Yo, guys! I'm back with an all new chapter for you! Thank you all for the review! *Sob* *Sob* I just can't believe my eyes... Thank you all once again! 

Now, let me explain a bit, 'Hero Skill', is a skill that only those who meet the requirements can recieve, and they need a trigger event, like Shikki with Claire, to even get the chance to learn the skill. And if the players were to break one of the requirements, the skill would dissapear, forever.

Anyway, this chapter is the chap what you Sachi fans been waiting for! I'll try to balance both Shikki and Kirito role, so I hope you guys like this chapter!

 By the way, got any advice for this fic cover?

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Floor 11: Taft

"Here's to us! The Moonlit Black Cats! Cheers!"

""""Cheers!""""

A group of five people cheered at a large table, raising their silver cups.

"And here's to Kirito and Shiki, the two people who saved our lives! Cheers!" One of the five people, a blond hair male, wearing a black beanie, orange cloak, gray armor, yellow shirt and brown pants said.

""""Cheers!""""

"C-cheers.." Kirito said awkwardly, a little not used of being with many people. Right now, our two heroes were at a small tavern in the town, cheering with the group of five people they saved at the forest a moment ago. He now wore a black shirt with a silver breastplate, his 'Midnight coat', and a badge of the moon at his coat.

"..." Shiki, who was sitting beside Kirito, only stayed silent as he had his head on the table. He was now wearing a red turtle neck shirt, with a silver breastplate, his 'Twilight coat', and a badge of sun at his coat.

"You two saved us!"

"Thank you!"

"Thank you."

"Thank you so much!"

"Oh, it was nothing." Kirito said, waving his hand.

"I was really scared." The female of the five people said, she had black hair, green eyes, and she wore a blue armor with a light blue clothing inside, she also wore long white gloves and a blue skirt. "Then when you two came and saved me, I was really glad." The girl said, wiping some of her tears from her left eye.

"S-sure..."

"Um... Kirito, I know this is really rude to ask, but what level are you two at?" One of the five people asked, this one was a redish brown haired male, wearing a full set iron armor with crimson shirt inside and black pants.

Kirito looked away. "We're level 20 or so." He then looked at his HP bar and saw the word 'LV 40' under his health bar.

"Hee... That isn't too far from us, its really amazing that its only you two."

"Keita, you don't need to be so polite, the two of us can't really target many many enemies at once, that's why we usualy hunt small groups of enemies or isolated enemies, it isn't that efficient." Kirito said to the male, now identified as Keita.

"Oh... oh I see... by the way... what happened to your friend? He hasn't spoken or moved since we got here."

Kirito and the rest of the people looked at Shiki. "Hey... are you okay? You've been silent since we arrived and I'm getting worried." Kirito said, knowing his hyper friend can't just stay there doing nothing in one place for too long, and this was long enough. "Shik?"

"Uhm... Leave me alone..." Shiki muttered, keeping his head down.

"Don't tell me you're still upset about that 'jumping from hill and crashed into a pond' incident?" Kirito asked.

"You wouldn't understand..." Shiki said. "Every hero's grand entrance is their most important thing... and if its ruined, its like seeing your last bon-bon get eaten by someone else!" Shiki said as dark clouds started to appear over his head. "Even after I got out from the pond, I somehow got tripped by a banana peel and fell down the small slope... Its so un-hero like! And how the hell did a banana peel even get there?"

Everyone looked at Shiki with a sweatdrop. Before Kirito could lift Shiki's spirit back, a girl's voice cut him off.

"No!" Shiki lifted his head a little from the outburst. "E-even though you came rolling down the slope, you rescued us, fighting off the mantis until Kirito arrived... thats why, you're still our hero!" The only female of the five group said.

"Yeah!"

"She's right Shiki."

"We're still gratefull." Everyone agreed with her.

"You guys..." Shikki whispered, finally lifting his head up. "Thanks!" He then began to shed 'Manly' tears, as he whipped it off with his hand. "Now that that's out of the way...Waiter! Give me some food!"

Everyone laughed and Kirito shook his head at his friend's quick recover.

