Author' Note: Hey guys! Thank you for all the amazing reviews. They really made my day.

I'll try to update as frequently as I can, but I'm not promising anything. But I intend to see this story till the end even if it takes time.

Without further ado, let's meet everyone's favorite baseball-loving swordsman.

Level 2 The silent rain

One month had gone by since the start of the game One thousand players have died through various means including suicide and player killing. And worst of all the first-floor boss is yet to be defeated.

With morale so low, Natsu was surprised how many showed up for the upcoming meeting for the first boss battle. There were a lot of players wielding quality items fit for their higher levels, but there were also a few of them still in their starting gear. Budding merchants, craftsmen joined the brave warriors who planned to challenge the boss.

Natsu thought about looking around. trying to find a better blade than his current one. His weighted iron blade was a step better than what he started with, but wouldn't cut it out for long on the second floor, according to the information distributed by the beta players. No need to take unnecessary risks.

Agil caught his wandering look and slightly shook his head.

"We can look around later, to find if there is anything useful. First, let's see what comes out in the meeting."

A little embarrassed, Natsu sent a little nod to the ax wielder, while ignoring the bemused look from Buzz and the snicker from the fourth member of their party.

Speaking of whom, Natsu sent a glance to the player who joined them a week ago, thinking about the events that led to their party expanding.

-0- Flashback -0-

Natsu followed Buzz into the dimly lit dungeon, hand firmly on his sword. Agil went back to starting City, to distribute the excess gear that they have no need for, to help the players planning to go out to the fields. Natsu agreed with his plan, he already saw players die before his very eyes and it haunted him for days. The better prepared they are, the better chances everyone has.

For the past three weeks, the trio barely stopped for anything besides farming, exploring, and leveling up. Buzz urged them to train as much as they can, without leaving time to wallow in their thoughts. According to him, it's easier to distract themselves if they have something to do in front of them.

Natsu appreciated it, because he only panicked a few times, luckily outside of battle. Buzz was impressed enough with him to suggest going through this dungeon again with only two of them.

"Quit daydreaming kid. There is a chance there are mobs lying in wait. Don't let your guard down" came the gruff voice of Buzz.

Not replying in words, Natsu drew his blade, looking around trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. His newly acquired sword was a comforting weight in his hands, grounding his errant thoughts.

They came through a couple of monsters, mostly bears. The older man helped Natsu see through their attack patterns and counter accordingly, claiming it would help especially against humanoid opponents in higher levels.

They dispatched another group of bears with relative ease and when it appeared no other monsters were in the vicinity Natsu stopped for a second trying to get his breath back. As he leaned over a tree panting, he looked over Buzz. The older man had his spear resting on his shoulder, breathing even, looking out for any surprises. Figuring they had time to talk Natsu uncertainly called out.

"Hey Buzz? " his answer came as a noncommittal grunt showing the other was listening.

"Why are you fighting so hard? I mean…you never let anything slow you down, you always walking forward…why…how can you go on like that? "

It's not that Natsu was any less of a hard-worker as Agil and Buzz, but he always doubts himself, while the older two never seemed to look anything but confident. He would have rambled for a while if Buzz didn't decide to cut him off.

"I have a daughter." The admission surprised the young boy, who looked at the spear user who scratched his head. "Her mom and I were childhood sweethearts, but eventually we went our ways. She got custody, but I still try to spend as much time with her as I can. Why do I fight? So I can go back and tell her all the fun adventures I had for her."

Natus couldn't help but blink. Buzz always looked tough, it was a little bizarre seeing that soft look on his face.

"What"s your daughter's name?" He asked in the end.

"Emi. She's five yours old now."

After this, a silence descended between them. Natsu was happy to learn about his partner who always seemed so closed-off. Eventually, Buzz declared that they should be going, not another word between them about their little talk.

It was an hour later, when they were contemplating going back to the nearest village, they heard sounds of fighting. Curious, they followed the sounds to a clearing finding a single player engaging the strongest monster in the dungeon, the Mad Grizzly.

Twice as big as his fellows, with a scar going through his left eye, the Mad Grizzly made a frightening figure. Thanks to his permanent berserker buff, he was able to ignore wounds and even some knockback effects. According to intel about the dungeon, it's supposed to be accompanied by two weaker Big Grizzlys but from the looks of it, they were already defeated.

