Her Mission To Save Them All || Sword Art Online Fanfic

Chapter 35

POV: Kayoko

Out of all the places that could have been chosen to confront your previous friend about a murder, it has to be in a dark, creepy, haunted forest. The trees tower over the sky, cutting off any of the lingering sun that may have shone through.

I say as much to Kyo, who says some kind of sarcastic comment back that I laugh at. How we can fall back into the roles we once had, even after everything, shocks me. It's comforting, even, to know we both feel the same way. That we don't have to pretend to be anyone else other than Kayoko and Kyozo.

If I was honest with myself, I'd say I was tired of being Kira. Tired of that person who rages for vengeance and blood to be spilt in return for sins committed what feels like centuries ago. There was a time only days before when that anger fueled my body.

I burnt myself alive to keep on moving, like a candle trying to give light. I tried to give everything to everyone, split my heart into fragments and gift it to each person I could not save.

So, now, I only have shards left to give to the person I should give my whole. And I'm grateful that he takes each sharp edge away. Even if I know it's better to glue them all back together and have a whole again.

Kyo steps beside me, silent despite the corpses of leaves that litter the ground. I don't need for him to make a sound to know he's there; a trusting core inside me knows the weight of his presence beside my own.

He grips his shield in front of him, a lifeline to anchor him to reality. I grasp the hilt of my sword until my knuckles whiten as we inch forwards towards the clearing ahead.

We pause as the trees start to thin, crouching in the brush. Through the leaves, I spy a knelt Schmidt and the caped figure standing over him, thorned sword in hand. The branches of the tree behind them seem to spiral out like fingers, ready to grab any last kernel of light. Kyo's hand graces my shoulder in silent warning.

It's Yolko-san, it seems to say.

I nod, shifting to take a position closer to the two figures, trying to grasp the whisps of their conversation. One move, I tell myself. One move and I'll cut Schmidt to pieces.

"Who gave you these orders?" The voice is cold, so unlike Yolko as it rings into the silence of the forest.

"I-I honestly don't know." Schmidt stutters, pressing his forehead further into the dirt in despair. "The note just said to bind the crystal to the room where she was staying, so they could enter, and then to put the crystal in the guild's shared storage. That was all I did! I never meant to get her killed."

The caped figure tilts its head at the confession, seeming to linger on the words. For a moment, I doubt that I should be preparing to battle Schmidt. The cool calculation in the movement makes me think that I should be attacking them.

"You have to believe me!"

In the pause of silence, I ready myself. To do what, I don't have the slightest clue. I just know I want to do something rather than watching like a spectator in the shadows.

Someone else materialises from behind the trunk of the tree. They pull their hood down. He has plain features, even plainer than Schmidt, but I recognize the eyes that once gasped wide for air.

"We recorded all that," Kains says. 

"Recorded?" I cannot see his face, but the tone of Schmidt's voice is one of shock.  He stares up at the pair, still on his knees, the frame of his shoulders relaxing. "So that's how it is. You really did care for Griselda-san."