A/N: Okay, so I'm thinking I very slightly kind of want to rewrite Chapter 1 at some point, since it's... bad. I wrote it four years ago, okay? A guy can change. But at the same time, that means I'll have to delay new chapters by however long that takes. Worth it?

These Hands that Hold Mine

Chapter 4

Amayori darted through the winter sky, the dark sage of the trees below seemingly stretching to the horizon. "Amayori, faster!" Alice urged, gripping the reins tighter by the second. Alice knew they couldn't fly faster, and yet…

"You can do it, come on!" Alice pressed on, a heavy clump of despair closing her throat.

Kurukuru! Amayori protested Alice's command, beating her wings as fast their massive span would allow. Every breath she took felt like her lungs would freeze, but she hardly paid it any attention. The only thing on her mind was Selka, and making sure she was safe. She'd failed once as a big sister—it would never happen again.

As they approached the village's location, Alice couldn't rip her stare from the crimson glow ahead.

Please, please...

Overtop the violent crackling and roaring of the flames, the desperate cries and calls of defenseless villagers gradually filled her ears. Alice had wanted, very desperately, to be wrong. But when Amayori reached Rulid's gate, all her hopes crumbled to dust.

Goblins flooded through the gate, which had been completely abandoned. From their point in the air, Alice could see the village teeming with them, running from ruined home to ruined home, and leaving carrying armfuls of whatever was edible or could be made into barbaric weapons. Every so often, an Orc would poke out of the crowd of Goblins.

"Amayori, down!" She ordered, her usually steady voice cracking.

"Wha… What the hell is happening? Could the Dark Territory have invaded through the Northern Cave?" The strain on Kirito's body was obvious in his voice.

Opening her mouth to speak, Alice realized she'd been biting her lip. "The Pontifex might be dead, but the Taboo Index still stands. There's almost no way that the villagers set the fire. It's unbelievable, but that is the only plausible explanation."

A crowd of villagers gathered in the main square, where a barricade had been built at each of the four entrances. Barrels, tables, chairs, and all sorts of other household items had been stacked so haphazardly that Alice wasn't sure how they managed to stay stable. They gleamed in the moonlight—the villagers must've poured almost all of their lantern oil over them, slicking the exposed surfaces. It explained why they were effective, small though they were.

When Amayori's massive claws stamped marks in the plaza from her landing, the villagers stumbled back in fear.

To Alice, the mix of reverence and apprehension in their eyes was all too common. Almost revolting, even. It was obvious that they looked not at her face, but the emblem on her breastplate. Sometimes she felt like a battle doll of the church. Inhuman.

The crowd parted, and a single man stepped forward.

"Father." She intoned, "what's the current situation?"

Gasuft Zuberg shifted, clearly uncomfortable that an Integrity Knight had called him "father".

"Most of the villagers are safe here, Lady Knight. There is no need for you to concern yourself with—"

"Enough." Alice sternly cut him off, now staring him down with an almost eerie calmness. Without noticing it, Gasuft took a step back. Her expression said, 'you'd better answer my questions, fast.'

"Where is my sister?"

In that instant, Gasuft's expression darkened. He looked ten years older. "Selka… Selka is trapped within the church." His trembling hand pointed to Alice's left.

When Alice turned, she immediately noticed the logs propped up against the church's massive double doors. The villagers had made sure that those doors wouldn't open. In an instant, all the rage she had bottled up inside her exploded.

"Why?! Why would you leave her inside?!" Alice grabbed the man by the collar, her hands trembling in anger. The villagers cowered at the outburst—to them, incurring the wrath of an Integrity Knight was just as bad as being attacked by monsters. "You're her father!"

Gasuft flinched, but did not back down. His words came slowly in an attempt to placate Alice. "…It was her request. An orc chief knocked down the outer wall of the church, and the monsters would have been able to enter the plaza."

Her hand tightly grasped her sword's hilt. "I'll ask one more time, and this time, no excuses. Why. Is. She. Inside?" Alice emphasized every word, leaving Gasuft with no escape.

