Monochrome Duet

by Solid Shark

After the brutal 25th Floor Boss Raid, Asuna has left Kirito's side to join the Knights of Blood. With his partner gone, Kirito resigns himself to returning to the life of a solo player-until a familiar face from the lower floors unexpectedly reenters his life. The strangely-human NPC Kizmel, despite her quest being over, has returned to his side... Kirito/Kizmel.

5. Chapter V: Black Cat Dirge

Friday, July 28th, 2023

---

"Just a few more, guys! Just hang in there a little longer!"

Taking an axe blow on her shield, Sachi spared a glance around the cavern to confirm her guildmaster's words. The camp of Dwarf Bandits they'd assaulted had started out with at least fifteen of the half-sized warriors; from the look of it, they'd managed to cut things down to about even over the past twenty minutes.

Very harrowing minutes, as far as Sachi was concerned. After the successful defeat of the first batch of Dwarf Bandits a couple of days before, the Black Cats having come out with less damage than expected, they'd taken on a quest to foil a raiding party the following day—and now, with those victories buoying them, Keita had consented to Ducker and Sasamaru's request for something a little tougher.

I could wish they hadn't been so eager, she thought, lashing out with a Horizontal at the dwarf who'd just tried to lop off her arm. A small patrol, one raiding party out in the open—those were easier than I thought. Actually clearing out a base camp? I didn't think we were ready for this!

Against her expectations, though, it was starting to look like they were actually going to pull it off. Kizmel was barricading the entrance to the cavern now, while Kirito lightly sparred with the pair of Dwarf Bandit Lords at the other end; their assistance had allowed the Black Cats to thin out the mobs on their own.

It was still the most difficult battle they'd fought together. Ducker, with his weak defense and offense alike, had actually been forced to retreat behind Kizmel earlier to drink a potion; just now, Sachi's HP had ticked a little closer to the yellow than she was at all comfortable with. Just blocking that axe had let through some damage, and it was far from the first hit she'd been forced to take on her shield.

Her Horizontal did the trick this time, though, cutting through the dwarf's neck—but just before its HP drained out completely, its death throes slammed the axe blade into her left shoulder. It didn't actually hurt, of course, nothing in SAO did, but the impact made her stumble back and cry out just the same.

"Sachi, pull back and heal!" Keita ordered, stepping in front of her. His staff caught the next dwarf in line at the wrist, forcing its Overhand skill to crash harmlessly into the rocky floor. "Tetsuo, Sasamaru, let's finish the adds, quick!"

Four Bandits left, Sachi saw, fighting to focus against the tension her own HP status brought. Even as she dropped back toward Kizmel's rear-guard position, fumbling with her shield arm for a potion, she watched her friends try and reduce that number; Tetsuo and Sasamaru were handling one with increasingly-smooth teamwork, while Ducker dashed in to take her place with Keita.

Neither of them were forwards, strictly speaking, but they were gradually reaching the point where they could at least fake it with proper coordination. Keita spun his staff in a blue-edged Tempest, hitting the dwarf six times over the head in quick succession; taking advantage of the Stun effect the skill caused, Ducker darted in and around to deliver a precise Backstab to its spine.

The Stun wore off about the time Keita began the windup for a Hard Jab to the dwarf's throat. Its retaliation was one Sachi didn't immediately recognize, a skill that had it spin completely around and drive the edge of its axe right at the side of Keita's neck. He saw it an instant late, after the System Assist had taken over; the loss of control probably saved his life anyway, pulling him just a little bit out of the intended path of the attack.

It still caught him hard in the flank, sending him stumbling sideways, but it was better than taking the automatic critical that a neck hit would've been.

It didn't get a chance to try anything else. With a yell, Ducker stabbed it in the back again, and while the dwarf was stumbling from that, Sachi came down from the Sonic Leap she'd started the moment her HP had neared blue. Cutting down from its left shoulder to its right hip, this time the strike was enough to shatter the dwarf into polygons without it managing any kind of death blow.

The breaking-glass sound seemed to stutter, and Sachi realized after a moment it was because Tetsuo had killed another at about the same moment. "Nice!" Kirito called, from where he was dancing around the Bandit Lords, somehow keeping aggro from both without seeming to be in much danger himself. "Get the last two, and I'll pass these guys over to you!"

While Keita fell back to heal in turn, Sachi and Ducker took off for one of the remaining Bandits, while Tetsuo and Sasamaru shifted to the other. What level is Kirito at? Sachi wondered along the way, catching a glimpse of the small smile on the clearer's face. Those are elite mobs, and he's just playing around with them. I know the frontline is nine floors above, but still!

Admittedly, on a one-to-one basis, the regular Bandits weren't actually too much trouble even for the Black Cats. Most of the damage they'd taken had been before the room had started clearing; with room to maneuver and nothing trying to flank them, it wasn't too hard to avoid being hit. Even so, when they did hit, it hurt, and these were just the small fry.

Despite that, by the time the last two Bandits had been dropped and the Black Cats converged on the first of the Bandit Lords, Kirito didn't even seem very tired. He just flashed them a grin, waved, and switched to confusing just the one. From Sachi's glance at his HP, he'd taken maybe five percent damage, if that.

"Kirito," Keita called, dropping back to Sachi's right flank in preparation to Switch, "you can back off a little; we'll take both!"

Sachi wasn't entirely comfortable with that, and from the way Kirito's grin slipped, he wasn't either. It did make some sense, though: against roughly human-sized mobs, trying to engage with more than a couple of players at a time would just have them getting in each other's way.

"Okay," Kirito said, after only a moment's hesitation. "But I'll stay close enough to interrupt if things get too hairy."

That was reassuring, at least. Enough so that Sachi only felt very anxious, instead of terrified, when the clearer leapt back out of the way, leaving her front-and-center in the eyes of the first Dwarf Bandit Lord. That the switch from his last blow to her first left it disoriented for a crucial second also helped.

A little, anyway. Seeing the fierce grin behind the Bandit Lord's huge beard directed at her wasn't good for Sachi's nerves, even as she used that tiny moment of computer indecision to land a Vertical Arc on its torso.

Solos are crazy, she thought; her quick pair of hits rocked the Bandit Lord back, but it swung its weapon—a sword, not an axe like the lesser Bandits—toward her with uncomfortable speed, recovering from the hiccup in its targeting algorithms far more quickly than she liked. How did Kirito manage before he met Asuna-san?!

Keita's staff swung up from behind her at the last moment, catching the descending sword and deflecting it into a strike against her breastplate instead of her head. It still shoved her back, stumbling, and for an instant Sachi was convinced the next blow would hit her skull.

Somehow, she got her shield up and around, taking the two-handed Falling Leaf skill on it instead. She had a moment to reflect on how hideously misnamed the skill was—That hits more like a boulder than a leaf!—before being slammed nearly to the floor, dizzy from the impact.

While Sachi tried to clear her head, she thought she heard an oddly high-pitched yelp from the Bandit Lord—Ducker, she thought muzzily, stabbing it somewhere sensitive—followed almost instantly by a cry from Tetsuo. She managed to look up just in time see him sail across the room, crashing into the rock wall with a crunch.

"Stay calm!" Kirito called out. "I know it's tough, but if you stay focused, you'll be fine!"

Easy for him to say—why isn't he helping us?! Even as she thought that, dragging herself back to her feet, Sachi knew the answer, though. …If he does it for us, we'll never learn. What good then?

Automatically, she flung her shield arm up to shove aside the Bandit Lord's next attack, then stepped inside its reach, drew back her arm, and with a shout swung her sword toward its left shoulder. Her blade enveloped in bright blue light, it swung quickly to the left and back to the right in a Snake Bite that inflicted a deep cut with the first blow, and tore the arm completely off with the return.

"Keita, Switch!"

With the Bandit Lord reeling at the loss of its arm, unable to hold its heavy blade properly, Keita was able to slip in and hit it with a Tempest while Sachi recovered. Off-balance already, the repeated assault to its face drove it back several steps.

Then Tetsuo dashed past, heading for the other Bandit Lord, and bashed the wounded one over the head with a normal mace attack on his way by.

The look of dazed frustration on the Bandit Lord's face was, Sachi thought, totally worth it. Right up until it adjusted its remaining hand's grip on its sword, stomped forward, and catapulted her into a wall.

---

It was a weary but cheerful group that gathered in Taft that evening. Despite everything, the Black Cats had indeed managed to clear out the entire bandit camp, including the two Dwarf Bandit Lords, with only minimal assistance from the duo of clearers. All of them were in the mood to celebrate.

Well, almost everybody, Kirito thought, sneaking a glance past his tankard of ale at the small guild. Sachi, at least, looked sober, which didn't surprise him; she was still the most nervous of the Black Cats, and getting flung across the room had obviously worried her more than Tetsuo. Still, she got most of the credit on that first one, so I'd say congratulations really are in order.

"I think that went well," Kizmel murmured from beside him. "They suffered greater injury than before, but they didn't let it demoralize them. That's more than can be said for some clearers, in times past."

"That's true," he admitted, remembering Illfang; a battle which had, really, gone far better than anyone had had any right to expect, yet had almost collapsed with the loss of one man. "That's more important than levels, a lot of the time. Still, I'm not sure how it would've gone if we hadn't been running interference for them."

"Give them time, Kirito. This was their first large-scale battle; young knights always require a little help from their instructors at that stage." The elf's gaze drifted over the lower-leveled players, expression difficult for him to interpret. "Considering how much more serious this is than they were prepared for, I think they're making excellent progress."

