Sword Art Online III: Asgard

Two

Suguha Kirigaya was very, very glad it was Friday. The black haired young woman was, of course, looking forward to it being the weekend, AND she and her friends were getting ready to do a long campaign in Alfheim Online. Her school bag and practice sword thumped against her back as she hurried off.

As she left the campus Suguha felt a faint pang as she knew they would be going out without Recon. Her friend and classmate had joined ALO with her, but he'd never quite mastered the game. Not long after they had helped Kirito rescue Asuna, she had flat out told him that she wasn't interested in him romantically.

Not long after he had started showing up less, and ultimately stopped playing ALO. He had, amusingly, switched to Gun Gale Online, and they had ended up discussing Kirito's adventures over in that game too. At least, from what she could tell, he seemed happier over there. He had really never enjoyed flying in ALO...

Suguha shook her head. Despite her being clear about her feelings, he had decided to chase her, and he had decided to leave once they 'broke up.' It wasn't her fault, she reminded herself firmly.

"I'm home!" she called out as Suguha went inside their house. Mom was probably still at work at the tech magazine, but her brother should have got there already.

"Welcome back," the familiar voice called from the kitchen.

Suguha dropped her stuff off in her room then walked into the kitchen where she saw Kazuto making up some sandwiches for them. It was very house-wify of him, and she was tempted to joke but restrained herself.

"How was school?" Suguha asked as she got a drink carton from the fridge.

"Not bad." Kazuto admitted. "Not too much homework this weekend, thankfully."

"We'll get together at your and Asuna's house if we need to do a study group," Suguha noted, glad she only felt a slight twinge at that. She was, gradually, accepting that she had lost to Asuna over her brother... well, sort of accepting She still got jealous, but...

"Right," Kazuto sighed.

Suguha giggled as she reminded him, "If you want to be a programmer and Full Dive expert, you're going to have to study, too."

"I know, I know," Kazuto nodded. Changing the subject he said, "We're going to go meet up at the usual inn in Yggdrasil City, get organized there."

"I talked to my friend Lux, she'd like to join us," Suguha said, referring to a friend she, Silica and Lisbeth adventured with.

"Yeah," Kazuto said, "and Klein said he had a player he was working with who might want to go along." He looked thoughtful, "Depending on how many players actually show up, we might break into two parties."

"Might be a good idea to have the extra people," Suguha agreed, "I heard two high experience parties tried it and got beat too."

"Eugene?" Kazuto wondered, naming the second in command of the Salamanders and, arguably, the strongest player in ALO.

"Not yet. I've heard he wants to organize a full on expedition," Suguha nodded.

"Hopefully we can get in there before they do...," Kazuto mused thoughtfully.

"You just want any exclusive gear that comes up," Suguha teased him, remembering how he had reacted to discovering Excalibur's location.

"Heh," Kazuto looked sheepish.

They ate, then hurried up to their rooms. Suguha stripped down to bra and panties, then lay back on her bed and put the Amu-sphere on. (Some people dove nude, finding clothes too restrictive. Personally, Suguha was more worried about something going wrong in real life... or worse someone walking in on her.)

"Link Start!" Suguha declared.

Leafa smiled as she took a breath of air, the green clad blonde smiling cheerfully. Beside her Kirito had appeared, and he called out, "Hey, Yui!"

Out of the air the little black haired sprite appeared, cheerily exclaiming, "Papa! You're back!"

Leafa watched with amusement as the little sprite settled on Kirito's head. They caught up, talking cheerfully, even as Leafa looked up at the new island floating up above the city.

"Hey, Kirito?" Leafa asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah?" Kirito asked.

"Has anyone actually tried just flying up there?" Leafa mused aloud. She smiled, "Hold on, I want to test this..."

With that Leafa took off, her wings shimmering in the afternoon light. She LOVED flying. If there was no other reason to play ALO, she would still come just for the chance to soar across the skies. And it was even better now that they no longer had the same limits on flight.

Leafa soared up to the island of Asgard... only to see it pull away from her, somehow. "Huh?" Leafa blinked, then poured on the speed. She was one of the fastest fliers in the game... she could leave any other player in the dust... but SOMEHOW the island stayed just out of reach. Then when Leafa stopped chasing it the island sprung back to appearing relatively near. It was deeply frustrating! With a growl Leafa descended to the city and headed for the meeting place.

"Bwa ha ha ha!" Lisbeth chortled on hearing the story, the blacksmith having joined Kirito at the Inn.

