Prologue: Renzo Marcelli

Disclaimer: I do not own SAO or any of its characters. Please enjoy the story and please review.

It's been six months since this all started. Since I was trapped in this game with all the others. It's a game and yet...It's a reality. If I die... that's it. No respawns, no retries. Despair was all i felt... until... I met him...

The night was a cold one. Riko felt it through the walls. She couldn't sleep. It was tiring, being all alone all the time. Sure she could join a guild, but nobody would take her. She wasn't particularly skilled, and a fear for her life gripped her heart. How long would she last like this?

Feed up with nothing to do, she decided to go for a main screen hummed to life before her. She activated her gear, which consisted of a dark indigo long coat, a dark blue skirt and black boots. Above that she wore a typical shirt. She then moved to her weapons menu and had a rapier fixed to her hip. She looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Riko Nakamura was a young girl of 16, with long, midnight black hair, dark blue eyes, and a fair complexion. She was quite satisfied with her clothing and headed outside. It was still cold, but her coat was actually rather warm. The stars above her shined with a lovely intensity, as did the moon.

This was a sight she would never see in the real world. The city lights drained away the stars lives, and the moon seemed to shine less and less brightly with every passing day. Her mind strayed so much, she didn't notice the three men trailing her.

Eventually the leader of the group ran up in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. The others closed in behind her, and all three drew their swords. Riko's hand closed on the rapier on her hip when the leader pointed his sword at her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Now I want you to give us all your possessions. If you do not comply, we will kill you."

Riko felt dread grip her heart. She looked around and realized two things. One, she had wandered out of town and two, these players had red cursors.

"Oh no...no...please..."

Riko collapsed onto her knees and tears began to stream down her face.

"Hey, don't cry, now, or we'll have to kill you."

She looked up. She believed it, judging by that red diamond floating over their heads. She swallowed her tears back and forced her inventory menu to open.

"Damn it! Don't do it girl!"

"What the!" The three men exclaimed as they looked up.

Someone landed in front of her, surprising them all. Riko looked up at the person before her. It was a girl, roughly of 14 years of age. She wore a red dress, the top of which was made of light, white pieces of armor. She also had white bracers and a white flower pin in her short hazel hair. Her eyes were the same color as her hair.

"Touch her and you die."

Despite being surprised, the thugs quickly recovered.

"A little girl like you cannot sway use, nor stop us."

It's not me who will sway you."

The girl drew a single handed short sword and a shield from her back. She raised them and yelled, " RENZO! WE NEED YOU!"

It grew quiet once more. The thugs exchanged glances and somewhere in the distance, a cricket began to rub its legs. The environment had grown awkward, and the girl sweat dropped.

"Damn it brother, you're absolutely useless..."

The thugs began to laugh loudly.

" Looks like your hero is useless. Now both of you, I want all your possessions on the ground."

"What about me?"

HU..AHK!"

A large blade produced from the main man's gut. It surprised them for a second time as the man's H.P. dropped to the red zone. The blade receded before he could die, and he fell to his knees, revealing the owner of the sword. Riko drew in a breath. He was very handsome, just looking at him made her blush.

He was a tall individual, with shoulder length black hair and luminous blue eyes. He wore a white coat with red trimmings, whiter pants, and a white button up shirt, also with red trims. In his hands he held a dark grey straight edge katana. It was a hand and half, a meter long and very elegantly made. He walked forward into the light, revealing white bracers with red inverted crosses on the top and a red cross on the back of his coat. A couple of buckles were attached to the middle of the coat, fairly close to what would be the zipper. the belts on these buckles were also red, and wound down his back onto a black sheath.

The remaining two men picked up their boss and fled. The man looked at them with pity glaring deep in his pupils, but he did not pursue. Instead he sheathed his sword and walked towards Riko. When he got close, he knelt before and offered a hand.

" Hello there. My name is Renzo Marcelli."