A/N: Watch The Anime, Based loosely on Anime, different storyline focuses more on the Archangels as a group... and it's leader Gabriel Frost.
Sword Art Online: The Brotherhood
Introduction: The Year is 2025 and the grand release of one of the most anticipated games of the
century. The Release of Sword Art Online this game is activated via nerve-gear and a hard copy that
installs the game into your NerveGear. The NerveGear is a device that controls your brains sensory
parts ranging from, sight, touch, smell, hearing, and even taste. This process also pretty much
deactivates your body. Putting you in something of a comatose state until the user logs out. Today is
the day that Gabriel, Older brother of Keita and Canadian born citizen, bought two hard-copies of the
game and was first in line three days prior to the launch. He ate nothing, he drank nothing, he did
nothing for three days straight. Standing right in front of the doors for some time. He got the second
copy and set of nervegear as well, but he pre-ordered both copies of SAO. Still the nervegear was
another issue. The next shipment of it came today but NerveGear wouldn't be released until SAO was
released and he had to make sure he got an extra set for his little brother... which he had done.
The grand launch of one of the greatest video games of all time, and it wasn't even being launched in
North America, and especially not Canada. The feeling was heart-wrenching. However, he learned
Japanese in the matter of a year or two. Still, it was far from perfect. Really far.
Currently, he lay in his room in three bedroom home with his little brother Keita, despite the fact that
they were staying in a three bedroom house, Keita and Gabriel slept in the same room, because there
was often times storms and Keita was afraid of lightning. Gabriel understood, Keita was afraid of a
lot of thing to be honest and sometimes he got bullied on his way from home and Gabriel the protective
older sibling that he is walks him home from school every day and makes sure that Keita maintains
personal hygiene by showering every morning and cleaning 'his side of the room' and also washing his
own dishes and stuff like that. Gabriel took care of fixing things and expenses, also budgeting and
managing the medium of exchange that he worked for.
Gabriel sighed deeply, wondering what Keita was doing now, as he did he ran a hand against the smooth
metallic surface of his nerve-gear's helmet "Oniichan?" His brother sounded somewhat tired, and the
North American teen carefully set the bulky helmet on his night-stand, there was still a couple hours
to launch, after some thought he was surprised that he could get his hands on one of ten-thousand
copies of this game. Perhaps it was destiny, but then again people often considered him a tryhard and
yelled at him for cheating and stuff of that sort. It made him feel somewhat down and he resorted to
avoiding or ignoring those individuals, but being a pretty famous player, people also asked to join the
guilds that he founded and personally managed: The Archangels, Nemesis, GFR, DiAs, xGHx, and
several others.
"Yeah Keita?" He slowly turned his head to face Keita, and found that the black-haired thirteen year-
old boy was standing with his arms crossed while leaning against the door frame, his eyes were half-
closed and he looked fatigued.
"What're you going to specialize in, on the inside of the game?" He asked his older brother.
"What am I gonna specialize in?" He grinned, and laid down on his bed. Against the opposite wall from
Keita's own bed. "I dunno." He said and folded his arms behind his head.
"You should eat before you start playing." Keita stated, he was honestly concerned for his older
brother's well-being.
Gabriel, changed the subject and got to his feet then walked over to Keita as he realized this, because he didn't want little Keita to feel worried.
"Hey, what's your username gonna be?" He asked, and patted his little Keita on the head. He was a
whole head taller than him.
His little brother's cheeks turned a slight red, he didn't know. "Keita." He mumbled.
"And you're going to play as a character slightly taller than your own?" He asked with a smirk and
ruffled Keita's hair. Interestingly, Keita had been a beta-tester, and Gabriel hadn't. So his
little brother had a little more experience in Sword Art Online than him because of that, but it was
Keita's first time, and Gabriel was an experienced MMORPG Player, but this was his first VRMMORPG.
Keita brushed Gabriel's hand off the top of his head. "Oniichan? Did you zone out again?" The boy
asked Gabriel, who suddenly snapped out of his thoughts.
"Yeah... sorry Keita, I think a lot." He said, ruffling Keita's hair again. He brushed past the his younger brother to go downstairs and order pizza.
After a couple of minutes, Keita followed him. The activation of the server wasn't for another two
hours, at 1:00PM. So pizza sounded nice.
After a couple of minutes though, Keita peaked his head around the corner, and looked at Gabriel
patiently sitting at the table, his hands were folded and his posture was as perfect as always.
"Oniichan?" Keita asked, and Gabriel slowly turned his head towards his little brother, wearing the
same passive expression as always, the phone was set neatly in front of him as he waited, what a
boring Oniichan.
"Yes, Keita?" He asked, and Keita's expression was unchanging as he yawned, but he didn't know how to
describe Gabriel's voice. It was always so sad and he never smiled.
