Have a Little Faith

After receiving a very detailed email with links from Kouichirou Yuui, Grey Adams sat in his bed, his wife sleeping soundly next to him still as his day was just coming to it's end and his head fell back to the head board with a load thud that woke her up. "Is everything okay Grey?" He closed his eyes, clenched his fists and slid into the bed until his head hit the pillow for just a moment. "No. No it is not."

When Asuna and Kirito returned to their room for the night their dinners were already waiting for them at the door. They ate quietly, only asking necessary questions as he made sure to take care of her before sitting down to eat his own food. He felt like she had suddenly turned to porcelain and thanks to Armageddon was free falling towards the ground. All he wanted to do was lock her away in the safety of their apartment back in Japan, or at least in the suite that's been their home for nearly three weeks, but that won't help the situation at all.

Asuna finished her spicy chicken noodle soup before Kirito was finished with his spicy hot wings. "Kirito--" She bites her lip as she pauses waiting for him to swallow his most recent bite. "Are you mad?"

He slowly puts his last wing down and starts wiping his hands clean while thinking about his answer. "Yes."

Asuna blinked, her eyebrows raised. "If we do beat the game… we don't have to—"

"Don't." He puts a hand up his voice a little shaky as he tries to speak through all of the various emotions. "That will only make me more upset right now. Im trying to not think too far ahead..." He starts to collect the garbage. When he walks away from the table to throw it away she stands from her seat.

"I don't really know how to feel right now…" She admits with a lowered head.

He throws the trash away and makes his way back to her. "Is that why you didn't tell me sooner?"

"So you are mad at me?" She asks defensively, raising her head and taking a step back.

He takes two steps forward. "No. I'm mad at the whole situation." He brushed fingers across her cheeks and pulls their faces close. "I'm not mad at you Asuna… I'm scared... and I don't know how to feel either. I want to be happy, I want to be excited but we only have a little over a week or none of it matters." His hands were shaking now that he'd let so much spill from his heart.

"I'm sorry." She grips the shoulders of his shirt and begins crying again.

"Shh." His lips meet the top of her hair line and he strokes the back of her head as his eyes glare at the wall behind her. "I am going to beat this game. I promise that I am going to beat this game." She pulls away and looks up at him, tears still falling as her hands start to release his shirt.

They agree that Asuna's time in game will decrease a lot to avoid the situation with the monster of wrath earlier happening again, and to avoid her vomiting in the real world while still in game. Kirito will send her his location in game every day after lunch, when her nausea seems to be the most manageable on most days so she can just teleport to his location and join him and Kouichirou.

After settling into the bed, Kirito curled around Asuna, he kisses the back of her neck. "How far along are you?" He asks a bit tiredly.

Asuna smiles, her eyes already closed, and sleepily responds. "Almost 6 weeks."

"So…" He's starting to drift into sleep but manages to finish his thought. "Our baby was made in Japan." He chuckles himself into sleep and Asuna is not far behind him.

The next day a special meeting is called to discuss the email from Kouichirou and any other intelligence players might have gathered. Asuna stayed back to rest a bit longer. During the meeting it is revealed that one of the American players is related to the GM.

"My name is Gabriel King, Micheal is my uncle-- and I helped him develop this game…" His blue eyes are tight and tortured. His freckled nose scrunches as he clenches his fists. He isn't much older than Kirito and Asuna, in his late twenties. "It sickens me to think that he would take our conversations about God and religion and turn them into something this sick and twisted--"

Kirito slams his fists on the big conference table, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I don't really care how you feel about it. Can we just come up with a plan now that the last two items have been identified?" Asuna settles him down by grabbing his elbow and rubbing his bicep.

The other players nod in agreement, the ones who need translation nod as soon as their translators finish.

Mr. Adams speaks in his usual authoritative manor despite the lack of sleep he got. "Yes. Let's recap what we've learned and come up with a plan. Last night I received an email from Kouichirou Yuui from Japan. He befriended an angel, which as you have all discovered, is no easy feat. During that meeting he discovered some information that makes it appear as though—" He swallows hard before continuing. "As though this entire quest has just been a distraction for the demon players to enjoy, but never finish." The room is starting to grumble and Kirito begins squeezing his fist tighter.

Gabriel speaks up. "He not only made The Shield of Faith something that an angel player would have to sacrifice themselves to give to a demon player—" his nostrils flare as he continues. "The helmet of Salvation is being presented as the crown of thorns, which is being worn by a Female NPC In the center of Rome who represents the Holy Spirit."

"So we just need to go to Rome and get the crown and then somehow convince an angel player to give up their life by giving us their shield…" One of the players from England sneers after summarizing the rest of the mission.

Mr. Adams pinches the bridge of his nose as he shakes his head. "There's more… The city of Rome in game is where all angel players begin and a lot of them vlogged and blogged about it in the very beginning. Angel players can go to the Holy Spirit any time they want. They've received guidance, gifts, and healing from her. Some of the beta tester demon players attempted to see her as well and were met with resistance from the nine Fruit of the Spirits that appear in the form of knights. The furthest any demon player got was past the first knight, but was defeated and when they rebooted all of their items and stats were reset to zero."

Kirito was squeezing his fists so tightly that his nails had punctures little cresent moons into his palm as one of the players from France mumbled under their breath "we're fucked." At that Kirito started to laugh and everyone in the room started to think he was loosing his mind.

Kirito's voice shakes from the rage. "We are totally fucked… and it doesn't matter. We have to try. If we all train for the next week and get as strong as we can then we all fight them and get to the Holy Spirit or whatever and get the crown from her."

"What about the shield?" Gabriel asks.

Kirito glanced at the creator of Armageddon's nephew with a sneer. "I also received an email from Kouichirou, encrypted and with several security measures he knew only I can unlock, and I think you need to have a little more faith in some of the angel players."