Chapter II: "Then We Shall Be Comrades"

November 6th, 2032

"Swordmasters! In the name of the Last Alliance, for the sake of both our peoples—lend me your swords!"

Later, Asuna was going to hurt Kirito for not warning her there was a quest to stumble on right in the middle of the forest. She'd signed on with him to learn how to stay alive, not to be thrown right into a fight without so much as a hint about what to do.

Later. First, she had a fight to win. Why Kirito was simply staring like an idiot at the darker-skinned elf—it was not the time to be distracted by a pretty face, for goodness' sake—she didn't know, but she wasn't going to waste time worrying about it.

She called for help. That's a quest NPC cursor. And that other elf—is coming this way—!

"Foolish humans!" the lighter elf snarled, turning to face the players. "If you'd side with Lyusula, prepare to pay the price. Don't say I didn't warn you, girl!"

Girl?! Ooh…!

Asuna thought she heard Kirito start to say something. She didn't have time to listen, the fair-skinned elf—a [Forest Elf Knight], according to the text above his HP bar—already coming for her. His heavy, two-handed sword was coming up as he strode toward her, beginning to glow with crimson light.

I did this before. I know what to do. This time, I have to get it perfect, though. I just—have to be faster!

Her arm came up, slipping easily into the posture of the first Sword Skill Kirito had taught her. Her rapier came up, she took a step forward, feeling the system tug at her—and she moved, adding her own motion to the skill. A flicker of motion and intent, and suddenly she was on the other side of the Forest Elf and several steps beyond.

In the instant of immobility in the wake of her Linear, she turned her head enough to see the Forest Elf stumble back, light fading from his sword. She couldn't see his expression from that angle… but she could see the sudden smile from the other elf.

The dusky woman—a [Dark Elf Royal Guard]—didn't give the Forest Elf a chance to recover. The saber in her hand blurred forward, taking advantage of his stumble to bury itself in his back. "'Girl'?" she taunted, yanking the blade back out. "I didn't think even those of Kales'Oh were so dimwitted as to underestimate a woman." The Dark Elf turned her smile on Asuna. "Well-struck, Swordmaster!"

Asuna felt a rush of pride, and started to raise her rapier in salute—only to yelp and hastily duck, as the Forest Elf unleashed a flashing spin with his heavy sword. It missed her by a hair, and though the Dark Elf took it on her shield, she was still pushed back.

"Mock me at your peril," the Forest Elf growled, already pulling his sword back and up to his shoulder. "One Dark Elf, and two humans? Absurd!" His sword lit up, bright crimson, and this time he wasted no time trying to close the gap on foot. With a roar, he leapt forward, sword swinging down in a wide, diagonal slice.

Not as fast as her attack had been. Her heart still leapt into her throat as she threw herself sideways, convinced she wouldn't be fast enough—

Whether she would've been or not, she never found out. Another battlecry split the air, and an instant before impact something struck the Forest Elf from behind. He hit the ground face-first instead of finishing his Sword Skill, tumbling away with a spray of red particles from his back.

Kirito landed in a crouch, the tip of his sword scraping the ground. "Elite mob," he muttered, quickly straightening. "This is such a bad idea, no time to worry about that now… Asuna, Lady Knight! We'll have to work together for this!"

"Right!" Asuna still had no idea what was going on, but she could see at a glance that the Forest Elf's HP hadn't gone down nearly as much as she liked. And he was already rolling back to his feet, an ugly gleam in his eyes.

"But of course!" The Dark Elf stepped up to Kirito's right, as Asuna moved to his left. "He is strong, but against three of us—Knight of the Forest, if you have any sense, you will withdraw!"

"I told you, do not mock me!" The Forest Elf broke into a fast walk, sword held low and to his right. "I'll have the Key, and your lives!"

If she hadn't still been in shock from the night's events, Asuna wasn't sure she would've survived the next few moments. She'd never fought for her life, had never even picked up a sword before that afternoon. If she'd had time to think about it, sheer terror would've held her in place. Instead—

"Bigot!" she found herself snarling. "You'll pay for mocking us!" Drawing back her rapier, she attacked.

It was the first real battle of Asuna's life. Afterward, she could only remember scattered moments; here her rapier drove into the Forest Elf's flank in a flash of white light, there she was ducking away from his heavy sword before it could lop off her head. He was grunting then, the Dark Elf's shield bashing into his side, and Kirito was using the stumble to carve a Horizontal across his chest.

Another brutal slash knocked Asuna off her feet and across the clearing, a deep, red gash across her chest. Even as she glimpsed ten percent of her HP falling from the hit, Kirito and the Dark Elf were slashing the Forest Knight from both sides.

One vicious spin knocked her allies off their feet, and it was her turn to charge in with a yell, stabbing the Forest Knight in the leg. She ducked the backhand that came at her in response, and had the satisfaction of seeing his HP lose five percent from the sword point that suddenly emerged from his heart.

Thrust and slash, duck, sidestep; a whirl of steel and bodies like nothing Asuna had ever imagined. The Forest Knight was strong, but there were three of them and only one of him. Over the course of minutes that felt like hours, his health was ground down—until the moment his HP bar turned red.

Then the Forest Knight was using hi whirling slash again, forcing all three of his opponents back. "That two humans and a Dark Elf could bring me to this," he growled. "That treacherous sorcerer… Fine! At least my death will steal your victory! Holy Tree of Kales'Oh!" he cried, pointing his sword toward the night sky. "Grant me the final sacrament!"

Asuna had no idea what that meant. Or why his body suddenly started glowing, a yellow-green aura enveloping him. But Kirito's eyes had suddenly gone wide, his face paling—

"Stop him!"

She didn't think. Didn't hesitate. She only obeyed the Dark Elf's command, feet in motion before the dusky girl's words had finished. I won't let you—!

Her rapier stabbed deep into the Forest Knight's heart. Kirito's sword cut through his neck, sending his head flying into the dark forest.

The concussion when the Knight's body erupted in yellow-green light and blue shards still blasted the both of them off their feet. Dazzled by the flash, Asuna couldn't even try to reorient before her back slammed hard into a tree, and she fell to the forest floor with a heavy thud.

It was a good thing avatars in Full-Dive really couldn't feel pain. The dying attack from the Forest Elf, Kirito was quite sure, would've hurt like hell. And that was before he hit the ground hard enough to knock another five percent off his HP, inducing a Tumble status in the process.

I should be counting my blessings, he thought muzzily, waiting for the world to stop spinning. That attack should've killed us outright. I didn't know it was even possible to interrupt it.

…Not that any of this should be happening at all….

"…Asuna?" he got out, as his inner ear began to reluctantly settle down. "You okay?"

The answer he got at first was a low groan. "Define 'okay'," his erstwhile partner said, sounding as off-balance as he felt. "I'm still alive… that counts for something, right…?"

"Indeed it does. I fear I'd underestimated humans." A soft chuckle, as footsteps approached Kirito. "Fortunately, so did that Forest Elf…" The Dark Elf's face came into view, looking down at him with a smile. "Here, let me help you. Can you stand?"

Still dazed, Kirito let the elf girl haul him to his feet, and watched as she did the same for Asuna a moment later. After giving the two of them a quick once-over, as if to make sure they really were able to stay on their feet, she walked over to the leafy bag that had been at the center of the fight. With obvious care, she picked it up, checked its contents, and with a sigh of relief tucked it under her arm.

"What's going on here?" Asuna whispered. "Just what kind of quest did you just drag me into, Kirito-kun?"

"…I wish I knew," he murmured back. "This is… not exactly the same as it was in the beta test."

Understatement, that. He'd seen the battle they'd just fought during that period, but it hadn't been in this clearing, and the ending had been a lot worse. The last time he'd seen that particular Dark Elf NPC, she'd been giving his pick-up group a sad smile, just before shattering.

It had haunted Kirito, honestly. He knew she was just an NPC, but SAO made things feel so real, he couldn't help but be sad when the scripted battle had ended in her death.

But now I have no idea what happens next. Back then, she entrusted us with that bag, and sent us on to a Dark Elf camp. A camp that shouldn't even be on Einsla, and this time she's not dead. Kayaba… did you change everything, on top of trapping us here?

The Dark Elf was looking around the clearing even as Kirito tried to figure out what was going on, and now she sighed heavily. "So, I was the only one to survive, after all…" She turned to face the two players, and lifted her right hand to her chest in salute. "Thank you, Swordmasters, for your aid. Without your timely arrival, I'm sure I, too, would've fallen. I am Kizmel, Royal Guard and member of the Pagoda Knights. May I have the honor of your names?"

Ah, something familiar. That helped stabilize Kirito, just a little. "My name is Kirito," he said with a bow, carefully enunciating his name for the benefit of the system. "A Swordmaster." Which she'd already know, of course, but it never hurt to observe the formalities when dealing with NPCs. Their dialogue trees could be finicky.

"I'm Asuna," his partner replied, bowing in turn. "Also a Swordmaster."

"Ki-ri-to," Kizmel repeated, as if to herself. The system making sure it had the pronunciation down, he figured. "A-su-na… Pardon me," she added with a wry smile, at the look Asuna was giving her. "Human names are as exotic to me as mine must be to you. I'll not forget them." She tilted her head curiously. "I had heard the ritual to summon the Swordmasters was to be performed today, but with everything else that went wrong, I admit I was skeptical. Even so, I must say I'm surprised to see any of you so far from Origia already. May I ask what brings you here? Not that I'm complaining, by any means."

Uh. Kirito blinked, caught flatfooted. Bizarrely changed circumstances or not, he'd expected her to jump right into the quest dialogue, and get them moving to whatever the current equivalent of the Dark Elf camp was. A personal question was just plain weird.

And… "everything else" that went wrong? Just what is going on in this version of the quest?

"Origia isn't a really good place to be right now," Asuna told her, while he was still trying to work out what appropriate response to continue the quest might be. "After what… what Kayaba did…." She looked away, trembling. "It's still chaos back there."

He quickly turned to her, shaking his head. "Asuna," he hissed, "she's not going to be able to understand that. NPC AI isn't that good—"

"Kayaba?" Kizmel said sharply, drawing Kirito's attention back to her. "The human sorcerer, Kayaba Akihiko?" Her eyes had narrowed, not quite a glare but definitely not an expression he wanted directed at him. "Treacherous mage… did he betray the Swordmasters, as well?"

…What?

"I'd call trapping us all here when it was supposed to be a game 'betraying us', yeah," Asuna said tightly. Then she started, as if abruptly remembering who—or what—she was talking to, and looked back at the elf. "Um, that is…"

Kizmel looked at the two of them for a long, silent moment. Kirito was left wondering just what was going on with the NPC's AI, and if Asuna's obviously-indecipherable words had just screwed up the quest even more than it already was. Not her fault. She's new to this, and if I'm trying not to freak out about the situation she must have it ten times worse. I just hope we didn't break anything. The last thing I want now is to be locked out of a big quest like this by accident.

"I think," the Dark Elf said at last, "we have much to discuss." She tapped the bag still tucked under her arm. "At the least, I owe you sanctuary for the night, after you saved my life. And my mission; allowing the Jade Key to fall into the hands of the Forest Elves would be disastrous." Gesturing deeper into the forest, she continued, "Please, let us talk along the way. You said this was supposed to be a game…?"

