DISCLAIMER: I do not own SAO nor Persona 3. All rights go to their respective owners and creators.
Man doth not live on bread alone.
He played the quote over and over again in his mind as he lazily chewed the bland version of what Akihiko Kayaba perceived to be bread fit for the entire duration of the start in Sword Art Online. While cursing the fact that his mentor never really ate much outside of sandwiches, instant noodles, and, well, bread, he bit off another chunk of the breadstuff and stared off into space, wondering why he chose to have skipped the quest one town back which gave five small pots containing some sweet cream as reward for the subjugation of a few monsters.
I'll just have to make do with imagining the taste, I guess. He sighed, wondering if his companion who took only nibbles even considered the taste of the food.
His eyes darted over every now and then to Asuna, who had barely struck up any kind of conversation with him since their alliance earlier. He had only managed to get nods and shakes of the head, and very short answers whenever he decided to ask questions or state some completely obvious things.
Another sigh escaped him. And here I was, thinking only I had the license to stay silent. Though he himself knew best what it meant when people didn't speak much and kept a lot to themselves, he was dumbfounded as to how he should handle the situation and actually have the girl even try to open up a little about, well, herself or whatever subject came to mind. If he could not at least establish some rapport with his temporary partner, it would be a factor that the death game can and will exploit in order to wipe them out this early into the climb up Aincrad.
". . . Why do you chose to fight?"
He raised his head up to face Asuna, who had surprised him quite a bit for the question. He blinked at her, wondering how he should go about the question. Although he had but a priority, he couldn't really say that all other objectives he had were to be ignored or underestimated.
"I do not wish to stay in one place rotting away. This game won't finish itself, and I certainly will not be waiting for a miracle to whisk us out of this peril."
Turning away from him, Asuna mouthed the words "I see" and fixated her sight on the pavement. I continued to look at her, and then decided to shoot back her question. "How about you, why do you fight?"
". . . I do not want to lose sight of myself. Once I do and hold on to despair, this game would have beaten me. As long as I could be me until the very end, then death would not be so bad."
A sense of self, without any air of deep hate for any unsightly character hidden away in the nooks of her heart.
He recalled the time when SEES very nearly had lost its way. The members were filled fear and despair, their hearts in conflict as to what they should do. While they had mulled over what it was that truly had to be done against the impossibility named Nyx, he never missed a day out on Tartarus. He continued to train and climb, and when they continued to see him leave at midnight's strike and come back with a body that was battered and bruised from the claws of the Shadows, they realized then that hope came to those who chose to act, and that they would rather meet their ends fighting as who they were rather than die wallowing in fear of a foe allegedly impossible to defeat.
In this game, death was not truly an inevitability—each and everyone had the chance to survive still, and that would revolve around how they did their best to stay strong. If Asuna had the drive to not lose hope and carry on with her will, then that is where she can draw strength to face the challenges in Aincrad.
The tone the girl had used as she spoke was filled with conviction and power. The lad had the feeling that she wasn't really the loner type that he had been in the past—perhaps she did not know anyone else in the game altogether and had been carrying her feelings all by herself. He of all people knew the weight of hiding everything behind masks, multiple ones at that. Indifference had been a defense not only to brave the world, but also to mask his sorrow and grief over the loved ones he was unable to protect back then.
Maybe that cloak, too, is a way for her to keep her burdens and hide them from this world.
He was always chided back then by SEES's resident archer for being too forward in his words. He never really changed that, for it was how he had been able to outright help his friends during the time he spent with them. Whether it was with SEES or those of his other links, he would rather listen more and speak less, but with straightness to address the problem, in order to guide them towards the light he knew they sought.
Feeling the Sun Arcana softly tug at his heart, he drew in a deep breath and decided to shed some more hope for his party member.
"It is not exactly convincing to hear you say that with that cloak over your face." It was then that the girl took her eyes away from the blank road and incline her view unto him.
"What do you mean?"
"If you value who you are and would wish to fight as so, why not hold your head up high?" he spoke softly, with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He felt the Sun Arcana flicker its flame brighter for a moment, and as if on cue he saw Asuna shift uncomfortably in front of him as she held her hood lower, hinting him of a growing embarrassment.
Knowing that he'd said enough, he then gave a shrug and resumed eating the bread he had after receiving no further response from the girl. A minute or two of pregnant silence later, save for the chewing noises Minato made, Asuna then turned to the bluenette once more.
"Well, it is unfair that only I know your face. After all, our avatars have been overridden by our real-life looks, anyway. . . but . . ."
"it is not a matter of you only you knowing what I look like—it is as I have said before. Your words hold little truth to them when even you choose to put a hood over your head. I hope you do not take offense in what I say, but I merely wish to express my opinion." He faced Asuna as he waited for a response of sorts, and when the girl had nodded in his direction, he stood up and continued. "If you really choose to fight to keep hope alive and that you reach the finale still as yourself, why not try to inspire the same hope in others?"
