Among the many players in CNO, there are some who act as what are known as info brokers. They earn money buying and selling information. This can range from the latest gossip, to guides for quests and bosses. Among these info brokers however, there is one who can be considered the best in the business. If there's anything you want to know about CNO, come to the Lepus Information Agency. If you've got the bits, I've got the time. But of course, you probably already knew I was the best. Why else would you be reading this guide after all?

-Lepus Guide to CNO: Lepus Information Agency

The ceiling of my room slowly came into view as I logged out and opened my eyes. I sat up from my bed and slipped the AmuSphere off my head. It was rather dark in my room due to the lights being off and the curtains closed. I couldn't even bring myself to laugh about how the room's dimness perfectly reflected my own mood currently.

I wanted to chuck the AmuSphere in frustration, but thankfully I managed to hold myself back from breaking the extremely expensive device and instead set it aside next to my bed. Letting out a frustrated groan, I fell back onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling.

There was so much I didn't understand. I got the basic gist of the situation - or at least I thought I did. Sparrow Wing was blackmailing Violet in some way, forcing her to cut ties with me. And the members of this crappy new guild of scumbags seemed just as eager to keep the two of us separated as Violet was, if not moreso.

The part that I couldn't figure out for the life of me was why.

This couldn't just be about me having the Ultra Core. Even if they threatened to keep sending PKers after Violet and I, that was a mild inconvenience at worst. She would never give into simple threats like that, nor would she think I needed her to. And why go to all this trouble in the first place if they were willing to settle for Violet simply joining their guild? Sure, she was a good player, but she wasn't good to the point that someone would realistically pick her over the Ultra Core.

There was also the matter of Sparrow Wing themselves. While my first impression of Tanba was a hardheaded nuisance that couldn't take a joke to save his life, Elisse didn't strike me as the malevolent type to manipulate another player into joining her guild.

"And what exactly is she to you?"

"A friend."

If Elisse was lying, then she should probably quit gaming and take up acting. If she really was telling the truth, then Violet and Sparrow Wing had some sort of connection prior to this. But what?

I was trying to put together a puzzle when I only had half the pieces of it. And given that Violet wasn't talking to me, and Sparrow Wing and I weren't exactly best friends, I had no way of getting more.

I couldn't help Violet. And that feeling of helplessness was something I hated.

After playing CNO for more than half a year, I thought I had become stronger in some sense. But clearly that had been nothing more than an illusion. Nothing had changed from seven years ago in that incident with the plane. I was still the same weak kid from back then. If I was too traumatized to fly even in a video game, then what made me think I was strong enough to help Violet?

What a joke.

I wasn't sure how much time passed as I laid in bed. But eventually I heard a knock at my bedroom door, followed by my sister Akari walking in. "Hey bro, are you still on that- oh good, you're not."

I rolled over on my bed, keeping my back to my sister. "What do you want, Akari?"

"Well hello to you too, grumpy pants." Akari commented. "Keep up the attitude and maybe I'll eat your portion for dinner."

"Go ahead. I'm not hungry anyway."

Akari's next words lacked her usual sass and instead leaned towards concern. "Are you alright, Takeshi? You're not coming down with anything, are you?"

"It's nothing. Just leave me alone."

"Oh no. You're not brushing me off that easily." Akari said, her voice getting closer. "You're on that virtual game thing all the time. It'd be no wonder if you caught some-" She grabbed my shoulder and turned me over, but her voice fell silent after that. She looked at me with a sudden worried expression. "What's wrong?"

Had she seen through me that easily? Was the hurt on my face that obvious? I hadn't thought I was showing it that much. Suddenly though, a wet sensation hit my ears and made it clear how Akari had figured me out so quickly. Tears were rolling down my face. I had just been too preoccupied with my self pity to notice.

I quickly tried to dry my eyes. "It's nothing."

Akari walked back towards the door. But instead of leaving, she closed it and came back to my bed, taking a seat on it. "Tell me what's wrong."

"I told you it's nothing."

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't be looking like that right now." Akari said. "I promise to keep it between us if it's something you don't want to tell mom and dad. But something's clearly bothering you, and you need to talk about it."

Akari's nurturing side where she acted like a second mother was annoying sometimes, but I had to admit having her in my corner did help me feel better in moments like this. Besides, she was way too stubborn to leave when she wasn't wanted. So with no other option, I decided to open up to her about what had happened with Violet.

