A/N: Alright everyone. It's finally time. The sequel to I Will Not Bow is finally here (massive cheering in background)! Unfortunately chapter updates will be once a month or so now. It's college time again, so I'll be busy with school stuff. I'll try to update whenever I can.

Ren stretched his arms out as he relaxed on the park bench with Alice. The temperature was warm. The skies were clear. The breeze blowing through the air felt refreshing. This was peace, and a well earned one for the couple. After all, barely two months ago they were fighting for their lives in a sadistic psychopath's game.

Two years. Two whole years they had spent in Sword Art Online. And they had survived. After grueling challenges, tough boss fights, and lots and lots of drama, they had survived. They had safely made it back to the real world. Four thousand others hadn't though.

And that didn't even include the more than three hundred still trapped in a coma.

After SAO had been cleared, Ren had managed to track down Alice, as well as the rest of his guild. They all had each other's contact info now and the group of Wyvern's Inferno still got together and hung out often. Ren had also found Kirito, though he wasn't in much of a mood for talking. Considering Asuna was still trapped in a coma, Ren couldn't blame him.

But that had been two months ago. Right now, Ren was enjoying his date with Alice at the park. He had also brought along his little sister Clair, since their mother was on a trip and he had been tasked with watching her while she was gone.

Alice watched as Clair ran around the park and giggled. "Your sister's pretty energetic."

Ren nodded his head. "Yeah, she's always been like that. Good to see she hasn't changed these past two years."

"She's lucky to have such a caring older brother." Alice said.

"Well I'm lucky to have such a wonderful girlfriend like you." Ren replied back.

"Aww you" Alice leaned in and gave Ren a kiss on the lips. The couple continued kissing until a loud voice interrupted them.

"Ahem!"

Ren and Alice separated and looked at Clair who was now standing in front of them with a devilish grin on her face. "Now, now, big brother. Aren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on me?"

"Yes and that's what I've been doing." Dan told her.

"No you haven't. You've been kissing Alice for a full-"

"You were over by the swings about twenty seconds ago." Ren said. "Then you got the idea of sneaking up on me and Alice so you snuck around by the trees so I wouldn't notice you." He traced the path Clair had taken with his finger as he said this. "Did I leave anything out?"

Clair stared at her brother with her jaw hanging. "No fair! How did you do that?!"

"It's called being observant, Clair." Ren smirked. "Try acting as a tactician for two years and it'll come pretty naturally. Plus you're pretty easy to predict."

Clair gave a pout as she took a seat next to Ren and Alice on the bench. "Come to think of it, how did you two meet anyway. You've never told me, Dan."

Dan. The real name of Ren from Wyvern's Inferno in SAO. The people that hadn't been trapped in SAO were the only ones that called him by that name nowadays. He and his friends tended to call each other by their SAO names for now. It had been a hard habit to shake off and it felt natural.

Alice gave Clair the quick explanation of her and Ren's first meeting. "It was during the first few weeks of SAO. He saved me and my sister from a mob of monsters. If you want to know when we became a couple, that didn't come until much later."

Clair looked at her brother with pride. She always looked up to him. Throughout her childhood, he had always been there for her. He looked out for her and protected her. The two years he spent trapped in SAO were the first time Clair had ever really been on her own. It was just them and her mom, and without her brother to help out while their mother worked, Clair had learned to step up these past two years.

Ren and Alice continued to tell Clair about some of their adventures in Aincrad, something that the young girl enjoyed. As they were in the middle of a story, Ren felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and saw a text message from Agil.

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"A message from Agil." Ren explained. "He wants us all to meet up at Dicey Cafe tomorrow."

Alice raised a brow at this. "I wonder what's up."

Ren shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? Guess we'll find out tomorrow."

The door to the Dicey Cafe opened as Ren walked in. He hadn't been to the bar that Agil owned in a while, but it didn't seem to have changed since he was last here. Looking around, he saw that Kirito Alice, Riku, and Mai were already there, as well as Liz and a friend of Kirito's called Silica. The only ones missing were Helios and Dagger.

"Hey Ren." Liz greeted. "Long time no see."

Ren waved his hand at her. "Yeah, it has been a while. Good to see you're doing well." He sat down and the group chatted for another ten minutes until Helios and Dagger finally showed up.

"You're late." Alice scolded.

"Sorry, I was a little busy helping Dagger escape from a mob of people she ripped off." Helios explained with a sigh.

Riku narrowed his eyes at Dagger. "Seriously? That's like the third time this week."

"What can I say? I love money." Dagger shrugged.

Agil coughed into his hand to get the group's attention. "Well now that everyone's here, we can get down to business. I already explained things to Kirito." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo. It was a teenage girl with long chestnut hair trapped in some kind of birdcage. "Anyone recognize this person?"

"Asuna?!" Mai gasped. "Where is this?!"

To answer the young girl's question, Agil reached under the counter and placed a game on the shelf. The title read Alfheim Online. "That picture was taken in a new VRMMO called Alfheim Online, or ALO for short. From what I was able to gather, it's a place known as the World Tree."

