42Author's Note: I do not own Sword Art Online, or Star Wars.
Chapter Forty - Always Be Mindful
Peter Mathis stood atop his royal lookout, unimpressed with the reaction from the great Kazuto Kirigaya. His eyes looked sad, until he noticed Asuna's body pass out of existence the way it did. She did not break apart like dead warriors in this game or Sword Art Online, but instead faded, like something out of the cinema.
However, the grand Game Maker still needed a new weapon, and found some playful irony in taking the fallen swords by Kirito's broken sides. He used the Force to collect the blades of Amanda and Lucas from across the room, holding the black in his right hand, and the pale mint green in his left.
"The weapons of my children." He spoke with a pause. "I suppose they will defend me now during this final battle."
Kirito still focused on the pile of nonsense that was once Asuna Yuuki. He had now seen her die and disappear in two different virtual worlds. This is what probably disappointed Mathis the most. The last thing he wanted was to have his future heir witness this.
"It was my fault." He admitted with a passive yet booming voice. "I should have never continually tried to fight her alone. I had my moment to persuade you back during our first meeting, and thought this would be a good time to win her over as well. I also put too much faith in my children to train the two of you..."
"Mathis." Kirito held on to the steaming robes with both his hands, then looked up with eyes coated in tears and red anger. A presence surrounded Kirito like nothing else in the game before, and started to make the bridge shake and levitate random objects around his body.
Mathis held his lightsabers low, but kept an eyebrow high as he tried to study the move of this beaten foe. He was now more intrigued than anything, and waited to see what would happen next.
"You're unbalanced once again, Kirito. You're in no condition to fight, and now I have your weapons."
Kirito slowly rose from his spot on the bridge, and pulled the curved lightsaber at his feet to his right hand. He powered on the brilliant soft red lightsaber once owned by Asuna on, and kept it down while he raised his left hand to activate his inventory screen.
"I took this from Alderaan after I watched two of my greatest friends battle for my life. Funny how all that worked out...in the end, I learned just as much from Darth Rosario as I did from the owner of this lightsaber."
The reforged blade that took his left hand was pure white gold trimmed with yellow flashy accents. It had two ends, and when illuminated, it emitted the brightest emerald green color that the Game Maker had ever seen.
It was the former double-bladed lightsaber of Jedi Master Leafa, the Hero of Tython, and Kirito's real-world relative.
Kirito turned off the back blade, and now the two warriors stood looking at one another with two sabers in both of their hands. A small moment of silence built the tension, but all was shattered as Kirito yelled out with rage and force to shoot himself up toward the throne, and right for its owner.
Red and Green, mint and black, the sparks flew all around the two Masters of the Force. Kirito would lead with his right hand, but Mathis easily found a way to block or dodge the red saber with ease every time as he went low to make his own strike for Kirito's gut. Kirito would then use that time to power on both ends of the green saber, and block all in-coming attacks with a spinning defense to create distance between the two, followed by a swipe with Asuna's blade to counter Mathis's advances.
Kirito tried to stick the back end of Leafa's blade through the chest of Peter, but missed, turned the blade off, then brought his two remaining sides together to form a cross as Mathis hammered down with both of his weapons.
Their eyes met, and while Kirito's were still puffy and red with emotion, the gold masking Peter Mathis's blue eyes was starting to shine even more with every swell of the Force. "Young Kirito! You've fought well!"
"I'm through with you, Mathis! I want no part in any of this! YOU HEAR ME!?"
"HA!" The elder game maker laughed so loud, its echo boomed through the sanctuary and started to ricochet off the invisible Force powered walls that kept the cold of space outside. "Not the best time to be giving up! If you fail to beat me, then you lose it all!"
Kirito winced as he held up his impregnable defenses. "All of what!? I told you that I want NO PART OF THIS GAME!"
"And your friends!?" Mathis howled. "The one's still trapped in this world alive, and the ones that passed away in death! Like your beloved Asuna? IF YOU FAIL, THEN THEY ALL REMAIN TRAPPED!"
Kirito's red and white eyes shot open, and a look of horror took his face the moment he realized the weight of his current situation. He was not just fighting to stay away from Mathis's grip, but also to save his friends and get them out of this game. Them, and everyone else using the Holocron Units since launch.
