Author's Note: These Characters Belong to Emma Hiiragi, I hope you enjoy this Rewritten Story. And also please check out their take on an SAO fanfic name Sword Art Online Alternative, as their story is what inspired me to write this story in the First place.

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Opening his eyes, he saw red over him. But that wasn't the only red he saw. A large, faceless cloak hovered just above him, with its large arms, and white gloved hands extended outwards away from his body.

"Everyone, I welcome you to my world." The figure's booming voice echoed over all of the players who watched from the Teleport Plaza of the Town of Beginnings.

But his voice never registered in a certain young man's ears. He was too in shock from just listening to the voice that echoed. He knew that voice well. In fact, he's heard it at least a couple dozen times. It would be better to say that everyone had heard his voice at one point in their life. Yes, the voice of the cloaked figure belonged to none other than Akihiko Kayaba.

"If your HP drops to 0, your Avatar will be deleted from the system forever, and the Nerve Gear will simultaneously destroy your brain." Kayaba stated without hesitation. "The only way to leave is the reach the 100th Floor, and beat Sword Art Online…Players, I wish you the best of luck."

"No…NOOOOOOOOOO!" A young woman, who looked to be in her mid-teens to early 20s screamed, which then caused everyone around her to scream in fear and rage. As they did no one's voice reach her ears. "We…we just wanted to play a game…"

"Shimizu!" The young man pulled the young woman's face to face his. "We have to get out of here, now!"

"Shirou?" Tears began to stream down Shimizu's face as she spoke. "We're stuck here, aren't we?"

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Several Hours Before…

"Ahh!" Jumping out of the way from a boar attack, Shimizu, a young woman with dark brown hair, and hazel brown eyes, with a pale round face, held her beginner spear close to her chest as she moved. Her armor was the standard beginner's armor that all player received as the default when they first began the popular, and recently released VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online. "Shirou, you never told me that it was this fast!"

"That's fast?" Using speed faster than Shimizu's eyes could register, Shirou practically flew by the «Frenzy Boar» killing it with little trouble. "Despite using a different Nerve Gear to enter the game, I can still move and attack just fine." Shirou answered with a smirk.

"Enough of your jokes, please! This is the first time I'm actually using something like this." Shimizu spoke to the top of her lungs, her voice sounding like crystal clear water.

"You'll get used to it in no time, trust me." Suddenly, the young man of blackish blue hair and silver-gray eyes, turned his attention away from the «Frenzy Boar» that spawned to the new voices he heard just a few meters away. "Hey, come with me."

As the duo walked away from their grinding spot, they traversed over a small hill to see two other players, one man, another a girl. The girl had short, wavy brown hair that faded down to a mahogany red, while donning a bright red ribbon on the back of her head. Her appearance was, to say rather average, like your typical schoolgirl appearance. Her partner on the other hand, looked just like something straight out of a bishounen manga, aside from the rectangular glasses that he wore on his face.

Breathing rather heavily while fighting several «Dire Wolves», it was clear which of the two had more experience with MMO games.

"They're pretty good, huh, Shirou?" Shimizu asked as she looked in the young man's general direction, only to see him mumbling to himself. "Shirou?"

"Huh? You say something?" Shirou answered as if exiting some sort of trance.

"Nothing." Shimizu answered in a defeated tone.

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Managing to defeat all the mobs that spawned around them, the two players fell to the ground while trying their best to hold onto their weapons.

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"Hey, Makoto." The girl spoke through her breaths.

"What's…up, Hinata?" Makoto answered through his breaths as he looked towards his partner.

"Was it always this tiring?" Hinata questioned why it seemed to be a bit harder to defeat the mob in the official release, than in the beta.

"Probably to rack up on exp faster, I don't know." Makoto answered his twin sister's question to the best of his ability.

"It's harder because you were using unnecessary movements and swings." Shirou replied as he walked up to the two teens.

Getting up to hold their weapons up, Shirou was seen with his hands up as he walked up to the two.

"Hello, there." He answered with a bit of a strained smile.

"Hi." Makoto answered with a bit of hostility. "Can I help you?"

"No, but I can help you. I used to be a beta tester." Shirou answered confidently.

