Once Kirito stopped screaming profanities at Sugou, he realised that Sugou's voice was no longer there.

He had gone.

Kirito sighed, he had wasted all this time screaming at someone who wasn't even there. He shoved down some food as he was slightly hungry, and left the house, re-equipping his sword and cloak.

Glancing up towards the top of the mountain, he realised he wasn't that far off. He was almost at the top, he just needed another day or two for the travel.

Asuna...

He couldn't believe what Asuna had just told him – she had never been kidnapped! It was a voice recording! Then she was actually taken – for real this time – right in front of his eyes. Or, ears. Then Sugou decided to taunt him! Now Sugou's gone, but just the faintest memory of Sugou's laugh, and Kirito would start gritting his teeth in anger.

He starts to climb up the mountain, but the sadness of hearing Asuna's cries for help and being completely powerless, renders him immobile. Every step he took forward, ended up making him slide back down the hill, to the cottage where he first started climbing. Realising he couldn't do anything, he sunk to his knees in the snow.

I really am pathetic, huh? Just one setback, and I'm already sunk in the snow, not making a shred of progress! Kirito thought to himself, weakly smiling. He shook his head in anger. Focus!

"Okay..." Kirito said, "I'm going to go back to the cottage, rest up a bit and in an hour or so, I'll set back out again."

He sat on a large, warm sofa in the cottage, and read one of the books on the bookshelf, subconsciously sighing in contentment.

What he didn't expect – was the slap.

A massive hand slapped the cottage, bits and pieces of wood rained down on Kirito's head, making him yell in pain. He got to his feet, and used his hands to cover his head from the wood. Once the wood stopped falling, he gazed up – to where the roof used to be – to try to see who did this.

His eyes looked straight into another pair of eyes.

Right above him was a massive stone creature, with giant hands and glowing yellow eyes. As Kirito looked at it, all he felt was dread. How would he beat a monster whose hand was the size of his house?

He unsheathed his sword – and was immediately backhanded several feet down the mountain. He looked up, and saw the monster jump to him, launching itself into the air, catapulting itself towards Kirito, as if it was a stray bullet from a faulty gun. Kirito had just enough time to jump out of the way, before the creature landed right where Kirito was, causing multiple layers of snow to leap over Kirito's head, overlapping him to the point where Kirito could no longer see.

Luckily, he didn't have to worry about suffocating, because the monster slapped the pile of snow Kirito was in, just like it had slapped the cottage, and just like the cottage, the snow fell apart, allowing Kirito to make his escape. Kirito glanced at the monster.

'The Annihilator' Kirito read.

The monster, not knowing Kirito escaped from the snow, searched for him from the pile. As it searched, Kirito made his move. He ran at the monster, and slammed his sword straight into its neck, slicing from the neck, straight down through the stomach. The sword retreated from the body, and was brutally slammed back into the monster's legs, one by one, cutting them clean off.

The monster's body sagged in the snow, as a thick green substance came pouring out of its decapitated limbs. Kirito almost felt bad for it, as the monster tried to get up and move around. He raised his sword to strike.

He plunged the sword straight into the creature's head, cutting it deeply across the face, and made one final strike on the neck, taking the head right off. Immediately after, the monster's body exploded into red sparkles, and disappeared.

Kirito sighed, before collapsing in the snow. That fight had taken a lot out of him. He sat back up, and groaned. He was several metres from the area where the cottage was. He was now backtracking! It would take him at least half-an-hour to walk all the way up the mountain to where the cottage was. And now the cottage wouldn't even be there! Kirito sighed, as his visions of sitting by the fireplace, reading a book, were all shattered.

He took out a healing crystal, and healed his injuries. Once he was done, he glanced up at the towering mountain before him.

"What am I gonna do now...?" Kirito muttered to himself. The once easy mountain, has now become an ominous foe, one which makes Kirito shudder.

"I can't reclimb the mountain!" He said, giving up.

Kirito!

He gasped, remembering Asuna's cries as she was forcefully taken out of the room he's currently visible from.

"I don't even know if she's alright..." He sighed to himself. He took a deep breath, and stood back up, feeling a surge of energy.

Asuna...

I will win for you!

___________________________________________________________________________

"Ouch!" Kirito hissed, scraping his hand on a sharp stone. His HP dropped by 1 point. He was almost there, he could see the top!

Suddenly a screech alerted him to the sudden danger. He whipped around, and saw at least a hundred small enemies.

Instead of running away, his inspiration from Asuna pushed him to fight with all his strength. He fought and fought, slicing the enemies as if they were made of water. Sadly, it wasn't enough.

At least ten of the enemies sneaked behind Kirito, and grabbed his waist, pulling him back, trapping him in the snow. Immediately, all the monsters started piling tons of snow over Kirito's arms and legs. As Kirito struggled, the snow started to weigh down on him, to the point where he could barely move.

Are they trying to... Suffocate me? No, no! AI can't be that intelligent... Right?

