~big, big author's line at the end of the chapter~

From the Ashes
過去の亡霊
Chapter One

Maybe things could have gone differently. Maybe Kazuto didn't have to end it all so suddenly. They'd been together for over a year but—it just wasn't working anymore. The passion and spark that they once shared had diminished significantly over time, gradually degrading from a bonfire to a mere candle light. He still cared about her a great deal (after the hell they'd been through together during and after SAO, how could they not?), and while they weren't exactly on speaking terms, his friends had informed him that Asuna (despite being deeply angered by his admittedly impulsive actions) was still genuinely concerned about his well-being; things were going far better than he had initially anticipated, and Kazuto knew that he should be grateful, but…

She'd unintentionally taken ALO away from him as well. He couldn't bear the thought of having to face Asuna—couldn't withstand having to confront her bewilderment, disappointment, and inevitable anger—as he knew for a fact that Asuna played ALO daily and for hours on end. Kazuto knew that he was acting cowardly—his mom(or, aunt, really, but he's called her mom since forever and he didn't feel like changing the term of endearment) would scold him and tell him to not let a break-up end their friendship, but Kazuto had a feeling that any attempt at a confrontation now would end terribly. He needed some time to sort out his emotions, and Asuna wasn't exactly the most reasonable person when her emotions were involved.

But now he was beginning to regret not confronting his ex sooner—since he was religiously avoiding the other teen, he was unable to indulge in ALO. Now he was left wallowing in his room, surrounded by old PC games that he'd already defeated dozens of times before.

So, yeah, things could have gone differently.

Kazuto slumped in his computer chair and stared blankly at his monitors. He'd been in the same position for over ten minutes while the world around him proved to be just as static as he was. Apart from wondering what adventures he could have been doing in the world of ALfheim , he was wedged in his own state of boredom, mind infuriatingly blank.

God, what am I doing with my life?

Deciding that he couldn't just flounder in nothingness for the rest of his days, Kazuto opened his AmuSphere's application in his desktop and switched the current application from ALO to GGO. A second later, he received a warning from the system.

'The application «Gun Gale Online» is outdated, please download the mandatory update to proceed.' Unscheduled updates weren't unheard of, so sure enough, Kazuto confirmed the update, and was surprised with the next thing he saw on his screen.

'Installing Update: 1% of 106 GB'

"Huh, that's a lot." Kazuto frowned at the massive amount of space that the update would take up, but decided to shrug it off. With his connection, the update would be completed in ten minutes tops.

He opened his 'friends' tab after the download began and noticed that, from all the contacts he had added as friends in both ALO and GGO, only Sinon was online, although she wasn't playing either games. He thought of sending her a message as a greeting, but he voted against it. She could be genuinely busy, and he also didn't want to startle her.

His chair swiveled around, and he swiftly stood up, heading downstairs. The house was empty—his parents were at work, and Sugu was at school as well. He should be at school too, however, he would inevitably bump into Asuna there. He did not want to cause a scene in such a public area, and knowing his ex, it could very well be the case if he stepped into campus grounds. When Asuna was determined, she had a one-tracked mind, and completely disregarded all the tiny little details around her. She wouldn't be afraid of kicking him down a few notches in front of other students.

He chuckled at the mildly unnerving thought of her beating him to death and headed to the kitchen. He went for the fridge to grab something to eat while he downloaded the GGO's unusually massive update. He opened the steel door and grabbed the first apple he could see – it was early and he knew that a mere fruit wouldn't satisfy his hunger, but he didn't want to waste time preparing something to eat. He washed it quickly under the tap and took the first bite.

As he headed for the stairs, a series of knocks and a hesitant "Kirito-kun?" stopped him dead on his tracks.

The apple fell on the ground and bounced on the floorboards.

"Shit," he mumbled, deaf to the young woman on the other side of his front door, standing out on his doorstep. He should have realized that Asuna would try to hunt him down if he didn't do so himself. He seriously didn't give her enough credit.

"I didn't see you at school and you didn't pick up your phone… I know you're there." Asuna called out, still pounding on the door.

"Shit, shit, shit," Kazuto looked around for an escape route, but his efforts proved to be in vain; the only possible exit was the front door. He might have defeated the 74th floor boss practically all by himself, but he couldn't see him surviving from her. He was screwed, he knew that, and he also knew for a fact that Asuna would stay there until he opened that door, or until Midori or Suguha did that for him.

