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

Chapter 53

POV: Kyozo 

The two objects - a necklace and a ring - click so many pieces together to form a perfect, horrifying picture. I see an image pulse under my eyelids and I cannot decide whether it is the shock, the anger, the frustration or the blanket of calm that wraps to cover it all up in an image of illusion but I walk straight towards that stranger. 

"Get back, Kyo." Asuna hisses at me. I can tell that she too is hurt from the softness of her voice, the unwillingness her commands usually do not hold. Despite the weapon hanging between us, I find no danger from the person in front of us. 

The wound that cleaves them open is too much, makes them too weak and there is no air of violence in his face. His face is blank, lips pulled down, eyes painted flat. My fingers dig into my palms. 

My steps crunch over the rocky terrain. We are face to face, chest to chest now; I don't remember how that happened. I only see the image of what those two objects mean - no matter how impossible. I see blood. I see red. 

And that's when it occurs to me: there's a heat rushing, dancing through my veins and I cannot stop it any more than I can breathe. It demands to be let out. Every second it is not, my heart speeds up. It feels like it's going to break out of my chest. 

I see my fist fly out. 

It connects with no resistance. The objects that I might have once paid attention to scatter over the dust of the canyon floor and I too go down with them. I don't know what I'm doing but the motion of raising my fists, of transferring that heat - the anger - to someone else clears every irrational thought from my head as clear as a blade would do to my skin. 

My blurred vision clears and I realise what I've done too late. 

Canyon dust stains my knees. I lift my hand up from where it clutches the boy's shoulder and red crisscrosses mark my knuckles. I look up, closing my eyes, hoping to hide from what I've created but the red marks stain his face in the shape of my fist. 

The boy stares at me, his lips bursting into a smile filled with bared teeth. "Are you done?" 

I tumble backwards, someone catching my wrist and pulling me off him. Turning, I don't recognise the face but he has a steely expression and a mouth that frowns in disapproval. His hand is so awfully close to my wrist guards. 

As I try to pull away, his grip tightens, fingers splaying ever closer. "What's wrong with yo-"

"Hey," it's Kirito's voice that I recognise but it's underlain with an air of authority. "Let it go." 

"Let it go? He almost punched that guy to the ends of hell! He almost became exactly what we're fighting against!"

"He just thinks he's lost the girl who means everything to him. Let it go." Kirito says levelly. "We should be focusing on using him. He's seen the inside of those walls. It's possible that there's something he's not telling us." 

The grip of my wrist releases. My lungs release and for the first time in minutes, I feel myself take a proper breath. I wonder how Kirito can be so collected, so calm, when he can guess what I can. 

When he walks forward, I can only see the strong set of his shoulders under his coat. His fingers reach into his jacket, where he pulls out the blue glow of a healing crystal, kneels down and extends it towards the boy. 

His eyes, as blank as they are pale, study the offer as though it is some kind of bargain. Kirito rolls his wrist, urging for him to take it. 

"If you want to live," he says, "then I suggest you take it."