Hey everybody! Didn't think you'd see me so soon, did ya? Well, it's getting here, so another chapter of SAO:TTS, coming up! (Btw, I wanna always be with you. Also, I'll give you everything I have.)

"What do you mean? You... you just became an ally of the man keeping us here?" asked Asuna, tears in her eyes. I noticed that she said "you", instead of "we".

"It's not what you think." I said. Mikasa arrived just then too, complicating the situation.

"You know I want to get out of here." said Asuna. "I want to date you for real and kiss you for real and... so... why... how could you do this? To me? To all of us?"

"It's not what you think, let me explain." I said. I should have predicted this would happen.

"I... I need to think about this. I love you, with all my heart, but this is too much."

She ran. "Mikasa, stop her!" I screamed, but Mikasa moved aside. "You have to do this. Don't leave it to anybody else." she said calmly.

She was right. I had to explain this. It could not be any other way. I ran as fast as I could, trying to catch her. I finally saw her. She was holding a crystal in her hand. A teleport crystal.

"Wait, Kayaba is... " I started.

"Heathcliff!"
"Teleport!"

We both shouted at the same time. I don't know if she heard me, but she was gone a moment after. I guess I was a solo player again.

And I felt very, very alone.

It took me a few days to stop thinking of Asuna for more than a minute. I could see in my inventory we were still married, so I could see what was almost a copy of her status/menu window. I deposited camping materials, money, and crystals as often as I could. I left there more teleport crystals than I could count, leaving me to walk many times to and from places. But still, no answer. She wouldn't touch a single thing I left there. Not a loaf of bread with cream, not a sleeping bag, not a tent, not a rapier, not a crystal. I was depressed to my core.

Then, on the seventh day of her leaving, the worst thing happened. I saw she was in trouble. In her stats, I could see that she was going through a difficult fight. Her HP was at 8%, and she had no healing crystals on her. I had a one, and I was guessing she had none. Her HP was regenerating slowly, so she was having potions, but it was decreasing at random rates. I deposited both of my healing crystals in the shared inventory. I had next to no hope. But then again, would she die of stubbornness?

8%
9%
5%
6%
7%
3%

I could see the pattern. Gain two percent slowly, and quickly lose four.

4%
5%

I knew what was next. A tear left my eye.

1%

She would not live through another blow. I had to do something. I had to. I pulled out my menu, and quietly wrote a message.

"Don't die, Asuna. I love you." the message said. It was an urgent-type PM, so she would see it immediately. She had not answered a single one of my messages. In fact, she probably had seen none.

I fell down. I could not bear this. When she died, I decided that I would soon have to follow her.

2%
3%

I closed my eyes. I didn't have the heart to see the "Widowed" message.

Beep.

That was it. That was the sound. A notification.

I had to see it. I had to.

I creaked my eyes open, ever so slowly.

URGENT PM

What? Didn't she...? I looked at my (her) stat window.

100%
96%

That was it. A miracle. I watched her hp go up and down, until it was not going down anymore. She had won. She was safe.

I let out a breath of relief. I could breathe now.

I checked the message. It was from Asuna.

"i wont. me 2. ttyl."

She probably had little time to write that. "I won't. Me too. Talk to you later." I read out loud.

A miracle.

It was a tiny improvement, but she had taken something from me, and thanks to that, she was alive. She let me save her.

Over the next few days, she started taking stuff from our inventory indiscriminately. I constantly looked out for her, saving her on more than one occasion. She even used a few teleport crystals, but she still had not come home.

"PM from: Asuna"

She sent another message. I rushed to open this one.

"Thank you for the other day, Kirito. Meet me at our house."

This was the moment I had been waiting for. I left the minor boss I was fighting and immediately teleported to floor 22.

I saw the house that I loved. For the last few days, I had stayed up late waiting for Asuna, but she never did come. Mikasa was staying with me, in a different room, and I found out that she also stayed late. When I asked her about it, she said nothing, but I suspected that she was waiting for Eren, as well. Fortunately, Nexus was staying still at Agil's, so I didn't have to deal with his problems, too.

But today was different. Mikasa was probably grinding for XP, as she obsessively did every day. Which meant that we would be alone.

When I entered the house, I was completely terrified of what she could say. Maybe she was breaking up with me? What if she wanted a divorce? I pushed these thoughts from my mind, and focused on the figure that came into my sight.

She was wearing battle clothes, but they were not the red and white of the KoB. Her dress was almost the exact same as before, but all the red was gone. Most of the red highlights had been turned to gray and black, and all of the crosses were gone. Her eyes looked completely different, like she had been toughened up in the last few days.

