Sword Art Online | Awakening

??? POV:

As I open my eyes, the first thing i see is the whole sky being red with what appears to be system errors?

'Umm... what the actual fuck?'

After having this thought i started being aware that

i'm not the only one here because of the massive amount of people that started yelling in an ... asian language i would assume, i don't really know because I'm not asian, as I kept looking around me i started to get a feeling of deja vu, as like I've seen this place before, until i remembered the iconic scene in SAO where Kayaba Akihiko would trap 10000 players inside of Aincrad because of his desire to be able to "own a world and intervene in it" as he would apparently say in the near future since the people here didn't seem like they're world has just fallen on them quite yet.

'Well, umm, this is not how i thought New Year's is gonna be like, like WHY THE FUCK AM I HERE? IN THIS WORLD, I DO-'

As i was going to rage more in my head i started to get a splitting headache as i felt myself awakening a part of me i didn't even know about as about 18 years worth of memories started emerging from my subconscious and started mixing with about 20 years of my... no our lives togheter, as this was going on i found myself in a mindscape, where everything around us was white and black whith what we would assume being the ground black and the sky white sitting at a round table with the yin and yang symbol because... i no we don't really know why, as we finished this observation we started looking at our otherselve i guess.

"So this just happened, huh?"

I said as the other me gave me a deadpan look as i said the obvious.

"I guess."Said the other me while he observed the space or mindscape? around us, then he looked back at me. He paused for a bit, gathering his thoughts, and asked me.

"So i guess i should call you Leo." Said the other me as i looked back at him with a deadpan look like he gave me earlier before starting laughing almost hysterically as he too joined in the mad laughter with me, we stopped about 20 or 30 seconds later with the laughing as i looked back at him and said.

"I guess, then i'm calling you Reo."

I said while looking at Reo and coming to terms with our peculiar situation that we find ourselves in.

3rd POV:

As Leo and Reo stopped talking, two more figures materialized at the other ends of the table, one of them seating in front of the yin part of the table while the other in front of the yang part, Leo and Reo realized who they are.

"So you guys are here too, huh?" Said Leo as he looked first at the yin part of the table were his and Reo's shadow selves stood seated and was smirking at them all, then he looked at the yang part were Jezebth stood seated calmy as he was watching them all, after that Leo looked at the table arrangements and said."I guess I represent the good in the bad part of ourselves."

Reo and the rest looked down at the table, noticing theyr positions too before saying."I'm bad in the good then."

"Yang." Replied Jezebth.

"Yin, hehe." Replied their shadow selves named L0kis or L0ks because of reasons that are going to be explained later.

"So, how much time has passed since, you know we got here?" Asked Reo while leaning back in his chair.

"We have been here for about two or two and a half minutes something like that." Said Jezebth while resting his face on his fist.

"While on the outside about 1 or 2 seconds, so it is safe to say we got a time dialition of 1 minute inside our mindscape while in the world outside barley a second passes." Said L0ks while resting his chin on the back of his palms, looking at the other and smiling at them.

"Huh, so we got time to freak the fuck out heh." Said Leo while leaning in the back of his chair while moving his right hand through his hair and looking troubled by the situation they're in.

"Our existence is already creating a problem with the timeline." Said Jezebth while the rest looked at him before comprehending the problem too, that there are high chances they're going to be able to speed up their perception of time while outside the mindscape possibly nerfed heavily but still there as such creating an outside perspective of increased reactions speed that will interfere with the allocation of the dual blades skill meant for Kirito.

"So we're going to have to try and not slow our perception of time in life and death situations?" Asked Reo while thinking of theire fucked up future.

"No, is just we shouldn't abuse it, from my point of view at least it seem Kayaba wants someone that can constantly perform nighinhuman reaction speeds not just burst like us, so we're saving it for true life and death situations while most of the time we're not going to use it if it's not necessary." Said L0ks while thinking quickly for a solution to their conundrum.

"And if Cardinal and Kayaba want the highest recorded reaction time even if it's not done consistently, what are we going to do? Become the new hero and liberator of Aincrad? Because I least personally don't want that fate, Kirito can have it for all I care." Said Leo while looking annoyed at possibly having to take responsibilities upon himself and the fate of thousands of people on themselves.

"We all know Kayaba is highly logical to the point you can't even see any humanity in him so I find it more logical for him to have a constantly high performer as his hero than someone that sometimes gets a higher score, but I can't say for sure if he's given the option he'll choose the safe or the unpredictable one, in our case he could just flip the script entirely and create a new unique skill entirely for us." Said Jezebth calmly while still resting his head on his fist.

"Sigh... we don't even know what our fucking timeline is." Said Reo while being frustrated about the situation he's in, he thought he could get a break from life and relax while playing SAO until he was struck across the face by reality by whatever this situation is.

"Well, umm sigh, this is either canon/progressive, fanfics mixed up, or something even we don't know."

Said Leo thinking about the amount of SAO media he consumed over the past years and stories in general.