"In that case." Keita said after watching Shiki recover. "Shiki, Kirito, what would you think about joining our guild?" Kirito and Shikki looked at him in surprise. "The only one that we have who can occupy as a vanguard is Tetsuo, a mace user." He pointed to the purple wearing member of the group and then walked towards the only female in the group and patted her head. "Her name is Sachi, I'd planned to have her switch to sword and shield use so she could fight in the front." He said as he kept patting her. "But she said she isn't really sure how, so do you two think you can show her the ropes?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm useless." The girl, Sachi, said as she moved to the side a step out of Keita's hand reach. "I can't go out and fight in the front rank, I'd be scared."

"Just hide behind your shield!" One of the group, a brown hair male wearing a iron breastplate with purple cloth and black pants, Tetsuo, said.

"You've always been a scaredy-cat." Keita said.

"Booo..." Sachi poofed her cheeks at that remark, everyone else excluding Shiki and Kirito, laughed at that.

"Everyone from our guild, is from our school's PC research club. Ah... but don't worry, you two will fit in soon, right?" Keita asked the rest of his guild's mates as they all nodded their heads.

Kirito and Shikki looked at each other, "What do you think?" The redhead asked.

"... Are you cool with it?" Kirito whispered.

"Only if you are."

Kirito then went silent, thinking the offer very hard, on one hand, he and Shikki will gain the allies that could maybe understand them... on the other hand, there's a big chance they will all die, and the last thing they want is to see friends die in front of them.

After a long silent, he finally answered. "Okay... then we will join after all." Kirito looked at them all. "Thanks."

Shikki grinned, he then also looked at them all and put a good guy's pose, with the thumb up and toothy grin. "Please take care of us!"

Everyone smiled widely and crowded the two. "Let's all do our best!"

Shikki and Kirito looked at each other with a smile, and raised their fists and bumped them together.

(Opening Theme)

XXXXXXXXX

Floor 20: Sunlit Forest

"Hyah!" A brown haired male wearing a white hat, a iron breast plate, green cloth and dark green pants thursted his spear into the monster 'Praying Mantis', he was Sasamaru, one of the member of the 'Black Cats of the Full Moon', the guild Shoto and Kirito had joined.

Right now, Shikki and Kirito with their newly joined group were hunting plus training at the forest that they all met at for the first time, and Kirito tried to teach Sachi how to be a vanguard.

The monster hissed as it backed away, Sachi moved up forward slowly to attack, but the monster roared at her, Sachi raised her shield and backed away in fright, the green wearing spearman thursted his spear again, but this time the monster instead of backing away, slashed at Sachi pushing her back, the monster prepared another slash but a sword imbulged itself on its left eye stopping it, courtesy of Shikki as the monster hissed in pain.

"Sachi, get back!" Kirito said from the rear as he moved up to the front, the mantis raised one of its bladed arm to attack again, but Kirito cut its arm, the mantis hissed in pain as it looked at Kirito and raised its other arm, Kirito, knowing what will happen, countered it by knocking back the mantis's arm. "Tetsuo! Switch!"

"Right!" Tetsuo dashed forward, weapon shining signaling his attack. "Hyaaah!" Tetsuo struck the mantis's body with his mace, kiling it.

Congratulations!

Lv Up! Tetsuo

22 – 23

"All right!" Tetsuo cheered as the other congratulated him.

Kirito smiled, watching the other as Shikki put Tetsuo in a headlock and congratulating him.

XXXXXXXX

"So the lead group made it through to floor 28..." Keita said as he read a newspaper called 'Weekly Argo', a newspaper that tells the players about what's going on in this world. "Amazing... Hey Kirito, whats the difference between us and the lead group?"

Right now, the group are resting after a long hunt, Kirito and Keita were resting near a cliff edge, Kirito was sitting and eating his ration bar, while Keita was lying down reading his newspaper.

"They know all the fastest way to get EXP, and they don't share them." Kirito answered, swallowing his last bite.

Keita sighed. "I'm sure that's part of it, but I think its willpower."

"Willpower?"

Keita stood up. "You might say its a determenation to protect one's friend... no, everyone." He looked at Kirito. "Right now, they're still protecting us, but I'd like to think my will is just as strong." Keita looked at the others, who were resting at a higher edge of the cliff. "Naturally, our first priority is our friend's safety, but someday, we want to make it up there, to the top, with everyone else."

Kirito looked at the others, who right now were joking around, with Shikki wrestling with Tetsuo and the others watching them laughing.

"I see... You started to sound like Shik." Kirito said, looking at the sky.

"Eh?! Really?"

