Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online or the books written by Rick Riordan (in this case the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and Heroes of Olympus series).

Warning: well, the story is about a death game, so…be prepared for death and angst.

Enjoy!

In 2022, mankind finally built a full virtual environment.

Nico grinned excitedly as he opened his package, before quickly frowning again. He glanced around.

No one had seen his lapse.

He had a reputation to uphold, after all. Smiling would ruin that.

"Nerve Gear." He muttered, thumbing over the manual.

He had been rather lucky to get a copy of Sword Art Online, which was being sold in Japan and only had ten thousand copies out so far. Luckily, he had connections.

He followed the directions carefully as he set up, before putting the helmet on his head and leaning back on his bed.

The game required him to pat himself down, so his avatar would be similar to his real body, so he hooked himself up and did so.

"Link Start!" he ordered, once everything was done.

Nico sucked in a breath as he saw loading screens synch his senses to the game.

Or he would have, if he had a body.

Language? English.

Could've gone with Italian, but English was more widely known. Ancient Greek and Latin weren't even options.

Nico logged on to his account.

[Character Registration]

User name?

The Son of Hades pondered that for a few minutes. It wasn't very smart to use your real name for this kind of thing, Son of Hades was a really bad idea, and Ghost King just sounded lame.

Something that he could respond to fairly naturally, but still paid homage to the Greek deities…

He typed in the name as it came to him.

Welcome to Sword Art Online!

Nico blinked as he suddenly found himself in the town square.

He glanced around, blinking slowly.

Wow. Everything not only looked but felt realistic. He could barely tell the difference between this and the real world.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why could he still feel people's life-forces?

That…was slightly disconcerting.

Deep in the Cardinal System of the game, Yui's eyes widened in wonder as she analyzed one of the new player's stats.

He came into the game with his combat, strength, agility, stamina, speed, and sword skills already at a fairly high level.

How could that be?

The boy hadn't been a beta tester, so he hadn't had those skills carry over to his new avatar.

So how had he gotten them?

Nico grunted as he killed yet another wild boar, gaining more Col (AN: money) and experience as he did so.

The sword skills were kind of weird, since he wasn't used to having to channel his power with a focus, but this wasn't the real world. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't raise armies of the dead or force the shadows to do his bidding here.

*Congratulations! You have reached level 5!*

Not too bad, considering.

Though at this rate he'd need to replace his weapon soon. Not his armor, though, since the beast hadn't managed to get through his defense and begin to wear it down.

Nico's eyes widened as he was suddenly surrounded by a bright light.

"What the Hades?!" he hissed, before finding himself back where he had begun.

The Town of Beginnings.

From what he could hear, he wasn't the only one pulled from whatever they had been doing. A forced teleportation?

What was this? Some kind of event?

Nico didn't have time to wonder, as a large image appeared in the sky of a male in a red cloak that covered his face.

Hazel screamed in horror as she watched the news report.

Ten thousand people were trapped in the new game Sword Art Online.

They had to beat the game in order to get out, and if they died in the game, they died in real life. Removing the helmet connecting them to the game would also result in their death.

And the worst part?

Her half-brother Nico was one of the players.

She immediately pulled out a drachma, preparing to message Will Solace.

He was Camp Half-Blood's lead healer, and she had a feeling that Nico was going to need medical attention if he was going to survive.

After all, he couldn't even move his real body while hooked up to the Nerve Gear, much less eat.

Nico closed his eyes after the Game Master's announcement.

Damn it!

He just had to try out the game before running his errands, didn't he? If he had waited until afterwards, chances were he wouldn't have been logged in and trapped in this death game.

Patience is a virtue, indeed.

He took a deep breath as he took stock of his surroundings.

Unsurprisingly, everyone was still frozen in place, too in shock to do anything.

Nico himself wasn't as useless because he'd been in much worse situations. This was incredibly irritating, but it was hardly the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

He caught a movement in his peripheral vision, only to see a boy slightly older than him conversing with an older guy with red hair.

Nico only caught a few words of what he was saying, but it was enough.

If they stayed in the Town of Beginnings, resources would quickly run out. It would be better to go to the next town before everyone else.

The redhead turned down the offer to go with the younger-looking boy, and the two shook hands.

Hazel looked up as the door slammed open, and Will ran in.

"You didn't try to remove it, did you?!" he demanded desperately, examining Nico's unmoving body.

He'd been following the news, too, but hadn't found out that Nico was playing it until Hazel called him for help.

"No." Hazel denied, hands shaking. She had been about to, but luckily the newscaster had mentioned the repercussions before she went through with it.

The Son of Apollo muttered a healing chant, checking her brother's vitals.

"He's fine, physically." He said after a long moment, swallowing hard. "We need to get him hooked up to an IV, maybe something to monitor his brain activity. I'll ask my dad to see if he can do anything, but…"

But this was a mortal problem, and Apollo might not be allowed to interfere, regardless of whether or not a demigod was a victim of it.

Hazel nodded jerkily, indicating that she understood.

