Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online, anything by Rick Riordan, or…anything, really. I'll be taking some stuff like equipment, items, and quest ideas from games like Runescape and Adventure Quest, too, so…

Warnings: angst, mentions of death, etc.

Enjoy!

Nico watched the two males interact with sympathetic eyes, noticing the sad and pained look in the younger boy's own as he watched his friend go back to the town square, having declined his offer to join the younger one and get to the next town before resources ran out.

"It was his decision; there's nothing you could have done to change it. Free will, and all that." He spoke up, quickly jumping back when the other boy turned towards him, swinging his sword. "Uh…sorry. Guess I should probably get into the habit of announcing my presence, now…"

The other boy stared at him, calming down slightly as he saw Nico's cursor, meaning that he was another player, not an NPC.

"No, it was my fault." The other guy said with a sigh, sheepishly lowering his sword. "Sorry. I guess I'm a bit jumpy."

"I wonder why." Nico snorted.

The other boy gave the tiniest of smiles, not amused, but commiserating, at the sarcasm evident in Nico's tone. "True."

The two were silent for a moment.

"So…" Nico trailed off awkwardly, still feeling unused to social situations from his time as an anti-social nomad.

I mean, he was still anti-social, but now he stuck to one place. Or three, technically, if the Underworld and Camp Jupiter counted.

"You overheard that, huh?" the other male said, remembering what the younger had first said, before he had nearly attacked him.

"Yeah." Nico confirmed. "Are the resources and quests really going to run out? If Kayaba intended for this to be long-term…"

The other nodded. "I'm pretty sure. I was in the beta test. It could've been changed, but I'd rather not take the chance."

"A beta tester?" Nico repeated curiously. "Still, wouldn't the quests…reset, so more than one person can take them? That would make more sense, even if there's a cooldown period before it becomes available again."

The other boy paused, seeing the sense in that statement, before finally shrugging. "Well, we have plenty of time to find out."

Nico grimaced. "That we do."

There was another moment of silence, before the other boy face-palmed.

"Eh, I forgot to introduce myself." He said, sounding slightly embarrassed. "I'm Kirito."

"Nyx." Nico acknowledged with a nod. "Nice to meet you."

"You too." Kirito smiled a bit, before frowning thoughtfully. "That name sounds familiar…were you in the beta test, too?"

Nico blinked in surprise. "No. But I'm surprised you recognize it. It's from Greek mythology."

"Primordial of night." Kirito snapped his fingers as he remembered, before flushing slightly. "Sorry. I'm a bit of a geek, I guess."

"You're in good company, don't worry." Nico snorted. "Though maybe not about the same things. You're Japanese, right?"

"Yeah." Kirito nodded, seeing no reason to hide it. "You?"

His name was one thing, but a majority of the people trapped in SAO were Japanese, so who cared if that was known?

"Half Italian, half Greek." Nico answered. "But I grew up in the United States, so…yeah. Anyway, my point is that there are probably cultural differences, so we might not both be geeks for the same reasons."

To be honest, it wasn't the geographical location that Nico was actually thinking of (because honestly, the type of geek a person was probably had little to do with where they were), but the difference in when they had been born.

It was still a culture difference, just not the kind Kirito was thinking of.

Nico, for example, had been obsessed with Mythomagic, and even now preferred older card and arcade games. He was also a history buff, though that was more because he used to spend a lot of time with dead people who liked telling stories.

"Ah." Kirito nodded in agreement. "There are indeed many types of geek out there."

Kirito, on the other hand, was a more modern geek who was more a little obsessed with computers and electronics.

He might only be fourteen, but he'd hacked into a government database when he was ten (and promptly regretted it when he found something about him that he hadn't been prepared for,) and not only knew but understood how virtual reality games and the Nerve Gear helmet worked.

And since he'd been playing games obsessively since he was ten to try and distract himself, he knew a fair bit about mythology and folklore, since a lot of games utilized it at least a little.

"Anyway." Kirito shook his head, bringing Nico out of his musings. "Want to get out of here?"

Nico tilted his head curiously. "…Yeah, I don't see why not."

After all, Kirito had the right idea.

If resources and quests to get better items were going to run out, then they needed to get the hell out of dodge if they wanted the good stuff.

"Cool." Kirito said, quickly pulling up his menu and sending him a request to form a party, which Nico accepted. "Let's go."

And they were off.

Three days later, and Kirito couldn't find it in himself to regret teaming up with Nyx, regardless of the fact that he hadn't really planned to let anyone in besides Klein.

Still, Klein hadn't taken him up on his offer to come with him, so maybe Kirito had invited Nyx along because he was lonely.

Or because being in a party this early in the game heightened his chances for survival, since he wasn't very strong on his own, yet.

One of the first quests they had taken, Secret Medicine in the Forest, had earned Kirito his Anneal blade, the best sword on Floor 1.

He had been worried that Nyx would want to fight him for it, but the other boy had simply shaken his head and let him have it.

"Not really my style." He had said with a shrug. "I prefer black blades."

He rather missed his Stygian Iron sword.

And, honestly, he didn't mind Kirito having a better blade than him. After all, he was a mortal, while Nico had his demigod reflexes and combat experience to fall back on.

Not that the other boy was inexperienced, having played virtual reality games for so long that he was able to pick things up very quickly, but still.

Nico had already faced certain death, and lived.

Kirito hadn't.

