Chapter Twelve: "For as long as I'm still alive…I promise."

July 31st 2032

A bright light blinded Edmond as he stepped into the portal that left the first floor. The intense heat of the burning Town of Beginnings quickly dissipated, and the only feeling that remained from the previous floor was Kitami's hand in his. When he reached the other side, it was a completely different atmosphere. The flames were gone, and everything was shrouded in darkness. He had no idea what kind of terrain the second floor was situated within. He didn't care, either. The only thing on his mind was laying down and passing out. To hell with all of the memories and nightmares that could come with it. His avatar was running dangerously low on stamina, and it could care less about his feelings.

It was a short walk from the teleport gate to what appeared the entrance city. It was anticlimactic, to say the least. The Town of New Beginnings had been an enormous city center will all manner of merchants, shops, inn's and other things that could be used for entertainment or level gain. However, this new little…settlement… was anything but huge. In the darkness Edmond was able to make out the silhouettes of ten or so buildings. There was one large one, which Thatch seemed to be leading everyone to. Edmond prayed that it was an inn.

Luckily for Edmond, (and everyone else, really) it was, in fact, an inn that Thatch had been approaching. Upon entry, everyone looked around at the bottom floor. It was considerably smaller than the inn that they'd all become so accustomed to. A collective sigh made its way through the group. Edmond couldn't tell if everyone was sighing in relief, or sadness at the loss of their previous, more comfortable, living quarters.

Even the innkeeper was drastically different. The little fat man in green tights, wearing his funny hat, was replaced by a young woman with pink hair. She was pretty, but even the Gunners didn't seem to be swayed by her beauty. They all just plopped into chairs that were collectively scattered about the floor. Thatch arranged payment for the night and dismissed everyone. He didn't have to tell Edmond twice. He took Kitami by the hand, grabbed his key from Thatch, and ambled up the stairs. The inn was small, but it was much taller than the first one. It had four floors, and Edmond and Kitami's room was situated on the top floor…perfect, my avatar's going to pass out before I make it up three steps…Edmond thought.

When Edmond finally reached the top of the stairs and found his room, he opened the door by practically falling on top of it. The room wasn't anything special. The bed was slightly bigger than the first one he'd slept in, though. There was a window directly above the headboard, a fireplace on the opposite wall, as well as a desk right beside the door entrance.

Edmond trudged over to the bed, swiped his hand, and hid his combat armor, stripping himself down to a plain shirt and shorts. He immediately felt relieved. The leather armor that had constricted his body, for what seemed like days, was finally off, even if for just a little while. He fell into bed, not noticing that Kitami had also removed her armor, leaving her with nothing but chest wrappings and tight shorts. Luckily, he was far too exhausted to let his mind play any tricks on him. He fell asleep almost instantly.

Edmond didn't dream, but he did feel strange. His body felt like it was flying, quickly, through a portal that got increasingly darker, until all color was gone. It took him a second to figure out what was happening. He immediately felt rested as his avatar entered its sleeping state, but he knew this was no ordinary dream. He'd been here before. Suddenly, his body stopped moving. He was in a black expanse.

"Welcome back, Edmond. I'm impressed. I didn't think an avatar could go that long without any sleep."

Akihiko Kayaba. Of course. Edmond had determined, a long time ago, that he was not allowed to have restful sleep. At least he felt more awake and alert. Kayaba was as eloquent when speaking as ever. But this time, he seemed a bit concerned, regardless of his snarky congratulations.

"Kayaba…to what do I owe this pleasure of meeting you again?"

Edmond couldn't see Kayaba yet. So he just looked around in the general direction of where the voice had come from.

"I'm afraid the circumstances are dire, Edmond."

Kayaba appeared in front of Edmond, descending slowly from above, until he was at standing level with him. He looked concerned, now.

"Why? What's happening?"

"I'm afraid that Khale is much more powerful than even I could have predicted. Forgive me for bringing you here under such random time framing. It's not always easy waiting until you are knocked unconscious, to bring you here."

Edmond rolled his eyes.

"Well, thanks for that, I guess. Also, I'm quite aware of Khale's abilities to hack and alter this game. I'm sure you witnessed his beasts coming after us."

