Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン 1. We Are The Admin

**A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to my first story EVER! Mostly I've been reading a lot of fan fiction and I said to myself "Let's try writing something" and here I am now. Since this is my first story I'll make this short. Please R&R so I know how to improve my writing skills. Now, on with the show… err, story.**

**Legal stuff I am forced to say: I do not own SAO or any of its characters. I only own my OCs**

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><p>Akihiko Kayaba stood in front of our team of four to give out our assignments and orders to execute in the game Sword Art Online.<p>

"You all are to be the moderators and admins while the game is in progress. In order for the game to run as smoothly as possible, I hired you to watch over the system of the game while I am disguised as my character Heathcliff" Kayaba said.

He gave us our positions and usernames, I was going to be in charge of general player monitoring. My brother Xavier was put in charge of checking the cardinal system and technical part of the game. Our other two coworker, both female were put in charge of the player death system and the leaderboards and a general secretary for the rest of us, their names were Ruby and Sophie (respectively). We all move to the life support room so we could all get hooked up to our Nerve Gear rigs.

"Hey Brad, come here for a second" My brother said.

"Yeah, what's up?" I replied.

"Well I was thinking, why are we even doing this? Why are we trapping about ten thousand people in a game and forcing them to play it?"

I thought about that for a second. His question made some sense in a way. "Really, I don't think I have an answer for that."

Kayaba came up to us and said "It's because we are creating a world that we can control, a world that we decide what the fate is."

Now that really got me thinking. A world that I could change at my will, all that power in the palm of my hand. The only downfall is that my actions could determine whether someone lived or died. Is this how God feel most of the time?

As Kayaba and Xavier continued their conversation over the sanity of the game I went over to Sophie and Ruby who were talking about what their username would be.

"Maybe we could make it have to do with something about our position" Sophie said.

"Well what's a name that has to do with the death of others?" Ruby asked.

"Yami," I said "it means darkness in Japanese. It could refer to the fact that after the player dies all they see is darkness, which just so happens to be a beautiful women."

"Well that's very sweet and creepy thing to say. Thanks." Ruby replied.

"What about me, what could my name be?"

"Well, you'll be sending out a lot of information all over the game so how about Iris, after the Greek goddess of messengers." I said.

"That's a cool way to see my position, I love it!" Sophie replied.

"So what's your name going to be Brad?" Ruby asked.

"Well since I don't actual have an aspect for my job I came up with something completely original, Bromious."

That was a name that had used in most of the games I played, so it only made sense that I keep it with me as my one true link back to my real life.

"Just like you to make name that is completely unique." Ruby said.

"Ha, yeah, that is like me isn't it? But I looked at how we were set up, there are a total of five people, if you include Kayaba, who can control how this game turns out. We are like a council of gods and goddesses who can shape an entire world to what we want it to be." I said.

"That's exactly why I chose four people to help me with this project Brad."

Kayaba and Xavier had finished their conversation and had moved over to us.

"You all are here to be a sort of council in the new world of my design. As such, we will have meetings discussing what we should do with the game over however long it will run. You will also be tasked with looking over twenty-five levels of Aincrad each. Because this is a lot of ground to cover you will be allotted two assistant NPCs. Now it is almost time for the game to begin, to your stations everyone."

We all left for our rooms where our Nerve Gear rig was stored and the nurses strapped us in. '_Alright, it's time to start creating a new world._' I thought to myself. "This is going to be fun. Link Start!"

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><p><strong>AN: And with that I end the first chapter to my first story ever. Please tell me what you think of it so I can improve anything I need to. No flames. Thank you for reading.**

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><p><strong>Edit AN: I went back and edited the story so it's not a big block of text but I'm not going to add anything to the story. Sorry for the short opening but I hope you will keep reading.**


	2. The Ruby Palace

**A/N: First I want to thank Agent 94 and Kilo6 for reviewing and helping me figure out how to write anything in the first place. Looking back now I relies that the last chapter was terrible in a way. So I will try to improve over time, so don't hate me if it's still bad.**

**Again I don't own SAO, just the OCs**

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><p>As the game settings load in front of me, I quickly calibrate the system and went to character design. I made him dark skinned and about 5'11". I gave him short black hair and dark brown eyes. Kayaba said that our avatars going to be disabled as long as we didn't look at the mirror item that was given to everyone. Even with that said, I didn't want to make my character look to different or inhuman because I would have to interact with the players a lot. Finally, I made my character's clothing color scheme red with a black trim. After completing the character design the username box popped up and I typed in the name 'Bromious'. I pressed the complete button and light flashed in front of me. As the light faded, my a huge ruby palace appeared in front of me. A lights started to shine to the right of me as another avatar appeared beside me.<p>

I looked over to see a light skinned female with ruby red hair and scarlet red hair who was about 5'8". I looked above her head and read that her name was Hikari. I figure that must have been Ruby and she decided to come up with her own name.

