Apparently removing a chapter from a story counts as Update here on FFN... I didn't know that. Ignore this story for now, it's still in Hiatus. I just wanted to remove the notification that I left as a second chapter.

Through My Eyes
Prologue
Shino.

"And what do we have here?" The older man brought his hands together to crack his knuckles. "Say, you've got pretty good gear for just another roamer."

"Shut up." Shino grit her teeth, and her hand slowly reached behind her for her P226.

"Don't try anything with me, girl!" He grabbed her wrist and pushed her back. She hit the ground with a thump. "Just give me all that fancy gear and I might consider letting you go."

The wind blew with a low-pitched whistle, leaves swirled off the abandoned streets and were carried forwards in miniature tornadoes. The alleyway Shino was stuck in was particularly narrow; she couldn't see any immediate way out.

"Do you hear me?" The man's voice came again, rough and unsettling. She could still smell alcohol and cigarette smoke on his breath. Sinon coughed, leaning back as far as she could without outright lying on the ground.

"Get away from me." The black-haired girl pumped hatred into her voice, though her attacker merely stood up and laughed. Shino, however, saw this as an opportunity and quickly pulled the pistol out of her rear holster. "I said... Get. The fuck. Away. From. Me." She pointed the barrel at him, and finally, he displayed fear. "You don't know who I am, do you? You got the drop on me and you thought I would be easy." A smirk played on her face, wide and taunting.

"Wait..." Realization spread across his face. "You're... You're the Sinon? I thought that was just a stupid ghost story they told us so we wouldn't go out at night!" His voice noticeably raised an octave. He shook his head, then suddenly lunged forwards at her, trying desperately to save his own life.

Shino pulled the trigger. The gun clattered to the ground, barrel steaming. The wind stopped. The only sound perforating the eerie silence was her own labored breathing. "I guess the fear isn't fully gone, huh?" She thought aloud, gingerly picking the gun up off the ground before the pool of blood spreading from the man's body could stain it. Standing up from her position on the ground, she brushed the dirt and dust off of her and stepped over the man's lifeless corpse.

Before exiting the alleyway, she turned to look at him one last time. "And... my name is Shino."

The streets felt even emptier than before, the cold autumn day doing nothing to improve her mood. Slipping one shoulder out of the backpack she was wearing, she turned and reached into one of its pockets to retrieve a black scarf. Wrapping it around her neck and throwing one end over her shoulder, she put the backpack on again to continue walking down the road, checking for unlocked cars to take supplies from. Everybody had taken the pandemic differently. Some turned to crime- though technically with the collapse of all local law and order, Shino supposed that anything was fair game at this point. Some were reduced to sitting in their homes and feeling sorry for themselves, and some, such as Shino, found a middle ground between pacifism and complete chaos.

Many had succumbed to the illness- in fact, Shino had been sure that she, too, would contract it and eventually fall victim to it, but as fate would have it, she was one of the few to survive. Eventually, the others like Shino, who still tried to preserve order by taking action, would set up bases and camps- of which one was her current destination. The large, makeshift gate spread across the street, and as she got closer, she could hear gunshots ringing out. Judging by their frequency, she assumed the bullets were being fired on the test range.

Shino knocked on the large metal surface, once, twice. Alas, there was no answer, and she resorted to angrily kicking the huge door. Finally, it opened a crack- just enough for her to see a few strands of red hair.

"God damn it, Klein, just open the door already," she deadpanned.

"Okay, okay, jeez." He braced his arms against the frame of the giant door and pushed again, opening it just wide enough for someone as slim as Shino to slip through.

"Find anything good this time?" Klein asked, as she walked towards her designated building- a hotel that had been repurposed to hold all the roamers in this particular encampment.

"No, nothing."

"And- how are you… With that?" He prodded a finger at the black pistol in her holster.

Shino sighed. "The same as always."

"Ah." Klein nodded, knowingly. "You should get some rest, then. You've been out for over twelve hours."

"No," she grit her teeth, "I'm heading to the range."

Sensing there was nothing he could do to change her mind, Klein merely turned to return to his post guarding the door. She couldn't say that his role here was particularly important, but he was a good fighter and came through when it counted.

Nearing the range, Shino plugged in the earplugs she kept just for the occasion; there was no way she'd be caught dead with those in in the field. Stepping through the door and into the narrow hallway connected to the several stalls, she picked the one farthest from the door and set her pack down. She drew her hand behind her and flicked the retaining strap of her holster down, pulling out the Sig Sauer P226 with a smooth motion. The small pistol was chambered in the 9mm round size- Shino couldn't handle much larger than that, which could be considered funny if taken into account that her preferred weapon was an anti-materiel rifle with ridiculous amounts of recoil.