Kayaba shook his head, ignoring Edmond's sarcasm. It was immediately clear that the circumstances were, in fact, dire. Kayaba swiped his hand, bringing up his own, special, translucent menu. He navigated through some panels that Edmond hadn't seen before. He figured they were administrative panels.

"You need to see something, Edmond."

Kayaba selected a menu that looked like a bunch of screens, all playing news coverage of the same event. The entire black expanse around Edmond began to light up. Soon, all of the screens that Kayaba was looking at were displayed in front of the both of them. The news was quickly deemed to be disastrous. Edmond was instantly horrified.

What Edmond saw was an unbelievable amount of people, mostly young teens, being carried out of buildings on stretchers. All of them wearing nerve gear. From the Americas, to Europe, to Asia, screen upon screen of hundreds of thousands of people being taken from their homes to hospitals. Edmond immediately knew that all of these players couldn't have possibly been on the SAO Global server. It was much too small to facilitate that many people. He frantically looked at Kayaba, desperately wanting an answer. Kayaba complied.

"It seems that Khale's promise to start with SAO, and move on to every computer system in the world was not just the drabble of a crazed maniac. Edmond, these are all players who have servers located within "The Seed's" mainframe."

Edmond quivered as he saw the teens, and even little children, with their mothers and fathers frantically running behind them, being carried away, nerve gear still attached. There were so many. The coverage was endless. There were dozens of screens, in all sorts of languages, reporting on the event. One particular headline said: "Pandemic breaks out among gaming community!" Another one read: "Hospitals unable to contain amount of comatose victims."

Edmond walked forward. His steps, touching nothing, still echoed into the nothingness. He was almost directly in front of the screens when he slowly raised his finger and touched one that was in English. He leapt back as the screen became enormous and began playing loudly, echoing far into the blackness. On screen was of a man, sitting at a desk in a news studio. He had slicked-back, brown hair, and wore a black suit. He spoke calmly, but with obvious concern and fear in his voice.

"What started out as just over ten thousand players being unable to log out of their nerve gears, has turned into something tragic. In an apparent act of cyber warfare, hundreds of thousands of people have been reported to be unresponsive while playing Virtually Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Games, or VRMMORG's for short.

Little is known about the facts of this horrible tragedy, except that the number of people being discovered is still rising at an alarming rate.

Experts have told us that the largest hub of Virtual Gaming has been compromised. The number of players on these servers is astronomically high, reaching over a million and a half accounts. So far, the number of confirmed comatose players has reached over six hundred thousand, and is still climbing.

As this story develops, we will keep you all updated. We have to take a short break, but we will return after these messages from our sponsors…"

Edmond fell to his knees. This was unfathomable. Over half a million people…trapped? How? How did Khale manage to completely bring the system's mainframe to its knees? Where the hell were the game moderators? Was this psychopath really that smart?

"How, Kayaba? How can Khale be doing this?"

Kayaba looked as equally disturbed as Edmond felt. For the first time, Edmond could see that he was genuinely at a loss. This made him feel even more hopeless.

"Perhaps we've overlooked his abilities, or perhaps Ratchnot did so well at boosting his administrative privileges that he can lock anyone in or out of the game, whether they're staff or player. One thing is for certain, it's causing more trouble than just placing everyone in comas. Players on the International level…and by that I mean Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Dictators, are becoming disturbed by this cyber-attack. They're all starting to point fingers at one another…I'm afraid we could be looking at all-out war if Khale can't be stopped."

Edmond felt his heart stop for a second. Kayaba couldn't be serious. This was all a joke. Khale, some crazed gamer that took his pixelated victories too seriously, could not possibly be perpetrating a global disruption of this magnitude. This was no longer about leveling or clearing floors. It wasn't even about keeping himself, or even Kitami alive. This was now complete and utter chaos, on a global scale. Edmond tried his best to make out words, breathlessly.

"W-what can we do, Kayaba? These people…these children. Is there even any hope left of stopping this?"

Edmond looked into Kayaba's eyes, as if he were a child asking where a pet fish had gone when it "ran away." He longed, so deeply, for Kayaba to laugh and tell him it was just a joke, and that he had a plan to completely save everyone. But as it had been up to this point, this was not the case.

"I don't know Edmond, I really don't."

