Sword Art Online: The Ghost

Chapter 1: Initiation

'Welcome to Aincrad. The most sophisticated and most immersive video game simulation up to today. Developed by Akihiko Kayaba, prepare to enter a literal world of dungeons and dragons. Choose your destiny, forge your way through the epic adventure and party with your companions in order to cut down any who dare to stand in your path.' – SAO Cartridge Box

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. This is really happening. THIS IS REALLY FUCKING HAPPENING.

Nobuki had to restrain himself from ripping up his bed in sheer excitement from holding the SAO cartridge in his palm. After that gruelling 3 days of waiting… He did it. And not a single second too soon. He literally grabbed the last one in the store. And by grabbed, I mean fought through a bloody swathe of hungry customers. Seriously, if they were like this on the release day, Nobuki shuddered to think what they would be like on Black Friday.

His hazel eyes gleamed in his bedroom, as he gleefully popped the game into his Nervegear's console.

This was his first full-dive into the world of… anything. Aincrad would be his first experience and first taste of the 3D world that bloggers and gamers around the world practically salivated over.

Whew. Alright. Let's fucking do this, holy shit, I'm so excited! Putting on the Nervegear was as easy as it was comfortable. Slipping it on as if it were custom made. Easy as pie. There was a strand of dirty blonde hair in his face, but he flicked that out of the way.

"Link start!" The words echoed throughout his bedroom, containing the sheer excitement and anticipation of the lithe teenager.

Streaks of colour attacked and flew by like a lightspeed effect from Star Wars. With the lines around the windows, and the whole zooming forward thing? You know, when they hop galaxies? No? Nobody?

Alright then… Moving along…

Anyway, it was essentially that except with 10 times more colour. But soon after, a black void encompassed him. Was it meant to feel this empty?

The surrounds of his locale were nothing but pitch blackness, and he could spin around, feeling as light as air. It was an unusual sensation. He couldn't feel his body. He could control it, and he could see it… But it didn't feel like it. There was no weight behind each step… No sway behind each swing of his arm. More of a sensation in his brain. Sighing, he knew was going to have to get used to this kind of feeling. Maybe the game compensated for it with some sort of weight model. Either way, he breathed a sigh of relief when a blue semi-transparent screen just appeared in front of him.

"Wow. This is the real deal." Reading through the menus and tutorials was boring, but necessary. It was his first time, after all. Safety manual after safety manual and demonstration pelted his brain with what he thought was unnecessary and timewasting information.

All he learnt was trivial things such as how to reset the Wi-Fi connection in game, how to logout, how to contact the support desk, etc. But he was relieved to have some sort of distraction from his desolate environment.

After a good 15 minutes of contract signing and reading Ts & Cs, he managed to finally, boot up Sword Art Online.

The loading screen was more of a loading hub, where one could meander and walk around. It was an invisible platform, high above what Nobuki assumed was Aincrad. The legendary kingdom of swords and monsters that many a gamer had been dreaming of. Honestly, the shock of him experiencing this marvel of technology hadn't really hit him yet.

He sat down, legs hanging over the side rail, basking in the rejuvenating rays. It was a complete polar opposite to the dull and empty tutorial room. According to the position of the sun, it was either sunrise or sunset. Nobuki was hoping for the latter, as it would mean that it would be easier to explore that… thing.

It was like an extremely fat and grey spinning top. Ridges and groove were unevenly implanted within the whole structure to separate what Nobuki assumed were the 100 floors. What was most odd was the ringed spikes floating around Aincrad. Perhaps they were secret dungeons or isles? It wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing piece of architecture, but then again, it wasn't designed to be look at. It was designed to be explored.

One odd thing was at the top, where it converged into a single point, there seemed to be a red spire. Squinting his eyes, Nobuki attempted to glance at it, trying to discern its nature. But unfortunately for him, the sunlight was too potent and merely got in his way.

His glasses were practically useless at this point. Taking them off, he placed them on top of his head and kept them there. He was long sighted, after all. Maybe his glasses were actually getting in the way.

