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Asuna equipped a dark red hooded cape and went out of her room in the guild quarters.
"That takes me back..." she mumbled while adjusting her new, yet familiar gear to hide her well-known uniform and long hair.
It was dark outside and no other people were around in the middle of the night. She sighed relieved. The last thing she wanted right now was seeing another guild member who would hold her up or something. She had to deal the whole day with guild duties and was finally able to relax. If this wasn't inside a video game, her mother might be even a little proud of what Asuna had accomplished by now.
With swift steps the girl walked - well, almost ran thanks to her speed boosting boots - towards the Teleport Gate, looked around once more, and vanished in blue light after saying the command and destination.
In a blink of an eye, she appeared on another Teleport Gate in the midst of a plaza, several floors lower. The place where the nightmare began. She couldn't help but shudder when thinking back to this fateful moment.
Around a year and two months had already passed since the day everyone here was trapped in this virtual prison. It was the second time she had to spend Christmas away from home. Despite her undeniably complicated family situation, she undeniably missed them.
But as soon Asuna saw lights shining from behind the pillar, her bad memories and sorrows faded quickly.
A coniferous tree, almost taller than the clock in the exact center of the square, decorated with lights, colorful ornaments hanging from the branches and gift boxes lying underneath, was the point of attention of quite a lot of people. Some of them were players randomly getting together and chatting, others were small guilds taking a break from grinding, just like she did. And there were also pairs standing pretty close together, presumably couples in love having a Christmas date.
"Who would have thought that you can even find love in this cruel situation..." the young woman mused with a little smile.
She slowly approached the mass of people, but kept her distance not to disturb anyone. Then she checked the time displayed at the corner of her eyes. "So late... And yet, still so many players around. Well, I can't blame them. It's indeed a wonderful sight." she thought.
The fencer took some steps back again to look at this tree in all its glory. But accidentally bumped into someone who was suddenly behind her.
"Excuse me..." this person muttered with an almost inaudible voice.
"S-sorry, I need to apologize. I didn't see you-" she said, but suddenly stopped talking when she turned around.
A black cloak with a hood pulled low over the face, but still visible enough to see it more or less devoid of emotions. He probably thought this outfit was a good disguise but he couldn't fool her. Of course she recognized who this was. She saw this expression on him too often over the last couple of months.
When he started to leave, the young woman almost called out his name, but decided against it since that would have given them too much unwanted attention. So instead she followed him until they reached an alley near the plaza.
"Stop stealing my style, Kirito. That borders on copyright infringement." she commented playfully with a smirk.
And the boy finally turned around, facing her, but he was avoiding her eyes. "Sorry, Asuna. I'm going to take it off then-"
"No, you don't have to! It was a joke of course! We want to remain unrecognized, don't we?"
He lowered his hands, which were about to open the menu to change his gear. "Then sorry for standing in your way just now. I didn't notice you walking backwards."
"Don't apologize for that either. I just have to watch my step." she replied in a soft voice. "How about catching up while enjoying the wonderful Christmas tree?"
The young man hesitated at first, but ultimately followed her to a corner of the square, where they - both still in their hooded capes - were far enough from the other people there to be undisturbed, but close enough to look at the illuminated tree.
"How did they do that?" After moments of awkward silence, Asuna finally broke the ice. "Did they get this tree from a forest someplace else?"
A bit surprised by this question, he blinked first, then crossed his arms, wondering out loud: "When I arrived here, I heard people talking about rumors that this tree suddenly appeared, fully decorated with lights and ornaments. But others claim that only the tree appeared a couple of days ago and some players living in the Town of Beginnings decorated it themselves."
"Maybe we should ask Argo. She probably knows the truth." she suggested with a giggle, imagining the info broker sneaking around the plaza with her notepad in hand... or whatever the Rat usually does to get her info.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see people claiming that they felled it in the woods and brought it here."
"But this floor doesn't have any coniferous trees, right?"
Kirito shook his head. "No, it doesn't. And I doubt a forest just appears, not even if it's some event quest."
"And I'm pretty sure you can't just put a whole tree into your inventory, right?"
"Right. You could cut it to pieces of wood and put those materials into your inventory. But a whole tree? That's highly improbable." He raised his head to look at the barely visible floor's ceiling and furrowed his brows. "There are floors higher up with trees like that. The 22nd floor, for example."
"The 22nd floor, you say..." The girl bit her lip, deep in thought. Back then, they rushed through this floor, neither the field boss nor the dungeon boss being much of a challenge for the already quite experienced frontline players. But now she regretted not looking around the beautiful landscape, sprinkled with lakes and forests. "Maybe I should go there for my next guild break... If I ever get one, that is."
He turned his head a little to her, yet again looking past her. "Well, being the sub-leader of a renowned guild isn't easy, huh?"
"Of course it isn't! You have no idea how difficult it is! All these people depending on your decisions! Especially if the leader himself isn't present! Hiding behind a façade of being always tough around all the guild members, so no one will doubt your plans! But you wouldn't know it since you don't affiliate with any guild!" she snapped at him, trying to keep a low voice, but waving wildly with her arms like a bird as if she wanted to blow her worries away.
But at that, the swordsman lowered his head, focused on the ground and clenched his fists, the rest of his body shaking. His eyes were suddenly so empty, yet clearly full of sadness and regret, even more concerning than at all these times she saw him recently.
He was still very upset. Of course he was. Asuna joined the newly founded KoB after the boss battle on the 25th floor, breaking off their partnership. She herself opened her menu, went into the community tab, then the party tab, and left the party like it was no big deal. Just to turn around, do the same thing, and accepting the guild invite she got. Simple finger movements bearing so much meaning.
