Sword Art Online II: Alis Volat Propriis

A Sword Art Online Short

Brought to you by,

William R. Woods

"Deathzealot", or

"Deathzealotzero"

Brief Foreword:

This short is a bit different from others in that I came up with it after first watching Episode 24 of Sword Art Online II for it was by far one of the most moving Anime episodes I have ever watched. I thought it could be expanded upon hence this story. Basically I wanted to say my own little good-bye to one of my personal favorite characters in the entire Sword Art Online series, Yuuki. No matter she was only in a small portion of episodes across the entire series, she is hands down one of my favorite characters of the entire series. Namely because not only is she a good fighter, but she isn't part of the so-called harem of women that the hero of the series, Kirito, gathers around himself.

That said originally this story was supposed to be named Rest In Peace, but I found this Latin phrase which basically means "she flies with her own wings" according to the site I got it from, and figured it would better for a story name. Since Yuuki did die in Alfeim, "land of the fairies", after all.

With that I end this foreword and get to the main event. So please enjoy this small one-shot from yours truly.

Summary: Soon after Yuuki's death, Asuna meets the Sleeping Knights one last time before they disband the guild.

-o-o-o-

Zekken's Isle

Floor 24, New Aincrad

April 6, 2026AD

On a small island located on the twenty-fourth floor of the large floating castle of New Aincrad a silent figure stood at the base of a large tree that dominated the small island looking up into the sky. This figure a tall, blue-haired, young woman sighed sadly as she stared off at the large ocean that covered the entire area besides the chain of islands that dotted the area. The sun was slowly setting throwing several different colors across the surface of the water which reminded the young woman of a similar time several days before which had made her sigh sadly in response. She briefly turned to stare at a covered object that sat at the base of the tree before the whisper of wings made her turn to watch as five figures landed softly on the island with the glowing wings they sported on their back disappearing as they landed. The figure smiled in pleasure as the five made their way over to her.

"Hello everyone. I am glad you all got my message," the figure mentioned with a nod of her head to the five.

"Asuna," one of the new arrivals, a tall pale-blue haired woman, said in return with a small smile on her face before sighing and looking at the small flower-bed at the base of the tree with a sad look on her face. The first figure, one Asuna Yuuki, or just Asuna in this particular world saw were the other woman was looking and could only close in her eyes in shared grief with the other woman.

"What did you want to show us?" another of the new arrivals, a short red-haired young man, asked as he came up alongside the tall woman. Unlike the woman this young man tried to avoid looking at the flower-bed and looked over at Asuna who could smile with a mournful look on her face before moving over to the covered object laying a hand on the object with a sigh.

"Well Jun I want to show you all this," she mentioned before pulling the covering showing that the object was a knee-high memorial with a sword piercing through the center of a sort plaque like memorial that had been placed on the ground of the island. A series of gasps erupted from the five as they stared at the memorial. After several long moments the pale-blue haired woman stepped forward and kneeled in front of the memorial reading what was engraved into the plague which read:

In Memory of,

Yuuki

The Absolute Sword of New Aincrad

Leader of the Guild Sleeping Knights

May 19, 2011AD – March 31, 2026AD

"Alis Volat Propriis"

After she finished reading the engraving out load to the others, who had joined her kneeling in front of the memorial, the woman started to sob. The young red-haired man, named Jun, blinked his eyes before he touched the name with a shaking hand. A blond-haired solid-looking young man about the same age as Jun laid a hand on the shoulder of the woman while tears started to fall down his face. The other two joined the woman in sobbing in sorrow. Asuna blinked away her own tears as she remained standing alongside the memorial while tracing the large extended version of the emblem for the Guild Sleeping Knights that was engraved onto the top of the memorial. After several moments the light-blue haired woman turned away from the memorial rubbing her eyes before looking up at the standing Asuna. She tried to say something for a few moments as she tears continued to fall down her face.

"How…?" she finally managed to say making Asuna smile sadly down at her before patting the top of the memorial with a fond expression on her face.

"Kirito and I called in a couple of favors with a few people from Ymir. I figured Yuuki needed a proper memorial here in New Aincrad for I have been hearing a few rumors floating around that if we manage to clear all of the floors Ymir may reset the entire castle therefore resetting the Monument of Swordsmen. However even if they manage to reset the Castle this memorial will remain here just like the Memorial of the Lost Swordsmen," Asuna explained with a small smile on her face as she stare up at the slowly sinking sun. The rumors she mentioned had stated that once New Aincrad was cleared Ymir would reset the entire castle with many different changes to make a second run through the castle a bit different from the first. She personally knew that the rumors were true due several of her friends from SAO had been contacted by Ymir to help in redoing the new levels. Also the Memorial of the Lost Swordsmen was basically the old Monument of Life from SAO just made into a memorial for the many players who lost their lives during the two years of being trapped in SAO.

"Thank you Asuna," the light blue-haired woman mentioned several moments later as she wiped her face.

"You are quite welcome Siune. Now I have one last surprise for you all," she mentioned with a smile on her face. The other members of the Guild turned their attention with curious looks on their faces.

"I know Siune here has already been discharged but the four of you are still in the Hospital," Asuna mentioned with a nod to Siune before waving at the remaining four members of the Sleeping Knights who were all looking confused.

"Well thanks to the data gathered by Yuuki using the Bidirectional Communication Probe during her last weeks a few more units were created to be used by Medicuboid users to gather further data. A few of my friends and myself have volunteered to carry them while in class if you are interested," she mentioned with a large smile on her face at the shocked looks on the faces of the members of the Guild. Suddenly they looked at each other for they remembered the time they all shared Asuna's Communication Probe during her Kyoto Trip. Before they almost as one tackle hugged Asuna much to her own shock and the laughter from the others.

"Thank you Asuna," Jun the young red-haired boy responded a few moments later making Asuna smile over at him before looking up at the now darkening sky and hoped Yuuki was watching over them all.

-o-o-End-o-o-

Yes! Finally got this done after numerous false starts and such trying to get this idea written out like this. Anyways as my first SAO fic it is not half bad but it is only a small short that I made just to give my own farewell to one of my favorite SAO characters.

Also the mentioned Memorial of the Lost Swordsmen is something I decided put into story which sported the user names of every single player who died during the course of Sword Art Online like mentioned here. Which is something I wanted to see in SAO II a memorial to those lost players but we never got.

Anyways that is about it folks!