Yet, anyways.

But Nico had a nasty feeling that he would.

The Japanese boy had been confused, because why would someone who was trapped in a death game be concerned about what his weapon looked like, but didn't ask.

Anyway, Kirito was glad that they'd team up.

Sticking with Nyx helped to lessen his guilt over leaving Klein behind, they saved Col by sharing a room at the inn, and they worked well together as a team.

And, you know, Nyx was also a bit of an enigma, but Kirito was content to leave that particular mystery unsolved. For now, at least.

In the meantime, he would enjoy his new friend's company.

Nico's Death Sense had been going crazy over the past few days as players jumped to their deaths off the edge of Aincrad, or were killed in combat.

He was doing his best to hide his reactions to the feeling, but at one point, Kirito noticed.

"What's wrong?" the other boy asked with a frown.

"Eh…" Nico hesitated. "Nothing, really. I have this sixth sense that goes off whenever someone flirts with my younger sister."

Total lie, of course.

And even if he did, Nico trusted Frank, Hazel's boyfriend, to take care of it.

Still, he couldn't exactly tell Kirito that he felt it whenever someone died.

"You have a sister?" Kirito perked up slightly.

Nico looked at him warily. "Yes…"

Unbeknownst to Kirito, Nyx was wary of getting the same kind of reaction that Kirito had gotten from Klein when…

"So do I." Kirito said with a sad smile.

When he'd mentioned his own.

Nico's eyes softened at his friend's words. "How old is she?"

"Thirteen." Kirito answered.

Nico's eyebrow went up. "So is mine. Interesting."

Kirito grinned. "I can see why that feeling of yours makes you react like that. Suguha can take care of herself, but I'm her older b—"

He cut himself off, staring down at the ground sadly.

"Kirito?" Nico asked, concerned.

His friend glanced up, blinking at him slowly. "Eh, sorry. It's just…she's actually my cousin. My parents died when I was a baby, so my aunt and uncle adopted me. I found out by accident a few years ago."

"Ouch." Nico winced sympathetically before deciding to tell his friend a bit of his own tragic history. "My mom was murdered when I was younger by one of my uncles, who was trying to kill my sister and I. I don't really remember her."

Kirito glanced at him in horror. "Someone tried to kill you two?!"

Nico nodded, bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "Yeah. And I'm talking about my older sister, not Hazel, who is actually my half-sister. Bianca died when I was ten."

"Shit…" Kirito breathed out.

He wasn't really one to curse, but…wow.

"W-what about your dad?" he asked warily. "If you don't mind me asking."

Nico hummed thoughtfully. "I didn't really know about him until mom died. He wasn't able to take care of us, so I didn't really get to know him until later. He's cool, I guess. Stern, stubborn as hell, prideful, and always really irritated because his job is…really stressful…but he cares about me in his own way. Now, my stepmother, on the other hand…"

He shuddered as he remembered Persephone turning him into a flower.

Kirito nodded solemnly, deciding to continue with their exchanging of stories. "I'm not really close to my family anymore."

Nyx blinked at him.

"I felt like an outsider after finding out that I was adopted." Kirito continued. "Suddenly, it felt like I didn't have parents or a sister. Not really. I felt lied to."

"Betrayed." Nyx murmured quietly.

Like when Bianca had gone off with the hunters, only to end up dead a few days later.

Kirito nodded. "I was mad at my grandfather, too. I mean, he was still my grandpa either way, but he knew the entire time and never told me. Our family kind of has a tradition, practicing Kendo, and he was the one to teach me and my sister. But I didn't enjoy it anymore, because I was mad at him, and Suguha, even though she probably has no idea I'm not her real brother. Grandfather was…not happy with me. But then Suguha declared that she would work hard enough for the both of us. And she did. She went to nationals last year."

"But?" Nico asked, seeing that, mixed with pride and sadness in Kirito's eyes, there was also regret.

"But I wonder if she even enjoys it." Kirito continued, speaking quietly. "She was so determined to get grandfather off my back, Kendo became her life. I wonder if she resents me for it. And I regret pushing her away all these years."

Nico frowned, humming thoughtfully as he stared up at the sky, blinking in surprise as he realized that they were the same constellations as in the real world.

There was Andromeda. Cassiopeia. Pisces.

He wondered if, next month, he would be able to see the Huntress, or if the constellation was invisible to mortals who didn't know it was there, so Kayaba couldn't have included it.

"I think," Nico said after a few moments. "That your sister probably doesn't resent you. I certainly wouldn't resent Hazel if we were in that situation. But I would recommend trying to reconnect her if-when, we beat the game. You owe her that much, at least."

Kirito smiled a bit, slightly reassured.

"At least." He agreed.

Later that night, Nico lay awake as Kirito slept in the other bed, wondering why he'd told some of his history to someone he'd only known for a few days.

That…wasn't like him.

It's not like he was attracted to Kirito (the thought of a certain Son of Apollo still caused skeletal butterflies to fly around in his belly, like they used to with Percy, while Kirito didn't inspire that reaction at all), so it wasn't because of a crush.

So why had he done it?

After some thought, he supposed that they were so open with each other because they were in a game, and even if they got out, unlikely to ever see each other again.

Please review! :)

I know it's unrealistic that they would share so much about each other so quickly, but I wanted a heart to heart, so here it is.

Note: Nico and Kirito WILL NOT end up together at any point.