asuna to catch up with Yui, whom by now had landed halfway across town on a market street near a large decorative fountain.

"It should be around here," said Yui as she looked around, "it's gonna happen somewhere around here."

"Yui-chan! Don't you ever run off like that!" said an irate Asuna, "you scared me half to death!"

"It's alright, Asuna," said Kirito, "no one got hurt."

"Don't you take her side, Kirito!" snapped Asuna as she glared at her in-game husband, "Yui-chan shouldn't have flown off like that! Suppose something had happened? What if she ran into a flying monster and gotten hurt? Or worse! And I sincerely doubt either of us can bring her back again."

"I…I never thought about it like that," said Kirito. He then looked at his in-game daughter sternly, "don't you ever fly off like that again, Yui-chan! You nearly put your mother in an early grave! Yui-chan! Are you listening to me?"

"There!" shouted Yui as she pointed towards the fountain, "it's going to happen there!"

"What's going to happen?" Asuna asked

"I don't know," said Yui in a somewhat frightened but exhilarated tone, "but whatever it is, it's going to happen! Now!"

Just then there was a blinding flash of light by the fountain that startled everyone within visual range. When the light cleared, Kritio and his family heard someone shouting in surprise, which triggered the gathering of a large crowd of every player around the fountain and surrounding streets.

"If I ever doubt Yui-chan's senses again, Kirito," said Asuna, "you have my permission to slap me."

"I hope it doesn't come to that," said Kirito. With that he, Asuna and Yui hurried over to the rapidly expanding mob, hoping to see whatever it was that had cause the crowd to gather in the first place.

"I can't see!" said Asuna as she stood on her toes to get a better look, but there were too many people in front of her, there were even over a dozen players hovering on their wings above the rest of the crowd.

"Stand back, for Christ's sake!" shouted a man's voice deep within the crowd, "give the poor thing some air, for the love of God!"

"Is she…" asked a girl's voice as the crowd began to disperse.

"Just unconscious," said a boy's voice.

"Mama! Papa! Let's go!" said Yui as the crowd thinned enough for her to fly between individual players.

"Not again!" said Asuna as she and Kirito hurried after their in-game daughter, "Yui-chan!"

Rapidly making their way through the crowd, sometimes pushing and shoving and stepping on more than a few toes and earning more than a few irate remarks, Asuna and Kirito reached the center where they found Yui kneeling next to an unconscious girl. She was about 16 with long red hair and wearing a slightly water stained and ragged outfit that clearly didn't belong to an SAO avatar, or to any other VRMMORPG that Kirito was familiar with.

Also around the girl were the three people Kirito and Asuna heard shouting. The girl and boy who shouted were clearly ALO players. The girl's avatar was of a Pooka, one of the nine faerie races. Pookas specialized in using music-based magic to attack and confuse enemies, while powering up allies. The girl was about Asuna's age with long green hair with blue and yellow highlights. She a silk-like blouse with slightly elongated sleeves beneath a sparkling jacket with a skirt and stocking and lace up boots. Slung across her back was a reinforced guitar that could be swing like a mace.

The boy's avatar was that of an Imp. In ALO, Imps were most at home in the dark, having superior night vision and stealth skills. The boy was about Kirito's age, tall with short, blue and orange hair. He wore a black and gray shirt, pants, cloak, boots and fingerless gloves, while multiple knives adorned his belt and a double bandolier across his shoulders.

The older player was clearly from a more magic-oriented VRMMORPG. He was tall with graying brown hair and a long beard, wearing blue and green robes and hat and carried a long oak staff topped with a clear crystal, giving him the appearance of a wizard.

"What happened?" Asuna asked as she and Kirito approached Yui, the unconscious girl and the three players, "Yui-chan? Who is this girl?"

"I don't know," said Yui as she looked at the unconscious girl with worried eyes, "but she's important."

"She doesn't have a life bar," said the Imp with the knives.

"Or any indication that she's a player at all," said the wizard.

"Could she be a NPC?" the Pooka with the guitar, "you know, like the start of a quest or something."

"I don't know," said Kirito.

"She's coming around!" said the wizard.

It was then that the girl opened her eyes, blue eyes that expressed a deep sadness and longing.

"Hi, there," said Asuna as she sat next to the girl, smiling warmly, "are you alight?"

"I…I think so," said the girl, "I feel like I'm all here," she felt herself from head to toe, "no, nothing missing, nothingbroken." She then sat up.

"Hey, take it easy," said the Pooka with the guitar, "I don't know what you've been through, but it must have been something."

"To say the least," said Kirito. "I'm Kirito, this is my wife, Asuna, and my daughter, Yui."

"Hi!" said Yui eagerly, while Asuna waved 'hello.'

"I'm Trillian," said the Pooka with the guitar.

"Albion," said the Imp with the claymore.

"Call me Xenophon," said the wizard.

"Nice to meet you," said the girl with red hair, "I'm…" she then frowned, "that's weird, I…I can't remember my name."

"Amnesia?" Trillian asked, "did you hurt your head?"

"I don't think so," said the girl as she felt her head, "I just…everything's so…"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Asuna asked.

"I…I was with my friends," said the girl, "we were…underwater…a city underwater. We escaped just before it collapsed and then…." she suddenly gasped in pain and clutched her head.