Edmond had never known fear like this. He suddenly heaved and then threw up into the black nothingness. The end of the world, and it was all being choreographed by Khale. This is what Khale wanted, he was sure of it. He was so obsessed with control, and absolutely had to have the last word. The world would someday come to an end, and he was sure that he'd have to be the one to pull the plug, plunging the world into a death spiral. The sick bastard was getting everything he ever wanted.

"Edmond. I know this sounds cliché, and I know you truly are an unlikely hero. I will not, and cannot pretend that I think you're even remotely comparable to a hero. But, you are able to see what's going on here, and that gives you an edge, an extra drive to success."

Edmond stayed on his knees, continuing to tremble, and attempting to fight back throwing up again, out of sheer terror. He kept his head pointed downwards as Kayaba's insulting words lashed at him. Sadly, he knew they were true. What were all the skills in the game worth if they couldn't help you? What was being able to see a dead scientist worth, if all he could do was offer small bits of "fortune-cookie" information?

"Then why do you keep bringing me here, Kayaba? Why don't you just let me die? If you've got no faith in my success, why haven't you just resigned yourself to the fact that your memory, your legacy, is going to be erased from existence, forever?

Edmond heard Kayaba approach him, and soon felt a hand on his shoulder. He slowly looked up at Kayaba, who had a very sympathetic look plastered onto his face. For a second, Edmond felt like he was a child again, living at home, staring into the eyes of his father. Edmond remembered a time when he'd not made the cut on his neighborhood's youth soccer team. His father took him aside and explained that sometimes people aren't quite ready to handle the tasks that they're supposed to accomplish. The next year, Edmond made the team, and as a starting striker.

"Edmond. Wherever there are resources, there is hope. It doesn't matter how small or stagnant in number they are. While I don't think you're capable of handling this on your own, you do have an amazing group of friends who are willing to fight alongside you."

Edmond felt slightly better, but then worse when he thought of how little they could do.

"What does it matter, if they're stuck in here, like me? Khale has the ability to reach far beyond this game, and into technology as a whole. We're all just here to wait for his next ridiculous plan to murder us all. He's got everyone under his control, sitting in the Ruby Palace, like a powder keg of sheer insanity. But you know what the saddest part of this whole thing is?"

Kayaba actually knelt down beside him, at this point. It made him feel very emotional. Despite everything he'd read about Kayaba and his mass murder of thousands of people, in this moment, he felt like the strongest father figure he'd ever had.

"What's that, Edmond?"

Edmond clenched his teeth, not wanting his emotion to spill over again. Each time he let even a single tear fall from his eyes, he felt weaker.

"For a second, I actually thought I had a chance to make a difference in this place. I actually thought that we could make it to the top of this castle, and take Khale down using Ratchnot, freeing everyone. I thought that I could actually do something good in my life, and be the hero. But each time I let myself get excited, or feel victorious, Khale punishes me for it. He proves to me that I'll never be able to catch up, and that my worst fears can be fed off of. He's proved to me that I'm a toy, a toy that can be played with until it becomes boring…and then…"

Edmond thought of a small child dropping an action figure into a sandbox, never returning to pick it up again.

"And then he'll dispose of me."

Kayaba swiped his menu.

"I want to show you a few things, Edmond. But first, let me ask you something. What's worth fighting for? Love? Friendship? What's worth fighting for, to you?"

Edmond thought, but he didn't have to. Kitami. She made him feel amazing, and he was in love with her, he wasn't going to try and suppress it anymore. He'd do anything to make sure she got out alive. It may have been selfish, but, truly, he was willing to do anything to get her out alive, provided he could go with her. Thatch, Klein, and the Gunners were important too, but Kitami was something special. Of course, if he had his way, Edmond would choose to have them all freed, and returned to whatever family they came from. He settled on his first answer, and then spoke.

"Kitami…but you knew I'd say that, didn't you?"

Kayaba smiled and nodded to confirm Edmond's suspicions.

"Look, Edmond…"

Kayaba selected something on his administrative menu. The world began to turn white, forcing all of the blackness to flee. Edmond covered his eyes until the intensity of the shining had stopped. When he opened his eyes, he immediately choked on the lump in his throat and began grit his teeth again, only this time, the tears came without the ability to be stopped. In front of him was something he honestly never thought he'd see.