"You too?" Makoto dropped his guard instantly as Shirou mentioned him being a beta tester.

"Oh, you're one too?" Shirou, just a surprised as Makoto, spoke in the same surprised tone as the young teen. "Then this makes things easier. So…what do you say?"

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Back in the Town of Beginnings…

Opening her eyes, a young girl, who doesn't look to be your average Japanese with tanner skin, and ginger-red hair that looks to be black in the shadows, with warm, expressive silver-blue eyes that only matched with her soft, slightly angular face, looked up to see the bright artificial Sun shining down on the town and its inhabitants, giving any person who couldn't hide the smile growing on their face an even brighter smile.

"Finally." The young girl said, as she threw up both of her arms and exclaimed to the top of her lungs. "IT'S HERE!" Despite getting looks, the people around her only giggled at her excitement, because they too were completely excited to be playing SAO, some people even cheered alongside her. One person being a very tall, fully leathered armored man, whose voice only boomed when he spoke, cheered as well.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity, the young ginger haired girl raised her hand and High Fived the man as she ran past him. Not one to waste any time, the young girl ran straight to the Central Plaza of the Town of Beginnings to begin her start in this new SAO. But through her excitement, she bumped into another girl, another young girl of shoulder length auburn hair. Through their quick apology, the ginger-haired girl noticed this girl's beautiful deep blue eyes as well as the mole that sat under her right eye.

"Sorry, was a bit too excited. Enjoy your time." The ginger-haired girl said as she waved and ran off before the other girl could even say a word.

"What a funny person." The Auburn-Haired girl smiled lightly as she giggled, before she began to walk away without worrying about the small incident.

Making her way out, the auburn-haired girl looked around to see many different groups of players, solo players, and other oddities as they all fought and battled just outside the walls of the Town of Beginnings. Placing her hand on her standard beginners sword and tugging on the white scarf she had bought with all the Col she had in her account, the girl set out to experience the vast new land before her, excited to see what it had in store for her.

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An Hour Later…

Holding what looked to be a shield with a crescent moon insignia on the center of it, a Frenzy Boar ran straight into it. Causing the mob to slide right off his shield, the leathered armored man lifted his right arm to show his weapon of choice, a falchion. Lifting it high into the sky, the man brought it down, and took out the beast before it had time to attack.

In that moment, a sound resonated in his ears, knowing what the sound was, the man looked to see his level had gone up from Level 3 to Level 4. Using his knowledge of the Beta Test, Riordan, began to make good progress when it came to leveling up. Feeling satisfied with his progress, Riordan began to walk around to see what the other players were doing or if they needed help. Looking off into the distance, he noticed several players, fighting against one mob, a few others resting where the mobs didn't spawn, and just a few who were walking around taking in the new sights.

Hearing the sound of an object breaking, Riordan looked back to see the group that was fighting against the mob, one of the players had died, seeing the others laughing at their allies mistake, caused a small smile to appear on the big man's face.

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"Where do think he went?" One of the boys spoke as they tried to hold back their laughter.

"I don't know." Another snickered.

"If anything, he went back to the Town of Beginnings." Riordan spoke up as he was within ear shot.

"Is that so?" The group looked at each other before bowing. "Thanks, we'll go and see him now." But despite leaving, the dusty blonde-haired man still heard the groups laughter.

"High schoolers." Riordan shook his head in embarrassment, as he remembered when he was like that.

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Close to the Town of Tolbana…

The young ginger-haired girl, using her knowledge from the Beta Test, traveled farther than any player who had decided to stay close to the Town of Beginnings. In doing so, she felt as though she was all alone, but she didn't mind it, as she was able to take in the sights of everything around her.

Taking in a deep breath, the air around her smelled crisp and fresh, but the monster around her only ruined the moment, but she wasn't scared. For she knew how to handle them. It only took her several minutes to defeat the monster around her. But she was in no rush to complete anything, still Xena wanted a challenge.

Smiling widely, the «Little Nepenthes» rushed at her like she had predicted. As the mobs, surrounded her, she pulled her sword from her back, and spun around, in doing so, she took out half of the monsters health bar.

