So. Hey again, new crossover here. I've been thinking about this idea for over six months now, planning and wanting to write it...finally, I just thought, whatever, I'm posting this. I absolutely love the idea and feel like it's going to be awesome. Prepare to experience a crap load of plot twists and sad backstory...(there's so much backstory)...

Summary: What if Eren's world - Humanity's Last Stand - was actually a virtual reality? What if the residents of that world didn't know that their entire reality was a creation of technology? And...what if that world clashed with the VRMMO and death game, Sword Art Online? What if...

This crossover will be able to fit completely within canon prior to the divergence points - it's a canon AU, and there's so much backstory that hopefully, it will all make sense and fit perfectly...which is what I simply love...

Rating: ...let's just go with T for now...

Categories: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Adventure, basically probably everything...

Setting: -For SNK - story fits within canon up to/including episode 16 (season 1)

-For SAO - fits within canon up to/including Season 1, episode 7

As for POV - I'm going to try to imitate the SAO light novels a little in the way of writing style, so whenever it's from Kirito's POV, I'll be writing in first person. Whenever it's anyone else's POV, like Eren or Levi, it'll be in third person.

The first part of this chapter is a bit like a rewrite, but bear with me - it's crucial, and contains the moment where literally everything changes...

Enjoy!

Chapter One

"Eren! Stay with me, boy! Wake up!"

A single flame flickers, contrasting starkly against a dark background –

"Stop it! Please – you're scaring me –" A terrified gasp breaks through the darkness. "I don't understand what you're trying to do!" A hazy image swims into focus – trees, red light filtering down through a sparse canopy of branches overhead. His father, with a strange and unrecognizable light in his eyes, raises his arm menacingly, brandishing a long needle.

"You don't have to! Just give me your arm!"

"No! You're insane – Mom's death pushed you off the deep end!" The flame dances against the darkness, illuminating a simple key that dangles before his eyes.

"Shut up!"

"No – let me go –" His father looms over him, a terrible scowl mangling his features as he forces Eren down to the ground.

"Damn you, this is the only way! – You cannot forget the key! Whatever you do, you must reach it! It's the way to the truth–" Burning pain erupts in his chest, his bones – everything is on fire –

"One day you'll understand!"

Eren snapped back to attention with a silent gasp, blinking in confusion. The world around him was flowing, filled with sound – the clatter of hooves striking hard ground, the creak and groan of the heavy covered wagons, as well as the excited swell of voices babbling all around. Oh, right –

On his left and right, neat rows of houses and buildings lined the road. The villagers who lived in this small, outlying district were gathering at the sides of the path, all craning to get a good look at the soldiers passing through. Some were eager and excited – others, not so much.

Directly ahead, meanwhile – was a massive, seemingly endless gray surface. Wall Rose.

Of course, it wasn't actually endless – but on horseback, so close to its base, it appeared as a gigantic mass obstructing half of the entire sky, casting a shadow over everything. The Wall was fifty meters high, but from down here, it seemed to be at least a hundred. Far down at its base was a relatively small square of darkness – the gate. Their destination – or, their springboard.

Huh – that's weird…

Eren looked down at his right hand slowly, flexing his fingers around the leather reins that he held. That memory…why am I remembering that now?

The key is placed carefully in the palm of his hand, gleaming in the dim red light –

"Listen to me. It's vital that you keep this key on you at all times. Whenever you look at it, let this thought flood over you: I must return to that cellar!" His eyes widen – a wave of pain flashes through him –

Of course…it's not exactly irrelevant, either.

It was true that the memories were distracting – they were almost like flashbacks, abruptly sucking Eren back into the past without warning or choice in the matter. Eren certainly didn't enjoy it, but the more he thought about it, the harder they hit him –

"I'm going to give you a little something to make you forget for the time being." His father holds up a narrow syringe, slowly drawing clear liquid in through the needle. "I'm sorry – I wish there was more time to explain all this."

When he turns around, there are trails of tears running down his cheeks. His voice wavers as he continues. "When the time comes, now – know that you must reclaim Wall Maria and head for the cellar." His father advances forward, brandishing the needle – Eren backs away slowly, cradling his arm, eyes wide in fear.

"It won't be pleasant – but in my heart, I know what I'm doing is for the best!" He leans over Eren, tears falling like raindrops to the ground. Each one reflects the red light that is falling from overhead, casting a bloody shine to everything.

"When the ability confuses you, let their memories act as your guide!"

