BEFORE YOU ASK ME ABOUT DUAL BLADE WIELDER (I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH APPARENTLY)BEFORE YOU ASK ME ABOUT DUAL BLADE WIELDER (I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH APPARENTLY)BEFORE YOU ASK ME ABOUT DUAL BLADE WIELDER (I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH APPARENTLY)

read the note at the bottom and skip the chapter if that is all you care about.

Yes, I'm back.

And... thank you for all of the support and kinda sorta not giving up on me. I did get stumped for years on what to do for this, mainly because I wasn't sure if the direction I'm going is where I want this story to be. I reread the entire thing, and I will admit, being a writing is very hard. All of the inconsistencies are bothering me, but I was like what, a teen when I started out, so I understand. Nevertheless, I'll try my best to continue this and finally finish this one off. I... actually want to write the entire POA- I originally planned it to be one story, but I realized that everything would mostly take up three books. So... here's hoping I don't give up.

Thank you to Yakosh, Guardian of Fear, Sorane, Guest (x5), Sn0wk1tty, Chelan, Dragoncraft269, Toa Draconix, Anonympen, Not a Pineapple, kohaku yuu, Chevalier Lecteur, Hi, and bluecat360sjm1 for reviewing over the time I haven't updated, scolding me and asking me to update, and honestly-

Thank you. Seriously. Thank you for not giving up on me and encouraging me to finish this! (insert heart!)

Okay- without further adieu- Enjoy the next chapter of Prince of Aincrad - Beginnings!

Chapter 19: Spirit of Elucidator

Kazuto was ridiculously tired. His joints ached constantly and his head spun, even with his eyes closed. He barely realized where they were headed as they traveled, only relishing the times they took a break. It was like all of the energy he had slowly drained out of him. Of course, he experienced this many times before, but he resented the nausea and the headaches that came with it.

At one point, he knew the group stopped, something about visiting a town if he heard correctly.

He couldn't really comprehend what happened until he rested himself against a tree. Someone wrapped him up in a blanket some time ago, and Kazuto half dozed away with his father's sword in his hand. He closed his eyes for a moment. It felt amazing to just finally take the time to actually breathe. The weight of Elucidator felt comforting, almost as if it was his own mother. The pain in his body didn't fade, but it eased to a dull ache.

"What the - I didn't call anyon-... This has to be some sort of joke," came a voice in his head, "...Oh - shi-uhhh, sheets. Good loving Etra, it's not."

Kazuto twitched in confusion and gradually blinked himself away. The sight that greeted him left him stunned. He was no longer in the forest. Instead, he found himself sitting upright in the middle of a large stained glass room. The loud ticking of a clock caught his attention and he stared at a familiar reversed clock face. He had definitely seen it before.

No.

He had seen it a million times.

Memories (or dreams?) of a falling Faerie flashed through his mind, sending a shiver down his back. In that moment, Kazuto immediately knew something was just...not... right.

"This is... that Clock Tower...?" Kazuto muttered in disbelief. There was a tap of metal against stone behind him.

"In all its gloomy glory," came an answer, "I half expected you not to recognize it."

Suddenly alert, Kazuto leapt to his feet and spun on his heel, easily falling into a fighting stance. He froze at the sight before him with his hand midway to the non-existant sword on his back.

There, standing before him, was a solemn young man holding Elucidator in his hand casually. He wore nothing but black accented with white. Though he stood with certainty and a hand firmly planted on his hip, his dark, stormy gray eyes held a heavy weight of anxiety and conflict. Despite his weary expression, he smiled at Kazuto with a half-hearted wave of his free hand, "Yo. Are you my..." he cut himself off, then started again, "...Are you, by any chance, Kazune's son?"

He was obviously a few years older than Kazuto, but it was down right freaky that this man could possibly pass as his older brother.

A million questions flew through his head, but his jaw just dropped. The young man breathed a raspy, kind of cracky laugh, almost as if he was amused. "Oi - Now really isn't the time for you to be staring at me."

"What...?" That was all Kazuto could manage as he struggled to get over his shock. He really could've sworn that he was sleeping under a tree somewhere. Maybe he was dreaming?

"Are you Kazune's son, Kazuto?" the man asked again as he tilted his head a little bit. His eyes looked pained, almost begging him to say no. Yet, Kazuto mutely nodded his head and kept his mouth shut. The man lifted Elucidator to rest the blade on his shoulder. The short laugh he gave was obviously strained, "Damn, never before had someone in this family reached out to me on their own. And yet, here you are, right in front of me and sick as a dog apparently. Saves me the work, I suppose."

Kazuto finally swallowed his shock and leveled the man with a firm look, "Who are you?"

Stormy gray eyes blinked a few times before the man gave his answer with a casual shrug, "I'm Kirito."

"Kirito...? Wait. Waitwaitwait - as in The Black Swordsman...? The one in those extremely old fairy tales?"

"Uhhhmm... I... yeah, sure. Let's go with that."