Thankfully, neither were present at the moment, but if they had been…

Would they be convicted for being accomplices of a murderer?

Kazuto managed to tip-toe to his room, and closed the door as slowly as humanly possible. He scanned his surroundings, hoping to spot something that would help him escape from Asuna's wrath.

'Download Complete: «Gun Gale Online» application was successfully updated.'

Maybe—if his body couldn't run away, maybe his mind could?

He jumped on his bed and picked up his VR device, shoving it over his head. The system identified the user and the cooling system produced a humming noise as a symbol in the device's display told the black-clad teenager that he was good to go.

It was now or never.

"Link start!" He shouted, and he was immediately bombarded by a bright array of colours.

JUNE 22, 2238

LOCATION: WASTELAND
UNCHARTED AREA

GGO STANDARD TIME: 2215

Under the heavy fire of a machine gun, the six soldiers beside Kirito all panted in exhaustion. Kirito himself was fine, far too used to the thrill and mechanics of battle. After grouping up with some of the players at SBC Glocken to explore the new extended Wasteland, they decided to go ahead and attempt to complete one of the recently added quests. As a result, they were pinned down by a massive radioactive ghoul armed with a MG.

"It's not working," One of the players said helplessly. He knew from the way that they nervously peered at the mid-field boss (from behind their concrete cover) showed that they were about to give up. It was only natural; after all, none of them wanted to lose all the profit they made from grinding several mobs for an hour.

They needed inspiration.

They needed help.

Going against the reasonable voice in his head, he stored his photon sword in his inventory and pulled out an assault rifle – the one he bought after the 3rd BoB ended, after being recommended by Sinon. Specifically, an AMD-65, a weapon reminiscent of the Russian AKM.

With a flick of the wrist, Kirito equipped Kevlar armor, which bore several pockets filled with magazines for quick reloading. It would slow him down, but he didn't need to go toe-to-toe with the monster.

The players sharing the not-so-big-cover with Kirito noticed his new-found determination. He looked back at them and nodded once, as if saying 'watch this'.

He stood up and turned around, facing the boss two hundred meters away. It prowled under a concrete arc, which was sustained by two massive concrete pillars that housed plants growing from its numerous cracks. Kirito crouched and supported the other end of the rifle from their threadbare cover. He aligned the aim of the gun with the boss' massive body and opened fire. In that instant, other artilleries followed suit, their barrels pointed at the armed ghoul.

The heavy impact of the gun's recoil almost made Kirito let go of the trigger and give up, but he held his ground and squeezed the trigger tighter, even though he was already firing. He focused on his aim and isolated himself from the rest of the world. Soon enough, the second health bar of the boss was gone; Kirito didn't even notice the thirty bullets flying by until it was too late. When he tried squeezing the trigger again, his rifle only exerted clicking sounds, a clear sign that he was out of ammo. Kirito retreated to his cover, beckoning his teammates to do the same. A quick head count revealed four men remaining.

They were losing ground fast.

There were still two more health bars to go; the boss was slowly making its way towards their location, now that they'd managed to get its attention. Its heavy, deformed feet formed craters on the ground, shaking the foundation beneath them . It was terrifying, although Kirito had to admit that he'd faced worse in SAO. At least their lives weren't literally in danger this time.

Kirito pulled out more ammo from his armor's pockets and quickly reloaded his AMD-65.

There were three fire teams when the hunt began, but now, the only teams left were the remainder of Bravo, and an unknown variable of soldiers from Charlie, also hidden from the boss a hundred meters from their left. Kirito's fire team, Bravo, was responsible for dealing damage to any eventual boss with fire team Alpha. Charlie was supposed to collect credits from its minions, so they had smaller energy weapons.

In other words, they weren't fit to fight a boss.

Which, in turn, meant that were alone and utterly screwed.

Even though the boss was approaching, likely to finish them off with a flurry of bullets and its meaty limbs, Kirito was proud of his fire team's courage and determination to defeat their enemy. They all twisted around, guns blazing towards the massive monster as it stepped closer and closer towards them, blindly shooting the players with its massive machine gun.

This time, Kirito was even more efficient with his shooting, and always ducked when the prediction lines of the boss reached him. He looked at his display—he only had two more magazines for his assault rifle left available. Every shot counted. The players assisting him were apparently in the same condition, short and wary bursts of fires attesting to that. When his ammo ran out again and the boss was only a hundred meters away, he and his fire team protected themselves behind the thick and seemingly indestructible barrier.