The player wore basic leather armor with a blue undershirt, wielding a curved sword. He had short black hair, black eyes, and a handsome face, a head taller than Natsu. The state of his equipment told them he had quite a fight behind him, he lost most of his HP and he was having trouble breathing properly. But the most glaring thing about him was the look in his eyes. He had the look of someone who cared about nothing but the fight ahead of him.

Fortunately, his opponent was also on its last legs, his HP was already in the red.

When the player fell to a knee in exhaustion, Natsu was already in motion. Activating his basic sword skill, the one-hit Horizontal he was able to catch the bear on its side, drawing his aggro from the other player.

With a clear shout of Switch ranging out, he sidestepped easily letting the spear thrust into the unsteady mob. Capitalizing in a small opening, Natsu unleashed his current strongest skill, the 2-hit Vertical arc, leaving the shape of V in the hind of the bear as it's HP reached zero.

As the bear scattered into polygons, Natsu flashed a sheepish smile at Buzz's reprimanding face for running ahead without thought, before turning to the painting swordsman.

"Are you alright..?" Natsu trailed off, recognizing the face warily looking at him. "Ya-Yamamoto?!"

Yamamoto Takeshi, rising baseball player of Nanimor Elementary, a classmate of Tsuna, was the last person he thought he would meet here. At first glance it was hard to make to connection, the teen was without the smile that seemed to be always on his face.

Yamamoto furrowed his brows as he looked closer at a surprised Natsu.

"Sawada Tsuna?"

All he got a sheepish nod before Buzz interrupted them.

"The safe zone is not far from here. Let's get there, then you can catch up."

Natsu gave a nod then helped a still a little bit out of it Yamamoto up. During their short trek to the safe zone, the other teen was silent, while Natsu felt incredibly tense. Without anyone reminding him of who he was in real life, it was easier to slip into the role of Natsu. With someone who knew who Dame-Tsuna was, it was suddenly much harder. At least he hadn't called him by that nickname.

When they reached the safe zone which was yet another clearing, Buzz gave Natsu a look that meant 'explain now, brat'. He got that look quite a few times in the past weeks.

With a sheepish smile, he explained.

"He-He is a classmate of mine. I didn't know he was playing the game. That reminds me, how come you are out here Yamamoto-san?"

The last part was meant to the teen who finally calmed down and downed a potion to regain his lost health. He gave a wry smile which practically screamed fake to the observing Natsu.

"Ken, that's my player name. And I was simply leveling."

The answer came with a hollow laugh. in response, Buzz gave him a stern look.

"More like suicide by fighting way above your league. Your equipment is rubbish and you are way too exhausted for any fighting."

Slightly scared of the dark look Ken answered with, Natsu tried to break the staredown off.

"Anyway, we should be heading back soon. Agil must be worried about us. Won't you come with us, Yama-Ken? By the way, I'm called Natsu here, and my friend is Buzz."

He had to hold back a cringe at the painfully fake smile sent to him, his intuition going haywire. At least Ken agreed to go back with them and Buzz also chose withheld anymore comments.

-0-

As expected Agil was furious with them, when the trio finally made back to the village, later than originally planned. Since they were in a dungeon they had no way to let him know the reason for the delay. That guy always worries about other players, even though he tries to come through as a tough mercenary who only cares about money.

Natsu elbowed Takeshi gently as they watched Agil ranting like a mother hen to an exasperatedly blinking Buzz. It comes in handy at times, to be overlooked because he was a kid. Not that he would ever admit it.

"Want to look around while they bicker?"

All he got was an owlish look and a mute nod. He supposed the reaction was natural. He was all too aware of how different he acted. In the real world, everything felt dull and he felt restricted. He was afraid of his own shadow, clumsy and friendless. Here the world was bright and he was free.

It was not strange at all that he preferred being Natsu over Tsuna.

-0-

The two boys explored the little village, doing a few errand quests to kill the time. Natsu tried to raise Ken's spirits, but he could feel the other boy was faking his cheerfulness. It pained Natsu to see his obvious sadness, but nothing he did helped alleviate it.

After a few hours they returned to their inn, it was promptly decided by Agil that Ken would join them for the time being, at least until he was deemed fit to survive on his own. A little subdued, the curved sword-user agreed, though with Agil's mother hen tendencies the answer 'no' was never a viable option.

Later, thanks to a good-natured joke from Buzz about "little kids needing their sleep", it was decided to retire for the night.

-0-

It was in the middle a night when Natsu suddenly woke up, something telling him he was needed somewhere. His instincts haven't steered him wrong yet, so he quickly re-equipped his armor and sword and left his room. Better safe than sorry.