"So you went with a more optimistic name huh." I said.

"Yeah, this name gives the dying players a more comfortable feeling about dying. I just hope that there aren't too many casualties."

"That's the problem with this death game; the people who die here, die in the real world too."

We started walking towards the ruby colored palace and saw that the outside was actually made of real ruby. We went inside and found five platforms that rose into the celling, obviously to the rest of the palace. When we got up to the next floor we found ourselves in a large foyer with five hallways leading to different rooms. Over the five hallways were name plates apparently for us to name which room was ours, the fifth on had the word 'Armory' on it. We heard voices coming from a path that led to a spiral stair case and started going up. When we got to the top of the stairs we found giant twin door slightly open. I pushed the right side door in so that we could enter the room and saw that it was something like a council meeting room. The room was completely white with a path leading to a large open area. There were five tall pedestals surrounding the area. I noticed that Xavier and Sophie's avatars had already chosen a pedestals and were waiting for us at the top.

Xavier's avatar was about 5'10" with dark skin, with a slim build. He wore a dark green tunic and pants. His had made his face to look like a more mature version of his real face and his eyes were a hazel color. I looked above his head and saw the word Okami. Sophie's avatar was a 5'4" light skinned female with short blond hair. Her face was set to look innocent and child-like with cerulean blue eyes. I saw that she went with I suggest as her name and chose Iris.

"How did you guys get up there" I asked

Okami looked down at me and Hikari and said, "We used our game master powers. There's an entire list of them on our menu. Just open it, select Admin Options and then toggle flight on."

Hikari and I did as Okami said and soon found ourselves starting to rise off the ground. We flew over to the two pedestals that were on either side of the pedestal directly in front of the entrance. Just as we landed on our respective pedestals and toggled our flight power off, Kayaba teleported onto the fifth pedestal were a red cloak with a golden trim.

"Welcome to the 100th floor of Aincrad, or as it is called, the Ruby Palace. This will be our headquarters were we will hold our meetings to discuss the advancement of Aincrad. The palace is stocked with all the supplies one will ever need. It also holds an armory that is stocked with the every weapons that could possibly be made. In fact, after this meeting has been concluded, you will be able to get yourself settled into the palace and pick your weapon of choice. Now onto business."

Kayaba went more into the details of our positions as admin of the game. He told us to be careful about using any game master abilities if we are interacting with player. He also told us that we could choose level up by experience or us the GM powers to instantly level up. Quite frankly I since I will have to stick around the players more, I would have to level up the normal with only slight help from my GM powers.

"Now that the meeting is over, you all can go and settle into the palace. I hope you find everything accommodating and are able to make it to my appearance to the players in the Town of Beginnings." Kayaba said before he teleported away.

"So I guess we should get ourselves settled in" I said to the others

We jump down of the pedestals and went over to the armory. What we found inside was a wide array of weapons and gear. I was particularly fond of the variety of great swords the armory had in stock. The material they were made out of grew in durability as the level required to wield them increased. As I looked down the aisle I saw a great sword held on a pedestal with ray of light shining on it. I checked the details on the sword, its name was "The Claymore" and sure enough it had the highest stats out of any of the great swords. The level required was only set to 60 which wasn't that bad, but with my restriction on auto leveling that would make it all the more worth it. For now I picked up the basic great sword and add enough skill point to have basic techniques and combos with it. As I left great sword aisle I saw Okami coming from the dagger aisle with twin daggers on his belt. Hikari came from the saber section with a basic curved sword at her side, and Iris had a basic rapier with her. Now that we were all set we head out of the palace to get to the Town of Beginnings in time for Kayaba's appearance.

When we teleported into town everyone was already corralled into the town center. Luckily we got there after the forced teleportation so we weren't stuck in the town center. Since everyone would be confused with the forced transport they wouldn't be looking in the direction of the cathedral. So we toggled on our flight ability and flew up to the spires of the cathedral to watch the chaos unfold. Soon enough the sky turned red with warning signs and red slime started dripping from it.