Turns out, they were. Aincrad became much more defined and much more sharper as the lenses lifted. But yet again, he was foiled by the sunlight.

Oh well, it's not like that place would be locked off forever, right? He'll get to see it eventually. Reeling back, he put his glasses back on and sighed. Perhaps Aincrad wasn't to be admired, but the clouds rolling over and around, the sun rising or dipping, he still wasn't sure, as well as the occasional dragon or bird made for one impressive sight.

This is what he wanted. This is why he fought tooth and nail for that box.

He would've been content to sit there for another few minutes, but finally, another screen appeared.

'Congratulations, and thank you for purchasing Sword Art Online! Please enter your name.'

My name, huh? Never really gave that much thought…

Jason Nobuki. Nope. Besides, calling himself Jason made him sound weird and foreign. Maybe… Viper? Someone's probably taken that… Nobusaki? Hey… That wasn't too bad. Like Nobuki and Nagasaki… His birthplace. Nice… He could live with that.

Yeah. The more he repeated it, the more it sounded appropriate. Yeah… Yeah, I'll take Nobusaki.

Tapping on the empty box, he quickly typed in Nobusaki. 'Are you sure? This name CANNOT be changed.'

With a smile on his face, he quickly pressed the blue circle.

A familiar loading spiral appeared in front as a loading bar finally finished 'downloading package 689/689'.

Then… The platform disappeared.

Freefalling through the air was Jason Nobuki, now dubbed 'Nobusaki', at a pace even professional skydivers would have been jealous of. The air ruffled through his thin t-shirt and pants and dirty blonde hair before he managed to stop screaming. Closing his mouth, although with a bit of difficulty, he managed to conquer his fear.

Eventually, his initial shock and surprise turned into thrill and joy. "Woohoo! Aincrad, here I come!" A green patch slowly came into view, as it drew closer, he realised it was… grass. Nice, soft, lush grass.

Wow… The textures look really realistic. That's so cool! Wait, why aren't I slowing down?

Thud.

That was how Nobusaki entered the game. With a several hundred meter faceplant.

At least the pain absorber was at 50% otherwise he probably wouldn't ever be able to move his face without crying again. "Aeugh… Seriously… Fuck you, Kayaba…" So much for a good start. This was going to take a while.

'Please customise your character.' Finally! Oh, thank god. It seriously took this long to get to character customisation. Kayaba, get your shit together. Then again, Nobusaki didn't really mind. Considering his journey here was just basic admin and prep work, he couldn't wait for the actual game.

"You know what? I think I'll make it look exactly like me." He said aloud to no one in particular. So, he began to work, setting his height of 172, his short, croppy and kind of messy hair, from the fall that it took to get here. Hair colour, yeah. Golden with streaks of brown, thanks to his father's American heritage. A slightly muscular build, but nothing too special. Semi-large nose, sharp eyes and thin lips. A very faint outline of a six-pack… Very faint, okay? A bit less skinny… Seriously, the base avatar was like 5 sticks and a head.

He only just noticed the background music, cheerfully humming along as he finished touching up the bridge on his nose. Yeah, he was going that deep. But after about 30 minutes of solid concentration, he did it. Looking into the mirror… Yeah, it worked. It was a 1 to 1 replica. He never had considered sculpting, but maybe when he logged out, he'd maybe take a class or two. Sure, it probably was more difficult than pinching or pulling on a guy's butt cheek to determine the appropriate width for his, uh… Gluteus Maximus, but maybe 3D modelling could do things like this.

'Are you sure you want this as your avatar?' He pressed confirm without any hesitation.

'Please wait as you are loaded into Sword Art Online.'

White light enveloped the customisation room and Nobusaki merely grinned in glee. Oh, boy, oh boy. This was gonna be fun.

Eventually, the light faded to reveal… A town.

A medieval town. Complete with bustling community, merchants and housing.