You don't know the half of it. Kizmel still thought that the Swordmasters had all been proper warriors from the start, even if they had believed they'd be effectively immortal in Aincrad. Kirito wondered idly what she'd think if she knew just how utterly unprepared they really had been.

Sooner or later, he was going to have to find out, too. If she really was as advanced an intelligence as he'd come to suspect, someday he was going to have to find a way to tell her truth about the Swordmasters. About the nature of Aincrad itself.

That wasn't a conversation he was looking forward to. Not least because he wasn't sure she could handle it; humans didn't always do so well about having their world view overturned, and none of them had ever had to come to grips with their very reality being a fabrication.

Some people didn't handle just being trapped here very well, Kirito thought with a wince, remembering how the very first death recorded on the Monument of Life had been "Falling in midair".

"Okay!" Keita called out, interrupting the post-quest celebration and Kirito's own gloomy thoughts. "Today went really well, guys, so I think now we've got a good road map to joining the clearing group. Kirito, Argo-san has quest guides for every floor that's been cleared, right?"

"By the time the labyrinth is reached, she's usually got all the major quests of any floor, yeah," Kirito agreed, setting down his drink. "After this long, she'll know pretty much everything up to the Thirtieth Floor, at least."

"Excellent. In that case, I say we work through every significant quest from the Twenty-Third on up, at least everything suitable for a party our size. If we're careful, that should boost our levels pretty fast, and we can save more time by not having to do any of the actual mapping."

Kirito frowned. That sounded a little bit risky to him. He and Asuna had done as much when clearing those floors originally, of course, even doing some quests that by rights should have taken full parties; but they'd usually been several levels about the floor average, and on several of the early floors they'd had some support from Kizmel.

Keita must've caught his expression, because the guildmaster's own sobered. "I'm aware that it's not the safest course, Kirito, and that we'll be relying on you and Kizmel to keep us from getting in over our heads. But if we do use this strategy, you won't have to hold our hands for more than another month."

"Yeah," Tetsuo chimed in, leaning back in his chair with an easy grin. "You've been lifesavers, guys, but we don't want to monopolize you too long. Downright embarrassing, to need babysitting all the time!"

"…It could work," Sachi said quietly, frowning down at her ale. "If we're really careful… We did pull through today, after all."

Kirito sat silent for several moments, mentally weighing the pros and cons. If he and Kizmel did continue to provide backup, taking a direct hand every now and then if things got really sticky… That is one way to power-level, he conceded. And if the stakes weren't so high, I'd probably even say it was safe. As it is… Tetsuo's right, we can't just hold their hands forever.

He looked over at Kizmel, who already seemed to have reached her own conclusion. "It's a risk, Kirito," she said quietly. "But what in war is not?"

True enough. As a solo—well, former solo—he probably knew that better than anyone in the room. And, if he was going to be perfectly honest, a part of him was leaning toward agreement for another, far less noble reason.

"Okay," Kirito said finally. "With Argo's guides, it should be possible—though there's one or two I might recommend against, not every single-party quest is as easy as it looks on paper—and yeah, it should be a good way to grind up to clearer levels."

"Another step up to the big leagues!" Sasamaru said with a grin, and lifted his tankard. "To victory, guys!"

"Victory!"

Raising his tankard with the others, Kirito only wished he was agreeing out of pure conviction, unalloyed by his ignoble fear of the responsibility they'd placed on his shoulders, and the knowledge that the sooner they leveled up, the sooner that fear might be lifted.

---

Friday, September 1st, 2023

---

It had been a little over a month since the Black Cats began their concerted effort at ascending Aincrad's floors, a few quests at a time. Over the course of it, Kizmel had been through three Pillar Guardian battles, and had had the privilege of watching the small guild grow rapidly in strength from their humble beginnings. Their "levels" were still well below the clearing group, but they'd come a long way from the ambush she and Kirito had rescued them from almost two months before.

They'd moved their sleeping arrangements up several floors along the way, and now spent most evenings in what Kirito termed a "Bed and Breakfast" on the Eighteenth Floor, in the town of Corineth. On this particular night, they were all together in the inn's dining room, planning the next day's excursion.

After they'd all eaten, Keita rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward, a serious look on his face. "Great work today, guys," he began. "I think that marks just about the first time we got through without Kirito or Kizmel having to step in at all."

"Hey, we couldn't stay noobs forever, Keita," Tetsuo pointed out, grinning. "Get tossed around enough, and even Ducker learns to dodge!"

"Hey!"

Kizmel nodded to herself, smiling a little at the banter. That day they'd gone into a forest in search of some rare herbs a human healer had requested, and stirred up a nest of Giant Hornets in the process. Despite the sheer number of swarming insects, though, the Black Cats had pulled through without their clearer backup so much as having to draw their swords.

It's more than just individual strength. They've finally truly begun to fight as a proper team, keeping each other's strengths and weaknesses in mind. …I'm not sure that she would agree even now, but I believe Keita truly did make the right choice in pushing Sachi to take up the sword. That change in their strategy is exactly what they needed for balance.

Keita rapped the table sharply. "I think we're making good progress, everyone," he said, when he had his guildmates' attention again. "To be perfectly honest, I'd hoped to be farther along this by now, but having seen firsthand what the higher floors are like, I'll admit that was a bit over-optimistic. By any reasonable measure, I think we've done better than we could've expected, really.

"We've also saved up quite a bit of Cor over the last month and a half. So I was thinking… now that we're getting close to the frontlines, this might be a good time to finally buy a guildhouse."

Sachi perked up at that. "A place of our own," she said, sounding wistful. "We haven't had that since…"

"Since we got into this whole mess," Sasamaru finished for her, looking thoughtful. "Y'know, Keita, that's not such a bad idea. It'd be kinda nice to have a place we could really call home."

"Not to mention save us a bunch of Cor on inn rooms," Ducker said, flashing a grin.

"Nothing like having your own place to hang your hat," said Tetsuo, nodding. "And your armor, your mace, your Man-Eating Tiger pelts…"

Kizmel found herself smiling faintly at that. The Black Cat macer couldn't have known, but it reminded her of the days when she'd first fought with Kirito and Asuna—or rather, the nights. At the time, she'd been living in a simple tent in a forward camp, and it had been carpeted with fur pelts. A comfort that had at first been a cold one to her, for a time; with the losses the camp had suffered, it had been empty and lonely.

Until Kirito and Asuna had entered the war between Dark and Forest, and brought warmth back into Kizmel's life with them.

Leaning over toward her theretofore silent partner, she murmured, "Sounds like old times, hm?"

Kirito blushed faintly, and she stifled a chuckle. While she knew he had enjoyed their early partnership as much as she had, she had little doubt some of his memories were not quite so unalloyed. Certainly she hadn't missed him gawking at her, when first he saw her unarmored—nor Asuna's response.

It was barely a week that we shared that tent, yet I think those were some of the best days of my life. …I hope we can share a place like that again someday.

"Anyway," Keita was continuing, having seen the unanimity of his guildmates, "I was figuring we might take care of that the day after tomorrow. Take one day off from grinding to settle into a new place, catch our breath, that kind of thing." Lifting one hand, he swiped his menu open, made several quick motions across it, and materialized a piece of parchment. "I'd just like to take care of one more quest tomorrow, first. Judging from the information from Argo-san, this one should provide enough experience to get us all one more level."

It was Kirito's turn to lean forward, looking interested. "What quest is that, Keita? Something on the Twenty-Eighth Floor?" That was the floor they'd just finished gathering herbs and slaying wasps on; if Kizmel remembered correctly, they'd cleared approximately half of the predicted tasks there.

She still wondered just how it was Argo acquired such detailed information. Most Swordmasters of the clearing group focused on the frontline, yet Argo was obviously keeping up with the plight of humans on lower floors, if she had such a wealth of knowledge about quests that had come up since the clearers originally passed through.

"Argo-san's latest guide labels it as 'Exterminate the Black Forest Invaders'," Keita said, waving the parchment. "Giran Village, off in the southwest of the floor, is having problems with demi-humans hunting anyone wandering into that forest, occasionally venturing out at night to attack the village itself."

Kirito frowned. "…Huh. I don't remember hearing about that one… though it's true I usually only focus on the ones Kizmel and I can handle by ourselves."

"Well, according to this, it shouldn't be too hard for a full party." The guildmaster tapped the guide. "There's supposed to be a lot of them, but individually pretty weak, and traveling in small packs. A bit longer to get them all than most quests we've done, I think, but it's just a matter of endurance, not any real trouble."

Kizmel found herself nodding. She wasn't quite comfortable with Kirito's lack of knowledge on the subject—or her own, for that matter—but it was obviously something that had come up since the two of them had passed through originally. They were hardly going to find out every problem that cropped up in their wake, certainly.

And demi-humans should not be much of a threat, indeed. The twisted offspring of humans and goblins, if I remember the tales right, and not one that especially benefits from the breeding. A team of Swordmasters should have little trouble putting them down.

"The one trick is to not get lost," Keita went on. "The Black Forest is supposed to be pretty confusing." Despite his words, he was smiling. "Of course, thanks to Argo-san, we just happen to have a map, so…"

---

That night, Kizmel found herself on the balcony attached to their inn room, leaning on the railing beside Kirito; she'd removed her cape and armor, leaving her tights and tunic, while he'd put away his habitual black coat. Sachi had not yet arrived—though she continued her habit of sleeping with them, she'd been staying out later than she once had, lately—so for now, it was just the two of them.