He reached for another magazine, slapped the empty one away and reloaded. He looked over the concrete barrier; the boss was moving faster, now adorning a slow trot.

Here we go.

Bang!

The sound of a nearby explosion distracted him, his fire team, the boss and even fire team Charlie. It didn't come from them—it was much louder than any of his team's weapons, and was evidently of a much larger caliber.

Could it be…?

Bang!

Kirito looked at the source of the sound and spotted what could very well be heaven itself. A girl, not much shorter than him, with blue hair that matched her imposing eyes (hidden behind the scope of a massive sniper rifle) unhurriedly walked towards them and took aim at the boss.

He smirked, right on time.

Bang!

Sinon ejected the bullet from her chamber and loaded another one, pulling the trigger for the fourth time… Bang!. She whispered, but was unable to hear it properly due to the deafening sound of the .50 BMG cartridge exiting the barrel of her weapon, exploding on her Hecate's muzzle.

Looking through the scope, she saw how, after each shot, the health bar of the boss decreased, dealing noticeably more damage than the other players. She also caught sight of a rather effeminate face—just the person she wanted to see. She was thankful that he couldn't see her smile from the other side of the rifle.

She briskly moved her bolt back and forth, pulling the trigger another time.

Bang!

Kirito counted every bullet Sinon had shot on their behalf. She had done enough; it was time for him to take the offensive.

"On me!" He instructed his team, even though there was technically no official leader. He jumped over the barrier between him and the boss, and the rest of the fire team Bravo followed shortly. Taking short and careful steps forward, Kirito and his group stroked the trigger of their weapons, firing in precise and short bursts. The monster's last HP bar was almost completely depleted. In spite of the odds being stacked against them, they were going to win.

In a flash, Kirito strapped his weapon behind his back. He opened his menu and quickly picked up his photon sword. In one swift movement, he activated the sword. Call him boastful, or even selfish, but he wasn't letting anyone take down the first boss he had found in-game.

Kirito knew very well that he wasn't in SAO or ALO; there were neither any activation stances, nor any Sword Skills, so he had to wield his weapon based on his own knowledge and experience. As he closed the distance between him and the boss, he leaped into the air and slashed diagonally, from top-left to bottom-middle , only to adjust his wrist, using the momentum to slash from the bottom-middle to the top-right, copying the Vertical Arc Sword Skill.

And, just like that, after the death of a couple of soldiers from his fire team, the obliteration of another firing team, and the immense frustration of the ones that managed to survive, he finished the fight.

With a sword.

He gracefully landed on the ground and turned his photon sword off. He looked at the dumbstruck faces of his fire team and Charlie's. He swiveled his gaze over at Sinon, who had already strapped her rifle behind her back and was walking towards him.

"Hey," she simply greeted, practically ignoring everyone else around her.

Kirito inclined his head—his own greeting, "Thanks for the help."

He stored his photon sword in his inventory again. Sinon's eyes were drawn to his remaining weapon, which was strapped onto his back, but she didn't say a thing about it.

"We were almost screwed back there." Screwed was putting it lightly.

"Don't mention it." Sinon looked around, and judging by the ragged appearances of the survivors, it was indeed an intense fight. "I decided to come by and help you with the hunting in the new uncharted areas."

"Thank you, miss," One of the soldiers of the fire team Bravo (Edwards, Kirito remembered) approached them and respectfully bowed before the younger woman. "We would be goners if you hadn't shown up."

Edwards then turned and faced the black swordsman, "Kirito, good hunt, man." They shook hands. "I hope we could fight side-by-side again sometime." After a respectful salute (which Kirito returned), the player turned around and walked back to join the rest of Bravo, his hands behind his back.

Kirito and Sinon both looked at the player as he walked away. Strange…

"You're done today?" Sinon finally asked, bumping Kirito's shoulder with her fist.

Kirito raised his chin, proudly. "Done? We're just getting started, right guys?" Kirito raised his voice as he asked and turned to the remainder of the two fire teams.

"Uhh… actually, we're thinking of heading back to Glocken for supplies and to regroup. We'll try again in a couple hours." One of the soldiers replied with an apologetic smile.

Kirito blushed and Sinon couldn't help but cover her mouth as she silently giggled. "U- uhh.. right, so, I, uhh… see you around?"