Somehow, Kayaba had changed the entire black expanse into a dark room. In the room were many machines that beeped and chimed. It was dark, wherever this room was. In front of Edmond was a hospital bed, and the patient that kept all of the machines chiming, was laying in it. Edmond looked beside him, Kayaba was still there. Edmond looked at him, as if to ask if he could approach the bed. Kayaba nodded, with a serious face. Edmond turned forward, and looked again. He slowly lurched forward.

He looked down and started to cry, now with much more volume. If Edmond had figured out one thing, in these last eight or nine days, it was that he wasn't a very strong person. I mean, my God, he was crying over everything…but he couldn't be bothered to care. He had witnessed murder, pain, dismemberment, heightened emotional turmoil, and so much more, that he thought he'd never have to face, living all alone. He was proud of himself each time he managed to stay on his feet, let alone force himself to keep his eyes dry.

This particular sight was especially emotional. There, laying just below him, was a girl that looked so very familiar. It was Kitami. The real Kitami. Her face looked the exact same as her avatar's did. He could see some of her hair slipping through the open portions of the nerve gear, and resting on the pillow below. It was a soft brown color, so different than the light blue of her avatar, but equally as vibrant and wonderful. It may have just been the darkness of the room, but her skin looked so pale, but so beautiful, at the same time.

"K-Kitami?"

Edmond knew she wouldn't be able to respond to him, for more reasons than one. First, he wasn't sure if he was in any form of existence at this very moment. Second, she was in a comatose state, completely locked out of the world and its happenings. But he tried, nonetheless, as if he could somehow change those two unbreakable facts.

Edmond slowly lowered his hand to gently touch Kitami's face, something he never dreamed he'd be able to do, back in the real world. But it just couldn't happen….Edmond's fingers went right through Kitami's face, and slightly distorted, into a static form as he so desperately tried to feel her soft cheek. He raised his hand back and looked at it. It was completely clear, but he pressed it to his own cheek, longing, begging the universe to be able to feel her. He fell to his knees, beside the bed, speaking through sobs.

"I'm going to get you out of this bed. I'm going to wake you up, and I'll never, ever stop until I fulfill that. I'll never let go of that promise, not for as long as I'm still able to fight…"

Then Edmond leaned over Kitami's lifeless body and placed his arm under her. It turned to static as it went through the pillow, the mattress, and whatever other solid matter there was. He raised it until it was positioned, just under her skin. He took his other hand and put is as close to her cheek as he could, without turning it to static. Finally, he leaned in to her lips and hovered his, just over hers, as if he were hold her, and kissing her. His tears fell from his face and fell through hers, into nonexistence. He couldn't feel her touch, but he didn't care, he wanted to say he kissed her…the real her, just once, even if he never made it out of Aincrad.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It startled him and he broke his extremely delicate position of pretending to hold Kitami. It was Kayaba, nodding that it was time to go. Edmond didn't want to go though. If something had happened in that very moment, taking his life, he would've been content. His last moment would have been worth it. But he knew he had to go. He had a promise to fulfill, and he knew that back in the game, as horrible as it was, Kitami was there, waiting for him. He didn't care if they were just a collective of pixels, their emotions were real. Their feelings were real. Edmond wiped his eyes. It was time to fight. Ratchnot would be questioned and Khale would be defeated. Somehow, some way.

The expanse faded back to a black nothingness, taking the image of Kitami's real body away from Edmond.

"Do you know what's worth fighting for, now, Edmond? Are you sure, now?"

Edmond didn't feel the need to answer this question. It was so obvious. Instead, he asked another question. His tone was a mixture of wonder, sadness, fear, and anger.

"How did you do that? How can you see her?"

"I was fiddling with the administrative settings and realized that I'm able to see areas outside of peoples' nerve gear headsets. I never programmed such a feature, but someone has, and recently."

"Khale?"

"No, I don't think so, Edmond. Why would Khale care to do such a thing?"

"Why would anyone do such a thing? I can't think of anyone who'd want to stare at millions of lifeless bodies, laying in comas."

"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say it's a bi-product of an ulterior function."

Edmond had no idea what kind of function it could be.

"What do you mean? Like, a two way viewing window?"

Kayaba nodded. He swiped his menu and began navigating panels, speaking as he did so.

"I think somebody has secretly inserted a function into the game. That function is allowing them to see the activities within the game, without actually having to participate in it."