Just like before, the elf mused, looking out over the dark streets of Corineth. …I don't really mind that, somehow.

"A guildhall, huh," Kirito said quietly. "They really have come pretty far, haven't they? Pretty impressive for a group of low-levels hanging out in a cheap inn on the Eleventh Floor, like when we first met them."

"It is." She glanced at him sidelong. "I would say they've earned a place for themselves; a small guild they may be, but in some ways they seem more a team than many clearers we've known."

"Yeah, that's for sure. Better than the DDA or the Army, no contest; I bet their guildhall will be a lot more comfortable, too." There was a distant look on his face now, she noticed, like he was seeing something other than the town below them.

Kizmel thought she had an inkling of why, after traveling with the human Swordmaster this long. It was a pang she'd felt, just a little, more than once over the past months, and before they ever met; Kirito, she suspected, felt it far more keenly than she ever did.

I could return to the capital any time I wished, at least for a short visit. Kirito's separation is far more profound…

After a few moments, she said, "Have you ever considered buying a home for yourself, Kirito? A place you can truly call your own, here in Aincrad?"

Kirito shrugged. "…I've thought about it once or twice," he admitted slowly. "Asuna brought it up, back when we were in Rovia on the Fourth Floor; that whole floor is just too hard to get around for me to want to stay there, though. Since then… I guess I've just been focused on moving forward. I've saved most of my Cor for keeping my gear and supplies up, and inns aren't really that expensive."

"I suppose that's a practical approach." Kizmel turned her gaze back to Corineth, looking over the human architecture that she'd grown used to in the months she'd traveled with Kirito. "Still… by now, you've saved up a considerable amount of money; far more than our usual expenses, certainly. It might be something to consider—perhaps when the Black Cats no longer need our guidance?"

Her partner was silent for a while, perhaps thinking much the same things she was. In a way, it would be a relief to finish their task; Kizmel did wish she could spend more time on the frontline, speeding the conquest of the Pillars, testing her blade against stronger foes… Not having to worry about warriors-in-training behind her, able to trust that those by her side could handle themselves as well as she.

In another sense, she suspected she'd miss it. If nothing else, the cheerful camaraderie and banter of the Black Cats was warm and comfortable, even if they never quite seemed to extend it to her the way Kirito and Asuna did. Having a place where she and Kirito could gather with their friends—Asuna, when she had time; even Argo, with her too-cheerful playfulness—was something she thought might capture some of that feeling for themselves.

"It's something to think about," Kirito said finally. "I guess… it might be nice, at that." He turned to face her fully. "What about you, Kizmel? You've got a place back in Lyusula, and without Mystic Scribing, you still can't trade properly with human merchants."

"As you once told me, there's surely still a way to fulfill the ancient treaties, Kirito," she said, serenely confident. "We need only find it. And really, is there anything we've yet failed to do, together?" Kizmel smiled, and edged just a little closer to her partner. "As I believe Asuna has said in the past, we do make a good team."

She thought she heard him mutter something about not understanding why he had so many girls hanging around him these days, and her smile widened. There's something endearing about the way you fail to see your own strengths, my friend—I only hope I'm present to see the look on your face when you finally understand it.

---

Saturday, September 2nd, 2023

---

The trek through the Black Forest wasn't the worst Kirito had endured in Aincrad. For one thing, the map actually worked, which was more than could be said for the Forest of Wavering Mists in which he'd originally met Kizmel, and it didn't have the humidity or tenacious insect life of the Seventh Floor's jungles. There were, as expected, demi-humans aplenty, but they weren't much of a threat even to the Black Cats, let alone a couple of clearers.

Even so, something was bothering him about the whole thing. He knew it was silly, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

"All right," Keita called at length, from his position at the front of the group. "From Argo-san's info and what the Village Chief told us, that should be the last of the demi-humans in the Black Forest itself. That should just leave… Ah, here it is."

"It" was a clearing deep in the Black Forest, in the center of which was an obsidian tower reaching toward the underside of the Twenty-Ninth Floor. Not quite as tall as the labyrinth that actually connected the two floors, nor as wide, it still stood a good fifty meters.

That's probably what has the hairs on my neck standing up, too, Kirito thought, looking up at the tower uneasily. Kizmel and I never went near this place when the clearing group came through; I don't think this quest even existed back then.

It was probably just Cardinal and its random quest generator at work; it certainly wouldn't be the oddest quest Kirito had seen in Aincrad. Most likely, it was just the same uneasiness about changed scenarios that had been bothering him ever since Diavel died.

Or maybe it was the Village Chief's ominous warning that they might want more friends if they were to assail the tower. Of course, Keita had brushed it off, pointing out—reasonably, really—that Argo's guide had indicated it was pure flavor text, a caution only for less-prepared parties; after all, most level-appropriate parties wouldn't be aided by a pair of clearers whose stats and gear were from several floors up.

It was probably just the uncertainty that was getting to him. It wasn't like he was psychic, after all.

"The quest finishes in there, Keita?" Sachi asked, looking more than a little uncomfortable herself.

"According to the guide, yeah. The Demi-Human Commander should be at the top of that tower." Keita waved a reassuring hand. "Relax! I know it's half as tall as a Floor Labyrinth, but it's not nearly as big around; clearing out this place shouldn't take more than an hour or so."

"Then let's get to it, Keita!" Ducker called, grinning and bouncing in place. "Think of all the loot that must be in there, too!"

Trust the self-proclaimed thief to focus on that. Kirito couldn't really disagree, though; his gamer's soul was calling out to him to find out what treasures and secrets lay within. The part of him that had even grown to love Aincrad's lore since meeting Kizmel seconded it, seeing in the tower's ominous construction hints of deeper knowledge.

It's a quest seven floors below the frontline, he reminded himself. Whatever is in there, we can handle it. Still…

Just before Keita moved forward to open the heavy stone door at the base of the tower, Kirito raised a hand. "Before we go in, Keita, I just want to confirm: everybody has at least one teleport crystal, right?" The items were expensive, being moderately uncommon and capable of teleporting a player back to a town even from the middle of a Floor Boss fight, but obtaining a small supply had been one of his conditions for helping train the Black Cats.

In the game of death Aincrad had become, there was no shame in retreating if the situation turned against you. Every clearer knew one truth: in this world, survival was everything.

A couple of the Black Cats, notably Ducker, rolled their eyes, but Keita simply nodded, a sober look in his eyes. "It'll be fine, Kirito. I doubt we'll have any serious problems in there, but if we do, we'll be ready."

After this long, Kirito believed him. The Black Cats were still a little over-eager for his peace of mind, but in a fight, they'd shaped up into a serious team. When blades were drawn, they took no chances.

"Is everyone ready?" the guildmaster said then, when Kirito raised no further objection. "Then let's go finish this."

Pulling open the massive door, Keita led the Black Cats into the night-black tower.

---

Prowling the stone corridors of the tower as the rear guard, Kirito's sense of unease grew the higher they climbed. Five floors up, and the Black Cats had shredded twice that many groups of demi-humans, while he and Kizmel had hammered down an ambush per floor themselves. So far, nothing had happened to particularly challenge the group.

So why am I still feeling like we're walking into a lion's den? I can't shake the sense that something about this place is…

"Kirito," Kizmel murmured to him, too low for the Black Cats to hear. "I'm not sure why, but… something about this tower feels familiar. As if I have seen something like this before."

"You, too?" Even with the chill of the unknown eating at him, Kirito felt just a bit relieved that he wasn't the only one getting a sense of déjà vu. If his partner sensed it, too, then… Well. Maybe that wasn't such a good sign. "I don't know what it is, either, but I'm sure I've been somewhere like this before. The art, maybe?"

There were bas-relief sculptures on the walls in places. He hadn't had time to examine them in detail, and at a distance the sheer blackness of the obsidian walls obscured them, but every so often light from the torches illuminating the tower struck them just the right way to make them almost fully visible.

Aincrad had a lot of different styles of architecture and art across its floors, and with a full one hundred levels, it wouldn't be surprising if things were occasionally repeated. That was probably all there was to it.

"Hey, I think this is it, guys!" Tetsuo was leading then, Keita having fallen back a few paces to use a healing potion after the last demi-human group, and now he had stopped in front of a set of double-doors at the very end of the hallway. "Five floors up, with these really high ceilings… we should be about at the top, right? These doors look fancy enough for a 'Commander' to be on the other side."

Kirito pushed forward with Kizmel, gambling for now that the rear would be secure for awhile. Looking close at the doors, he couldn't disagree with Tetsuo's assessment; actually, he had the foreboding thought that the macer might actually be understating things a little.

"…These do look like boss doors," he said slowly, unease edging toward outright anxiety. "Keita… I'm not sure we should do this." He peered more intently at the point where the doors joined, certain that there was something significant about the design emblazoned on them; in this light, though, he just couldn't tell. "Something… doesn't feel right."

"Oh, c'mon, Kirito," Sasamaru said, shaking his head. "We got the info from Argo, and this ain't like the beta test. This is fresh information. A Demi-Human Commander and some adds. So what if the door's scary-looking?"

"I don't know, Sasamaru." Sachi bit her lip, hand tightening on the hilt of her sword. "If Kirito thinks we should be careful…"

"Ominous door, awesome treasure," Ducker reasoned, tapping his foot impatiently. "Look, we haven't run into anything that bad yet, so let's just get going!"