"Yeah, he really likes saying stuff like that."

"Yeah, so what?" Kirito looked behind him to see Shikki dashing towards him, before he could evade, the redhead had put him into a headlock.

Keita laughed at the sight. "Hey leader, looking good!" Keita looked behind him only to see the orange cloak member of the group, Ducker, putting him into a headlock.

"So we're going to be up there with the 'Holy Dragon Alliance' and the 'Knights of the Blood Oath'?" Tetsuya asked as he and the others came down towards them.

"So what? There's nothing wrong setting up high goals, first we reach lv 30." Keita said still in a headlock.

"What? That's impossible."

"Yeah right!"

"That's some goal, leader!"

"Shikki! Get off me!" Kirito said, trying, and failing, to escape from his red-haired friend.

Shikki only laughed and let Kirito go, and watching the group. "You know, if the 'Black Cats' ever do grow up, and make it to the front lines, Keita's ideals may change the insular atmosphere up there."

Kirito nodded. "Yeah... I really hope they do survive..." Kirito looked away, looking at his still secret lv.

Seeing his friend's expression, Shikki couldn't help bu think back to the conversation they had after first joining the guild.

XXXXXXXX

Flashback

"I'm sorry...you did What?!" Shikki was nothing less than shocked.

The redhead knew Kirito well enough by this point to know that the guy never had an issue with hiding his level before under normal circumstances. But to do it now...What was going on with him?

"Can you not yell so loud?" Kirito retorted shaprly, looking around to make sure no one could hear them. "I'd rather not have anyone eavedropping."

Shikki held up his hands. "I'm just trying to understand. You told them that we were lv 20, even though we are WAY higher than that? Yeah, I know, they're lower levels than us, and we don't normally hang out with people like that. But that's because most of them are lazy- not these guys. I mean, you've never had a problem with that before. I just wanna know why you did it."

"Look, I.." Kirito muttered, rubbing his neck. "I…I just thought… if they knew our real levels, they'd probably peg us as beaters, and then they wouldn't want to hang around us anymore."

Shikki blinked at his friend's answer.

Once.

Twice.

...When a teasing smirk grew on his face

"Doth my ears deceive me?" He teased. "Kirito, the great and powerful Black Swordsman, is feeling lonely?"

Kirito looked the other way and scratched his cheek. "Well… yeah, I guess."

"What, I'm not good enough, huh? Are you not entertain!?"

Kirito sighed heavily. "Very funny," he muttered.

"Though, this could be a good thing..." Shikki replied, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

Hearing this, Kirito got curious. "What do you mean?"

"Welp, perhaps being around more people will help bring you out of your dark and emo persona!"

"W-Wha!? I'm not dark and and emo!"

"Pfft! Please, if this was 'Star Wars', I'd be Luke Skywalker and you'd be Darth Vader."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

Flashback ends

XXXXXXXX

"We should tell them about our lv soon, Ki." Shoto adviced.

"We will... Eventualy, but for now, let it be."

"Alright." Shikki sighed, looking at his lv 40 words below his HP bar. 'Hopefully, this doesn't come back to bite us on the ass...'

XXXXXXXXX

Floor 11: Taft

"I have an annoucement for you!" Keita said, gaining all the members attention. Right now, they were at an inn room, gathering for the annoucement. "As of our last hunt, we saved 20.000 coins!"

"Woah!"

"Awesome!"

"Before too long, we'll be able to buy our own house." Tetsuya said.

"Hey hey! Why don't we get more equipment for Sachi?" The green spearman of the group said.

"Yeah!" Keita agreed.

"No." Sachi shook her head. "I'm fine as I am."

"Don't worry about it." Sasamaru said. "Besides, we can't make Kirito and Shikki protect us forever."

"I'm sorry you two." Sachi said to the two boys.

"We don't mind." Kirito said.

"Yeah! One of the comrades' job is to keep they're comrades away from harm! Besides, its what a Hero does!" Shikki said with a thumbs up.

"Sorry about that you two." Keita looked at Sachi. "Sachi, I know its hard to change jobs, but you're almost there, let's all do our best!"

Sachi nodded, but she looked down on the floor, her bangs covered her eyes.

Little did she know, Shikki saw the expression she held.

Later...

Night had come, All the members of the guild 'Black Cats' has gone to sleep, all but two people.

"So we're going to Wolf Plains?" Shikki asked as they were walking through town.

