Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online or Rick Riordan's works.

Note: This chapter was written specifically for my younger sister. She started seventh grade today, and I figured she could come home to an update of her favorite story of mine (she absolutely LOVES Sword Art Online) regardless of whether she had a good day or not, though of course I hope she did.

To everyone else who is starting school soon or already has, I hope it goes well for you. Teachers who don't turn into Furies (though a centaur might be cool), tests that aren't 3 hours long, and with any luck no killer cheerleaders.

Warnings: Solangelo slash, SAO spoilers (duh), etc.

Enjoy!

Three days later, Nico finally found Kirito, who was wandering around Floor 40, looking deep in thought.

It didn't take much for the Master of Shadows, as the other players had come to call Nyx, to sneak up on the Black Swordsman and punch him in the gut.

Kirito's eyes widened in shock at the unexpected blow, and he coughed harshly as the air (virtual as it was) was knocked out of his lungs.

"You are such a dumbass, Kirito!" Nico hissed angrily, removing his hand, which was still clenched in an angry fist.

"What did I do?" Kirito gasped.

"You accepted a challenge from Heathcliff!" the younger teen snapped. "You know there's something off about the Knights of the Blood Oath!"

"Asuna is one of them." Kirito said defensively. "And that's why you're angry with me?"

He would have thought it was because he went into the Boss Room after Asuna with no backup and nearly got killed by the Blue-Eyed Demon and ended up revealing a unique Sword Skill, Dual Blades, that…well, he hadn't told Nyx about.

Said boy raised an eyebrow at him. "Asuna isn't the problem, Heathcliff is. You don't think it's odd that he ended up with both the Divine Blade as well as an indestructible shield that even Argo and I don't have any intel on? We're the best info brokers in SAO for a reason, Kirito. And you don't think it's odd that he's singling you out?"

"He wants to test out my—"

"You were hardly inefficient in battle before you got the Dual Blades skill." Nico interrupted, rolling his dark brown eyes. "No one's ever had any real issue with you fighting Solo on the front lines, discounting the idiots who were just trying to get you in their guild. Yet now the leader of the largest guild in SAO is challenging you himself to make you one of his Knights, when he's never even tried to recruit you before?"

Kirito frowned, starting to see his friend's point.

Why did Heathcliff want him to join the Knights of the Blood Oath so badly?

Was it because of the Dual Blades skill? Kirito hadn't heard of it before, so he assumed that it was a unique skill, but it couldn't be that important, could it?

"What do you want me to do, Nyx?" Kirito said, shoulders sagging. "I get where you're coming from. But I already agreed, and I can't just back out of it."

Nyx stared at him for a long minute before groaning. "Ugh. You remind me of my cousin."

Kirito bit his lip. "I'm guessing that's an insult?"

"It's not a compliment, at least." Nyx sighed. "Both of you are idiots who jump into complication situations without bothering to think about it."

(Nico didn't know it, but some of his friends at Camp Half-Blood were watching, and Percy was indignant and pouting as the others laughed at him.)

Kirito shrugged awkwardly as Nyx raised a hand to his temple in order to fend off what the players had taken to calling a 'phantom' headache.

"We're going to need to strategize." The Son of Hades said after a moment.

The two boys started walking towards a secluded area of the forest, and Nico blinked as he remembered something that he had overheard a few people talking about. "By the way, I heard you publically molested Asuna."

Being the perpetual brother to most of the girls he knew regardless of whether or not they were actually his siblings, Nico's voice was suspiciously calm and airy.

The Son of Hades didn't know Asuna as well as Kirito did, but it was the principle of the thing.

Kirito's sixth sense immediately alerted him to the danger he was in.

"It was an accident!" he defended, voice going slightly higher than usual, though he would deny it if anyone asked.

*The next day*

Heathcliff frowned curiously as his black-clad opponent unsheathed his black blade, the Elucidator, but now the blue-green sword Dark Repulsor.

Once the match had begun, it was a simple thing to simply block the young teenager's blows, but Kirito didn't seem surprised that he couldn't break through Heathcliff's admittedly legendary defenses, and still refused to draw his other sword.

"Why do you not use all of the skills at your disposal?" the older man eventually asked.

Kirito shrugged, not halting in his attacks. "Why bother? It wouldn't work anyway, your defense is too strong to break through. Besides, why show all of my cards so early in the game? People know about the skill now, but they don't know the extent of it."