Peter Mathis grinned, with his face illuminated by the colors of the blades, and laughed as he delivered his threatening lines. A quote made famous by the films that inspired his masterpiece universe.
"Young fool. Only now, at the end do you understand."
They broke apart, and Kirito shot down to the floor beneath the stairs, looking up as he retained his ground and stood standing high and armed. Peter Mathis held his hands out in front of them, and even with his two blades ignited, he powered on a swelling ball of electrical energy consumed by both light and dark energy.
"I control the Light and the Dark! I control the living Force found within this game! If you will not accept my offer, then I will use this power to destroy your body and study YOUR REMAINS!"
Several large streaks of black and white lightning came from the orb surrounding his body. Kirito held his lightsabers high, and somehow caught the full force behind his cross-block as his feet started sliding backwards down the steps.
He felt like his hands were ready to give, and as the thought of all the friends he abandoned back in the regular expanses of space took his mind, they were quickly replaced with the horrible visions of seeing his loved ones that died along the way.
His arms were growing weak. He exhausted too much energy in his fight with Asuna, and now that one of his arms was mechanical, it seemed to do him no favors as that was the side which was set to give out first. His robotic hand started to spark slightly at the wrist, and his grip was slowly slipping over both the curved red lightsaber in his right hand, and the long green lightsaber in his left.
"I can't...give up...I won't...I need to feel...!"
Kirito's back foot was about to slide off the step underneath his feat, but suddenly he felt a swift uproar of energy swelling through the air. His veins quickly became ignited with warm, radiant energy, and soon after this euphoric feeling took hold of his being, a soft, gentle support came over his left hand, and cradled his grip within it.
"Kazuto...feel the Force around you!"
"Suguha!?" Kirito gasped, and noticed the glowing blue hand of Suguha's ghost had taken hold of his left arm, and held him steady the long green handle that made up her former saber-staff. She looked Kirito right in the eyes, and delivered a shining smile of full support for her older sibling.
"You're out only hope. Beat him, and let's get out of this game!"
"I...I..."
"Kirito."
His darting black eyes immediately shot over to his right hand, which was now being held by another distant ghost of the Force. It was a similar, gentle feeling like the one provided by Suguha, and the owner of this embrace delivered a soft, supportive smile as she looked her loved one right in the eye.
"The Force has always been within you."
The ghost of Asuna Yuuki had come to his right side, and lent her hand in this final hour of need. Giving Kirito just enough support to discover the true power within himself.
"The Force..." Kirito had difficulties trying to master the concept of his bizarre, mystical power ever since he landed in this unknown world. His friends and former spirits helped him master the secrets of its nature, but as Peter Mathis once alluded to early in their first confrontation, the Force had always resided within his body, and was only waiting for him to channel its energy to release at the right time.
"The Force is in me...I struggled to discover this power for so long, but everyone kept telling me...it was living inside me the entire time...the Force Within."
Suddenly, a large orb of white and black energy swelled from Kirito's body as well. Not as mangled or wicked as the lightning that protected Peter Mathis, but cleaner, and smoother. Kirito let the energy swell inside him, and the Force power called to his side shot out, and pushed back the advancing assault from Mathis's hands. Their dichotomy was met at the center of the stairs, and just as the beams from the two opponents grew larger, a hot white center met at the middle, and threatened to destroy the entire facility.
"You've found it!" Mathis yelled maniacally over the grinding of the swelling energy. "I knew you had the strength to defeat me!"
"Only because..." Kirito still had to channel his own strength to power on his new ability, but as it grew, the fight quickly became easier for him to manage. "...you're letting me over-power you!"
"Modesty!" The elder game maker shouted. "You won't have time for that once your the CEO of a powerful virtual tech company!"
"I'm not being modest...and I'm not taking your company." Kirito's swords were still blocking the blades of his enemy, and both continued to ignite their force-field spheres around their bodies as his now angry eyes pierced their way to Mathis. "You had your eyes on me to take your company since the beginning, so much so that you even forgot who built this world for you in the first place...hell, you've even forgotten the very people who are defending you right now."
"Defending...me?" Mathis was taken back for just a moment, and while he could faintly see the glowing energy of two blue figures holding onto Kirito's arms, he soon felt a soft sense of support on his left and right arms as well.