"Yeah... We need to train, killing low lv enemy won't make us stronger." Kirito answered.

"I don't like doing things in secret from the others like this..."

"I don't like it either, but we need to get stronger so we could protect them all."

Shikki nodded in understanding. "Right..."

XXXXXXXX

Floor 28: Wolf Plains

"There's a fight..." Kirito said as he and Shikki walked in the moonlight.

"Yeah." Shikki said, hearing the roaring and the growling of wolves.

The two of them arrived at a hill, below them are were players wearing Japanese armors and weapons with all red cloth beneath the armor and one familiar player fighting one giant 'Crimson Wolf' and some ordinary crimson wolfs.

"Klein..." Kirito whispered.

Klein, the novice they helped when they were still lv 1, was now a skilled player with impressive combination with his team. He finish the giant 'Crimson Wolf' in one slash from his katana.

Klein released his breath in relief, he then noticed the two figures at the hill. "Oh? Its Kirito and Shikki! Oy, you guys clean up the rest of the trash mobs."

"Sure!" One of Klein's crew said.

"I was thinking I hadn't seen you two in a while! You two out leveling this late?" Klein asked as he walked closer and stopped in front of them, but then he noticed something, a mark above both Shoto and Kirito HP bar. "That mark... Did you two joined a guild?"

"Yeah I guess.." Kirito answered, looking away.

"Yeah! And this guild will be the best!" Shikki said grinning.

"Hey! We can move on!" Klein's guild members said, finishing the last enemy.

Kirito started to walk away past Klein with a yawn, Shikki following behind him. "See you." Kirito said.

"See you around Klein." Shikki said his goodbye, following Kirito.

"Yeah..." Klein looked at Kirito. "Geez... You still bothered with that?"

XXXXXXXX

Floor 11: Taft

A ball of light appeared on the town portal, and when it fade an orange wearing male came out. "Man... Ki sure worked hard..." Shikki said as he walked through town and entering an alley way. "Either he wants to be alone, or he just in a mood to hunt... His guilt of Klein is eating away at him." He then arrived at a black smith shop in the alley. "Yo it's me, open up!" Shikki said, knocking the door until a *Click* sound was heard and an elderly man appeared.

"Oh... its you kid." The man said.

"Yeah, is my order done?"

The man nodded and went inside, a few minutes later he came out, carrying a wooden box. "Here."

Shikki took the box and opened it, smiling at the content. "Thanks old man."

The old man shook his head. "I'm not that old, but thanks kid, come again." The man said as he closed and locked the door.

Shikki turned around and left the alley way, ready to return to the inn, that is until a message from Keita appeared. He blinked. 'A message from Keita?' Shikki thought as he opened the message. "Sachi left and hasn't return, we're heading out to the dungeon area, if you learn anything, let me know." The teen read the message in his mind.

"Sachi..." Shikki whispered. He opened his skill menu, and selected 'Track.' His eyes went green and so did his vision, Shikki inhaled, searching for Sachi's scent, he found it, as well as her foot prints. With that, he then quickly ran, following her scent and the foot prints.

XXXXXXXX

Taft Bridge Sewer

Sachi was under the bridge sewer, sitting there while holding her knees up, away from everything else only hearing the calm sound of the flowing water.

"Sachi." Sachi instantly looked towards the person who called her.

"Shikki..." She whispered, looking at the now wet redhead standing there.

"How come you ran off? Everyone's worried." Shikki said walking closer, Sachi only looked away and hugged her knees tighter. The swordsman then stopped near her and sat down.

"Hey Shikki... Let's run away together."

Shikki choked on his saliva. "*Cough* *Cough* Run away from what?" He asked taking out a sweet bar.

"From this town... from the monsters... from the Kuroneko... from Sword Art Online."

Shikki choked on his saliva again, and accidentally dropped his last sweet bar into the water.

"D-do you mean a double suicide?!"

Sachi smiled a hollow smile. "That might be okay."

"What?!"

Sachi shook her head. "No, sorry, that was a lie. If I had the courage to die, I wouldn't hide in the safety of the town, would I?"

Shikki just smiled at her awkwardly. "Well...I guess not?"

"Hey, why can't we leave this place?" The redhead lost his smile at this. "Why do we have to die even though this is just a game? What's the point of all this?"

