A Rude Awakening (Open)

"I’d rather trust and regret than doubt and regret."

"It was my fault..."

    Nothingness. The feeling of absolute nothingness taking over his existence. These were the only words that he could find that described the sour feeling that had pervaded his entire body. He felt his senses dull, and his thoughts fade into darkness. "Is this the end. . .?" he found his mind groping for any form of thought. He could see nothing except a sea of black as far as the eyes could see. He felt weightless, but somehow knew that he was falling. What was worse is that every second he spent in this place seemed to rob him of his existence even further.
    "Remember... Try to remember..." He found himself murmuring. As if on cue, in bright red text the words "YOU ARE DEAD." appeared across his HUD (Heads Up Display) to remind him of what had happened. "That's right..." he mused, forming a half-hearted smile. He was dead. He was really dying. But. . . at least he managed to go out with a bang, to say the least. He had defeated Heathcliff, the maker of Sword Art Online and had set everyone else free. This was no small feat, and it at least made his death worthwhile in the end.
    His thoughts drifted onwards, but they all seemed to arrive at the same place. "Asuna..." he loved the feel of her name trickling out of his mouth. It was comforting in a way. She was the person whom he owed his life to. She had saved him from being brutally murdered, on more than one occasion out in the field. "But now..." He would never see her again. He had failed. In his recklessness he had challenged Heathcliff to a duel for life in death. In the middle of the match Asuna had taken a fatal blow for him, and had disappeared in front of his very eyes. He'd lost the will to live, momentarily. However...suddenly something came over him. An unspeakable mixture of gut-wrenching sorrow and rage that propelled him at Heathcliff. He had managed to kill Heathcliff in the end, but at a price. His own life.
    A barely audible sigh seethed through his lips. He somehow knew that Asuna would be alright, and took solace in this fact. "I love you . . ." he said, forming a smile. If this was to be his last moments, he wanted them to be thinking of Asuna. He closed his eyes, and felt his body slowly begin to break down into data, piece by piece. It was finally here. So many other players had gone through the same feeling in their last moments, and it was finally his turn. He closed his eyes and smiled weakly.


"This is... The end." 

With that last thought, his consciousness dissolved into nothingness.

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    With beady black eyes opening, Kirito found himself awakening to a rather unfamiliar room. "Where...?" he mused to himself, looking around at the room when something struck him as terribly wrong. His HUD was no longer there, nor was his HP gauge. Instead it was like his sight had returned to normal. That wasn't the only thing though. He tried to access his Item Menu, but it was nowhere to be found. "What's going on here!?" he thought, trying time and time again to bring up the item menu with failure.
    After trying unsuccessfully for five whole minutes, Kirito sat staring into space with a puzzled look on his expression. He looked at his hands, clenched a fist as hard as he could, then let go. His eyes instantly were drawn to the one odd thing that stood out the most. A little red dribble that formed in the palms of his hands.

Blood. Real life blood. He wasn't in a game anymore.

    A sort of maniacal chuckle came from his mouth as he held up his hands and looked at them in astonishment. It really was blood that was pooling at the base of his palms. "Ahahahahahaha...So i'm really out of that hellish world...?" he said quietly to himself, as if to confirm it with his mind that was in disbelief. Suddenly, he stood up, smiled widely and started laughing uncontrollably.

    He'd really gotten out. Undeniably he was no longer in SAO. He grinned widely, and wiped a few tears of happiness that pooled in the corner of his eyes. "Thank goodness..." he said, wiping the sweat off his brow from all the excitement that he had felt. 
    His mind finally clicked back into a state of normalcy and he let out a collected sigh. He was out of the frying pan, but it could be that he very much landed in the freezer with where he was at now. He went into survivalist mode, and moved over to the window where he moved aside the blinds to get a look at where he was at.
    "What is...? Where...!?" he found himself questioning while awestruck at the scenery outside. He was no longer in SAO for certain, as the skies that populated the world of Aincrad were not the same as the ones he was seeing now. He appeared to be in a lively little town, specifically in a house of some sort. Quickly glancing back, he judged that from the way the room looked that it was most likely an inn of some sort. 
        "Some kind soul must have taken pity on me, it seems." he murmured to himself while going towards the door. As he was going towards it however, something caught his gaze. It was a mirror, and stood his fully reflected form.
    He looked exactly as he did in SAO, yet he wasn't made of a pile of data anymore. He even still had his two equipped weapons, the Dark Repulser and the Elucidator sheathed comfortably on his back.  Experimentally he drew them, and got into the stance for a sword skill. To his surprise, just as if he was in the world of SAO they lit up to signify that a skill was being activated. He quickly sheathed them and shrugged. It was at least nice to know that he wouldn't be losing any of his skills due to this strange world. With that thought in his mind, he eagerly pushed open the doors to his room, and walked downstairs into the tavern. What was to await him in this strange land he had no clue, but whatever it was he was ready to face it head on without hesitation.


"Somehow. I'll make it back to her." he thought.

Little did he know that the reason for his summoning was beyond anything he could have ever thought of.



    

    





    

"My life belongs to you now, So...

Let's make it to the end together."

Made by OBLIVION of BTN.