"She was using her sacred arts to buy time for the barricade…"

Alice opened her mouth to yell at the man, to tell him he was irresponsible, stupid, maybe even a coward—but Kirito, who'd silently observed their exchange, laid a hand on her shoulder. Alice whipped around at the touch, only for his gentle look to halt her rage. He seemed to say: we have work to do, so let's handle this later.

"Alice? You need to help Selka, now." Alice followed Kirito's gaze to the barricaded oaken doors. Smoke curled in wisps from the cracks between them. "They're using fire to weaken the door. Or smoke Selka out. Or both."

Alice cursed under her breath. No matter how much she wanted to save Selka, was it right to leave the villagers to fend for themselves? Alice nervously glanced at the barricades around the plaza. They were slick, but the goblins had begun to climb over each other to reach the tops; it wouldn't be long before they broke through on all fronts. Add that to the fire in the church… it was safe to say she wouldn't be able to save them all.

"Go." Patting her shoulder, Kirito gave her a reassuring grin. "I'll be here if they need me." As if to completely convince her, he partially drew his Night Sky Blade and inspected its edge.

Despite the situation, a tiny smile formed on Alice's face. "Thank you." After fighting alone for so long, having someone to watch her back was… wonderful.

"Amayori, keep them busy." Said Alice, and the dragon took off with a mighty flap of her wings and a triumphant kuru, as if saying leave it to me!

With that, Alice coiled her legs and leaped, landing on the roof of a small house adjacent to the church. The greenspace that surrounded the church itself was unexpectedly silent—her way around the church was clear.

Over the sound of her boots rustling the grass, Alice could just barely hear pig-like grunting from within. The sound got louder and louder as she approached the rear of the church. Judging from the shattered stone bricks strewn about the ground, the Orc chief must really have knocked the wall down with brute strength.

Black smoke billowed from the massive hole in the church's wall. Alice heard the chattering of several goblins, and more concerning, the stomps of the orc chief.

"System call: generate aerial element."

Of the three swirling orbs at her fingertips, two instantly sputtered out.

Only enough for one, huh?

A lone aerial element had a snowball's chance in hell against all that smoke. But that chance was all Alice had.

"Burst element!"

In an instant, the orb expanded and burst, a rush of wind tearing out in all directions. Alice's cape flapped violently, and some of the church's smoke was pulled through the wall's opening by the air current. Unfortunately, she'd also attracted the attention of everything inside.

Scree! An Ium! A goblin pointed at Alice, teeth bared.

An Ium wearing armor! Another chanted, hefting its short sword.

The two goblins charged through the haze, weapons poised at Alice. She almost snorted. Opponents of this caliber were akin to flies for an Integrity Knight. Bending her knees, dropping her hips and drawing a sharp breath, Alice drew the Fragrant Olive Sword—its blade flashing in the moonlight—and sliced clean through both goblins as they leaped towards her with reckless abandon. A quick flick of the blade left it clean, a splatter of monster blood hitting the floor.

A raging fire burned at the base of the door, fueled by church pews and rugs. Smoke had once again filled the room. Alice's lungs burned, and her one good eye stung like hell. She knew the orc chief was in the church… yet no matter how many times she swept her eye around the room, it was nowhere to be found. Had she misheard the sounds of the fire crackling? Maybe the goblins making noise had been amplified by the church's acoustic design?

Just then, another faint sound caught her attention. The muffled noise of a person coughing, just above her. Selka!

"Selka!" Alice screamed at the top of her lungs, rushing to the only other door in the church. The flames from the church's main door licked dangerously close to it. Alice reached a hand out to open the door—but she felt a gust of air from behind and all her instincts screamed at her to MOVE.

She threw her body to the side and pulled her legs into a roll as a massive throwing axe buried itself into the church's double doors, scattering flaming pieces of church pew all over. The axe's blade was twice the size of Alice's head. Dark purple runes glowed along the honed edge; it didn't look like a crude weapon in the slightest. On the contrary, Alice got the feeling that it would've crushed her armor like paper had she been hit.