Even so, Kirito knew he had little time left before the snow started piling on his chest. He had to make his move NOW.

He quickly swished his sword around with his right hand to make the snow around his right hand move away, allowing his hand some room. With that room, he used his sword to break the snow around him, allowing him to stand up and move out of the trap that had been set.

Now free, he kept an eye on his surroundings while defeating all the enemies, cutting through them all. The monsters tried the same tactic again, but it failed this time, as Kirito kept a watchful eye on his back, and spun around, attacking the monsters, and defeating them easily.

Finally done, he sat in the snow and drank another healing crystal, watching his health replenish. What he didn't expect to hear – was her.

"Kirito!"

He immediately jumped, spilling the crystal on his cloak, his face shining with happiness. He got up.

"Asuna!"

"Yep, it's me! I need to go soon, but I just wanted to let you know that I've escaped, and anything that Sugou tells you about me is untrue. I've escaped, and once I've finished talking to you, I'll be gone."

"Phew, I was really worried about you, Asuna!" Kirito said, sighing. He had been really worried, wondering what had happened to her. Then a thought struck him. "Don't you need to go now though?"

If Sugou came back, she would be in trouble again! He couldn't bear hearing her being dragged off like he was. He now knew what it must have felt like for her, once she found out he had been kidnapped.

"Well, I was hoping you could tell me what you remember in-between the moment you were taken, and when you became trapped in virtual reality." Kirito nodded. That made sense, it was good to get as much information as possible.

"Yeah, I can do that!" He said, raising a fist in the air. The quicker he got this done, the sooner Asuna would leave, and be safe from Sugou.

Kirito placed his hand to his chin, deep in thought. "Let's see... I remember waking up, strapped to a chair. Sugou appeared, slapped me, pushed me and the chair to the ground. Once he made me think he had you captive, he wheeled me with no resistance down to another room, which was bare aside from a few computer and TV-sized screens, and a chair, table and Nervegear. At first, I wouldn't let him place the Nervegear on me, but he played your voice again, and I forced myself to hold still while he placed it on me. I then said the words 'Link Start!' and ended up trapped here." He forced his fists to unclench, hoping Asuna hadn't seen anything. Whenever he thought of Sugou, it takes all of his energy not to scream in anger.

"Okay..." She said, taking a deep breath. "Do you have any ideas of where your human body is right now?" She bluntly asked. Kirito flinched slightly at the words 'Human body', immediately pretending to be fine.

He couldn't let Asuna see him in such a dishevelled state. The words 'Human body' alone make him upset, but after SAO, the words make him want to gag. It's hard to think of his real body being in such a weakened state right now. He must have tremendous pain in his legs, since he entered VR in a wheelchair. Unless he was moved somewhere after...

He shook his head violently. He needed to focus.

"I don't think I... wait!" Kirito said. "I looked out of a window once I woke up! I saw... a factory. It said Sugou Industries on it. It seemed to be a few streets away from the place where I was... or am, I guess. It's weird, thinking of my body in there, as I can see my body here."

"Yeah, I feel the same." Asuna said, which gave Kirito some comfort. At least he wasn't the only one. "Okay, that's it. I need to leave now, but I will come back for you, I promise. Goodbye." She said. Suddenly, Kirito was surrounded by this massive urge to tell her something important, just in case this was their final meeting. He shouted quickly:

"Wait!"

Please don't be gone... Please don't be gone...

Asuna replied, making Kirito sigh in relief. "What is it?"

"I have something important to tell you."

"Yes?"

"I... I..."

Focus!

"I love you, Asuna."

He smiled, glad that he told her. Even though they were already boyfriend and girlfriend, he had always had a hard time saying such words to people he truly loved. He felt a ray of pleasure and joy from telling her, since he didn't know when he would see her again.

"I love you too." He heard Asuna reply. He tried to hide his blush. "I need to go now. Keep fighting, Kirito."

"I will." Kirito replied, full of radiating confidence. He will, he will do whatever it takes to be with her again. A noise from behind him makes him jump. Turning around, he saw the monsters respawning. He unsheathed his sword, and grinned widely. It felt good to know that he would win. For her. For their daughter. For their friends. For their families. For everyone.

They would win together.

I know, I finally write another SAO and it's just Kirito's version of the same events, from between Asuna's two talks with him. It might have been confusing, and I'm sorry for that, I'm just unsure about how to let the reader know with full certainty that this chap starts right after Kirito and Asuna's first talk, and finishes right after their second one.

I started rereading what I had wrote, and apparently I had not been in a happy place, as the fight Kirito had seemed a bit... Off. For the way I write anyway. I was probably still worrying about my results at the time.

Speaking of results, I'm also sorry about the huge delay, I've been on more family outings recently, as well as received my Eng Lit GCSE result (Some schools allow their Yr 10 students to take it early) and I got an 8! I'm so proud. I had been fretting about the result all week, and had been unable to focus on anything, but don't worry. I'll put all my effort into this fanfic, and would NEVER abandon it.

Hope you liked the chap!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