"Honestly, I don't know." Shikki said looking at the flowing water. "But I don't really think there's a point."

"I'm afraid of dying." Sachi said, looking at the water.

Shikki looked at her in surprise. "You're afraid of dying?"

"I'm so scared, I haven't been able to sleep lately...It's gotten to the point where I feel like today, tomorrow or the day after that could be my last."

"You won't die." Sachi looked at Shikki with surprise. His voice was frim, yet still held comfort as he looked at the wall across them.

"Really? How can you say so for sure?"

"The black cats guild is a strong guild, our margin of safety is well above average, and Tetsuo, Kirito, and I are here. There's no need for you to force yourself to the front ranks, we three can take them all on!" Shikki said, looking back at her.

"I really don't have to die?" Sachi asked. "Will I get back to reality someday?"

Shikki nodded then flashed her a closed-eyed grin. "Yeah, you won't have to die, as long as I live, I won't let you die! So just shout my name and I'll come running! Before, you know it, you'll be back home in no time."

Sachi looked at him in surprise and smiled as tears started to roll down her eyes. "Thank you..."

"Don't mention it!" Shikki said with a thumbs up, but then he remembered something. "Ah!? My last sweet bar got taken away by the water!" Shikki looked at the water. "Noooo!" He cried out in despair.

He then stopped as a sweet bar appeared in his vision. "Huh?"

"You can have mine." Sachi said, extending her hand. "Here."

Shikki looked at her like she was some kind of angel. "Thank you!" He took the bar and ate it like a chipmunk. Sachi giggled while watching him eating the sweet.

"By the way Shikki, why are you wet?"

Shikki looked down on himself and looked away. "W-Well I uh... tripped over a banana peel on my way here and fell into the water..."

Sachi blinked, and blinked, then she laughed loudly.

"It's not funny!" Shikki said swinging his arms in a comical way, but stopped as he looked at the happy laughing face of Sachi and smiled.

XXXXXXXX

Diamond Inn

Shikki sighed as he lied down on the bed, after finding Sachi, he messaged the others that Sachi was fine, the good thing is that the others didn't ask too many things, if they did, it would have put Sachi in an awkward position. Right now Shikki only wore a red shirt and black pants, he yawned, preparing to sleep but a knock on the door stopped him as he stood up. "Come in."

The door opened revealing Sachi carrying a pillow and wearing a white sleeping gown. Shikki blinked at the sight, and he looked away with a red face. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't get to sleep."

Shikki blinked as he looked at her in shock.

XXXXXXX

Later that night...

Shikki couldn't sleep, he never EVER fell asleep with a girl by his side. Beside him was Sachi, who Shikki though was sleeping. "There are a lots of players like Sachi who are afraid of dying... But they cry, laugh, and live as best as they can in this world... That's why we have to finish this game! One way or another!"

"Shikki?"

The redhead looked beside him at the awake Sachi, and smiled. "Don't worry, You're going to survive."

Sachi smiled at him with a red face as she tried to get back to sleep. He then heard her whisper, "Goodnight....my Hero. Thanks for today."

Shiki looked over at the now sleeping girl in shock, before he smiled. "Night, Sac."

He then dropped his smile as he looked towards the roof. 'As long as we're here... we'll protect you all.'

In another room, Kirito also thought of the same thing. Swearing of not making the same mistake with Klein.

XXXXXXXX

"Well then, I'll be going!" Keita said to the others as he stood in front of the town portal. "Teleport! Town of Beginnings!" With that said, he dissapeared.

"I can't believe buying our own house feels this exciting!" Sasamaru the green spearman said.

"You sound like an old man!" Ducker said as he hit Sasamaru playfully. The others only laughed at that.

"Hey! Let's make some cash while Keita's buying the house!" Tetsuo suggested.

"Will we buy furniture?" Sachi asked feeling excited.

"Want to get up to the dungeon?" Ducker asked.

"Wouldn't our usual hunting ground be better?" Kirito asked, feeling slightly worried.

"Yeah, I don't really like the dungeon that much... Too many traps and creepy places." Shikki said, shivering slightly at the creepy places part.

"We can do it way faster above." Sasamaru said.

"At our level we'll be fine." Ducker said.

Shikki and Kirito didn't look convinced by it and exchanged worried glances.

XXXXXXXX

Floor 27: Dungeon

"I told you we'd have no problem!" Sasamaru said, walking in front.

