Talking

Thinking

Well it's almost been two months. Sorry about that. I just want my chapters to not be... rushed like the last one, which has been edited and re-uploaded. Which speaking of, this chapter may not make 100% sense without reading the new version of the last chapter. I added a small, important detail (STRONGLY RECOMMENDED). Which brings me to reason number two for the delay. I actually had this entire chapter written, but ended up making that chapter the chapter 1-3 chapters from now. Dunno if that makes sense. Oh and one last thing. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. Especially Tensei's with the little bit of a reminder that I'm slacking like a lazy writer.

Own SAO I do not. Obvious that should be.

Chapter XI: Stupid Descisons

'Dear Lisbeth' I typed into the messenger window, 'I'm gonna be off doing something by myself today. I'll be back later tonight. Don't worry about me. Not doing anything dangerous'

I decided after Kirito's duel that there were two things that I needed to do. One was discover what exactly was going on with Heathcliff, and two was finding PoH. Seeing as I didn't really have anyway of even knowing what floor PoH was on. I decided that investigating Heathcliff was of immediate concern.

"When did I get so curious?" I sighed and threw on my newest set of armor that I had recently enhanced every piece to +20, "I used to just leave everything alone. Must be Liz. I can hardly sleep at night if I think somethings going to hurt her. Yeesh."

I took a step out into the fresh air and shook my head to clear it out. The sun was just barely coming over the horizon, and the sky was a murky purple color.

'Off to floor to fifty-five? Think that's right.' I scratched my head, trying to think up the exact location of the Knights of the Blood's headquarters. Eventually I shrugged and headed to the teleport gate. If it wasn't I could always message Kirito and ask. I snickered to myself remembering the first time I saw Kirito in his new uniform. He looked like a wet cat with how unhappy he was.

'How to even confront Heathcliff about this? I don't even know if he's a straight up hacker, or if he somehow grabbed GM privledges. Either way, why hasn't he found a way to release us from the game if he's found so much of an exploit?'

I sighed and stepped out into floor fifty-five. As soon as the light of teleportation disappeared, a cold wind blasted me in the face, causing me to wrap my trademark hooded cloak around my body (people did tend to identify me with that these days. I was making an unwilling name for myself for my absurdly high speed and sneakiness). Why did Grandum have to be so cold? I pulled the cloak as close as I could and started searching for Heathcliff's headquarters.

'The faster I get there the fast I can get out of this wind.'

It didn't take me long thankfully. If it had, I might have frozen my fingers off. The building was massive, and stood out from the rest of the city metallic looking structures. This was especially so because of the massive flags bearing the guild's symbol adorning the wall surrounding the compound.

"Faaaaaaannncy." I muttered under my breath and approached the two guards out front, "Excuse me?"

"What do you want kid?" the man grumbled back in response.

"I'd l-like to meet Heathcliff. Is he in?" I took it slow, trying my hardest not to stammer. It wasn't nearly as hard when it was only a few people. I had gotten much better over the last two years. Normally I would've turned into a puddle talking to two armored men as intimidating as these two. I needed to look as confident as my subconcious would let me

"Awfully twitchy for a guy around your age," The man looked me up and down, "Especially for how tall you are."

"I g-get that a lot." I mentally rolled my eyes. It wasn't my fault I had a hard time feeling comfortable around people and being really tall. Honest.

"Well regardless... I'm not letting you inside." the man crossed his arms, "You seem suspicious."

"O-okay." I scratched the back of my head. Suddenly, a shock of grey hair caught my vision. Heathcliff sort of knew me right? Maybe if I asked him directly he would let me in, "H-hey Heathcliff sir!"

Luckily it was actually Heathcliff, and he turned around to face me. A look of recognition passed over his face, and he approached the gate with a neutral look on his face, 'Guess he doesn't know what to think of me.'

"Hmmm..." He looked over the guards' shoulders at me, "Aurain right? You were the guy Kirito was staying with."

"Y-yeah. There was something I wanted to talk to you about. Do you mind if we go somewhere private?"