It was almost hilarious when Kazuto's shock returned with a passion and left him completely speechless. It was silent for a long moment before the man spluttered. It sounded like a terrible cough at first, but it mellowed out into a full fit of laughter. The man bent forward, wrapping his arms around his middle as he just... laughed.

"Oh gods! Ahahah! You should see the look on your face!"

Kazuto quickly shook his head to gather his senses and realized that the man, Kirito (as he so bluntly claimed to be), really did just mock him. He placed his hands on his hip (and no, he did not pout), "Well, excuse me for hardly believing you! I mean, come on - You can't possibly be The Black Swordsman."

Kirito only laughed a little harder. He stabbed Elucidator into the ground with barely any effort, and leaned against it for support, "I can't believe this is really happening. I still don't know what you're talking about, but I really am named Kirito."

The look that Kazuto gave him spoke for itself.

"Sorry, sorry! It's just - ahaha - I hadn't laughed this much in so long," Kirito said as he rubbed his stomach with a happy sigh, "It's almost painful."

"Glad I helped?" Kazuto's voice was heavy on the confusion. To be honest, his doubt only grew. If Kirito really was the real, genuine Swordsman, then he was...

...Sort of mean.

He shook his head and addressed the man, "If you really are Kirito, then will you tell me where am I?"

The swordsman gestured around them, "You mean, this isn't self-explanatory?"

There was a single deadpanned look.

"Right. Sorry," Kirito apologized, "you're new to this."

He took a moment to wave a hand to the inverted clock face, "This is the Cardinal's Clock Tower: The world's foundation and all of its ridiculous mysteries. Oh, and it also doubles as my eternal prison."

Kazuto couldn't help but frown a little, "That... doesn't explain anything."

"Of course, not."

He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"It wasn't supposed to," Kirito huffed. He pulled Elucidator out of the ground and held it up, "But this, on the other hand, needs to be explained. Elucidator is the blade forged from the fires of a phoenix and was gifted to the Restorers of our lands. For generations, this sword had been passed down to all of us. When Aincrad was founded - whenever that was - this blade was inherited by the Royal Family and serves as heirloom. It has been for quite a long time - probably for centuries, but I'm not counting."

"I... kind of knew that already," Kazuto said, tilting his head in wariness, "My father told me bedtime stories about it."

"Huh, then I guess you already knew this fun part." He did a little twirling trick with one hand and held the tip of the blade to Kazuto's face, who took a step back to avoid a nick on his nose. "I get to haunt you for the rest of your life."

There was a moment of silence as Kazuto digested that little piece of information. "Wait - what."

"I'll get into the finer details later," Kirito said with a dismissive shrug, "You probably don't trust me -"

"I don't."

"-but you came here on your own. I need to set you up, so trust me and repeat after me."

"'Set me up'? What do you mean - "

"It's pretty easy to follow; just a mouthful of words and you'll be fine."

"I - what? Can you please slow do-"

Elucidator's tip jabbed at him, forcing Kazuto to take an entire step back. The man smiled apologetically, "Forgive me for being so forceful, but if we don't do this, you're gonna die in the next few minutes. Something within you is desperate to keep you alive this time, and this is the only way I know how to help you. You don't have time for a better explanation. So, recite now, ask later. Okay?"

Kazuto couldn't hide the utter confusion on his face as he struggled to comprehend what in the world happened. If anything, he would absolutely love to say that he was just hallucinating to the point where he imagined an older version of himself. At this point, he would probably believe anything that would make sense of this wreck.

Everything happened so quickly, he was left in the dust.

He quickly crammed everything that was thrown at him into a condensed little list in his head. First, he was either dreaming or hallucinating and in a Clock Tower that he occasionally dreamed of. Second, the man holding his father's sword claimed to be Kirito (yes, that legendary swordsman he admired as a kid). Third, he had probably gone insane.

Kirito gave a strained, saddened smile, "Your father entrusted you to me, I swore I won't let you die. So, please. Will you trust me?"

Kazuto stayed silent, silently staring at the man before coming to a single conclusion, "...I'll trust you."

The Black Swordsman's eyes softened almost fondly as he lowered Elucidator and stabbed it into the ground. He held a pale hand to the Prince of Aincrad. Kazuto took it warily, but didn't retreat.

"Now, repeat after me..."

._._._._._._.

Kazuto snapped his eyes open, gasping as if he just woke up from a nightmare. He sat up and shoved the thin blanket off him. Trees and late sunlight filled his vision, and the clock tower- the dreary atmosphere was gone.

"Your Highness?" Asuna called as she scrambled over to help her prince, "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

Sinon was the closest and held out her hands to steady him, "Hey, easy-"

"P-Princess Sinon?" Kazuto stammered as he grabbed her forearms to balance himself. His eyes darted around, completely confused to see a forest surrounding him, "What- where-" Where is Kirito?

Sinon tightened her grip on Kazuto's arm and slowly sat him down, "We're at the outskirts of a forest near a village."