The 'Black Cats' guild were facing no dangerous resistance so far, but even so, Kirito still didn't looked convinced. "Shoto, keep an eye for traps." Kirito whispered. The dungeon area was a glowing teal color boxes like area, where the road, wall, and roof were made of teal boxes.

"Okay..." Shikki whispered back. "I'm getting a REALLY bad feeling."

"We might be almost at the front line!" Sasamaru said carrying his spear on his shoulder.

"Heck yeah!" Ducker agreed but he then noticed something. "Oh?"

Ducker ran ahead as he found a symbol like thing on a wall, he touched it and the wall turn into a door.

'A hidden door? Here?' Kirito thought, shocked and suspicious.

'Wait... Why is there a door here of all places?' Shikki questioned, also feeling suspicious.

Ducker opened the door, inside in the middle of the room is a treasure chest. "Oh?! A treasure chest!" Ducker, Sasamaru, and Tetsuo all went inside.

"W-wait!" Kirito warned, still feeling suspicious as he, Sachi, and Shikki walked inside.

The moment Shikki stepped inside, a feeling of dread washed over him like a thousand bolt. "What the..."

Ducker smiled at his finding, he crouched and opened the chest, but instead of treasures, the chest triggered an alarm.

*Tiiiit* *Tiiiit* *Tiiit*

Kirito and Shikki knew it all too well, they were in a very dangerous situation. The room door closed, and the walls opened as 'Mine Gobins' stormed into the room and stone golums appeared in the room.

"Shit, its a trap! Everyone, let's get out of here!" Shikki said, taking his teleport crystal out.

"Teleport Taft!" Nothing happened. "Teleport Taft!" Still nothing happened. "Why isn't this working!?"

"We can't use our crystals!" Sachi said, looking at her crystal.

"Is this a Crystal-nullification area?" Kirito asked unsheathing his sword, Shikki only gritted his teeth as he also unsheathed his sword and gripped his shield tightly.

"Well, damn. It's must be my BIRTHDAY!!!"

The goblins charged, Kirito and Shikki managed to take out the monsters easily. Ducker got thrown as one of the golum hit him. "Akh!?" Ducker noticed a shadow on the ground, he looked up and saw Goblins raising their pick axes before the began to strike him. "Ahk! Ugh! AAAAhhhhh!" Ducker screamed as he dissapeared into thousands of glass.

Kirito and Shoto look, shocked. "No, Ducker!" Kirito said as he kept slashing at the enemy. "Shik, protect Sachi! Tetsuo, Sasamaru stay together!"

"Got it!" Shikki quickly tried to get through the mobs, but the mobs were too numerous.

"Uagghh!" Tetsuo cried out as he disappeared into a thousand pieces of glass.

"Tetsuo!" Sasamaru cried out his friend's name, he gritted his teeth. "Damn you!" He charged at the stone golum that killed Tetsuo and pierced it. The golum only raised its hand and struck at Sasamaru. "Uaghhh!" Sasamaru cried out as he got thrown away into a numerous pieces of glass.

"Hyaaahhh!" Kirito cried out as he charged and killed any enemy that was near him. "Damn you all!" Kirito kept on killing recklessly, not caring if he got hit by the enemy.

"Hyah!" Shikki slashed at a golum before he slammed his shield into it's face, sending it flying back. He then saw Sachi, struggling against an enemy, blocking a stone golum with her staff. "Sachi!" Shikki cried out as he charged, killing the two golums that were standing in his way.

"Shikki!" Sachi pushed the golum back and tried to run towards the redhead, but behind her another golum appeared, ready to strike.

"No!" Shikki's eyes widened in horror as he did the only thing that he could think of. 'Make me like Cap!' Rearing left his arm back, he hurled his shield mightily, turning it into a giant disc of death. It flashed through the air to slice off the golem's arm and boucning off the wall behind it. This gave Sachi the opening she needed to dodge and retaliate.

The golem shattered into pieces, and this seemed to give Sachi the confidence she needed to hold off the rest of her attackers. Shikki managed to grab his shield out of the air before make his way over to the girl by dodging and weaving in between the mobs.

Together, they managed to clear a path through to Kirito, their swords causing terrible havoc on the monsters that would take their lives. Once they regrouped, they were able to hold off the stone monsters while Sachi retaliated against the shorter dwarf creatures.

