Duo (A Sword Art Online Fanfic) ✔

Chapter Seventeen

I'm not sure how long I waited. To be honest, I'm pretty sure I dozed off while staring at the door, waiting for Kirito and Leefa to walk in. I was in a half-asleep state when they finally plopped into the empty seats at my table.

I jolted upright in shock, yawning slightly. Leafa giggled at me, but Kirito seemed only interested in one thing.

"How do you get to the top?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling a bit drowsey. I yawned again, but I could already feel myself waking up.

"There's a quest you do. You have to fight an army of beasts to get to the top." I told him.

He looked eager to start, but had enough manners to not make it obvious.

"What happened with you since we split?" He asked, finally.

"Oh nothing. I got caught in a trap, threatened a councilman, got arrested, fought all of the enemies I have ever faced before in a span of a hour, and then went on a bar hop until I found out about the quest."

"What?!" Kirito demanded, distracted from the quest.

I chuckled for a moment, before launching into a better explanation, telling him everything that had happened since we split apart.

He became grim when I explained about the trial with all the beasts. He covered his face, exhausted, when he heard about how they tried to make me face Rikimaru. Leafa looked confused, but, thankfully, didn't ask any questions.

"What about you?" I asked when I was finally done.

"We arrived just before the Salamanders attacked. They came, I lied about being a Spriggan ambassador, and then fought the leader. I won and they retreated." He told me, sounding bored, "That's when we got your message."

"Try again."

He rolled his eyes, and began to explain with a bit more detail. I listened, tense. When he finished, I turned to Leafa, my eyes narrowed playfully.

"I told you to watch him!" I laughed.

"I did! He wanted to fight them all immediately!" She exclaimed, "You think you could've done better?"

"Sweetie, if I had been there, he would have even considered going up against them."

She started giggling, and I couldn't help but join in. Kirito sat there sending us both dirty looks, which only made us laugh harder.

"You two are completely insane if you believe either one of you has any sort of influence over my decisions." He told us, crossing his arms over his chest.

That only made Leafa and I laugh harder, bent over the table. Kirito made a sound of frustration, glaring at the two of us.

"I'm going to go get us some drinks." I told them after I calmed down.

I stood up, moving towards the bar. I leaned against it, waving my hand to get the attention of the bar tender. He came over and I quickly ordered.

I started humming as I waited for the drinks, scuffing my foot against the floor. I tapped my fingers against the bar top in an odd beat.

I was happy.

For the first time in awhile, we were so close to waking Asuna and Rikimaru up. This whole time, nothing felt real. Like we were just acting foolish in believing we could wake them up. It had felt like my mom was right.

But now, it was real. Now, I was only a day or two away from seeing Rikimaru again.

And I couldn't be happier given the circumstances.