This chapter mostly for background's sake, and many of these elements will become relevant in later arcs of this story. From the prologue alone it'd be reasonable to assume this has no place being an SAO fanfic. So, with that in mind, skip to the first chapter if you wish, but, you some things may go over your head later on.

Prologue: Escapism

"You really piss me off, you know that?" The boy in front of me said. He had his two friends at his side. They were nothing more than bullies, and despite the fact that they did this somewhat regularly to me, I couldn't be bothered to properly remember their names.

However, today, for some reason, I particularly didn't feel like dealing with them in the slightest.

The boy scoffed, "That look on your face. Do you think you're better than me?" To which I didn't reply. Though, if I had, I probably would have said yes. Although, perhaps he read my mind. "Well, you're nothing more than a freak, a foreigner. You need to be taken down a notch or two I think."

"Is that so?" I replied lamely. At that moment, without even seeing it coming, he punched me right in the face.

I stumbled backwards, until my back hit the wall. I wiped my mouth, although there wasn't any bleeding.

"If anyone saw that, you'd be in big trouble..." My tone remained even and calm, although, anyone would be able to pick up on the annoyance in it. On top of that, his punch hurt like hell.

"There you go acting cool again..." His fists were clenched. "A mixed mutt, a name like Raimura, and that annoying attitude. It's like you were ripped out of some crappy manga."

"Really?... Makes sense, I'd much rather live in a manga than deal with you lot." I wiped where he hit me once more.

He shot me a twisted smirked, "Oh?" He held his hand out, a flame appearing in it. "Then maybe I should just show you how bad I can really b-" Before he finished his sentence, I had already launched my fist into his gut.

"You're pissing me off more than usual." I told him. If he was planning on using magic, then, so would I. I sent a pulse of electricity into him through my fist. And just like that, he fell to the ground, shivering as he clutched his stomach.

His two friends seemed ready to fight me as well. They most likely could use magic as well, although I had no idea what their powers might be.

"You two want to pick a fight with me as well?" I opened the palms of both of my hands as I muttered an incantation, "My heart is made of glass." I had said it in English. Two iron poles came into existence in both of my hands. I pointed one at the two boys, sending very noticeable pulses of electricity through them. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

The two of them backed off and grabbed their friend, trying to head down the hallway.

I sighed as the two rods in my hands vanished.

"Stop right there," an authoritative voice commanded.

"Crap, hurry up!" One of them said.

"I said, stop." A transparent, glass like wall appeared in front of the boys, stopping them in their tracks. I looked towards the authority figure, I recognized him as my homeroom teacher. "Look at this mess." He sighed. "Alright, all of you are coming with me."

He took us to the faculty office, where we were all scolded, especially my so called attackers. They were stuck with detention, although, I on the other hand.

"You just need to hold out a little longer, Alexan. After winter break, you last year here will be over just like that." He told me.

"I understand, Takahata-sensei." I glanced at him, then off towards the side. He had platinum colored hair with grey eyes and a face that would terrify anyone if his demeanor wasn't also so calm.

"I understand it was more or less in self defense, and I'm sure the principal will understand as well, since it's not exactly the first time we've been here," Takahata-sensei sighed. "But, once you're in high school, you won't have me to protect you. Depending on circumstances and the principal you'd have..." He thought about it a moment. "Electricity magic might land you suspension at worst if no one's hurt too badly... But, projection could more than easily get you expelled even if you don't create a weapon with intention of real harm."

I simply nodded at him.

"Speaking of a high school, have you thought of where you want to go? Anything you want to specialize in?" He asked me.

"I haven't really thought of anything." Honestly, I simply had no drive to do anything I really wanted. I probably wouldn't end up as a good-for-nothing in the future, but, I didn't really have the drive to do anything too fantastic with my life.

"I normally wouldn't recommend these kinds of things, but what about becoming a mangaka or a professional mage?" He inquired.

"Those are odd suggestions," I commented quietly.

"Like I said, normally I wouldn't recommend them. But, for someone in their third year of middle school, you're remarkably good at both. The 'doodles' in your notebook are comparable to my nephew's work and although magic may get you in a little bit of trouble here, you're extremely proficient at it and if you study it you definitely have a shot in being competitive."

I had remembered a few times where Sensei had said his nephew was a mangaka. Though, I never really thought of my drawings as something to be published. I couldn't bother to make a story with them either way.