After a long, drawn-out battle, Kirito, Sachi, and Shikki all staggered out of the dungeon, exhausted and nearly out of health points. They sat down outside the entrance and numbly drank their health potions. None of them wanted to even move after what they had just been through.

But they had no such luck. Soon after, they got each got a message from Keita, saying that he had made the purchase for their new house, and he wanted to meet them on the second floor. He also wondered why Ducker, Tetsuo, and Sasamaru weren't on his friend list anymore, and he wanted an explanation.

"I'll tell him," Shikki mumbled, looking down with a defeated look.

"Thanks," was the only thing that Kirito could say.

"Thanks for saving me," Sachi said quietly. "I know you guys did all that you could."

"No, we didn't," Kirito said bitterly. "If we had told you guys the truth from the beginning, they would have listened more carefully to Shik, and-"

"I know how strong you guys really are," she interrupted. The quiet words stopped both swordsmen cold.

"Y-You… knew?" Shikki echoed. "But how…?"

"I kind of peeked at your stats the other day when you were swapping swords," Sachi replied, slightly embarrassed. "But I can't figure out why you didn't want us to know about it."

Both Kirito and Shikki exchanged shamed gazes before Kirito hung his head and said, "Sachi… Are you familiar with the term 'beater'? The one that applies to the former beta testers?"

"Yes…" Sachi said carefully.

"Shikki and I are the first known beaters," Kirito admitted. "We're the ones that took those titles on. And that means that we knew about traps like the one that just killed our friends."

"So why just not tell us?" Sachi asked.

"We were afraid that if you knew our real identities, you guys wouldn't want us around anymore," Shikki answered. "We both saw how much fun you all had together, and we just wanted to be a part of it. But I guess it doesn't matter now, does it?"

"You're wrong," Sachi said in response, startling both her friends.

"What do you mean?" Kirito asked. "Don't you blame us for what happened to everyone just now?"

"No," Sachi said with a shake of her head. "The others should have listened to you, whether you were beaters or not. Anybody could have seen that room was an obvious trap, but we ignored the signs. Their deaths aren't your fault."

Kirito and Shikki both hung their heads, feeling both ashamed and amazed that Sachi would be so forgiving towards them. Shikki' eyes watered as he was once again reminded of Claire, but he didn't let the others see his tears.

Instead, he stood and wiped his eyes. "Come on," he said as he held his hand out to Sachi. "We'd better talk to Keita about a funeral. And… about us."

XXXXXXXX

Later...

"You… you two are beaters…?" Keita gasped, his face twisted in horror. But the expression was quickly replaced by fury. "You had no right to be around us!" He threw the keys to the house he had bought, landing a solid hit on Shikki's face. The swordsman didn't even flinch from the impact, and the keys simply fell to the ground.

Keita staggered against the railing that overlooked the sky that Aincrad floated in, the full impact of his friend's deaths crashing down on him. "You… you killed them…" he whispered. "The day you joined us… you sealed their deaths!"

"They saved our lives, Keita," Sachi tried to console him, but he pushed her away and immediately got on top of the railing. Seeing what was about to happen, Sachi rushed forward, but she was too late to keep Keita from leaping to his death. "NO!"

She leaned over the railing, trying to grasp at his foot, but Shikki grabbed her wrist, an unfathomable sadness etched into his face. He held onto her wrist until Keita passed from view before he let go. Kirito just stood off to the side, so filled with pain that it numbed his heart to any other emotion.

"Why…?" Sachi asked Shikki as she sank down onto the grass.

"We've lost enough friends for a lifetime," Shikki replied. "I won't risk losing another." 

At that, Sachi broke down in tears as Shikki tried to comfort her as Kirito watched on with his head hung down.

 "...Come on, let's go." Slowly, he picked up the keys that Keita had dropped and Shikki helped Sachi stand to her feet. Silent as a wraith, as they walked towards the new house that Keita had bought.

(Ending Theme)

XXXXXXXX

 Ahahahaha! Finished! This was probably my longest chapter so far! Just to be clear, the Christmas event will not be covered, because as far as I'm concerned, Kirito only went to get that item to save Sachi, and no one else. Since she survived in this AU, they don't need the item. So for now we can assume that the Furin Kazan Guild got a hold of the revival item, but it's not really important. Anyway, next time will be Silica's debut.

Please R&R with your thoughts!