The course Kizmel led them on was well away from Horunka. That much, at least, made perfect sense to Kirito, given that in the beta elves of any race tended to stay away from human settlements. It did have him more than a little worried, given that it meant going into what was for all intents and purposes uncharted territory, but he didn't see much choice. Whatever was happening now, he had the feeling it would be more dangerous to break away from the questline.

"Of course, I knew about the coming Swordmasters," Kizmel said, as they left the moonlit clearing behind. In the sourceless blue light of the deep forest, she looked even more otherworldly than she had before. "Like as not, even the Axiom Church knew. Little escapes the 'Highest Administrator's' notice in Aincrad, in this age. …Assuming Kayaba did not simply inform her himself, of course."

The way she said "Highest Administrator", like it was a curse, got Kirito's attention. As far as he recalled from the beta, the Elf War quest had been a largely self-contained storyline. He definitely didn't remember any particular connection to the Axiom Church plot. Certainly not enough to get that kind of a personal reaction.

Though that wasn't what really bothered him, and with a glance at Asuna he was sure she felt the same. "So… you know about Kayaba, then?" the fencer said cautiously, ducking under a tree branch.

"Oh, indeed," Kizmel said dryly. "After all, he promised us the Swordmasters' aid in reclaiming Aincrad from the Axiom Church's talons." She shook her head. "I wasn't there, but I am told there was quite the stir when his image appeared before Queen Idhrendis and her councilors. Magic had faded so far since the Great Separation, the Administrator twisted what remained, and here came a man from another world breaching the walls that had been sealed so tightly? We had thought it impossible. And then… he made Her Majesty a bargain."

Kirito listened close, sparing only enough attention for his surroundings to not trip and to—hopefully—spot any mobs before they got too close. So… Kayaba wrote himself into the game's plot. Why? He said himself his "role" was over… unless he wanted to account for players like us. Maybe he just thought it'd work better if the AI recognized players ranting about him.

"Help arrange the conditions for the Swordmaster summoning ritual, and he would provide us with thousands of warriors with strength akin to the Integrity Knights themselves," Kizmel went on. "Of course we were suspicious, but it did seem reasonable enough for a human to want to free the Archipelago. After all, there are more of your people under the Administrator's heel than mine. When all Kayaba asked from us was a group of volunteers to enter his spell, the risk seemed… acceptable."

What? "Volunteers?" he blurted, almost tripping over a tree root in the process. "The spell? You mean… you know this isn't real?"

"Oh, of course. After all, the purpose of this world is merely a transitory medium between yours and mine." She scowled then. "Or so we were told. Only days ago, when the full ritual began, did we learn how thorough he'd been. To our cost." The elf girl glanced back at them, a sardonic, humorless smile on her face. "Tell me, then. You say he betrayed you, as well. Does that mean you, too, wager your lives even in this world between?"

Kirito could hear Asuna swallow. "…Yes," she whispered. "He… he told us, death is death, no matter the… the world…."

He couldn't help but shiver. The need to simply get out of Origia, with the knowledge of exactly where he had to go for his first objective, had allowed him to avoid thinking about the reality of their situation for a little while. Having Asuna remind him of it, so soon after unexpectedly fighting a battle that should've been well beyond them….

I think I'm going to be sick.

"Feh. Kayaba is more a monster than even we realized, then." Kizmel sighed. "Though for what it's worth, that very betrayal will make my people more likely to trust you. Truthfully, my comrades had largely concluded the Swordmasters would be just as much our enemy as the Forest Elves."

"Why?" Kirito couldn't help but ask. He almost walked into a low-hanging tree branch a moment later, and gave the tree in question a suspicious glance. He was almost sure that branch hadn't been there before he moved, and while there weren't supposed to be Treants on Einsla, he had ample evidence already of how much things had changed.

For one thing, if players supported Kizmel in the beta, relations with the Dark Elves were just fine. …And why is Asuna looking at me like I'm an idiot?

Kizmel raised one lilac eyebrow in his direction. "After the Administrator's treachery, and Kayaba's betrayal? I fear, Kirito, most of my people are likely to regard humans in general as prone to such behavior."

"But you don't?" Asuna asked, pulling her cloak more tightly around her.

"Of course not. You did just save my life, after all." The elf girl smiled ruefully. "And truth be told, I'm more a student of history than many of my comrades. I know better than to believe elves any less capable of treachery than humans. Our greatest betrayal was long before the rise of the Axiom Church."

Kirito wanted to ask more about that. If only to put off thinking about the situation the players had fallen into. Before he could, though, the trees seemed to thin out ahead, heralding another clearing.

No, he realized, looking at the snapped and broken trees at the very edge of the opening. Not a clearing. Something hit these. Something big. Back in the beta, I only ever saw things like this when—

"Allow me to make the introductions, please," Kizmel said, leading them into the rough-cleared trench in the middle of the forest. "Between Kayaba's betrayal and our encounter with the Forest Elves, I fear the Captain is… unsettled. I promise you, on my honor as Knight, that you will be safe."

—An airship crashed, Kirito finished his thought, looking at the end of that trench. …I didn't see that coming.

Asuna had given the airships at the Origia Aerodrome a longing look, when she and Klein had been wandering the city a few hours and a lifetime before. It hadn't really been that close a look, though, given that she'd been in a hurry and knew they wouldn't be relevant for awhile yet.

She hadn't expected her first close-up with one to be a veritable wreck. Her bow nestled between the trees that had finally stopped her skid through the forest, there was still a faint smell of smoke hanging around her. Between that and the buckled timbers in her hull, it was obvious the airship wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

Before the damage, though—even with it, really—Asuna could tell the ship would've been quite a sight, sailing in the sky. About thirty meters long, she was built of dark, ebony-like wood, with a sleek shape that looked like she would've been just as much at home in the ocean as in the air. No masts adorned her deck, though; only a single structure at the stern—a "sterncastle", if she remembered right—and a few small shapes she couldn't identify in the dark closer to the bow.

From the landing skids that were mangled and twisted—one of them torn off, lying about a dozen meters behind the ship—the crew had at least known what was coming in time to try and prepare. "Try" being the operative word, she supposed.

"We were intending to scout the island," Kizmel said softly, as they drew closer to the airship. "Up until today, we had our own means of bypassing the Skywall. In addition to my mission, our ship—Moonshadow—was sent to find out if the Swordmasters were truly going to be summoned, or if Kayaba had lied about that, as well."

"…What happened?" Asuna asked softly. She knew none of what she was seeing was real, that the airship had probably been generated already crashed. Even so, she couldn't help but respond to the Dark Elf's somber tone. If only because focusing on that kept her from thinking too much about her own situation.

Kizmel grimaced. "About noon, the Skywall was suddenly strengthened, defeating even our charms. Shortly after that, we came under attack by a Forest Elf airship. Though Moonshadow was the better ship, I fear her crew was distracted by the change in the Skywall, and in the end both ships were brought down." She lifted the leafy bag she and the Forest Elf had been fighting over. "I left Moonshadow with my party of Knights, and we did succeed in retrieving the Jade Key, but during our return journey we were set upon by survivors from the Forest Elf ship. After that, well…."

She didn't finish the sentence. Asuna didn't think she really needed to, given what she and Kirito had found. Clearly, the two groups had mostly wiped each other out, and the two players had simply stumbled on the tail end of the fight.

Or the start of it, technically, she reminded herself, shooting another sharp look at Kirito. As soon as we're alone, I'm so getting the details out of him. If this is how he's going to treat me, maybe I'm better off going my own way after all!

Before Asuna could go too far down that train of thought, though, a harsh voice rang out from the airship ahead of them. "Halt!"

Two figures suddenly stood from the shadow cast by the airship's hull, both of them wearing armor similar to Kizmel's but with no cloaks. They also each held a long, curved sword—cutlasses, Asuna thought, as opposed to Kizmel's saber—and from what little she could see at that distance, both of them looked perfectly willing to use them.

"Better do as they say," Kirito whispered, stock-still and with hands carefully away from the hilt of his sword. "Dark Elves tend to be… pretty strong."

No, really? Like she had any intention of doing anything reckless. She was a newbie, not stupid.

Even as she groused to herself, another figure came into sight on the airship's deck. He wore no armor at all, instead a simple but elegant uniform in the same black and purple as the other Dark Elves. Nor did he appear to be armed, though as far as Asuna was concerned his expression was weapon enough.

"Dame Kizmel," the uniformed elf said gruffly, striding down a plank from the deck. "You went out with four other Pagoda Knights, and come back with two humans instead? Explain yourself."

Maybe it was Asuna's imagination, but Kizmel seemed to bristle. "We were not the only ones searching for the Jade Key, Captain Emlas," she said evenly. "We were ambushed by Forest Elf knights. Six of them. They were… quite skilled." She swallowed, but her stare at the airship's captain never wavered. "Though they killed five of the Forest Knights, my comrades fell, as well."

Emlas' mouth twitched in what might've been a brief sympathetic look. "If they were after the Key as well, doubtless they sent only their best. Clearly they had forewarning of today's events…. But what of the humans?" The look he turned on the players was disdainful, bordering on hateful. "You know as well as I the treachery they've committed against us. Better, after what happened to your—"

"These two humans," Kizmel said sharply, "are the only reason I am here bearing the Jade Key. If they had not stumbled upon my battle with the last Forest Knight, I would be dead and the Key would be in the hands of the Forest." She shook her head. "If what these two Swordmasters tell me is true, Captain, we are not the only ones Kayaba betrayed."

He turned his attention back to her, frown easing into a skeptical, measuring look. "And you believe them?"

Asuna shot a quick glance at Kirito, and was left wondering what was going on behind his dark eyes. He'd been putting up a good front, yet from the moment she'd met him there'd been moments his mask had slipped. Now, she couldn't tell if he was really as calm as he looked, or if he was just still in as much shock as she was.

I wish he'd say something, she fumed, trying to stifle her own anxiety at the argument the two elves were having. Should we just be trying to run? Is this some scripted event? Just give me a clue!

Kizmel was just starting to open her mouth again, her own expression harsh, when a low growl cut her off.

The fact that Kirito noticeably jumped at the sound was not good for Asuna's piece of mind, but after only an instant she was distracted from him completely. At the top of the plank Emlas was still only halfway down, a furred shape appeared. Low and broad-shouldered, as it emerged into the moonlight she quickly realized it was some kind of large dog.

No, she thought, anxiety going up another notch. That's a wolf. And it's—coming down—

Leaping down, more like, reaching the ground from the deck in one casual jump. Then the wolf was running right up to her and Kirito, teeth bared.

"Hold!" Kizmel said quickly, raising one hand. "It's all right, just hold still a moment…."

Asuna had absolutely no intention of doing anything else. No time to run, or even draw a weapon—and besides, a few hours in VR did nothing to erase the instinctive fear any sane human had of a wolf. Her fight-or-flight instincts were aiming toward flight, but her virtual knees had locked up just as well as the real ones would have.

At least she had the satisfaction of seeing Kirito just as plainly anxious, as the wolf stalked over to them. Gait stiff, teeth still bared, it stopped a meter away and sniffed. Stared at the two of them, as if judging them by some standard known only to wolves.

"…Is this a bad time to mention Dark Elves have trained wolves?" Kirito whispered.

"Yes." If it hadn't been for the scrutiny from the elves and the wolf—and a faint recollection of some kind of criminal code programmed into the system—Asuna would've smacked him for that. She had half a mind to do it anyway, the next time they were in a town. If she deigned to put up with him that long.