"Heh, it would be funny if this is the timeline we thought of in which Kayaba is the good guy, and the whole SAO thing was a training program to create and prepare humanity for what is coming." Said L0ks smirking at them even though even he couldn't hide his anxiety from the others because of their shared being.

This put everyone at the table In a somber mood with even Jezebth taking a more serious posture because of the potential consequences that would affect their world.

"Haha, let's not get ahead of ourselves when we still don't have enough information to work with yet." Said Reo trying to bring back up the mood even though himself and the rest of themselves didn't feel better because of their shared intuition not outright closing the possibility of a future in which SAO would be viewed as the start of the end of the world they live in.

"I still don't really understand why am I here." Said Leo

thinking that he shouldn't be in another world here but back to his earth and starting doing his calling there not here.

"You're probably in a state of superposition in which you're not aware that you're here in this plane of existence and still living your life back home."

Said Jezebth while looking at Leo wondering too why their higher selve made this scenario up for them to be in.

"Are you guys suggesting that maybe this situation that is potentially saving my/our lives is not important enough?" Asked Reo, exasperated and dumbfounded that they don't care about self-preservation at all.

Jezebth, Leo and L0ks looked at eachother before starting playing rock, papers, sccisors with L0ks losing

to both Jezebth and Leo's rock because he picked scrisors while Reo was watching dumbfoundedly at theyr bullshitary with an open mouth.

L0ks looked annoyed that he's the one that got to explain why they aren't that concerned about self-preservation in general, not that they don't care at all.

"You see Reo, the more you walk on the spiritual path the more you are going to see trough the bullshit in front of you that a majority of the population believes as the "Truth" even though all they're illusions and deception to keep them trapped in this objective reality."

L0ks paused for a bit and looked at Reo if he gets what he's saying to witch Reo looks a bit uneasily at them all before looking back at L0ks and noding he's head to continue talking, to witch L0ks nods hide head and starts talking again.

"Well, the "Truth" or at least a part of it that we are aware of, is that we are living in a illusion/simulation/matrix etc. you get the point, reality is not what it appears to be, is false fabricated to keep you in a state of fear and low vibrations so that "they" can exploit you in various ways energetically or physically or emotionally or idk what else but there are probably more, anyways we are not here to talk about the nature of this objective reality right now but because of our lack of self-preservation in general which is because we know who we are."

Said L0ks while waiting for Reo to ask the million dollar question with a small smirk on his face. Reo, still disgesting the information given to him by his otherselves asks the question that he intuitively knows L0ks wants him to ask.

"Soo who, or should i say, what are we?" Asks Reo while seeing L0ks smirking at him because of his pointed question about "what are we?" and waits for him to continue speaking.

"Well, it's not a secret or anything ,we and everybody else that is, are Energy, that's it, we are eternal beings playing at being mortals and a majority of the people on "Earth" and other similar worlds? I don't know, really, incarnated for various reasons with our memories sealed, thus experiencing 'A new beginning' thus our lack of a self-preservation is due to the fact that death is not really an end." Said L0ks, smirking and looking at Reo while waiting for his reaction.

Reo stood in his chair while looking around the table at the others with a look asking if what L0ks said is the Truth or at leat partially of it is as he said, as he looked at the others they nodded their heads at him as if saying that this is the Truth or at least a part of it.

The reason why he is still shocked by the information is because he didn't really know about it before this "Awakening" that he had, and while the awakening made them one entity whith all their knowledge shared that information is still in his subconscious, he's not really aware or conscious of it, still because they are one, the information while still shocking didn't really surprise him that much.

"Now that I think about it shouldn't our brain, you know, overheat because we are putting alot of pressure on it?" Asked Leo with a voice of concern.

"We have been in our mindscape for about 5-6 minutes, which means about 5-6 seconds have passed outside, i personally think we could at max stay another 4 minutes before our brain and body collapses on us because our physical body is consuming too much energy to sustain our current state, plus in the future, if we're even alive at that point, our physical body is going to get even worst, overtime I don't know if we can stay alive for 3 years in this virtual world without our physical body dying on us."

Jezebth said in a somber tone, now realizing with the rest of themselves that they might kick the bucket because of health problems and not skill issues.

"PUAHAHAHAHAhah, haha... this is, this is hilarious haha, no like really this situation is really dumb and fucked what the hell man." Leo laughed and cursed about their situation that he didn't finish before getting in to the mindscape.

"C'mon guys we have like 3 something minutes to plan before shit hits the fan so how about we get to it already?" Said L0ks trying to cook up a plan before their story in Aincrad begins.

Before the others could start planning something, Leo remembers something that might be important as he starts fidgeting as if he wants to say something. This catched the attention of the others with L0ks and Jezebth getting some weird looks on their faces before understanding something with L0ks starting laughing like a madman and Jezebth starting to chuckle a bit too before him and L0ks looked at Reo with a bit of pity. This of course catches Reo of guard not understanding why they are all acting like this before he could ask why Leo started speaking very quickly but still understandable.