I did my best to keep the gamer terminology to a minimum throughout the explanation. Some of it probably went over Akari's head, but she seemed to understand the gist of it as she quietly listened to all that had happened. Violet suddenly breaking off all contact with me. Her mysterious decision to join Sparrow Wing out of the blue. How helpless I felt in wanting to help Violet and figure out what was going on. Throughout it all, Akari listened attentively, only interjecting in brief moments when she needed clarity on something. And if I was being honest, it felt really good to let all this pent up frustration out and talk to somebody about it. Even if that somebody was my nosy older sister.

When I finally finished explaining everything, Akari gently patted my head. "Seems like you really care for this Violet girl a lot."

"Well yeah. She's always had my back when I needed her. It'd feel wrong to just abandon her like this."

I thought I noticed Akari crack a grin for the briefest of moments, but it went back to before in an instant. Had I simply imagined it? Whatever, it wasn't important.

Akari got off my bed and stood back up. "In that case, you should already know what you have to do. Stop wallowing in despair and go help her."

"How though? I know I need to help her. But I don't know what I can do."

"That's something only you can answer. But remember. Trying anything, even if it doesn't work out, is better than sitting out sulking."

"... You borrowed that from mom, didn't you?"

"Maybe…" The small knowing grin on Akari's face was all the confirmation I needed. "But regardless, the words aren't any less true."

Deep down, I knew Akari was right. If I had time to sulk, I had time to think of a way to help Violet, or at least get more answers to the mysteries surrounding Sparrow Wing. No doubt Violet was probably suffering way more than I was right now. I couldn't call myself her friend if all I did was wallow in my own sorrow.

"Thanks, Akari." I said. "I needed that."

"Anything for my little brother." As Akari got halfway towards the door, she glanced back at me. "After you help this girl, be sure to introduce me to her. I'm eager to meet the girl that my little bro has the hots for."

Aaaaaand moment ruined.

I quickly tried to correct Akari, but something told me she didn't believe a word of it as she walked out of my room before reminding me that dinner was in thirty minutes. Only she could give profound advice and create such an aggravating misunderstanding all in one sitting.

If I was going to help Violet, one thing was certain. I was going to need to get stronger.

I was tempted to use the Ultra Core on Hermes, but something told me it was worth more hanging onto as a bargaining chip if needed for now. So that meant acquiring better gear or improving my overall skills. And thanks to a lucky tip from Shingo, it turned out I'd be able to do both in a region in CNO called Frostpeak.

The unlucky part was that CNO didn't completely remove the sensation of heat and cold. And the Frostpeak region was really freaking cold.

The uncomfortable bitter chill of the blizzards that were commonplace in Frostpeak were bad enough. But to make matters worse, there were some sections of the map that were classified as "severe blizzards". These areas weren't just freezing, they also hit players with a negative status effect that sapped away the HP of your NBS over time. Granted Frostpeak was one of the latest regions in the game, so it was only fair to expect a higher difficulty, but whoever designed this region was either going through a bad breakup at the time, or was just naturally evil and loved watching people suffer.

The harsh blizzards and high level mobs kept a majority of CNO's player base away from Frostpeak. Other than those here for quests, the only players that came to Frostpeak typically were ones looking for mats to craft gear or thrill seekers looking for a challenge.

As I was all on my own, I stayed away from the sections that would sap my HP just for being there, but that didn't mean the normal sections weren't also freezing. Thankfully, I managed to keep the cold out of my thoughts with the help of the dangerous mobs trying to kill me keeping my mind otherwise occupied.

The large rock I was taking cover behind was the only thing keeping me safe from the Snowfield Turrets firing at me. They were a semi-common mob here that boasted high firepower and defense. The only balancing factor to them was that they were turrets as the name implied, which meant they couldn't move from their spawn point.

Besides the tough mobs and arctic-level weather, there was one other thing about Frostpeak I didn't like. As one would expect from a place ravaged by blizzards, it was covered in snow, which made it rather hard to run as fast as I usually could. And flying was out of the question due to my… hesitation towards the activity.

Of course, my trusty gadget gave me a bit of a workaround to that.

I waited for the brief pause in the barrage to laser bullets to come; a sign that the Snowfield Turrets would be recharging for a couple of seconds. I came out from my cover and quickly aimed my Grappling Hook at one of the turrets. It hit its mark and I began reeling myself towards it just before they resumed firing. The second turret was turning to try and aim towards me, but it couldn't keep up. Unfortunately, the one I was flying towards had no such disadvantage since I was headed in a straight line towards it. The bullets whizzed past me as I maneuvered my body midair to avoid them as best I could. A few managed to connect, shaving off small chunks of my HP, but I managed to stay in the yellow as I closed the distance.