He had learned to never lose hope from a very dear friend—one who pursued the tale of a pink alligator until his last breath. And if in his end, he could smile as wide as that and be joyful, surely Akinari had left him a legacy that he would wish to keep close to heart and even share the warmth with those willing.
As he looked at the girl, the Arcana inside of him spoke of bits and pieces of a personality that had potential to share the same warmth as Akinari had. Hope and joy was the gift of the Sun with its rising, and those gifts are never lost too long for the after it sets it is sure to rise again. His bond would so not be defined by such if that kind potential did not rest with Asuna.
The girl then stood in front of him, and before he could utter another word, she then threw back the cloak's hood with her hands and slowly lifted her head so as for her eyes to meet his.
No, not really. That was just a situation his imagination had conjured.
The girl had stood in front of him, as if wanting to say something, and then marched towards the town inn without even throwing him a glance of any sort.
An awkward feeling crept up his gut, but the way the Sun's flames flickered in his soul told him that he was somehow getting through.
He made a mental note to avoid stoking the flames of Asuna's wrath.
Midway into the morning, he had asked her if she had known been in a party before and if she knew of the necessary battle tactics and protocols to follow when in a group battle. After the girl had answered with a brief shake of her head, he was relieved that he had taken caution to ask her. If didn't, he might have just placed their lives at great risk by participating in the upcoming boss raid.
The rest of the morning was spent in practicing with a few mobs. They chose a clearing which was relatively near to the town gate and was occupied by the weaker monsters, and there he began instructing her on the basics of [Switching]. The concept, as he had learned way back into the beta test, had one of the party members assaulting the enemy while the some or the rest were put in reserve for strategic observations as to how to handle the monster and the current predicament. Upon the signal of [Switch], the player or players called upon by the one on offense are to go in and change places with the previous fighter. The tactic allowed flexibility and analysis of the target, and creation of well-timed plans against even difficult opponents. Aside from that, it also sharpened teamwork and coordination between members of the party.
Though they only picked out some wolf-type monsters which were levels weaker than themselves, he thought it was overkill when he [Switched] with Asuna and the girl went in and decimated the monsters with quick thrusts of her rapier, moving at speeds that could potentially rival, no, even outmatch Mitsuru's techniques in combat.
He even felt bad about the monsters, wondering if this was this world's counterpart of the Kirijo heiress's famed executions. He gulped at the thought, and decided not to test that theory.
"You learn fast. How are the levels of your skills?"
Asuna turned to him, and then swiped in front of her to materialize her menu and browse through her skill set. "They're enough for the boss fight."
"How about your defensive skills, like Parry?"
". . . I've been quite focused on offense on my skill build. It did not cross my mind much to invest in defenses. . . yet."
The boy nodded. "Ah, it is as I thought. Okay, we'll be clearing out a few more mobs to net you some level ups and build up your defensive skills. Parry will suffice for the boss raid."
"Won't it be quite unneeded if I am fast enough to dodge blows? Besides, there are quite a number of us in the raid."
The lad shook his head. "Numbers never win the battles—it is preparation. Since your skill set develops techniques that derive from fencing, Parry is very useful. Deflecting your opponent's attack and putting them in an awkward position gives you a chance to counterattack, or riposte. If you're fast enough, launching a Prise de Fer is quite nice too, although it is much more applicable to foes with weapons."
He sensed an air of confusion from the girl. Realizing he had ranted on about something she might not have been knowledgeable of, he followed up his earlier instruction. "Ah, forgive me. It was rude to have assumed you fenced. What I meant was that if you parried effectively, it opens up an opportunity to strike. Prise de Fer is a fencing term that refers to gaining control of your foe's weapon by altering its position or course to your advantage. It can also be used to initiate off-balancing your opponent and then going in for the kill. Do you understand?" A nod from her answered it. "Good. Well, let's go and get your skills polished."
The next hours were spent leveling up Asuna and netting her enough points to have a Parry useful enough for the boss raid of the first floor's dungeon. The extra levels were also a boon, the lad considered, as she was now just a few numbers away from his level and also upped her chances of survival for around two more villages after the second floor's starting town by his estimate.
While they had trained, the girl had become a little more talkative, with queries concerning battle style and form with her weapon of choice. He had little difficulty teaching her some of the more basic concepts and moves in fencing, flourishing them from his memories as the same tutoring that Mitsuru had given him when he was mastering as many possible weapons to give him much more flexibility in combat. Though its style fitted the thinner and speedy type of swords, he nevertheless managed to adapt some techniques in his fighting with the one-handed sword and befell more Shadows by the strikes of his attacks.