Reaching the base floor of the inn, he caught Ken leaving. Worried about his classmate, he began to follow him from a distance. The town was deserted, all players were sleeping and the NPCs went back to their homes according to their programming, save for a pair of guards that patrolled the village. He supposed it was for the sake of making this world seem more alive.

The black-haired teen reached the gate, with Natsu hiding behind a wall, debating whether talk to Ken about what he was doing when a voice stopped both of them.

"Wait!"

It was Agil, in black pants and a green shirt calmly walking towards Ken. Natsu could swear he looked in his direction for a moment before leveling his gaze at the other teen.

The black-haired teen's face was devoid of any emotion, his body tense. He only regarded the older man with an empty gaze, prompting Agil to heave a sigh. He might have grumbled something about reckless kids but he couldn't hear him clearly.

"What good it will do if you just throw away your life recklessly? Because that's what you're doing. Fighting enemies without any regard for yourself, without any preparation, asking to be overwhelmed. It's no different than suicide."

Ken gave no outward reaction to the words, only the tightening of his fist gave away that he heard the older man. Natsu was prepared to leave his hiding place when a large hand gripped his shoulder. Looking up, he met the stern gaze of Buzz, silently telling him to stay put.

Back with the other two, seeing his words having an effect, Agil continued to speak.

"Don't you think that your life is worth fighting for? To see your family once again? I do. There's not a day that I don't think about my wife and my life outside. That's why I walk forward, even when I am doubting myself "

Agil walked closer to Ken, who looked up with a lost expression on his face, no longer trying to smile or feign indifference.

"But...how can you go on?"

"By not doing it alone. By yourself, It's a huge burden on you, but with comrades, you can walk forward. Natsu, Buzz, and I all have our doubts, our fears, but if we let them control us then that Kayaba won."

At that Natsu finally walked next to the two of them with Buzz following with a bored look on his face. Natsu couldn't shake the feeling that this conversation awakened in him, his own doubt and fear.

Instead of trying to force them down, he let them be shown as he started to speak to Ken.

"Everyday... everyday I'm afraid. Afraid of dying, of never escaping this scary world. But when I want to give up, to run away I always remember that I'm not alone. Agil, Buzz, and all the ten thousand players who want to wake up from this nightmare, who are giving their all to beat the game. It's not much but I remember the experiences, the laughs we shared to be able to move forward."

Nobody dared to say a word as the brown-haired boy let out the feelings he had been bottling up for weeks now. All of them were familiar with these thoughts but for Natsu who since a young age wore his heart on his sleeve, these feelings were more profound.

"I want to go home with everyone else. I want to go home, so I can worry about Hibari-san biting me to death for missing school. So Mom can stop worrying about me. You are the same aren't you, Yamamoto? I think your dad would be very sad if you died here, without even a chance to say goodbye."

Natsu bowed his head letting his tears flow freely to the ground. His speech was as much for the sake of Ken as for himself, to declare and strengthen his resolve.

"You win."

He looked up at the almost silent whisper. Ken faced Natsu was with tears in his eyes and a very small but sincere smile on his face.

"You win, Natsu-no, Tsuna. If you feel that strongly...guess I can't give up."

The young boy looked up with a watery smile on his face. To the side, Agil smiled at the teens with a proud look and tears in his eyes. Even Buzz had a few in the corners of his eyes, as he grumbled about angsty teens.

-0-

Of course, things didn't change miraculously. It took a few days, for Ken to find his place in their growing party, but things eventually settled down.

The four of them leveled up and they came with high spirits when the news came that the boss room was found.

Natsu couldn't help but grin as he looked around. Agil was a little farther, bantering with a merchant, Buzz was walking forward his mind already focusing on the upcoming conference and Ken was laughing by his side. Natsu still feared what tomorrow will bring but he didn't let it stop him. He might stumble but he had his party members to catch him.

'Just you wait, Kayaba Akihiko. We will survive, we will win.'

-0-

? POV

In a secluded spot on the first floor of Aincrad a hole appeared, surrounded by countless ERROR messages. The Cardinal, Aincrad system tried to fight against whatever caused the damage to its systems, but without any success. In a few moments the hole did disappear, Cardinal failing to find it leaving anything behind.

Not far from there a figure seems to be sitting on a brach of a tree. They seem to twirl some kind of staff in their hands, as they look around in this new world.

"Ku Ku Ku Ku," they laughed a smirk on their face "let's see, what kind of playground I have found for myself."

The next moment the figure disappeared only leaving his last words behind.