"I'm mad at you!" Keita raised his voice, and stomped his feet.
Gabriel instantly felt like he just died because his heart skipped a beat, and he felt his eyes get
warmer with even more sadness. "What?!" He exclaimed, and nearly started to hyperventilate. Instead
he sucked in a deep breath. "Why?" He asked.
Keita started giggling. "Calm down Oniichan." He was wearing a giddy grin. "You forgot to pick me up
from school for the last three days." His smile got even brighter. Which, to a person like Gabriel
seemed impossible.
"Oh sorry, I heard about how you 'really really really really really really really' wanted to play
Sword Art Online with your big brother, and despite the game being extremely expensive and wallet-
thinning, they said that whoever gets to be first in line gets a free set of the Nerve Gear and Sword
Art Online Game." He said, with a slight smirk. Now a little calmer.
"I am happy, and I know what you did, you already told me earlier today when I first got home!" Keita
started laughing and lunged at Gabriel. He wrapped his arms tightly around his Oniichan, and also dug
his cheek into his chest. The heart of his Oniichan was pounding. "I love you Oniichan!" Keita exclaimed,
and Keita started sobbing hysterically because he was so happy. "You're the best!"
For the first time since Keita's parents passed on after the accident, Gabriel got all choked up, and he
hugged his little Keita back but despite how much he wanted to look like he didn't care about anything,
he couldn't resist his own emotions and his eyes watered, but he did not cry. Yet his mind trailed off
yet again as he let Keita go and then decided to continue waiting for the pizza as he thought about his
family at home to take his mind off of the past.
His dad was a mean guy and pretty much the main reason Gabriel moved to Japan in the first place,
calling him lazy despite the fact that Gabriel went running every night... weather permitting... to keep
in shape. He didn't consume a lot of chips, but he did find himself drinking a lot of water while he
played. The concentration required to play MMOs and even some First Person Shooters was intense.
Seven years ago though, MMOs were easy, all you need was to face your enemy to attack but with
advancements in technology came better pings, better internet and even better combat systems. The
skill and timing required was comparable to actual sports and stuff like that. Well, Gabriel probably
wouldn't know because he wasn't into sports... his father on the other hand was all for Hockey and
worked behind a desk, still despite how much he yelled and sent spittle flying in their faces while
completely intoxicated he never actually physically hurt any of his children. He was a really hairy
guy, that was tall and pretty scary with ice-cold blue eyes. Gabriel shuddered uncomfortably at the
thought of body hair.
"Gabriel?" Keita asked, and rested his cheek on the table.
"What's my family like?" Gabriel responded with a semblance of smugness on his face, Keita just looked
at him with wide eyes.
"Waow! How did you know that's what I was going to ask?" He asked, his brown, but nearly red eyes
shone like dark-rubies. Holding innocence and delinquency. He was getting to that disobedient age,
Gabriel would know.
"I had a feeling you'd ask it... but anyway," He said with a smirk. "I think that I should start by actually
telling you who is apart of my family... there's My dad, there's Caleb, There's Mom, and then there's my
little sister," He hummed to himself. "Who should I talk about first?" He asked Keita.
Keita let out a 'hmmm' as he thought about it as well, "I think... you should talk about... Caleb!" He
exclaimed and Gabriel seemed to grimace but he let out an amused grunt. Gabriel's version of
laughter.
"Caleb is my identical twin who smiles all the time and is eccentric, always happy and always bugs me
whenever I'm playing MMOs. He also picks on me a lot and calls me pessimistic and stuff along that
line. It hurts sometimes but he's my favorite of the entire family." Keita's eyes glittered as he stared
intently at Gabriel. "Of course, Caleb has a lot of secrets that he's entrusted to me and I'm not
willing to share any of them due to a promise I made... and I'm intent on keeping my promises."
Keita smiled, "I understand Oniichan!" He giggled.
"Okay. Good, next up is mom, her name is Angie Frost." He stated, and smirked. "She's a nice lady, and a
surgeon. She's the one helping us pay for this house alongside my current job." He stated and then
looked towards the door. "On the other hand, she's the dominant one when it comes to my genes and
responsible for this hair, and these eyes." He stated and smirked.
"Really? She must be really pretty..." Keita stated and Gabriel's cheeks turned somewhat red with
embarrassment.
"Where did that come from? Don't compare how I look with an individual of the opposite sex! It's weird!"
Gabriel stammered as he crossed his arms and let out a huff.
Keita started giggling and Gabriel's cheeks burned an even brighter red, he then sighed as he let out a
deep breath and the color slowly faded from his face. "Anyway... you should see my brother... he
looks like a girl." He smirked.
"But you and him... are identical twins aren't you?"
