Sword Art Online ALICIZATION- Reversal

Chapter 16- Hope

I fell down the tower for a long time before finally gathering my wits and grabbing Kirito's hand and stopping our fall. Kirito looked up at me with confusion. "Let go..." he told me and I shook my head. "No way dumbass, if I let go, you'll die." I replied and he made a fist. "Damn it.. Let go Alice! I don't need help from a criminal like you, I'd rather die..." I then looked at him with a scowl. "You fool! Dumb stupid idiot!" I berated him He then looked at quizzically, "How dare you insult me, an Integrity Knight!" I scoffed. "I'm calling you an "idiot" because your acting like an idiot, you stupid dumbass!" He looked at me and sighed in resignation. "Why.... why do you insist on saving me...." he asked as he looked away, "ayou have a heart and soul, the same as me, you fight to protect this world! You don't deserve to die for that!" He looked at me with wide eyes. "But why... I'm your enemy..." he questioned. "Look,  I'm not fighting out here and I'm not getting cheated out of a good fight because of a faulty wall! So let's call it a tie until we get inside." I tolded him.  "Alright, but as soon as we get back inside, I will cut you down." I giggled in response, "You know, you're pretty heavy, I might drop you by mistake if you keep being so rude to a lady." He gasped and looked up at me, "You wouldn't dare!" I smirked at him, "Wouldn't I though? I mean, you did try to kill me? I could return the favor, besides, you can just call your dragon to get you." I teased and he looked away. "My dragon can't fly past the 30th floor thanks to Administrator's spells." He admitted and I frowned. "Then, I guess we're going up." I stabbed my sword into the building. "Kirito, put your sword in the wall and hang on!" I ordered and he did as he was told, I then used a Sacred Arts spell to create a rod and I jabbed it into the wall and pulled out my sword, now balancing on the rod. "Kirito, balance on your sword." He looked at me and then looked away, "I can't..." he said softly and I looked at him, shocked. "What did you mean, why can't you?" I asked him. "I'm too heavy! My armor and swords make me too heavy to maintain my footing on such a narrow ledge!" He shouted up at me and I looked down. "Yell at me again, do it again, you might find yourself wishing you had wings..." I said menacingly, he gulped, "Ye-yes ma'am." I smiled at him after he said that, "Good boy." I then whispered a Sacret Art spell and conjured a chain, Kirito tied it around himself and he wasn't kidding about being heavy. I felt like I was holding up a dragon now that I didn't have a sword to put my weight on, it felt like holding him up was stretching my arms. "Damn it, Kirito! Try wearing clothes for a change!" I growled as I made another spike for me to stand on, pulling Kirito to the one I previously stood on. We continued that process for a long time. 

Along the way, we had to fight minions from the Dark Territory which i guessed were part of Quinella's experiments. Kirito and I stood there, "Alice, minion blood carries disease, you should wipe that off." He told me as I noticed the blood on my cheek, I wiped it off with my handkerchief. Kirito then took the sleeve of his cape, which I only now realized was a coat, and went to wipe the blood from him. "Hey! Do you not carry a single handkerchief?" I asked him and he shook his head. "Boys.... you're all the same.." I sighed and shook my head, wiping the blood off of him with mine. "There. I'd like it returned and washed before I kick your ass." He shook his head,  "Why were they here? Minions shouldn't be able to be here, nevermind fly this high up." Kirito mused. "Unless the Administrator wanted them here." I told him and he looked at me, "I mean, think about it, I doubt she wants people reaching the top floor so she could've put them here so people couldn't bypass the security." He nodded in agreement, "That does make sense, why it had to be minions though, I have no clue." 

I looked at him and bit my lip, "Do you know why I broke the Taboo Index?" I asked him and he shook his head. "Raios and Humbert.... I didn't just attack them. They hurt my friends.. Eugeo's paige, Tiese, and my own paige, Royne Arabel, stuck up for their friend. That friend was Frenica, Humbert was her mentor and made inappropriate requests of her.... the girls told them to stop and got punished. Raios and Humbert tied the girls up and locked them in their bedroom.... just for offending them." I looked to Kirito who was looking down. "It was to get back at Eugeo.... however Frencia came to me, telling me that the girls hadn't come back from trying to talk to Raios and Humbert. I ran in with my sword, demanding to know where they were.  They took me through a door and I saw them tied up.... then they.... they tried to rape them in front of me! So I raised my sword, in violation of the Taboo Index, to protect them. Instead of following the laws, at the price of being a criminal, I chose to uphold my sense of justice and do what I knew was right." I told him, Kirito was still looking down. "Why did they send me yo arrest you for defending your friends? You did what any just and honorable knight would- protect those who can't protect themselves." He said and I looked at him. "Kirito...." I whispered. "You did the right thing, Alice. I would've done the same." He said to me but then gripped his head. His head was apparently hurting, likely from his psychological conditioning.

