A/N: Here comes the epilogue!

I tried to make it feel like this story is conclusive on its own but I'll use it as a prequel for my 'Traveller'-series anyway, so you might want to read that.

For any of you who are interested: I used movie-titles to name the chapters, so I'll leave you to figure which.

All that's left to say is: Have fun reading and have a nice day.

Epilogue

The air was a mixture of numerous odors.

The first thing that hit her was the stinging smell of disinfectant. After that her brain registered the smell of her own body. The last thing was the faint but still lingering smell of freshly peeled oranges. Judging from that someone must have been in this room to visit her not too long ago.

Slowly opening her eyes, tears started welling up as she involuntarily recalled what had happened just a few moments ago. Using all the strength she had to just sit upright and take off the Nerve Gear made her already tired enough to fall back onto the pillow again.

Taking in the room she realized she had been lying in a hospital.

Was everything that she had experienced just a dream?

No, her feelings were real. And so was everything else.

All the people she had met over the course of these two years. Kirito, Yui…

The flow of her tears increased.

Yui… hers and Kirito's quasi-daughter, who had turned out to be an AI.

"Mama, over here!"

That voice…

Throwing all sense of logic away she used whatever strength she had left to get out of the bed and used the IV-stand as a support as she dragged herself towards the direction the voice had come from.

The door to her room slid open and revealed a strangely empty hallway with lots of other doors. At the next corner to her right she thought she could see Yui rounding it and disappearing into the next hallway.

Following even more such occurrences she ended up in front of another hospital room two floors down. All the time she didn't even encounter a single soul, it was almost as if someone wanted her to get there without any interruption.

The door slid open and she dragged herself inside a room that looked almost identical to the one she woke up in.

"Papa is over here, mama!"

This time it was not only the voice but she could clearly see the petite little girl with her long black hair and big black eyes, sitting on the edge of the bed that was occupied by a haggard boy with the same thing on the head that had trapped her for two years.

Dragging herself to the bed had cost her the last bit of strength that she had left and she collapsed to her knees. Raising her head one last time to look at her daughter she was met with the sweetest smile she had ever seen on her daughters face.

Resting her head on his chest she could hear his heartbeat, while the constant beeping of the hospital machinery faded into the background.

Slowly, her exhaustion pulled her back into her sleep.

As the boy opened his eyes just a few seconds later, he could see the form of Yui as she walked outside the door.