The first time Asuna plays Sword Art Online, she feels… free. That's really the only way to describe it, the feeling of being able to be herself, to not worry about her father's expectations, and she wanders through the Town of Beginnings with wide eyes.

It's 20 minutes into her first time in-game when some creep puts his hands on her. She made her avatar pretty, sure, and relatively close to herself, but she had thought she wouldn't have to put up with this shit here, too- she was obviously wrong, if the feeling of hands on her hips is anything to go by. The thought hits her around ten seconds after he touches her without her permission; this isn't some man in a suit that her father wants to be on good terms with, and she's not playing the part of the perfect daughter. In here, she doesn't have to put up with it.

She knocks the man flat on his ass, sword drawn and pointed at his chin (she knows they're in a safe zone, but hey, a little fear never hurts) and foot on his chest, pushing him into the ground.

"The next time you lay your hands on me, creep," she says, smiling wickedly, "will be the last time you have hands. Understood?" The man whimpers, then nods once. Asuna steps back, sheathes her sword, and brushes off the skirt of her starting outfit, looking around for the nearest clothing shop.

Later, when she's traded out the dusky rose shirt and grey skirt of the starting outfit for a long-sleeved black shirt, grey pants that are baggy, but still comfortable, and the best armor she could afford, she feels much more comfortable. Her avatar's hair is the most stark difference between it and her, with her avatar's hair being cut to the chin and dark brown, rather than her own strawberry-blonde hair that reaches her mid-back. I looks like a badass , she thinks with a grin as she walks down the street, towards the fields that hold low-level enemies.

She racks up a little EXP killing boars, just getting used to her sword skills and the controls, easy and relaxed. She heads further out, trying to find something a bit more challenging, when she comes across the brown-haired girl struggling with a boar.

Asuna hits it with a pebble to get it to scatter, walking up behind the girl, who's willowy with long brown hair. "Y'know, it's a lot easier to hit things if you actually use your sword skills," she says, because it's really fun to not have to worry about being nice and polite all the time.

The girl scowls at her, brushing off her outfit as she stands. "I don't know how ," she complains, and Asuna raises an eyebrow. "Look, I just want to make it to the next town so I can start leveling my blacksmithing skills! That's all I'm really here for," she explains, and Asuna nods. "Who're you, anyways?" the other girl asks, and Asuna sticks out her hand for the girl to shake.

"Kizuna," she introduces, the thrill of using the alternate name running through her. Kizuna, a name that means creation, beginnings, bonds. Pretty, simple enough, and meaningful.

The girl accepts her handshake, has one hell of a firm grip, Asuna realizes with a grin. "Lisbeth," she other player introduces, and despite her earlier complaints, there's a fire in her eyes. "So, are you gonna teach me to kill this thing or not, Kizuna?" She asks, and Asuna huffs a laugh, drawing her sword.

"I suppose even smiths have to be able to kill boars," she says, stepping into the fighting stance. "Fighting here is all about sword skills- to activate them, you just draw that very first action out," Asuna explains, readying her sword. She holds it at her back until she feels the shiver in the blade and sees the telltale glow in the corner of her eye. "Once it's activated, you release, and…" she darts forwards, slashing at the boar and grinning again at the EXP window.

"Right," Lisbeth says with a firm nod, and she readies her own weapon- a small hammer- taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. She opens her eyes as her weapon begins to glow, and she charges the boar with a shout. It takes her a few hits, but she kills it, and Lisbeth beams at Asuna when she succeeds.

They spend a few hours killing time and grinding for EXP, and both of them make Level 3 by early evening. Lisbeth stretches, and yawns, summoning her menu.

"Time for me to go eat," she explains, before pausing, finger hovering in the air. "Hey, Kizuna?"

"What's up?"

"Not to sound like a total noob, but… where's the logout button?" Lisbeth asks, and Asuna can't help but roll her eyes a little.

"It's in the menu, right… here," she says, frowning at her own menu, where the logout button should be. It's there, and she can click on it, but nothing happens, and there's no text or anything. It's just… blank. "Huh, weird. Pretty big glitch, but I guess the servers must be pretty stressed with all the new players," she says, biting her lip. "You try calling a gamemaster?"

"Twice," Lisbeth replies, frowning. "No pickup. Crap, I really need to go, I promised mom I'd be done before dinner," she says, and Asuna is opening her mouth to reply when it happens.

Asuna has never teleported in-game before, and the sensation is a little weird, like pins and needles. They reappear in the square of the Town of Beginnings, and Asuna immediately pulls Lisbeth to her back, so they're standing back to back. The town is a safe zone, but forced teleportation isn't supposed to happen in-game either.

When Kayaba Akihiko tells them all his plans and drops mirrors into their inventories, Asuna hates the swell of relief in her chest. No getting out means no dealing with her father, with her family's expectations, it means being herself for more than just a few hours a day.

When she uses the mirror, she's less ecstatic. She's taller, more slender, and her hair is long, strawberry blonde, and loose around her shoulders again, and Lisbeth is shorter, stockier, with a curly bob and freckles.

"I'm going to the next town, starting my blacksmith training," Lisbeth says quietly, and her voice is just deeper than it was before, and panic begins to swell in the players around them. "Are you coming?"

Asuna shakes her head, looking out across the square. "No, but I'll check in- you're on my friends list, now, so I can find you when I need a new weapon," she says, and Lisbeth gives her a shaky grin.

"You'd better," she says, and that's when they part ways.

Later, it's night, and Asuna is racing through a field, killing any low-level monsters in her path, and that's when she decides it. I will not give up this chance, she thinks, striking down a wolf-like creature, I will not let Kizuna's new life be taken from me.

And that's how it begins. With a girl dressed in black, running wild through the fields of Aincrad, sword in hand, determination sharp on her face. It begins with a boy in white and a boy in reds and yellows teaming up, with a girl starting her blacksmith training, with another girl taming her first creature, with a man called Heathcliff starting a guild. It begins, in Asuna's mind, with an opportunity- one she plans to take advantage of.