Ava's POV
"I see what happened."Chief Heathcliff spoke to both me and Kirito."I shall explain it to the other guild members."
"We'd also like to request a leave of absence from the guild for a while."I said.
"The reason?"
We're married.
"We have doubts about the current state of this guild."I responded, lying.
"Understood."
I mentally sighed in relief.
"However, I'm sure you two will be back soon to return to battle."
Bastard.
I feel like he thinks he's better than everyone else.
-----FLOOR 22----
Floor 22 was beautiful and lively.Everything seemed so peaceful and calm.It was perfect area for the both of us.
"Everything looks amazing!"I cheered as I looked out the balcony.We had a view of the lake and forest connecting together with the mountains in the background.The breeze felt fresh and the sun beamed down on me.
"Don't get too close, knowing your luck, you'll fall."Kirito chuckled at my amusement raping his arm around me.
I love this feeling.
It's almost real.
Its paradise.
"We've managed to buy a great house."I sighed happily.
"We're totally broke though."
"Yeah, but I don't regret anything.We can enjoy living peacefully here now."
Silence was all I got.
"Kirito?"
"Hey Ava,"He spoke."Is our relationship limited to just this world?"
"You're pissing me off Kirito,"I huffed making him panic."This place may be virtually but my feelings are very real, I hope you understand that.When we return to the real world, I'll find you and fall in love with you all over again.Okay?"
He gave me a bright smile before answering."Alright, Lieutenant."
"Good General, so when I find you, you can brag to all your friends you have a girlfriend."I winked.
"Yeah, I can."He said leaning in to give me a kiss, I gladly accept and kiss him back.
In the real world...
With him, it'll be better.
-----TIME SKIP-----
I yawn as I wait for Kirito to awaken in our bed.
He looks so cut when he's sleeping.
Like a child.I laugh.
Wait, how old is he?
My age?
He looks around there.
Shouldn't matter though.
He's mine, and I'm his.
"I love you,"I said while hugging him."Please never forget that."
He gently started to stir when I hugged him.I pulled back making eye contact with him making me to panic and stumbled and fall of the bed.
"Ouch!"I hissed."M-Morning Kirito."
"Morning Ava, are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine,"I laughed nervously."I'll go make breakfast now."I say and run off.
Jeez Ava,
Make a fool out of yourself, why don't ya?
I reach the kitchen and start making Kirito eggs and bacon for breakfast.I hummed a song while grabbing all the ingredients and cooking them.
"Orange Juice!"I remember and start to make freshly-made orange juice.
"You really know how to make me hungry."I hear.
"It's a gift."I laughed serving him both the food and drink.
"So Ava, I was thinking, what do you want to do today?"
I set my plate and cup down to start thinking."Hm.I don't really know.What do you think we should do?"
"Well, I have this one place in mind."He smiled.
-----TIME LAPSE-----
"So where are we going?"I ask, hand-in-hand with him.
"You'll see when we get there."
"You're so mean making me wait."He chuckled at my comment.
"Evil, aren't I?"
"Terrifying."I replied rolling my eyes playfully.We walked on the pathway in the forest when a brilliant idea pops into my head.
"Kirito, can I ride on your shoulders?"
"Why exactly?"
"So I can see a better view."
"Alright,"He agreed."Hope on!"
"Yay!"I cheered, jumping right onto his shoulders.
A gasp escaped my lips.
Everything was so wonderful with this view, it looked better than when I was on ground level.
"Wow!Thanks Kirito!"
"Welcome,"He smiled."Let's set course to northeast!"
"Roger!"I laughed playing along, pointing to the distance.
I reached out for the berries and gave one to Kirito.He was about to grab one when it few away.
"Oh my gosh!I thought that was a berryI laughed.
"Me too."He agreed.I suddenly notice men fishing near the lake.
"There people here."I mumbled.
One of the men waved towards us.I hesitated waved back.
"Hang on tight!"Kirito suddenly shouted, running full speed.
"Kirito-slow-down!"I yelled only earning a laugh.