But that wasn't the end of the surprises. Alice watched, in disbelief, as the axe shuddered and flew out of the door spinning end over end, returning to the hand that threw it. The orc chief growled, his cloak spun from umbral elements disintegrating around him. Now standing between Alice and the church's demolished wall, the chief's flesh rippled with muscle. The moonlight seemed to bend towards his figure, and Alice realized that he must be the reason that the [Space Resource] was depleted. His body literally absorbed it.

"Destroy… Integrity Knights…" A deep voice rumbled from within its throat, and Alice shuddered. The orc chief's voice was a guttural noise which grated on the mind.

More muffled coughing. Alice grit her teeth and gripped the Fragrant Olive Sword tighter. She looked the orc chief up and down. Left to right. There wasn't a single opening—but Alice had neither the time nor wit to wait for one.

Letting loose a yell with all her strength, Alice charged. She twirled to the left, her sword lashing out so fast it left a rip in the air behind it. CLANG! An intense prickling numbness shot through her arm, and her eyes widened in surprise. Blood rushed in her ears. A shockwave echoed through Alice's armor.

The orc chief stopped her full-force strike, and Alice hadn't even seen him move. Damn! In the next instant a crushing blow landed to her stomach, and despite her armor, Alice saw stars. All the wind was knocked from her lungs and she landed on the ground in a collapsed heap. Coughing, spluttering and gasping for breath, she looked up just in time to see her foe lowering his knee. The chief brandished his axe, the purple runes glowing menacingly through the haze.

Alice growled, pushing her feet beneath her. Don't get cocky, you beast…

"Is that it? Oji-san hits harder than you during mere training," Alice wiped at her mouth, where a trickle of blood had begun to flow. The chief's response to Alice's taunt was to silently wind his axe arm back. She sharpened all of her reflexes to a fine point, watching the orc's eyes, noticing the tensing muscles in his arm. When the throw came, it came like a missile. Alice could move fast enough to spar with Scheta, and yet—even still, the spinning axe blade sliced a few strands of hair mere centimeters from her face.

Without missing a beat, Alice kicked off in a run at full tilt. Reacting in kind, the chief's one hand recalled his axe and the other ripped towards her head at literal breakneck speeds. Alice's eyes widened and she threw herself forwards with all the momentum she could muster. She slid on her back, scraping up so much soot that her skirt dyed black. As the monster's swing obliterated the air where her head had been, Alice launched her sword upwards in a forceful uppercut. The Fragrant Olive Sword struck true, and a massive forearm weighing at least 25 pounds flopped to the ground with fingers twitching. A gratuitous splatter of blood followed.

Ignoring the earthshattering howl of pain, Alice latched onto the orc's ankle as she passed, using the point of contact to swing up and onto the orc's back. She raised her sword with both hands, preparing to plunge it deep into the beast's skull with a triumphant "HAAH!" She brought her sword down with all the force she could muster. The giant's monstrous palm intercepted her arms, its sausage-like fingers gripped her armor and dented her gauntlets. In an instant, Alice lost her grip around the chief's neck and went airborne, her legs flailing in the air as the chief pulled her along like a toy. After a swing that left Alice dizzy, she was thrown full force across the room, as if the orc had been throwing his axe.

Alice slammed into the ground mercilessly. She bit the inside of her mouth, all of her air rushed from her lungs and the world went white. For a second, she wondered if it was what being dead was like. And then she saw the glowing purple edge of that axe screaming towards her face. The next thing she knew she was rolling despite the excruciating pain of her cracked ribs, just barely avoiding being decapitated. She still couldn't breathe. She was vaguely aware that she'd managed to hold onto her sword, just barely. Her ears rung, so even though she knew that her enemy was stomping towards her through the vibrations in the ground, she couldn't actually hear his footsteps.