"Father."
His eyes shot open. The voice of his eldest child, his daughter Amanda passed through his head as a new Force spirit lent its support on his left side.
"It's time, father, time for us to turn this world off."
"She's right."
Peter's eyes flashed over to his right side, and now noticed the face of his youngest, the son Luke Mathis, looking toward the opponent, Kirito. "We knew you would never chose either of us on your own. We've both seen so much failure over the years...even after you had given us so much in the world."
Amanda continued while Kirito's power grew more, and Peter's started to stall. "We tried to train Kirito and Asuna because like you, we knew they had experience taking down corrupt Game Makers. And now...we are only thankful that he brought our weapons right to you."
"My children..." Peter Mathis felt his shoulders start to buckle, and the blades in his hands were growing thinner by the second. His eyes started to shed a tear, and a soft smile glossed over his lips. "It is I who has failed you..."
The supportive ghosts of the Force had disappeared from Kirito, and the rebellious ghosts of the Mathis children had faded from their newly enlightened father. Kirito's hands glowed with the same color as the blades at his side. He shot up the steps after the energy had dispelled, and brought the remainder of the fight right for Mathis. Hacking and slashing like the days from Sword Art Online, Kirito laid into the old man with fierce rage and unwavering power. The great game maker of The Old Republic Online could not keep up, and found glowing cuts of hot orange coming from his arms and legs, weakening his body, and lowering his defenses to nearly nothing else.
"AGH!" The green orb surrounding his left hand exploded, and soon after, Kirito powered on a forgotten swordskill from the land of Aincrad, and delivered a swift attack befitting of the Black Swordsman from those times. Kirito repeatedly cut around the body of Mathis with hashes and x-formations, and suddenly switched the position of his swords to the back of his palms. He kept up the attack as much as possible, and nailed the central hit right on its intended mark.
"STARBURST STREAM!" The light behind Kirito erupted, and the daunting 16-hit combo sent Mathis crashing back into his now broken royal throne. He dropped the black saber from his right hand, and in an effort that proved to be both weak and in vain, held his shaking left arm high with the mint green ligthsaber still ignited for his final defense.
"I'M NOT DONE YET!" Now, his right hand erupted with a glowing red orb powering his final assault. He moved with similar hacks and slashes to the Starburst Stream, but they were produced at twice the intense speed. Mathis had no way of keeping track as his eyes darted back and forth to try and follow the assault as it came crashing down over head, but as soon as he caught a glimpse of Kirito's white eyes, it was all too late.
"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"
The Mother's Rosario, powered by the fallen spirit of Asuna, was perfectly executed, and smashed the elder game maker further into the ground, and down to a defeated position flat on his back. His last moments were spent looking at the wobbly lightsaber once held by his caring daughter. A tear fell from his eye as her face passed through his vision.
"Amanda...Lucas..." He let it roll down his face as the beautiful attack from Kirito ended his life, and instantly thought of his children. "It's time I name my new heir."
Kazuto Kirigaya had successfully defeated and killed Peter Mathis. His attack had thus released the gigantic Force bubble protecting both of them from space, and launched the entire galaxy into its final moments as all servers were forced to shut down in the wake of the lasting battle.
The next thing he knew, Kazuto's eyes opened wide with energy, and his body shot up with an alert presence as he breathed heavily through his terror and collected his surroundings.
"Kirito!" The voice of Asuna shot over from the other side of the room. His eyes darted her way, but froze the moment he noticed her walking toward him.
Asuna's clothes were normal, and from the real world. Her eyes were normal, and brown from the real world. And her voice, lost in her death by Peter Mathis, was alive, and back in the real world.
He looked down at his hands, and noticed all was alive and human. His clothes, the red t-shirt hidden beneath an open black jacket, and his slim dark blue jeans with simple black sneakers, were all back on his body as he gathered his only thoughts all at once. Asuna threw her arms around him, and leaned her head into his shoulder.
"Kirito! Kirito you did it! You beat him!"
"Asuna?" Kirito tried to lean back to catch what she had just said. "You knew I was fighting Peter Mathis?"
Asuna sniffled, and wiped a tear from her face as she leaned back. "I watched you. I helped you at the end during the battle. Once I died in the game, all my memories shot back to me, and returned just in time to help you."