As for the mage thing, I definitely couldn't be bothered for the physical training that would come with it. I was never the type to get competitive over that sort of thing.

He continued, "Though, if I had to choose between the two, I'd say take the mangaka route. In fact, if you don't have a school in mind by the time of exams, I think you should go to Suimei."

I blinked, "You mean Suimei, the University of the arts?"

He nodded, "It's where my nephew honed his skills, and you remind me of him a lot. I believe it will be good for you. Even if you change your mind then, you could always take general classes for normal high school experience. But, I think you can do more than that. Not to mention, it's practically right next door."

"The entrance exam is pretty tough for Suimei."

"You're more than capable." He assured me. "Think about it Alexan."

With that, I was about to make my way to class, just in time for the end of lunch until he spoke once more, "Don't give up on people just yet." That statement made me pause. "You're too young to have a 'heart made of glass', don't you think?" I simply walked out.

When I had just entered middle school, I had always entertained the idea of becoming a mangaka. Back then, I had always thought things like, 'I want to be the best!' or whenever I saw someone with drawing skills comparable to mine, 'I'll surpass them!'

I wondered if having a stereotypical protagonist mindset for that was ironic or very fitting for someone who wanted to draw manga.

Either way, it didn't matter much to me now. Almost three years later, I wouldn't really draw unless I was bored, an assignment called for it, or I had a burst of inspiration which were few and far apart. Something inside of me had died.

Maybe it was because of bullies like earlier? I looked towards my skin, which was just slightly brighter than the color of milk chocolate.

I had thought about this multiple amount of times, but, I doubt I'd ever find the answer within myself. If I could, I think I would've found it by now.

When I arrived to class and took my seat, which was near the middle of the classroom.

A worried voice spoke to me, "Oh my gosh, are you alright?" Looking over, I saw it was my friend Sasha. Really, my only friend at the moment.

"I'm fine," I assured her. I had actually forgotten I took a blow to the face. I now noticed the lingering tingle of pain on and inside my cheek.

"But, your cheek, it's swelling..." She lifted her hand up, as if to reach out towards me. "You should at least head to the nurse."

I brushed her hand off, before looking directly at her, "Honestly, I'm fine, Sasha." I tried to tell her with sincerity.

Like that, she dropped the subject. The rest of school went by, more or less normally. I was a bit more hungry than I would've liked, since I missed lunch thanks to my incident, but, it was nothing for me to stress over.

"Rei Online launched today," I told Sasha, almost absent mindedly as left school.

"Oh! It does. We have tomorrow off, so I can get a good start." She smiled at the thought playing the game. From what I recall, she didn't get to play many video games in general.

"Just don't get too crazy when you get home. I'm going to visit my brother so I'll probably be a while." I told her.

"Oh, your brother. How is he doing?" She asked.

"He's stable, though, I'm not sure he'll get out anytime soon." I told her as I hopped on to my bike.

"Tell him I wish him the best."

"Will do," I rode off towards the hospital my brother was in.

Upon arrival, I checked in and went up to his room.

"Nii-san!" He was always so excited to see me. Maybe because I was really the only person that visited him.

I offered him a smile, "Hey Xaniel." I took a seat by his bed. Xaniel was two years younger than me, and resembled me a great lot. The only features that probably differentiated us were the fact his eyes were wider and his hair was slicked back, leaving a cowlick hanging over his forehead.

"You've got a bruise on your cheek," He pointed out with curiosity and slight concern.

I touched the place where the bully hit me, "What this? This is nothing." I smirked at him. "Some guys thought they mess with your big bro. But, don't worry. I scared them off."

He laughed, "That sounds so cliché. Did that really happen?"

"Of course it did. What, do I have to bring a teacher here to prove it?"

He shook his head, "I'll believe you."

"They even tried to use magic on me, but, of course. I'm was more than capable enough."

"Oh, I see your brother is here," A new voice entered the conversation. When I looked back to see who it was, I saw that it was the doctor in charge of Xaniel. "Alexan, could you come out for a moment?"

"Yeah..." I stood up and followed the doctor out into the hall. "What did you need to talk about, Sensei?"

"Well, good news is, at least for a while, it's very unlikely for Xaniel's HIV to become AIDS. He most likely the ability to use regenerative magic, which is why he's been able to remain this healthy for this long." He explained.

"There's a bad news?..." I inquired, the worry showing in my voice.

