Chapter Text
I love you…
I love…
Kirito couldn’t exactly claim that his body was aching because in the virtual world, that wasn’t possible. His real body was probably numb and hurt and out of sorts by now, even with the medical treatment he was probably getting, but his virtual body couldn’t suffer. Not really. He could feel things, but pain wasn’t one of them.
Which was a good thing because Kirito could at least give Kayaba Akihiko one point in his favor—the man wasn’t cruel enough to trap so many people in a game that could also replicate pain. If someone got slashed or stabbed or kicked… well, they could feel it, but it wasn’t painful.
Still, even without the ability to feel pain with the NerveGear on his head, Kirito still knew that had it been the real world, he would have felt tired and wounded and injured and like he was going to keel over. Because fighting a powerful Boss and then dealing with Kayaba Akihiko wasn’t an easy feat. Hell, Kirito had died doing that. He was just going to… fade away, probably. At least it wasn’t painful.
Unless he would also feel the pain of his brain getting fried before oblivion took over.
The thing was, Kirito felt nothing. He watched as Aincrad broke apart and fell from the sky, deleting its own data from existence at the death of its creator, but… something wasn’t adding up.
Kirito expected to find himself being erased, too. He saw the moment Asuna disappeared—or rather… he felt it when her body vanished because his eyes were closed—leaving him alone to watch the world he’s been living in for two years as it got destroyed. But he… he wasn’t disappearing as well. He was still there, watching, waiting, getting more and more confused and flustered as time went by.
Nothing was happening.
He looked around again at the empty space that he found himself at after he had dealt with Kayaba, but it was still just him, sitting there and watching the ruins of the world that he’d yearned to get back to only to get betrayed and trapped inside. He had to watch as it tore itself apart after that world had made the people living in it tear each other apart, too.
He wanted to feel accomplished because his mission was over—he cleared the game. He freed everyone. But he felt empty. He felt like he did something good, but he also got rid of something that he loved. Something that was a part of him.
Living in the virtual world was hard and it demanded a lot out of Kirito, but Aincrad was, well, his home. He had a house there. He had friends and companions. He had memories in this world that he would never be able to recreate because Kayaba Akihiko decided that the world would die along with him.
Kirito believed it was both selfish and deserving. In order to clear the game and free everyone, he had to ruin something that he cared about. Something that he never wanted to see the end of—not really.
“Heartbreaking, isn’t it?”
Kirito turned to glance at the figure that materialized next to him once more—Kayaba Akihiko. The man in the lab coat sat there, watching his world along with Kirito, his face a blank mask. He couldn’t have been more expressionless if he tried. Kirito stared at him for a moment and then looked back down.
“Yeah,” he admitted bitterly. “I thought you were gone,” he added after a moment of silence.
He wasn’t sure how to feel about having a conversation with the same person who was responsible for everything he’d had to endure over the last two years, but his admiration toward the man’s mind… it wasn’t gone. He still thought he was brilliant. He still thought Aincrad was incredible.
The scientist hummed for a moment. “In a sense, I am. My body is dead. My mind is the only thing left. Or rather an echo of it…” he said. “Which means that I can no longer really die. I’m here, but I’m not here.” He finally tore his eyes away from the scene before them and looked at Kirito. “I expected you to be gone already, too. Back to the real world, where the others have already woken up.”
Kirito’s heart skipped a beat. “T-they really have?”
“But… oh, yes, I see.” Kayaba nodded and then looked away once more. Kirito stared at him, waiting for more information. “I suppose some people just have this sort of bad luck. I’m sure they will be very confused when you won’t wake up like the rest of the survivors,” the man said with a shrug, sounding like he couldn’t care less.
Kirito glared at him.
“What are you talking about? Why am I still here?” Kirito demanded. “Where’s Asuna? Has she woken up, too?” He wanted to ask if she died in the real world, but the mere thought of that made him sick for his stomach. That wasn’t possible. If he was still around, then he had to believe Asuna was, as well. “What’s going on?”
Kayaba nodded, like he was answering an unasked question. “Well, it seems like someone decided to keep you in the virtual world a little longer. Rest assured, this time it’s not my own doing, Kirito-kun. This is an outside force.” His lips tugged down. “Someone who is using my invention.”
