Broken. (SAO fanfiction)

Chapter Seven

  Asuna and I ran out of the building. I looked at her in with a worried expression. Tears streaked her face.
      "I DON'T WANNA DIE, KIRITO!!" She sobbed. I ground my teeth together. Was it really too much to give us an explanation? I clenched my fists and unclenched them for about ten seconds.
       "Nothing's gonna hurt you." I reassured Asuna who was now sobbing into my shoulder hard. "We're gonna be okay..." I wasn't sure anything I had just said was true, but it's definitely what I hoped. We walked dejectedly through the streets until we exited the lonesome town. We hadn't even changed into our armor and we were unprepared to head back into the wilderness, but we stupidly walked anyway. I didn't know what to say to Asuna that wasn't just hopeful reassurance. I sighed as I pulled out my sword as we walked back into an area covered in rolling hills with dark green bushy trees that were scattered across the fertile land. Much different from the area we had just travelled. The sky was a light blue color brightening the day that I thought might as well just be dreary. Asuna finally wiped her eyes after half an hour of sad movement and pulled out the map to scan over it to see where we were.
     "K-kirito." Asuna sniffed "are you sure this is the correct way?" I glanced at the paper and skimmed over it.
       "Y-yeah, should be." I replied "yeah, see we're....here."
        "Oh. Okay." Asuna sighed. She looked at her sleeve which had now been almost entirely torn off. She gasped but tried not to look at the long mark on her arm. I still couldn't put a finger on what may have happened with her but I was wracking my brain trying to find an explanation. Even a feeble one would do. I clutched her hand in mine even though I had no clue what would happen if I touched the mark. The important thing right now was that she was going to be alright, and the virus was not astray from where it should be. We would hopefully find information, that would help us know what was happening and what to expect when we fought it. After walking another fifteen minutes or so, Asuna spoke up again.
     "Kirito...they said...it took a little girl..." she said slowly.
      "Huh?" I replied quickly.
       "Back at the village, the innkeeper said something about the virus taking a little girl..."
       "What? I-I mean Asuna...we probably don't even know her... it's-"
       "I know...it's just..."
        "Just what?"
        "It made me think about..." she hesitated before finishing her sentence "it made me think  about Yui." I gulped hearing those words and I could feel my hands quavering.
        "I'm sorry I brought it up...it's just..."
      She sighed. "I just wish there was a way to bring her back..."
         "Me too, one day..." I started "if...I mean, when we escape I'll find a way, I promise you..." Asuna sighed and shot me a weak smile.
I felt helpless and frail... like this journey was pointless, and recalling those memories just made it worse. We only had a few days left before Sachi's life was over. Everything depended on us,  yet I felt like I couldn't do it. As much as I tried to let go of that mindset, the feeling was latched onto me, weighing me down as we continued on our journey.

   We walked until I felt my hunger bar getting low as we tracked up the hills, losing energy that we couldn't refill without food, that we inconveniently had a lack of. My knees started to bend as we walked up the hills. I kept checking out location and looking at the map, only being disappointed every time to see the amount of remaining miles that we still had to go to get to the dungeon that the virus was located in, threatening to end the lives of everything it encounters. That included us. The more I thought about Asuna's situation, the more my fear consumed me and I even struggled to feel any confidence. I sighed again as I saw the sky becoming a darker shade of blue and the clouds started rolling slowly across the sun. I could hear birds chirping and the faint growls of monsters in the distance. I kept my sword on me, in case of emergency.
"C-can we stop...for just a second..." I panted as I almost collapsed on the tall grassy hillside.
"O-okay, I'm tired too." Asuna replied "I'm sorry I didn't make us anymore food."
"It's alright...can I see the map?" I asked, my hand outstretched as Asuna toppled down next to me, her arm clutching the other marked one.
"Okay, sure." She opened up her inventory as I closed my eyes for a second and just layed back, listening to the sounds around me and just resting my exhausted self for a moment. I was sweating and I could almost feel the warmth that it was creating on my skin.
"Got it." Asuna said. "Here." I sat up and took the map from her and looked over it again.
"The next village is in two miles, you think we can do that?" I asked her considerately.
"I don't know..." Asuna replied as she lay back on the grass with me. I decided I'd just stay there for a few more minutes, my body not wanting to progress any further, especially with our lack of supplies.
"Is it really safe to stay here?" Asuna muttered through closed eyes.
"Probably not." I said in a lazy tone.
"Wow that's reassuring." Asuna shot back.
"Hey! you asked, would you rather me have lied to you?"
"No."
"Then don't complain."
I heard her snort out a laugh. I rolled over on my side and looked at her, clutching her hand tightly in mine.
"Kirito...?"
"Mm?"
"Do you think the people back at the inn were afraid of me?"
I paused. Were they? They were so eager to push us away from them, even though we were desperate for help. How much more cold-hearted can you get? I sighed and sat up again, not knowing what to say.
"I don't know."
Asuna stayed silent, opened her eyes and gazed up at the sky.
I almost felt the wind blow behind us as we just waited. Not for any specific reason. We just waited...
I almost felt myself drifting into a slight slumber as I felt my body rock back and forth. I wasn't even sure whether Asuna was awake herself or not. I felt my eyelids droop down halfway and I yawned. That's when I felt a slight pressure on my shoulder. I turned my head around to see a figure standing behind me. I stood up, causing Asuna to gasp out a breath, rub her eyes and get up. I realized the figure was a man, older than me, about in his thirties, standing there. The familiar blue light that shone above his head read: 49.
"H-hello." I stuttered in surprise.
"I'm sorry if I startled you..." the man began. "I just noticed you were out here and... I was wondering if you were in need of assistance."
"That's very considerate of you..." I said, looking at Asuna.
"We should get out of here now, though, though it may not look like it, the creatures around here are really rash and hard to deal with."
"Th-thank you." Asuna yawned.
"Who might you be then?" The man spoke up in a cheery voice.
"My names Kirito." I said "and that's Asuna."
"Pleasure!" The man beamed "call me Haruto."
"Nice to meet you, Haruto." I said, then paused to hear the awkward silence engulf the area.
"What are you doing around here?" I asked.
"I-uh- I live here." Haruto replied reluctantly.
"Really?" Asuna piped up.
"Yeah, over beside that brook over there!" Haruto pointed to an area that was covered by trees and a quite pleasant little meadow that was sprinkled with cute pink and yellow flowers that fit nicely with the color of the grass. I looked at Asuna and saw the tears forming again in her eyes. There's not way we could get the image of floor 22 out of our heads.