"I guess someone likes to show off a bit." Okami said

"He gets points for awe but I probably could have done it better." I said

"Sure you could have" Hikari said sarcastically. I scowled at her and she laughed.

Kayaba talked to the players about the truth of the game and that there had already been many death in the first few hours of the game. Before he left he gave all the player the mirror item and the entire square was filled with light as the players were reverted to their real life appearance.

"Well that's one way to make this world more realistic" I said

"True but did you hear about all the early game deaths, I'm going to be busy for a while and I haven't even started working." Hikari complained

"But how hard can your job be after a few months have passed. Most of the players will get better at the game and there won't be as many deaths. And I'm sure you don't have to stay in the death zone for the whole time, you can just hang with Bromious and the other players." Iris said as Kayaba started to disappear and we flew down of the spire.

As I went down, I started to see some of the players run out of the Town of Beginnings. Those were either Beta testers or really brave players who believe they are stronger than the other.

"We better start getting to work" I said to the others

"Why don't we start tomorrow? Most of the players are still too disoriented to do much more of anything today." Iris said.

"Plus Heathcliff might want to talk to us a little bit more and show us what his avatar will look like." Okami said.

"Fine. To be honest I am kind of tired already" I said as we teleported back to the Ruby Palace.

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><p><strong>Thus ends the second chapter of my story. Tell me what you think of it so far and if there are still problems let me know. I am trying to make it so that it's not a bunch of blocky text and actually readable. Rate and Review, thanks for reading.<strong>


	3. The First Day

**Still don't own SAO, just the OCs**

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><p>When we teleported back to the Ruby Palace we ended up in the council room. I figured that was just our keyed location for when teleported here. What did surprise us was that there was a middle aged looking man with grayish-silver hair wearing red armor with a white trim standing on the fifth pedestal. All of us were so surprised that the intruder was here that we all drew our weapons simultaneously.<p>

"Wait, don't attack" the intruder said in a familiar voice. "It's me, Kayaba. This is the avatar that I am using to interact with the players. From now on you can call me Heathcliff."

We all eased up and put away our weapons. Now that the day was over and we weren't going to officially start working until tomorrow, we decided to ask Kayaba some questions. The only strange thing about this job was how we were brought here. We didn't really have time to question much of this because we were rushed over here from the Argus branch in America. We were all the best in our positions and since the game was releasing soon, we were need much more. Apparently Kayaba heard about use for the president of the American branch and requested us personally. Now I want to find out why.

"Kayaba, or Heathcliff, why did you pick us to help you with this game? I mean, you had an entire branch in Japan to use, so why us?" I asked.

I could tell that my coworkers were all thinking the same question and were glad that I had asked it. Apparently it is true that if you have a question, chances are that someone else will have the same question. We all looked over to Kayaba to see what his response would be. He was silent for a moment as if he was making up an excuse, but then he started.

"You were all selected from the American branch because this project was to be kept secret until the release date. I have found that America has proven useful for getting work done with the upmost security. I handpicked you all because you were the top of your positons and excellent employees. Also the fact that you are American means that you are willing to go farther than anyone else to get things done. Another point that makes you excellent candidates is that you all have no families or loved ones left, making you expendable in the long run if any loose ends need to be taken care of."

"Wait, does that mean you were going to kill us if the project got shut down!" Hikari yelled in protest to what Kayaba said. He looked at her and shuck his head.

"No, but we would have had to move you to a secure location to continue with the plans. Needless to what I said, you are all important to my plans for Aincrad. Japan didn't have any evidence to convict us of any crimes before the game launched so there was nothing to worry about. As to why you were all brought in early was to lower any chance of you being recognized in public. This was just a precaution to ensure your safety."

"Okay, so I get the whole secrecy and safety bit, it makes sense. I just find it weird that you trust us more than the workers in your own branch." Iris chimed in.

"Like I said, secrecy was the upmost importance at that stage. Most of the workers in the Japan branch of Argus have families and that would lead to a lot of questions. I found it easier to contact the Argus branch in America and ask for you four. Besides, why should I keep all of this in Japan? All of Argus had a hand in the creation of this game and we should all share in it. Now get some sleep, you have a busy day tomorrow."