That thought was driven completely out of her head, though, when the wolf suddenly yipped, sat down, and started wagging its tail. In the blink of an eye, the animal went from fierce predator to dog asking for a bone.

Asuna did blink at that, in fact, and glanced at Kizmel—who was smiling. "I did say they saved my life," she said dryly. "And made no move to take the Key. Also, as you can see, Cavall approves, and you know as well as I he does not trust lightly, either."

Emlas stared at her. Looked at the wolf. Glanced over at the players. This time, his frown was speculative. "I see," he said slowly. Then, "Stand down!" he called out, and immediately the two armored elves straightened and lowered their swords. "I suppose you intend to offer them sanctuary, Dame Kizmel?"

"On my honor as a Knight, I owe them that much," Kizmel said firmly. "Moonshadow is your ship, of course, but I believe you'll agree that, at the least, we need any information they can give us about what's transpired today. Surely between that and the aid they provided me, shelter for one night is not unreasonable."

"Fair enough," the captain said gruffly. "Come aboard then, all of you," he went on, gesturing toward the deck. "Just do not give me cause to regret this. I've heard of the Swordmasters' supposed strength, but while Moonshadow's taken losses, I assure you we are more than capable of dealing with two of you."

Ominous. But while Asuna might not have known games very well, she'd done enough research to understand the threat was either empty detail to fit with the story, or a basic caution not to antagonize the NPCs. Either way, she thought, not something she needed to really worry about.

At least I'll have a safe bed tonight, she told herself, walking up the plank with Kirito and Kizmel. I thought I wasn't ready for that, but after that fight… I'm just so tired. I'll worry about everything else in the morning.

Sitting on the lowest of three bunks on one side of the cramped cabin, Asuna folded her arms and fixed Kirito with a hard stare. "One reason," she said evenly. "Give me one reason not to kick you out of here. This is not what I signed up for."

Kirito swallowed. From the look on his face, and the way he'd stuffed himself as far back on the opposite bunk as he could, she'd have almost thought he wanted her to carry out the threat. "…Because the elves might not like it if you kicked up a fuss on their ship, after they gave us sanctuary?"

She opened her mouth to retort, furrowed her brow—and stopped. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't just walk out of here on my own, and go back to Origia."

"Panicked mob, rioting in the streets?" he replied, looking a bit more sure of himself this time. "The Anti-Criminal Code prevents direct damage in a town, but I can think of a few ways right off the top of my head that things could go bad anyway. Starting with the fact that the panicking started right by the edge of the island."

"…Urk." It took only a moment for Asuna to follow that suggestion to its conclusion, and her head fell. No, going back to a city with twenty thousand players having a collective freak out probably wasn't a good idea. Even if she'd been able to find an inn, getting to it would've been just too risky.

Which, lack of alternatives aside, didn't change her current situation. They'd been given sanctuary, all right—in the form of Kizmel leading them to a small cabin down narrow corridors, before heading somewhere else to have a meeting with the captain. A cabin with six bunks stacked three high, maybe a meter between stacks, made of the same dark wood as the rest of the ship. On top of the cramped confines, it was dark, the sourceless blue glow of SAO's night seeming oddly muted, almost flickering.

Which meant Asuna was stuck in a small cabin, a long way from any other real people, in the dark. With a guy about her own age, whom she'd only met a handful of hours before. If the situation hadn't been so horrible otherwise, she would have gone somewhere else.

Well, I threw the dice, she reminded herself. I'll just have to trust he really isn't a creep. …And speaking of trust….

She lifted her head again, looking back at Kirito. He flinched, almost making her laugh. Almost. "Fine. So we're stuck here. At least tell me why? You said we were going to a small village, not that we were about to run right into a fight with a—a—"

"An elite mob," he finished for her. And winced, seeing the look on her face.

"Yeah. That." Asuna made a mental note to grill him on gamer terminology when they had time. If their partnership lasted the night. "I'm pretty sure that last attack could've killed us, Kirito-kun. That is not what I had in mind for a first quest!"

"That would be because it shouldn't have been." Kirito quickly raised his hands. "No, really! I honestly had no idea that was going to happen. I mean, okay, I knew the basic scenario, but that shouldn't have been here. In the beta, the Elf War campaign quest didn't even start until Third Island, Sandoria. I was expecting to fight Little Nepenthes for a minor quest ingredient, not run into an elite mob and a campaign quest."

…She was really starting to hate the position she was in. It had been a kind of forbidden thrill, going around with a guy she didn't know. Now her life depended on it, and she couldn't know if he was telling the truth. Not yet.

If he's not, it's too late to worry about it anyway, she told herself firmly. Assume he is. We're both trapped in here anyway. Just… watch, and listen. Taking a deep breath, trying in vain to calm herself, she forced herself to nod. "Okay. So you weren't expecting the fight. Why didn't you tell me to just run for it?"

The look Kirito gave her for that suggested he was wondering if she was crazy, and too afraid to say so. "…You did kind of rush in first," he pointed out cautiously. "I've never seen anybody move so fast. Between that and how surprised I was, I didn't exactly have a chance to pull us out."

Urk. Even more annoying than wondering if she could trust him was realizing she had no defense against that one. Hunching her shoulders, Asuna had to look away.

"Either way," he said then, "I'm… not really sure we could have retreated, by that point." Something about his tone forced her to look at him again, and she was met with a deep, troubled frown. "Asuna. It's not just that there shouldn't have been elves on Einsla. Like I said, I knew the basic scenario from the beta—and what we got wasn't it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we were supposed to be able to choose a side," he said quietly. "In the beta, Kizmel reacted the same way the Forest Knight did, by telling players to get lost. Whichever elf the player decided to help anyway would turn friendly, but only once a decision had been clearly made." Kirito slowly shook his head, clasping his hands under his chin. "Kizmel shouldn't have just asked us for help on her own, and the system definitely shouldn't have automatically accepted the quest without our input."

"Oh." Now that she thought about it, that had been kind of weird. "…You're sure it's not something carried over from the beta? You said you did the quest—and I'm assuming," she added, sending another sharp glance his way, "you picked the pretty girl."

Practically the first genuine satisfaction Asuna had had since Kayaba's terrifying announcement was the look on his face when that jab went home. Even in the dark, she could see the sudden wide eyes, and the way his mouth moved as if he was trying to defend himself but couldn't get any words out.

"W-well," Kirito said finally, looking away as if the wooden wall—bulkhead?—were suddenly more interesting, "I did choose Kizmel, yeah…. But because she's a Dark Elf, not because she's a girl! I like dark colors!"

Probably true, from the color of his gear. And also, if she was any judge, completely and totally irrelevant to the point. Ha! Got you! Boys….

"…It's not like it mattered that much anyway," he muttered, breaking into Asuna's moment of smug vindication. "In the beta, that was an unwinnable fight, ended when Kizmel sacrificed herself to save the player party."

Just like that, the wind was taken right out of her sails, and she was suddenly very aware that even belowdecks on the Dark Elf airship, November was cold. Clutching her cloak tighter, she tried to remind herself that Kizmel was just an NPC, however lifelike. It didn't make any sense to suddenly be spooked by the idea that if things had gone "normally", the elf that had given them sanctuary would've been dead.

"So no," Kirito continued, shaking himself, "I don't think it's anything to do with the beta. I think Kayaba just changed things around. Besides, my beta test character data didn't carry over to the retail version… and do you have any idea how annoying it was, trying to reconstruct my avatar? I was twenty minutes late getting in thanks to that…"

Oof. Asuna could almost sympathize on that one. She hadn't bothered with much avatar customization, but she'd been in a hurry. If she'd had the time, she absolutely would've tried to figure out the options available, daunting as they were. Even knowing the system, she could imagine it had been a pain for him.

All of it pointless anyway, after what Kayaba did. Why did he give us our own faces here? Why…? And that reminds me.

She didn't really want to be reminded of it. She never wanted to think about it again. But she had to, and deep in an airship that wasn't supposed to be there and thus probably wouldn't be found by other players, this was probably the best opportunity she was going to get.

So, taking a deep breath, Asuna gave Kirito another level stare. "Earlier, you said there would be no rescue. Why not?"

For a long moment, he was silent, just staring down at the wooden deck. When the moment stretched on to almost a minute, she took in a breath to snap at him—then abruptly closed her mouth again. It was hard to see, in the oddly dim light, but she was pretty sure his still-clasped hands were shaking.

Of course they are, stupid, she thought, mentally slapping herself. He's just as stuck as I am. He's probably… just as scared as I am.

Finally, Kirito swung his legs up onto the bunk and stared up at the one above him. "If Kayaba was telling the truth—and if he wasn't, I think we'd be out already—the authorities can't take the chance. No matter what their computer experts come up with. There's about ten different ways a rescue attempt could go, and only in two of them do the players get out alive."

Blunt, and honest. Another time Asuna might've thanked him. "…Explain," she said, when she was sure her voice wouldn't shake too badly. "Please."

Still staring up, Kirito began counting off on his fingers. "Say they try it on one person. Maybe nothing happens, and Kayaba doesn't notice or care. Maybe nothing happens, but he decides to hit the kill switch just because they tried. Maybe they accidentally set it off themselves. Maybe they get one person out, and Kayaba doesn't notice before they do it for everybody else at once. Or maybe he does notice, and… well. One chance in five we don't all die. Try it on everybody at once—"

"Stop!" Shuddering, she tried to fight back the tears. "I get it. If it doesn't work perfectly, the first time, then…"

Asuna was top of her class. She could do the math. Twenty thousand people. They… they can't risk killing us all at once. Which means… which means Kayaba was right. The only way out… is to fight for ourselves. Across a hundred islands, with hazards even the beta testers don't know.

I'm going to be sick.

This wasn't what she'd wanted, when she found out about Sword Art Online. This wasn't at all what she'd wanted. She was freer than she'd ever been—and all it had cost her was the chance to die if she made the slightest slip.

Probably the only thing that kept her from breaking down then and there, despite a near-total stranger as a witness, was the cabin hatch creaking open. "I'm sorry I took so long," Kizmel said, slipping in. "Captain Emlas is not technically my superior, but he does have a vested interest here—no, you do not come in here," she added, nudging a furred snout out the hatch so she could close it. "There is barely room for us, let alone a wolf… oh, I have no idea how he ever put up with you."

Kirito quickly sat up again, and if he wiped his sleeve across his eyes before facing the girls again, well, Asuna wasn't going to tell anyone. "The captain wasn't happy?"

Sighing, Kizmel shook her head. "Truthfully, I suspect Captain Emlas is seldom happy about anything. In his defense, he does have a point today…. Ah, my apologies for the darkness. I fear Moonshadow's core crystal was cracked in the crash. Low light is the only ship's function working at all."

So, there's an in-game explanation for the light? Eagerly jumping on the distraction, Asuna cleared her throat. "Core crystal?"

"Power source for airships," Kirito explained, looking just as grateful for the change in topic. "How much they do depends on the airship, but they all handle the lift field that keeps the ship up." He frowned thoughtfully. "I think on a Dark Elf airship they're tied right into the hull somehow, though I never knew why."

"They are," Kizmel confirmed. She tapped her belt, letting it fall away, and moved to put both the saber it held and her shield on a rack on the far bulkhead. "Crystallized magic from the Holy Trees, it powers the lift field, engines, and cannons. And the lighting," she added with a rueful smile. "More importantly, it sustains the ship herself, away from wood and water."

