"You were already planning to help the kid find a way to allow to stay independent; why not hire him to help you in your shop? You could offer him room and board plus a small salary in exchange for his help organizing everything," Kirito suggested with a smirk as he gestured towards the piles of junk cluttering up the apartment. "Once he feels a little more confident, you can even let him handle deliveries and such; which would allow him to travel freely."
"I'd already planned to offer him a job but didn't say anything to him earlier because I'd feared he would automatically refuse due to how shaken up he's been since we found him. Actually, looking back, he's probably been in a constant state of panic or near panic since the glitch occurred. It would certainly explain why it had taken him so long to reply to my messages and why he tried to convince me to leave him alone."
"I still have a hard time seeing Tracker James when I look at him."
"That's right; I'd forgotten that you had not met James before today. I think you'd have gotten along really well with him; he was always smiling no matter what he was doing, forever eager to face the next challenge, and friendly with most everyone though at times he was painfully shy. Prior to this whole fiasco, he was the only Player I've met to date that truly didn't care that he'd been trapped in the game. In fact, I always thought he was a bit crazy in the head because he seemed content and at home inside the game."
"Can you blame him given what little we've learned about his home life?" Kirito asked quietly as he glanced off in the direction of the room that Agil had taken James. "I'd see Aincrad as home too if I had to live with people who told me it would have been better if I'd died with my parents."
Agil didn't reply and Kirito really didn't need him to because he knew what the older man would say; it was written all over the man's face, after all. The two of them sat there in silence for nearly an hour before a piercing scream caught them off guard as it rang out through the apartment and they rushed into the guest room where they found James trapped in the throws of a nightmare.
Kirito sighed as Agil waded into the room to wake the kid up; it was going to be a long night.
...
Wednesday, December 27, 2019 10:36 AM
Harry had ended up sleeping (if you could call the short periods of rest he got between nightmares sleep) for close to three days straight as his soul healed from the damage done by the crows and by the traumatic integration of his soul into the game. On top of that, he had needed to regenerate the magic that he'd unknowingly used; a process that took far longer than normal because his soul was currently cut off from the earth and his magical core locked inside the stasis spell preserving his body.
And because his core was inaccessible, he was unable to draw in any ambient magic with which to replace the bulk of what he used; meaning that his soul was forced to generate far more magic than it usually did (which is why it had taken so long for him to regenerate that magic).
During that time, both Agil and Kirito took turns watching over the troubled child; the two of them offering him comfort after each nightmare and encouraging him to eat and drink whenever he was partially conscious.
When Harry did finally wake up, he remained numb and detached for several hours before he snapped back into focus (as if someone had just flipped a switch inside of his brain to turn it on). He remained fairly withdrawn after that; the nine year old feeling lost and uncertain still. He probably would have slunk off with his tail between his legs and found someplace to hole up in out in one of the Dungeons if not for Agil quickly putting a stop to his one and only attempt to sneak out of the apartment.
It was Kirito that eventually brought Harry out of his funk, the teen still child enough to draw Harry into various games and activities (like pillow fights and word games). The moment Harry was no longer broody and twitchy, Agil sat him down and carefully explained the proposal that he and Kirito had come up with to help Harry survive the game. To the surprise of both man and teen, Harry had simply shrugged his shoulders and said okay to both the job and the lessons.
When asked why he wasn't even making a token rebellious refusal (as they'd half expected him to), Harry had dryly told them that he was stubborn not stupid which had made Kirito crack up and Agil shake his head. Harry and Kirito had then added each other to their Friend List while Kirito quizzed Harry on his Skills.
Agil had made choking sounds when Harry had confessed that he'd never used a sword in the game because he'd killed himself each and every time he'd tried in the Beta Test; even after gaining enough Experience. Kirito had stared at him in shock while demanding to know why he'd been so drawn to a game called Sword Art Online if he couldn't use a sword despite the simplicity of the attacks that had been programmed into the game. Harry had shrugged and said he just wanted to see what his cousin had found so fascinating about the game and had stayed because he'd fallen in love with the world of Aincrad and the freedom that the game had given him.
A world where he was free to choose who and what he wanted to be.
Harry's new training started with Agil dragging him down into the shop in order for him to pick out the perfect sword for him to use (one with the lowest Damage Rating in order to prevent needless mishaps). Kirito joined them and the teen sat on the counter and laughed as Agil rummaged through the shop for various weapons while Harry would refuse each blade that was proffered. Each time he refused a weapon, Harry would tell the pair exactly how he'd killed himself with a version of that particular blade in the Beta Test (some deaths were particularly violent and a few were just plain stupid while others were so comical they could have come straight out of a Monty Python skit).
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