Tetsuo was nodding, so Kirito turned to Keita, hoping for a tie-breaker from the usually cautious guildmaster. The staff wielder, though, wasn't looking very concerned himself. After a moment's thought, he only shrugged and said, "Ducker's… enthusiasm aside, Kirito, he's right that we haven't had much trouble yet. Like Sasamaru said, everything's been like the guide so far. And if anything does go wrong, we've got the crystals. I think we can risk it."

By everything Kirito knew about SAO, even after everything that had changed since the beta, Keita was right. By all his experience with Argo and her information gathering, Keita was right. Anything they were likely to encounter, they could handle; anything unlikely, they could escape.

He shot a glance at Kizmel, who gave him a not-too-happy look in return. Even so, she shrugged. "We appear to be out-voted," she said simply.

Yeah. I guess so. Sighing, Kirito stepped back, letting Keita take his place at the front of the group again. Together with Tetsuo, the two Black Cats pushed at the doors, scarcely less thick than those leading into the tower in the first place, and opened the way to the final chamber of the tower.

They all walked into the new room, weapons at the ready, and at first saw… nothing. Nothing but a wide, circular chamber, seemingly empty; only a handful of the torches lining the walls were lit, and the far end of the room was cloaked in the darkness.

As far as Kirito could tell, nothing was making a sound, either. As far as his eyes could see, ears could hear, there was nothing in the room at all. We can't see the other side, though. Anything could be…

"Huh," Ducker said, bringing up the rear. He looked around curiously, scratching his head with the hand not holding a knife. "This, uh… is kind of a let down, actually."

BOOM.

Kirito spun around just in time to see the heavy doors slam shut behind the thief—then, almost as fast, whirled to face front again as the remaining torches spontaneously lit themselves. The ring of lights swung around to meet in the middle of the far wall, and what had been concealed was suddenly starkly visible.

A dozen figures in black armor, wearing face-concealing helmets, bearing wicked-looking scimitars in hand. Just behind them, wearing a fancier version of the same armor, a tall figure whose face was hidden by a black-horned mask. The figure's eyes seemed to gleam red behind the mask, and in his hand was a one-handed sword that glowed a vibrant blue.

The adds' cursors, when Kirito focused on them, were a red a few shades darker than the demi-humans the Black Cats had fought through to get here. Their leader's was darker still; to the Black Cats, it would almost certainly be close to black.

The name that appeared when Kirito looked at him, heart pounding in his chest: Fallen Elven Remnant: The Commandant.

From the collective intake of breath behind him, he knew the Black Cats recognized the significance of the "The" just as well as he did.

"W-what the hell is a boss doing here?!" Ducker squeaked, bravado long gone.

Fallen Elf. That artwork… dammit! Why didn't I remember?! If the walls hadn't been pitch-black, Kirito was sure he would've realized it in a heartbeat: remembered the look of the Fallen Elf Twilight Citadel he, Asuna, and Kizmel had stormed at the end of the Elf War Quest, a brutal assault that had come terrifyingly close to killing Kizmel. He would've realized that the very layout of the tower was similar to that place, an oversight he could only attribute to how very, very busy he'd been that day.

He had never expected to face the Fallen Elves again. Now he was face-to-face with what he could only assume was a Field Boss, and while his own level far outstripped it, he was backed only by one clearer, and a single party of relative newbies.

"Run," Kirito heard himself saying, staring at The Commandant; who had, curiously, not yet made a move to attack. "Everyone, get out, right now."

"The doors won't open!" Sachi called, voice shrill with growing panic. "They're locked!"

"Then teleport!" he snapped. "Hurry!"

Ducker quickly dug for the crystal in his belt pouch, held it aloft, and shouted, "Teleport: Corineth!"

Kirito expected to immediately see a bright blue flash in his peripheral vision, hear the distinctive sound of his comrade teleporting to safety. He'd follow soon, along with Kizmel, but only once they were sure everyone else had escaped—

"The crystals aren't working!"

His blood ran cold. A trap. It's a trap, and even crystals aren't working… this has never happened before, not even on the Twenty-Fifth Floor! What the hell—?!

Only then, when the Black Cats knew there was no escape, did The Commandant make a move. "Puny humans, and one Dark Elf," he said, the grin that his mask hid evident in his voice. "You destroyed my people… now, it is your turn to die. My brothers… kill them all!"

Everything narrowed to the sword in The Commandant's hand, the sword in his own hand, and Kirito charged, screaming a battle cry.

---

Kirito's solo attack on The Commandant flew in the face of the careful coordination he and Kizmel had been teaching the Black Cats the last couple of months, but she knew at once why he'd done it. With thirteen strong Fallen Elves arrayed against them, they were outnumbered two-to-one, and Kirito was the only one who stood a chance of holding off The Commandant alone.

Against just one, perhaps as many as three, of the Fallen Elf Knights, Kizmel thought that might just have been enough to buy the Black Cats and herself time to even the odds. Against twelve, she felt a terror she'd not known in months. She herself could take any one of them herself, she was certain, but she was just as sickeningly sure that wouldn't be enough.

Even so, she did the only thing she could: she lunged for the nearest Fallen, Corrupted Sword of the Order glowing deep red in a Fell Crescent. The Fallen Knight met her halfway, laughing as he came, and their blades met in a concussion of sound and burst of light.

At the same time, the other Knights joined their Commandant in motion, and the room descended into total chaos.

It was a mad, terrifying whirlwind of battle that Kizmel hadn't seen since the ambush that killed her sister. Kirito's Sonic Leap managed to stop The Commandant in his tracks, while she locked blades with the first of the Knights—but the Black Cats had never anticipated a trap like this. The shock of their escape being cut off, and the strength of their opponents that their Mystic Scribing allowed them to see more clearly than she could, shook the teamwork they'd trained so hard to learn.

They fought anyway, with no way out. Kizmel caught a brief glimpse of Sachi huddled by the doors, shaking in terror, but the others met the Fallen with weapons in hand. Keita and Sasamaru managed to beat back several themselves, for a few previous moments, with the spinning Tempest and Hurricane skills of their respective pole weapons; Tetsuo desperately dodged to one side of a scimitar thrust and smashed the offending Fallen's breastplate with his mace, while Ducker hurled himself screaming on another, driving his dagger for an unprotected throat.

Clashing with her own foe, Kizmel could see little else after that. Her opening Fell Crescent had been canceled, but it had done the job of getting her into reach. Her own speed was marginally greater than the Fallen Knight's; she recovered a breath faster than he did, took the extra moment to slam her kite shield into his faceplate, and followed up with a Treble Scythe that spun her around to deliver three whirling slashes to his chest.

The Fallen was driven further off-balance, stumbling back from the impacts. The last knocked him off his feet completely, and by the time he could even try to regain himself, the charm's backlash had released her. In that moment, she reversed her saber in her hands, leapt high in the air, and drove its point through the Fallen's armor and straight into his heart.

On an individual basis, Kizmel realized, the Knights were no match for her whatsoever. If they could just keep this up—a bellowing Kirito went past the corner of her eye just then, furiously trading blows with The Commandant—they could still survive. Recovering her blade from the shattered body of her first foe, she turned to engage the next—

A terrified scream, the likes of which she had never heard before and would never forget now, reached her ears, and she whipped around just in time to see Ducker fall away from a Fallen's scimitar, breaking into countless azure shards before he ever hit the floor.

"Ducker!" Sasamaru screamed. Breaking away from the Fallen who was trying to gut him, he charged at Ducker's killer, heedless of his own safety, and put all his terror, rage, and momentum into a Straight Thrust aimed for the elf's helmet. His spear, by luck or skill, stabbed right through one of the eyeholes; the Fallen tried for a moment to bring his scimitar up, then fell limp and shattered, following his victim into death.

Blinded by grief and fury, the lancer didn't see the next Knight coming. Only a bare instant before the Fallen's sword could pierce Sasamaru's chest did he look up, eyes going wide with terror—and then the Fallen's head was leaping from his shoulders, severed by Kizmel's desperate two-handed blow.

Three of twelve Fallen Elf Knights dead, along with one of the Black Cats. Kirito was, somehow, managing to keep The Commandant busy all by himself, countering every skill the general attempted with one of his own, yet it was at best a stalemate. And the remaining Knights were splitting up, separating into groups of three in an obvious attempt to overwhelm the survivors.

Kizmel's heart was racing, torn between grief and fear of her own. Even so, she pushed all that aside, and went for the first of the trio cornering her and Sasamaru with a Reaver to the gut. All she could do was fight the foes directly before her, and hope that Keita could hold out—and that Sachi would, somehow, recover enough of her wits to run. So far she was being ignored, Tetsuo was still whaling away with his mace, there was still a chance…

A pained grunt surprised her as she was in the act of putting a Linear through the throat of her third opponent, having found they were as weak as anyone else to blows that threatened the head. She took one brief moment to look, and her heart clenched at the sight of Kirito flying back; he'd misjudged an attack from The Commandant, and though his armor and physique were more than up to the challenge, his balance was not.

The only bright spot was that he ended up using one of the Knights threatening Keita as a cushion, forcing the elf to the floor just in time to buy the guildmaster a few precious moments of breathing space.

Kizmel didn't see what happened after that. The companions of the Fallen she'd just finished closed on her together, and for several moments she was too busy fighting off their blades to make out anything else.

The next thing she did register was a blood-curdling shriek, followed by an all-too-familiar sound like shattering glass. The realization that Tetsuo, now, had fallen distracted her, and it was her turn to be caught unawares and thrown from her feet.