However, he also took into coordination that teaching her fencing basics at this point may become obsolete. Sword Art Online had been programmed with its system that sword skills implemented into its database would be initialized and executed as long as the player follows the needed conditions for activation, such as body position, sword position, weapon type, stance, and other combat factors. But during the beta test of the game, he was able to worm out from Kayaba that players who had aptitude or already had some sort of knowledge and practice of a specific weapon-wielding sport, kendo for example, would have less difficulty initializing their chosen sword skill. Their brains would unconsciously repeat the martial forms of combat in their minds, and that becomes a basis for how the system will cooperate with them and enhance the potency of the sword skill.
"Let's end here. Your Parry skill level is sufficient, [Switching]is no longer a problem, and you can now utilize your weapon much more efficiently. Shall we return to the inn?" At his question, Asuna had nodded, agreeing with the suggestion. And as he turned to walk back to the village, he was stopped in his tracks by a query posed by his party member.
"Why do you choose to help me? What are you to gain by this?"
There was something in her tone that tugged at him. "What do you mean?"
"You seem much more knowledgeable about combat, and while I am grateful for your input, it has been gnawing at me—why choose to help me when clearly you can accomplish a lot more by yourself? Aren't I hampering your progress?"
The lad sighed and then smiled warmly at the girl. Ah, so that was it. "No one's dragging anyone down. It is all as I had said last night—if you truly valued your sense of self and chose to protect it through fighting with all your might, then do it with your head raised proudly. I know I sound presumptuous telling you to do so and reveal your face, which is why another way to help you is to have you gain strength from which you may pride yourself in as the face that would define you in this world of swords, where strength in numbers become the illusion of your power."
If she really valued showing her identity, then that was her choice in the end. However, he wanted her to remember that such things were already immaterial in this world, for even people knew of who you were, the identity they would still recognize is the power generated by your skill in combat to fight in this death game.
". . . How can you say all that? Don't get me wrong—I am grateful, but I just can't understand why you'd go this far to help me. In this game, others may already be planning to hide what they know to gain an edge to survival."
That was a good question. Just how was it that he was able to speak of such things?
Simple.
"Let's just say I take pride and joy in nurturing my bonds and helping people in general." A warm smile lit up his face as he phrased the words with truth and conviction. As he watched the girl and waited for a reaction from her, he was surprised by what the girl had done next—she had opened up her menu and unequipped her hooded cloak.
And his smile had turned into a look of wonder.
Radiant.
That was all that he could think of Asuna.
Her fair and unblemished skin basked in the glow of the setting, afternoon sun of Aincrad. Locks of chestnut-dyed hair danced away with the sudden passing breeze, and her gaze—in her eyes were a delicateness and warmth, complemented by a burning conviction that had her expression lit up. Her clothes traced a figure comparable to a goddess, and the sword she held that emphasized her grace and deadliness in battle equated her to one image in his mind—
A battle-maiden. A Valkyrie.
A visage of strength and beauty that descends upon the bloodied fields of the war zone Aincrad has become between Akihiko Kayaba and the players. Truly, her beauty was a spectacle he did not come to imagine.
". . . D-don't stare too much, baka. . . ."
The Sun Arcana burned with fifty shades of embarrassment inside of him.
Another update. Mojo's getting better and better, although I've lost sight of my muse IRL. ;_; Writing without inspiration just ins't the same, *sigh*.
Sine Faciem's next chapter will be following this shortly, so for the readers of this who also know SF, stay posted for it!
This is a bit shorter than the previous, and I wanted to explore a little character interaction between Minato and Asuna. Hopefully it all melded together as I wished it would and that their interaction and time spent would not seem forced or anything. It was quite the challenge to write this, though, since I still haven't finished conceptualizing the Minato I would want to have for MV. However, his picture is starting to come together quite nicely and we will be seeing it flourish later on.
I would also like to mention that from here on out, I will be utilizing the canon story details under my discretion, so if you notice explicit changes then I have meant for those. This is to serve as a mental note, so do take notice of this to avoid us the headaches in the review section.
droffatsstafford: Thanks for the support. I could totally sympathize, though-it really is a pain sometimes to act all fake just for the sake of maintaining social norms.
Death276: Thanks for the review. I appreciate that you have been critical with the story, and I believe your thoughts and suggestions would help a lot in the future for improvement of the story and whatnot. Kudos!
ShadowsVoid2 & KO: I appreciate the interest. Do stay for the ride, it's all uphill from here (hopfully)! And as for Kayaba's little gift? Well, I'll leave that to your imagination. *wink, wink*
Social Linker 0: I see you spotted the reference. Hahahaha.
P17: Social Links will be exploited in the future for their use, but they will be appearing during the Aincrad arc. And yes, Unique Skills will also make their appearances. In terms of considering how Minato affects the timeline, well, we'll see what happens.
Like it? Read and review. Dislike it? Spare us the argument if it's hate-review and move along. Until next time.
~AkaiArsony