Gabriel nodded slowly, and then hypothetically threw the insult that was directed towards his twin
brother in the trash. "Nevermind, my youngest sibling looks like a Girl. Celestia Frost." He stated
bluntly and nodded hesitantly. "She's obnoxious.. annoying and she's almost exactly your age. In the
same grade I believe, but she doesn't speak the same language. She speaks English." Gabriel stated and
wore a grimace as he thought about past memories of Celestia.
They continued talking about his family and after huffs and outbursts of embarrassment because of
things Gabriel told Keita, launch time came and despite really wanting to play the game. Gabriel
watched the news for awhile to see the biggest release of video game history... ever, after they had
both eaten their share of pizza of course.
Keita went on ahead without Gabriel to start playing the game, but after about an hour... Gabriel
received a strange text from a blocked number that told him to come to the door. After swallowing
his anxiety and making towards the door even despite the fact that he's watched numerous horror
movies where one of the characters follows instructions and dies... he did it anyway. As he slowly
approached, lightning flashed through his window and it was followed by thunder... just as well loud
knocking made him jump with fright and he heard chuckling from the other side. He gripped the metallic
handle of the door, gritting his teeth and rose both fists as it flung open inwards and smashed into the
wall. What he found was unexpected... and his eyes widened with horror and surprise; he found himself
staring into the face of a rain-soaked white haired 14 year-old, who looked like a mirror image of him,
save for the long and completely soaked hair. The warm caramel eyes of his younger twin were filled
with amusement and he playfully stuck his tongue out at Gabriel.
"Caleb, what the hell are you doing here!?" Gabriel asked and couldn't hide the happiness exhibited in
his eyes. Caleb was here? In Japan... how did this...
"You going to invite me in?! Mom says, GO TO JAPAN AND HELP!" Caleb laughed. "So I did... but I also
got these..." He had been hiding both hands behind his back but he showed what he was hiding to
Gabriel, and the more serious of the twins couldn't help but let out what sounded like gasp of
surprise.
"NerveGear... and even a hard-copy of Sword Art Online?!" Gabriel looked skeptical. "How did you get
your hands on these?!" Gabriel demanded to know, actually interested in something for once.
"Pre-ordered, showed proof of purchase because I paid in full ahead of time..." He stated with a grin,
and Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Everyone who got a copy did... so I guess I shouldn't be surprised... you
probably copied me two years ago..." He dismissed his surprise as quickly as he could and Caleb
looked disappointed with Gabriel because of it.
"I did copy you... but you should act a little more happy and surprised... because y'know... I worked
really hard to keep it a secret from you... you know... the whole starting to become a gamer sort of
thing." Caleb smiled slightly, but he looked kind of depressed, and it made Gabriel feel bad, because he
felt that nobody should have to suffer except for him. He was the one that suffered for his entire
family, so that everyone else could be happy.
"I am surprised, Caleb. And I'm also... h-" He couldn't say the word and Caleb's eyes brightened. To
Gabriel they functioned like highbeams and he couldn't help but avert his eyes "Ha~" He tried to say the
word but he choked and couldn't really spit it out, Caleb nearly started laughing. "Content." Gabriel
grumbled and grabbed Caleb by the sleeve then pulled him inside and helped him with his box and
gamecase, he'd have to install another game onto another individual's Nervegear. He sighed deeply and
then turned his head to Caleb, the outgoing and happy twin of the family, he hung his coat on the rack
and then slumped onto the couch. "Gonna play?" Gabriel asked him.
Caleb just nodded slowly.
"Want some pizza first? Got your favorite... reminded me of you- I mean home." Gabriel let out an
embarassed groan and opened the box containing Caleb's NerveGear.
"I missed you too." Caleb said and when Gabriel turned to look at Caleb, he just smiled, and Gabriel
almost couldn't resist the urge to do the same. "From anyone else... saying that would've been weird
and awkward... but it just makes sense coming from you." Caleb got back to his feet and took a piece
of the pizza... He bit it and quite simply... wolfed it down like he hadn't eaten for the past year.
"Huh... hungry?" Gabriel asked as he cut open the box and began the installation of Caleb's game onto
his NerveGear. It would take a few minutes.
Caleb just nodded his head covered in completely drenched white hair and when he turned his head to
continue eating his pizza... Gabriel smiled slightly, but then turned and started walking to the
bathroom. "Gonna get you a towel... might shock your head if you play like that." Gabriel joked,
speaking with a dead serious voice and an unchanging expression. Caleb just 'hmm'd' in
acknowledgement because his mouth was full. Gabriel peeked into his room and looked at Keita. He
was already in game, playing and probably getting to a pretty decently high-level. So Gabriel
proceeded to the bathroom and checked one of the large cabinets for a clean towel, he grabbed the
one at the top of the pile so the rest wouldn't topple over and bury him alive, and also make a big
mess of the folding that he had done. He groaned resentfully as he reflected on how much work
housework was. It was timeconsuming and left him with barely any time to play. He shook his head and
walked back to Caleb, and just threw the towel at him, which Caleb caught with his head. He started
to dry and looked at Gabriel with a warm and... thankful expression. "Fanks." He said and smiled,
wearing that expression he used whenever he acted cute for the girls.