I slammed into the Snowfield Turret my Grappling Hook was connected to with a heavy punch. Following up with an upwards kick, I jumped off and watched the turret's HP fall to about 70%. It began adjusting its vertical alignment aim just as the second Snowfield Turret was beginning to finish turning towards me. I dashed behind the first one.

Snowfield Turrets could be annoying to deal with if you didn't have any heavy firepower. However, there was a neat trick to dealing with them that players discovered about a week after Frostpeak was first added to CNO. As long as you were within range, they would keep firing. That was true even if you were taking cover behind a piece of the environment, which was normally classified as an Immortal Object. It was true no matter what you were taking cover behind in fact.

Even another mob.

Within seconds, the Snowfield Turret in front of me had its HP blasted away by the other one. I didn't have the luxury of standing still though, as the blasts from the remaining Snowfield Turret soon shot right through the shattering polygons that had once been its ally. Thankfully though, the hard part was over now. Two Snowfield Turrets were tricky. One was much simpler.

After a series of hit and run tactics while circling around the remaining Snowfield Turret, I finally managed to finish it off. Once it shattered away, a window popped up showing me my drops from this latest mob. I glanced over it before closing the window and moving along.

Despite the bitterly cold winds of Frostpeak, I couldn't deny I was doing well with drops so far. With any luck, Shingo would be able to craft some new weapons or gadgets for me with the mats I obtained once I returned.

I opened my menu and took another look at the map data I had of Frostpeak. I was still a fair ways away from the blizzards that would give me a DOT debuff, and there was a small cave not too far from me if memory served. The caves worked much like they would in the real world, providing shelter from the cold winds and allowing players to at least be relatively warm. It seemed as good a place as any to rest and heal up for now, so I trudged along.

One thing was certain however. Whenever the next update that opened up a new area came, I was praying it was somewhere warm. Knowing my luck though, CNO's dev team would go to the extreme instead and have the new region be next to a volcano. Oh well. At least the lava would kill me faster than these damn blizzards.

A couple minutes of walking later, and I finally arrived at the cave. Thankfully the devs weren't too sadistic and made any cave in Frostpeak that wasn't a dungeon a rest area, meaning no mobs would spawn in them, nor would outside ones be able to enter. As I walked inside, a feeling of warmth washed over me. Well, less "warmth" and more "less cold", but after trekking through a snowy mountain for the past hour, I would take what I could get.

I walked further into the small cave, feeling the cold grow less and less. However, just as I was about to grab a Recovery Charge to start recovering my HP back to full, a new voice spoke up and alerted me that I wasn't alone here.

"Took you long enough. I was starting to wonder if you went back to Serulis for the day."

I quickly turned towards the direction of the voice. Leaning against the wall and staring at me was a female player. She was equipped with a silver All-Rounder model NBS known as Valkyrie. In her right hand was a halberd with a metal tip and a photon blade. But the part I was mostly focussed on was her face. It was one I recognized from my visit to Sparrow wing's guild base.

Elisse

A Sparrow Wing member lying in wait for me. It seemed they were tired of using hired help and wanted to harass me themselves now. Well that was fine with me. I was eager to give them a piece of my mind anyway.

I kicked off the ground and charged at Elisse. I swung my leg for a roundhouse kick, but Elisse managed to lunge to the side and dodge it. She hadn't seemed to have been expecting me to go on the attack right from the start. "Wait a second! I-"

"Word to the wise. If you want to gank someone, don't expect them to wait for you to start attacking after you ambush them." I didn't let up as I continued to pursue and attack her.

Elisse showed surprising reflexes as she held up her spear and blocked my next kick with the shaft of her weapon before leaping back to put some distance between us. "I didn't come here to fight you! I just want to talk!"

My eyes narrowed. "And I should believe you after everything your guild has done because…?"

In response, Elisse threw her spear aside, too far for her to get to before I would be able to reach her. "Proof enough for you?"

Several seconds passed as I stared her down. I glanced around and didn't see any other members of her guild, though for all I knew they could be lying in wait outside and were slowly approaching now that I was inside in order to trap me. But my previous encounter with Elisse nagged at the back of my mind. She didn't seem like the type to lie and deceive me for a simple ambush PK. And perhaps most importantly of all, I wanted answers and this might be my best chance at getting them.

Trusting my gut, I relaxed my body. "Fine. Start talking."

Elisse let out a tiny sigh of what I could only assume was relief as the tension in her body relaxed as well. Her expression quickly turned serious. "I need your help to save Violet."