His eyes blinked and he looked past the trees. His mind quickly caught up to him, "And the others? Where are they?"

"Kamdet. It's just beyond that hill, but the boys decided to see if it's safe," Asuna answered as she knelt next to him and offered a water skin, "You okay? You've been out of it for a day."

Kazuto took it gratefully and took mouthfuls at a time, but mindful to not chug it down. Goddess, it felt like heaven soothing his throat. He took a moment to answer as he waved her off a little.

"I'm... fine. I think."

Sinon gave him a look of slight annoyance, "You think?"

"I actually don't feel that bad. I mean..." -the ache in my body is nearly gone' was left unsaid as Kazuto's eyes widened by a fraction. What... what in the world happened? "-I feel better than I had in days."

The two girls shot each other looks of confusion and slight disbelief. Asuna reached over and checked his temperature with the back of her hand. The prince protested a bit, but allowed her. Her expression turned into confusion.

"What...you were running a high fever," Asuna stated, "but it seems like it's gone...?"

Sinon crossed her arms and stood up, "No, you definitely had one."

Kazuto pushed Asuna's hands away from his face and shook his head, "I'm perfectly fine- you don't have to worry about me."

The girls shared a look of uncertainty as Kazuto shook his head once more to get his bearings. He quickly noted that they had a small campfire in the middle of a clearing and it seemed like they had been here for quite some time. If he remembered correctly, Asuna said that the others were at Kamdet.

Morgan's hometown.

He looked to the girls and almost grimaced at their stares of concern. Instead, he offered a smile and lifted his arms, "Help me up, please?"

They quickly jumped into action and easily pulled him to his feet and kept him steady when he stumbled. Kazuto thanked them and proceeded to stretch his stiff muscles. How long had he been out?

"How long had Ryoutarou and the others been gone?" he asked. Asuna gave him space to roam about, but she had a careful eye trained on him.

"A couple of hours," Sinon answered as she crossed her arms, "Although, they've been gone too long for something as simple as scouting."

Hours.

He'd been out for hours, and they still hadn't returned yet? Kazuto placed a hand to his cheek in thought, "Hm... We should go after them. They probably got into some sort of trouble."

The girls shared another look between them before Sinon spoke up, "If something is wrong, we should leave the moment the sun sets."

"Good idea," Asuna jumped in, "It'll give us time to pack up a bit - just incase we need to move."

He grabbed Elucidator off the ground and strapped it to his waist, looking up at the sky. The sky above them was a mix of blue and yellowish orange. There wasn't a lot of time left.

The three of them quickly packed up their little campsite and scattered the ashes of the campfire. As Kazuto began to re-saddle Terra, he heard a faint sound of fluttering wings. He was about to ignore it but then it gradually got a louder and louder and-

*Chirp, Chirp!*

A bundle of feathers barreled into his neck. He spluttered loudly and stumbled a bit at the sudden soft feathers rubbing against his neck and the shrill chirps in his ear. He gently gathered the bird flapping on his shoulder and took a good look at it.

"Yume?!" he gasped. The blue jay chirped insistently and shimmied out of his grip. She fluttered in the air and nipped at the collar of his cloak.

"Is that a bird?" came Sinon's voice. Kazuto tried to grab Yume again, but the little bird was quick to dodge him.

"Yeah- it's Yume, but she's acting weird- ow!" He flinched when Yume pricked his hands. "Easy, easy! What's wrong, little one?"

She flew towards the town and then fluttered back to him, and repeated the process. Asuna walked up to them with a frown, "I think she's trying to tell us something really important-"

It suddenly clicked for all of them.

Sinon grabbed Kazuto's arm, forcing him to look at her. Her face was pale, but her eyes were determined, "Let's go."

I have... held back on my urge to rewrite the entire story, because my writing back then was so damn obvious and hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

And if I did rewrite it, then Scary would be replaced by Eugeo- mainly because I actually started writing the story before Eugeo and Alice made an appearance in SAO.

Anyway,

BEFORE YOU ASK ME ABOUT DUAL BLADE WIELDER (I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH APPARENTLY)

BEFORE YOU ASK ME ABOUT DUAL BLADE WIELDER (I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH APPARENTLY)

BEFORE YOU ASK ME ABOUT DUAL BLADE WIELDER (I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH APPARENTLY)

Yes, I am still working on Dual blade- Be f*cking patient damn it. I have a life to live. I actually want to rewrite most of the scenes and take it to a different direction. A lot of it will still be the same, but like, with all of the information that came from the recent movies and the Alicization Arc, I feel that I need to redo it. Plus, the chapter that I was working on for it got deleted so that was a giant bummer. But I'll do my best to finish that one too!

Anyway, Preview!

Scary looked up to glare at the barred window, "Would stop pecking at the iron-K-Kazuto?!"

The said prince hastily placed a finger at his lips from his place outside the bars and whisper-yelled, "Shhh! Shut up! You'll get us both killed."

Hope to see me again soon,

-CloudyLightning