"Whatever." Gabriel stated and pointed with a thumb at Caleb's nervegear. "Installation is done. you
can play now if you want." He stated.
Caleb nodded excitedly and swallowed the last of the pizza. He got to his feet and nearly ran for the
nervegear, which he picked up and took into one of the spare rooms. "See you there!" He waved a hand.
"Yeah." Gabriel stated and then turned on the television and flicked to the news only to find the
horrifying video of a woman crying on a live broadcast and screaming at the camera about how her
baby was dead now. Gabriel swallowed and felt his anxiety start to build up and he had this feeling...
the video stopped and it went back to the studio which showed a concerned asian woman with what
looked like bloodshot eyes and dried tears. "Reports of youth, children, and adults alike state that
sudden removal of the 'NerveGear' results in death and at least thirteen people have died due to it...
as well as over two hundred other players have died for what appears to be no apparent reason.
Kayabe Akihiko was also found dead wearing a set of 'NerveGear' himself... nobody knows what is
causing this horrifying turn of events but we ask that you do not remove the nervegear from anybody
who is wearing it... doing so will result in death." She nearly started sobbing. Gabriel felt tears well
up in his eyes as well but he didn't know what to do. "Of course... do not lose hope... even though he
was found dead, Kayabe Akihiko left a message behind, stating that if a player beats the game in the
alleged castle named 'Aincrad'... all players will be released. nobody know how long this will take
though... but all players who have been recorded purchasing a copy of the nervegear will be
transferred to the hospital and taken care of." She said and that was when she and Gabriel both
broke down and started crying at the same time. He didn't know what to do now... the game he wanted
to play so badly was now killing people. He got up and ran to the last room as fast as he could to
warn Caleb but when he got there... it was too late.
"Link Start!" Caleb ordered and once again Gabriel was left alone... both of his brothers... were now
in the deathgame... but why were the other players dying? The ones who didn't have their nervegear
removed were dying as well... was it because they were dying ingame?
he wiped his eyes and sniffled, the feeling of emptiness made itself obvious as he stood there, staring at
Caleb... his now dormant brother who had just finished plugging the gear in and intitiating the link
between his brain and the nervegear, which took full control of the brain's five senses. "What do I
do?!" Gabriel wanted to curl up into a ball and just cry to himself and be there waiting for his
brothers to wake up... or... he sobbed as he thought of the second possibility. That was when his
MMORPG instinct took over. "She said... somebody to beat the game." He clenched both of his fists and
the hateful and resentful part of his personality took over, "I can do this..." He wiped the tears from
his eye, "I'm an MMORPG master and I'm not going to let some stupid bug like being stuck in there until
somebody beats the game take any of my brothers from me!" He slammed his fist into the nearby wall
and walked with heavy footsteps back towards the kitchen, grabbed a piece of paper and pen, then
started writing a note:
'Dear World,
I am Gabriel Frost and I request that who ever finds this message make it obvious to the entire world
that after seeing the reports of people dying in game and the only way of getting everyone out is to
beat the game... I've decided to enter the World of Sword Art Online and save everyone there!
Tell my family that I love them, and that... I'm sorry to cause them this grief... but regardless of what
anybody thinks of me... I will bring as many as I can back with me... not because I'm some stupid cliche
hero, but because I have to save my little brothers!
P.S. Until I get back, I leave my body in your hands.'
Gabriel continued to try and stop the tears by wiping his eyes with his forearm, he made way back to
his room and finally... he posted the thing on his door and laid down onto his bed. He pulled the helmet
over his head, and turned to look at Keita for a moment. The boy was wearing a content smile and
Gabriel let out a deep sigh. Trying to calm himself for signing his death warrant and handing it to the
devil, his breath was shaky and sweat beaded on his brow. He turned away from Keita and looked up
at the ceiling through his visor, and finally he spoke the words that would seal his fate, and the deal
with death... he had to stop being so pessimistic. Funny he'd say that... "Link Start!" He shouted the
words and then he was consumed by temporary psychological blackness, followed by white lettering on a black screen... and the screen was his vision, he felt a sense of vertigo and nearly panicked but then for some strange reason that he couldn't place a finger on... he felt excited in anticipation for what was to come next.
WELCOME TO SWORD ART ONLINE!