I raised a brow. "Save her? Last I checked, all this started due to your guild."

"It's not like that!" Elisse argued. "It's… Okay, well it's sort of like that. Technically."

"Try definitely."

"Are you going to let me explain?"

Shutting my mouth, I gave Elisse a gesture to continue.

"Thank you." Elisse said. "Well, as I'm sure you probably guessed, Violet didn't exactly want to join us. But Gale - our leader I mean - wasn't willing to let her walk away from us."

"Which led to him hiring Dante to come after us I presume?"

Elisse confirmed with a nod of her head. "Yes. Gale's primary target was actually you. He wants the Ultra Core you have, and was hoping to harass you into handing it over with PK attempts. After Dante failed in his first encounter against you and Violet, we were watching in the distance and kinda wiped out what was left of your HP." She tried showing a tiny nervous smile of apology. "Sorry about that by the way."

I couldn't say the fact that Sparrow Wing had hired Dante surprised me, but at least more of the picture was becoming clearer. "But if he wanted the Ultra Core so badly, why did he stop? You guys haven't sent anyone since Dante."

"He does want the Ultra Core. But he decided to settle for Violet." Elisse explained. "He promised not to go after you if she joined."

"And she gave into that threat? That doesn't sound like the Violet I know."

"She didn't, though as far as the rest of the guild knows that's all it took." Elisse's gaze fell. "But the truth is… Gale blackmailed Violet. He threatened to leak something personal about her if she didn't join. Her darkest secret actually."

Personal information about Violet? Setting aside what a scumbag Sparrow Wing's leader was turning out to be, that threat alone brought up a rather uncomfortable implication. "Gale and Violet know each other irl."

Another nod of confirmation came from Elisse. "Yeah. We all do actually."

That was certainly interesting information, and it explained why both Elisse and Tanba seemed more than a little familiar with Violet. And knowing now that Violet was definitely being threatened, my resolve to help her was stronger than ever. "Alright. You said you wanted my help in saving Violet. What's your plan?" A few seconds of silence passed with no response from Elisse. "Well?"

Elisse seemed hesitant to speak, but whatever thoughts were holding her back didn't stop her from finally continuing. "I'll tell you everything. About what Gale is blackmailing Violet with. About my plan to help her. But I have one condition."

"And that is?"

"I want you to help Gale too."

I immediately scoffed at her suggestion. "I'm sorry, I thought you were asking me to help Violet, not practicing your stand up routine."

"I'm serious!"

"So am I." I said. "You told me Gale sent a PKer after me, is threatening to go public with Violet's deepest darkest secret - whatever that is - and now you're saying you want me to help him?"

"I know what he's done is wrong!" Elisse shouted. "I know that, but still… he's my friend just like Violet." She wiped a tear starting to form in her eye. "I know after everything you've been told, you must hate Gale. Really, I get it. But he's suffering too, just like Violet."

"Is someone blackmailing him too?"

"No, not exactly…" Elisse admitted. Her words certainly weren't improving my opinion of this guild leader of hers. "Look, I know it isn't fair, but those are my terms. Either you help both Violet and Gale, or I walk. Make your choice."

Everything I had heard about this Gale person made me want to slug him. As far as I was concerned, he was a complete scumbag. But I had no other options available to me right now. If I wanted to help Violet, then this was my best chance.

"Fine. I'll help your jackass of a guild leader." The look Elisse shot me told me it was probably best not to push my luck any further with insulting Gale, so I moved the conversation along. "So what is this secret Violet's being blackmailed with?"

"First, I'm going to need to start at the beginning." Elisse explained. "Back to November of 2022."

November 2022. Something about that felt familiar. After pondering it for a few seconds, it suddenly hit me. That was the start of one of the most recent infamous incidents in history.

More precisely, November 6th, 2022. The day Sword Art Online went live and trapped nearly ten thousand unsuspecting players in a death game.

Elisse seemed to be able to tell the conclusion I had reached and gave a silent nod to confirm my suspicions. "That's right. Violet. Gale. All five members of Sparrow Wing. Each of us are SAO Survivors."

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter of Broken Wings, everyone. Next chapter is finally going to go into detail about Violet's time in SAO and what happened to her. Look forward to it. Also, you may have already seen from recent chapters of my other fics, but due to how increasingly busy my life is getting, I'm not going to be able to have a consistent update schedule for my stories. Chapters will simply come out on a basis of "when I finish them". That said, letting me know you enjoy one of my stories will certainly help my motivation to write more often.

See you all next chapter everyone.