First week of August, 2025, 67th floor of Aincrad.
"Haa... finally."
Drifter plopped down onto a bench as soon as they entered the safe zone. He was happy to let Orlando and his happy-go-lucky guildmates activate the teleporter.
The 66th floor boss raid had been a pain. Not particularly dangerous, thankfully, but an annoying and time-consuming ordeal nonetheless. The raid had lasted a full 2 and a half hours!
It was mostly because of the boss' mechanics, which were similar to the 10th floor boss. Fractured Reflection Divalet could summon an army of Mirror Shades - 30 of them every time it lost 30% of each of its five health bars.
Just to be safe, Drifter had directed the Assault Team to 'quarantine' the boss and kill all the Shades first each time it happened.
He stood by the decision, seeing as no frontliner had even gone down to the red, perhaps for the first time in the history of all Sword Art Online boss fights. But damn if it hadn't been exhausting as all hell.
He wasn't the only one who dropped down as soon as they were in a secure space. Everywhere you looked you could see tired frontliners, many sprawled right in the middle of the central road of the quaint little village that was this floors main settlement.
As was the norm, he had given the Assault Team the rest of the day off to do whatever they wanted. Most of them, like the ever excited Legend Braves, would soon be hitting the road again.
Normally, Reaver's Requiem would be right there with them. But taking into account how tired everyone was today, Drifter decided to be a little bit lazy.
He turned his head in search of his wife, finding her, to no one's surprise, strumming a soft tune on her harp, with Silica leaning against her legs.
'Hot springs?'
His gaze found hers, and her smile was response enough to his unasked question.
'Hot springs.'
...
2 years and 9 months since the start of Sword Art Online, and just a couple months less than that since the creation of Reaver's Requiem saw to it that none of the awkwardness from the first times the Reavers shared a hot spring was present anymore.
"Ahh... that's the stuff."
Drifter sunk into the hot water with a most ungraceful groan of contentment. He was wearing just a towel around his waist, leaving his upper body bare, as were the rest of the males, while the girls also had towels covering their chests, or, in the case of Silica and Yuuki, who liked to play around, swimwear.
On a side note, towels were considered a piece of equipment much like clothes and armor, and could only be removed by the wearer, with no chance of them falling off or unraveling.
"Happy, dummy?"
Drifter grinned with his eyes closed when he felt the familiar form of Yuna sitting on his thigh and leaning her back against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. His arms automatically rose to wrap around her navel.
"A lot more than I was earlier, that's for certain. I think I pulled a muscle with how many times I swung my spear."
Yuna laughed, and his smile grew a little. Without opening his eyes, he pulled her closer, feeling her body wiggle until she found a comfortable position.
Before either of them knew it, their breathing evened out and they had fallen asleep.
...
"Look, Papa! Uncle Drifter and Aunt Yuna are so cute!"
Yui whisper-shouted, tugging on Kirito's arm. The swordsman silently agreed, sneakily bringing up his menu to take a picture, but then lifted her up.
"They are, but you are even cuter. When did you get this new bikini? I've never seen you wear it before?"
Yui squirmed in his hands, kicking up water with her tiny feet, but Kirito didn't let go.
"Big Sis Argo gave it to me!"
Kirito smiled at the mention of the info-broker, who was part of Reaver's Requiem and their family in all but name.
"Well, it looks very pretty on you. But then again, everything looks good on my beautiful daughter."
He laughed when Yui blushed and splashed him to cover up her shyness. He planted a big kiss on the top of her head before gently lowering her. Yui took the chance to run away, but not before giving him a hug.
"Love you, Papa!"
"Love you too, my little fairy."
While Yui half-waddled, half-swam over to the 'kid's' half of the hot spring, where Silica, Yuuki, Pina, Feredir, and Agil - so, all children - were about to start yet another water fight, Kirito returned to Asuna's side, grasping her hand as she leaned on his shoulder.
Ever since that day, over 4 years ago now, that he filed an online form to become a beta-tester for the then upcoming game Sword Art Online, his life had taken some drastical turns.
He could have never imagined that so much would happen, and so much would change. From SAO becoming real, to finding Asuna, Drifter, Yuna, Nautilus and Sinon and creating a party with them.
From trying to take on the role of Beater, aiming to become Aincrad's scapegoat so the players could unite. And then getting a metaphorical slap to the back of the head from the people who would become his family, who even then refused to let him walk his chosen path of loneliness and guilt.
The Black Swordsman couldn't even imagine where he would be now if Drifter and Asuna hadn't pulled him back and stopped him from what was really just a poorly justified attempt of self-destruction.
He knew that more than becoming a beta-tester, more than being trapped in SAO, and more than deciding to follow Diavel in that first raid, it had been that moment that changed him forever.
When he realized he didn't need to be alone.
A lot more had changed even since then, but not that. Whenever he relapsed, his wife, his guildmates and family, were there to beat some sense into him.
He had grown tremendously, as a player, and as a person. The Kirito of before could never have confidently stood next to Drifter and stared down thousands of players as the spearmaster laid out the tongue lashing of a lifetime. He could never have killed Laughing Coffin red players without drowning in guilt for monsters who didn't deserve any of his pity.
And perhaps most importantly, he could never have looked at a happily playing Yui, an artificial intelligence given life, and called her his daughter, praised her life a proud father, and felt his heart nearly bursting out of his chest with love.
If Drifter had started the changes in him, and Asuna had ensured they continued, then it was Yui's existence that completed them.
