Sword Art Online ALICIZATION- Reversal

Chapter 74- Burning

I apologize for the delay. I've been watching anime recently, and I've been feeling under the weather the passed few days. Anyway, I know this chapter had a weird name. A stupid one, at that. But it's all I've got.

-cut-

Kirito awoke within a hospital bed, he immediately sat up and looked around... a smile appearing on his face as his eyes fell upon the blonde he'd missed for so long. "Alice, how long has it been for you?" He asked. She looked to him, now in the SAO school uniform. "Just a few days, Kirito-kun." She walked over to him and sat down beside him, smiling at him as she took his hands in her own. "Kirito... I'm so sorry..." She whispered as she started crying, to Kirito's surprise. "I'm so sorry!" She tightened her grip on his hands as she started shaking. "Wh-what are you sorry for, Alice?" He asked her, carefully freeing an arm and wrapping it around her. "I... I abandoned you! I left you alone again, I broke my promise!" She screamed in abject misery. Kirito sighed and pulled her closing, leaning against the wall of the hospital as Alice sobbed. "A-Ali-" Kirito couldn't finish his sentence as Alice cut him off. "I should've stayed with you in our world.... I should've faught beside you, Kirito... wh-what kind of wife leaves her husband alone in the middle of a battle..." The blonde whimpered causing Kirito's gray eyes to widen. 

'Wife? Oh... that's right... I remember now.' Kirito thought as he moved Alice back and looked into her eyes. "The kind who believes her husband can take care of himself..." Kirito said tiredly, causing Alice's shaking to start to die down. "K-Kirito..." She whispered to him. "Besides, I was the one who decided to stay behind instead of going with you." Kirito told her, causing Alice to gently lay her head on his shoulder. "D-don't... please, Kirito.... don't let me go..." Alice whispered, causing Kirito's eyes to widen. 

'I.... I swore I wouldn't let her go again back then... how.... how did I not realize?' Kirito thought as he tightened his grip around Alice. Not enough to hurt her or himself, but enough for her to notice. "Kirito?" She asked. "Alice... I promise, I promise... I won't let you go... you won't have to be alone anymore, I'm here... I'm right here, Alice... and I'm not going anywhere." Alice's eyes were wide, her breath hitched in her throat from his words. Suddenly, she heard him chuckle weakly. "Hell, I couldn't go anywhere if I wanted to...." his attempt at lightening the mood seemed to work as Alice cracked a small smile and sat up, wiping her eyes. "Just like I remember..." Alice said as she turned to look out the window.

"Hey, Kirito? I won't be able to come to see you much... I only managed to secure today to look after you." Alice looked down a bit and Kirito tapped her shoulder. "Hey, the uniform looks good on you, Alice." Kirito said, smiling at how human Alice seemed, despite the robotic body. Alice ended up blushing in response and looking away a bit. "Th-thank you, Kirito-kun." This time, however, it was Kirito's turn to blush as the full implications of the affectionate honorific finally hit him. And he knew Asuna wouldn't enjoy it, at all. Depsite turning her down, it was clear that Asuna still struggled to wrap her around it. It made Kirito feel bad, it truly did. But, the blonde sitting next to him was the one he cared for the most. 

Kirito watched with dismay as Alice left, and so he requested a VR headset so he could pass the time and try to escape his torment. A week passed without any visit from Alice, only Asuna coming in to look after him. While he was grateful for it, he found himself just wanting to have Alice beside his-self again. And as he looked to the ring on her finger, Kirito felt his heart clench as if about to rupture. He felt awful, even after so long since breaking up with her, he knew how unfair it was to her and how hard it would've been for him to accept it had the situation been reversed. Even so, he knew he wasn't the same. Especially since Asuna's memories were different... she remembered six months after the War, Kirito remembered 18 months. 

Finally, Rehab started and after only a week of Rehab, he was able to move around again. And it would be three days until he was discharged, and he knew what he had to do. He had to make a new world, in secret, perhaps... that Alice and the other people from Underworld could live within... free from the risk of being erased by RATH. And free from the Japanese government's control. The true question was: how was he going to do it? That question left Kirito entirely dumbfounded as he had no answer. He wished he could talk to Heathcliff, just to understand more about making Virtual worlds, but knew that such a thing may be akin to pandora's box.

He went to sleep that night and awoke, the next day, to Asuna entering his room. She was concerned about him and questioned him, asking if he was eating enough. Kirito recalled his time in Underworld and started sobbing, only for the memories of Eugeo which Kirito had burned into hos very core, so deep that not even RATH could delete them, from within Underworld to comfort him. Then Kikuoka came in and brought a 'gift'. It was really just food, but it was enough for Kirito as he loved food about as much as he loved VR, if not more. 

Kirito and Asuna talked to Kikuoka for a while only for him to leave after telling Kirito that the Underworld was the dream he'd staked his life on as well. After three days, Kirito went home and dropped his bag... dropping onto his bed as he started sobbing. Memories of Eugeo, of Eldrie and Bercouli... and of Eydis and so many others... they all started to resurface. "I..." he whispered, crying as though he were a child. "I... I should've had them delete all my memories!" He cried out as he wept.  "All 20 years I spent in Underworld..." 

And as he sobbed, he felt a hand on his hand... petting him. "Hey, tell me about it, Big Brother. What happened in that world?" Kirito moved his head to look at his sister. "The good, the bad, everything." Suguha said to him, causing the raven-haired boy to sniffle and wipe his tears away, sitting up. "It started 20 years ago... when I volunteered to test the STL. I was born into that world as an infant. I grew up alongside them... the people of the Underworld. And within that world, I had a brother... his name was Eugeo. For two-hundred years, his family had been trying to cut down a single cedar tree. And me and him were the latest in that line..." Kirito trailed of as he told her about his life in Underworld. He put his emphasis on Eugeo, scared that Suguha may think ill of Alice if he told the girl about the blonde. And Suguha listened to his tale with interest, as if it was the most captivating book she'd read.