The impact disoriented her, and for the space of a few breaths—an eternity in battle—Kizmel wasn't sure what was going on. When she came back to her senses, though, the next couple of moments did feel endless. The two Knights who had been attacking her had turned to Sasamaru, joined by the two survivors of Tetsuo's murder. The lancer was almost surrounded, with nowhere to go but backward, and Kizmel could tell from the red marks on his body that he was sorely wounded.

At the same time, The Commandant had turned his attention to Kizmel, and his sword was beginning to gleam as he prepared a Sword Skill. She knew she had something of an advantage in strength, but she'd been wounded some herself fighting the Knights—and if he was any kind of swordsman at all, he would do the same as she had, and try for her neck.

Keita was too far to help either of them. He'd, somehow, managed to kill one of his attackers, but was sorely pressed by the remaining pair. Sachi was nowhere in sight, apparently safe but in no shape to help.

In that endless moment, Kizmel saw that Kirito had regained his feet, and was readying himself to help. At the same time, she could see the horrified realization in his eyes: that there was time enough to help one or the other of them, but not both.

He had to make a choice, between his own kind, and her.

Four blades thrust at Sasamaru, moving with painful sloth to her eyes. The Commandant's gleaming sword began to fall, an executioner's stroke coming to take her head.

Kirito flung himself forward, and time snapped back to normal.

A split second before The Commandant's blow could land, Kizmel's vision was obscured by black. Strong arms wrapped around her, and she was suddenly rolling across the stone floor, out of reach of the sword that struck obsidian instead of flesh. Those same arms pulled her to her feet at the end of the tumble; she found herself standing beside Kirito, their swords both pointed toward The Commandant.

Alive. She was still alive…

One more scream, and Keita's anguished howl, heralded another sound of a shattering body, and she knew Sasamaru no longer was.

Kizmel wanted to weep. No more than three minutes had passed since entering this death trap, and three of the Black Cats were gone. Fully half of the Fallen Elf Knights had joined them in death, but that was scarcely any consolation.

Especially since Keita had finally lost his own battle with despair, and dropped to his knees, staff falling from his hands. Two Knights still stood before him, waiting for that moment, and four stood between him and the clearers, to say nothing of The Commandant himself.

Kizmel was alive. It didn't look like that mercy was going to be granted to her comrades—her friends.

She and Kirito attacked anyway, throwing themselves at The Commandant with twin battle cries. They battered him back, Kizmel with a Reaver to the stomach, Kirito a Horizontal Arc across the chestplate, and The Commandant did stumble—but it wasn't enough, and she knew it.

Then another scream, this one of denial, echoed off the walls, and a blur of blue and white charged Keita's assailants. A brilliant Sonic Leap knocked one Fallen Knight clear off his feet, and before the second could fully shift his attention away from Keita, a sword traced three slashes like a numeral four across his backplate.

A Savage Fulcrum, Kizmel realized. That's—

A half-sob, half-scream tore from Sachi's throat again, and she followed up with the forehand, spinning backhand, and second forehand of a Sharp Nail that flung the Fallen at the wall. He shattered into fragments before he ever reached it; his companion regained his feet then, but Sachi took his furious Slant on her shield and didn't even flinch. She simply waited the breath for the backlash of her last attack to fully release her, and tore into the Knight with screaming fury.

Her techniques, higher-level than any she'd demonstrated in training with her guildmates, showed none of the hesitation that had always been there before. Sachi was gripped by rage and grief, but her movements were smooth, precise—and powerful.

But she can't do it alone, Kizmel thought grimly. "Kirito, I leave this to you!" she called. Even as her partner nodded, she pulled back from The Commandant and lunged for the first of the four Fallen Knights that remained between her and Sachi.

Between the two of us, however…

A chaotic swirl of blades, unlike anything Kizmel had known since the assault that finally toppled the Fallen Elves' war effort. It began as four on one, but Kizmel didn't care; even when Fallen scimitars got past her guard and inflicted shallow cuts, she ignored the defense completely, intent only on destroying her foes.

Here, a Sword Skill. There, a blow powered only by her own strength, lacking the overwhelming force or speed of the charmed techniques but also not hindered by their recovery time. She buried steel in the chest of the first of the quartet, kicked his shattering body away contemptuously, and lopped the arm off the next in one smooth motion.

She would kill them, for what they'd done today. Not one Fallen Elf would she allow to leave this obsidian fortress alive.

Two Kizmel cut down, then a third; then the last staggered as he was struck from behind. Sachi had finished the last threatening Keita, and assaulted the only survivor; with her new-found skill and confidence, Kizmel left it in the young girl's hands, and turned back to The Commandant.

Somehow, impossibly, Kirito must've been keeping track, because as he finished the Vertical Arc he'd just carved into the masked swordsman he shouted, "Switch!"

She was there in an instant, driving The Commandant back with heavy slash across the chest. His impossibly durable armor held, though, and he struck a Horizontal against her in turn—and then Kirito was slamming a boot into his chin in a Crescent Moon.

The Commandant was strong, but he was only one swordsman, of a stature much like Kirito and Kizmel. And strong as he was, he was weaker than the foes they had encountered on higher floors; he simply could not match the strength they'd built up against those opponents, and his sword was sorely hampered by their armor.

For a short time, they battered The Commandant, timing their skills to cover each other's moments of weakness, and at length Kirito gasped out, "Just—a little—more—!"

At that moment, The Commandant abruptly pulled back, just a little, and wrenched his sword around in a complete, azure-edged circle. A Serration Wave, Kizmel realized—not enough to do more than scratch warriors such as they, but its real purpose was the wave of air pressure that forced them both back.

Maybe it was meant to give The Commandant another chance at taking their heads. Perhaps he intended to take the brief opening to try and slay Keita, a last spiteful revenge before his inevitable death. Kizmel would never know, because the gap created by the Serration Wave was filled by a speeding figure, sword glowing blue. A Sonic Leap came down and carved into The Commandant's shoulder, staggering him again.

Before he could recover, Kirito's left hand flew forward, glowing in the simple Embracer skill. Flattened into a knife edge, it struck with enough force to finally shatter The Commandant's armor, sending him stumbling still further.

Into that last opening, Sachi lunged forward, shouted wordlessly, and snapped her sword to one side and back in a perfect Snake Bite. A blow that could've shattered a sword bit twice into The Commandant's neck, and his head flew free; it and the rest of his body dropped to the floor, twitched, and broke into a thousand tumbling, glittering shards.

Silence fell.

---

There was a huge [Congratulations!] notice hanging in the air now, confirming that The Commandant and his subordinates had indeed been considered a boss fight. Kirito only barely noticed. He felt numb, empty in a way even the battle with The Adamantine Arachnid hadn't left him.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. They'd come so far, accomplished so much; now, nothing remained to mark the efforts of three players who had tried so hard. Aincrad's nature meant not even bodies remained to mark their passing.

This wasn't even like a floor boss, Kirito thought, sword slipping unnoticed from his fingers. Everybody goes into those knowing what the risks are, being ready for them. This… this was…

He could hear ragged breathing not far away. Sachi, the one he'd been most frightened for, had pulled herself together at the last moment; now, having gotten the Last Attack on The Commandant, she'd fallen to her knees, seeming oblivious to her surroundings. Kizmel, he noticed distantly, had gone silently to her side.

Kirito was never sure how long that silence lasted, disturbed only by Sachi's heavy breath. He only knew that, at length, there was a scraping sound of boots on stone, and then, "Why?!"

Against his will, he turned to see Keita standing up, eyes red and watery as SAO faithfully expressed his anguish. The guildmaster was trembling, hands curled into fists, and his hard stare demanded answers. Answers that Kirito didn't have, couldn't give him, no matter how badly he wanted to.

Keita's face darkened further at Kirito's silence, and he took a slow step forward. "Answer me, dammit! What the hell happened here?! This isn't what the guide said it was going to be! There wasn't supposed to be a damned boss here! You… you told me the Rat's information was always good, so what the hell happened?!"

Kirito couldn't meet his gaze. "…I don't know," he whispered, knowing even as he spoke that it wasn't close to an acceptable answer.

"Like hell you don't!" Keita took another step, face flushing red with fury and grief. "That… that thing knew you! It killed my friends to get back at you! Is… is that why you did this? Did you know about this, and trick us into coming here as… as cannon fodder?!"

There was no point, Kirito thought dully, in pointing out that he'd tried to get them to put more stock in the Village Chief's warning. After all, even he hadn't worried enough to really push the issue, had he?

"That's… that's not true," he got out, even knowing it would fall on deaf ears.

"Liar! You and the Rat… you really are Beaters! If you weren't—if you weren't, Sasamaru, at least, wouldn't be dead!" Keita gestured angrily at Kizmel, who still hadn't said a word. "If you really gave a damn about anyone but yourself, you wouldn't have picked a damned NPC over a player!"

Kirito flinched. There was absolutely nothing he could say to that, and he knew it. He'd been too far from Ducker and Tetsuo, too busy trying to make sure The Commandant didn't just overwhelm them all—but he had had a choice when Sasamaru was attacked that last time. It was a choice he hadn't even thought about at the time. In that instant, it had been his reflex to save Kizmel—save his partner.

"You bastard," Keita spat, when Kirito said nothing. One more step, and he was right in the Black Swordsman's face. "You selfish, miserable…" Words seemed to fail him then, and the next thing Kirito heard was the sound of Keita's fist impacting on his own jaw.

