Virtual Reality||Sword Art Online

|The Start Of a Journey|

Heidi had been up for hours. She simply couldn't sleep. Thankfully, few strays of morning light were starting to peak through the curtains- illuminating Max and Remi, as they slept on the floor, small blankets draped over their shoulders. Heidi had taken up the "Mother Hen" role of the friend group, and insisted that they use pillows, and were well warm; even though they were in a game, and no-matter where you slept, you wouldn't get aches or pains. With the extra amount of worry weighted down on her, she had become persistent in her friend's well-being, and forgetting her own. It was her own way to cope. Perhaps a type of defense mechanism. 

Heidi, being the planner she was, opened up her inventory, and went through her things: She still had her beginning clothes, (which she intended to sell) and the mirror that was given to everybody. Revolt flooded through her, as she stared at the item name: "Hand Mirror." Why hadn't she gotten rid of it earlier? She didnt need it now, and it wasn't worth anything but giving her bad memories.  Selecting the item, she quickly dragged it towards the trash bin, and deleted it. Though expecting to feel better, Heidi only felt worse; she knew she couldn't get rid of the memories just by deleting something. 

She watched as the clock turned to 7am, and sighed as her set alarm played through her head, flicking it off with a press of her finger. Slowly, Max and Remi began to arise, stirring groggily as their alarms played as well. Max sat up, rubbing her eyes wearliy, her pale skin showing against the dim light. Her long curly brown hair stuck up all over the place, showing off her famous "Bed-head." Remi got up a few minutes later, her dark red hair out of it's pony tails, and gracefully falling over her shoulders. No matter how rough she slept, Remi's hair always seemed perfect. Heidi knew form past experiences that Max was envious. 

"Morning guys," Heidi muttered, yawning. Her own, golden brown hair had been brushed already, and lay straight all the way down to her waist.

"What do you think we should do today?" Remi asked, yawning as she stretched her hands over her head, sitting up against the hotel room wall. All of them had chosen a super cheap room- one without a bed, so they wouldn't burn off much money. Since Max had found the most item drops, and gained the most money, she paid for it.

"I... honestly don't know.." Heidi responded. Max and Remi looked surprised: Heidi normally had an answer. But truthfully, Heidi didn't want to do anything, she wanted to curl up and stay in this hotel room untill someone else beat the game- the though of dying terrified her. She wouldn't reveal it to her friends though- worrying them would only make it worse, plus it made her feel pitiful and weak, something she loathed. 

"Maybe, we should just travel to that town on the southside? It's rural, so not many people should know about it, which means we could farm a lot of monsters." Max piped, up, fixing her hair.

Even though the thought filled Heidi with dread, she nodded for the sake of her friends.

"That sounds like a good idea Max!" Remi replied, standing up ubruptly. "I know we can do this guys, we just need to have faith in ourselves!"

Remi was staring at Heidi, as she stated her words of encouragement- it made her feel a little better, and she felt energy pouring back into her, as she felt a little more pumped up. "Alright, let's eat breakfast from the inn below first, then head out along the hidden south path by the bushes."

With a nod towards Heidi, all Remi and Max began to head downstairs, Heidi tailing them.

But something stopped them.

A warning sign appeared frozen infront of Heidi's vision- it said: "Warning Disconnection." Below it was a two-hour countdown, which Heidi assumed was the countdown to her death. All she felt was terror- being frozen like that, unable to move, talk, or breath. Her vision was impared, but at the corners of her line of sight, she could see Max's shoulder, and Remi's back, and they too, were frozen. At first, she had thought they were going to die- somebody had taken off their helmets, but after five minutes the crippling fear lessened enough for her to gain her wits back. They were being transported to the hospital. For 15 minutes, Heidi and her friends had been frozen, terror strucken, and unable to comfort eachother. But as quick as they were put in the disconnected state, they were out of it.

Max stumbled a little bit, almost falling down the stairs, while Remi fell to her knees. Heidi crumbled down to the floor, her head tucked into her knees, as she gasped for breath.

"Man, that scared the hell out of me!" Max exclaimed, punching the wall, furious. An "Immortal Object" sign popped up infront of her, which seemed to make her more angry.

Remi started sobbing, her face crumpling, her eyes screwed shut. As soon as Heidi saw tears, she couldn't stop her own, and they slipped down her cheeks, falling down onto the hardwood floor. "I-I was so scared!" Remi hic-coughed, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

"I-I was too.. I... I thought I was going to die." Heidi wimpered, looking towards Max, who seemed to break down too, sliding down beside them.

"What babies we are- crying because we were transported to the hospital." Max stated, hastily wiping her eyes as her tears fell. This made Heidi laugh, and Remi joined right after. It felt good to laugh again.

"Well, at least we know we'll be cared for." Heidi pointed out, standing up again, giving her eyes one last wipe. Thankfully, within the game, your eyes didn't appear red and puffy after crying. One of the many perks of SAO. Hah.

Remi nodded, standing up too, smoothing down her armour. "Well, let's get going. We can skip breakfast for today- we'll eat when we get to the south town."

"Alright, let's head out." And with that, Heidi and the group jogged down the stairs, and out the door.

This was the start of their journey.