"Yeah, sure!" Edwards said as he picked up his seemingly heavy backpack. He fastened it around his waist and picked his rifle off the ground. He saluted again, this time a little more casually, and headed back to the main city of the game.

The black-clad swordsman sighed. Things were not going his way. "What about you? Beating one boss has already completed your quota?"

"Not really. It would be really disappointing to log in just for that."

Kirito smiled, passing the slink of his rifle over his head as he pulled its bolt handle, reloading the weapon.

JUNE 22, 2238

LOCATION: SBC GLOCKEN
THE MARKSMAN'S PUB

GGO STANDARD TIME: 2356

Seeing Sinon frown at a glass filled with liquor was… strange.

The girl picked up the small glass and stared at it for a second. She shook her head lightly and in one go, downed all of its content in her mouth. She hissed and slammed the glass against the table loudly, clutching it with all her might. After a few seconds, she coughed a little and smiled at the boy on the other side of the table.

"Your turn." She said, chuckling. Her voice sounded a bit raw from the shot.

Kirito swallowed. "Uh… I don't think it's a good idea." He said, pushing the small glass away.

"C'mon, don't be a chicken," She laughed a bit. "Didn't you say that you'd do it if I did?!"

Kirito had to admit that he dug his own grave. Nonetheless, he was still surprised at how… adventurous Sinon was; he'd never taken her for the drinking type, even if it was just a VR game. After meeting Shino, and comparing her to Sinon, he had to admit that he was rather surprised with her rather…radical personality change. He had already deduced that ALO Sinon was closer to the usual Shino herself than her GGO personality, and he was already pretty used to that, but still, drinking? That was something new.

He sighed. He hated having to pay for his mistakes, but he hated not being able to predict different variables until it was too late even more. He had to keep his word.

"Go on…" Sinon said, pushing the small glass back in the radius of Kirito's reach, a smug grin on her face.

Kirito wouldn't have been as reluctant if he had drunk alcoholic beverages in his life before. Because he was underage, and because of the mess he'd gotten himself into in his early teen years (he was fourteen when the SAO mess started after all, and by the time he had to face reality again, he had to go through rehabilitation), alcohol had been the last thing on his mind. He always thought that, if it was anyone shoving alcohol down his throat, it would be Ryotaro, not his archer friend.

Kirito sighed again. He picked up the glass with both his hands, analyzing the suspicious liquid. Judging by its size, the fact that it was colorless, and the face that Sinon made when she drank it, he came to the conclusion that it had to be some kind of distilled drink, and a very powerful one at that. He placed the tip of the glass in his mouth and parted his lips slightly. Sinon leaned forward, intently watching the whole ordeal with her big aqua eyes.

He tipped the glass further and instantly felt his throat burn as the lava-like liquid made its way down his gullet.

"Gah!" He gasped while slamming the glass against the table, clutching his stomach not a second later. Even though the substance already vanished from his throat, he could still feel the lingering burn. Sinon's laughter in the background did not make him feel any better.

It seemed that the developers of the game really did their homework when it came to the sensations a very strong distilled drink produced.

Thank god none of that crap would affect his real-life body.

He coughed a little bit, just like Sinon had done earlier, and then looked back up, trying to even out his breathing. "I made it…" He said, a hint of pride and relief tinging his voice.

"Yes, you have, congratulations!"

They shared a knowing glance with each other and burst into a tiny series of giggles. He seriously never pictured Sinon as a loose cannon before, but he was glad that she was there with him for his first time (in-game, at least. He wasn't sure about real life).

Which brought him to one small detail.

"I don't think I've asked you before…" he trailed off, letting Sinon know his intentions.

"Shoot." Came the automatic response.

"Why did you login here? I mean, I haven't seen you playing GGO in a while, not since you discovered ALO." It had always lingered on his mind. GGO had been Sinon's first VR game, and since it wasn't exactly dangerous now (with Death Gun out of the way), he was certain that she'd go back to playing it. She had invested a lot of her time and effort into GGO, so it felt strange when he noticed her lack of presence in the game nowadays. Certainly she still had some sort of emotional attachment to GGO?

But, still, of all the days, why did she log in that very day?

It was her turn to swallow. "Well, I…" she trailed off and instantly looked down, a shade of red enveloping her face; she was thankful that he couldn't see it properly under the dim light of the pub. "I didn't have anything to do, and I saw that you were playing GGO, so I thought, 'why not'." She shrugged.