Raising her pistol with her arms outstretched, she took careful aim and fired five shots in quick succession. Finishing and lowering her pistol, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She didn't think about shooting anymore- she may have had remnants of PTSD, but it hadn't hindered her marksmanship as much as she would have thought.

The paper target was pulled towards her with the whir of a motor. She watched as it came, the holes in the paper growing larger and larger. When it finally came to a stop, she confirmed that all five bullets had gone through more or less the same hole in the middle of the target's head- though she saw that long before the target came close to her. Her eyesight had been rated at double the fidelity of average human vision.

"Might as well go grab it." She muttered, to no one in particular. Shino holstered her pistol and took off with a light gaunt to her step- she got excited every time the prospect of handling her rifle entered her mind, though she kept that detail to herself- she couldn't imagine how embarrassing it would've been had that secret gotten out.

Entering the hotel, she walked swiftly towards the elevator banks, knowing all the males lounging in the lobby had their eyes planted firmly on her. As she entered the elevator that had come to retrieve her, she quickly jammed her number and pressed the close door button several times, just for good measure. It felt like an eternity before the door finally closed and she was all by herself… Again.

Shino opened the door to her temporary room with a rusty key, and walked in, not bothering to take her shoes off. She looked out her window- it was the long-distance sniping range Dyne had fashioned for her. She saw him as a father-figure more than anything else, and it was clear that she was his surrogate daughter. She couldn't exactly say that the range itself was anything special-though. Some extra metal targets that hadn't been used for other purposes set up on various roofs facing her window. It wasn't much, but she appreciated it.

The barrel of her rifle was cold- it hadn't been used in weeks as she'd been sent on mission after mission- without it, too. It was too conspicuous, and Dyne would never allow her to take it with her on missions as unimportant as hers. Of course, she knew he kept it this way for her safety, but she couldn't help feeling a little irked. Shino grabbed the rifle off the wall by the middle of the barrel, and unceremoniously hoisted it onto her shoulder, before walking to the window and setting her bipod down on its ledge. Before long, the people on the streets below began to hear the deafening roar of .50 BMG rounds being fired over and over again, a quieter but distinctly metallic sounding bolt-pull after each shot.

Over the sound of the rifle firing, Shino couldn't hear the door open behind her. It was only during the next bolt pull that the man who had walked into her room coughed, signaling his intention to speak.

"Shino, I-"

She growled. "What are you here for, Rider?" She practically hissed at him, though she found it hard to be threatening to a man whose face was always covered with a reflective glass mask. "Are you going to tell me I'll never be a part of your team, again? I don't want to hear it." She clumsily stepped back and placed her rifle against the wall before pushing past him out into the hallway

"Wait!" He turned to follow her.

"Shut up." Shino ignored the elevators, knowing that he would have been down the stairs and waiting for her when the ding sounded and the doors opened.

"That's not what I wanted to say!" He reached out and caught her shoulder.

"Then, what did you want to say?" She relaxed a bit, but her back was still unusually stiff- and her glare remained where she knew his eyes to be behind that mask.

"Dyne said… Dyne said he wanted you to tag along with us during our next raid." His voice betrayed no emotion- not that he spoke with much, anyway.

"I… He… What?" She stammered, dumbfounded. It was unlike Dyne to put her in danger; that is, unless he really needed her particular set of skills.

"Yeah, you heard right." He said, and Shino swore she heard spite in his voice, which delighted her.

"When is it?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'd say… Thursday?"

Thursday was a bad day for Shino. Thursday was a bad day for everyone. However, it held an especially sour memory for her. That terrible day almost a year prior, now, Shino had gotten to watch helplessly as her mother's lungs filled with fluid and she struggled to breathe. Every time she coughed, more of it would spill out of her lungs, as well as blood, but there was nothing Shino could do. Only stay away- because the contagious disease could victimize anyone. Her father had died before she was two- they had been involved in a car accident, and he had slowly bled out for almost six hours, before somebody finally noticed and called the ambulance. Thus, she was left an orphan and had to survive on her own- that was, until Dyne took her under his wing.

She shook herself out of her reminiscing, and shrugged. "Thursday it is, then."

I've never really understood anticipation as I do now. Lying in bed on Wednesday evening, it's kind of like it'll be my birthday tomorrow. Of course, a child's birthday isn't usually filled with firefights and blood, but the excitement I feel could probably be related to what a child might experience before their birthday.

Unable to sleep, I swing my legs over the side of the comfortable hotel bed. Slowly, I walk towards the sniper rifle I've propped up against the wall, and sit down next to it, as though it were a person. Anybody else watching would think I'm crazy, but I don't care. "Hecate," I whisper to the darkness, "lend me strength."

