𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙔𝙤𝙪 || 𝙌𝙪𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙊𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨

[11] ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴀ ɢᴀᴍᴇ - ᴘᴀʀᴛ 1

Sword Art Online AU

"Link start!"

*****

"HAHA! MY DEALER IS BETTER THAN YOURS!"

"AW! COME ON, DON'T RUB IT IN!"

"I'm playing it as soon as I get home, I'll text you all about the awesome graphics, the epic gameplay, and dope-ass swords!"

I waved around my copy of the newest video from Japan, Sword Art Online. Today was release day and I had managed to snag a copy of it for myself. God bless my video game dealer, Kazuto: a friend I made while living in Japan who agreed to send me all the latest games, anime, and manga from there the second they dropped.

I teased my best friend, Alex, about it and danced around while he just pouted at me. He's a YouTuber and he was planning to play it on Twitch, but the guy he asked for a copy bailed on him. Leaving me the only one with a copy straight from Japan.

"Aww, don't look at me like that. Stop crying, you already know I'm gonna let you play it eventually," My phone rang as he gave me a bright smile and bone-crushing hug.

"I gotta go home, bye Alex! Say bye-bye to the game~" I teased as I made my way to my house to have dinner and start playing my new game.

*****

"Ok, lemme plug this in..."

I started my NerveGear up by plugging it in and placing it on my head. The chunky helmet weighed me down and almost felt like a cinderblock on my head. I laid down in my bed and gazed at the pictures I had taped to my ceiling.

One of my family, one of me with my best friends, and one of me and Alex. A smile grew on my face as I closed my eyes, the images still fresh in my mind. I opened my mouth to start up the game system but was interrupted by a ring emitting from my phone, signaling that someone had the audacity to interrupt my cool, life-changing moment with a phone call.

Without even looking at the contact name, I clicked to accept the call and made my irritation evident in my voice.

"How dare you?"

"Ha! I knew it! You always take too long to start games, loser."

"Screw you, Alex. You know you wish you were me right now BIATCH!"

I ended up talking with Alex for a full 5 minutes before cutting him off and begging him to shut up so I could start the system.

"Call me in... 2-3 hours and I'll tell you everything about the tutorial, ok?"

"UGH, FINE! HAVE FUN!"

"I will teehee!" The call ended and I positioned myself comfortably in bed to finally start the game.

"Link start!"

Sword Art Online. A VR MMORPG that included the fantasy of sword fighting, knights, magic, and mythical creatures. You could make friends, complete quests, and learn sword skills you wouldn't be able to learn in real life. A magical place. The kind of place you'd want to live in forever, right?

Well, little did I know, that logging into this game... that would, unfortunately, become my haunting reality.

~* 1 Year & 6 Months Later *~

"Are you sure you're not tired?"

"No man, I need the distraction. It gets pretty quiet around here,"

"Hmm, how's she doing?"

"Same as yesterday... same as the day before..." The brunette sat in a clean, white room with only the sound of heart monitors beeping and an IV dripping a constant stream of water. He sat in one of the chairs next to a bed, which held his unconscious best friend.

The girl had been stuck in that death game for about a year and had been living in the hospital ever since her family learned about it on the news.

A year that she was asleep.

Her skin went from its natural glow to pale and dull, her cheeks sunken in, and lips cracked dry. The hair that wasn't packed into the helmet had grown longer and was oily with new split ends.

The boy sat by her side, one hand holding hers and the other calling his ginger Estonian friend, who thankfully hadn't gotten his hands on the devil game either.

Ever since the day the world discovered that over 10,000 people were stuck in the virtual world, people ranging from scientists and game companies to genius billionaire playboy philanthropists had invested hours into trying to figure out a way to save the people trapped. None had succeeded and every day, the death toll rose. Every day, he feared would be the last for her.

"There's this guy in America who owns this big tech company who thought he could do something. Apparently, he used to build weapons, and now he does like, super suits or something. Anyways, he found out that you could still go into the game and hack a way to send messages to the outside world, you just wouldn't come out and you'd need the genius there because he's the only one who seems to be able to actually do the hacking,"

Every day Alex would read, watch, and listen to the latest updates in the Sword Art Online case.

"Who knows if it really works though,"

"Yeah, you're right..."

Silence hung in the air as the boy gazed at the girl's peaceful figure. Who knows what she was going through? Who knows if she was even going to be alive by this time tomorrow? Who knows if she's even okay?

"I can go in..." The four words, barely a whisper, yet still loud enough for the man on the other side of the phone to hear.

"NO ALEX! YOU CAN'T!"

"I have to! What if she's in trouble?"

"She was in trouble the moment she put on that stupid helmet! But she's still alive because she's managed to survive this whole time! You don't know anything about this game! You could be killed!"

"SO WHAT? I just need to see her one last time!"

"You're crazy..."

*****

"I'm sorry, the NerveGear is discontinued. It's illegal to sell the original helmet model."

"Don't you have one back there in stock? I need it, please!"

"I'm sorry, it's a crime punishable by law. I can't take the risk,"

He walked away from the tech store employee, watching as people of all ages looked around at the last remains selection of games that weren't MMORPGs or virtual reality. The last shred of hope he had was crushed and thrown in the garbage along with the remains of the NerveGear helmets. He dragged his feet towards the entrance, not knowing his next step to trying to free the girl that he loved.

"Excuse me, sir!" A familiar yell from behind him caused his ears to perk up as he spun around to see that it was the cashier he had just finished talking too.

"I think we may have something in the back,"

*****

"Ok well, this is way different from a Switch..."

The pair of goggles rested over his eyes as he lay in bed, anxiously awaiting the world that was about to be bestowed before him.

Anxiously waiting to see his best friend again.

"Link start!"

*****

A/N

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