A piece of the charred church door fell away, kicking up a flurry of sparks. The fire had begun to die, its fuel almost spent. Alice's eye widened as she noticed the scene outside. Kirito stood in front of the villagers, his shoulders heaving. His back looked small and fragile. He dropped to a knee, then keeled over, almost eating dirt before two villagers rushed forward and caught him. A few final black wisps rose from his sword. He used Enhance Armament! But with his body in that state…

The smoke rising from the smoldering door thickened, and Alice was alone again. The orc chief approached slowly, licking his lips. Alice had never felt so helpless. Smoke rose all around her, and she couldn't hear Selka's coughing anymore. Her muscles felt like lead—the only thing she could do was roll onto her back and stare at the ceiling.

~Omake~

"Yeah, this is definitely a dream. That begs the question… Why am I dreaming this…?" Kirito propped an elbow against an arm and held his chin, as if he were actually using his brain.

"Why, yes, this is a dream. How observant of you."

Kirito hummed, eyebrows scrunched.

"Don't ignore me, boy! This might be a dream, but I can still turn you into a radish."

When Kirito opened his eyes, he stood in the Central Cathedral's Morning Star Lookout. The Highest Administrator stood before him in a simple white sundress, the entirety of Underworld on display behind her. It sure as hell was a pretty picture.

Screw it, it's a dream. Kirito placed a fist over his chest and a hand on the pommel of his sword in a Knight's salute. "O, Highest Administrator, to what do I owe the honor?" He drawled out sarcastically.

"Oh stop it, your antics bore me. Besides, I'm not the administrator of anything, not anymore."

"So…"

"Quinella—that's what they used to call me. It was so very long ago…" Quinella looked out over the horizon, losing herself trying to remember data that had long since been deleted. "At any rate, I've been interested in you for a long time, Kirito. And Eugeo, too. Poor soul."

"You killed Eugeo." Kirito growled, all of sudden thinking that maybe this wasn't just a simple dream.

"Well, yes, I did. But I really did try to keep that sort of thing to a minimum, you know."

"That's hard to believe."

Quinella sighed. "I'd actually been watching you two since you reached the Swordsmanship Academy here in the capital. You exceeded all expected parameters for regular people of Underworld. To be completely honest with you, cutting down the Gigas Cedar was supposed to be impossible. I'm actually a little surprised that the villagers in Rulid kept at it for that long."

Quinella turned and surveyed the view like a Queen would gaze out over her lands. Meanwhile, Kirito choked on his saliva. "W-what? You gave the quest of cutting down an impossible tree with absolute authority?"

"Eh, I had my reasons."

"I can't even begin to imagin—" Quinella waved him off, before continuing on her own.

"You know how I said I planned to make a whole army of sword golems? I actually only ever made the one prototype. I thought you two might actually have a solution to the invasion problem, so I cancelled the whole thing! I might not look it, but I'm actually quite trusting." She idly fingered a lock of lilac hair.

Kirito held back a smirk. "Riiight! So trusting that you have a very trusting synthesize-on-sight policy with your Knights!"

"It is not synthesize on sigth—!" As Quinella retorted indignantly, the arm she'd propped on the balcony and was supporting her head with slipped, and she bit her tongue.

This time, Kirito actually snickered. Still, he wanted to avoid being turned into a radish, so he did his best to hide it. Quinella was surprisingly airheaded.

Tears of pain in her eyes, Quinella faced him again. "I turned Eugeo into an Integrity Knight because I thought maybe you would fight each other to a standstill. And then maybe I'd have the chance to talk to you two."

"How do you even expect me to believe that? You've got to know what we went through because of you, right?"

"Well, the lil' shorty was the one who convinced you two to fight me! And I've never been great with words… so… I figured no matter what I said you would want to fight me." She turned, a sheepish look on her face. "Also… I get caught up in the moment really easily, so… I ended up fighting you guys, too…"

What an idiot!? "So, what you're saying is… Your social skills are so weak that it ended up resulting in the death of my best friend?"