When I wake up in the morning, I'm still sitting against the wall, my head craned over to the side. "Damn." I scowl, knowing that it will be sore for the rest of the day. Hoisting myself up off the ground isn't easy, but I manage it anyway. As I walk into the washroom, I glance at myself in the mirror that's set off to the side. I look terrible, as I usually do when I wake up. I just realize that I'd neglected to change my dirty clothes out for a fresh outfit the day before, so I elect to take a shower first. The uncomfortable pants slip off first with relative ease, but my shirt practically sticks to me with the sweat that hasn't dissipated since yesterday.

I strip myself of my underwear as well, and I toss the pieces into the makeshift laundry bin that I have. Before stepping into the shower, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror again. I turn fully towards it, looking at myself. The scar tissue over the various wounds I had collected shone proudly- as if proof of what I've been through in this hell. My muscles as well, have become raised and more prominent- another testament to my trials. My eyes drift up to my chest, and I start to feel a little self-conscious. They're not… Small, per se… But they're definitely not anything impressive.

Finally, I remember what I'm supposed to be doing again. I sigh to myself; a habit I've developed from being around Klein. I step in the shower and turn the knobs until I'm satisfied with the temperature… And I stand there. I really should wash my hair, but I can't stop thinking about the mission I'm undertaking today. A mix of determination, excitement and fear swirls in my stomach, feeling like butterflies are everywhere. I shake my head and pat my cheeks, bringing myself back to reality, before reaching behind me to grab the small bottle of shampoo. It's not every day I get to wash my hair- or take a shower at all, for that matter, and I revel in the clean feeling which remained after the suds had been washed away. Cleaning the rest of myself is a matter of lathering with soap and a simple rinse.

I take the time to towel-dry my hair, I've got all the time I need. When it's time to pick the outfit for today, I go with my favorite, since I've washed it. A white tank with a black stripe, with several cutout openings around my waist that I'm sure none of my family members would approve of; if I still had a family. Over this went a short green jacket, accentuated with green and black. The tank connected to a pair of pants- I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be accepted either, as most of my inner thighs were visible. Finally, I throw a white muffler around my neck, and clip my hair back with a few metal clips. Sometimes, dressing like this does make me feel uneasy, but most of the time it helps me feel like a different person. And that's the one thing I aspire to become in this life.

I need to go get breakfast, and I know that when I leave this room, I might not be back for several days. It feels surprisingly home-y, despite its smallish size. Luckily, Dyne decided to build his camp in a five-star hotel. The hardwood floors are exquisite, matched with modern furniture with the right amount of decoration. The initial uneasiness of sleeping in a hotel bed every night was something I definitely had to get over, though.

Moving across the room, I open a few drawers, uncovering extra .50 BMG ammunition, as well as a few extra magazines for my rifle. Picking them all up, I stuff them into various pouches on me. I'm surprised at the fact that everything fits. Finally, I grab my sniper rifle and pull the strap over my shoulder and open the door, the musty air of the hallway invading my senses.

Entering the elevator, I press the button for the first floor- knowing that the rest of Dyne's team must be up, having breakfast, and waiting for me. The elevator finally slows to a stop on the first floor, and I walk out confidently. Not many people still had the nerve to stare when I had a rifle almost my height on my back. Walking into the section of the lobby where tables had been setup for a makeshift mess hall, I set my sniper down at the table Dyne is sitting at, counting his bullets and filling his magazines. As I walk to the table where the rations are stored, I can practically feel his glare boring holes into my back- probably from my choice of outfit. I return to the table with the ever-dreaded "hash browns and bacon" ration. It sounded good to me the first time I received it, but I soon learned that it tasted exactly like water. With a hint of bitterness, too. Soon after that, I found that salt and pepper made it bearable. Just barely.

"So." Dyne looks up from his equipment, to rest his eyes on me. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I try to keep the nervousness out of my voice, but my attempts betray me.

"Relax." He laughs his hearty laugh, and I can't help but smile.

I don't answer, and instead pull out a spoon to dig into the warm plastic package I'm holding.

"How do you even eat that stuff?" He just sits back and watches me eat.

"You learn to like it," I say, shrugging. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the rest of the raid group moving towards our table. "That's a little more than usual." I raise my eyebrow at him.

"Well, being prepared never hurt anyone."

Of course, he's right. Again. I might have skills, but he's got raw experience. There's no way I can compete with that. With that, the whole party is upon us- and it seems as if they've all already eaten.

"Now, I'm sure you know what we're all doing today." Dyne stands up, opening various pouches on the tactical vest he's wearing. "We're raiding a base belonging to the SDDS." He begins to pick up a few of the magazines he's loaded, and fits them into the open pockets. "It's very high security- more than anything we've dealt with before. That's why there are more of you." He gestures to the various figures standing around the table, including me. "Here's the plan."