"Hello, Kirito." she said. Her eyes looked angry, like she would punch me. As if reading my mind, she stepped forward, and lifted her fist as if she was about to do just that. I braced myself, but the blow never came. Instead, she hugged me.

"H-huh?" I asked, confused. I hugged her back, and she started to cry. She continued to do so for a few minutes, and I held her all throughout it.

"I... I've missed you... so much..." she said between sobs.

Then, something happened that I did not expect. My own tears betrayed me, leaving my eyes like waterfalls, splashing down on her chestnut hair. I held her closer, as if I was afraid that she would leave again, but tenderly, as I was afraid that, with enough force, she would break and disappear.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. I really don't. I only know that when I did, I felt something I never had before, and I couldn't very well explain what. It felt like relief, but it wasn't just that. It felt like love. A newborn love, reborn from the its own ashes like a phoenix.

"Asuna, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." I said.

"No, Kirito. It was my fault. I should have heard you out. I should have stood by you. I should have done my responsibility as your wife. But instead, I was selfish, judgmental, and prideful. I wanted to turn back the instant I teleported, but I didn't have another teleport crystal. By the time I got one, I just couldn't say the words. 'Teleport, floor 22'. It would have been so simple. But what would I do when I got here? What would I say? And what if you were working to keep us all here? Could I forgive you? And if you somehow weren't, would you forgive me?"

She paused. As it was, it looked like she had gone through the same questions I had. She continued.

"But still, it was unfair to not let you explain. I knew that, and so, out of guilt, I avoided you. Whenever you PM'd me, I'd be reminded of that. And so, I pretended I didn't read your messages. I pretended not to notice your items in my, our, inventory. I could have ended our marriage, but that was too painful. Still, when I was about to die against that giant Hydra, your message gave me strength. You reminded me that I have a reason to live. So, sorry it took so long for me to come here after that, but I had to think about what I was going to say."

She looked down, and I realized the ball was in my court. It was my turn to speak.

"No, Asuna. The one who was unfair was me. I didn't explain the details of my deal with Kayaba to you. I even told Mikasa to stop you when I should have been the one to do it. That was wrong of me. But listen, I didn't make a deal to keep us here longer. If this pays off, I may get everyone out of here. And if it doesn't, if Kayaba and I fail, this game will become utterly unbeatable."

I then filled her in on everything Kayaba told me. I refrained from saying that Kayaba was actually Heathcliff. She didn't need that kind of psychological betrayal in her system right now.

"Then I'm coming with you." said Asuna.

"It will be more dangerous than you think, I would rather..."

"...do this with anyone other than your wife?" she interrupted. "Absolutely not!"

I tried to argue a little, but her mind was made up.

"Well, we still have to get Eren, right?" asked Asuna.

"I can take care of that." said a newcomer to our conversation.

"Mikasa!?" I asked. "How long have you been there?"

"As long as you two have been talking." she answered

"Couldn't you just... you know... yawn or something, so we knew you were here?" asked Asuna, her cheeks as red as if she had eaten the rare food item, Inferno Dragon's Jalapeños.

"I could have, but... you two have something good, almost enviable. If I'd interfered, this issue might have stayed unsolved, and what you have could have ended."

I could not argue with her logical way of thinking but still...

"Also, now I know the plans for the mission. Considering the fact that I found yesterday where the Knights if the Blood Oath are keeping Eren, I considered that it would be best if you two got back to the way you used to be. Nexus is on his way here. As soon as he is, I recommend we go het Eren. And afterwards, I will never let him get hurt or kidnapped again. Not him, who taught me what it means to live. I suggest you two do the same for each other."

"R-right." Asuna and I said simultaneously.

In that precise moment, Nexus arrived. "Alright, Mikasa. I'm here. What did you want to talk about?"

For the next few minutes, we al, filled Nexus in on the situation. He didn't say a word throughout the entire explanation, and stayed that way for half a minute once we were done.

"Well, as much as I don't want to get involved in this, I have a single question." He said. He hesitated, as if he was making sure his decision was the right one. After a small while, he spoke again.

"What are we doing here, when we could already be on our way there?" he asked with a smile.

Aaaand there you have it! Another chapter of the same fanfic you people seem to enjoy for some reason, all within the space of a few minutes! Of course, I won't keep this rhythm up (the story would be finished by tomorrow, and yes, there is a planned ending), as it would be unreasonable to expect me to do so. Anyhow, don't forget to review, and thank you for all your support, it has kept what was gonna be a short, unfinished dream alive, instead becoming a steady story. Well, see ya!

Edit: I'll be taking a month off or so from fanfiction writing. This is because I am currently helping on the Katawa Shoujo: Spanish translation project. As some of you probably know, it's no short piece of work, but I promise I'll be back.