Asuna blinked. "…You mean the ship is alive?"

"Oh, indeed. We elves, Dark and Forest alike, are forbidden to cut living wood, and we cannot live long without it." The elf girl chuckled, reaching up to the leaf-shaped clasp that fastened her cloak. "Humans may try their hands at making ships of steel, but we elves are bound to the Wood, always."

That was really a fascinating bit of lore. Asuna wanted to pursue it—anything to hold off the nightmares a little longer—but that train of thought was immediately and completely derailed by the result of the elf's seemingly innocuous action. First a quick flash of light, dazzling in the dark. Then—

Dark Elves seemed to be eminently practical where warfare was concerned. Their armor, Asuna had already noticed, had none of the gratuitous form-fitting or cut-outs she'd always associated with fantasy stories. Their sleepwear, she learned abruptly, not so much. Especially considering it was November, and Aincrad's weather seemed to reflect that.

A surprisingly sheer, decidedly low-cut black nightgown was not what she'd expected out of the Dark Elves. Nor had she realized, with the modest and practical armor, just how generous a figure Kizmel actually had.

Not the sort of thing she likely would've paid any attention to even then, other than how cold the nightgown looked, were it not for Kirito's presence.

Truthfully, Asuna was torn. On the one hand, the poor guy arguably deserved the distraction, after the day they'd had. On the other hand, the way he'd gone stock-still, staring in something akin to shock at Kizmel, set off her "pervert" instincts pretty thoroughly. It wasn't Kizmel's fault they were in this, after all. She didn't deserve to be stared at like that.

…He gets to live. For now. Instead of snapping, Asuna only sharply rapped her knee and cleared her throat. When Kirito jumped, turning wide eyes on her, she gave him the best imitation of her mother's You Know Better Than That stare she could manage.

His "Eep!" and quick look toward the bulkhead satisfied her. More or less. It also got Kizmel's attention. Pausing in her move toward the bunk above Asuna, she glanced quizzically at Kirito. Over at Asuna, and the look still on her face. Then briefly down at herself.

The elf girl's lips quirked in small smile. Her eyes darted back to Asuna for a second, before she turned to give Kirito what Asuna would've sworn was a thorough checking out in turn.

When Kizmel looked back at her, raising one eyebrow, it was all Asuna could do not to drop her jaw. Did… did an NPC just troll me?

At least Kirito hadn't actually seen it. He was still staring fixedly at the bulkhead, ears visibly glowing, and hadn't caught any of the strange byplay. Which, really, was probably the only reason Asuna didn't start flaring up herself. In desperation to keep it that way, she reached for the first distraction she could think of. "So, about that wolf!" she said quickly. "Dark Elves train them?"

"Ah. Yes, we do. Or at least," Kizmel said wryly, "so the wolf handlers claim. Half the time I think they lie about the training, the other half I think the 'wolves' are dogs with delusions of grandeur. Cavall certainly behaves like one, often as not…" She turned to sit on Asuna's bunk, the player scooting over a few centimeters to give her room. "I suppose it's as well, now, with his master gone."

Asuna felt a pang, even knowing the wolf's master had been just another NPC. "He died…?"

"Mm." Kizmel nodded somberly. "In Moonshadow's crash. …Truthfully, I'm still in shock. He was my brother-in-law." She sighed. "I admit I never liked him, but he was my sister's husband after all. I don't know what to say to her, when we finally return to Sandoria…"

Kirito let out a choked sound, and both girls turned to look at him. No longer staring at the wall, his eyes were shining suspiciously. "You… have a sister, Kizmel?" he said, voice hoarse.

"I do. My twin, Tilnel. She's an herbalist, so she remained safely at our encampment on Sandoria…" She trailed off, glancing from one player to the other. "Kirito? Asuna? Is something wrong?"

Clenching her hands, Asuna couldn't hold back the tears. "M-my brother," she got out. "He—he helped me come here, and now—I can't even see him, and I may never again, and—and—!"

She thought she heard Kirito choke out something similar. She wasn't sure, though, caught up in the rush of fear and grief from which she could no longer look away. Her brother—the only one in her family who'd understood—was just on the other side of a polymer helmet, and a world so far away she could barely imagine seeing it again.

She wasn't even sure what hurt more. That she couldn't see him—or the guilt she was terrified he'd feel, for having helped her get into SAO in the first place.

An arm suddenly wrapped around her, pulling her close against against soft warmth. Her shoulder bumped into another at the same time, and Asuna realized Kizmel had pulled her and Kirito into a tight hug. "I'm sorry," the elf girl whispered. "I am so, so very sorry. I know what it is to be away from family, and it is never easy." Kizmel pulled them closer, so their heads were all touching. "I know not what the future may hold, but I promise you this: tonight, you will not be alone.

"For such brave warriors, I can do no less."

Abandoning herself to that warmth, that promise, Asuna buried her face in Kizmel's shoulder, and let herself cry.

So. Kayaba is a crueler man even than we had imagined. At least our people were volunteers who knew this was no game, even if we never guessed the trap.

Sitting on Moonshadow's deck, Kizmel pulled her cloak closer around herself as she looked up at the stars. The two human warriors who had so unexpectedly come to her rescue had fallen asleep, finally. She found herself unable to do the same, in the wake of their grief and terror.

I'm fortunate to have Tilnel here with me, however separated we may be at this moment. Those two—and who knows how many like them, in Origia—have no such comfort.

Three years. That was the best estimate for how long it would take the Swordmasters to fight their way through the Archipelago, and reach Centoria. A brief span for the Dark Elves, an agonizing eternity for humans of their age. If they survived, and Kizmel was sadly certain many of them would not.

"Still worried about those Swordmasters?" Quiet footsteps on the ebony deck accompanied the gruff voice, and in a moment Captain Emlas stood beside her. "I hardly see why those human children have your attention, Dame Kizmel."

"They did save my life, and my mission along with," Kizmel reminded him dryly. "And I would hardly call them children. By our people's measure, perhaps, but by their own they'd be judged old enough to stand on their own." She shook her head. "Young, yes. But not children."

Young, and awkward. She'd found their byplay when Kirito saw her dressed for sleep endearing, truthfully. She only wished it had not so soon led to tears.

Emlas grunted. "Perhaps not children," he allowed, looking over the few other Dark Elves still about so late, keeping watch with smooth precision. "But not warriors, either, despite what Kayaba promised. They saved your life by chance, Dame Kizmel, and whatever your 'honor' might demand, it would be kinder to send them back to Origia come dawn."

"Is that what you see? You're a sailor, Captain, not a warrior—and you were not there to see the battle." Kizmel looked back up to the twin moons, crawling across the night sky beyond the Skywall. "They may well be new to battle, but I tell you this: only souls born to the blade could have so defeated a Forest Knight who had slain so many of our own. They may not be warriors now, but given them only a little time, and that one knight will be only the beginning."

Indeed, Kirito already moved with the confidence of someone who knew the blade. He still relied upon the charms humans called Sword Skills, yes, yet Kizmel knew many of her own order—herself included—who had hardly abandoned them. And Asuna….

Like a shooting star in the night, she thought, remembering the moment the hooded girl entered the battle. Never have I seen a sword move so fast. If she can but muster the confidence, Asuna will be one of those leading the Swordmasters to freedom.

"Potential they may have," Emlas said then, grudgingly. "But can they be trusted? Betrayal by one human sorceress led us to turn to another for aid, and then that sorcerer betrayed us in turn." He shook his head. "Fools we'd be to place our trust in humans now, Dame Kizmel. Your own brother-in-law died this very day to that betrayal."

That barb struck deep, and Kizmel winced. Though she'd never approved of the man, she knew too well how her sister would be hurt by the news.

But that is still not their fault.

Standing, Kizmel turned to the dour captain. "You would judge all humanity by the actions of a few?" Again she shook her head, feeling an incongruous smile tugging at her lips. "You don't know much of what led to the Last Alliance, do you, Captain?"

"You said yourself, I'm a sailor, not a warrior." Emlas snorted. "I know there was no call for such as me in those days—and that its outcome is what led to my calling in the first place. Such was the 'reward' the last time we allied with Men."

"When we return to the Capital, I suggest you visit the Royal Library," she said dryly. "Men were the least of our problems then. In the meantime?" She turned to the hatch leading down into the ship. "Give these two a chance, Captain. They may surprise you."

Leaving Emlas to grunt again, Kizmel slipped below, heading back for the cabin she now shared with the two humans. The captain could make his own decisions in the morning; for now, she would keep her own promises.

He may trust or not as he will. Whether he sees it or not, we have no choice but to risk trust in the Swordmasters. We cannot defeat Quinella ourselves, and with the Forest's mad plans we may never have the chance to face her at all without them.

And I would know the truth of my dreams. Why did I already know Kirito's face…?

November 7th, 2032

"So that's where all the Little Nepenthes were," Kirito murmured, keeping his voice as low as possible as he peered through the undergrowth. "I thought the fight last night had just scared them away or something. Or that they'd been caught up in it and killed…"

"Would that had been the case," Kizmel replied, just as quietly. "Clever of the Forest Elves… though I wonder if they realize they've tipped their hand. Now we know their crystal is still intact."

"Yeah, great," Asuna groused. "But first we have to get through these things to reach the ship. Kirito-kun, didn't you say they hunt by smell?"

"Yeah. And I think I see the ones that can summon more, too. I didn't think there'd be this many of them. Maybe somebody else has been farming around here…?"

The three of them were crouched in the brush, about a kilometer from Moonshadow's crash site. From what the Dark Elves had been able to determine during the previous day's fighting, the Forest Elf airship they'd engaged had gone down somewhere in that general area. In what condition, they hadn't been able to say, but they had to take the chance it was reasonably intact.

"Dame Kizmel granted you sanctuary for the night," Captain Emlas had said, that morning in his cramped cabin. "That much was her right as a Pagoda Knight. As captain of the ship, however, it is my decision whether you stay. To be blunt, I do not trust Swordmasters—but Dame Kizmel tells me you are victims as well. Or claim to be," he'd added pointedly. "So if you wish to earn continued safe harbor, I will give you the chance."

There hadn't been an exclamation point over his head, but Kirito had seen well enough that that had been a quest prompt. "What do you need done, Captain?"

"My ship is dying,"Emlas had said bluntly. Laying a piece of parchment on his desk, he'd begun quickly scribbling with a fountain pen. "The core crystal will last perhaps three more days, at best, and is not sufficient to lift Moonshadow. As the crystal is Wood-aligned, one from a human ship is unlikely to work; your people favor Cold Iron. Therefore…."

"The Forest Elf ship," Asuna had finished, before Kirito could. "You want us to steal their core crystal."

"Indeed. Do that, and I will allow you to remain with Moonshadow." He'd handed Kirito the parchment, and with a quiet chime his quest log had dutifully updated itself. "At least until the first Skywall falls, and we're able to begin our return journey."

Not much of a choice, really. As long as the elves were feuding in the area, it just wasn't safe to go back to the original plan of working on Horunka quests. Kirito was just relieved that Kizmel had immediately volunteered to go with them. Even if the Forest Knight they'd defeated the night before had been the strongest of the surviving Forest Elves, the idea of taking the fight to their ship with just Asuna—a newbie, however talented—for backup had given him the shivers.

Which was how the three of them had come to their current predicament. After returning to the site of the previous night's battle, Kizmel had led them back along the Forest Knight's trail. According to her, the Forest Elves had been in such a hurry that they hadn't even covered their tracks.