Red light and dark trees – the needle comes down, and he flinches away, falling heavily – Eren's fingers claw at the dirt beneath him as he tries to escape, kicking and screaming –

"Eren! Stay with me, boy!"

"Hey, Eren, you okay?"

A soft, familiar voice cut through the memory – Petra, leaning over in her saddle with a concerned look aimed his way. Eren jumped slightly, catching his breath and nodding.

"Huh? Y-yeah," said Eren quickly, straightening. "Of course!" He took a breath, squaring his shoulders.

I'm ready.

Those memories – maybe there was a reason to remember them now. In any case, the thought of them and of what his father had told him would keep reminding Eren of why they were there. Of exactly what they needed to accomplish. After all – this was it.

This was Eren's chance. His first time to venture into titan territory…

His chance to take back what belonged to humanity – and, to get his revenge on every single titan that dared to cross his path – was here.

A rough voice rose above the murmuring of the crowd, catching everyone's attention. "The titans in the vicinity have been lured away. Gate opens in thirty seconds!"

This is it.

The horse beneath him shifted restlessly, eager to run – all around him, everyone was tensing, likely steeling their nerves. Half of the Scouts here today were probably scared out of their minds – in fact, it would be foolish to assume that anyone there wasn't at least a little scared. If there were, then they were the fools.

I'm not going to pretend that I'm not scared…but, there's no way that fear could ever keep me from going.

He wasn't an idiot, and he wasn't some rookie, this time. Eren had seen combat and he knew that fear was important. The others could call him a suicidal maniac all they wanted – this time, there was no way that Eren was going to let any titan get the better of him.

No… I'm going to make them pay!

"Oooahhhhhh!"

The strange sound interrupted Eren's thoughts, causing him to jump slightly and turn to his left. His gaze found the source in an instant. Just a few feet away from Eren, peering through an open window were – two young children, wide eyed and grinning – they couldn't have been older than six or seven. One of them had a wide gap in his smile where his tooth had apparently fallen out.

"Awesome – it's the Scouts!"

"See that symbol? They call it the Wings of Freedom!"

"Ohhh – so cool!"

Eren stared for a long moment –

Those wide eyes and awed expressions – had once belonged to him. And now…

Eren sighed, smiling at the two – their eyes widened even further, if that was possible, and they waved at him excitedly, grinning. It was only too easy to see – both of them were completely enthralled, obviously dreaming of the day when they, too, could become one of the Scouts.

"This is it!"

The voice rang gruffly through the air, heavy with finality.

"The day has come for humanity to take another step forward! Now, let's show those titans exactly what we're made of!"

A roar of approval erupted – nearly all of the Scouts threw their fists high into the air, some brandishing their blades exuberantly. Eren didn't – he kept his hands tight on the reins, and noticed that the members of the Levi Squad surrounding him didn't celebrate like the Cadets, either. Now's the time to be serious, more than ever.

"OPEN THE GATE!"

An enormous, ear-splitting rumble began just as the heavily fortified gate started to slowly rise up from the ground – even from twenty meters away, Eren could see the huge clumps of dirt tear up from the ground as the spiked bottom of the gate was ripped upwards. The creak and groan of the mechanisms drawing it up from the ground was nearly deafening, but the voice was still, somehow, louder.

"FORWARD!"

Every horse leaped into motion, neighing and rearing –

"It's officially begun – the fifty-seventh Recon mission!" It was Commander Erwin's voice, as firm and authoritative as ever. "Scouts – MOVE OUT!"

The words reverberated in the thick air, despite all of the sound and noise that remained – Eren held his breath as the gate revealed a gaping, square hole in the Wall – light shone through, making everything on this side of Wall Rose seem dimmer. The horses raced forward, and the gateway flew closer and closer –

It was just seconds until they were flying through – Eren tilted his head back, watching the dark underside of the gate slip away and reveal blue sky –

The sky was the same, of course – the cluster of buildings gathered close to the gate were identical to those on the other side of the Wall. Except, of course, for the fact that they were destroyed, some nearly demolished by the titans – other than that, it was the same.

The Scouts raced forward into the territory within Wall Maria, and despite the sameness of it all, Eren couldn't help it –

A wave of excitement and pride washed through him, along with a burst of adrenaline.

I'm finally doing it.

The horses grunted and huffed as they ran all out. Racing further away from the relative comforts of the Wall, still a few excited voices could be heard through the rest of the Scouts' heavy anticipation –

It was then.