"Hold on a second." Liz interrupted. "How exactly could Asuna be in another game? That makes absolutely no sense."

"Whether it makes sense or not, it's the only lead we've gotten in two months." Ren said. "It's worth checking out."

"I'm going in to save Asuna." Kirito said from his seat. "I'll get her out of there if it's the last thing I do."

Kirito got out of his seat and walked towards the door. Just before he reached it, Ren called out to him. "And just where do you think you're going?" The raven haired teen turned around a looked at his friend, who showed him a smirk. "You don't really think we're letting you have all the fun, do you? We're coming too."

Kirito shook his head. "It's alright guys. I can-"

"Oh no you don't"Liz told him as she walked up and grabbed him by the ear. "Asuna's our friend too. We're not about to let you do your little solo player routine this time, especially since you're not a beta tester this time."

Kirito saw the determination in the eyes of his friends. He let out a sigh. "Alright, I know when I'm beat." He showed an appreciative smile towards the group. "Thanks guys. I really appreciate it."

After doing some quick research on ALO, the group formulated a game plan. There were nine fairy races to choose from and if they all traveled in a large group, it could attract a lot of attention. So they decided to split up and travel to the World Tree separately. Kirito went with Spriggan, enjoying the black color that seemed to be the theme of the race. Ren and Alice chose the Imp race. Helios, being the musclehead he was, decided on Salamander. Mai liked the look of Sylphs, so that was the race she went with. Dagger chose Spriggan for her race the second she heard about them having treasure hunting skills. Riku, Liz, and Silica elected to stay behind and gather as much info as they could about ALO and the company that ran it, RECT Progress. Agil wouldn't be able to join them as he had his bar to look after.

With a game plan in mind, the group agreed to each get a copy of ALO and log on tonight. As Ren walked home, he realized that he still had one more mission to do before all of this. He'd have to tell Clair and try to convince her not to rat him out to their mother. The only thing allowing him to get away with this was the fact that his mother would be gone for the week. If she found out, he was screwed and there would be no way he could help save Asuna.

The dinner table was fairly quiet. Ren and Clair sat together as they ate some pasta that Ren had cooked up. He wasn't much of a wiz in the kitchen, but he was at least able to cook pasta.

"So…" Ren began. "How's your winter break coming along, sis?"

"Pretty good." Clair responded. "It's been nice being able to hang out with you a lot more."

Ren nodded his head. He had been away for two years because of SAO. He knew that it had been a hard time for Clair with him being gone for so long. And now he was going back into the virtual world, the thing that had caused all of this in the first place.

'Better get it over with.' Ren decided. "Hey Clair… there's something I need to talk to you about." Clair looked at her brother curiously as he continued. "We found a lead for Asuna's whereabouts today."

"Really?!" Clair exclaimed. She had known her brother and his friends had been trying to find clues on where this Asuna friend of theirs was for some time now. "Where is she?!"

"That's the thing." Ren said with a sigh. "She's in a VRMMO called Alfheim Online."

Looking at her brother's expression, Clair could already tell what he was thinking. "Dan… you're not thinking of-"

"I am." he replied with a nod. "My friends and I are going in to look for her."

"You can't!" Clair cried out as she got out of her seat and stared at her brother. "How could you say something like that?!"

"Clair, please understand-"

"No!" Clair shouted. She ran up to her brother and hugged him tightly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Please… you can't go… I don't want to lose you again."

Ren kneeled down to get to eye level with Clair. He took his hand and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Clair, this isn't going to be like SAO. I'm not going to be trapped in a game this time."

"But… But…"

Ren leaned in and wrap his arms around his sister, holding her in a warm comforting embrace. "I don't want to worry you. But Asuna was a really good friend of mine from SAO. I owe it to both her and Kirito to try and save her." He looked at Clair eye to eye. "I need you to be brave, ok sis? I need you to let me do this."

Clair's tears began to dry up slightly. "You *hic* You promise you're not going to leave me again? That'll you'll be back?"

"I promise." Ren nodded. "So can you do me a favor and keep this a secret from mom?"

Clair silently nodded her head and hugged her brother tightly. "Be careful big brother."

"I will, Clair." Ren told her.

In all honesty, Ren knew his promise with Clair had no real merit. In theory, the features that didn't allow players to log out and the auto death when HP reaches zero were part of Sword Art Online, not the Nerve Gear. But there was no telling what would happen if he used the Nerve Gear again, even if it wasn't for SAO. It couldn't be helped though. Buying an Amu Sphere was expensive, and he didn't have anywhere near that amount of spending money on him currently.

Ren was going back into a VRMMO using the Nerve Gear. All facts pointed to it being safe, but Ren knew that if SAO had taught him anything it was to never assume you knew all the facts.

Time passed by and finally the time that he had agreed to meet Alice on ALO came. He inserted Alfheim Online and laid down on his bed. Ren put the Nerve Gear on his head and took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing.'

"Link Start!"

A/N: Well, that's chapter 1 everybody. I hope you all enjoyed it. Look forward to the rest of the story. I decided to just have everyone call each other by their SAO names (except for Ren's real name when talking to Clair for obvious reasons) to keep away any confusion.