Where it All Begins

My eyes jolted open as the sound of buzzing resounded through my head. I blinked a few times and shook my head before looking to the table that sat to the right of my bed, locating the source of the noise. I squinted with annoyance, I didn't recall turning my alarm on, yet there it was in all it's glory, clock and all, staring back with it's emotionless face. The time read 7:00 AM, which caused a scowl to form on my face, my mother must of set it while I was sleeping. With a sigh, I kicked my legs up and got off my bed, clicking the alarm off before letting out a yawn as I stretched my arms out. I then lazily walked over to my window and opened the curtains, raising my arms to my eyes to protect them from the sunlight that came in. Having finally adjusted to being awake, I walked to the door of my room, opening it so I could make my way to the bathroom. As I rounded the hall and put my hand on the handle to the bathroom a voice echoed through house.

"Makoto? Are you up yet?"

I figured I'd have more time before she called for me, but it seems I was wrong, "Yeah mom, I'm up, just heading to the bathroom."

"Well, don't take too long, I'm making pancakes and then I have to take your sister to her tutor." My mother responded.

I smiled, she always somehow sounded happy, which in the end, made it hard for me to not be happy myself. She had a habit of doing that, ever since dad's work made him move to Tokyo she's been forced to work twice as hard, but not once has she ever let it get to her, I admired her for it, that level of optimism couldn't be easy to pull off, but if anyone could do it, it was her. She was truly amazing in that regard.

I entered the bathroom and walked to the mirror, as I examined myself in the mirror I noticed something abnormal. I leaned in to the mirror, and upon closer look, I realized it was hair, not the kind that grows on your head mind you, I had plenty of that, despite the abuse I put it through from bleaching it blond, but the kind that grows on your chin.

"Well, it was bound to start eventually..." I told myself before letting out an amused snort. I was sixteen now, so it was just a matter of time before puberty would hit full swing and I'd have to start shaving. With that thought now ingrained in my mind I found my eyes wandering to one of the drawers in our sink. I opened it and grabbed a pair of scissors that rested inside, bringing it up to snip the lone whisker.

"Sorry pal." I told it as I cut it off my chin. After returning the scissors to the drawer and closing it, I looked back to the mirror as my hand moved to grab a comb. I keet my hair short, but even then, I still need to comb it to keep it looking nice.

After finishing up in the bathroom I jogged down the stairs and entered the kitchen, the aroma of pancakes entered my nose as I looked over to the oven to see my mother finishing up breakfast.

"Oh there you are Makoto!" She looked behind herself, greeting me with a smile, "I was wondering when you'd come down."

I rubbed the back of my neck, "Sorry mom, I had a few extra things to take care of."

She merely smiled before grabbing a spatula, bringing the pancake out of the pan and sliding it onto a plate, turning around to place it in front of me. "It's alright," she told me, "Now eat up, I've got to get Aiko to her tutor." She untied the apron from around her body and folded it up as she began to leave the kitchen. "Oh, and don't forget to study for your quiz! I know it's Saturday but that's no reason to slack off all day."

I sighed, waving her off, "I know, mom, I know."

She gave a soft smile and began walking up the stairs to Aiko's room, "Oh and by the way, your father's coming home next week for the weekend, so you better clean your room up nice and tidy!" She trailed off as she entered my sister's room.

I leaned back slightly as I brought my gaze to the ceiling, "Eh.. I'll do it later.. After all.. today's the day.." I thought to myself. Today was November 6th, Sword Art Online's launch day. I still had about four hours before it launched, but I couldn't help but feel giddy. I've only been gone from it for two months but it felt like forever since the beta. I smiled at the memories I made. I worked with everyone else on trying to get as far as possible, making it to the tenth floor with all of the other raiders before the beta shut down. "I wonder if I'll get that far even faster then before," I thought.

