AN(Author's Notes):Wow, so I went from reading fanfiction throughout the years to finally signing up and writing one. This is an entirely new thing to me, not necessarily a bad thing. I've been meaning to finally write something and have it be published to the site, but now I've finally worked up the courage. Anyway...
I decided to start out with a SAO story because I've become somewhat hopelessly glued to this series. I was already so much of a gamer and also a nerd that SAO is pretty much right up my alley. BUT MAN DID IT SUPERSEDE MY EXPECTATIONS! Great action, great universe, mixed with a love story. Right up my alley. So now here I am, writing fanfiction about Sword Art, slowly losing my own self-esteem. Oh well, what the hell.
Sorry to have kept you waiting with pure nonsense. But here's a chapter I wrote entirely within the span of 8 hours and completely proofread myself just now. To the reviewers who want to step up and critique everything about my story, by all means, fire at will. If you even want to become a proofreader to help my spastic self out, you are more than welcome. So, enjoy!
Disclaimer:I do not own the idea nor the series. Reki Kawahara is the sole owner of the Sword Art Online series. This is a fan made, non profit property using the ideas presented in the light novels and anime. Please support the official release.
Brave New Worlds
1 - Reality
('Infestation' server, July 2025)
"Kirito, to your left!"
Turning around and swinging a fire axe, you heard that correctly, «The Black Swordsman» of all people using a fire axe as a weapon, I knew Asuna and I were dangerously close to be overrun. These Leapers could take us at any moment.
"Asuna! Please tell me you have assault rounds left." I kept a Stalker who just de-cloaked in front of me at bay as I turned my head to see her open her inventory and check the condition of her rifle. You heard that correctly too, The «Lightning Flash» Asuna, a girl who I had been through hell and back with, was using an assault rifle of all weapons.
"I had four clips. We used them all on the Behemoths back at the abandoned office complex." With a grunt, I threw the stalker off, only to be replaced with a Sprinter who almost knocked me off my feet.
"How much do you have in the gun?" Asuna let the clip disengage and drop into her hands for a menu to display how many individual bullets were still loaded.
"15…" The tone of her voice seemed exasperated and her eyes widened at the gravity of the situation. She was scared just as much as I was that we were already dead. I never liked hearing Asuna this way, and I especially didn't appreciate it now.
"Get back! Hargh-"
My axe, which missed the Sprinter due to his ludicrous dodging speed, landed right in between the area between the Stalker's neck and shoulder, right on a part of its deformed collar-bone. Thankfully, blood and gore had been a developmental afterthought; otherwise Asuna and I would have been covered as we watched the Stalker slump, a deep red pixelated gash where it was hit.
"Kirito, we need a plan!"
Everything seemed to fade and time slowed around me as I focused intently on breathing, it may have been a simulation, but it was a habit. Asuna's voice was clear and entirely audible as it dashed my thoughts.
"Kirito-kun! Please!"
Then again, I've gotten completely ahead of myself in the story here. I should start with introducing myself. My name is Kirigaya Kazuto, victim and winner of the SAO incident and ALO scandal, and this is how I waged war against a master hacker.
(Real Life, May 20th 2025)
Sunlight streamed through the window, shining on an alarm clock that had just struck 7:00.
*Beep, beep, beep*
Followed by a loud knocking at the bedroom door.
"Onii-chan! All those late night sessions better not be making you lazy. Come down and have breakfast!" Loud footsteps were heard echoed down the hallway and down the stairs. Kazuto could just remain in bed and not have to worry. But the smell of breakfast became a strong temptation to face the day.
"You'll leave Asuna waiting." Kazuto immediately shot out of bed at the fair point Suguha had made. He may have been more than his fair share of careless, but he would never let it get that bad.
Ripping open his closet, everything related to his school outfit was hung on a hook to the right.
"Alright, I still have time!" Hastily, Kazuto grabbed his NerveGear and unceremoniously placed it on his head.
"Link start!"
Kirito's eyes opened to a familiar sight of a forest and nature, he had no time to admire the scenery, and there is someone more important about this visit.
"Yui-chan! Yui, papa is here." Ten seconds went by without a sign of Kirito's favorite girl (or 2nd favorite, it switches depending on a certain someone) "Yui-chan!" Still no response.
"Hmm, I wonder…" Going into his skill menu, Kazuto scrolled until he found just the skill he wanted. Tracking.
Kirito's vision changed, allowing him a new perspective while his eyes scanned the area. Tracking skill is helpful for those with Hunter play styles, players are able to see animal trails that had been left, how long ago they were left, and what direction they might be traveling. But the tracking skill served a particular second function to Kirito, tracing other hidden characters. He didn't have to look for more than a few seconds, his sight locked on a small yellow outline. The fact his description box displayed '?' instead of a regular player character blurb confirmed his suspicion.