"It was kill or be killed. I'm sorry that it had to happen, but what was I going to do, just let him stab me?" Quinella snorted. So much for being 'graceful'. "Plus, my social skills aren't weak! I had a whole order of Knights to talk to!"

"Okay, but were any of them actually your friends?"

"…" Quinella's face morphed from confidence into realization, then from realization into a sulking pout.

"Yeah, I thought so."

Quinella huffed. "You know, Kirito, you're certainly a lot ruder to me than I thought you would be."

"Of course! You didn't have to try blowing us up. Or try killing us with your demented Sword Golem," he accused. "Or kill my best friend. Or—"

"Okay, okay!" Quinella cut in, shuffling. "In my defense, I was angry, okay? I was trying to help you out, just have a conversation, you know? But nooooo, you refused to go along with the plan I'd laid out, every step of the way. You'd be mad too, right? People make bad decisions when they're mad… Right?"

Kirito pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Was the woman who had controlled Underworld for hundreds of years actually just a colossal airhead?

"Okay you know what? Hold that thought. I've got a bone to pick with you about other things too."

"Well the truth is, I'm stuck in here. So even if I didn't want to answer you, there isn't really anything else for me to do." Quinella gave a wry smile, which Kirito realized did not belong on her face.

With a defeated sigh, Kirito joined Quinella in looking out over Underworld.

"Well then, I'm expecting a great explanation for this." Kirito grumbled under his breath, "why did you do what you did to the Integrity Knights? Aside from being cruel to them, isn't it a hassle for you? To rewrite every single Integrity Knight's memory any time you introduce a new Knight?"

At that moment, Quinella threw her hands in the air. Wow. A whole new level of undignified. "Yeah!" She called out over the railing, "it was a pain, Kirito! It was a massive pain!"

Kirito performed an equally massive roll his eyes. "Then why on Earth…"

Quinella was quiet. A gust of wind kicked up and blew her hair everywhere, completely ruining any remaining image of a supreme ruler. "Okay, I'll tell you, but only because I want to, okay? Not because you told me to!"

"Seriousl—" Kirito began to question, but Quinella continued on.

"You've heard the story of Bercouli, yes? Even with the amount of time you spent in Rulid, you must've read it somewhere… You can read, right?"

"I'm not even going to answer that last part. I grew up in Rulid Village. Of course I have." At Kirito's reply, Quinella raised an eyebrow, but carried on regardless.

"Well, the legend is wrong. Bercouli wasn't forgiven just because he put the sword back. As if dragons in the wild were that benevolent. No, he tried to escape by running into the Dark Territory. When I checked on what'd happened, he had already been mauled within an inch of his life by that dragon." Quinella let out a small puff of a laugh, sort of like a mom remembering her child's embarrassing moments. "I thought it would be a waste of his talent to let him die, and a waste of my effort to heal him up just to throw him in a dungeon somewhere."

"Surprisingly, you're making sense for the first time today here."

"I can still turn you into a radish, you know," warned Quinella, and Kirito closed his mouth. "So while he was in his coma, I healed his injuries. But when he woke up, he'd gone insane. He couldn't handle the emotional trauma he'd sustained."

"Poor guy."

"Now you're beginning to get it! Anyway, I'd already put so much effort into him, so I figured I had to go all the way. I erased his memories, keeping his skills. Not a bad solution, right?"

"Okay…" Kirito found himself begrudgingly agreeing with her reasoning. He wasn't sure if he would've done the same, but…

"But then I had to come up with a story for why his memories were missing, and, well, uh—"

"Let me guess. He'd already woken up, and was looking for answers."

"Yes, exactly! You're pretty smart, after all! That's what happened. At any rate, I told him he was a celestial being, called down by yours truly to serve as my Knight!"

Facepalm. Yep, definitely a colossal airhead.