Satisfied with Kayaba's answer, and mainly tired of hearing him give a speech every time he opens his mouth, we left the meeting area and headed towards our rooms. This would be the first time that we could rest senses we got into the game and it had been somewhat of a busy day. When we got to the main lobby of the palace, we each said our goodnights and headed towards the hall that had our names on it. When I went down my hall and opened the door, I was shocked at what I say. It was a fully stocked apartment, which seemed to employ British engineering. The living room was the first thing I saw when I stepped in and it had a kitchen to the right. There were closets and a half bathroom as well. On the left wall there was a star case that led downstairs. I went down and saw that it led to my room. The lights came on as I came into the room and showed a full sized bed, a wardrobe, and a nightstand. There were two door that led to my private armory and the bathroom. There was also a console on the wall that allowed me to tap into different files and information about Aincrad and its status.

"I guess I'll still have some part in keeping the system up." I said to myself. Finding the living arrangements suitable to my needs I quickly fell asleep in anticipation for the next day.

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><p><strong>The Next Day<strong>

I was awaken by Okami throwing water in face and yelling "Wake up, it's our first day of work!" I instantly shot up and started getting dressed. During the night, everything I felt like it was some kind of dream, like it all didn't happen. Otherwise I probably would have been the first person up. I put on some starter level armor and equipped my great sword, then I headed to my door where Okami was waiting.

"What time did you all wake up?" I asked

"I actually never went to sleep, too excited about this whole thing." He replied

"I'm guessing you had a lot of coffee in your kitchen then."

"I still do. I used your coffee."

"Jerk."

We came out of my apartment and went into the lobby to find the girls waiting at the door.

"Why don't we go around Aincrad to get a valid map of the entire castle, that way we can at least spend less time trying to know the area?" I suggested

"That seems like it will only help you, sense you're the only person actually in the field." Iris stated.

"Actually it would help you as well, sense you'll have a lot of free time until an announcement needs to be sent out. If you want, you can come with me when I run my rounds." I said  
>"No, but thanks anyway. I prefer to go on my own and try to make some new experiences."<p>

"Either way, it would benefit you to fill out the maps while you have a lot of free time on your hands. Your job is to make announcements, how much effort will that take." Okami said

"But it would also help her to have some friends to travel with. One hundred floors is a lot of ground to cover." Hikari chimed in.

"Speaking of company, didn't Heathcliff mention that we would have AI companions to help us?" I asked as we were headed out the door.

No sooner than when we stepped outside, we were teleported to the meeting room and Kayaba was standing in front of us.

"Welcome back. I understand you were asking about your AI companions." Heathcliff said

"Do you have like, hidden mics on us or something? How would you know that?" Iris asked.

"I keep tabs on all my workers, don't worry it was just to see how you fair on your first day." Heathcliff explained. "Anyway, there are going to be some changes to the role you play in this world. Instead of the job you originally had, you will be going out into the field like Bromious and I. This will allow for better data collection on how people far in Aincrad and how they manage their live from now until the game ends. Accompanying you will be your AI companion that have been preset to fit your liking and fighting style. You are free to make any changes as you see fit. To any other player beside the five of us these will look like normal people who also got trapped inside the game. However, they do not have game master powers like we do therefore they are not invincible and if they die they must remain dead. You can make them an indestructible item only for a short period of time to protect them from dying, just be careful where you use it. Now, time to see you companions."

As Heathcliff finish speaking, pedestals started to rise from the ground of the meeting room with people on them. There were two pedestals for each of ours which made eight in total. We each activated our flight mode and flew up to the new pedestals next to our own. At mine was a tan skinned male with a slim build and a katana on his side. He was about 6 feet tall with black tunic and slacks with a crimson red trim. The other was a light skinned female with two rectangular shields on her arms. She was about 5'5" and wore heavy grayish-silver armor. She looked like she could barely stand, but surprisingly she was standing tall and strong. I decided to name the girl Dia and the guy Hanzo. After they were named, they opened their eyes and started looking around the surrounding area.

They turned to me and said "What do you command of us sir?"

Shocked by their sudden comment I replied "Uh… Well right now just standby until we move out."

I noticed that the others had finished setting up their companions and were waiting to see if Heathcliff had anything else to say. Heathcliff saw that our attention was now on him he started speaking once again.

"Now that you have your companions set to your liking you can finally go out into Aincrad. You must remain undercover and never reveal your game master powers to anyone. You have many game master abilities, one of which is the ability to change your level. You also have access to all floor weather or not the bosses have been defeated. Now go out into Aincrad and join the other players in the game."