"Found you Yui! Game is up, come on out now." His tracker vision automatically disengaged as he stalked closer to the brush in which he saw the outline crouching. The foliage hadn't moved since he looked, he reached out with his left arm to gently push aside the brush. What he didn't expect was a cleverly laid pounce attack by a small girl in a white dress.
"PAPA!"
Kirito stumbled backward from the force of Yui's death grip, but with a little fancy footwork he stayed on his toes and turned the pounce into a spinning hug.
"Yui-chan! Papa's little girl is good at hiding, but Papa's vision is just a bit better." Kirito stopped spinning for a second to adjust Yui in his arms to be able to stare at her, eyes twinkling full of fun and wonder.
"Papa is good, but I thought I hid well! I even made sure you couldn't track me Papa!"
"Yui-chan is using her AI privilege?" Kirito allowed himself a little shock at the fact his little girl started to play with the fact she isn't exactly a defined variable within ALO's programming.
"You and Mama always find me when it comes to hide and seek! You never said I couldn't try a few things with the game."
Kirito simply closed his eyes and sighed allowing himself the time to take this information in. "Mama is going to have a lot to say about this when we log on tonight…"
"Oh, that! Papa and Mama are still visiting me tonight, right?" Yui's face lit up even more at the thought of being with her little family.
"Yep! Same time we told you. I promise we'll have a lot of fun, and go on plenty of adventures together." Kirito gave her a few pats on the head as he said this, and was greeted with a happy Yui.
"Yay!" Yui had been so filled with joy that she had done a backflip while simultaneously morphing into her guide pixie form.
"Remember, you'll have to wait until tonight, I have to hop off and go to school for a bit." Kirito was about to ready the menu to quickly log out and go about his morning.
"Okay! I'll be here playing in the 7th floor. Please come early, I want to see Mama again!" Yui beamed yet another smile that would have melted Kirito's heart had it not already been three times already.
"Have fun and stay out of trouble Yui-chan." Kirito carefully reached out a finger to lightly pet Yui on the head before activating his menu and pressing the 'Logout' button. As he was going through the process of logging out, he waved one last time at Yui, and she waved back.
Kazuto lifted his NerveGear off his head and turned to take a glimpse at his alarm clock.
"7:17? I still have time!"
In a feat surpassing regular human agility, Kazuto dressed in his school uniform in 1 minute and rushed down the stairs where he found Suguha half-done her plate and Midori done her coffee.
"Morning Aunt Midori, Sugu-chan." He had barely exchanged pleasantries before digging into his breakfast and forcing almost all of it down.
"Well, someone sure seems eager this morning." Midori said half in surprise and the other half as if she was used to whatever antics Kazuto and Suguha made in the morning.
"Eh? Onii-chan! Slow down, if you choke it's going to be your fault, not mine!" Suguha just seemed worried at how voraciously he tore into the egg and sausage meal. Immediately after finishing his breakfast, he slammed his fork down onto his plate before letting out a content sigh.
"Wonderful breakfast Sugu-chan, have a great day you two." He sat up and sprinted around the kitchen table, managing to grab his pack off the couch before slipping on his shoes and charging out into the new day.
"I worry about him sometimes." Suguha just stood there trying to comprehend anything that had just happened.
"Reminds me of his father when he was his age." Midori casually flipped through another page of the newspaper as Suguha glanced over, still confused.
Kazuto rushed through the streets, he had left his bike behind long ago, and he found, in his opinion, something better to get him to school. Another left, another right, just a few more turns and he'd know what awaited him. Exiting the house at about the same time he started to slow into a jog and then a walk, he saw a person with bright chestnut hair and eyes in front of her house.
"Asuna! Over here!" Kazuto lightly jogged to the front lawn gate as Asuna met up with him.
"Kirito-kun! You're early. Why do you look so tired?" Asuna eyed him completely in his slightly exhausted and disheveled state.
"Well…I thought I was going to be late to walk to school with you, so I rushed through my breakfast and ran all the way here." Kazuto took in a few more breaths after rushing his explanation as well.
"You…DUMMY! Take your time in the morning, I'm not going anywhere." Asuna's voice was a mix of scolding anger and amusement at the fact Kazuto was so quick to meet her in the morning.
"You're starting to sound like Suguha, nagging me about how I eat breakfast."
"Okay, that was the last straw, come on Kirito-kun!" Asuna grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, lightly dragging him toward school. Kazuto got the idea and unhooked himself, choosing to walk beside her instead.