Heathcliff stared at me for a few moments, a variety of emotion crossing over his face. Finally, his face softened and he nodded in agreement. The guards tried to weakly discourage him, but Heathcliff waved them off with a hand. He beckoned to me, and I followed him into the base. I shouldn't have felt more nervous by the second, but I did. Going deeper in the guild's HQ felt like a bad idea with each passing second.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Heathcliff spoke to me with a tone filled with

caution.

"I g-guess I'll get straight to it." the way he was speaking unnerved me. He sounded very threatening, almost like he knew what I was here to ask.

"Go ahead then."

I gulped and tried to find my voice. I was finding it harder by the second not to just bolt out of the room and run and run and never stop.

"R-right." I forced out, "I'd l-like to know what your deal is. Are you a s-straight up hacker, or did you somehow g-give yourself GM priveldges? Either way, why haven't you r-released everyone from the game yet?"

"What makes you think I'm either of those things?" Heathcliff asked

I gulped again, "I saw you do something during Kirito's match that no normal player could do. He had you on the ropes, and you broke the laws of the game to win the duel."

"Well." the man sighed and rubbed his temples, "I didn't expect someone to find out before the 75th boss was killed."

"H-huh?" I took a step back

"I did have high expectations for you when I gave you the claws those many months ago, but you'll ruin my grand finale if everyone finds out now."

My heart thudded in my chest. There was no way. He couldn't be. I equipped my sword and held it out, my hands shaking.

"Ah so you see now." the man grinned wildly, "I am Kayaba Akihiko, and I'm afraid you're not allowed to reveal that to anyone else."

"H-how are you going to stop me? Kill me?" I took a step backward and prepared to make a break for it.

"Oh no I'm not a killer. I'll do it like this."

The man opened an interface, and before I could do the same to grab a blue crystal, I felt my body bind up. Kayaba's finger rapidly moved over the interface, before he stopped and close it with a sigh of contentment. There was now a prison crystal sitting innocently in his hand.

"W-what did you do!?" I struggled futily in my invisible bonds.

"Set your color to orange, sealed your speech program so you won't be able to reveal anything about this, and now I'm preparing to throw you in jail for attempted murder of the leader of The Knights of Blood."

"You bas-" my words were cut off as he activated the crystal, and I found myself in a jail cell, "-tard..."

I fell on my knees and began to cry in frustration.

Life in a prison wasn't the most pleasant experience. Especially when you spend the entire time being worried sick for all your friends, and kicking yourself mentally about having a terrible plan. What kind of idiot was I to just go up to Heathcliff and confront him in private. That was the worst possible plan I could've come up with, and I effectively laid my own demise out for him to take. I spent the first few hours staring at the bleak walls lost in those thoughts. Thankfully Kirito came to visit very early into my imprisonment, and confirmed that everyone was doing okay when I asked him.

"If it makes you feel any better," Kirito munched on an apple, "Klein and I believe you're innocent. He's gonna come visit later. He's busy with some guild business right now."

"Thanks... oh and Kirito?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep Lisbeth safe." I sighed wearily, "I've gotten myself into this predicament, and I can't do it myself now. Tell Klein to do the same. I'll feel better if one of you guys is with her whenever she leaves town."

"Why the sudden concern?" Kirito let the apple core dissolve in his hand, "Lisbeth is pretty capable these days."

"PoH isn't dead."

"I figured as much."

Kirito's response surprised me. For a moment I just sat there and stared at the swordsman with a blank look in my face.

"You figured as much?"

Kirito replied with a grimace, clearly not enjoying remembering the encounter, "Asuna and I ran into a Laughing Coffin member a few days ago. They're clearly alive and well. And uh speaking of Asuna...we kinda got married the other day."

I choked on the rationed prison water and began rapidly beating my chest.

"You w-what!?"

"We got married." Kirito replied dryly

"But you g-guys weren't even so much as going out when I last talked to you!" I stammered, "How fast did you two move!? I mean I thought the two of you liked each other...but wow."