Sloppy of them, she'd noted with some derision, and Kirito didn't exactly disagree. He'd have thought himself that "Forest" Elves would've been more careful in their element.

Yet not so sloppy they hadn't left a trap. He remembered farming Little Nepenthes in the beta test, and that had been by taking on groups of about three at a time. There must've been a couple of dozen ahead of them now, at least four of them the rare—supposedly—type that, if not attacked very carefully, summoned reinforcements.

"Well," Kizmel said, after about five minutes of observing the situation and hoping the Nepenthes would wander off on more normal mob patterns. "We'll hardly make any progress simply staring at them…. Kirito, Asuna, I trust you know how to fight these creatures?"

"Yeah," Kirito said immediately. Well, I do, and I can explain to Asuna. That rapier of hers will be good for this kind of work, and she's certainly fast enough. He tried to ignore the sudden feeling of a glare on the side of his head, focusing on the elf girl. "You have an idea?" She was a quest NPC, after all. It wouldn't be surprising if she had info for getting past a tricky spot.

"I do." Kizmel lifted the hood of her cloak, pulling it up over her head. "My Mistmoon Cloak can conceal me from the eye. It works best at dawn and dusk, but the day is still young enough to give me some measure of effect." She nodded toward the Nepenthes. "I will swing wide around them. Even if the Forest Elves are influencing them with their ship's core crystal, they will have guards beyond. If I distract them, they're likely to try to call the Nepenthes to them."

"Then we hit them from behind," Asuna said slowly. "Pick them off while they're confused…?" She frowned, the expression barely visible under her own hood. "Will you be okay, Kizmel?"

Kizmel smiled. "The Forest Elves sent their best yesterday, to their cost. Those that remain… well. The day I cannot lead a few sailors on a merry chase through the forest is the day I give up my knighthood." She pulled her cloak close and turned away, her outline wavering. "Wait for them to move, then strike. Carefully—I'd not lose more comrades to the Forest."

Even her voice seemed to disappear under her cloak, and with it her footsteps. After just a couple of seconds, the only thing to mark her passage was a light rustling of leaves, then even that was gone.

"…Okay. I guess we're committed now." The tone of Asuna's voice forced Kirito to look, and as he'd feared she was glaring at him. Not as badly as the previous night, but still enough to make him flinch. "Now that you've volunteered me for something else—and we're going to talk about that later—what's the plan here, Kirito-kun?"

Trying to ignore the sharp edges of her gaze, he quickly gestured toward the Nepenthes. "Short version? They hunt by smell. They don't hear very well, and I don't think they can see at all. They spit acid, so try to dodge when you can, that eats armor pretty fast…. Otherwise, basically, just hit them as hard and fast as you can. But make sure it's the body." He pointed to the round fruit at the end of the stalk on one particular Nepenthe. "Hit that, and it'll burst. The gas from it doesn't hurt, but it does attract more Nepenthes."

Which would be bad. Something he hoped Asuna wouldn't have to experience directly. He remembered he'd gotten swarmed under by them, the first time he'd attempted the quest that rewarded the Anneal Blade in the beta. Even without pain sensation, having his avatar melted by corrosive attacks had been very disturbing. Now it still wouldn't hurt, but that wouldn't be much consolation when respawning was no longer possible.

Asuna was silent for a moment, crouched there in the bushes. Then she nodded once, firmly. "Dodge the acid, hit the body, don't hit the fruit. Got it."

Whew. Kirito still wasn't at all sure about being partly responsible for someone else's safety, but at least she seemed to be a quick study. He'd known players during the beta who hadn't been nearly so quick to understand. Huh… I wonder how many of them got the retail version?

He quickly shied away from that thought, and its implications. Instead he brought his attention back to his partner, opened his mouth to make an inane comment to break the silence—and paused, seeing the troubled frown on her face.

"Kirito-kun," Asuna said softly. "About… last night." She hesitated, then seemed to push herself to go on. "Is that… normal, for an NPC?"

For a second, Kirito thought she was talking about the fight with the Forest Knight. Then he remembered, much later, Kizmel's behavior aboard Moonshadow, when the two of them had finally broken down from the day's events. When the realization that he was completely cut from Suguha had really sunk in, with everything it meant.

Honestly, her question wasn't anything he hadn't thought of himself, since waking up that morning. Being hugged by an NPC was an experience he definitely hadn't had in the beta, and for that matter he'd been pretty sure the system's anti-harassment code would prevent it entirely. That, on top of Kizmel's behavior on first seeing them….

"No," he said finally. "It isn't. But…." He frowned, thinking back to some of the articles Argus had released between the end of the beta and opening day of the retail version. "I remember Kayaba commented in an interview that they were going to tweak the NPC AI based on feedback from the beta. And the system is supposed to pick up on emotion to some degree."

"So it was just… some kind of automated response?" Asuna looked away. "…I see."

Yeah. It can be hard to accept NPCs aren't really people. Must be even worse for somebody who's new to gaming in general. Kirito wanted to say something, anything, to cheer her up. Unfortunately he really didn't have enough points invested in his social skills, and—

A rustle beyond the bushes interrupted his musings, and both of them looked up in time to see the Little Nepenthes beginning to move away. "Kizmel must've gotten their attention. Let's go!"

It was going to take him awhile to get used to just how fast Asuna was, when she put her mind to it. He'd barely even spoken before she was in motion, first in a low run, then blazing like a meteor as she triggered a Linear halfway there. Before any of the Nepenthes could begin to react to the sudden attack from behind, her rapier was already plunging into the rearmost of them.

Not that Kirito was much slower. His own Rage Spike carried him across the gap a breath behind Asuna, carving a deep line up the back of a Nepenthe. Not as deep a strike as hers, but he judged it about equal in damage just from surface area.

That got the plant monsters' attention pretty thoroughly, and in a moment he and Asuna were both dodging back and away from the tentacle-like vines suddenly flailing their way—not to mention a sudden spray of acid from the one Kirito had hit.

Trained reflexes from the beta let him sidestep that without too much trouble, and a quick glance to his right showed him Asuna gracefully pirouetting away from another. Mid-spin, she slashed at the vines; though her rapier wasn't at its best with such attacks, it worked well enough against fragile targets.

The trick, Kirito reflected as he hit his own target with a quick Horizontal, was to not aggro too many at once. The Nepenthes were only two levels above them, with fairly predictable attacks. From what he could tell, the mass they were dealing with was really several groups of three or four; if Kizmel's guess were correct, and the Forest Elves were somehow influencing them, it ought to be possible to kite them.

So long as Kizmel keeps the Forest Elves distracted, he reminded himself, ducking a vine that tried to slap him in the face. If she doesn't, this could get ugly really quick—there!

He had to hop over an attempt by another Nepenthe to trip him, but it gave him just the opening he needed to whip another Horizontal right across his current target's mouth. With a hiss that defied exact description, the plant monster recoiled, shuddered, and shattered to azure pieces.

That gave him just a moment of breathing space, enough time to check on Asuna. Who was doing just fine, he quickly found, her rapier stabbing deep into her own foe's main body. "Yuck!" she said, as it exploded. "Plant monsters with vines… what kind of pervert designed this game?! There'd better not be tentacle monsters later!"

Kirito almost mentioned the Ignition Squids he'd seen mentioned in a dev blog. Almost. The look Asuna gave him when he opened his mouth stopped him in his tracks—and the sudden sizzle as another Nepenthe took advantage of his distraction to spray his left sleeve with acid derailed anything else he might've said anyway.

Yelping, he shook his arm and spun to attack the offending monster. Yelped again, hastily lowering the angle of his strike, when he spotted the fruit hanging from the Nepenthe's stalk. The resulting blow was clumsy and weak, though it did do the job of making the mob recoil.

Besides, he thought, bouncing on his feet to regain his balance, she probably already knows about those anyway. Didn't she say she'd read all the pre-release info? Even if she hadn't understood the technical details, she should've at least grasped the basics of the monster designs well enough.

Come to think of it, maybe that was half of why she was mad. If the Nepenthes were that bad, the cephalopod monsters were likely to be worse.

Well. If they were, Kirito was at least fairly confident Asuna would be able to handle them by the time the players reached the islands that had them. As the two of them tore into the Nepenthes, ducked around and jumped over thrashing vines, and dodged acid sprays, the fencer was doing at least as much damage as he was. Her movements might not have been as practiced as a beta tester's would've been, but her sheer speed meant every strike that hit, hit hard.

Alone, it would've taken him twenty minutes to thin out that crowd of mobs. Though they weren't that strong, he'd have had to draw them out as far away from each other as possible. With Asuna's help, they had the original group cut down by at least half in five minutes, without having once triggered reinforcements.

More like, I wouldn't have risked taking on this many at all. Batting aside a vine that tried to whip his face with his free arm, Kirito buried his sword in the Nepenthe's body before it could bring any other vines into play. Too bad Horunka ended up a no-go. With her help, finishing the Anneal Blade quest would've been a cinch. As it is, I haven't even seen—wait. Is that…?

With a quiet snarl, Asuna stabbed another Nepenthe through the mouth, and yanked her blade back through the resulting fragments. "It looks like the rest are going for Kizmel's diversion," she said, after a quick glanced around. "Do you think—wait, what are you doing?"

He didn't answer, too focused on lining up his left arm on one of the retreating Nepenthes. Never tried this in the beta, but I don't see any reason this shouldn't work….

"Excuse me? I asked what you're doing. Kirito-kun? Hey, isn't that one of the special kind? Hey, listen when someone's talking to you—Are you crazy—?!"

With a twitch of his wrist, Kirito's grapnel shot out at the Nepenthe. It caught on the object hanging from the end of its stalk, cable wrapping tight. A quick tug proved it was secure, and with a yank he started the grapnel retracting—ripping the end of the Nepenthe's stalk right off with it.

He caught it as the grapnel clicked back into place on his wrist, and grinned. "Gotcha!"

"…Have you completely lost your mind?" Asuna hissed, glaring at him. "You told me not to hit that!"

"This isn't one of those fruits." Triumphantly, Kirito held the scarlet fruit he'd snagged where she could see it more clearly. "This is the key item for one of the quests I wanted to do around here. After how last night turned out, I didn't think I'd have a chance to get one, especially with how low the drop rate is. This'll be a big help."

For a long moment, she just stared at him, unblinking. Then, slowly, she shook her head. "Yeah. Great. Good for you. You do realize you've just—what's the word—'aggroed' that entire group of them? Meaning we have more work to do for this quest?"

Blinking, Kirito turned to look. Sure enough, the Nepenthe he'd just hurt was running their way, leg-like roots churning, and three of its friends were coming right along with. "…Oops?"

Asuna sighed, raising her rapier again. "You? Are impossible."

Being the one leading the Forest Elves on a chase through the woods, as opposed to being the one being chased, was a satisfying role reversal indeed. Doing so against mere sailors, rather than the skilled knights of the previous day, made it all the better.

Clearly, they sent their best against us yesterday, Kizmel thought, ghosting through the trees toward the crashed Forest Elf airship. Had they any Knights left, doubtless they'd have come searching for me by now. …At least our own sacrifices were not in vain.

Sacrifices repaid in blood. On top of the battle from which two humans had saved her, she'd now eliminated three of Forest Elves' remaining men-at-arms, in a fashion that was almost painfully easy. Skilled as those of the Forest were at influencing the denizens of the wood to do their bidding, they had nothing akin to a Dark Elf's Mistmoon Cloak.