"Kazuto!"
Kirito's head turned, and now met the advancing Suguha Kirigaya jumping at him with all her energy. She too wrapped her loving arms around his upper body, and buried her tears into his sleeve to try and catch her words.
"I told you...you tried to ignore me, but I told you...you were really our only hope."
Kirito leaned back in the now opened Holocron bed as Asuna leaned over him from one side, and Suguha from the other. His eyes drifted up to the ceiling, and a small smile crossed his face.
"Nah, I only beat him because everyone else was there pushing me along the way."
He tried to enjoy the moment of rest for only a little bit, but suddenly, a loud and obnoxious voice pierced through the door way, and shouted at the three in their embrace.
"Hey Kirito! You guys better come see this!" It was Klein, with his spiky red hair and his signature bandanna. "That Mathis dude that brought us all in here just woke up from a Holocron!"
Kirito sat up, and the three friends all looked at one another before jumping out of the medical bed and moving out to find the commotion. It did not take long, however, for the group to discover the trail of ministry agents and federal officers crowding the hallways outside of the main lab. They fought their way through the adult crowd, and came across all their friends huddled to one side trying to get a glimpse of the scene in the middle of the primary Holocron room.
Seijirou Kikuoka stood with a gun in hand held down at his side. He watched with the rest of the audience as a blond woman huddled over the weak body of an old man lying in an unconditionally large Holocron bed. To the right of the main machine was an open bed empty of its passenger, and to the left side of the room sat a tall but rather thin man sitting on the edge of his bed. His eyes were wide open, and both were looking into the blank ground at his feet.
"Father...why didn't you tell us?!" The woman sobbed over the body of the old man, while the passenger of the newly opened Holocron simply smiled and looked up at his daughter.
"Amanda. I'm happy to see your face...now you know why I was so nervous before the day of our big release. I was afraid I'd never see my project in its final stages. But I did...it turned out to be almost as beautiful as you..." Peter Mathis put a hand on her cheek, and held it there for a short time. "Where is Lucas?"
Luke Mathis shook as he got up, and trembled over to his weak father's bedside and knelt down on both knees beside his sobbing sister. Asuna and Suguha were both covering their mouths with two hands. Silica and Lisbeth fought tears off to the side, while Klein held his hands high over his head.
Sinon mimicked the same reaction as Asuna and Sugu, and Agil kept his arms crossed over his body as he stood over the others with a look of regret and sadness.
Kirito slowly walked out into the area, and stood by the still frozen Kikuoka. He held a solid face of no emotion, and his glasses were reflecting the light above to block Kirito from seeing his eyes.
Mathis kept one hand on Amanda's cheek, and the other grabbed Lucas's outstretch left hand. Both children waited for their father to speak before making any further reactions.
"My children. I never lost faith in either of you. I was worried you'd be hurt...yet you both made me proud. You trained two new players from start to finish, and allowed them to beat me and end the game...congratulations."
"Father...no...I..." Lucas even started to feel water forming under his eyes, but the patriarch of the Mathis family never let him speak. "When did you get so sick?"
Peter Mathis let his eyes close while his smile grew bigger. "Through my years of research, my body could not keep up with the technology...I know you both hold the same passion that flows through my veins...I couldn't let either of you take the reins of my company and lead a life like mine...researching to no end...a life of sewing, with no harvest left to reap." His eyes were now opened.
"Luke...you have your mother's eyes. And Amanda has her smile. I'm proud to let you both take the company from me." He leaned up with what little ounce of strength he had, and delivered a new smile for an odd pair of recipients.
"Kikuoka." He said with a calm presence. "My project inside the world of Star Wars nearly led me to a new discovery. You'll find my research report in an email sent to your account. I imagine you'll enjoy the results..."
Kirito looked up at the face of the Japanese Ministry of Defense Officer once again, but it held no emotion.
"Kirito."
The boy turned to look past Amanda's and Luke's shoulders. Peter Mathis looked right into his eyes, and nodded. "Thank you for helping me find my way. I owe it all to you, and your friends. I knew I picked the right bunch to test my galaxy."
Finally, his head lowered back down to his pillow. "Lucas...take the Old Republic title, and become its lead developer. Amanda...I want to leave the Immortal Gaming Company in your hands."