-----TIME LAPSE-----
We were both together walking in the forest when Kirito spoke again.
"I heard this rumor in the village yesterday,"He started."Apparently they show up here, deep in these woods."
"What does?"
"Ghost."He smirked.
"You can scare me with that,"I smirk back."It must be astral-type monsters, like hell slender man is gonna show up in these woods."
"No, no."He shook his head."Real ghost.The vengeful spirits of hunter monsters show up in these fields, every night."
I suddenly heard a noise coming from far away.
"What was that?"I curiously asked.
"We're almost there."Kirito smiled creepily and kept walking.
Like hell he's gonna scare me.
I've already been to hell and back,
With a smile on my face.
"About a week ago,"He told me."A wood-craft player came here to collect some wood.He was so focused on his job, he lost track of time and it grew dark before he knew it.Then, behind a near-by tree, he caught a glimpse of something white."
"Really?"I say intrigued.
On my right, a white figure appears.
"A monster?Or something else?"
"You can quit with the horror story Kirito, I see something."I say and jump off he's back running towards it.
"A-Ava!Wait!"
From a near-by distance, the white figures turns out to be a girl.She wore a white plain dress with no shoes.Her hair was long and raven black as well.
I called Kirito over and he sees for himself."You've got to be kidding me."
The girl collapses onto the grass.I run toward her and pick her up in my arms.
"It's a player?"Kirito asks right behind me."This is really weird."
"What's weird?"I ask.
"She has no player indicator."
"You're right."I mumbled."What's this little girl doing in SAO?"I turned to look at her again.Her face was calm and so full of youth.
Reminds me of Aiko...
"Anyways we can't just leave her here.We'll take her home and ask her questions when she wakes up."
"You're right,"Kirito agrees."Let me carry her."
"Okay."I say passing her over.
-----AT THE HOUSE-----
"We know one thing for sure,"Kirito starts."She's not an NPC because you would have gotten a harassment warning the minute you carried her, also a quest would have popped up in our quest logs."
"Yeah, which means she's a player who got lost in the woods."I nod."But why was she there?"
"I'm not sure, but she must have gotten lost or away from her family."
"Yeah, she must have logged in with her family too."I sighed.
Even little kids got cause up in this mess.
"I'm worried she might not wake up."I mumble.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine.I promise."He said raping his arm around me again and kissing me on the forehead.
I slowly get out of bed to see the little girl again.Her long raven black hair rested on her chest.
If this girl really logged into SAO by herself,
She must have been alone all this time.
I lay against her and hug her tightly.
"Good night.I hope you wake up tomorrow."I say as I fell into a deep sleep.
I tiredly open my eyes and turn to the girl and see that she's awake.
"K-Kirito!Wake up!"I shout making his stir.
"Ava, it's too early in the morning to shout.."He yawns, rubbing his eye.
"I know, but come look!"
The girl stared emotionless at me as I pull her up.
"Good morning.Do you remember at all what happened?"I ask her.
She shook her head no.
"I see.Do you know your name?"
"Y-Yui.M-My name is Yui."She replies.
"So Yui?That's a pretty name.I'm Ava, and that's Kirito."I say pointing out to him.
"Ava?Kiito?"She stutters.
"So Yui, why were you in the woods?Where's your mommy and daddy?"I asked.
"I don't know, I don't know anything."She says back.
I looked down.
Amnesia.
That's terrible.
"Hello Yui."Kirito greets her.
"Kiito."
"It's Kirito.Ki-ri-to."
"Kiito."
"Crap, I guess my name is a little hard."
"Kirito!Watch your language!"I scowl at him.
"Looks who's talking."He smirked making me blow steam.
"Papa."We suddenly hear.
"M-Me?"Kirito points at himself.She nods.
"Ava is...Mama."She said.I was taken back at her suddenly answer, her face starts to worry and fills up with regret.
YOLO.
"Okay Yui, I'm Mama."I smile towards her.She gives me a big grin.