Stone alleyways snaked in between the large and rickety houses. Merchants and stalls lined the sides, selling goods and wares, ranging from level 1 knifes to exotic potions. The cobblestone pathway clicked underneath the sounds of hooves as horses and whatnot traversed the main road. As he swiped down, he managed to get a view of the time. 6:45 AM. So it was a sunrise that Nobusaki was witnessing. Awesome.

Nobusaki didn't really feel wonder and shock anymore. The whole introduction process kind of robbed him of all that. But nevertheless, it did feel quite amazing, walking through a digital plane unlike any seen before. It was literally one-of-a-kind in that moment. Glancing down, he noticed his white shirt was covered in some light, but fairly protective iron armour. Probably provided the most minimal defence, but he was a level one after all…

Slowly, he strolled out of the plaza, head held high. Without even noticing it, he had left the safety and protection of the town for a quiet, lush plain. Hills and valleys rolled out in front of him like a carpet, trees dotted the plains here or there as a river sped through the valley. This was quite a formidable achievement. For all the cussing, he did at Kayaba's lengthy intro, no one couldn't deny the sheer quality and detail that had been placed into this. If this didn't win Game of the Year, Nobusaki didn't know what would.

A snort had broken him out of his thoughts. A snort? What kind of person would be as rude as to just… Snort? Then the sound of hooves. Coming towards him. At a very fast pace. Oh. Shit. Whilst it may have merely been the hooves pushing against the ground, to him it sounded like thunder, warning him of his impending doom.

He barely had enough time to turn around just as a sizable boar smashed into him at full speed. Woah! Knocking him off balance, he simply fell to the ground as that… thing trampled him. It was large, no doubt about that.

Black fur, as dark as charcoal covered it from head to toe. Ruby eyes, gleaming as bright as the sun. White long tusks that looked strong enough to puncture steel and hooves as aggressive to match. This wasn't going to end quickly… He knew that for sure.

After all, how does one kill a boar, the size of a small car, with a rusty short sword?

A blue flash zips by, creating a glowing red line on the side of the boar. Explosion. Polygons and pixels fly into the air as the boar that previously stood tall disappeared into the air.

"You alright?" A short, black-haired teen stood before him, offering a hand. Black eyes met his hazel ones and Nobusaki gladly accepted it.

"Yeah, thanks for that. You, uh… You seem like you know what you're doing, huh?" His Japanese was alright. Not perfect, mind you, but definitely good enough he could pass for a native. Besides, he did use it on a daily basis. Admittedly, English was his first language, but it's not like anyone was checking, right?

His 'saviour' chuckled softly, before blinking quickly. "Yep. Name's Kirito. I was a beta tester."

"Ah… That'll be it. I'm Nobusaki. How far did you get?" Shaking the offered hand with a firm grip. Even though they had literally just shaken hands, he could tell that he was going to like this guy.

Another familiar explosion broke them out of their stupor. "Kirito! I did it! Yahoo!" A much older looking guy danced around, waving his sword in the air, performing several extremely atrocious 'dance moves'. Kirito was obviously trying very hard from restraining from facepalming. Not at the achievement, mind you, but rather the, uh… 'Celebration', if one could call it that.

"Yeah… Hehe… Good on yer, Klein! Keep it up!" Nobusaki merely looked on the situation with interest and amusement. So, there's two of them… Clearly that guy wasn't in the beta test. Nice to meet a rookie. Nudging Kirito's side, he looks at him sideways. "Hey, is there like a photo tool? Or maybe even a video camera?"

"Yeah, why do you… Oh… That's actually a really good idea." Kirito's eyes widened at the potential thought of blackmail material. Not that he would ever use it. He was too kind-hearted and noble for that. Nobusaki, on the other hand…

Flicking down the menu, Kirito placed his view centred on Klein and took several screenshots. "Alright. I'll need to friend you if you want these."

"Hell yeah, I'm down with that!" He gratefully accepts the invitation before receiving 4-5 very nice photos. Oh, if he ever met this dude in real life, he was going to make this guy's life a nightmare.