"What's wrong?" Asuna asked urgently as she and Yui reached out to touch the girl's shoulders, "are you…?"

"I'm alright," said the girl as she relaxed, "for a second my head felt like it was going to explode."

"Do you remember anything else?" Trillian asked.

"I don't think so," said the girl, "maybe…I…I think my name is Kairi."

"Well, Kairi," said a smiling Asuna as she held out her hand, "nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," said Kairi as she shook Asuna's hand, "so, where exactly am I?"

"You're in the Town of Beginnings," said Albion, "the starting point for New Aincrad."

"What world is this?" Kairi asked as she stood up and looked around, "am I back in The Realms of Light?"

"Realms of Light?" Xenophon asked, "never heard of that game."

"Game?" Kairi asked, "what game?"

"Don't you know?" Albion asked, "this is New Aincrad, the revitalized version of Sword Art Online, a Virtual Reality MMORPG."

"This is a computer game?" Kairi asked as she looked around.

"Something tells me that you're no player," said Kirito, "and I'm starting to doubt that you're a faulty A.I."

At that Yui gasped in surprise and shock, "she's neither! She's…but it's impossible! It just can't be!"

"What's impossible?" Asuna asked, "Yui-chan, what's wrong with Kairi?"

"She's real," said Yui, "she's flesh and blood."

"Well, I hope I'm flesh and blood," said Kairi, "I don't feel like a ghost."

"I mean you're truly here, inside cyberspace," said Yui, "you're not playing through a Full Dive system. Your body is actually here in New Aincrad!"

"Impossible!" exclaimed a nearby player.

"I just said it was impossible," said Yui.

"Well, I emphatically agree," said the other player, "there's no way she can actually be here, the technology doesn't exist!"

…Somewhere in the Real World…

"The subject has materialized in New Aincrad," said a man wearing a white, business suit-like lab coat as he and several others wearing identical outfits stood in a laboratory in an undisclosed location. Several computer terminals and servers adorned the lab, while one side the room was taken up by an enormous view screen. Currently the screen showed an overhead map of The Town of Beginnings. A blinking blue dot had been highlighted on the map.

"Phase One complete," said the scientist, whose nametag read 'Dr. Remington.' "though not without complications."

"Her body has survived the transfer without damage," said a second scientist, this one named 'Dr. Weatherby,' "but according to the latest data, she's suffering from temporary memory loss."

"A not unexpected side effect of the process," said a third scientist, this one named 'Dr. Winchester,' "though it will make the rest of the operation more difficult."

"Should we abort?" Dr. Weatherby asked, "should we retrieve her and try again?"

"No," said Dr. Remington, "we were lucky that she survived with her physical attributes intact and only temporary amnesia. A second transfer could cause irreversible damage."

"We can't risk retrieving her without more data," said Dr. Winchester, "besides, she's already in, we might as well proceed with Phase Two."

"Not yet," said Dr. Remington, "our eccentric colleague isn't back from his errand yet. He'd want to be here for the rest of the operation."

"And we still have issues with the other test subjects," said Dr. Weatherby as he indicated the other side of the lab. Laying on six cots, connected to life support systems and wearing a Nerve Gear, was Chrissie, Travis, Rachael, Joshua, Liza and Calvin. The Nerve Gears were connected to more servers, while around the six unconscious survivors of Rapture were full-body scanning devices.

Above each of them was a smaller view screen that showed avatars of the six survivors of Rapture, each exact in every detail. The avatars were shown separated from each other, wandering through dimly lit corridors of a dilapidated building. Chrissie, Rachael and Joshua were anxiously searching for a way out of their predicaments, while Calvin was screaming for help, Liza was curled in a ball and rocking back and forth on the floor. Travis, on the other hand, was calmly sitting down, his face an expression of intense thoughtfulness, as if he was meditating while waiting for something.

"Their augmented bodies and brains are proving quite problematic for the operation," said Dr. Remington, "they won't be easy to control."

"Since when was control that big an issue in the operation?" asked Dr. Weatherby, "we've given Kairi plenty of freedom."

"For now," said Dr. Winchester, "but it's only a matter of time before she's drawn to the plight of her friends. She'll comply with the program, whether she wants to or not."

"I'm still concerned about these six," said Dr. Remington as he looked at Chrissie and the others, "specifically that chemical that's altered their DNA. No one like them has ever experienced a Full Dive. There's just too many unknown variables."

"We'll never know those variables without experimentation," said Dr. Winchester, "and the experiment will truly begin once Kairi regains enough of her memories to try to save her friends. And try she shall, only to experience more suffering than she ever has before."

"And we get to pick how she suffers," said Dr. Weatherby, "she was clear about Kairi's fate, but left the details up to us. So, gentlemen, who has any ideas on how to make Kairi suffer until her soul shatters?"

"I have a few," said Dr. Remington, "have either of you seen the Saw movies?"

"No, but I'm sure you'll tell us about it," said Dr. Winchester.

The End of Chapter 1.

Next chapter finds our two favorite gamers joining forces with other players in order to figure out how Kairi got into the game, while back in The Realms of Light, things go from bad to worse. Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you then!