"Mama!Papa!"She cheers falling into my arms.
"That's right, Mama.You must be hungry.Help me make food?"I smiled.
"Mhm."She nodded.
-----TIME SKIP-----
Kirito read the newspaper as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"Eat up Yui!"I grinned also taking a bite of my food.She takes her sandwich and bites into it.
"It's so good!"She laughs taking another bite.Then, she looks at Kirito's sandwich.
"Yui, this is really spicy,"He warns her.
"I want what Papa's having!"She smiles brightly.
Kirito sighs in defeat."Okay, but just one bite."He says handing the sandwich to her.
She takes a bite and starts to chew."Yummy."
"This kid has guts.Let's have a super-spicy dinner tonight!"
"Yeah!"
"I never agreed to that!"I protest making both Kirito and Yui laugh.
Adorable idiots.I smiled.
"Papa, let's play outside!"Yui cheers looking outside the window.
"Alright.What game do you wanna play?"
"Um...uh.."She starts to think hard.
"How about hide-and-seek?"I suggest."It's a game where a couple people hide and the other tries to find them!"
"Yeah!"She agrees."Mama, you play too!"
"If it's alright with Papa."I smirked.
"Fine with me, but one thing first,"He grins."You hide, me and Yui try to find you."
"No fair!Two against one!"
"One~Two~Three~"Yui starts to count along with Kirito while I try to find a place to hide.
I'm kicking your ass after this Kirito.
After a while of seeing them look so much, I decide to show them where I was at.
I start to climb down the tree quietly so they wouldn't hear me.I creeped up behind Kirito, who was next to the tree, and jumped onto him.
"Boo!"I yell out playfully.
"Mama!"Yui laughs seeing Kirito stumble.
"Mama's gonna pay for that."I see Kirito smile and start to run.
"Help me Yui!Papa's chasing me!I need a hero!"
"I'm coming Mama!"
-----TIME LAPSE-----
After playing a bit more outside, Yui started to get tired so I gently lay her on the sofa in the living room.
"She's so precious."I thought out loud moving the hair out of her face.
"She is."Kirito agreed sitting right besides me."She really doesn't remember anything, more importantly, she's so young."
"You're right Kirito, how are we going to play this?"I sighed covering my face with my hands.
"We'll do what we can right now, she's better here than when she was in the fields."He sighed before continuing."We'll go to the Town of Beginning to see if she had any siblings or parents there."
"Yeah,"I nod."That would be the best thing to do."
"I don't want to separate from Yui, either."He said taking my hand."She's really made this feel like home.But she must have parents or siblings worried sick about her right now, but it won't be the last time we see her."
"Right."I nod looking at Yui.
"Mama...Papa..."She mumbles in her sleep making us both smile.
Yui finally woke up when I was in the kitchen.
"Hello Yui."I greet her."I'm making a cake, wanna help?"
"Yeah!"She agrees walking my way.
"Okay.What I need you to get is the sugar and flour for me."I instruct her and she follows.
"Check."
"Next, the eggs and oil."
"Where's the oil Mama?"She asks.
"In the cabin sweetie."
You know, this reminds me of when me and my mom would bake together...
I was putting the flour into the bowl when I hear Yui.
"Woah!"She yells and starts to fall off the counter before Kirito catches her.
"Good thing Papa was here, right Yui?"
"Right!Thank you Papa!"She grins handing me the Oil and Eggs.
"Here you go Mama!"
"Thank you Yui, next time, be careful."I warn her.
"Hmm!"She nods.
Kirito came to my side."What are we cooking up here?"
"A cake."I reply finish putting in the ingredients.
"What's this?"Kirito ask me point to the flour.
"It's flour Kirito, wait, don't you dar-"A handful of flour flew to my face.
"Papa got Mama!"Yui laughed clutching to her father's shirt.
Without saying a word, I grabbed flour and threw it to him making his black clothes all white.
"Mama got Papa too!"Yui laughed even more at the scene.
"Your turn Yui!"Kirito calls.