"Yes, HIV has always been very tricky to deal with, and even magic doesn't have the ability to properly beat it. Despite his body's best efforts to repair cells, the virus is still thriving, like it would in anyone else." He paused for a moment. "The constant use of your brother's regeneration is putting his body under a lot of stress. Living just everyday normal life could leave him heavily fatigued."

"Is there anything else?" I glanced at my brother's door.

"If this continues on, Xaniel's body will give out, and the magic that has kept him going will stop. It's unlikely that at that point, he would be able to recover from that kind of stress before he gets AIDS."

"I see..." I looked down.

"Although, there have been many breakthroughs concerning the disease, a foolproof cure isn't at all outside the realm of possibility. It's 2047, medical technology gets better by the day." He assured me.

I nodded at him, "Thanks for letting me know." I headed back into the room.

"What did the doctor say?" My brother asked.

"He basically told me you're one tough cookie," I replied. "I'm sure if you keep hanging in there, you can come back home."

He looked up at the ceiling, a smile on his face, "I'll try my best." I had the feeling that the doctor had told him what he told me earlier at some point. It would've made sense.

"By the way," Xaniel said, looking back to me. "Rei Online came out today, right?"

"Oh yeah, it did!" I grabbed my bag, and reached inside of it. I pulled out a case that was no bigger than the palm of my hand. It had a cover that said "Rei Online" on it. "This is your copy."

He looked at it with wide eyes and a giant smile on his face. Rei was more than just a normal video game. Rei was what one would call a VRMMORPG, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.

I looked towards the nightstand beside his bed, which the console for the game, the Interceptor, sat. It's design was as simple as a visor that one would wear on over their eyes. With that and a game like Rei, a person like Xaniel who usually couldn't even go outside, could once more have a body of their own to use. Only in virtual reality, but, it was certainly better than nothing.

"I also got you this," I pulled out the latest edition of Jack, the manga magazine.

"Awesome!" He took the book as well. "...You're the best, you know that?"

"It's the least I could do, you know." I offered a smile.

"Get home, okay? So we can play together!"

"Alright, we'll use our names for our characters so we can find each other easily, yeah?"

"Will do!"

"Are you going to get on now?"

"Right after I catch up with my manga." He opened up the magazine. "It might give me ideas on what I want to be in game! By the time you're home I'll be done."

"Alright then, I'll catch you later." I held out my fist to him and we fist bumped.

On my way home, it made me think. If there were anything giving me the slightest bit of motivation in this world. It would've been Xaniel. There wasn't much else that really stood out to me, not even Sasha. Takahata-sensei tried his best to get something going in me, but I wouldn't be able to do much for his sake.

As I entered my house, I thought of how I couldn't even say the same for my parents. We were a broken family. I lived with my father, who was more often than not on some sort of business trip and just couldn't stay home for long. My mother, had divorced him, now spent most of her time working herself, trying to support herself when before she relied on my father. It's for those reasons I was really the only person to visit Xaniel in the hospital.

Honestly, I somewhat resented my parents for how things turned out. But, there was no point in thinking about it now. Sasha and Xaniel were probably waiting for me at this point.

I headed up to my room and grabbed my interceptor and my copy of Rei Online. I opened the case, which contained a chip hardly any bigger than my thumbnail and stuck it into the appropriate slot. I flopped onto my bed and put on the interceptor.

"Link Start," was all I had to say with closed eyes, and I was thrust into the world of virtual reality. Rei Online wouldn't be my first virtual reality experience, and I played the beta for the game as well. However, upon entering the character creation area, everything suddenly became very hazy to me. As if I were inside a dream. It was almost as if everything I had done there I had almost no control over.

I felt I had woke up once I had spawned in the world of Rei. It was then when I fully was aware of how exactly I created my character. Dark skin, slender build, long black hair. There was almost no difference to how I looked in real life aside from the fact that I gave myself green eyes. At least I had made my username Alexan, like I agreed with Xaniel. It probably would also make it easy for him considering I look like myself.

I sighed, I much rather would've changed my appearance, but there was no point in obsessing over it at this point.

I had tried my hardest to find my brother for an hour or so, but it came to no avail. At that point, I couldn't go back to check on him due to the fact visiting hours were over. So, I decided to shake off the rust I gathered since the beta.

Video games, Rei especially made me feel like I had a purpose, due to the one clear and specific goal. Clear out all the bosses. Maybe it wasn't the motivation I needed so much, but, it initiative to do something, even if it wasn't really all the productive.