"Please don't have so much fun with this," Leafa sighed.

Kirito patted her on the arm, the black clad Spriggan looking amused. "I wonder why they didn't just put a barrier up, like they did in ALO earlier?" he wondered.

"Like how they blocked off the top of the World Tree before," Leafa nodded thoughtfully, having watched Kirito literally bounce off that wall a couple of times.

"I guess Cardinal isn't letting us get away with short-cuts," Liz noted.

Before another comment could be made Asuna strode in, the attractive undine smiling at her friends warmly. "Sorry I'm late," she apologized, "mother's staying late at work and I wanted to make sure dinner would be okay until she got back."

"No problem," Liz said.

Asuna and Kirito sat side by side, as usual, and Leafa firmly stomped down on any jealousy. They were a couple, and she was TOTALLY okay with that. Damn it.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Silica hurried down the path towards the traveler's inn at Yggdrasil city. They COULD have met at Asuna and Kirito's house, of course, but she wasn't sure if Lux had been there yet. And honestly, having everyone crash their home all the time was a bit rude...

As she neared the inn, she slowed down as she saw two figures talking outside, one she recognized, one she didn't.

"Klein, I'm still not sure this is a good idea," the pretty woman addressed him.

The redhead was a Salamander, like Klein, and had short, red hair. She wore a round shield strapped to her left arm, and had a one handed long sword over her shoulder. She looked capable, and gave a impression of maturity.

"You're a solid, mid-experience adventurer," Klein answered patiently, "and you have skills we could use, Youko."

"Oh?" Youko looked skeptical.

Klein shrugged, "In addition to actually being a good fighter, you've worked on healing and buff magics. Our group has maybe two members who do that at all."

Youko snorted in amusement. "All right, I'd be willing to do that," she admitted, "but I want the opportunity to fight, too."

"No problem," Klein reassured her.

"And I reserve the right to decide this was a bad idea and leave at any time," Youko added pointedly.

"Yeah, yeah," Klein agreed. He looked up, "Hey, Silica! Sorry to block the way."

Silica flushed a bit and advanced on the two of them. "Hello, Klein. Are you going on this raid too?" she asked politely.

"Yup. Gonna be a lot of fun," Klein agreed. He gestured to the woman beside him, "Silica, met Youko. Youko, this is Silica, a veteran gamer who you should look to for advice."

"Klein!" Silica yelped, blushing.

Youko bit back a chuckle. "Nice to meet you," she smiled slightly coolly.

"Just ignore him when he says things like that," Silica added as they headed inside.

"I already do," Youko teased.

"Oh, here I am trying to pass on my hard earned wisdom..." Klein lamented.

Silica kind of tuned him out as she scanned the busy inn and found the table their friends were at. "Hey, everyone!" she beamed as she hurried over.

Lux beamed, the attractive blonde sitting by the equally attractive Leafa. It was really annoying how curvy both girls were, but Silica expected she'd grow out eventually. She hoped. Lisbeth waved her over, and Silica settled in beside them.

"Oh I am SO excited!" Lux said, nearly bouncing in her seat. Lux had been a real Kirito fangirl, and had even designed her first ALO avatar after him, calling herself 'Kuro.' She had gotten over that, but she clearly was nearly peeing herself with excitement being here in the same room with him.

"Relax," Leafa said to her with a wink, "big brother puts his pants on one leg a time, just like everyone else."

"I know, but..." Lux shrugged helplessly.

Scanning the room Silica saw Kirito, Asuna and Leafa, Lisbeth, Lux, Klein, herself and the new woman Klein brought, Youko. Speaking of...

"Kirito, everyone, this is my kohai I was talking about," Klein gestured to the tall-ish redheaded woman in armor, a shield strapped to her arm, 'Youko. She's new, but skilled."

There was the oddest look on her face as she saw Asuna, but she quickly switched back to bland neutrality. "I hope we can work well together," Youko said, smiling faintly.

"Welcome," Kirito started, when Yui suddenly popped up, the little sprite buzzing Youko curiously.

Silica wondered if she'd be one of the people who were startled by Yui, or just go 'She's so cute!'

"So cute!" Yoko murmured.

'Ha.' Silica smiled.

To be continued...

Notes: Will try to jump back to Youko's POV next chapter, or possibly Asuna's. Depends on what I plan to do. Sinon will turn up next chapter too, and maybe Agil.