It wasn't Will's fault. It wasn't even Apollo's. She could lay some of the blame on Zeus (or Jupiter) for forbidding godly actions in situations, but…it was really Kayaba Akihiko's fault.

She was so caught up in her own grief and thoughts that she didn't notice Will slide down the wall and put his head in his arms, trying to stop himself from sobbing.

The boy he had fallen in love with was trapped in a game, could die at any moment…and despite the fact that they were half-god and had amazing powers, they could do nothing to help him.

And the Son of Hades had no idea how he felt about him.

Will's fists clenched as a few tears finally fell.

Why did everything always happen to Nico? Couldn't the Son of Hades ever catch a break?

"Mind if I tag along?" Nico asked, stepping out of the shadows.

The other black-haired boy spun around, swinging his sword, but Nico dodged with practiced ease.

"Sorry." The Son of Hades apologized, realizing that startling someone after the Kayaba's announcement wasn't a very good idea. "You and the redhead weren't exactly quiet. I'm not a fan of crowds, so going somewhere relatively empty sounds like a good idea."

"Uh…" the other boy wasn't sure what to make of this guy. He looked a lot like him, with black hair and dark eyes, but he could tell that the other boy wasn't Japanese. "Sure thing. Party?"

Nico thought back to what he remembered about parties in the manual. "That's fine."

The other boy dragged up his screen and sent him an invite, which Nico immediately accepted.

The Son of Hades raised an eyebrow as another name suddenly appeared beneath his up on the left of his field of vision.

"Nice to meet you, Kirito." He greeted, correctly assuming that that was the other boy's username.

"You too…Nyx?" the boy tried, not quite sure about the pronunciation. His grades in English were some of the highest in his class, but he hadn't come across this word before. "Cool name."

"Thanks." Nico muttered, following Kirito as they left the town, killing the wolves that were attacking them without hesitation. "Got it from Greek mythology."

Despite how un-mythical Greek mythology actually was.

Kirito glanced at the other boy appraisingly. Nyx didn't show any hesitation in his attacks, even though he now knew that one mistake could cost him his life. He didn't seem to be a beta tester, but he already knew how to use the sword skills rather effectively.

A natural, huh?

And by the determination Kirito could see in his dark brown eyes, there was no doubt in Kirito's mind that Nyx would get out SAO alive.

He smiled a bit at the realization, suddenly feeling emboldened.

The drive to survive and beat the odds was contagious, but unlike the cold or the flu, Kirito didn't mind catching it.

Hopefully it would become an epidemic, because they were going to need it.

"Mind if I ask how far you got during the beta test?" Nico asked, blowing a strand of hair out of his eyes as the two continued running to the other town.

Kirito glanced at the other boy. "I was in here for two months and I only got to Floor 8. Though, this time it should only take half as long, or even less, considering the fact that advancing is imperative now."

Nico frowned thoughtfully.

"You'll have an idea of what to expect, but don't depend on your knowledge from the beta." He warned. "There's bound to be things that were changed. Wouldn't want to gamble your life only to find out that your intel was wrong."

Kirito shuddered at the implications of that statement. "Good point."

Neither of them verbalized what they were both thinking. In a game like this, knowledge was key.

Nico inhaled sharply, eyes wide.

"What's wrong?" Kirito asked, concerned. His new friend wasn't having a mental breakdown, was he?

The Son of Hades shook his head.

"Nothing." He muttered, stabbing a wolf that charged at him. "Momentary freak-out over whether or not I turned off the oven at home. I did, it's just one of those things."

Kirito nodded in understanding.

But that wasn't it at all.

Nico had just felt someone die. Probably a player committing suicide out of a desperate hope that the Game Master was lying, and that they would wake up.

Normally this was completely normal. After all, he was the Son of Hades, lord of the Underworld, and Nico himself held the title 'Ghost King.'

But that shouldn't have been possible here. It was still a virtual world, so Nico shouldn't have been able to feel it.

That meant that Kayaba hadn't only trapped their minds in Sword Art Online…

But their very souls.

Please review!

Hope you guys liked the first chapter! :)

Yes, Nico's username is Nyx. Yes, I know that she was (sort of) an antagonist in the Heroes of Olympus series, but that was mostly because they were in her territory. She is one of the primordials, on par with Gaia the Earth and Uranos the Sky. Nyx's domain is Night. Darkness, shadows, you get why I'm having Nico go by her name. That, and Nyx is close enough to Nico that he won't have too much trouble getting used to being called by his username.

No, there will most definitely not be anything romantic between Nico and any of the girls. Some of them might crush on him a bit, but he's not exactly interested in girls, so that wouldn't go anywhere. Also, THERE WILL NOT BE ANYTHING ROMANTIC BETWEEN KIRITO AND NICO! There obviously can't be very many Solangelo scenes since Will isn't in the game with him, but still.

Nico and Kirito are only temporarily teaming up in a party; they'll go solo a bit later. Not because they don't trust each other or anything, but because they're both kind of loners and Nico wouldn't have to worry about giving something away about the Greek stuff if someone isn't around him constantly.