How did Kirito's face look back then? Like it's right now? So devoid of emotion that it seemed like he was close to collapsing and falling to his knees? Seeing a partnership built over whole 25 floors, crumpled and thrown away like a piece of paper couldn't be pleasant, even if he himself did say to her to join a guild when she found one worth her trust.
The fencer wanted to sink down a hole, not resurfacing soon. She had hurt him then and she hurt him now. She covered her face with both of her hands, regretting what happened. But before she started to cry, she heard him speaking up.
"Asuna... You... just needed to vent, right?"
When she lowered her hands again, she saw him still looking at the ground, but this time more focused on the stone pavement in front of her boots. Eyes empty, but now full of concern, even noticeable despite the angle she saw them from. Only he could pull off such an expression.
"M-maybe..." she whimpered and quickly dried her face with her sleeve.
"But," he mumbled and turned his head away again, "I'm... not the right person... I don't deserve your... trust. Sorry..." he claimed and started to leave.
"No! Not at all! Stop saying that!" She reached out for the boy's arm, but missed it, barely holding on to his cloak instead, so he stopped in his tracks. "Of course you are! I would even go so far to say that you're one of the people here I trust the most!"
"Asuna... you really shouldn't... I'm-"
"Let me show you my trust if you don't believe me otherwise! KoB will have a meeting with other frontline players in two days! We're are planning our strategy for the next field boss and I want you there as well! Please!" she begged close to tears.
He turned towards her and after some hesitation, he nodded. "Fine. If you so vehemently insist."
"Yes, I insist! Thanks for your cooperation!" The girl cleared her throat and took a deep breath to calm down. Her features softened and she even could smile at him again. To his embarrassment.
"Wh-what?" he asked, still avoiding her gaze, his cheeks slightly red, and not just because of the simulated cold air of winter.
"There's another thing. Let's make a promise!"
Kirito blinked confused. "What kind of promise?"
"Well, you see. We spent last Christmas together. And this year, we coincidentally met again. So let's make the promise to spend the next Christmas together as well!"
"A-Are you sure?" An unnecessary question. Her determined face said it all. "O-okay."
Asuna raised her right hand, balling it into a fist... then stretching her pinkie out. First he just stared at her finger, but then raised his hand as well, and stretched his little finger out towards hers.
Both looked at their hands and their carefully intertwined pinkies. She forgot that she had just yelled at the poor boy, just because guild duties were stressing her out. The warmth of him, even from merely his finger, was melting away her anger, sorrow and regret, even if it would hold just for this moment.
And then she suddenly felt something cold on her hand. So the two looked upwards simultaneously and noticed that it started to snow.
"Snow? On this floor?" the young woman wondered, but smiled happily.
"We have the four seasons like in the real world after all. But it's very rare to have such a weather in non-mountain areas. I don't think I've seen this here before..." he mumbled an explanation, clearly in awe.
"It's... it's beautiful..."
"It... it is."
Both looked back at each other, making direct eye contact for the first time this night, and just had to smile. His eyes changed, now a tad more shining than before, their hands still together and warm despite the small snowflakes gently dropping down on them.
"Asuna... Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Kirito."
After sharing one of this rare peaceful moments, they reluctantly separated their little fingers, said their goodbyes and after one last look at the Christmas tree, Asuna returned to her room in the guild quarters.
As soon as she arrived, she closed the curtains of her quite small window, then stored her hooded cape back in her inventory and changed into comfy clothes for the night. What would the young woman give for a bath right now? But sadly, the current home of the guild didn't have such facilities. She wasn't sure if there were any on this floor at all.
With a deep sigh, the girl dropped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling for quite a while. Her fingers opened her menu again and this time opened the messages, where she asked her guild mate responsible for scheduling when and where exactly the meeting about the next floor boss would take place.
After sending this, she immediately started typing another message, this time at the person who had just promised her to be at the meeting as well, leaving a blank at the time and place, and saving it in her drafts.
And there she saw it. A certain draft sitting in this folder for months. She frowned when she remembered when and why she wrote it.
Not long after the KoB was founded, they were looking for new members and to spread the word, the members should ask other competent players if they were interested to join. Asuna immediately knew who to ask and was convinced that Heathcliff wouldn't object since he knew pretty well about this person's capabilities in combat.
But after the message was done, she just couldn't bring herself to send it. And now it was staring back at her again, almost mockingly. Why was she so anxious about it? The worst thing that could happen was him saying No, and actually she assumed he would decline anyway. But explicitly hearing that from him, would surely be devastating to her.
The fencer's delicate finger hovered over the delete button, then over the send button, then back to Delete, then to Send again, and so on. Until she quickly closed the menu without doing anything with the draft, storing it out of her sight. She stopped counting a long time ago how often this has happened by now.
She pulled up the covers of her bed, hiding under them and doing her best not to start sobbing. She was the vice commander of one of the, if not the strongest, guild in Aincrad and not a little child, after all! She just couldn't cry just because she wasn't brave enough to send a simple message! She needed to be strong for all the people depending on her! How many times did she have to tell that herself?
With these thoughts, Asuna tossed and turned in her bed, unable to let go of her fears. And when she finally did find some sleep, she was haunted by nightmares about failing to protect the people around her and paying the ultimate price of this game of death.
Over the next couple of months, she will have to endure such nights again and again. Until one day, she will fall asleep under a tree, next to a certain someone napping there as well.
Which will change how she views this virtual world - and said person - forever.