It was now sunset, Kirito and I sat on the ledge. "Strange, this seems so.... familiar...." Kirito spoke and I looked at him. "Kirito.... I..." I was now tearing up and Kirito looked at me. "Alice? I don't mean to alarm you but there's some strange clear liquid leaking from your eyes." He said, showing his typical concern. I then spun around and latched onto his arm. "They're called tears, you dummy...." I whispered. "Ah, so that's what they're called. Alright." I then started to sob a bit. "Damn it, Kirito... I've missed you so much.." he then stiffened. "I don't know you.. I told you." He answered as he moved away from me. I looked at him with tears in my eyes, "That's not true... you recall what happened to Eldrie after me and Eugeo faught him?" Kirito nodded hesitantly. "That was because we told him about his past." Kirito tilted his head, "They say you Knights descended from Heaven but that's a lie." Kirito raised an eyebrow. "Think about it, you Knights have no memories of Heaven when you wake up." I told him, he nodded. "Yes, our memories are sealed by the Goddess Stacia when we descend.... then again, Old ma- I mean the Commander always did tell me to that the Church isn't always right... go on.." he told me, I nodded. "You're memories weren't sealed by the Gods, but they were sealed by someone else." I informed him, "Who?" He asked me and I looked at him, "The Administrator. She seals the memories of you Knights so you become blank slates, loyal only to her. She doesn't want protectors, she wants slaves who obey her every command and kill without mercy or hesitation. To her, feelings are a weakness so she takes the memories of Integrity Knights and tells them the lie that they descended from heaven and had their memories sealed by the Gods to help explain it. She doesn't want you to question her authority or rule, she doesn't want you to feel emotions, she doesn't want you to do what is right, and she doesn't want you to be human. She strips away your memories and identity so she can brainwash you into a puppet." Kirito had been listening in silence so far, now he spoke. "Then the familiarity of your face, how familiar Eugeo's name sounded and the bizarre.... sense of deja vu I get from being here with you now... they aren't just feelings..." I slowly moved my hand closer to his, "No, Kirito, they're memories. Memories so precious to you that no one can erase them." I told him and he looked to me, "Alice.... tell me. Tell me who I am, about my past?" He requested and I smiled to him. "Of course Kirito!" 

I looked at the sunset and took a deep breath. "19 years ago, me, you, and Eugeo were all born on the same day in a small village called Rulid. You had no family,  no one but Eugeo. You two were brothers.  You always liked swords and you and Eugeo were nearly inseparable. You even had the same calling,  you two adored the honey pies I'd bring you for lunch everyday. But.. 8 years ago, we were getting ice from a cave in the End Mountains. We got lost and saw the Dark Territory. You tripped over a rock and the tips of your fingers touched the otherside. The next day, the Integrity Knight Deusolbert Synthesis Seven took you away after saying you'd be executed. I.... I was so weak back then,  I couldn't stop him from taking you!" I  started to cry as I continued,  "Everyone thought you were dead and I was crushed! For 4 years, I felt lost and alone... I just wanted to see you again, that's why I left with Eugeo to find you two years ago. I just... I didn't believe that you were dead. I didn't except it. I refused to believe that the one I cared about most was gone! I came here to find you, Kirito, because I failed you 8 years ago. You, Eugeo, and myself promised to protect each other and I couldn't protect you! I failed you, but you... you were so brave. You charged in to fight Deusolbert for what you thought was right. And so, before I left I made a promise to a girl in Rulid.  There, my sister, Selka is currently waiting for me to bring you home. She looked up to you as a kid and me and Eugeo learned to use a sword for the same, singular reason. To get you back." I finished as tears rolled down my cheeks. Kirito looked at the stars. "Selka.... Eugeo...." his eyes looked watery, "I promised...." he clenched his fist. "I.. I don't remember. But my heart and throat do. My soul still remembers..." he then looked torwards me and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close. "I promised to protect you... don't worry,  Alice, you're not alone. I'm here. I'm here... don't cry, please, don't cry Alice." I held onto him tightly, laying my head on his shoulder. "Please don't leave me again, Kirito! I can't go through that again! I won't make it without you...." I continued to cry. "I'm here, I'm here..." he whispered as I desperately held onto him, afraid that if I let go, he'd disappear. I found him, he was right here... right in my arms! I wasn't letting go, I would never let him go again. I let him go once... I lost him for 8 years, I wasn't going to lose him for another 8 years after getting him back. In those moments- Quinella, the Integrity Knights, the Dark Territory, and even Eugeo- none of it mattered to me. All I cared about was the boy I had longed for so badly who now stood before me as a man, but to me, he always was and always will be my Kirito. My Black Knight, my hope. My One True Mentor, my guiding moonlight.