Sword Art Online: Knights of Aincrad

Chapter 10 - Branded

Alice and Eugeo ask all over town if anyone has seen someone looking like Eydis. After what seemed like hours they were finally headed in the right direction only to see a large group of people heading their way. When the group got closer they saw Kirito's and Eydis' avatars. One of the other avatars whispered into Kirito's ear and the rest of them left, leaving Kirito and Eydis in front of them.

Eugeo then noticed something above Kirito, his cursor was orange. "Kirito, what happened?" Eugeo asked him, though the look on Kirito's face wasn't pleasant. It looked like a mixture between fear, anger, and sadness. "I'll tell you tomorrow." was all Kirito said and walked off, Eydis following close behind. What confused Eugeo was not only the group they were with but while Kirito's cursor was orange Eydis' was still green.

Alice on the other hand was fuming. She surely thought the argument she had with Kirito would change things for the better, this showed that it didn't seem to be the case. Granted he did say he'd tell us but he also turned orange and with a strange group. Trusting Kirito became harder for her everyday it seemed like, this game changed him and she couldn't tell if it was for better or worse. One thing Alice did know was that a future trip to Argo will happen.

The next day came quicker than Kirito would've liked too. Surprisingly he already had a message from someone. He opened up his messages and saw it was from Asuna, 'Since we're all orange we have been kicked from our guilds. I don't know about yours but you might be, we are the first known orange players even though Laughing Coffin has done it they hide well. The rest of us thought it'd be a good idea to officially make the Black Swordsmen a guild, even if your guild doesn't kick you out we'd like you to join. Please think over this.' Kirito didn't like the idea of being one of the only known orange players. While no one would forgive Laughing Coffin since the truth is out, everyone will look at his group differently. The idea of leaving a guild that was formed on the second floor made him feel uneasy but seemed logical to do, he didn't want to leave his fellow Swordsmen out to dry. 'It's decided then' Kirito thought, 'I'm leaving the Knights of Aincrad'.

Kirito got up from his bed, equipped his gear, and headed towards the exit of the guild house. What he wasn't expecting was the entire guild waiting for him, arms crossed. "Kirito" Bercouli started, "Hold it" Kirito said, he then quickly left the guild which teleported him outside, hid his location, and teleported to wherever Asuna was.

Everyone was left in shock as Kirito left as quickly as he appeared. His three closest friends having no idea how to handle the situation. One thing they all knew was that Kirito and a few others were now branded, even if the cursor only lasted a couple days, this is something everyone will remember.