Klein trudged over, before cocking his head sideways at the new member. "Eh, who's this? Got a new protégé already, eh, Sensei?" With a mock bow on the word 'Sensei', Klein cheekily grinned and placed his hands confidently on his hips.

"I wouldn't be too confident if I were you, Klein." Drawing that word out with a grin, he showed the photos to the prodigy dancer.

Klein immediately paled in fear at the blackmail material. "Woah, woah. Now, now… Let's not be hasty… Hehe…" Flicking through, there were photos of Klein doing the chicken, Walking Like an Egyptian, one of the Robot, a failed attempt of the Worm and finally air guitar.

"Wow… You really know all of the classics, huh? Care to teach me some moves, Sensei?" Once again, a mock bow from Nobusaki. Kirito burst out into laughter whilst Klein turned as red as his hair.

"Uh… Never mind." Sighing, Klein slouched over." A thud on his shoulder made him look up. Nobusaki was merely giving him a friendly pet.

"Don't worry about it. I'll only use them if necessary. Name's Nobusaki." Offering a hand to his victim, he decided he'll keep those for later.

Klein straightened and gladly took the hand with a half-smile. "Klein. But you knew that already. You new here too?"

"Yep. Literally grabbed the last copy in my store. That intro process is long as hell, huh?"

"You know it… But it's definitely worth it."

"Amen to that, brother." Offering a fist bump, Klein took it with ease and Kirito shook his head at their antics. This is gonna be a long day.

2 hours later, both Klein and Nobusaki were reaching new heights with Kirito as their teacher. Both were far from the best, but definitely had enough of a head start to distinguish themselves from the majority of players.

Klein finally broke the session by asking the two, "Alright… Phew. It's getting pretty late now, huh? I gotta get outta here… I've got some pizza and root beer coming around at 5:30. I'll log out, but then I'll be back in."

"Wow, you really went all out, huh?" Kirito asks as he slices through another boar with relative ease.

"You know it, I want this to last forever! Alright, see you guys!"

Nobusaki yells out a simple, "See ya later, Klein!" As he tries to parry two boars.

A minute later, Nobusaki slides his blade into the rib of a boar and it shatters into a million pieces. "Finally, I'm done for today." Glancing around for Kirito, he notices that him and Klein are in a discussion.

Wait, Klein? Wasn't he supposed to log out like a minute ago?

"Yo Klein! What're you still doin' here?" He rushes over, eager to see what's going on as he sheathes his sword.

"I dunno, the logout button isn't there. I can't find it on my menu." Glancing over, confusion written all over his face.

Waving him off, he pulls down his menu. "Ha! That's a good one. Nice try though, here. Look at min… Wait what?" There is an empty space at the bottom. Blankness encompasses the bottom. Nothing. Resume game, Inventory, Friends list, Messaging, Settings, Contact GM… But no Logout? He quickly flicks through the settings menu. There's gotta be something, somewhere…

His mind was going into a bit of a panic? Seriously, Kayaba? You can make 3D boars that can whip my ass and act like real boars, but you can't put a Logout button in the menu?

Nope. Nothing. "Have you contacted a GM?" He looks up, panic slowly rising within him. But, he's very good at suppressing it, and swaps it with confusion.

"Yeah. No response."

The trio falls silent at this point. So… What now? They were going to die in here? You're kidding me, right? No… That's just wrong. Seriously… It's not funny, Kayaba.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Three bells ring out across the entire land. Instantly, the grass and trees are replaced with a sea of confused players and wooden housing as they teleport to the starting town.

However, unfortunately, Nobusaki was unknowingly separated from the others. "Guys, what's… Guys? Oh, you're fucking kidding me. Klein! Kirito! KIRITO!" He tries shouting, but there's nothing. Merely more shouting as people attempt to orient and relax. But due to the unknown nature of their situation, it doesn't take long before chaos and confusion run amok. The whispers of the lack of a Logout button, people being separated and yelling for one another amongst the crowd all contribute to the increasingly more frightening atmosphere of the plaza. Nobusaki was no exception.