Ambush tactics were not Kizmel's preference. Under the circumstances, however, she few qualms hunting down her foes. Not after what they'd done.

Hopefully the chase gave Kirito and Asuna the advantage they needed against those Little Nepenthes. Not that such measures would've been required, if Captain Emlas had released some of his men to aid us….

Unfair to the captain, that. Probably. Technically, securing the Jade Key was Kizmel's mission, not his, and he did need to consider his ship's welfare over all else. Nonetheless, it had been hard for her not to point out to him the mission she now pursued was critical to said welfare.

Well. There's naught to be gained from sulking now, is there. Kirito and Asuna should be along soon, and in the meantime… let us see about that ship.

Sleeker and smaller than Moonshadow, Kizmel noticed when the ship came into her view. Something she hadn't had a chance to notice during the air battle, though in hindsight it explained some things. Such as why the Forest Elves were relying on monsters for defense. Clearly, they had fewer trained to fight afoot than Moonshadow.

The ship was also in noticeably worse shape. Moonshadow would be fit to fly again in perhaps a couple of days, if the core crystal could be replaced and enough fallen wood gathered to patch the hull. The Forest Elven ship's keel was broken, her bow splintered by a direct impact with a rather large boulder. Clearly, that was one airship that would never again bother the Kingdom of Lyusula.

Kizmel wasn't terribly surprised. Given that evidence suggested the ship's core crystal was intact—and this close, she could feel the crystal's power, warm and steady—she'd known there had to be another reason the Forest Elves hadn't lifted again.

That they would have if they could, she was sure. Between sheer bad luck in crash locations and the path of the crash itself, the Forest Elf airship had much less in the way of cover than Moonshadow. Even if she and her new companions hadn't tracked them down, it was obvious some Swordmaster or group thereof would've stumbled across them soon enough.

Which might have had interesting consequences. I'd like to think those two are representative of their people, but even the best might make unwise judgments under such duress. …Speaking of, I hope they are not in trouble. With how long it took me to finish those chasing me, I would've expected them to be here by now.

To her relief, she'd only been watching the Forest Elf ship for perhaps five minutes when her ears caught the faint sound of bodies moving through the brush. Turning back the way she'd come, she soon saw Kirito and Asuna creeping up. Their clothing was perhaps a bit torn—Kizmel recognized acid burns well enough—but they were both well enough to her eyes.

They did well, to receive so little injury, she thought, glancing briefly at the still-disorienting bars hanging in one corner of her vision. Though Asuna appears a bit exasperated. I wonder what happened?

When the two were close, Kizmel drew back her hood. "There you are," she said, pitching her voice to reach their ears alone. "I was beginning to worry, but you both look well enough. Were the Nepenthes more difficult than expected?"

"Not really," Kirito said, doing an admirable job of masking his surprise at her appearance. "We just didn't kite them quite well enough toward the end, that's all."

"He means, he accidentally drew the stragglers right at us," Asuna said dryly, giving the youth a brief, mild glare. "Which we're going to talk about… later." She nodded at the crashed ship. "What's the plan?"

Accidentally? I wonder what he did…. Well. Regardless, they're performing admirably for those new to the battlefield. Aloud, Kizmel said, "It seems we did indeed finish off their skilled fighters last night." Pointing toward the ship, she continued, "After the four I dealt with on the way here, and considering the condition of the wreck, I suspect we'll not face serious opposition even inside. Most likely, perhaps a dozen remain aboard a ship that size."

"A dozen." Kirito frowned for a moment, then nodded. "If we don't have to fight them all at once, we should be able to handle that. If I remember right, the core crystal should be toward the stern, close to the keel?"

Making a mental note to ask just what knowledge the Swordmasters had been given about the world to which they'd been called—and why Kirito seemed to know more than Asuna did—Kizmel nodded. "On a ship of this size, yes. Of course, that's also most likely where most of the survivors are, but between the three of us, that should not be a problem."

"Of course." Asuna still looked dubious—which Kizmel thought was fair enough, all things considered; she was surprised the two were fit to fight at all—but she made no protest. "So where do we go in? The deck?"

"We could. But why take the obvious route?" Kizmel allowed herself a small smile, and gestured toward the ship's splintered bow. "It would be a shame to waste the efforts Moonshadow's made, would it not?"

Fighting Forest Elf Sailors was much easier than the Knight Asuna had first encountered. With Kirito and Kizmel, fighting through to the deepest reaches of the airship proved a lot easier than she'd expected. Seeing what waiting for them there, she wasn't at all sure the quest would stay so easy.

It was a rectangular compartment, larger than anything Asuna had yet seen aboard either elven airship. Strange devices, most of them dark and battered, were set into the bulkheads, a few of them connected to glowing lines in the deck. Those, Asuna saw, led to a cylinder in the center of the compartment, made of some kind of transparent material that didn't quite seem to be glass.

Floating in the center of that cylinder was an emerald crystal, with spikes protruding in every direction. Those spikes, she noticed, pulsed in time with the lines in the deck. "So… that must be the core crystal."

"It is, Swordmaster." From the shadows behind one of the larger devices, a tall Forest Elf stepped into view. Much like Moonshadow's Captain Emlas, he wore a uniform rather than proper armor, though he did have some kind of light breastplate over it. "You've not seen one before? Be glad your last new sight bears the power of Kales'Oh. It is an honor few humans have ever been granted." His lips curled in a bitter smile. "It's the reward you've earned, for killing so many of my men."

"It is hardly your right to complain," Kizmel told him, moving half a step ahead of Asuna. "You attacked us. You've none to blame but yourselves."

"Bah. This, after what the people of Lyusula have done? It was we who were provoked, girl." The Forest Elven Captain snorted, and smoothly drew a cutlass from his waist. "It matters not. You'll not have my ship's core crystal—nor will any of you leave here alive!"

"Scripted event, adds coming," Kirito whispered quickly in her ear. "Look out!"

He didn't have to tell her twice. Or even the first time, really. The Captain was already throwing himself across the room, cutlass blazing in a skill Asuna didn't yet recognize, to clash swords with Kizmel. At the same time, hatches to either side crashed open, letting in four Sailors.

Outnumbered, and no time to retreat. Kirito opened by firing his grapnel to tangle one Sailor's legs, tripping him into another. Asuna darted in the other direction, rapier already blazing into a Linear. The tip pierced deep into the first Sailor's chest, staggering him—but unlike Kirito's pair, the second was quick enough to jump to one side rather than be tangled.

The cutlass blow that came down on her shoulder, in the instant she was held by the Linear's backlash, prompted an instinctive flinch. VR or not, she still hadn't had a chance to get used to the lack of pain, and just anticipating it made her hesitate. That hesitation almost cost her badly, her first target recovering enough to slash at her side.

Somehow, she managed to twist aside and push between them. Then, whirling, she ducked the second Sailor's next blazing slash to stab the first in the right shoulder. That elf's sword, coming down toward her, was thrown wide by the blow, giving her time to ready another skill.

Asuna wasn't a gamer. That didn't mean she didn't understand the idea of focusing on one enemy at a time, in the hopes of cutting down the attacks coming back at her. That in mind, she slashed her Streak across that first Sailor's nose, and did her best to dodge the second rather than engage him directly.

Kirito, she noticed, was having a bit of an easier time of things. In a brief glimpse she got while sidestepping a cutlass slash aimed at taking off her hand, she saw he'd managed to drop one of his enemies to the deck again, his grapnel just then pulling back to his wrist, leaving him free to clash blades with the other. In that quick moment, he countered a Sword Skill with one of his own, the impact triggering a rebound that pushed them both back.

It was hard to tell, in the heat of the moment, but she was fairly sure the impact had done a tiny bit more damage to the elf's HP than to Kirito's.

"You've found skilled allies, I'll give you that," Asuna heard the Captain grind out. Risking a glance that way, in between shoving one Sailor's arm wide and stabbing the other in the stomach, she saw the Captain and Kizmel circling the core crystal, swords shining. "Even after the loss of the Knights yesterday, I did not expect you to so easily slaughter my men."

"Oh, I've confidence in my companions, to be sure," Kizmel retorted, stepping quickly around the cylinder to pursue the Captain. "Though sending sailors to do the job of knights and men-at-arms was your own mistake. Even sending monsters to do your bidding was a tactic only as good as their handlers."

"True enough. But!" The Captain suddenly lunged to meet her, cutlass arcing down toward Kizmel's sword arm in a blaze of red light. "My ship may be hampered by the Betrayer's strictures. You'll find me not so easily struck down, dog of Lyusula!"

Kizmel caught the blow on her shield and shoved back. "Boast as you will, 'Captain'," she said, her saber already lancing in. "You may not be bound as your men, but you're hardly a knight yourself!"

Asuna had the strangest feeling she was only getting about half the conversation. She didn't really have time to worry about it, though, as in her moment of distraction both her enemies had positioned themselves to attack again. One cutlass was coming for her shoulder—again—while the other was heading for her flank, and there was only time to even try to disrupt one.

She settled for an Oblique, stabbing one of the Sailors in the thigh. The blade that would've bitten into her ribs instead went on past, the Sailor collapsing to one knee, and her own motion carried her down below the other sword. The overhand blow still bit into her shoulder, but not hard or as deep.

Somewhere off on the other side of the compartment, there was a shattering sound. Emboldened, Asuna chose to ignore the still-standing Sailor, instead kicking out with one boot to strike the fallen one's uninjured leg. His hands went to the deck to catch himself, and in that moment she drove another Oblique into the back of his neck.

A breath, while he shattered and she recovered from the Oblique's post-motion. A breath that let a cutlass carve into her side, taking a good ten percent of her HP in one blow. Just a breath—and then Asuna was whirling, putting the momentum of that and a quick step into a Linear, blasting the Sailor right into the bulkhead.

Down to the one foe, she didn't let up. In the time it took the Forest Elf to hit the wall and bounce back, she'd recovered and set up for another Linear. Then another, with the same result. She was left wondering if that was normal, but this time didn't allow any distractions. This time, she only pressed the attack, and on one final rebound drove a simple thrust into the Sailor's throat.

The standard shattered-glass sound seemed oddly staccato that time, and it took Asuna a moment to realize it was because there'd been a second one behind her. Quickly turning, she found Kirito lowering his sword, and giving her a thumbs-up with his free hand. "Nice stun-lock!"

Stun-lock? Argh, later!

"So. All my men, dead." The Captain's words came out through gritted teeth, his sword grating against Kizmel's. "Perhaps—I underestimated you—after all. But in that case—I will not let you have your prize!"

He suddenly pulled back and spun, the abrupt lack of resistance making Kizmel stagger forward. His cutlass was already glowing, crimson edge crashing into the cylinder. It shrieked, cracked, shattered; the sword kept on going, blazing toward the core crystal—

Kirito's Vertical took his left arm off just below the shoulder, staggering him. Asuna's Linear drove into his right wrist, forcing him to drop the cutlass a few centimeters from the crystal. The gleam of a skill Asuna didn't yet know took Kizmel's saber into the Captain's spine.

With a choked gasp, the Captain slumped against the broken cylinder. As Kizmel's blade came back out, he slumped to the deck, and awkwardly turned to face them. His head came up, and he stared straight at the tip of that Dark Elf saber.

No fear in his eyes, Asuna saw. No regret. Even as the last traces of red drained from his lifebar, he only looked at Kizmel in pure defiance.