Being in the same party kept the blow from doing any actual damage—keeping Keita's cursor from going orange from the attack—but it still dropped him to the floor. From the look on Keita's face, the Black Cat didn't consider that enough; for a second, Kirito thought the other player would actually go for his weapon to finish the job.

"You should've been the one to die," Keita said, voice dropping to an anguished whisper. "You led us here, you let Sasamaru die for that thing—"

Kirito could voice no denial. To his surprise, though, someone else did. "She's his friend!" Sachi yelled, suddenly on her feet. "Of course he picked her!"

Keita stared at her, incredulous. "His friend?" he repeated, visibly shocked. "Sachi—she's not even real! None of this is real! The only kind of person who'd pick a program over a human is some crazy beta who either lost his mind or wanted all the loot—"

Two long strides, and this time it was Sachi's fist meeting Keita's face. "It's real enough to kill us," she said, tears running down her face. "It wasn't Kirito who brought us here, Keita—we brought them along. All along… all along, he and Kizmel have tried to tell us not to get ahead of ourselves, but we kept pushing!"

It took Keita a second to find his voice, stunned as he was. "We… dammit, Sachi, this is why we were trying! Because we thought we could make a difference! If we'd known that this bastard was just like the rest of the Beaters—"

"Stop saying that!" Sachi glared at him through her tears. "Beaters?! Keita, I was in the beta test, too!"

"Wha…?"

"I didn't say anything… I felt guilty that I got in and you guys didn't, and then when we all got the full version, I didn't think it mattered anymore. But I did. I wasn't very good at it," she continued bitterly, "but I was there. I got far enough to know Kirito's been telling the truth about how much things changed. I know—because I thought things were the same, and my friend died because of it."

Kirito drew in a sharp breath. Suddenly, a few things that had puzzled him made sense. How Sachi seemed to know just that much more about how to fight than her friends—and why she always seemed so much more cautious than even Keita.

"You remember Sumika, don't you?" Sachi continued, swallowing hard. "She and I went on quests together while the rest of you were still hiding in the first town, using what I remembered from the beta to get by. Except… except we finally ran into something that wasn't the same, and Sumika died." She wiped at her eyes, which were redder even than Keita's now. "So I know what the 'Beaters' have really been facing, Keita. Maybe some of them are that bad—but Argo and Kirito aren't."

Keita stared at her for a long moment. The fight seemed to have drained out of him entirely; now he looked broken, exhausted and anguished. For a whole minute, there was only silence again.

Finally, the guildmaster looked away. "…It doesn't matter anymore, anyway," he whispered. "Ducker, Tetsuo, Sasamaru… we can't keep going without them. Joining the clearers… that was nothing but a stupid dream, and we paid for it. Let's… let's just go back, leave the fighting to… them. There's… nothing more we can do…"

Kirito was more than a little surprised when Sachi took a long breath, and firmly shook her head. "I can't do that," she said softly. "If I hide again… I might as well die. I've been out training every night for weeks now, trying to be strong enough not to let anyone die again. If I stop now… none of this will have meant anything."

The guildmaster of what had been the Black Cats just looked at her, looking utterly broken; Kirito thought he didn't have anything left to even by surprised by Sachi's decision, now. "…Do what you want. I… I can't… do this… anymore… If you need me, you'll know where to find me…" His hand fumbled at a belt pouch, and came out with a bright blue crystal. "Teleport: City of Beginnings."

With the battle over, apparently the game considered the trap to be destroyed, as well. Blue light flashed in a sphere around Keita, and he was gone.

Only then did Kizmel quietly walk over and rest an arm on Sachi's shoulders. "You could've gone with him, Sachi," she said softly.

"No," the other girl whispered. "No, I couldn't… Not this time. I can't just run away again. If I do… my friends will have died for nothing." She swallowed. "But… I don't know what to do now. I'm not ready for the frontlines, I know that. I need… something else."

In that room of horror, Kirito couldn't help but admire Sachi's courage. If he'd lost as many friends as she had, especially all at once like this, he was sure he'd have run away, like Keita. The strength it must've taken to go on, in the face of that…

I… have to do something. Whatever Sachi says, Keita wasn't all wrong, either. I have to try and do something to make up for this… however pathetic it might be. It was his turn to swallow now, unnoticed by either girl. Well… here's hoping he doesn't hate me.

"I've got an idea," Kirito said aloud, reaching up with a shaking hand to open his menu. "I… know someone who might be able to help you, Sachi. Let's get back to town, and then I need to send a couple of messages…"

---

Kizmel didn't know who, exactly, her partner had decided to contact. One of them, she was fairly sure, was Argo—if anyone knew what had gone wrong, it would be the information broker—but all she knew about the other was that a reply had come quickly enough to surprise Kirito, and then he'd led them not just back to Corineth but to the town's teleport gate.

The Seventeenth Floor wasn't one she'd spent much time on. It had been cleared by the time she made her way up to rejoin Kirito, and their expeditions with the Black Cats had mostly skipped it. Even so, Kizmel had always wanted to see more of it, after Kirito mentioned offhand that its architecture was much like that of his own ancestral land.

This time, she hoped, they might have time to take a closer look at the pagodas of Taira, when their business was finished. For now, though, she and Sachi simply followed in Kirito's wake as he led them through the town's streets according to directions he'd received from his contact.

At length, they came to a halt in front of a building of the same style as the high-tiered fortress that dominated one end of Taira, albeit on a much smaller scale. Looking anxious, Kirito hesitantly lifted one hand and knocked at the front door.

It opened at once, revealing a man Kizmel could only describe as "scruffy", to borrow an expression from Argo. Wild red hair kept in check by a bandana, a shadow of a goatee, red armor of a style that somehow reminded her of the buildings around them, and a katana at his waist; if she hadn't known better, she might've taken him for a mountain bandit.

The way the man's face lit up at the sight of his visitor dispelled that idea in an instant. "Oi, Kirito! Long time no see! C'mon, get in here!" He didn't give the young Swordmaster time to reply before grabbing him by the arm and hauling him bodily into the building.

"H-hey, take it easy, Klein," Kirito protested.

"Heh. First time I hear a word from you in months, and you think I'm gonna take it easy?" The redhead shook his head, grinning, then sobered. "Sorry. Your message said you had something serious to ask me. Got anything to do with your friends…?"

Kizmel wasn't surprised by his reaction, once he'd caught sight of her. Clearers were used to her by now; Swordmasters farther from the frontlines tended to react more like the Black Cats originally had. Or worse, she thought sadly, remembering Keita's spiteful words. Though I suppose it is hard to blame him for being angry that Kirito would save me over another human… But why did he say I'm "not real"? Did the loss truly harm his mind that badly…?

The older Swordmaster's actions, when he snapped out of his initial surprise, startled her out of her brooding. He abruptly snapped to a position of attention, then bowed with truly awe-inspiring precision. "Excuse me, My Lady! My name is Klein, twenty-three years old, currently single—Oof!"

He stumbled back, almost falling over, from the force of Kirito's punch to his shoulder. "This isn't the time for that, Klein," he said; despite his rebuke, though, Kirito actually seemed to loosen up a little, and when he turned back to his companions it was with an expression of resigned tolerance. "Sachi, Kizmel, this is Klein, guildmaster of Fuurinkazan. He may look scruffy, but you can count on him."

Klein straightened up, rubbing his abused shoulder, but he grinned gamely. "Yeah, what he said. Uh… nice to meet you guys."

"Um, likewise, Klein," Sachi said softly, bobbing her head in a nod.

"A pleasure, Guildmaster Klein." Kizmel paused; then, unable to resist, added, "But I'm afraid your implied request would require my Queen's permission."

The guildmaster blinked, seemed to notice only then that she wasn't human, and then glanced at Sachi's subdued face. "Okay," he said after a moment. "I can see something big happened. 'Sides, Argo got here before you did, and I've never seen the Rat look that ready to go orange before. Why don't you guys tell me all about it?"

---

Ten minutes later, they were gathered around a low table within Fuurinkazan's guildhall. Argo had been waiting for them, looking angrier than Kizmel had ever seen, and the rest of Klein's guild looked just as furious by the end of it.

"Damn," Klein said softly, when Kirito had finished outlining the day's horrible events. "That's just… Who the hell expects a boss at the end of something like that?" He looked over at Argo, who was pacing restlessly. "You got any idea what went wrong?"

"Damn right," the Rat spat, coming to an abrupt halt. "Kii-bou, I checked into it the minute I got your message. I got sold bad info, and I don't let that slide. Even if you weren't friends of mine." Her fists were clenched so tight that were it not for the charm protecting Swordmasters from harm within their settlements, Kizmel feared she would've hurt herself. "This wasn't just 'bad' info, either. This was a straight-up lie. The son of a bitch was trying to get people killed."

"This… was on purpose?" Sachi whispered, blinking back fresh tears.

"You're sure?" Kirito said sharply. "I know MPKs have been tried before, but—"

"Pretty sure," Argo said grimly. "Knew I shoulda been suspicious when Joe, of all people—you remember him, right? One of Cactus-head's lackeys?—starting coming up with new info, but everything before this checked out fine. This time…" She hissed, sounding more like an angry cat than her namesake. "I tried to 'ask' him about it when I got your message, and you know what I found? He's gone. Took off this morning, nobody's seen him since. An' believe me, our old 'buddy' Kibaou is about ready to go orange himself. Cactus-head hates your guts, Kii-bou, but this was just the kind of thing he gets on 'Beaters' for."