He knew she was lying, but decided not to push further; the wounds were still sore.

"Alright." He clasped his hands and stood up. "You got me hooked. This might be a little weird, but I'll get something else for us to drink… light, however." Sinon's new-found smile matched Kirito's.

He turned around and made his way to the counter of the barkeeper at the middle of the spacious environment. After attending to another player, the NPC walked to Kirito and took his order; a couple of energy drinks and a large – and expensive – bottle of wine. He also ordered some prawns and a fancy lobster broth to start the night. The NPC nodded and walked away; a notification told Kirito that his order would be complete in about five minutes.

He glanced at one of the holographic televisions right behind a row of diverse bottles and noticed that another daily edition of MMO Stream was on – this time, its theme was GGO and its new massive surprise update. He found himself growing quickly bored at the news, deciding to focus his attention elsewhere.

That is, until the screen flickered, followed by all the lights in the pub. Kirito looked back at the TV, unalarmed, but what he saw definitely shocked him. Covered in static, a figure that barely resembled a face revealed itself. The noise, suddenly, overtook everything around him – it was as if all their voices and other general sounds were ceased, and only deafening static remained.

And then the figure on the screen began to talk.

"Citizens of this world. I come to you to alert you of the dangers of the blurred line that splits reality and the virtual world."

He didn't recognize the voice, but he didn't really care about that. His speech was what frightened him the most; the way he spoke and the implied message behind it reminded Kirito eerily of a certain madman.

"After being warned, you were stubborn and decided to seek different identities from your own, escaping from your pitiful realities." The voice said after a short break. "It seems that you still haven't learned your lesson."

Kirito shuddered.

"Rummage your memories; about three years ago, a man with great ambition proved to the world that man can overcome the ever-growing technology. Even after facing him first-hand, you have still failed to see his real intentions."

Kirito whipped around, looking for Sinon. He instantly spotted her at the same spot that he had left her. Her expression gave everything away; she was terrified. She didn't wear the cold-hearted sniper mask she usually adorned. Instead, he saw the same defenseless Asada Shino he had witnessed after finally meeting up with her IRL.

"Kayaba Akihiko was a fool, make no mistake. He wasn't clear enough with his message."

At the mention of the NerveGear's and Sword Art Online's creator, all blood was drained from Kirito's face. He sat there motionless, his hearing being the only sense that hadn't given out.

"So I will be responsible to make his voice loud and clear. Good luck."

The lights flickered again and Kirito fell to his knees, as if the voice was the only thing holding him up. His eyes were the phantom of what they once were, and he stared at his hand with undeniable fear as he swept two fingers down, beckoning for the menu to appear.

His eyes scanned the menu, and with cold, cold terror, he stared in disbelief at the one blurred feature that he thought he would never have to see again, not after he defeated Kayaba Akihiko and freed the rest of the trapped players.

The logout button was gone.

A/N: I'm back! It's hard to believe, but I'm baack! Yes, an entire new rewrite for Battlefield took months to be planned and only some few days to be written, and this is the result... I'm kinda proud with what I have here, and I think you guys might enjoy it as well.

First, I have to apologise for those who were following this chapter for so long, but I have a very good reason to be replacing it: I have to think about the new followers that this story might get in the future, and I believe that these chapters, they... well, they were really, really bad, so I decided to throw all of it away and try it all again. Know, not all is lost. Even though some details are being changed from the original story, this one will continue from the other left off, so you're not losing any important plot details here, and the plot of From the Ashes to Battlefield is pretty much the same, so you can follow this story if you want.

The main difference between this and Battlefield is that I'll have a better writing, thanks to my beta 'Too Many Obsessions to Choose', or just TMOTC, and that I'll focusing a lot more in character development than ever before. Ah, I will try to bring smaller and more fast paced chapters, without feeling rushed at all.

I also want to thank One More Guy for getting rid of some of the many grammar issues in this chapter left behind, thanks bro!

Thank you for following Battlefield, and I promise that I won't let you down.

For the new readers, buckle up, because this will be a hell of a ride.

Thanks for Reading.
-RStyle, the Potato on Fedora.

EDIT: There's a new poll on my profile, please check it out.

EDIT2: Here's a Playlist on Soundcloud for songs related to From the Ashes! soundcloud . com/mateus-vin-cius-10/sets/from-the-ashes/s-Hmjj7