Kirito smiled faintly to himself, watching his laughing daughter tackle Silica into the water. Then his eyes widened and he hastily turned away when Yuuki decided to join in.
"Cannonball!"
The resulting splash submerged Yui, Silica, and Feredir, while Pina quickly took to the air to avoid it.
"Gah! You little menace!"
Agil wasn't so lucky, and ended up tanking the small wave right to the face. Kirito snorted at the look on his face when Yuuki resurfaced, arms up in unabashed elation.
"Direct hit!"
How the girl still had that much energy after over two hours of non-stop battle, Kirito had no idea.
"That was attempted murder, not a hit! I'll show you a--"
"Oh oh."
Yuuki gulped as Agil fully rose to his nearly 2-meters of height, and beat a hasty retreat while the merchant tried to get her into a headlock. Kirito just shook his head and smiled.
"Some things never change."
"She will... err... okay, she might learn someday."
The swordsman chuckled when Asuna had to correct herself and change her words since, even while running, Yuuki was still provoking Agil.
"Not today, though."
"You are never gonna catch me, old man! Hahaha!"
"Old!? I'm thirty, you imp!"
Yuuki ducked behind Sinon when Agil made a swipe for her, and the archer gave her girlfriend an unimpressed raise of an eyebrow.
"Seriously?"
"Save me, Sin!"
"I don't want to get dragged into-- Hey, what are you doing!? Agil, don't you da-- Gah!"
Both the merchant and the purple-haired girl he was chasing froze when they realized what Agil had just done. They stared at Sinon's wet hair, cyan bangs plastered over her face but still letting peeks of those burning grey orbs.
"Run!"
Then, as one, the two forgot any previous enmity and ran away as fast as they could, an incensed archer hot on their heels.
Kirito nodded sagely.
"Yup. Some things never change."
----------------------
The Town of Beginnings was the central hub of Aincrad and, as such, it was never truly quiet. Especially during raid days, when thousands would gather to watch the broadcast in the main plaza, with a good parcel of them staying to mingle after it was over.
So, even as the sky turned dark and another day ended in the floating castle, the Town of Beginnings was still very much awake and awash with noise.
But, the further you got from the plaza, the quieter it got, until the noise of the crowd was just a murmur in the distance.
"Man, do we really gotta be here? It's a raid day! Who's even gonna be causing trouble back here when everyone's all the way over there!?"
"Orders are orders. You don't want to end up like Hettal, do you?"
Two members of the Aincrad Defense Force, recognizable by their matching armor and blue armbands, chatted as they patrolled the streets.
The first one to speak, a spear-user by the name of Erinn, shuddered when he heard what his partner said.
Hettal had been a promising player, and an ardent follower of Kibaou, even after the 25th Massacre. He was quite skilled, and rose up the ranks of the ADF quickly, but had a tendency to run his mouth.
One day he went too far, claiming that, had he been part of the ALS when Kibaou led them to raid the 25th floor boss, things would have gone differently.
Needless to say, Kibaou wasn't happy when he heard that, and Hettal ended in the 'hell' rotation - called that because it comprised of patrolling the floors with worst environment of Aincrad's lower half - for weeks as punishment.
The other ADF player, Arkin, adjusted his buckler and chuckled when he saw Erinn's horrified expression. For all that Kibaou had certainly mellowed out since being kicked out of the Assault Team, for the people under him the Challenger was still a scary man.
"Besides, we only have two more hours on shift. We just have to make sure the usual suspects aren't making trouble, then I don't think anyone will care if we go back to the plaza a little early."
The 'usual suspects' Arkin was referring to were players who had already given up on leaving Aincrad, and wasted their days away causing problems on the lower floors. There was a particular aggregation of them on the Town of Beginnings that could be counted on to be harassing someone every day or the other, and particularly in nights like this, when everyone was happy - and they weren't.
"They shouldn't cause much-- Hey, what's that?"
Erinn stopped speaking when he saw a soft blue glow coming from around the corner. Exchanging glances, he and Arkin made their way towards it, only to stop dead on their tracks as soon as they saw what was beyond it.
"That... the hell is a staircase doing in the middle of the street?"
"Dunno. I've patrolled here before and never saw it."
The two ADF players blinked at the oddity. No matter how they looked it, it was still just a plain old stone staircase right in the middle of the road, descending into darkness. The blue glow came from a circle of runes around it.
"Should we... tell the leader?"
Arkin asked slowly, exchanging a look with his partner. But Erinn's eyes were shining.
"Hell no! This gotta be a hidden quest, dude! As long as we complete it, I bet we can get some kick-ass gear even better than the stuff the Forge Master makes!"
Erinn was practically dancing on the spot just thinking about it. He had joined the ADF because he thought it would give him a chance to do something to help clear SAO, but all he ended up doing was breaking fights between players day in and day out. Now that something different had appeared to snap the routine boredom, there was no way he would pass it up to somebody else.
"I don't know..."
"C'mon, don't be a wimp! We are in a safe zone. Let's go!"
He didn't give the hesitant Arkin a chance to say more, and walked down the staircase two steps at a time, a massive grin on his face.
"Ah, fuck it. Wait up, Erinn!"
About at the same time as the two players disappeared down the stairs, the runes around it pulsated a deeper blue, then returned to normal.
And far, far below, in the pitch darkness, a cursor of a red so deep it was nearly black blinked to life.