He continues yelling until his voice is as hoarse and dry as a desert. But a name reaches his ears. "Klein! Klein, where are you?" On instinct, he pushes through the swathes of people that stand in his way to find the source of that call.

Instead, he doesn't find the familiar red-head, but rather a group of 5 people desperately calling for Klein, asking around for people. "Hey! I know Klein! Hey!"

He waves and shouts, attempting to get their attention before one of the 4 points in his direction. Yes! Maybe these guys can help me!

"Hey, do you know Klein? Tall, red-headed, stupid around girls?"

Stupid around girls? I'll have to keep that for later…

"Yeah… Yeah… Whew." He bends over, hands on his kneecaps, trying to catch a breath as the others look down on him, pleading for answers. "I know Klein. But I don't know where he is. He's most likely with a short black-haired guy, name of Kirito. I was with them… But I, ugh… I got separated. I can confirm he's here and alive."

Whilst that did bring some relief to the group, it wasn't enough to erase the panicked expressions on their faces.

People begin to break down into tears, sadness and anger infect everyone like a plague, sweeping amongst people and causing mass hysteria. This is not a good time. This… This is madness. Wasn't the point of an MMO to bring people together and to have fun, slaying monsters, levelling up and generally kicking ass? Kayaba… Seriously… What could be going through that head of yours?

As the grip of insanity begins to claw away at peoples' heads, a large hooded figure appears. "Players… Welcome to Sword Art Online. Many of you may have noticed, that your menus are lacking a Logout button. This is not a bug or glitch. This is how SAO was originally designed." Gasp after gasp after gasp. There seemed to be no end to this. It was like a Mexican wave of shock.

After the initial wave of confusion came the simply question, "Why?" And what a good question indeed.

The hooded figure eventually went on about introducing himself as Kayaba, but at this point, Nobusaki was merely zoned out, just staring at the ground in utter shock. He bought this game to be the ultimate experience. The one thing that would've made his life worth living. And ironically, it was the thing that would take his life away.

After the hooded figure disappeared, many had begun to change appearances. People had morphed into their real-life bodies. Those who had been hiding behind buff disguises or cute avatars were exposed. This had become more than a game. This was their new reality. A notification popped up into his HUD. 'New Item in Inventory.' Huh. This must be what was changing all of those people. Nah. No need. He was already how he looked. What would be the point?

In a flash, Kayaba had disappeared. Silence for a second. Then chaos. How amazing that humans could go from one state to the other in but a mere fraction of a second. People were simply clambering out of the town, trampling one another. Wow. This must be the phenomenon called 'Mass panic'. What a horrific sight.

Nobusaki stood still. Simply ignoring his surrounds before one of the 5 he had met up with yanked him and shook him by the shoulders. "Hey, kid! You still with us?" A simple nod was all he gave, but it was enough for the man who had introduced himself as 'Harry One'.

"Okay. First priority, find Klein. We have to find our guild leader. Second, figure out what is going on and how to deal with it. Got it?" Confident nods and grunts from all except Nobusaki. But everyone ignored him, for they too were battling with their inner demons and feelings.

A hand reaches his shoulder and gently taps him back to Aincrad. "Yo, kid. Thanks for your help. We really appreciate it. If ya like, you can come with us, seeing as how you know Klein anyway."

Nobusaki's eyes widened and nodded. Finally, he seemingly broke out of his stupor. A grin appeared on his face as he realised, he wasn't alone. None of them were. It was funny, how in that sea of 10000 people, it felt like there were really only about 8. Even if 2 of them were missing, he still knew that they were there. Him, Klein, Kirito and Klein's friends. It's odd how crowds can do that.

As they trudged outside the gate of the plaza, one man who introduced himself as Dynamm pointed towards an alleyway. "Hey! I see Klein! Guys, come on!" Immediately, the group stopped looking and sprinted over to were Klein was waving for them. Jumping up and down, Nobusaki spotted only Klein… Wait, was Kirito also separated from Klein when they teleported? Oh, for fucks sake, Kayaba.

