Fairy Dance

The Adventure Begins

Not even the birds want anything to do with her, and for the captive Queen of Alfheim, that makes her isolation and entrapment worse. Aincrad, for all its cruelty, had a kind world, and for Asuna Yuuki, being in a world she cannot physically die but is cruel is a far worse fate.

“I love that look of yours more than anything, Titania. The one where you seem you’re about to cry. I want to freeze it and hang it on a wall.”

Asuna frowns and stares ahead at the man outside her cage. “Then go ahead.” She looks away as he enters, not in fear, she believes but in the resignation of her fate. Is not that, in itself, a type of fear? She once resigned to her fate in SAO that she would die, a fate that was possible and a fate she toed the line on as a member of the Assault Team and vice-captain of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Death she feared back then, but to actively face it knowing it could happen… No, that’s not fear. If she believes that, she tramples on the memory of the one girl who was like a sister to her, and the feat she and the two boys she grew close to accomplished in beating Heathcliff.

“You can do whatever you like, right? You’re a system admin.”

“You’re so cold. Have I ever touched you when you didn’t want me to, Titania?”

“Stop killing me that weird name. My name is Asuna, Sugou.”

The blonde, crown-wearing fairy in green chuckles and raises out of her view. “You’re ruining the fun. In this world, I am the fairy king Oberon. The ruler of Alfheim, who all players regard with awe. And you are my bride, the Queen Titania. Isn’t that enough? When will you open your heart to me as my bride?”

“It’s hopeless. The only things I have to give you are disgust and hatred. That’s all.”

Oberon laughs again and takes Asuna’s chin in his hand. “You’re very strong-willed. But you know, lately, I’ve been thinking that it might be nice to take you by force.” His hand scours her face, thumb lingering momentarily on Asuna’s slightly opened lips, then drops below her face, stopping at the bowstring between her breasts and slowly pulling on it.

Asuna’s will has been tested and fortified time and time again in the last two years, but there’s a significant difference between the boy who she loves undressing her in a cabin on the 22nd Floor of Aincrad and the man she hates attempting to do so now. And even though her body here is nothing but data, there’s still the sense of sacredness about being unclothed. “Stop it.”

Sugou drops the string. “Hehehehe, it’s just a joke. I told you that I won’t force myself upon you. It won’t be too long before you start to want me.”

“Are you insane?”

“You won’t be talking like that for long. There are tens of thousands of players enjoying this game right now. But they don’t understand the true value of the full-dive system. By expanding the brain’s control regions, it’s possible it could control thought, emotion, even memory.”

“What? They wouldn’t allow that?”

“Who wouldn’t? Many nations are already researching it. But human experiments aren’t easy things to perform. But one day, I was watching the news and I discovered ten thousand perfect subjects! Kayaba was a genius, but a fool. To prepare such a splendid vessel and be satisfied using it for nothing more than making a game. It wasn’t hard to grab a few when they logged out. And as a result, I got three hundred test subjects of my own! In just two months, my research has taken great strides. The technology to implant new objects into human memories, using them to induce emotion is almost complete.”