The Black Swordsman

Chapter 9: Yuki Pt. 1

Present:

A loud cough echoed throughout a jail hallway. Inside of one of the cells, Asuna was shivering both because of how cold it was in her jail cell and because of how skinny her virtual avatar had gotten due to malnutrition. Her face and the rest of her body was almost nothing but skin and bones and she barely had enough energy to keep her eyes open. Asuna heard a pair of footsteps approaching the cell and used what little strength she had left to sit up and stare at the cell of the door, expectantly.

POH and Oberon walked inside of the jail cell, after opening it. POH placed another tray with barely any food on it on the floor while Oberon just grinned at Asuna, mockingly.

"You should probably eat up, Lightning Flash", stated POH, coldly. "You aren't looking like your usual self. Kind of hard to believe you used to be the second-best player in SAO."

Oberon chuckled to himself at POH's comment.

"W-what's s-so funny?" asked Asuna, tiredly.

"Personally, I don't think it's hard to believe that you were the second-best player in SAO at all, considering how pathetic the best player in SAO is in real life", claimed Oberon, sinisterly. "I never expected this Black Swordsman of yours to be nothing more than a socially inept and weak boy. Maybe, the two of you are drawn to each other's weakness. Perhaps, you two are perfect for each other."

"Y-you m-met..."

Asuna was unable to finish her statement, before couching, aggressively.

"Careful not to speak too much, my dear. In case you haven't noticed, malnutrition in this world works a bit differently than in the original SAO world. In this world, the effects you feel from not eating enough are on par with what it would feel like in the real world, despite it not having any effect on your beautiful body in the real world. Trust me, after seeing you in your hospital room, I can assure you that your body is still in pristine condition."

"Creep", Asuna managed to say. "Y-you're g-going to r-regret this. K-Kirito will..."

"Do what? What is that pathetic little shit going to do? Save you? Stop me? He doesn't even have the conviction to keep living. How the fuck is he going to come and save you?"

Keep living? Asuna thought to herself.

"W-what t-the hell a-are you talking a-about?"

"Oh, right. That's the main reason I came to see you today, Asuna. I came to inform you that your knight in shining armor...this hero, Black Swordsman...actually tried to kill himself. Hahaha! How pathetic is that?"

Asuna's eyes widened at the reveal.

"L-liar", was the only response Asuna could muster.

"Oh no, it's true, believe me. The nasty rope burn mark around his throat made it obvious and he didn't even try to prove me wrong. This Black Swordsman of yours is a coward. And you really think that he's going to be the one that rescues you? Although, I have to agree with POH. I really do think you should eat up, Asuna. I don't want you to starve to death. Not when there's so much more fun to be had."

Oberon and POH both left Asuna's jail cell and closed the door behind them, leaving the plate of disgusting food on the floor of her cell. While their footsteps got fainter and fainter, Asuna couldn't even bring herself to focus on the plate of food. She stood up off of her bed and wobbled towards one of the walls of the cell and leaned her hands against it.

T-they have to be lying to me, Asuna tried to tell herself to make herself calm down. Kirito...would never give up like that. He wouldn't. But...then again, he's been stuck in the real world all this time, without me. Did his worry for me...is that what caused him to kill himself? Then, this is all my fault. Damn. Damn it!