"Noo!"Yui laughs running out of the kitchen.
"Come back Yui!"I call out with a handful of flour in my hands.Kirito chasing after her.
-----TIME SKIP-----
After having a flour fight, we all got changed into more cleaner clothes and decided to head to the Town of Beginnings already.Both Kirito and I wore our armor just in case, we brought Yui new clothes as well.
"It's been ages since I've been here."Kirito said.
"Same."I breathed remembering the first day of Sword Art Online.
"Hey Yui,"I say getting her attention."Do any of these buildings look familiar to you?"
She nodded her head no."I don't know."She hid her face behind Kirito's neck.
"It's alright,"He said."The Town of Beginnings is huge, let's check the central market first."He turned towards me.
"Right."
We walked in the market area when I asked Kirito something.
"Hey Kirito,"I say."How many people are in this town?"
"Well there are 6,000 surviving people in SAO, about 30% are here in this town, so less than 2,000 maybe?"
"Then how come it's so quiet?"I asked looking around the market.
"You're right."Kirito agreed stopping eight at his tracks.
This...doesn't feel right.
"GIVE ME BACK MY CHILDREN!"I heard.
"Here comes their caretaker!"
I quickly ran to the alley where we heard the voices.
"Give me back my children!"A young women with red hair and freckles with green eyes screamed again.
"Quit acting like we're the bad guys,"A man in armor spoke.
The Army.
"We're just teaching these kids how to be good citizens.It's one of ALF's important responsibilities."
"Yep yep, the townsfolk must pay their taxes,"Another agreed as all of them started laughing.
"Gin!Kain!Mina!Are you There?"
"Sasha-sensei!Save is!"
"Don't worry about the money!Give it all to them!"
"Sensei, that's not what they want!"
The women gasped and looked towards the men again.
"You guys owe a lot of back taxes,"One spoke."You need to give us all your equipment, including your armor.Eveything you have."
"Let-Let me out of the way!"She shouted."Otherwise.."
Both me and Kirito jumped over the men, blocking there way to the children.
"It alright now,"I turned towards them."You can put your equipment back on."
"O-Okay."One nodded.
"Wait a minute!"An Army guy yelled."Who the hell are you guys?!"
"Are you interfering with our duties?!"
"Hang on."One said and started to walk forward."I don't remember see you guys around these parts."He added, talking to us.
"But you must surely know what happens when you appose our forces!"He took out his sword scaring the children.
"Kirito, take care of Yui."I said walking forward to the man.
"Sure."He nodded as I took out my sword.
The man chuckled in amusement.I quickly walked in front of him stabbing his armor twice sending him falling back.The rest gasped in awe.
"Don't worry,"I said darkly."Your HP can't lower with any attack in an inner area.Even so, your going to learn just how scary inner area fight can be asshole."I hissed.
"Stop!"He yelled trying to escape but I already raised my sword and sliced at him."A-All of you!D-Don't just stand there!Do something!"
All of the hesitated, I raised my sword in front of me taking my stance, glaring at them.
None of them did anything but run and scream away from the scene.I sighed as I put my sword away, turning towards the children.
They stared at me in shock and surprise.
"Awesome!That was awesome Big Sis!"The little boy cheered running to me.
"I've never seen anything like that!"The little boy in the blue shirt complemented.
"Yeah!You were so cool!"The girl in the braid said excitedly as she stared at me in awe.
The women in the blue dress walked towards me."Thank you so much!"
"Thank you Big Sis!"
"How did you do that?"
I laughed nervously as I shifted uncomfortably.
"Yui!"I hear.I looked to Yui seeing she was trying to reach something.
"Yui!Did you remember something?"I asked rushing towards her.
"I..I...wasn't here."She cried."I was all alone in a dark place!"
She suddenly screamed covering her ears and fell off of Kirito's back.
"Yui!"I screamed catching her in mid air.
"Mama.."She cried."I'm scared."
"What...was that?"Kirito let out.
Yui suddenly fainted in my arms."Yui.."
What's happening?