Sword Art Online: Forgotten Edition

Fragment 7 - Facing Reality

A/N: Just a heads up, there will be intimidating language in this part. I apologize in advance if you're not comfortable with curse words.
With that, Enjoy :)

"H-Hello," Young Haru was no doubt intimidated, Agil was big but his aura was much different from the guys that approached Haru.

"Give me that," the blonde player snatched the sandwich from Haru's hand and took a bite out of it while blurting out curse words, "Ugh! This shit is nasty! Were you really about to eat this crap?! Damn and I thought it looked decent but it wasn't. Fucking gross," he tossed the sandwich onto the ground, shattering it into a million pieces.

"But my—" Haru was devastated. He never thought something so mean could happen when people are supposed to be working together to clear the game.

"What else you got punk? I'm sure that sandwich wasn't the only thing you had on you, huh?! There have been rumors about an over-leveled headass in this town, so we thought he might have some good loot on him but I guess we were wrong," sneered the dead-eyed man.

The delinquents broke into a burst of savage laughter that echoed in Haru's mind, but it ended once a group of players came to confront them.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" A guy with caramel colored hair walked towards them with a look just like theirs. His hair was extremely spikey and he had a goatee.

"This isn't a place to be doing this type of thing, especially to someone, not your own size," said an individual that looked like a knight with his equipment. He had a gentle aura that reassured Haru in a way that made him feel safe.

The two players that came to Haru's rescue were backed up by more players who seemed to share the same ideals. But the numbers didn't seem to faze the delinquents.

"Hah, who do you guys think you are? The police? Sorry folks but there's no such thing in this world. It's kill or be killed in this type of situation," spoke the blonde, " I guess you fuckers wouldn't be able to understand because you're so busy trying to clear this stupid game... GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES! FACE REALITY! THERE'S NO WAY WE'RE GOING BACK TO THE REAL WORLD! WE'RE STUCK HERE! WHAT YOU IDIOTS ARE AIMING FOR IS NOTHING BUT A DREAM! AKIHIKO KAYABA CREATED THIS SHIT BECAUSE HE KNEW THAT WE WOULDN'T CLEAR THE GAME! DON'T YOU FUCKERS GET IT?! THIS IS OUR LIVES NOW! SO QUIT ACTING ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY WHEN THE FIRST FLOOR HASN'T BEEN CLEARED!"

In a sense what the man said was reasonable and true. Hearing those words made Haru realize the true situation they were in. There was no hope unless the players banded together to beat the first floor, but nothing has been done. It was a possibility that everyone in the game would be stuck forever and never return home to their friends and families that are desperately waiting for them.

Then it hit young Haru.

This whole time he'd been playing the game but never thought about his family once; his parents, grandparents, and his older sister. The people in his life that cared for him, yet they were only a passing thought to Haru who only focused on playing the game.

The discussion soon turned into a fist-fight instigated by one of the delinquents. As the players tried to quell the situation, Haru left and wandered around the town until it was dark out. Lamps in the town lit up the streets from becoming too dark. Bright orange alley-ways to pitch black were the only colors present.

The color from Haru's face was drained, the reality he faced was too much for him to handle especially as a kid. He sat upon the ground of the cream brick pathway, pulled his legs toward his body and dug his face into his knees.

"Mom...Dad...Alisha..." He slowly sobbed. The pain of not being able to see them every day in the near future wrung his heart tightly, the extreme worry he felt wondering what they felt knowing that their son could die at any moment made his head hurt, the thought of dying without saying his proper good-byes to his family made the tears fall even faster.

This whole time I was only worried about myself and played the game like it had no effect on me. I could die for real if I'm not careful anymore but...I... He remembered what happened earlier with the delinquents that came up to him and harassed him. I don't want people ending up in a position like me. A light bulb coincidentally sparked as Haru thought of something. Defeat the game by clearing all one hundred floors. That's what Akihiko Kayaba said...That's it...clearing all the floors! What was I thinking, all of this time to have fun by farming materials and grinding for EXP, the fun hasn't even begun!  Finally finding a strong will to proceed with this cruel reality he jumps up not knowing there were people behind him and quickly sat back down.

Two players sat at the opposite end of where Haru was and their backs were facing him so luckily he wasn't spotted. The same velvet cloaked individual and black-haired guy that watched his fight were sitting together eating a piece of bread and discussing an important topic that Haru overheard the rest of the time he sat there.