Kizmel found herself nodding. Kibaou, from what she remembered, was an unpleasant individual, but hypocrisy didn't seem to be one of his vices. At least, not the kind that made him anything like the one group he most despised.

Argo spun on her heel, stalked angrily to the other side of the room, and stopped again. "One thing's for sure—I'm gonna be a hell of a lot more careful about my sources from now on. That somebody used me to get people killed—" Abruptly, the anger seemed to drain out of her, and she turned back to the group with a pained expression. "Kii-bou, Kii-chan, Sacchin… I'm sorry. I screwed up."

Kirito looked away, unable to speak; Sachi, though, managed to meet Argo's eyes. "It's not your fault, Argo-san," she said softly. "I… don't know if Keita will ever see that, but I do. Especially if someone else set you up."

"I still let myself get tricked in the first place." Argo huffed. "I can't fix what happened, but I'm gonna make damn sure it doesn't happen again. And I'm gonna find out who put Joe up to this; I don't think that screaming ninny had it in him to come up with something like this himself."

Thinking on that for a moment, Kizmel was inclined to agree. She hadn't seen Joe much, but she did remember him as being rather high-strung. Enough so to irritate even Kibaou, as I recall.

"I'd try and find out more about Morte, if I were you," Kirito put in. "This really sounds like his handiwork. Just… be careful, okay, Argo?"

"Always am, Kii-bou." Argo tilted her head. "So. What're you guys gonna do now? Must be some reason you wanted Klein in on this."

"Right." Kirito took a deep breath, turning his attention to the guildmaster. "Klein, I know it's selfish of me to ask, after what happened back on the first day…"

"Shut up, Kirito," Klein said, surprising Kizmel by glaring at her partner. "Are you seriously still beating yourself up about that? I told you back then: it wouldn't have been fair for me to count on you all the time. You taught me the basics, and it got me—and my buddies—this far just fine." His expression and tone both softened. "You don't have a damn thing to be sorry about. So c'mon, tell me what you need."

Kizmel thought for a second that Kirito's eyes had misted up, just a little; if so, though, he blinked them clear in a hurry. "If you say so, Klein… Anyway. Keita went back to the City of Beginnings, after the battle, so… the Black Cats really don't exist anymore. I was wondering if maybe you could pick up where we left off, training Sachi…?"

If Klein was at all surprised by that, it didn't give him much pause. He turned to look at Sachi, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Kizmel's mental image of him as a mountain bandit was broken by the sympathy in his eyes as he evaluated the lost young girl, suddenly looking more like a true leader than any human Swordmaster she'd yet met.

"Hell of thing you went through today, Sachi-san," he said after a moment. "I've lost a couple of friends myself since Kayaba turned this place into a death trap, but never anything like that. You sure you're ready to keep going?"

Sachi swallowed, but met his gaze levelly. "I… I am. If I don't keep going, either I'll die, or I'll go and hide somewhere and never come back out. Maybe not even when we finally clear this place."

Klein looked at her a moment longer, then looked up at his guildmates. "Guys? What do you think?"

A tall, mustachioed man with a bandana covering most of the top of his head shrugged. "More the merrier, Leader. Helping out a girl in trouble's right up our alley anyway, right?"

His fellows nodded, and Klein turned back to Sachi. "Okay, Sachi-san, you're in. Welcome to Fuurinkazan. But," he added, raising one finger, "you're not going anywhere for a couple of days, at least. I get what you mean about running away, but I'm not letting you back into a fight until you've had time to rest, got it?"

Sachi nodded. "I understand," she whispered. "And… thank you, Guildmaster."

"Just call me Klein." He waved a hand, then turned back to Kirito. "Speaking of rest. You and Kizmel-san are staying here tonight, too. Don't even try to argue," he said, when Kirito opened his mouth. "You're staying here, or I pay Argo to do something. If you've been hanging around with a girl since I last saw you, I'm sure she's got blackmail material."

"…You fight dirty, Klein," Kirito complained.

"Like I'd win any other way? You taught me everything I know about this game." Klein gestured toward a doorway leading farther into the guildhall. "Go on, get some rest. Let other people worry about things for a while."

---

Kirito wasn't prepared to admit it, but as he walked into the unused bedroom Klein had directed him to, he was actually grateful for the demand that he stay the night. The last thing in the world that he wanted to do was go back to the inn the Moonlit Black Cats had been using as a base, and it was by now far too late to go looking for another.

After everything, all he wanted to do was rest, and try to forget, if only for a little while, the enormity of his failure.

Argo says it's not my fault. Klein says it's not my fault. Sachi says it isn't. Kirito stowed his sword, coat, boots, and gloves in his inventory, then flung himself down on one of the futons the Sengoku-themed guildhall used for bedding. Give me a few months, and maybe I'll even start to believe it. Maybe.

Though the knowledge that they'd been set up did assuage his guilt some. Of course, at the same time it made him feel more guilty, for giving him a reason to feel better about himself.

Lying on his side, facing away from the door, he didn't see when Kizmel came in, but he heard her well enough. Heard the distinctive tinkling sound as her armor was banished in whatever arcane way the Dark Elves stored their equipment, and then a faint rustling of cloth from her settling into the futon next to him.

Kirito tried to pretend he was already asleep, dreading what his partner might say to him now that they were finally alone, but she'd been with him too long. She knew his habits fully as well as Asuna had come to, by now. "Kirito," she said softly. "We need to talk."

"…Yeah." He didn't know what she was going to say, exactly, but her relative silence since the defeat of The Commandant had struck him as very, very ominous; and much as he wanted to, there really was nothing good to come from postponing whatever this conversation would be.

For a long moment, she said no more, as if trying to put her thoughts into words. Then, finally, Kizmel said, "Keita said… that I wasn't 'real'. And Guildmaster Klein… he called this a 'game'. All along, I've heard Swordmasters refer to themselves as 'players', but I thought there must have been some meaning in your language that I didn't understand. Yet now…"

He closed his eyes, wincing. That was a question he'd known for months now was going to come up sooner or later, ever since it became plain just how intelligent Kizmel really was. At the same time, he'd been trying to put it off—at first because he'd been deathly afraid of what reaction her program might have to it, and then because he couldn't think of any way to really answer it that she could even understand, given her worldview.

No, Kirito told himself. That's not the real reason. The real reason is… I've been afraid she'd hate me for it. …I still am.

That didn't make the other point any less valid, though. How could he explain that she only existed inside a dreamworld, seemingly the only "real" person out of the thousands of NPCs and mobs? If someone had told him he was only a program, he wouldn't believe it either, and he at least had the right frame of reference to grasp the concept.

No, I can't explain that. Especially since even I don't know why she is different from all the others. But… maybe I can explain about us, a little. I just hope… she doesn't hate us for it.

Maybe Kizmel had some idea of just what a difficult question she'd asked, because she waited patiently for him to think of a way to phrase it in a way she'd understand. Finally, he said, very quietly and hesitantly, "…It wasn't supposed to be real. None of it was."

She made a thoughtful sound. "Sachi once told me you were expecting it to be almost like a game, that you had been told you'd simply awaken in your own world if you died here…"

"No." The word was a whisper, forced out past a lump in Kirito's throat. "It wasn't supposed to be 'almost' like a game, Kizmel. It was a game. That's how Kayaba sold it. It was supposed to be… the closest way I can think of to say it that you'd understand is like a lucid dream. It was just going to be the most lifelike game ever."

There was a long silence from behind him. Then, "So… when you refer to yourselves as players…"

"Yeah. That's all we really are, Kizmel. We came here to play a game, and got stuck fighting for our lives." He sighed. "It's still hard for a lot of us to accept, even now. That we're being killed by a game. Some people still don't believe it."

"Like Keita."

Kirito shook his head. "Not… exactly. It's…" He trailed off, and made a frustrated sound. "I'm sorry, Kizmel, I really don't know how to explain a lot of this. But… it's one thing to accept we can die here, and another to really think of Aincrad as 'real'. …Or the people in it as real." He hesitated. "…Honestly, I used to feel the same way. Until I met you, Kizmel."

That was a hard admission to make. Very hard. He didn't have the least idea how she'd take it, but he'd realized now that if they were going to continue as partners, he had to admit his own uncertainty—and that it had once nearly led him to let her die.

As he had let her die, three times, in the beta.

For a time, all he heard was the sound of his partner breathing. At length, she asked, very softly, "So what do you think of this world now, Kirito? Of its people? Are we… 'real'? Is Aincrad 'real' to you?"

"You are," Kirito said immediately. His lingering questions about her aside, it was impossible for him now to think of her as anything but a person, whether he understood how it was possible or not. "Otherwise… Truth is, I'm not sure what's going on, Kizmel. I thought I knew, but some things just don't make sense… So ever since I met you, I've treated this world just like I would my own."

After another long, tense pause, Kizmel said, voice still soft, "Kirito… your people aren't fighters at all, are they? The Swordmasters… If you were expecting an actual game, then training in real war was not in the summoning criteria at all, was it?"

"…No," he admitted. "I'm sure there's some people here that actually had military training in our world, but most of us? Kids having fun, like the Black Cats, were most of the people who got caught in this."

"And you?"