"After school, once you finish any assignments from today, we're going to visit Yui-chan still, right?" Kazuto turned his head to wait for Asuna's response.
"Of course! Why wouldn't I want to see my baby again? Even if we visited her a few days back, I don't want her growing lonely. After all, we still haven't cleared all of new Aincrad yet!"
"I should have expected that, then again, along with Sugu and our friends, we've plowed through the floors in such a short time!" Kazuto started to rub the back of his neck out of instinct.
"Well, they didn't call me the lightning flash and you the black swordsman for nothing. There was meaning behind those names." Asuna announced in a burst of pride.
"Geez, if I couldn't say any better, Klein's cockiness is starting to rub off on you."
"So says the boy who won't be receiving any of my handiwork at lunch today!" Asuna retorted with the greatest trump card, she took away his sandwich rights.
"Ah! Apologies, my bad, there's nothing wrong with a bit of pride, just don't do anything drastic Asuna."
"Hmph, well I guess since you apologized…" Asuna allowed him another chance much to Kazuto's pleasure. If she could get him this desperate by withholding sandwiches, she shuddered to think what would happen if someone held one of these ransom.
"Ah, Asuna, we're already here!" Asuna snapped out of her thoughts to find that they ended up in front of their school.
"Well, that was a quick walk." The school they attended was a normal school before being reformed into a primary school reserved for victims of the SAO incident. Both Kirito and Asuna fell into this category, unfortunately for Asuna; her enrollment had been delayed due to complications in ALO. When they finally reunited and she was given the news, she was excited to finally be attending the same school as Kazuto. Kazuto faintly remembers the physical therapy he had helped Asuna through. Though it was problematic and full of pain, Asuna had been deemed fit enough to attend just in time for classes to begin. One of the proudest moments of their new life together, he would have to say.
That is until the warning bell rang and caught both of them off guard.
"Kirito, we have to stop daydreaming and get to class!"
"R-right!"
Both of them took off in a hurry to their respective classes and barely made it to their seats before the next bell sounded.
As usual, they sat down at their usual lunch spot, benches underneath shade somewhere in the courtyard.
"As promised, our lunch for the day!" Asuna pulled the deep purple handkerchief off the basket which held two sandwiches. The extra spicy order reserved purely for Kazuto and his insane taste buds.
"Let's eat these before they get too cold." Asuna already began hers, then again her eating pace was nothing compared to how Kazuto gets around her cooking.
Kazuto got halfway in just over a minute before pulling away. Asuna had eaten just a fifth of her sandwich before Kazuto leaned back and announced, "Eating the best sandwiches in the world, with the best girl I could ever hope to have. Life doesn't get any better."
Asuna gave off a healthy blush before responding with, "Aww, that's too much Kirito-kun."
Kazuto turned to her and quickly told her, "No, it's not. I completely mean it." He then gave her a small peck on the cheek. She raised him with a small, fast kiss on the mouth.
It was then they heard a close-by frustrated scream.
"Asuna, you heard that right? What was that?"
"I don't know Kirito-kun, sounded strange."
Keiko could only watch her friend lightly head-butt the glass in frustration, worried for her health.
"It's ok, Rika-san. But maybe you are just a little too obsessed with this truce idea?" Rika, otherwise known as Lisbeth, stopped in mid head-butt to ponder for a second before pulling back and finishing the motion one last time, before groaning slightly in pain. Thirty days of no interference couldn't pass fast enough. Keiko went back to her lunch and simply left Rika to her sulking. Keiko found herself repeating the fact almost every day that the truce had been her idea. Rika let her palms slide across the window and fall at her side with her forehead against the glass. Keiko almost ate her lunch entirely in peace when she heard Rika groan watching the two lovebirds in their natural habitat.
"Rika-san, are you okay?" Rika's forehead squeaked across the window twice side to side before she stopped and croaked out.
"Not really." Rika lifted her head off the window, choosing to sit down across from her friend. The lunch she had bought she barely touched. Save a few crumpled juice boxes right next to the food. Maybe she would sit up and get some tea, or another juice box. The juice boxes made great stress relievers. Thirty days. Why would she ever agree to that idea? She started to mentally kick herself before she had another thought.
"Hey, Keiko-chan." Her friend perked up immediately at her name and dropped the food she picked at.
"Yes?"
"Remind me to charge one of those two the next time they come to my smith shop." This confused Keiko and caused her to correct her friend
"You never charge them anything when they come to see you."
"I know." Rika grew a devious smile which scared the girl across from her. Her small revenge would be silent and swift.
From then on, the day proved to be pretty uneventful. Both Kazuto and Asuna had only 4 classes together. One of them was thankfully before lunch break was given, the only disadvantages being that Kazuto is always seated two rows behind Asuna. This made the lessons half as interesting and twice as long.
