After hours of sobbing over the man that remembered who he was only hours before his death, the peaceful priestesses of Mara took his body to the Hall of the Dead. Children kept pestering me, thinking that their offers to be my child would make up for my loss.

"Leave her be, children," Constance Michel finally requests. "She's gone through enough in one day," she turns to me. "Will you be okay?"

I was sitting at the long table beside the bedroom, ornate with sweetrolls and crème treats, staring at the bed where Conlan took his last virtual breaths. I was waiting.

What am I waiting for?

Ah, I remember. An explanation from Kirito as to why my only friend was killed. He promised that he would get both of us back to Earth. I don't understand how or why he allowed him to die. He couldn't have had those techs that are working on our VR consoles to put in a code that would've removed the poison? Why did Conlan not live?

Why did he have to live his last moments in this cruel joke of a world? Why couldn't we have woken up, met up somewhere, then have a meteor strike us down together? God... it's not fair! It isn't right!

No... I can't have these thoughts again. I'm not going back to believing that the death of a loved one was my fault. All the pain I was feeling was of loss: not guilt. I have to at least grant Conlan's dying wish.

"Witness Earth's beauty one more time for me."

A tear rolls down my pale, numb face.

I will, Conlan. I promise you, I will.

EPILOGUE

I eventually discovered that none of the NPC's were hostile anymore. It's as if I reboot the entire game to have all the NPC's at their default setting. Kirito did something right, it seems. That doesn't mean I can forgive him, until I know the entire story as to why he couldn't save Conlan.

I don't know where to go. I lost my sense of survival hours ago, but I must survive. I have to live for Conlan. I have to live for Michael, too. It's become my duty.

Riften rots of fish and death. Not a single NPC could develop manners even if they tried. The marketplace smelled of decade old sewage (considering the well in the center was really a hole into the Ratway). The brisk autumn air was the only comfort I received. It was as if Conlan and Michael were holding my hands while I walked through a burning landscape in Hell.

"Woah," A man nearly yells as I walk right into him. "Watch what you're doing!"

"I'm sorry," I mumble. I was looking down; I could only see his fancy shoes and trousers. I imagine Conlan pulling out his axe to defend me. "I wasn't looking where I was going," was the closest I could get to Conlan's defense levels.

"Don't sweat it, lass."

Realizing who it was, I look up to find the fancy man being Brynjolf, the NPC that recruits you into the Thieves Guild.

"I actually have bit of an errand to perform," he mentions. "I could use an extra pair of hands."

A/N: Thank you so much for reading my story to the end. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Summer's adventures are to be continued within the next few weeks.

That's all, folks!