Thoughts racing, Kirito tried to understand what Kayaba meant by that. Someone outside… didn’t want him to wake up? Why? Who? How could someone just keep him under like that? He needed to see his family. He needed to find Asuna—the one in the real world! He needed to do so many things, and yet if what Kayaba was saying was true, then Kirito couldn’t leave.
Even after defeating the last Boss, he was still stuck in this game. He was still trapped, stranded. And this time he was on his own because according to the scientist, the others have woken up.
A bright light started shining over the horizon, though Kirito had no idea what was behind it. He squinted his eyes at it and brought a hand up to block it the best he could.
Kayaba didn’t even stir. “Looks like you’re being taken to your next location,” he said.
“Wait, no!” Kirito tried to move, but he couldn’t. His body felt nothing like his light avatar—now he was incapable of even lifting his hand more than an inch. He couldn’t escape. He couldn’t fight. He couldn’t do anything to stop whatever it was that was happening to him. “Can’t you do something? It’s your world!”
“You want my help?” Kayaba asked, lifting an eyebrow at Kirito.
Did he? A part of him wanted to reply negatively. This person had trapped thousands of people in Aincrad against their will and made them fight for their lives on a daily basis. He had deceived countless people by pretending to be someone good and honest. He had murdered Asuna, even if it didn’t have any lasting effect.
He was a murderer. Just a brilliant murderer that couldn’t even remember his own reasoning behind making so many people suffer for such a long time.
And yet… “Yes!”
Kayaba observed him for a moment, and Kirito noted with alarm that his own body was beginning to glow and turn transparent. He was being taken away. And he was certain it wasn’t to the real world, but rather someplace else where he would be trapped and left to fend for himself.
He latched desperately onto Kayaba’s arm, hoping it would keep him behind for a moment longer. A part of him feared his hand would go right through Kayaba’s body, but it didn’t. His fingers numbly felt the fabric of the lab coat the man had and he focused on that.
“We’re not friends, Kirito-kun,” the man noted and Kirito wanted to scream at him that it didn’t matter—he knew that. He would never be Kayaba Akihiko’s friend. They were enemies. They had just fought to the death mere minutes ago. How could Kirito not know that? But he didn’t need to say anything because Kayaba just went on speaking. “If I help you, you will have to do something for me in return.”
Gulping, Kirito stared at his body that disappeared more and more with every passing moment. “Okay! I will!”
Kayaba finally cracked a little smile. “The rules of the game you are being transported to are the same as the ones I have given you at the start. If you die there, you will die in the real world, too. Other players are free to leave, but you will have to find your own way out. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”
“That’s not helpful! I could guess that by myself!”
“That’s not the assistance I was going to give you—that was just the kind of information I figured you might want to have.” The man’s smile faded and he started to flicker out of existence, too. “I’ll assist you, Kirito-kun. Even though my methods might not be to your liking.” The man shrugged. “Oh, well. I’m sure you’ll manage to survive long enough for it to work, won’t you?”
And with a smirk, Kayaba disappeared and Kirito blinked his eyes, ready to snap at the vague man only to open them again and find out that he was someplace else. He looked around at the forest around him in wonder. The sun shined above the trees, blinding him a little when he tried to spot it.
But he could tell it wasn’t real. It was nothing like the real world because the sun was virtual and the blinding light coming from it didn’t linger behind his eyelids once he looked away, but rather disappeared completely.
Reaching for his back, he groaned when his hand came back empty. No sword. No idea where he was. Not a clue about what Kayaba Akihiko was planning… Kirito was even more lost than he was at the beginning of Sword Art Online. Back then, he had a target, a goal—to reach the hundredth floor and defeat the Boss to set everyone free.
Now, though? He had no idea what his mission was. He was stranded alone in a virtual forest with no equipment on him. He did have the same clothes as before, though. And he was pretty sure his avatar still looked like himself. When he was fourteen, mind you, but still his face and his body type.
Sighing, Kirito’s shoulders sagged in defeat. “Here we go again.”