Disclaimer, I only own OC's. whoever owns SAO, its not me.
Chapter 3: Threats and revelations
Adamant walked over, giving Jade a hand up. "That was impressive. Want to take a break, or keep grinding for a while?" That decision was spared her though, by a bell tolling in the distance.
Jade frowned. "What's that? Some kind of event?" Adamant looked towards the town of beginnings, the apparent source of the sound. "I guess so. But nothing like this was in the Beta. I wonder-" "Eep!" Jade's sudden response was cut off as Adamant experienced a jerk, temporary blindness, then disorientation as his next view was of the main square in the town of beginnings. Looking round, he noticed Jade a few metres away, and moved towards her, pushing through the crowd of other confused players who were suddenly flashing into existence around them. Jade tried again to say something, but was again cut off by the sudden reddening of the sky, creating a dome around the courtyard. The confused crowd turned into a panicky one, and some kind of red liquid oozed from the top of the dome, gradually forming a large figure floating in the sky. "Attention players. I welcome you to my world."
Adamant grew more and more horrified as the Game master, Kayaba, explained the deliberate lack of a logout button, the deaths from the attempted removal of the nerve gear, and the life changing fact that dying in the game killed you IRL. By the end, Adamant concluded that this man was some kind of psychopath, but didn't see any way of stopping the GM until, no, unless he beat the game. But when Kayaba mentioned a 'present' in everyone's inventory, Adamant figured that someone so intent on his mad scheme wouldn't give an insta-kill to every player, so he took out what seemed to be a mirror and looked. There was another blue flash encompassing everyone in the stadium, and when his eyes opened, instead of a different place, he seemed to be in a different crowd. "Adamant?" he heard Jade say from behind him, and turned around to see… not her. The simple brown hair and eyes were gone, instead was a girl who was, if anything, a year younger, with bleach white hair reaching almost to her waist and bright red eyes, currently squinting in confusion. Adamant frowned. "Yes, but, who's asking?" The girl's eyes flashed in annoyance. "Uh, me? Jade? The one you helped buy the rapier?" Now Adamant was just flustered. "Well, yes but…" his usually articulate words failed him, and he gestured lamely at the mirror. Still frowning, 'apparently Jade' looked down at herself, took a moment to comprehend, and gasped, her mouth widening in dawning horror, before dropping the mirror and sprinting towards the nearest exit. Adamant didn't really hear the parting words of the game master, or see the floating figure crumble. He was too busy sprinting after Jade, who had turned down a side street and was fleeing at top speed. Sending Dylan ahead, he ran as fast as possible, frustrated at his low speed stat. (He was only level 2) He twisted and turned, ultimately getting lost, if not for Dylan, and finally slowing down to catch his breath when he heard the hurried footsteps before him stop. He found her slumped in a dead end corner. And from the sound, she was crying.
She looked up, and her eyes flashed in anger. "Chasing the freak, are you?" She called out, trying to sound contemptuous and failing. Hands raised, demeanour unaggressive, Adamant took a step towards her. "That wasn't my intent. I want to help."
"With what?" Another step. "Whatever made you run from the courtyard." She gave a short bitter laugh. "The hair and eyes? Good luck; I've been that way since birth." Another step, only a few feet away now. "You think that being an albino makes you a freak?" A nod from her, then another step. "You are aware that that's racism, correct?" "OF COURSE I KNOW!" Adamant halted his half step forward, getting the feeling that she meant to say more. "We may be told at school not to bully each other because they're tall, or fat, or short. But its human nature to fear change, and accepting different people clashes with that instinct. So outsiders get shunned. When new people see me, I'm an interest, then a weirdo, then a freak. So when I see a videogame with a custom avatar, in virtual reality? I think, maybe I have a chance to fit in, be normal, socialise. But no, even in a deadly game that's taken from me." Adamant paused, re-evaluated, and decided that being calm but formal wasn't going to help. He crouched beside her and said, quietly. "But you aren't abnormal now, are you?" She looked up in confusion, and knowing he had her interest, he continued. "My father is pretty important when it comes to most things in Britain. So his son has to act the part. You get shunned by other students in class? I get private tutors. 0 friends, 0 enemies, too many 'useful acquaintances' as my dad calls them. I'm sure there are more than a couple of thousand people here with loner sop stories. But instead of hiding behind some generic avatar, they now have to accept who they are." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Here's another fact of human nature. People are usually far too consumed with their own problems to care about yours. And in here, the freaks are now the norm. This may sound like the advice everyone gives, but just be you. Make people identify with your personality rather than your appearance, because from what I could tell you have a pretty good one. And I know somewhere inside, your pretty proud of those eyes and that hair." She gave him a small smile. "You're doing that 'suddenly informal' thing again." He straightened. "What thing?" She giggled. "Never mind. Two questions though. First, how did you know I was proud of my eyes?" He shrugged. "You can afford the new nerve gear but not hair dye and contact lenses? A bit of a stretch." Jade thought about it, but it had never really occurred to her. "Second," She continued, "when you said 'you have a pretty good one', did you mean my personality or my appearance?" He gave her a lopsided smile and held out a hand. "Honestly? Neither is too bad." That one made her blush, but she accepted the hand. "Now let's see what we can do about being stuck in the world's most hardcore MMO, shall we?"
Yaaaay, character development... Plz review helpfully! Next chapter, 'Finding friends and grinding foes up tomorrow.