"Now." One after another, Xena began to take out mob after mob, despite taking in damage, she wasn't scared, nor was she terrified. In fact, she moved so swiftly, that it was almost beautiful to see. A graceful, limber young girl dancing and prancing as she played around with the mobs that tried to kill her, but she was far faster, more limber than the monster could handle. And without even sweating, Xena managed to finish them all off. "I guess it's time to head back." She said with a skip in her step.

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With the Virtual Sun setting in the distance…

As the day came to a close, Shirou, Shimizu, and the twins: Makoto and Hinata watched as the Sun began to set beyond the horizon.

"Thanks for teaching us, Shirou. It was huge help." Makoto answered.

"It really was." Hinata added. "I think I'm a bit more comfortable with my weapons.

"I'm glad, just be sure to keep practicing. After all…" Shirou was about to continue when he noticed the time. "It's that late already?"

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked, curious as to why Shirou was focused on the time.

"There's something I have to check IRL. I only planned on staying for few hours, not this long." Shirou answered embarrassingly.

"Then why don't we all log out and meet back up tomorrow?" Shimizu offered.

"That sounds like a plan." Makoto and Hinata answered simultaneously, then looked at each other then laughed.

"They're twins alright." Shirou added quietly as he saw them laughing.

"Alright, see ya." Makoto gave his goodbye as he turned around.

"See you later, I hope we can introduce our cousin to you tomorrow." Hinata spoke happily as she turned around to open her menu. But before Shirou and Shimizu could even open theirs Hinata spoke up. "Huh? Makoto, how do you log out again?"

Hearing those words, Shirou turned around rather quickly that if he had turned his head any faster, he would've been able to snap his own neck off.

"Yeah, how do you log out? There's no log out button." Makoto added.

"That's impossible, it's right…" Opening his own menu, Shirou also noticed that his log out button was missing as well. "Shimizu…"

"I don't see mine either." Shimizu responded quickly as fear began to set in her voice.

"What now…" But before Shirou could think of anything, a bell began to ring out all across the 1st Floor.

Stunned by the sound, the group of teens just froze where they stood as one by one, a mysterious light began to engulf them. Opening his eyes once more, Shirou found himself back in the Town of Beginnings. One after another, more and more players began to appear in the once empty town crowding the Teleport Plaza. As the bell continued to ring, more and more people began to appear.

"Someone used a force teleport?" Riordan was just as confused as everyone else, but he tried to keep a level head about it. "Is it due to the bug for the Log Out button? I sure hope so."

Xena was still stunned at the fact that she, who was a bit farther than anyone in the game, barely reaching the Town of Tolbana, only to be teleported back to the Town of Beginnings, caused her to look around frantically.

"What's going on?" Xena said to herself as she looked around only to see certain faces filled with worry and confusion in their eyes. "No, seriously, what's wrong? Why is everyone scared out of their minds?"

Then a sound coming from above caught her attention, as the young girl looked she noticed a red hexagon blinking above the Town, before it began to consume the sky. As it did, Xena's head followed it until it fell out of sight. Looking back, she noticed a red, slimy substance emerging from the sky.

"What is that?" Xena spoke out loud.

As a red cloak began to float in the sky, its faceless appearance struck a chord in everyone's hearts, but for Shirou, it was odd. He felt like he had seen that cloak somewhere before, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Shirou…" Shimizu spoke up. "What is that?"

"I don't know." Shirou answered before the figure rose its arms and spoke.

"Welcome Players…. To my world." The figure spoke as it still had its arms raised to its side. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world."

As the murmurs of players began to raise in volume, most the players were quite surprised that Kayaba, a man who has had no contact with anyone outside of ARGUS, appeared in front of them on the first day of SAO.