"Soooooo, I might know why this situation is happening. You know nothing major is just like before waking up here, I had an idea about writing a fanfic of SAO about umm... me waking up in another incarnation of myself sooooo we might actually be experiencing what i'm/he's writing, with my otherselve writing our conversation right now while being aware that we are aware of the 4th wall break, so umm yea I thought it was a good idea to remind you all of this little bit of information that might or might not be super crucial haha σ(≧ω≦*)." Said Leo while sticking his tongue out a bit, closing one eye and hitting himself lightly on his head while trying to act innocently, as if what he said didn't just flip the situation around it's head again.

While L0ks was starting to wheeze and Jezebth starting to full on laugh, Reo was looking at Jezebth and L0ks before starting to look at Leo with a deadpan gaze while Leo was fidgeting in his seat without being able to make eye contact, before slowly rising out of his seat and starting to walk menacingly to Leo's seat witch is across the table.

Leo panicking slightly rises up too and starts walking so that Reo was across from him. While doing so, he observed Reo, cracking his fingers and joints even though they're in a mindscape somehow working, and asks.

"Umm, Reo, why are you cracking your fingers?" Asked Leo with a nervous smile on his face while seeing Reo starting to walk faster, in turn himself walking faster too.

"I just wanna talk with you." Said Reo while starting to full on run after Leo with a pair of eyes that are promising him hurt and pain.

Leo seeing Reo starting running after him, starts running too, while Jezebth and L0ks are laughing at their idiocy, before long Reo is just behind Leo almost catching him but before he could Leo falls down, Reo looking down he sees that L0ks put his foot out to trip Leo and while still laughing like a maniac smiles at him with an almost psychotic smile, Reo nods to him before getting to Leo putting him on his back and mouting his front starts punching him in the face, just before it hits Leo raises his guard up and takes the punches.

"Oi Oi, THIS IS SELF HARM DUDE STOP, WHY ARE YOU HITTING YOURSELF, HUH???" Said Leo to Reo while ignoring the traitorous L0ks and looking for help with his gaze from Jezebth. Witch laughter has just ended, but he still had a smile on his face as he got up from his seat and came to Leo and Reo before releasing his aura in their faces, Reo and Leo understanding the message in the aura stop "fighting" and go back to theire seats with L0ks just finishing his laughing and returning to a somewhat normal state by then.

"Well, this spectacle took about 1 minute, so we have about 2 more before our brain becomes soup, so let's settle the arguments later, not now, ok?" Said Jezebth with a voice as if soothing a bunch of kids(with is not that far from the truth) before asking for their opinions.

"Well, as fun as this was, let's get back to the point, which is, what are we going to do when we get out of here." Said L0ks with a mischievous smirk still amused by Reo and Leo's tomfoolery.

"Well, first thing first is to find Kirito and well who is with him at this point." Said Reo after a few seconds remembering his otherselves memories and remembering all SAO related content that they know at this point, ending his sentence with a somber voice.

"And after that, what? Are we going directly outside of the town of beginnings, or are we staying here?" Asked Leo, wondering if they should risk it or not, since they don't have any fighting experience in general and no fighting experience with the SAO system of fighting.

"It depends on the situation outside and how fucked our timeline actually is so how about we stop dragging this and get out already?" Said Jezebth while looking at everybody else at the table.

With that said there was a short lull of peace and quiet before Leo put his hand above the middle of the table and with a serious, excited or anxious? look looked at the others, after that L0ks smirked at them all and put his hand above Leo's, after that Jezebth looked at everyone with a casual serious look as if it's just another day before placing his hand above L0ks, after that Reo looked at his otherselves each in the eye, Leo exited, L0ks finding the situation funny and Jezebth just about ready to face everything that is gonna come at them, with that Reo sighs already tired for what the future is going to be like and with a somewhat anxious and excited look in his eyes he placed his hand atop Jezebth's.

After everyone put their hands atop eachother they instinctively knew what to say.

"One is all and all is one."

After witch they all disappeared from their seats at the yin and yang table.

A few seconds after they left at the point where they had their hands at, a small ball of light appeared hovering over the table from witch 4 other balls of light got out eatch hovering over one of the seats where the rest stood.

At Leo's seat, the ball took a greenish color, and over it appeared a text with "Wind."

At L0ks's seat, the ball took a redish color, and over it appeared a text with "Fire."

At Jezebth's seat, the ball took a bluish color, and over it appeared a text with "Water."

At Reo's seat, the ball took a dark yellowish color, and over it appeared a text with "Earth."

And above the middle of the table, the ball took a cycling of the colors know or unknown to man before becoming complete transparent and colorless after witch the cycle began anew, continously, Eternally, becoming empty like nothingness after which it exploded with infinite amount of colors and possibilities, and over it a text appeared with "Ether."

After all the balls of light took their places they hovered for a few seconds before disappearing as if they never existed in the first place.

**********

And with that, "L0kis" woked up inside the town of beginnings about 9 seconds after he got a splitting headache.