Heart Stitches ([SAO] Alice x [Female] Reader]

Chapter 30: Bonds and Binds

As Eugeo walked ahead of Kirito, his nervousness that has been made into sweat that went down her face to chin, looking forward vigorously.

It's only been a few minutes after they all logged back in almost in sync after whatever happened to a few hours ago in ALO that caused the need for players to log out for a certain amount of time, and yet Nova was nowhere to be found.

But they all knew he was online, due to when they exchange contact infos and some friend requests here and there yesterday, the symbol of one being online is active on his name. Though they haven't seen him anywhere at all.

This made Eugeo wish his gut feeling that came with a larger punch due to how Nova confessed his reason to be at Yggdrasil wasn't right, but the closer he got to the tree, the more he was doubting his doubts.

But once he stepped onto one step of a staircase leading upwards to the tree itself, his legs moved at a faster pace like he was trying to get away from someone chasing him without tripping, in this case, it was his own doubts that pushed him forward ironically.

Once he stepped foot on the main floor of the staircase, he only saw Alice and Leafa standing around with worried expressions. Yes, when Yui informed that Asuna was indeed up at the top of Yggdrasil, of course they would be anxious about this, but he knew something else was up.

Leafa looked more distant, as if after they split up in groups for Nova with Alice made everything even worse than if they were in a group instead. She looked away from Kirito specifically, which made Kirito look more worried due to his confusion at it.

Alice bit her lip slightly before walking up to him, patting his shoulder, and off Kirito went to Leafa, as Alice stood next to Eugeo with her arms crossed.

"What's with Leafa?"

Eugeo whispered to Alice as he leaned in, earning a regretful sounding grunt from Alice before she sighs.

"Leafa.. Leafa learned the truth about Kirito"

With this sentence, Eugeo became worried, but not because of the sentence itself, but because the mystery of what Alice meant of Leafa learning a truth was worrying enough since it could be anything.

Before Eugeo could throw up from all this mixed feelings, Alice explained it finally.

"Leafa learned that.. Kirito is her brother"

On cue, Eugeo heard the sound of a clothed weight falling on another, turning his head to see that both Leafa and Kirito held each other a bit loosely.

He watches Leafa's closed eyes push out tears as Kirito only stare down at her head that was in his chest, the silence that suddenly came to be beings almost more terrifying than a gunshot (foreshadowing *ahem* *ahem*).

But once the small tension that emitted off of Kirito and Leafa untied and became a more comfortable one, Eugeo let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. Whatever must've happened within those few seconds Eugeo was questioning Alice, it must've worked.

Since the sight of Leafa and Kirito staring at each other with glad smiles was truly a nice sight, Eugeo decided to stand back and watch with an arm around Alice's shoulder when hers was on his shoulder.

This was definitely a boost of confidence to all before having to face the moment of practical war up Yggdrasil, especially with what comes out of the once closed doors.

Before they knew it, out flew an interpretive of overwhelming exhaustion with large amounts of arrows and cuts all over them. It was Nova, and he looked awful. He knelt on one knee as one hand was on his face that no longer wore a mask, meaning it must've broken when he fought.