A light bulb flashed on in Edmond's mind. He knew it! Someone was spying on players within the game. Edmond's victorious thoughts quickly turned to more fear as he suddenly felt like he was being watched at every moment.

"You think they can view everything?"

"Yes, everything within the scope of a nerve gear headset. The only reason I found it was due to my ingrained ability to access administrative properties."

Edmond was becoming exhausted with Kayaba's constant revelations of major information, and not so much as even raising his voice to show emotion.

"Who do you think is watching? Do you think Khale is aware of it?"

"Absolutely not. Khale would do everything he could to halt the flow of information. After all, information is power, and he certainly doesn't like sharing it."

"So…who then?"

Kayaba then navigated panel after panel, he nodded, scratched his chin a few times, and then ran his fingers through his hair before closing the menu.

"I haven't the slightest idea."

Of course he didn't. Edmond exhaled deeply and rubbed his eyes. Even in a sleep state, he was becoming more and more fatigued with the twists and turns of conversing with an insane genius. At least it was Kayaba and not Khale. Edmond changed the subject.

"Kayaba. Level with me for a moment. Is there any sure fire way, at this point, to disarm Khale?"

Kayaba looked up. Edmond could see his eyes moving, as he went deeper and deeper into thought.

"Yes. There is one way. However, your interest in it would be extremely low."

Edmond immediately smiled. He was suddenly wide awake and more excited than ever. Was Kayaba serious? Was there really a way out?

"How? Tell me, and I'll do it right now!"

Kayaba shook his head and turned around. Edmond squinted and cocked his head to the side, not knowing why Kayaba would react in such a way.

"It would involve killing yourself, Edmond."

Edmond didn't just hear that. He couldn't have, it was absurd. He almost wished he'd never asked. He did, however, humor the answer with another question.

"What are you talking about? Why just me? You said it yourself, I'm not capable, at all!"

Kayaba turned back around. His face was serious, and it was abundantly clear that he was serious.

"You possess hidden coding within your nerve gear headset. Right now, Khale has full administrative abilities within the Seed's mainframe. Being an administrative player commands an extremely large portion of the game's RAM, as well as memory. You see, I'm not supposed to exist, and neither is your ability to use any skill, it's essentially a glorified bug within the system.

Khale is currently impervious to anything the game can throw at him, because he can make himself an immortal object. So the only way to stop him, would be to remove him from the game, and since there's no way to do that…the only other option would be to overload the server and crash the game."

Edmond was having a hard time following all of this. He was aware that there was nothing to defeat Khale, game wise, but he had no idea that the depth of the defeat would reach into the realm of the basic components themselves.

"How on earth would we be able to overload the system?"

"By forcing the codes of not one, but two administrative players to collide with one another. Edmond, you're the only other player with administrative properties. If we could cause that to happen, the entire seed would be shut down, nerve gears would cease to function, thus disabling their microwave function. The game would instantly end…freeing everyone."

Dammit. It made sense. Edmond immediately knew that this scenario wasn't going to happen. But did that make him selfish? He didn't want to die! But then again…he had made a promise.

"That's the only way?"

Kayaba nodded. It was abundantly clear that he was serious. Then, he spoke.

"I can understand your reluctance to fulfill such a task. But I-"

"No."

Kayaba was caught off guard by the interruption. Confused, as well.

"No?"

"No."

"What do you mean, "no"?"

Edmond thought of Kitami laying in her hospital bed, and much he desperately wished he could free her. For the first time in his life, he actually felt that he could actually give his life up for someone.

"If it comes down to it…I'll do it. I'll sacrifice myself if it means everyone else gets freed. But…I do have one question."

Kayaba was shocked. He had not been expecting to hear this from Edmond.

"What's that?"

"…Do you think it will hurt?"

A silence coated the air. It seemed like such an odd concern. Edmond knew that he'd, once again, confused Kayaba. It was a strange, but welcome sensation. It was nice to be able to outwit him, for once. But, to the matter at hand, Edmond figured that if he was going to die, he'd like to know if there was any way to ease the passing.

"It didn't hurt me, when I was…removed…from the game. But then again, the pain barrier was working at the time. But since the game will be crashing, it's difficult to say."