The Dark Elf stared back, pitiless. "So," she said evenly. "Bested by one Pagoda Knight, and two humans who'd scarcely touched a blade before. Tell me, 'Captain', would you rather say it was their strength, or your men's weakness? After all, your people and mine are bound by the same ropes."

There was a bitterness there, one so at odds with Kizmel's caring and friendly demeanor with them that Asuna wondered if there was something personal involved. Only with difficulty did she remember the elf girl was only an NPC following a script.

…Which still doesn't really answer my question, does it? A good story has a reason for this kind of thing, right?

"Boast as you will, 'Knight'," the Captain said bitterly, eyes falling closed. "Your victory here means little. Lyusula's chosen to ally themselves with dwellers in the dark? Well… Kales'Oh has allies, too. In the end, neither of us may see which dark bargain prevails…."

He fell still, then. A moment later, he shattered, scattering into fading blue shards like his men.

Asuna stared at the spot where the Captain had been for a long, long moment. So this… is a VRMMO? It… feels so real. Too real….

Shuddering, she looked up at Kirito. Seeing the strange look on his face, she forced her thoughts away from the Captain's last words, and said, "I thought you said the Captain would be harder?"

"He was," Kizmel said dryly, sheathing her saber. "Without your aid, I would never have prevailed here…. You might look to your own wounds, Asuna. You fought very well, and I am impressed, but I think you'd best not fight again in your condition."

Asuna blinked, glanced up at her HP, and blanched. She was still in the yellow, but only barely; another solid hit from one of the Sailors would've dropped her right into the red. If there'd been more of them—or if the ones we fought on the way had waited to fight us in here instead—

At least she had the satisfaction of seeing Kirito also scrambling to pull a potion from a belt pouch, face noticeably red.

Kizmel chuckled. "Don't be too ashamed. I admit, when Kayaba's spell took hold even my fellow Knights and I made grave missteps before we became used to the lack of pain. If you're willing, I can at least help you with that. In the meantime…."

She reached into the shattered cylinder, gripped the crystal still floating in the center, and pulled it free. As she did, the glowing lines on the deck dimmed, and the ambient light within the ship soon died away.

Lit only by the core crystal's inner glow, Kizmel gestured back the way they'd come. "Now that we have our prize, shall we return?" She smiled wryly. "Perhaps Captain Emlas' mood will be improved, with this in hand. …Perhaps."

When the three of them returned to Moonshadow—after fighting through several groups of respawned Little Nepenthes, to Asuna's annoyance—they found the Dark Elves had been busy in their absence. Several piles of deadwood lay next to the crashed ship's hull, and some of the crew were busily sawing individual pieces into shape.

Asuna wasn't sure which gave her a greater feeling of unreality: the unnaturally smooth way the NPCs went about their tasks, or the way generic sawing motions were turning chunks of wood into perfectly-shaped planks. Even more than the way injuries were represented by red particles and wireframes and the dead shattered into polygons, it clashed with the overall sense of reality SAO had.

She only had a moment to think about that, though, before Captain Emlas came down the plank from Moonshadow's deck. The wolf—Cavall, she recalled—followed close behind, sniffing at the air. "So, you've returned," he began. "Did you succeed, or did the Forest Elves send you back with your tails between your legs?"

There might've been a trace of exasperation on Kizmel's face, just for a moment. Then it was gone, replaced with cool professionalism. "There were a dozen or so sailors left to the Forest Elf ship, and they'd turned their core crystal to influencing the local monsters." Her lips quirked in a small smile. "With the aid of two Swordmasters, it was a simple enough task."

Simple, she says. Well, it was definitely easier than I thought it'd be, at least. At the elven knight's nod, Asuna brought up her menu, tapped through to the inventory, and materialized the emerald crystal. "One core crystal," she said coolly, taking some satisfaction in the way Emlas' eyes widened. "As requested."

With obvious care, Emlas took the crystal from her hands. "Fully intact," he murmured. "A minor miracle… and one that may yet save us all." The captain looked up from the crystal and gave the two players each a nod, looking much less dismissive than he had before. "It seems we're in your debt, Swordmasters. As agreed, you've sanctuary with Moonshadow, at least until we're able to return to our own territory."

There was a chime in her ear, and a quick flash; realizing it was the quest completion—and, she thought, her first level-up—Asuna felt tension she hadn't noticed was there flow out of her shoulders. "Thank you, Captain," she said sincerely. "…Is there anything else we can help with?"

"Ha!" There might almost have been a ghost of a smile on Emlas' face. Just for a second, before his gruff frown returned, and he shook his head. "Repairing Moonshadow is elven work, Dame Asuna, and replacing a core crystal without killing the ship is delicate work indeed. Though if you are determined to make yourself useful, I suppose we could stand having another sword to keep off the local monsters."

She blinked at that, wondering what two players could contribute on top of the dozen or so Dark Elves clustered around the ship. Then, looking closer, she realized most—if not all—of them were lacking armor, with only a couple of them even armed. The night before, Emlas had stated confidently that his crew could easily take two Swordmasters, but after those two had just helped fight through a ship's worth of Forest Elf sailors….

Kizmel's slow nod seemed to confirm her thoughts. "I would certainly welcome the help," she said. "Even with Cavall's aid, I can only fight what I can see, and nothing more than what comes within reach of my sword." The wolf gave a low yip at that, though Asuna couldn't guess if he was agreeing or not.

"Then I'm up for it." She turned to her partner, whom she now realized had been oddly silent since their return. "Shall we, Kirito-kun?"

"…Actually," he said, shaking his head, "if you don't mind, there's something I need to take care of first. I should be back by sundown."

Asuna frowned. "What? What could you possibly need to do right now? We got the crystal." If there's something else he hasn't told me, I swear, I'm going to tie him up with his grapnel and sit on him….

Kirito raised his hands defensively. "No, really, it's not that big a deal. It's just, you remember that quest item I got from the Little Nepenthes?" Clearly seeing the way her eyebrows twitched at that, he hurried on, "I just want to go and turn in the quest. Don't worry, you'll get your share of EXP just from being in my party—and I promise, as soon as I can I'll find you a quest with an equivalent equipment reward!"

…That does not reassure me. "And there's a reason you want to go alone?"

"It's more efficient if you stay here and help guard the ship," he said. "This way we'll both be getting EXP, if only from the quest rewards. Besides, it'll be faster for me to get there and back by myself. Easier to get around any mobs on the way, if nothing else."

She still wasn't convinced. At all. And if she was any judge, Kizmel wasn't either—and if the NPC could tell something was up, Asuna was sure it wasn't her imagination. Even so, she couldn't entirely argue with his logic, and he was the expert. So far.

"…Fine. Just make sure you really don't stay out too late. If I have to go looking for you, you won't like it!"

Kirito felt bad for ditching Asuna, even for just a couple of hours. Really, he did. But he'd told her the truth about it being more efficient, this once, to do two quests at once. And he was kind of hoping to remember some quest or other that might give out a good rapier before she saw what he was getting from this quest.

What was most on his mind as he dashed through the forest toward Horunka Village, though, was the nature of the particular quest. The details of it, and Asuna's breakdown the previous night when Kizmel had mentioned being cut off from her sister.

He didn't know the details of her family situation, and he wasn't going to ask. He was going to try to spare her from having it thrown in her face again, if he possibly could.

When Kirito reached Horunka, he slipped in through a back road, rather than the main street. Though he and Asuna had been the first players to leave Origia the previous night, he strongly suspected other beta testers had followed suit not too long after. Right then, he wasn't ready to confront any of them.

Alleys it was, taking him between rows of classic European-style houses. Keeping to the shadows—wishing idly as he did that he'd had the chance to pick up the Hiding skill, just to minimize chances of encounters—he quickly made his way toward the center of the village. That far in, he glimpsed a few other players; luckily for him, they seemed caught up in their own business.

Reaching one small house in particular, Kirito paused at its door. I hope nobody else is doing this right now. Bumping into another player here, of all places, would be beyond awkward. Steeling himself, he rapped sharply on the door.

"…Come in."

Opening it, he found himself in a small kitchen, where a tired-looking woman stood over a stove. She was stirring a pot, and a golden exclamation point hung over her head. She glanced at him, a look of mild curiosity barely easing the worried frown.

Kirito had never tried to complete this particular quest without technically starting it first, but he'd known other quests that could be completed at once. He just hoped he'd guessed right on the key phrases. "Excuse me," he said quietly. "I was passing through the village, and happened to hear your daughter was sick." Bringing up his menu, he produced the Little Nepenthe's Ovule he'd claimed in battle earlier. "I thought this might help…?"

The woman's eyes brightened, and she quickly took the proffered fruit. "Thank you, kind Swordmaster," she said, turning to add it the pot. "This was just what I needed, but I knew I couldn't go looking for it myself…."

He watched, then, as the quest continued on. This one, at least, played out as he remembered from the beta. The young mother poured the contents of the pot into a bowl, and carefully carried it into another room. She gave it to the sickly girl lying in the bed, just as in the beta test. There was no dramatic change, when the girl drank the soup; maybe just a little color returning to her cheeks. But it was enough for the quest to register as completed in his log, and he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Then the girl turned him, looked him right in the eye, and smiled. "Thank you… Onii-chan."

If that dam hadn't already broken the previous night, Kirito would've lost it just then. It was too much like Suguha, the last time he'd nursed her through a bad cold. Even after the previous night's breakdown, he still felt himself begin to choke up, and he could only give a silent bow.

He was deeply relieved when the mother led him back into the kitchen. "I can't thank you enough for your help, Swordmaster," she said, crossing to a large chest against the room's southern wall. "This is just a small token, but I think it will serve you more than my family." Opening the chest, she took out a long sword, sheathed in a red scabbard, and handed it to him.

Kirito took it gratefully. Normally the simple sword he'd bought in Origia would've at least lasted him a few days, but after fighting so many Little Nepenthes and the totally unexpected Forest Elves, it was already nicked, battered, and even a bit melted. The Anneal Blade was a fine replacement, which he thought ought to last him the rest of the first island.

After murmuring his thanks, he turned to go—only to pause, hearing the mother speak again. "I know you, don't I? You're that boy from Rulid Village."

Heart suddenly hammering in his ears, a chill running down his veins, Kirito turned to face the woman again. "…I'm sorry…?"

She peered closely at his face, then nodded firmly. "Yes, I remember. It's been years, but I can still see the boy from back then in you." She smiled. "I always thought you'd grow up to be a fine swordsman one day. I'm glad to see I was right. I knew the stories couldn't be true…. Thank you, Kirito. And good luck."

Blinking rapidly, Kirito stammered out an incoherent acknowledgment—and fled, running out into the reddening light.

November 9th, 2032

It took another two days after taking the Forest Elf core crystal for Moonshadow's repairs to be completed. During that time, Asuna found herself and Kirito pressed into scavenging deadwood to supplement what the crew had already gathered, as well as helping Kizmel fend off occasional monster attacks. In between, Kirito took her through some simple nearby quests, to gain experience and a few useful quest rewards.

Kizmel, to Kirito's evident confusion, accompanied them for most of those. The NPC waved it off as merely the honorable thing to do, but it was clear to Asuna that he found it very strange. For her part, though, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth; not when she was still so new to VR.

Besides which, the elf girl's presence helped keep Asuna's mind off the truth of their situation. So far, it still didn't quite feel real, and she was dreading the moment it all sank in.