"I'm certain most of you have noticed that something is missing from your main menu…The Log Out Button. I can assure you this is not a defect in the game." As Kayaba said this, he opened his own menu and showed the Log Out Button missing from his menu. "I repeat this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was made to be." Hearing these words, every person in the Town of Beginnings froze in shock as the words reverberated throughout their bodies. "…And no one will be able to shut down or remove the Nerve Gear from your head. Should anyone attempt to do so, a transmitter inside the Nerve Gear will transmit a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life." As everyone began to argue with Kayaba from below, no one wanted to believe that something like this was even happening. "If your HP drops to 0, your Avatar will be deleted from the system forever, and the Nerve Gear will simultaneously destroy your brain." As fear set in, everyone began to panic, little shifts in movements here and there were seen by Shirou as he looked around at everyone around him, but his attention was taken back to Kayaba when he spoke once more. "Now before anything else, I have left a little present in every item storage of every player. Please have a look."

Now curiosity took over everyone's mind, as they all instinctively opened their menu and noticed an item with the name Mirror in their storage. As Shirou pulled out the Mirror, he saw his face being reflected back at him, stunned as to what this item meant, he heard a yelp behind him which was followed by a bright light, then another light, then another until his vision was blinded by the bright white light.

Opening his eye, his vision adjusted to the red light that he had grown used to since Kayaba's appearance. But his thought were cut off when he heard Hinata speak up.

"Makoto, what happened to you?" Stunned at her words, Shirou turned around to see Makoto, or what he thought at the moment was a duplicate of Hinata, Shirou then realized what these mirrors were for. Knowing this, he dropped the mirror in shock which ended in the mirror shattering on the ground.

"You look the same, Hinata. Well figures since you used your real appearance as your avatar." Then as Makoto turned to Shirou, Makoto was left stunned. "Shirou…your hair."

"Yeah, I'll dye it later." Shirou said as he brushed his hand thought his silvery-grey hair.

"No, keep it." Makoto added before Shirou could say anything else. "It suits you."

As Kayaba spoke, Shirou couldn't hear a word of it, as his heartbeat rang louder than the words being spoken. After a few minutes, Kayaba began to finish his speech.

"There is only one way to leave and that is the reach the 100th Floor, and beat Sword Art Online…Players, I wish you the best of luck."

With those words, the faceless cloak, then began to disintegrate, before returning back up into the sky, leaving everyone speechless and frozen from fear. As Xena began to shiver, she then began to realize that she had gone father out than anyone in the game. She imagined her own death so clearly that the young girl held herself tightly before screaming out in fear. This caused everyone else to scream in fear and rage. The emotions were so high that everyone began to push others around, walk all over others, and practically rushed out the Town of Beginnings, hoping they could level up and not die an early death.

All the while, Shimizu was on the ground having a panic attack from the speech Kayaba just gave. Seeing this, Shirou pulled Shimizu's face up and yelled out to her but noticed his words falling on deaf ears.

"You two! Follow me!" Shirou yelled, grabbing the twins attention as they made their way to the Shopping District.

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In the Shopping District…

Sitting Shimizu down on a bench in the center of the Shopping District, Shimizu began to take deep breaths in order to calm herself down. Standing around her to ensure that no one crowded them, the group was silent as they tried to take in what they had just witnessed. Just as Shirou was about to speak up, he felt someone run right up behind him. Looking, he noticed a young girl, a bit tanner than the others around her, with her ginger hair flowing as she fell to the ground.

"Hey, you alright?" Shirou instinctively reach out his hand to help the girl up, but Xena flinched and crawled away from him before standing to her feet and running deeper into the Shopping District.

"I don't blame her." Makoto spoke up as he saw Xena running away. "If I were her, I wouldn't trust anyone."

"I don't think that was it." Shirou spoke up but changed the subject at the last second. "We can't stay here. We have to go out, in no time at all, all the areas around the Town of Beginnings will be overrun by other players."

"R-right." Shimizu spoke as she tried to stand up, only to fall down onto her knees.

"You can stay if you're not feeling up to the task." Shirou spoke as he knelt down by Shimizu's side to lift her up.

"If your all going out, might I trouble you for a bit." A voice spoke up, catching the groups attention.

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Author's Note: And I'm back! I really hope you enjoyed this story, it was actually a lot easier to write than the other one, since I had a lot of great characters and I had them all before writing this. So I hope you enjoy this version of my take on SAO

P.S.: I'll be releasing one chapter each week, I hope you understand. And thank you again for taking an interest in this story.