Edmond genuinely appreciated this straight forward answer. It was anything but conclusive, but at least it was honest. As Edmond thought this, Kayaba intervened.

"Remember Edmond, you cannot rule out the possibility that Ratchnot will be of some use to you and your party. This is strictly a last, and unwelcome, resort…you'll recall that if you are killed…so is my existence."

Edmond remembered Ratchnot, and it lifted an enormous burden off of his chest. He'd never been so relieved to hear the little bastard's name. A second wind of hope came over him as he thought of the treasure trove of information he'd surely offer to everyone. Edmond instantly knew that he owed Susan another cake, for her amazing work in tracking Ratchnot down.

"You're right. We'll squeeze him for everything he's worth. But we'll have to hurry. International unrest is always a matter that usually results in a body count…that's the last thing the world needs. Have the world in a coma, and the other half dead on a battlefield…"

Kayaba agreed with this and nodded.

"Prove me wrong, Edmond. Prove to me just how capable you can be. We'll meet again, I'm sure. But for now…relax. You deserve at least one night of sleep. Hold Kitami close, you deserve that, too. Goodbye for now, Edmond."

Edmond nodded as Kayaba began to walk away. Just as he was about to disappear from sight, he remembered something critical. This "Alpha" and "Gamma" duo that seemingly came from nowhere.

"Kayaba! Wait!"

But it was too late, Edmond began feeling the world rocket away from him, and he was suddenly flying at extreme speeds. He'd missed his opportunity.

When Edmond opened his eyes again, it was still dark. He swiped for his menu and saw that it was just after four in the morning. The guild was surely still sleeping. He looked over, beside him. Kitami was sleeping, facing him, with her arms wrapped around one of his. His mind was instantly brought back to the vision Kayaba had showed him. He reached his hand down carefully, and to his delight, he felt the smoothness of her skin. Kitami shifted slightly as Edmond touched her, but she didn't wake up, and only grasped Edmond's arm tighter. It felt amazing. Edmond shimmied down, slowly, so he wouldn't wake her up. When he was in a comfortable position, he kissed Kitami's cheek, and lightly whispered to her, in a tender voice.

"I promise, Kitami. I promise."

Obviously hinting at the promise he'd made, just a few nights earlier, and was determined to keep, for many nights to come.

Edmond yawned and slowly closed his eyes. Finally, some rest. He may only get a few hours of sleep, but they'd be like Heaven to him. He had no concern of the events that had befallen him earlier. They were new problems for a new day.

Edmond had just started to doze off when a bright flash broke through his eyelids. So much for sleeping peacefully. He immediately opened his eyes, and looked out in front of him. He almost screamed in shock. It was "them" again. Alpha and Gamma, standing cloaked, at the entrance of the room. Were they here to kill him? Anything was possible, as far as Edmond was concerned.

"Edmond, we need to have a word with you."

It was the male, Alpha, that spoke. Edmond went from terrified, to annoyed, instantly. They couldn't have waited until morning?

"Right now?"

"Yes, it's very important. Come with us, please."

Edmond looked over to Kitami, and gently pried her off of him, trying as hard as he could not to wake her up. Luckily, Edmond was successful, and he got out of bed slowly. He swiped his menu, and put his combat gear back on. Just as he was about to leave, he knelt down and gave Kitami one last kiss, gently on her soft and delicate lips. He stood back up and nodded to his town cloaked messengers.

"Before I go with you…will you at least tell me who you are?"

The two cloaked figures looked at each other, and then nodded, approving Edmond's request. They both removed their hoods, at the same time. The male, Alpha, had raven black hair, that was short, but long enough to go over his ears, and forehead. He was also very pale. Edmond's assumption of him being in his late twenties was an accurate one. The female, Gamma, was about the same age, and had a pale complexion, as well. Her hair was an attractive mix of orange and red. Edmond could tell that under the cloak, her hair was probably quite long. But he had no idea who he was looking at, so he awaited an answer. When the male spoke, Edmond almost passed out.

"I'm Kirito, and this is Asuna."

Edmond just stared at the two in disbelief. The rumors were true. Kirito, the one whom the tabloids had deemed as nonexistent, was here, in front of him. He had no idea what to say. He stared for a bit longer and then managed to make out a few, painfully obvious, words.

"I've heard of you…"