After finishing breakfast returned to my room to get ready to play. I figured since I still had about three hours I'd clean it up a little, just to make mom happy. Once I finished making my bed I moved to the corner of my room, where a long wooden staff rested against the wall. I gripped it and moved to the center of the room, a slight smirk on my face. Back in the beta, I used a quarterstaff as my main weapon, it felt right for me, since I actually had some level of familiarity with it. My father got me the one I held now as a present before going away for business, so it felt like I had a piece of him with me when I was in-game too, silly, I know.

After a bit of training I looked over to my clock and read the time, 11:55, five minutes before I was returned to the world I fell in love with. I moved to my door and closed it, before returning to lay on my bed as I grabbed my Nervegear. I powered it on and watched the time in the corner of my eye on the visor, 11:59, it flashed, counting the seconds internally before finally it changed. I smiled, "Let's do this, Link Start!" I yelled. My vision faded to white before I saw a multitude of colors fly past my eyes. Little graphics started to pop up and move to the corner, 'Touch – Okay', 'Sight – Okay', the five sense all confirmed themselves as working which allowed me to move to the next step, logging in. I entered my account information. To my surprise, my beta character was stored and it prompted me if I wanted to use it, I selected yes and before I knew it I found myself being transported to another world as my vision faded to white again.

When my eyesight cleared up I found myself looking at a wall. There was that surreal feeling from the beta, except it felt even cleaner this time. I clenched my hands before looking around, taking in my surroundings, I was in the Town of Beginnings. I grinned before jumping into the air, "Yes! I'm back baby! Floor 100, here I come!" After I spoke, flashes of light began to beam down from the sky. More players were joining in, all probably excited to play. I quickly sped off to the market district, "Might as well see how far I can get today. Hopefully I can get all the starting stuff out of the way so I can get into the real meat of the game tomorrow," I thought to myself.

I rounded a corner and came to a stall, it was a weapon shop. The NPC in charge was a tough looking man, burly and tall. His eyes met mine and he offered a smile, "Here to shop?" He inquired.

I nodded my head, "Yes please." Prompting the shop menu to appear. I scrolled through the weapons until I saw it, «Training Staff». I hit the buy button and equipped it. It materialized on my back, I felt complete now. With my quarterstaff, nothing could stop me, or so I thought at least. Afterwards I went to a few other shops, buying some utility items before heading out to the exit gate.

As I was walking to the exit, I looked around, all around me were players of all different sizes and appearances. SAO had a complex character creation system that allowed for players to make almost any style of character, provided it was human of course. I rounded a corner into an alley way, pushing myself into a light jog. Once I got to the end of the alley I grinned, "Almost there! Just gotta round this corner and there's the exit gate!" I quietly told myself, although anticipation was practically dripping from my tone. Suddenly before I knew it, I found myself being knocked backwards.

"Ah!" A feminine voice broke my train of thought.

I shook my head and looked in front of me, it was a girl, or well, a girl player, was probably a guy playing as one. I took in her appearance, as my eyes focused in on her, she seemed to have silver eyes, actually now that I thought of it, she was kind of cute, her black hair kind of went well with it too. "Wait what am I thinking?" I internally scolded myself, "It's probably a dude Makoto, get your head out of the gutter!" I shook my head and looked her in the eye, "O-oh, sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you." I began to stand up and offered my hand out to her as I used my other one to brush some dust off of my pants.

She looked up at me, a scowl on her face, before swatting at my hand. "Sorry? You just knocked me over, and all you can say is sorry!" Her face is red and she's showing no sign of stopping. "You idiot can't you at least watch where you're going?"

It's now my turn to turn red, albeit for a different reason, I was blushing from embarrassment. Not even one hour in and I already pissed someone off, "Way to go Makoto," I thought to myself. "S-sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going, I was trying to get to the exit gate via a shortcut..."

She snorted as she stood up, "Well watch where you're going next time." She shook her head, causing her long hair to move with it as she brushed it behind her shoulders. "Well, anyways, now that you've wasted my time, I suppose I should waste some of yours. That's fair after all, right?"

I blinked, cocking my head to the side, "Eh?"

She snorted again, "Weren't you listening? I said I'm going to use you for some help, you took some of my time, it's only fair."