"But I...I..." Amanda Mathis had battled the weight of her family's mistakes for an entire campaign. She wanted to be done with the virtual world, but now, in this thin moment, she saw a small ounce of hope coming from her father's dying eyes.
"Take care, both of you...and may the Force be with you."
Peter Mathis was pronounced dead on the scene. His two children mourned over his deceased body as the ministry agents escorted them and the others out of the offices.
One day later, Kikuoka had Kazuto Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki out for a debriefing over lunch. Kirito's blue shirt was not as dark as his usual wear, but it was far from a festive color of the spring-time months. Asuna had a yellow dress on covered by a small white sweater that ended halfway down her arms. She also wore a wide-brimmed sun hat, and sat with a glass of tea in her hand as she stirred the ice around with her straw.
Kikuoka Seijirou sat on the other side, enjoying his meal in a light grey suite, with white undershirt and a black tie to round it all out. He wiped away the crumbs from his mouth, and reached for his own glass of ice water.
"So that's basically the story. Pretty shocking stuff, actually. Peter Mathis needed people to test his Holocron units for private research, and things got out of hand with technology from his children's work in the game."
"I don't believe it." Kirito leaned back in his chair as people walked all about them on the streets outside the downtown Tokyo café. "Peter Mathis was diagnosed with brain cancer after trying to scan his brain so much over a decade? Then he used the meticuboid technology to create the Holocron beds to try and burn his body into the virtual world? I wonder why he needed the one thousand volunteers in the first place? What was the research he was conducting...?"
Asuna put her drink down, and slowly rubbed both her arms in a tight embrace. "That's too creepy. It's almost like what the Commander did after he lost his life in SAO. Those machines were the same ones that kept my fiend Yuki alive before she passed away. It makes sense that the inventors would lend him the design if he was sick, himself."
Kikuoka nodded, and tossed his napkin onto his plate. "Precisely. He used that technology to keep his sick body alive long enough for his children to fight over his company. What he failed to realize was that one had no intention of taking his company, while the other was using his own technology to manipulate the game and its players into doing his son's bidding."
Kirito sat still. "What about the kids? Are Amanda and Luke off the hook?"
Seijirou puckered his lips for a bit, then shrugged. "Their involvement is still being investigated. Their father's board of directors is currently in-charge of Immortal Gaming. We have no desire to let Luke Mathis stay in command of developing the Old Republic servers, but seeing as they're practically wiped away by now, I think he'll agree to a simple year-long probation from the work force."
"And Amanda?" Asuna asked. "Will she keep her role as CEO of Immortal Gaming?"
Seijirou shrugged again, and smiled causally. "I don't see why not. So far, her story checks out, and Kirito's testimony was a big help. Knowing her past, she may lead them into a safer direction than the one they were previously headed in."
All three figures sat in silence, until Kikuoka finished sipping the last of his hot cup of tea. He placed the cup back on the table next to his ice water, then looked at the two teenagers.
"But I don't totally get it..." Kirito put a finger underneath his chin and leaned back. "What was Peter Mathis trying to achieve? Why was he trying to create such a complex world compared to regular VR? It was the most immersive experience I've ever been a part of. He used 1000 players to conduct his experiments, but why...?"
"I wish I could remember any of it..." Asuna scratched the back of her head, and reluctantly held her head low. "I faintly remember Mathis getting ready to tell me something important, but my mind is totally blank when trying to narrow down the memory."
Seijirou's slyly adjusted his glasses, and gave them both a polite nod. "I imagine he had his own reasons, like any other crazy game developer these days. He was a man sentenced to death, so he used what was left of his life to change the world. What matters is that everyone is safe and sound back in the real world...once again thanks to you two of all people."
Then, the Japanese ministry agent stood up, and pushed his chair in as he departed for the street. "Until I need you again for some crazy mission! Enjoy the rest of your day, Kirito. Asuna."
Kirito narrowed his vision as the man departed for the road. Asuna leaned over and held his hand with a nervous expression. "Kirito? Is something wrong?"
He had no direct answer for her. His eyes were still following the departing Seijirou. "Nothing...I just know he's holding something from me again. He always has something up his sleeve."