We left the council room with our companions in tow. We left the Ruby Palace and went over to the teleport pad that was down the path. We all got onto the platform I shouted out the command to take us to Floor One. Fortunately, no was even around the teleporter in town so it no one saw the white light that came from it.

"I guess sense we all have to mingle with the other players, we should split up and go our separate ways." I said

"But that means we won't see each other until the monthly meetings." Iris replied

"True, but we might run into each other on our adventures," Okami chimed in "and even if we don't we can measure how much we change every month."

"Right!" Hikari said "Putting it simply, this isn't a goodbye more like a see you later."

We all nodded our agreement and said our goodbyes and headed of in a different direction. After I walked down an alley one of my companions spoke up, it was Hanzo.

"Sir, not to overstep my bounds but shouldn't we form a group." Hanzo said.

"Okay for starters, don't be so formal with me, it feels weird. If you have to see me as an authority figure just call me boss or something like that. Second, you're right we should form a group. Wait a sec while I set it up."

"Yes, sir… er… I mean Boss!" Dia said

Shrugging off there persistence, I opened up the menu and went to group section. Soon enough Dia and Hanzo's name were under mine meaning we weird grouped up.

"There, all finished. Now let's get going." I said

As we were exiting the alley, I almost ran into some one running full steam out of the town. I looked on as he continue running and didn't even notice me. '_Well I guess he's eager to get out of town. I have to make a mental note to keep an eye out for him_' I thought to myself. We continued out of town following a map a bought at a vendor.

"According to this map, there should be a town just up ahead." I said with the map in my face.

"Boss, there's something up ahead!" Dia yelled

I looked up to see that there were three wolf monsters standing in front of us. I put away the map and drew my great sword from behind me. My companions drew there weapons as well.

"Hanzo, you're with me on attacking. Dia, watch our back and defend us when you can."

"Right, Boss!" they both replied

I charge forward to meet the wolves with Hanzo behind me. As I lifted my sword overhead, it started to glow meaning I activated the sword skill. When I came up on the wolf I swung my sword down hard and slashed the wolf as it was to jump me. This sent the wolf flying back with a wound on its head. Hanzo had held of one of the other wolves with a series of fast strokes of his sword. With a few more swings from my sword I manage to take down my wolf without it laying a bite or scratch on me. Hanzo had finished his wolf as well. Just as I let my guard down, the third wolf charged at me. Lucky for me Dia was watching the battle carefully and saw the wolf start to attack and ran to defend me from the attack.

"Thanks Dia, I owe you one." I said

"No need Boss, I'm here to help you any way I can." She replied.

I shrugged and put my focus back on the battle. The last wolf was much bigger than the other wolves, so Hanzo and I teamed-up on it. Hanzo started off by charging forward and slashing at the wolf with several quick strikes that left the wolf dazing it. I charged in with an underhand slice and transitioned downward strike sending my sword through the wolf's skull into the ground. The wolf died and shattered into light. A screen appeared in front of me showing the experience points I gain and the loot I earned. I pulled my sword out of the ground and put it back on my back.

"Well, that happened. I can't believe how these sword skills make fighting feel so natural." I said while Dia and Hanzo merely looked at me.

"I'm going to have put more personality into you guys because you are booooorrrrrriiiiing."

We continued on to towards the town and by the time we got there it was starting to get late. I decide that we stay at an inn instead of going back to the Ruby Palace in order to get a feel for sleeping in Aincrad. We checking into the inn which was relatively empty and went up to our rooms. When I brought Dia and Hanzo to their rooms I open up their menus and changed their personalities. Not only would this give them more life and make them feel more real, but it would also prevent me from going crazy over their stale, emotionless state. After that was done, I sent them to bed and then went to my own room. As I was leaving Hanzo's room I ran into a black haired kid and knocked them over.

"My bad. Here let me help you up." I said as I reached out my hand to help him.

"No sweat, accidents happen." He replied.

I helped him up and he hurried off to his room down the hall. '_He looks awfully familiar.'_ I thought to myself. Putting that aside for the moment and went to my room for so sleep.

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><p><strong>AN: And that's the end of that chapter. I had some serious writer's block for a while and it took me a while to finish the chapter. Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. To make up for all the holidays I missed; Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. As always Rate and Review, ****_constructive criticism_****helps a lot. RoboDragon out!**


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Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン, Adventure, Fantasy