'It's like they knew I wouldn't get anything academic done if I was seated next to her.'
Their teacher droned on about another noteworthy event of history, something about what the state of foreign relations a hundred years ago. His ears blocked out whatever useless thing their teacher rambled on about. Instead his eyes glazed over as he stared straight ahead. Kazuto had more fascination with the back of Asuna's head than he ever had over foreign relations. The classroom in general faded away, replaced with sudden daydreams. Asuna and him holding hands, walking through flower filled fields. He would look over when she stares back with the deepest, happiest eyes. Her chestnut hair slightly rustling in the wind. They would walk along, after a while he would stop her. Wrapping his arms around her, pulling her body closer. Staring deep into her eyes, they would start to lean in...and then...
"KIRIGAYA!" Watching him scramble to a standing position to answer the teacher sent the class into small fits of laughter. Kazuto finally stopped stumbling enough to stand straight.
"Yes, sir?" His teacher offered nothing but a cold glare.
"Your best interest in this class would be listening to me explain why our peace conferences were necessary. The back of Miss Yuuki's head has no information concerning peace conferences, last time I checked." Classmates went through another wave of chuckles at Kazuto's expense. An embarrassed Asuna broke into a small blush, choosing to duck behind her notebook.
Eventually, the lectures and classes let up and they were allowed to go home. Kazuto met Asuna at the entrance before walking her back to her house.
"I swear, sometimes I feel like the bosses we fought in Aincrad were easier than paying attention to a whole lesson." Kazuto had yet to sit through an entire lesson without zoning out. Handling two swords at once and fending off Gleam Eyes was less of a challenge than sitting through another math lecture.
"Well, when the teacher asks questions, maybe paying attention to the lesson might be better than two rows in front of you."
"Hey, I was paying attention to something more important. Definitely a lot more interesting than a peace meeting from the 70's. Prettier too." Asuna's face flared the same bright red from history. Kazuto's teasing always managed to get her worked up. Even if everytime she'd been determined to deny him the pleasure of seeing her completely flustered.
"Y-you..."
"Love you too, Asuna!" Kazuto sidled next to her, placing his head over her's. It worked exactly as he expected as she was forced to accept the fact he won this round. Kazuto and Asuna broke apart, walking alongside each other again. His teasing also succeeded at passing the time, before they realized, they were about twenty steps away from the Yuuki residence. Kazuto took this time to remind Asuna about what they promised to do tonight.
"Remember, Asuna, we meet up with Yui at 5. Depending on who's online, we might go off on an adventure or quest."
"Of course, you know I wouldn't miss the chance to see Yui and the rest." She gave Kazuto a wide smile to brush aside any doubts.
"Okay, I'll see you tonight. I'll be waiting!" Kazuto surprised her by stealing a kiss before sprinting off. Leaving Asuna wide-eyed and motionless in front of the entrance to her house. She was floored for a few seconds more before walking up the path to her front door, the most carefree grin plastered across her face.
Kazuto reached his house in record time, as he literally bowled the door open, kicking off his shoes, and taking the steps two at a time. Immediately heading for his own room, he threw his backpack on to his bed, excited only for tonight.
'I should calm down about this; I still have two hours or so. Maybe if I just sit down at the computer for a bit.'
Kazuto shuffled to his computer chair before settling comfortably into it. He hit the power button and watched it do the usual boot cycle. However, it booted without going directly to the desktop; in fact, it was only a blank screen.
'This can't be right.'
Preemptively cutting off any attempt Kazuto would have made to fix it, the computer brought attention to itself by flashing once and leaving a blank screen. This screen seemed blank until Kazuto noticed a small detail at the bottom. A gray arrow highlighted a gray underline at the very bottom of the screen. Kazuto recognized this as a command prompt program. With his attention fixed on the screen, there was a sudden bit of activity which made his blood turn to ice. Words appeared on the command line which Kazuto hadn't even typed.
-Hello, friend. Or should I say…Kirigaya 'Kirito' Kazuto. The famous "Black Swordsman"
AN:So that is the introductory chapter to Brave New Worlds. Don't worry, for those who are hooked, more will be coming, though I can't promise at a quick pace EVERYTIME. I've got a lot planned for the new challenges Kazuto and friends will face. In fact, next chapter, we'll see more of this mysterious hacker, learn more about how people have used the world seed since Kazuto uploaded it, and why exactly they have to go on this big dumb adventure in the first place. Until then...
Reviewer's, feel free to rip this apart piece by piece and tell me how bad I am. I can take it...I hope!
Next time-Distress Call