I cocked my head to the other side now, this girl was truly unique, that's for sure, one second she's angry at you, the next she's demanding you help her. I shrugged before responding, "Uh, sure, what do you need help with?"

She smiled, "Well, now that you've asked... I require an escort to the store."

I scratched the back of my head as I gazed at her, "You mean you need directions to the market district...?"

She scrunched her nose up, "No, I mean I need an escort to it!"

"Why? Can't you read the map?" I asked, curious.

With that question, she turned away, her cheeks glowing slightly red. "N-no... I can read it... Pfft, who can't read the map?" She fidgeted with her hands as she continued to avert her gaze.

I sighed, "You're new, aren't you?"

"Shut up! It's my first VRMMO!"

"Alright, fine, fine, let's go.." I turned around and beckoned to her as I began walking back in the other direction, "I guess there's no helping it if you're new."

"H-hey! Wait up!" She called out to me as she began to follow suit.

Once she caught up, she stayed to the side of me for the whole way to the market. She remained mostly quiet for the walk, which gave me time to think about my next few steps. By now, most of the farming spots have already probably been snagged by players, which meant I'm going to have to go a little further out, sure it was risky, but dying in this game isn't that bad so I guess it won't be too bad if something bad happens.

"Hey, jerk." Her voice wakes me from my inner thoughts.

"You know, you're not going to make any friends if you keep treating people like that," I look over to her, not amused.

"H-hey! I don't need you lecturing me.." She let out a 'harrumph' as she looked away, "I was just going to thank you for showing me the way, jeeze.." She blushed slightly after.

"Oh, well uh, you're welcome I guess."

As we turned a corner I was greeted by the sight of the market district yet again. It was even busier now then before, I'd have to guess the main force of players have arrived finally.

"Well, here we are." I continued to look onward, waiting for a snarky reply, but when I didn't get one, I looked over to her. Her face was covered with surprise. I guess this really was her first VRMMO. Now that I thought about it though, she kind of had an innocent charm to her, when she wasn't biting my head off that is. A small smile formed on my face as I continued to look at her.

"What's with that stupid look?"

I was brought out of my stupor to see her glaring at me. "U-uh, nothing.." I looked away, grabbing the collar of my shirt and pulling it. So much for cute... "Anyways, like I said, this is the market district. Will you need any help finding any stores?"

She shook her head, "I should be able to take it from here."

After she spoke, I began to turn around, "Well, in that case-" I began.

"Wait!" She reached out to grab the sleeve of my jacket.

"Eh?" I responded.

"T-thanks.." She blushed, "I know I was kind of mean to you, but I appreciate you helping me.." She was looking down now, I guess because she was embarrassed.

"It's no big deal, we all got to start somewhere... Anyways, if that's everything, I'm gonna head out, I've got some goals to meet.

She let go of my sleeve, nodding, "Alright."

"Well, later!" I broke into a jog as I made my way back to the exit gate.

As I approached the gate I felt a slight wind blow against me, prompting a smile to emerge, I had made it, once I got past this, it was just me, and this game. I gripped my staff and approached it. The guards looked me over before opening it. Allowing me passage. As it opened I was greeted to the sight of beautiful rolling hills and plains. It was green, as far as the eye could see. Another gust of wind blew against me and my smile became a grin.

"I'm home..."

AN:

Phew! So there we go, chapter 1 or is it a prologue, I dunno. Anyways, hopefully I'll finish this shit. If not, well, guess it'll just be another thing I've never finished, I dunno.. In case you can't tell by my alias, I kind of have a hard time finishing things like this. But hey! I actually have a outline of sorts, and I'm following SAO's canon. Speaking of which. If you can't tell this isn't a story about Kirito and Asuna. Sure they might make a cameo eventually. But I'm trying to do something with characters I've made. If OC's aren't your thing, then I apologize. But I'm going to try and make them just as interesting. Anyways, now that that's out of the way. I'm going to go start working on the second chapter. So if you have any questions, hit me up in the reviews or something and I'll answer them next chapter. See you all next time!