"Fuck, fuck, fuck HURRY!"

River Winters rushed home in a panic.

Why was she rushing home at 7:50AM?

Well, the previous night, she had walked out after an intense argument with her dad, who was wrongfully criticizing her of having no friends and no social life, something him and her mother would know if they ever paid attention to her. She literally had some friends over two days ago. But no. For the entire eighteen years that has been her life, her parents never were home. They were always working or vacationing somewhere. India. China. America. England. They would travel the world, and, up until she was fourteen, would just dump her off with a nanny. After she turned fourteen they just left her alone.

As a reward for graduating, her aunt (who seemed to care about her more then her parents) had given her a NerveGear system, and the knowledge that she was registered as a beta tester for the game SAO.

During the two months as a beta tester, she played under her screen name, Dusk, and played solo. Along the way, she met two other players, Shadow and Kirito, who also played solo. Shadow was a tall man with short wavy dark brown hair, a full faced stubble, and deepset amber eyes. Kirito had neck long black hair, a tannish complexion, a decent build, and black eyes.

Kirito's avatar seemed like one made out of wishful thinking.

River arrived at her house and rocketed inside, locking the doors behind her. Her parents weren't home, so she charged into her room, setting up her Nervegear. She sat down, and saw the time. 7:57

"This is taking forever!" Harley Yami complained, flopping into his bed.

He was waiting waiting for SAO to be released, and, while he had only been up for about twenty minutes, it felt like it had been hours to him.

As a former Beta tester to SAO, the months since the end of the beta and leading up to the release had been driving him crazy. He logged in as many hours as he could over the course of the beta, finally being able to escape his abusive home, and to live his dream of being a powerful sword wielder.

Harley had very abusive parents, his mother being a drunk who actively blamed him and his younger sister Shiro for her problems. His father was a creep, constantly saying perverted things to his sister. Shiro, of course, was terrified of him, and Harley would become outraged whenever he heard these things being said, which lead to many ugly confrontations with his father, leading to the many bruises and cut he had.

Of course, this lead to him having a deep mistrust of others and social awkwardness that carried over with him into the Virtual world, leading him to play as a solo player. Strangely, though, he still made friends. Two people under the screen names of Kirito and Dusk, Kirito's avatar seemingly being made out of wish fulfillment, as he had neck-length black hair, a handsome, sturdy look to him, and the darkest eyes he had ever seen.

Dusk's avatar at least looked like it could be her. A small female with curly magenta hair, she had a slim build, a pale complexion, and the most startling red eyes. Like, if you met her in a dark alley, you might think she was a very tall cat.

They had managed to get past his mistrusting nature, and see him for what he was: A kind, yet abused person.

Harley sighed again, and looked at the time. It was 7:59. With a grin, he settled down, and pulled on his NerveGear, wincing as he accidentally struck one of his many bruises. .

As the time switched, he shouted, "LINK START!"
About two miles away, in her own house, her own bed, River smiled as she same the time on her NerveGear's HUD change to 8:00.

"LINK START!" She exclaimed.

Little did these two friend know exactly how much their lives were going to change, nor did they know how much they will grow to depend on each other.

They will find out soon enough.

Six blocks away from Harley, Kazuto Kirigaya pulled on his own NerveGear, settled into his own bed, and shouted "Link Start!"

His life was going to change, too.

RIVER WINTERS

LANGUAGE:

JAPANESE

LOGIN?

BETA AVATAR TRANSFERRED SUCCESSFULLY

LOGGED IN AS:
DUSK

HARLEY YAMI

LANGUAGE:

JAPANESE

LOGIN?

BETA AVATAR TRANSFERRED SUCCESSFULLY

LOGGED IN AS:
SHADOW

KAZUTO KIRIGAYA

LANGUAGE:

JAPANESE

LOGIN?

BETA AVATAR TRANSFERRED SUCCESSFULLY

LOGGED IN AS:
KIRITO