Heathcliff frowned again, though he acknowledged the boy's point. They had only just cleared the 74th Floor, meaning there were 26 Floors to go.

But that also meant that Heathcliff couldn't get an accurate measure of Kirito's abilities, which he couldn't allow.

However, the teen was too stubborn in this matter. He wouldn't be able to push him into using the ability, and so he would just have to defeat him here and have Godfree test him when he fulfilled his end of the bargain and joined the Knights.

Once the Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath had reached that conclusion, it only took a few minutes for Kirito to be overwhelmed and defeated, though they both knew that the boy wasn't really trying to win.

"Sorry Asuna." Kirito muttered to his companion after the duel had ended.

Nyx had convinced him of this plan of action, but Kirito was still annoyed that he hadn't been able to win Asuna's freedom from Heathcliff's control.

Though he had to admit that even if he hadn't been resigned to his defeat it was highly unlikely that he would have won anyway.

Asuna slapped him upside the head. "You idiot! Like I care about that. Now you're stuck here!"

Kirito shrugged. "It was always a possibility."

Asuna sighed. "Though, I have always wondered…why were you always so insistent on not joining a guild? Most people are over the 'Beater' thing by now, and I know you've gotten offers."

She was startled by the sudden pain in his dark gray eyes.

"I…I did join a guild." He admitted quietly. "The Moonlit Black Cats. A small guild made up of friends from the real world, a school computer club. I had the highest level out of all of them, and spent my time helping them level up. I had to come back to the front lines eventually, and they were going to join me soon, but they were targeted by Titan's Fist. And I wasn't there to protect them."

Asuna's eyes widened in horror, recognizing the name. The members were in the Black Iron Prison, and she had been one of the players asked by the man who had managed to escape with his life to put them there, though Kirito had beaten her to it.

Kirito continued to tell her about them. Once he started, he couldn't stop.

He described Sachi, the young girl who was so shy, the one who had been terrified that she wouldn't make it out of SAO alive, the one that he had promised would. The one who he had, in his opinion, failed, and the one who had forgiven him for it, posthumously sending him a Christmas gift so that he knew that.

His guilt that he hadn't waited longer, until they could defend themselves from Rosalia and her thugs. That he had lied to them about what level he was on. How he had nearly led them into a dungeon trap, and Nyx tagging along was the only reason they hadn't fallen for it.

At the end, Kirito felt mentally and emotionally drained. At some point he had knelt on the ground, and Asuna had knelt beside him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, though he hadn't noticed until he had stopped speaking.

Asuna was silent for a long moment.

"It's not your fault, but you know that." she finally said, smiling in a way that was sad, sweet, and sympathetic all at once. "So how about this? I'll protect you. And you can protect me. If we stick together, then we'll be able to fight together. Higher chance of survival, that way. And if we die…well, it won't be alone."

'You aren't going to lose me like you lost them.' The message went unspoken, but not unheard.

The black-haired male eventually managed to nod, though he wasn't quite sure what had just happened.

Kirito stared after the girl as she walked away, her long chestnut-colored hair flowing behind her in the breeze.

Once he couldn't see her anymore, he sighed shakily. He hated emotionally-trying moments.

"I don't think the white and red color theme will suit me as much as it does her." He muttered to himself after a moment of thought, glancing at his black and dark gray clothing. The only real color on him was his Dark Repulsor, but that was about to change…

Kirito, known by many as the Black Swordsman, Solo Player and Beater who had fought on the front lines since they cleared the very first floor, was now officially one of Heathcliff's Knights.

He only hoped it didn't come back to bite him.

Please review! :)

Sorry that this story is more centered around the Sword Art Online characters than Nico, that might change in later story arcs, but it might not. I'm doing my best not to change the events of SAO very much, which I can't do unless I keep Nico out of most of those events where Kirito does something significant or awesome (like defeated a Floor Boss nearly single-handedly with a unique sword skill.)

To be fair, Nico is on the sidelines of the main action a lot in PJO and HOO. He's not untalented, insignificant, or unimportant in any way, but he acts more as support. He does his best work in the background, manipulating events so it'll be easier for the characters in the spotlight to do what they need to do. Besides, while he likes being acknowledged, he isn't really a fan of attention.