That moment – everything changed.

The clear light that flooded down from that bright blue sky somehow faltered – the entire world seemed to flicker as dimness replaced sunlight for a moment, only lasting a second before switching back again. A few seconds more, and then – the sunlight completely vanished. Instead – a blood red glow appeared, casting a dark shine over everything.

Scarlet light – a sunless sky –

What?

It seemed to take few seconds more before any of them could respond to the change – suddenly, the sound of hoof beats pounding on the ground was overpowered by cries of shock and confusion, with someone near the front of the group calling for order –

Eren's heart raced, a cold feeling spreading across his body –

What is this? Could it be another attack – the Colossal?

He ground his teeth together, starting to lift his right hand towards his mouth –

"Eren – don't do anything until we know the situation!" Levi's voice. Somehow the Captain still managed to sound calm, even now.

"But –" Know the situation?

Eren scowled at Levi's profile, anger surging – they'd barely even gotten outside the Wall, and now this? Surely they had to do something – but, so far, the only thing threatening them was this strange red light…

That – and…

"ERROR DETECTED."

The voice was impossibly loud, emanating from everywhere all at once – it was impossible to tell if the speaker was male or female, old or young. Monotonous and completely devoid of emotion, the words pressed on Eren's eardrums uncomfortably.

"ERROR: SYSTEM MALFUNCTION."

… System… Malfunction?

The words sent a spell of utter confusion across the entire group, it seemed – everyone was scowling in bewilderment, looking around frantically for the source of the voice. Tilting his head back to look up at the sky, a feeling of dread stirred in Eren's gut. Up in the red heavens was only blankness – no clouds, no sun. Just a strange, disembodied voice…

More voices, familiar ones, quickly erupted–

"What the hell?!"

"What on earth…system malfunction? What's that supposed to mean!?"

"What's going on? What do we do?"

The frantic voices of his fellow Scouts grew louder and more insistent as the long moment drew out – Eren could only clench his jaw and continue searching the landscape around them, curiously devoid of titans or anything suspicious at all –

From beside him, Petra's tense voice rose up to join the rest – "Captain! What should we do?"

Levi didn't move, didn't respond – turning back in his saddle slightly, Eren scanned the faces of the Levi Squad and all the elite Scouts riding beside him. They all looked shocked, overwhelmed – afraid. For once, the situation was beyond what they were used to dealing with. The tightness gripping at Eren's lungs constricted and he gulped for breath, choking down the panic–

The next words that came did nothing to help. In fact–

"SYSTEM FAILURE. ABORT – AB-B-O…"

The toneless voice faltered, grating on their ears as it turned grainy and mechanical-sounding–

And then – time froze.

Everything halted, every movement slowing to a standstill in a fraction of a second. Eren's thoughts, as well, shuddered to a halt, leaving an unresponsive blankness filling his mind; he didn't even try to move, as he could not even begin to think about it. Everything stopped – the horses seemed to hover in place, legs splayed as they raced over the ground unbothered. Or, everything hadn't stopped – it was as if they were trapped in one single millisecond, with time completely paused, and at any moment everything could snap back into place, sending them flying once more–

But it didn't. Instead–

The entire world – everything around them – started to dissolve.

Light erupted around Eren's body, seeming to come from inside him. For a moment the thought of his previous transformations, with the light that sparked from his torn flesh, flashed through his mind. But – around him, light exploded from the bodies of everyone else as well. It grew and intensified, outlining each silhouette with blinding clarity –

And meanwhile, everything was dissolving. The world was overrun by cracks, or fractures – every surface was covered in grid-like lines, mapping out the landscape around them, the buildings, the trees. The colors from everything faded, leaving their surroundings gray and lifeless–

With a soundless, reverberating noise that vibrated through his very core–

The world around him shattered, sending white light exploding from beneath the jagged fragments of it all.

His entire body was overcome by that white-hot light, blinding him, along with a feeling of weightlessness–

There was no gravity, no sensation except for that light, floating feeling – everything was white, and still glowing brighter–

And then, nothing.

So. From this point on, everything involving the characters from SNK...will diverge from canon. What's next? Well...if you want to know - leave me a review! And tell me what you think. I'll post again soon if I know people are reading this :) Oh and also - the cover art for this is my own work :) I posted it on deviantart also..and I'll probably put up a link on my profile eventually...

Anyway, thanks for reading! Leave a review!

~whatswiththemustache