Kirito laughed; a bitter, humorless sound. "Me? I'm a school kid, Kizmel. The closest I came to knowing how to fight was a little kendo practice—wooden swords—when I was little. Not even kenjutsu; kendo's just for sport. Everything I know about really fighting, I learned here." He snorted, a sound of self-reproach. "That's why… I've always avoided guilds. Why I was always afraid, working with the Black Cats. It's… why I left Klein to fend for himself, the day we came here. I've got no business being responsible for other people…"

It actually felt kind of good, saying it out loud at last. Admitting just how insane it was for him to get involved with anyone else. After all, the deaths of Ducker, Tetsuo, and Sasamaru had only proven it. Maybe they'd all been tricked, but they never would've been in that position if he hadn't gotten involved, lifting them to heights they couldn't handle.

Of course, now Kizmel knows just what kind of a fraud she's been working with, he thought, gloom overtaking the selfish relief. Just a pretend hero; nothing like a proper knight—

Kirito heard another rustle of cloth, and was startled to feel arms slipping around him, warm softness pressing against his back. "You're very brave, Kirito," Kizmel whispered.

"B-brave?" he stuttered, caught off-balance both by her words and the feel of her breath on his neck. "Me?"

"You came to this world believing it to be nothing more than a game, with no training for battle. Yet you not only persevered, but you've always been right at the front this whole time, Kirito. Had you not told me, I would never have even suspected you were anything less than a warrior from a long lineage."

He started to shake his head in denial; stopped when he realized the effect it had on the body pressed against his. "I left Klein behind, when I could've helped him. Today, I… I couldn't save Tetsuo, or Ducker. And when I could have saved Sasamaru, I…"

"No one expects you to bear responsibility for everyone, Kirito," Kizmel told him gently. "Klein said as much himself, didn't he? And for all those you may not have saved, how many more have lived because of your efforts? As for saving me…" It was her turn to hesitate. "…I will always feel some guilt myself, for that choice having been made. But, Kirito… it means a great deal to me, that you would make such a choice."

"But… how can I face anyone else from my world, after that? I mean… whatever I may believe about you, almost nobody else does think you're really 'real', Kizmel, and I… don't know how I could even tell them they're wrong."

Her response was to pull herself closer against him, causing his face to turn a bright red he was sure could be seen even in the dark. "I cannot answer your existential questions, Kirito, or theirs. But I can say that, as far as I'm concerned, no one has any right to question your choices, when you've done so much, despite being so ill-prepared."

"…I still couldn't save the Black Cats," Kirito whispered, closing his eyes. Despite his protest, she had eased his mind—and part of him hated himself for it.

"Neither could I," Kizmel pointed out simply. "Do not believe that I will sleep easily tonight either, Kirito. Whether the responsibility was truly yours or mine, we still failed, and it hurts me as much as it does you. But nothing we do now will bring them back. All we can do is push forward—and free all of you to return to your homeland." She shifted against him, the feel of her body against his enough to make him fear spontaneous combustion from sheer embarrassment. "For now… like Klein said, sleep, Kirito. I will be here with you."

Sleeping sounded easier said than done, to him, especially in their compromising position. Even so, despite his fears of Argo wandering in and obtaining her best blackmail material yet, the stress of the day was catching up to him; gradually, Kirito started to slip into the temporary reprieve of darkness.

Just before he dozed off entirely, though, he thought he heard Kizmel say something else. He couldn't quite make it out, though, and he decided muzzily that it couldn't be important.

"...See it… with you…"

---

Klein knew he didn't always come across as the most reliable guy around. Actually, he was perfectly well aware that a lot of people, his own guildmates included, considered him to be pretty goofy, a lot of the time. And, if he was going to be perfectly honest—to himself, anyway—he couldn't really deny it.

Even so, there was a reason that, ten months into the death game, Fuurinkazan hadn't lost even a single member. He took his responsibilities as a guildmaster damned seriously, and the first thing he did after completing the formalities of registering Sachi with Fuurinkazan was buy every bit of information about the Black Cats that Argo had. Rat-like prices be damned.

While he was looking over the surprising wealth of information the Rat had on such a small, low-level guild, Klein took the time to look in on his newest recruit and his guests. All things considered, he wasn't surprised that Sachi stayed up a little later than was really wise—nor, from what Argo said, that she ended up in the same room as the guests.

Looking over the sleeping young warriors, Klein slowly shook his head. "They've had a hell of time, haven't they?" he muttered to Argo, who'd followed him as he did his rounds.

"Yep," she agreed, for once not a trace of trolling in her voice. "Most of the Black Cats were pretty sheltered, right up until today. Sacchin, though… she knew something like this could happen. And Kii-bou… You talked to him much since launch day?"

"He'd answer if I had a question. Or if I got fed up waiting and asked him if he was okay. But today was the first time he sent me a message on his own." Klein grimaced. "I've heard rumors, though. The 'Beater', huh?"

"Kii-bou saved a lot of lives with that stunt, Klein. Probably the only reason it didn't kill him was because everybody knew we needed him." Argo took a near-silent step forward, knelt, and gently drew a blanket over her sleeping friends; right now, her demeanor was entirely at odds with her reputation. "It ain't all been bad, Klein… but he's always been right at the front. Some of the other clearers think he goes for the LA all the time 'cause he wants loot. You and I know better."

Klein nodded. Kirito had made a powerful first impression, that day. He'd taught Klein the essential basics of SAO, and tried to get him clear of the chaos when Kayaba revealed his crazy plan. He'd run away, sure, but Klein knew damn well that it wasn't greed, but raw terror that drove him.

If his young friend had ever run away since, Klein hadn't heard a whisper about it.

"So," he said, when Argo had pulled back from the sleeping pair. "An MPK, huh? Pretty bold, using you to bait the trap."

"Joe will pay for that," she said, voice low and dangerous. "I may be a Rat, but I ain't a murderer. I'm gonna find him, and whoever put him up to it, and they're gonna pay. Maybe I can't fight 'em head-on, but they're gonna find out why you don't make an info broker mad."

Klein believed her. There were a lot of people in Aincrad who didn't like Argo the Rat, but there were damn few who didn't take her seriously these days; making an enemy of the single biggest—and most reliable—source of information in the game wasn't smart. She had a long reach, if she wanted to use it.

Argo took a noticeable deep breath, and when she spoke again, she was calmer, if no less firm. "You'd better take care of Sacchin, Klein," she said, gazing sadly on the girl; from the pinched look on her face, and her fitful movements, Sachi's sleep was anything but peaceful. "I don't know her that well, but she's been through hell."

"You've got my word on it," Klein said sincerely. "I won't let anybody in my guild die, Argo. You know that." His gaze drifted to the other sleepers, and he found himself shaking his head in bemusement. "Those two, now… That's the weirdest thing I've seen since all this started."

Death if HP hit zero, no way to log out, monsters of every shape and form that turned out to be a lot scarier when there wasn't a computer monitor between you and them… He'd dealt with all of that. Human jackasses screwing things up for the hell of it, well, he'd been playing MMOs long enough to know griefers all too well, even if he couldn't understand how people could be insane enough to keep doing that under these conditions.

Even the rumors of MPKs he'd been hearing about lately, Klein wasn't really shocked by. Worried, furious, uncomprehending—but not shocked.

The obviously-NPC elf girl currently curled up against Kirito's back, that confused the hell out of him. He'd worked with NPCs a few times in specific quests, but they all had very obvious patterns, and clear limits as to where they could go. A Dark Elf with a cursor dark enough to make him more than a little nervous following a player through town and dungeon both?

To say nothing of how she'd behaved in the short time Klein had been around her, which from Argo's blackmail files was only the tip of the iceberg.

"…You think she's real?" he asked after a minute or so of silence. "I mean… she's an NPC, but the way she talks…"

"I don't know," Argo said frankly, shaking her head. "Kii-bou and Aa-chan do, though. And it's true I've never seen an NPC who came that close to me at trolling…" She shrugged. "I don't know. It's crazy, really, but the truth is I've never seen an NPC at all like Kii-chan.

"Either way, Kii-bou and Aa-chan think Kii-chan's a person, and I owe 'em both. 'Specially Kii-bou." Argo watched the sleeping partners, an unusually gentle smile on her face. "Think maybe I'm gonna do my best to help 'em out. 'Least I can do for them, dontcha' think?"

---

Author's Note:

---

All I have to save about the delay is, before we try terraforming Mars, we should test it out on Florida. If this giant hothouse can be made habitable, forget Mars; we'll be able to colonize Venus, like in the old SF stories.

…Ahem. So. Finally, the plot that was intended to be contained solely in Chapter Two is finished. No more babysitting, and hopefully not so much angst for a little while. And, better yet, back on track with the actual freakin' point of the fic; I did not intend for the doomed saga of the Black Cats to so thoroughly eclipse the exploration of Kizmel's character.

I confess to being a little iffy on the pacing here, especially immediately after the boss battle; I'm trying to correct my very skewed "brevity-clarity" ratio—if there's one problem I know I have, it's excessive verbosity—but I suspect I may have gone too far in the other direction. I'd appreciate feedback on that point.

Next chapter is planned to cover an entire "arc" by itself. Whether I will actually succeed in keeping it that compact, of course, is another question entirely. Regardless of length, however, it will be focused on the actual central theme of the fic, with a dash of foreshadowing of other subplots.

Not going to spoil things, but the arc title this time will be "Minuet of Forest". I suspect the source material I'm not-quite-directly ripping off this time will be more recognizable than in Chapter Two (speaking of, did anyone recognize what semi-obscure game I was basing those quests on?).

…Hm. Think that covers things for now. I hope finally concluding the Black Cat arc fatigue was worth the wait; if so, and if not, let me know. -Solid