Asuna crossed her arms, and pouted slightly. "Honestly, you are even more ridiculous now that the game is over. Anyway, I never bothered to ask you...what did you think?"
"What did I think?" Kirito turned to her with a puzzled expression. "About what?"
"Duh?" Asuna teased. "The Old Republic Online? The World of Star Wars!? What did you think I meant? I can't remember anything that happened inside that game to save my life. I imagine you probably have a pretty big opinion of it, though."
"Oh, hmm...well, now that you've asked...I dunno."
"You don't know?" Asuna tilted her head, and put the back of her hand up to his forehead. "Did that game fry your memory too?"
"No, it's not like that...It's just... I dunno." Kirito leaned back, and let his eyes be pulled up by the clouds. "That was the most realistic project I've ever been apart of. I actually had power over the galaxy itself. It was so immersive...so life-like. I just wonder..."
"What?" Asuna kept her eyes on her beloved while he kept looking at the bright blue sky above.
Kirito sighed, and let his eyes fall shut. "If I'll ever get to see a virtual world that realistic again."
Meanwhile, Seijirou Kikuoka continued walking down the street, knowing full-well that Kirito and Asuna were still discussing the game. He held a smile underneath his black spectacles, and tried to remember the words that Peter Mathis delivered in his posthumous email sent after the incident.
"Kikuoka,
Attached is the full report from the Force System analysis. The data found within the entire week of play for the Star Wars: The Old Republic Online video game will revolutionize the way we view the virtual world, and the way we humans interact with it.
I hope this valuable information finds you well, and I hope it continues to help in our research for locating the human fluctlight, and developing top-down perfect AI.
-P. Mathis"
"I'm sure it will help, my good friend." Seijirou Kikuoka kept his expression sly as he walked along the streets of busy Tokyo in the mid-day spring sun. "I'll be sure to utilize every bit of it when we commence the next phase of Project: ALICIZATION here in a few months."
-THE END-
Credit Roll! Well what a roller-coaster that was for me! Almost 3 years in the making! I have not successfully finished a story since 2016, so this has been a very intense project for me, and in the end I walked away with a big smile on my face after finishing this one up.
Where did I go wrong? Oh my lord I went wrong all over the place! This was no perfect story! Hell I know of two or three really big things that probably turned people away!
1. The cliches. Soooo many Star Wars cliches! I just had to, people! I had to reference all the funny, witty quotes and scenes that I could but tried to still keep it SAO. I hope the over-use of quotes from the Star Wars series didn't ruin it for people!
2. The lack of new planets. I know one thing Star Wars always does well is they always introduce a new planet to each addition of their story. The movies, all the TV shows, the video games, they all include new planets. I did not create a single planet from scratch (I did change up Mortis a bit, but eh...) I actually had my own reason for this, though. I wanted to use planets from the Old Republic MMO as much as possible to remind the readers what Star Wars universe this still was. Not the movies, or the TV shows. Still, I could have been a bit more ambitious...
3. NO aliens! None of the characters were alien races! Did you notice? Trentyn was a cyborg, but all were human! I have no idea why I did this, but while I wrote it I just never envisioned any of the characters as getting alien avatars. Just weird how it worked out.
There was other stuff too that wasn't so good about this story, but it's mostly stuff I don't really let get to me! I still had a f*cking BLAST writing this one! The last SAO story I wrote was a Lord of the Rings one, and I used a lot of Howard Shore's LOTR soundtrack to motivate my writing. On the last day I wrote that story, I played back all the LOTR songs that helped me through the process, but I ended my playlist on the Star Wars title screen theme because I knew it would be the next SAO story I wrote. God damn! John Williams writes a good score! I grew up loving him, and I'm glad I was able to incorporate his Star Wars music into my writing.
Anyway, that will do it from here! I intentionally ended the story right on the mark before Alicization to make it act like an unofficial prequel to that arc (that's why I never wanted to use Alice or any of those guys!) I have a few ideas for two more SAO stories though. One is a deep, psychological story involving Kirito and Asuna in the world of Lordran, and the other...well I'd love to write SAO visiting the world of my personal favorite MMO. I think Kirito and Asuna would lend themselves well to the world of Tamriel...
But I'm done! Thank you all SO very much for reading, visiting, commenting, and following! I'll see you all later, and May the Force be with you!