Finally, after those two days, Moonshadow was hale and whole again. That afternoon, Captain Emlas gruffly invited the two Swordmasters to the ship's bridge. "Without the two of you, my ship would've died," he said, when Kizmel led them in. "You've the right to see her sail again."

"Thank you, Captain," Asuna said, giving a shallow bow. "We appreciate it." Glancing quickly to her left, she discretely elbowed Kirito. "Don't we?"

He jumped. "Eh? Oh, yeah! Of course we do, Captain. You've helped us out a lot."

There might've been just a flicker of amusement in Emlas' eye. "Have we, now? Well. Stay out of the way, and in a few moments you'll see the real fruit of your labors."

If there was one benefit to Asuna's upbringing, it was knowing how to stay out of the way. With a chuckling Kizmel, she pulled Kirito off to one side, and took a moment to take in the bridge. Set at the top of Moonshadow's sterncastle, it was furnished of the same ebony as the rest of the ship, with windows that didn't quite look like glass ringing it. Consoles of a gleaming metal she was pretty sure wasn't steel were placed at intervals, each of them occupied by one of the ship's—fairly generic-looking, if she was honest—sailors.

At the center was what she presumed was the captain's chair. Hard to say for sure just then, though, as Emlas was standing at the wheel a meter or so ahead of it, gently turning it one way and then the other. There was a small smile on the gruff captain's face now, giving him a gentler cast than Asuna had so far seen from him.

"All right, men," Emlas said then. "Let's be about it." He touched the panel standing beside the wheel, and a tone like wind chimes sounded. "Engine room. Is the crystal stable?"

"Aye, Captain," came a voice from, as far as Asuna could tell, nowhere. "Lift field ready at your order. Just… please be careful, Sir. Core crystals are always touchy, settling in with new ships."

The captain grunted. "As I know all too well… Very well, Engineer. Under the circumstances, I'd rather keep things slow and gentle anyway. I'd not alarm anyone who might be watching." He tapped the panel again, and nodded to one of the elves standing at the front of the bridge. "Power to the lift field. Get us off the ground, nice and easy."

"Power to the lift field, aye. Lifting."

As Moonshadow began to thrum around them, Asuna leaned in close to Kirito. "Do you find it as weird as I do," she whispered, "hearing elves talk like that?"

"Kinda, yeah," he murmured back. "I didn't deal much with their ships back in the beta—not intact ones, anyway… and don't look at me like that. It's a war, remember?" He shrugged, too casually. "And it's not like I spent that much of my time on this one quest, anyway."

"Hm…." She narrowed her eyes at him, and glanced suspiciously at the sword hilt over his right shoulder. He didn't meet her gaze, instead turning to watch the ship's liftoff preparations. Innocently, as if there was nothing strange at all.

Asuna didn't believe his act for a moment. Though he'd since taken her through a quest to get her a set of light but sturdy armor, as compensation for having snuck off to get himself a new sword, she still hadn't forgotten Kirito's behavior that night. She hadn't even really cared about the sword, so much as how quiet and unsettled he'd been.

Kirito claimed the Anneal Blade quest had gone as normal, and that if he seemed at all off it was just because of the whole "trapped in a death game" mess. He might even have been telling the truth; it wasn't like she'd known him for more than three days. But she was sure something had happened, when he'd been out of her sight. While she might not have known him, personally, she knew masks all too well.

"Truthfully," Kizmel said softly, interrupting Asuna's scrutiny, "I've often thought airship crews are almost as odd as wolf handlers." She smiled wryly, when Asuna turned to look. "The ways of a knight have changed little in a thousand generations, Asuna. The traditions of sailors seem to change too fast to keep up, by the standards of my people."

Moonshadow's thrumming increased as the elf girl spoke, and the ship shivered. There was a pause, like the ship herself taking a breath—and with a feeling like pulling free from mud, she moved, the view beyond the bridge windows lifting from the downward slant the crash had left the ship in.

"Lift field holding, Captain."

"Very good. When we're somewhere less conspicuous, we can repair the balancers…. Pull in the landing skids."

"Pulling in landing skids, Captain."

"You know," Kizmel mused, as Moonshadow began to rise, "I've been wondering. Though the two of you answered my appeal to the Last Alliance quickly enough, plainly you did not expect to find me there at all." She quirked one curious eyebrow. "If you'd not heard of my mission, may I ask why you were there at all?"

Asuna exchanged a quick look with Kirito. In theory, the answer to that should've been simply that they were Swordmasters, and running around slaying monsters was just what they did. By rights, even by Asuna's vague knowledge of AI, that should've been the only answer Kizmel could understand at all.

But in three days, the elf girl had never fallen back on the generic, obviously-scripted dialogue of ordinary NPCs. Maybe it was just that she'd been given a wider script than usual. Maybe it was just that Kirito knew exactly what to say. Yet Asuna thought there was something different—and somehow, she didn't want to lie to the person who'd given them sanctuary, that first, terrible night.

"We were looking for quests," Kirito said finally, seeming to pick up on Asuna's unspoken sentiment. "We were dropped into this without knowing what was really going on, so the first thing we wanted to do was get stronger. Strong enough to… to survive."

Asuna shivered. So far, even with the quest to take the core crystal, she hadn't really felt like she'd faced death in this world. The idea still gave her the chills when she did think about it. I wonder if I'd feel better getting used to it… or worse.

"I see," Kizmel said, nodding slowly. "My people would never send scarcely-trained warriors out by themselves, but I suppose you've little choice. …And what do you plan to do, when you've the strength to face this world's dangers?"

Beyond the windows, the sun was beginning to set, golden light casting strange patterns through those not-glass panes. The ship had almost reached the height of the treetops, ascending slowly but steadily.

"We're going to fight," Asuna said, fingers tracing the hilt of her rapier. "It's the only way we're ever going to go home." She swallowed, thinking back on the speech they'd heard, three days and a lifetime ago. The speech, and what she'd left behind.

There's so much I wanted to get away from. Things that I may have already lost. But I miss Nii-san, and Father. …And Mother, even.

But I can't get back, the way I am now. Mother's way won't help me here. I can't just find a secure place, and let someone else do the work. I can't, and I don't want to.

"Kayaba said we'd have to take Bifrost from the Administrator," she said, past a lump in her throat. "And that's what I'm going to do." She glanced at her partner. "What we're going to do." I don't know you yet. But I think… I think I won't mind this, for as long as it lasts.

Kizmel smiled. "It seems we've a mutual enemy, then." She gave them a speculative look. "Hm… you say you need to be stronger. Did you have any plans in mind?"

Asuna looked to Kirito. It was his knowledge she'd been relying on, so far. He'd spoken of quests around Horunka Village, but they'd mostly completed those over the last couple of days. When they'd discussed things that morning, he'd admitted he'd need a little time to figure out what to try next. He was a solo, after all, and in the beta had only worked with parties briefly and infrequently.

"…We're still working on that," he admitted. "I, um, had some advance knowledge of Aincrad, but some of it wasn't quite right, and…." He shrugged uncomfortably. "I was thinking of trying to find an information broker I know. I don't know for sure if she's even here, though."

She? Asuna had to resist the urge to demand further details then and there. She was dying to know what kind of girl Kirito might've been acquainted with—just to get another measure of his character, of course.

"I see," Kizmel said thoughtfully. "Well, I'd defer to your judgment about your own people, of course. That being said—"

"That's high enough," Captain Emlas said, as Moonshadow cleared the trees. "Our guests aside, who knows how the Swordmasters are taking things right now. We will keep low, for now…. Give me power to the engines. Half thrust."

"Power to engines, half thrust…."

With another shiver, Moonshadow began to move forward, slowly at first but soon gaining speed. Emlas spun the wheel, the ship soared ahead—and Asuna had her first real look at Aincrad's first island, Einsla, from above.

Sweeping forests. Rolling hills, and green plains. A lake, glittering under the light of the setting sun. Off to starboard, as Moonshadow swung around, the mountains of Einsla's northern edge reached for the sky. Nestled among them, Origia's towers gleamed.

Above and around it all, the golden honeycomb of the Skywall shimmered. To Asuna's eyes, it was both a beautiful sight, and a challenge. That wall was the barrier she needed to overcome, if she was ever going to see her family again—just as inside herself, she needed to overcome herself, to be someone who could defeat that wall.

"You've been dependable allies to my people so far," Kizmel said in her ear. Both players turned to look at her again, to find the elf girl smiling. "My own people must see the Skywall brought low, as well, and right now, Moonshadow is sorely pressed for swords. Would the two of you care to accompany us a little longer?"

This time, as Moonshadow swept into Aincrad's sky, Asuna had little trouble reading Kirito at all. There was relief in those dark eyes—relief, and some of the longing she was feeling herself, she thought. "That sounds like a plan," he said, and extended one fist. "If it's okay with you, anyway."

"I'd like that, Kizmel," Asuna said sincerely, remembering the Dark Elf knight's sisterly warmth in one terrible night. She reached out her own fist to meet Kirito's, not quite getting the gesture but feeling it was somehow just right. "I'd like that a lot, actually."

Kizmel looked down at their hands, brow furrowing. Then, with another small smile, her knuckles came out to join theirs. "Then we shall be comrades. For as long as our paths are crossed."

In the fading orange light of a strange sun, with a youth she'd known three days and an AI who seemed more alive than many people she'd known in her normal life, for the first time since Kayaba Akihiko's horrible speech, Asuna felt something resembling hope.

It's begun. I don't know where I'm going… but with Kirito-kun, and Kizmel, I'll find out. …I want to find out….

Author's Note:

Okay. Let me first say, right out of the gate, I think I'm having a bit of a pacing problem here, and for that I very much apologize. This is pretty much what I wanted this chapter to cover, but it shouldn't have taken nineteen thousand words to do it (and that's after cutting out a semi-expendable thousand words). I didn't use to have quite this problem, and I'm not sure why I am now, so suggestions as to where I'm overdoing things would be welcomed. I do think part of my problem was simply that I'm still having to exposit on the setting and introduce the characters to each other, so hopefully that'll ease off soon, but still.

Anyway. Not much to say about the chapter otherwise, except that I hope the hints of deeper mysteries somewhat make up for the relative lack of progression. Next chapter will delve back into the wider situation, what with the lead-up to the fic's equivalent of the First Floor boss fight. And yes, that does mean Argo will be appearing.

One minor note that I meant to mention last time: for those who haven't read Monochrome Duet, "Swordmaster" is a term I originally used in that fic as a handy label for NPCs to use for players, to distinguish them from human "natives" of Aincrad (inspired by Log Horizon's use of "Adventurer", actually). With this fic, I saw no reason to mess with a system that worked.

Can't promise Chapter 3 will be prompt, unfortunately; I really do need to get back to Duet (really trying to get that fic out of the Aincrad arc, there just isn't much more that arc can contribute to Duet's core plot). But I did want to get this chapter out to at least make it clear I do intend to go places with Rebellion, and this isn't just a flash in the pan.

I mean, really. Twenty-eight reviews, over ninety Favs, and over one hundred Follows, just for the first chapter, when I thought it was a really rough start? No way I was going to ignore that kind of response. I'm impressed, truly.

So. Next chapter will—hopefully—be a bit more exciting than this when it does arrive. For now—necessary team- and world-building, or terrible pacing? You decide. Either way, Merry Christmas, comrades. -Solid