"It is what it is." Kirito shook his head and grinned at my obvious surprise, "Speaking of relationships, has Lisbeth come to see you yet?"

"No." I replied, sagging a little bit. It was true. I hadn't seen even a strand of her pink hair or her voice since the incident with Heathcliff.

"Wow really?" Kirito frowned deeply, "That seems really unlike her. I would've thought she would've been in here the day you got imprisoned."

"Maybe she thinks I did it." I sagged even deeper in depression, "And doesn't want to see me at all."

"That's absolutely ridiculous you knucklehead."

I looked to my right to see Lisbeth coming down the hallway with a hurt looking, and somewhat angry expression on her face. I gulped and scrambled back for a moment, before realizing that I was in a jail cell and was completely safe. I stopped myself and looked up at the girl that was now crouching next to Kirito.

"Hi." I spoke softly, "I've gotten myself in a mess huh?"

"Yeah."

Lisbeth grabbed my hands through the bars and began stroking the back of them gently. I looked at the ground, now not finding the strength to look her in the face. In the corner of my eye I could see Kirito leaning up against the wall, doing something in his menus. I let my vision sort of glaze over, trying to appreciate the feeling of her hands on mine as long as it would last. It was going to suck when they left. I'd be all alone again. Just like the first fourteen years of my life aside from my parents. Not so bad, now that I thought about it.

'Man that's depressing.' I sighed deeply, 'I really should've gotten out more. I probably would've just turned into a sniveling mess if I had though.'

"What really happened? I heard the official story like everyone else, but I can't believe you'd try to kill Heathcliff." Lisbeth finally found her voice and asked the question I knew was coming.

"I-" the words were stuck in my throat, just as they had been when I tried to explain the situation to Kirito. It looked like Kayaba had kept his word. I wasn't able to say a thing.

"What's wrong?" Lisbeth frowned

I yanked out one of my hands from Lisbeth's and jabbed with one finger rapidly at my throat, shaking my head.

"He can't say for some reason." Kirito supplied, briefly looking up from his menus, "I'm not sure why, but it's probably wrapped up with this whole Heathcliff thing. Our group of friends needs to watch him closely to make sure he doesn't try anything. I barely trusted him after that PvP match, and I trust him even less now."

I nodded my head vigorously in response. Whatever Kayaba did to me tended to lock up my speech for a prolonged time, even if I wasn't planning on saying anything.

My two friends spent a bit longer talking with me, before giving me their goodbyes. They promised to try to find a way to free me, but I didn't keep any hopes up. If Kayaba wanted me to stay in here I was going to stay in here. I was scared of what his big reveal was going to be.

'Stay safe you guys...' I drifted off to sleep.

Someone's feet on the floor woke me from my less than stellar sleep. I mumbled tiredly and blinked blearily, my eyes barely focused. A man in a hood crouched in front of my cell, like some sort of ghost. My heart began thumping wildly, my imagination thinking of all sorts of things while my mind was barely awake

"My how the high and mighty have fallen. To see a person with such a sense of so-called 'justice' in jail is quite amusing."

'You!"

My mind suddenly shot awake, and I lunged forward out of habit, and managed to smack my face against the cell's bars. I fell backwards and resigned myself to glare up at the man

"Such aggression towards me still. I thought you would've gotten that out when you almost killed me." PoH clicked his tongue in amusement, and flipped back his hood. The hispanic looking pretty boy underneath was not what I was expecting. It threw me off, and I simply stared at the man. He looked back at me with a quirk of an eyebrow. I recovered though, and my anger soon returned full force.

"You killed my girlfriend. " I snarled uncharacteristically back, "Granted she came out okay, but I think that still warrants a little aggression!"

"Yeeeeshhhh..." the man squatted in front of the cell, "Is that any way to treat the man that's going to get you out of here? I seem to remember your manners being a little better last time I observed you."

'Wait what?'

Much more interesting than my original boring plan

-Forscythe