"Hey! Guys! Over here!" Relief and happiness spread all over Klein's face as he eyed the incoming group. Picking up the pace, they continued their sprint towards their guild leader. Nobusaki and the others merely waved and kept running, glad to see a familiar face at last.

As they came to a halt in front of one another, Klein began to converse with his team. Clearly, they were people that went way back… It must be nice having people you recognise here, even if you are stuck in this nightmare... Nobusaki thought dejectedly.

"Oh, and you guys met Nobusaki? Awesome!"

"Naw, it was more a, he found us and helped us search for you."

Nobusaki glanced up with a grin and crossed his arms. "No problem guys. Glad to see you guys are together. By the way, where's Kirito?"

At this, Klein's face fell. "He, uh… He's gone." What? Gone?

Immediately, Nobusaki's mind went to the worst. Not this early, he didn't… die? How? There's no monsters… Oh god. Did he…? Commi…

"Oh, no, kid. Not like he died. As in, he wanted me to come with him, but I said I had to find you guys." That sentence was quickly tacked on, as Klein had noticed what he had just said and what it sounded like. Plus, Nobusaki's worried face was a pretty big giveaway as to what he was thinking.

Relief washed over like waves crashing on a beach. Thank god. Hands stopped shaking, his body stopped quivering. Sure, they had only known each other for a few hours, but they still felt like comrades in arms. Because, now they were. If what that thing calling itself 'Kayaba' said was true, now this world was their home. And whether they liked it or not… They were trapped. Stuck like mice in a 100-layer cage. Filled with killer boars and swords. Yippee-fucking-ki-yay.

Didn't stop the sinking feeling that the disappearance of Kirito had, but it was better than thinking the alternative. It would've been nice to at least have Kirito around. There was an air to Kirito. Like the atmosphere of a room calmed down when he was there. Because he just had that vibe of a trustworthy and honourable guy. It could just be Nobusaki, but he trusted Kirito.

Jesus. 3 hours and already he's romancing a dude. Seriously, Nobusaki… Get your head in the game. Literally.

"Alright guys, first things first. I have to teach you guys the ropes of combat in here. It's much harder, but also much cooler than you'd think. Come on, Nobusaki, you're my assistant."

"Wait, what?" Seriously? Wow. Thanks, Klein. If anything, it should be the other way around. After all, they had a mock duel when they were training, and Klein… how to say… got his ass kicked.

"Well, yeah. You're one of us now, aren't you? The Fuurinkazan. You are coming, aren't you?"

"Fuurinkazan? What's that? Is that your guild name?" Klein slapped his shoulder with some power, and Nobusaki yelped under the might of the strike. "No duh… So far, this is about it… Now are you coming or not, ya twerp?"

Huh. Yeah. Yeah, he was one of them. Maybe not brothers by blood, but certainly in arms. And by god, he'd follow these guys to the end of the world if god needed them too. Because that's what brothers do. Even if he'd known these guys for a few minutes. But in his eyes, he'd noticed the way they stayed cool and collected amongst the mess.

Obviously they were worried, but they managed to stay composed somehow. Impressive, considering the gravity of the situation they were in. Staying still whilst being threatened to be killed is no easy task. It made Nobusaki wonder, what did they do in the real world, to make them so prepared for situations like these? These guys were solid walls. Nobusaki respected that.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm coming." Each word became more solid and confident than the last.

"Alright. Welcome to the Fuurinkazan."

A/N: Apologies for any inconsistencies between the two universes, this is an AU fic, but I'm trying to make it feel as SAO as possible, so if any sort of really obvious mishaps happen, feel free to yell at me in a review. On top of that, I will make Nobusaki a bit OP, not to the extent of Kirito or Asuna. Actually, maybe… I dunno. Do you guys want that? Feel free to scold or appraise me… Criticism is always welcome.

Cheers,

SecondComing02