"So after Bercouli, I realized I should probably have a Knight Order. After all, the whole reason I restricted everything was to make sure there wasn't another person that would just destroy the entire world if they also figured out how to become an Administrator."

"…Right, so?"

"Well, the more Integrity Knights I recruited, the more memories I had to wipe, because it would be weird if you couldn't remember anything, but every other Knight could, right?" Quinella brushed her hair aside, trying to look justified. "But then when I realized how much of a hassle it was, I was already stuck with the story! I wasn't about to just tell them, 'actually, sorry, you really were people of the Empire! I just wiped your memories! Oops!'"

"Oh my…" Kirito groaned, watching her from the corner of his eye.

"I-I know." Quinella pinched her brow.

Kirito consolidated everything he'd just heard— "So… You're an idiot?"

"I am very tempted to turn you into a radish. Would you prefer a carrot?"

"That aside, Quinella, why are you in my dreams?"

Quinella put a finger to her chin, "well, since everything went so wrong in the Cathedral, I figured I should find some way to stick around. So I basically attached my fluctlight to yours."

"Uh, fluctlight?"

"Hmm? Yes, your fluct—oh, I see. Poor boy. You've lost your memories, haven't you?"

"I… I guess I have."

"Well, no matter. I'm sure you'll get them back at some point or another. The human mind is pretty curious, after all. At any rate, I've done this because I wanted to make sure you would save Underworld. Think of me as an advisor of sorts. Though I'll only appear in your dreams." Quinella flipped her hair with a hand, sounding strangely proud of herself.

Kirito crossed his arms and gave her a hard stare. "Who ever said I wanted you as an advisor? Just because you didn't have evil intentions when you killed Eugeo doesn't make it somehow okay."

"I-I must apologize. I didn't think things through. My negligence caused the death of your best friend."

Kirito blinked. What had she just said? The woman who'd tried to incinerate them and stab them while belting out crazed laughter? That same woman?

"B-but I won't say it again. A ruler must have dignity."

"I thought you said you weren't the ruler of anything anymore."

Quinella sighed, defeated. "I suppose you're right. I realize I have no right to ask for forgiveness from you, but that doesn't change that I am trying to protect Underworld. I only ask that you do the same."

"You're the last person I needed to hear that from. Of course I will," assured Kirito.

"Hmm, I guess you would. At any rate, it looks like our time is up. Oh, and Kirito? You may not think it, but I do care for my Integrity Knights. Take care of Alice-chan for me, will you?" Quinella eyed him with a small, knowing smirk.

"Wait, wha—"

At that moment, Kirito woke up to a fan of golden hair spread over his chest. "You don't need to tell me that, either…"

A/N: So this omake was inspired by me asking Guy (my Beta), "hey, what if I took Quinella's character and made her an airhead?" It's also inspired by "If You Were Here," which is an alternate SAO storyline that Reki Kawahara included as an extra somewhere. Actually, my rendition of her character here isn't too far off of "If You Were Here," so I guess we can't call her extremely OOC… I've just had to do a little bit of extra bending to get her to fit here.

For those wondering how Quinella can be so different from her anime portrayal, read her wiki page. She's been through some pretty crazy stuff. I really like this concept, so I'll probably continue this omake in a sort of mini-series. I also hope to bring back other characters that weren't really focused on in the main storyline like Scheta, Fizel and Linel, etc. As for whether or not the omakes are also canon to These Hands that Hold Mine… That's for you to decide!

Anyway, about the actual chapter: I had a lot of trouble writing this one. In fact, someone told me I had to "relearn narrative writing from the ground up." The version you just read took me almost two weeks to get right, and apparently, it's vastly superior to the original! Fight scenes are not my forte after all, but they are fun.

I've got much more time to write this summer as some of you might have noticed. So don't worry about a cliffhanger here and there—I'll be back soon. 😊 Last thing, please leave reviews! I look forward to reading every single one, regardless of if you haven't got much to say or if you've got criticisms.

Until next time,

-TheSilentSwordsman