"In position." I speak calmly into the microphone of the earpiece I'm fitted with. There's no need for me to be quiet- I'm over five hundred meters from the base.

"Acknowledged." Dyne's voice whispers back. "Don't miss," he adds, with an audible smirk.

"I never miss." Is my dry reply.

I look through the 20x rifle scope I've mounted on my rifle at the roof of the repurposed warehouse that is our target. "Dyne, there are two patrolling the roof."

"Would you be so kind as to dispose of them?"

My anti-materiel rifle has almost no bullet drop at five hundred meters. Couple that with a muzzle velocity of over 1000 meters per second on a night with no wind, and hitting targets is a piece of cake. Unblinking, I center the crosshairs over the first target's head, and pull the trigger. My shoulder is pushed back hard with the recoil, and I'm shocked for a moment when I see the man fall to the ground, blood oozing into a puddle around him. I break out of my dazed state and hastily pull the bolt back and push it forward, chambering another round. The other guard has knelt at his colleague's side, unmoving. When I hold my breath before making these shots, it's as if time is slowing down. I pull the trigger for the second time, once again being jolted by the recoil. My shoulder will definitely bruise.

"Thanks," Dyne's voice comes through my earpiece as soon as the second man is down. "We're moving in now."

I swivel my rifle on it's bipod to look at my teammates, who are slowly moving forward from where they had taken cover behind palettes stacked high with various sizes of boxes. "Shino. There are two in front of me. I'll take one down, you pick off the other." The Pale Rider's dreary voice makes me want to shoot him. "Three... Two... One... Now."

I pull the trigger as I watch him step from the shadows with a standard bayonet. As the huge .50 caliber round penetrates through the head of my target, he's sinking his knife into the man in front of him. I can't deny that he's a formidable opponent. Only now do I take the opportunity to actually count them all. Five in total; Dyne, The Pale Rider, Ginrou and two others I don't recognize. One's a girl- and the other… I can't see much of whoever they are.

The five of them step into the warehouse without another word to me- allowing me to relax, it seems. That is, until I see multiple trucks pulling up outside. Somebody must have called for reinforcements discreetly.

"Heads up, guys," I say, keeping my voice level, "Reinforcements are pulling up outside."

"Do not engage." I've always admired how Dyne can keep his voice calm, but sharp as a razor at the same time. "Only fire if you're sure we can't get out by ourselves."

I bite my lip, preventing myself from saying something to piss him off. Helpless, I can only watch as the armed men clad in black exit the truck, moving into the building. Two climb up onto the roof, and examine the dead bodies I left there.

"Shit. Dyne, they definitely know you're there." I hiss back at him.

He just sighs on the other end of the line. "Okay. You're clear to engage." He speaks with resignation.

In response, I just smile. Pointing my scope at the two men who've scaled the ladder on the side of the building to the roof, I fire just as one walks behind the other. I grin with a rush of adrenaline as they both slump to the ground, dead. "Bingo." Suddenly, the inside of the warehouse lights up with gunfire, and I hear yelling through my earpiece. Jeez, guys. Could you keep it down, at least? I do what I can to help them pick off the enemies, but when they start returning fire, I can't say that I'm shocked. They were bound to figure out I was here eventually. I flick my bipod back up so it's flush with my barrel and crawl back from my nest, slowly. When it's safe, I shoot up from the floor running back from the window of the office building I'm in, overlooking the whole scene. I decide to go even higher, and I round the corner to the stairwell, hoping to climb a few more floors to throw the counter-snipers off. When I throw open the door and run to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, the glass is already broken and I merely lie down with my bipod deployed. When I look through my scope again, horror floods my veins. Four out of five of my teammates are down, with various forms of injuries, no doubt in various states of consciousness. The only one left standing is Dyne, who is grappling with a man who is larger and better equipped than the rest- he is no doubt their leader- and the last enemy. I don't know what to do. Through my scope, I see Dyne grab his arms and restrict him like a human shield, and then they face me. Instantly, I know what he wants me to do. It's crazy. If I fire, the shot will penetrate through the enemy and into Dyne. However, there's no way around it. Aiming for the man's heart- I know that the trajectory will put the bullet through an empty part of Dyne's chest cavity, thankfully- I fire. Again, two bodies slump to the floor. This time, however, the second begins crawling back, slowly. He sits himself up against a wall, wincing from the pain, and I run to the stairwell.

Usually, I would be out of breath from running over thirty sets of stairs. This time, I don't notice it. I run out of the doors onto the street, sprinting as fast as I can despite the heavy rifle on my back. Finally, I can see the warehouse. Picking up my pace, I run inside, to patch up my teammates with what little medical experience I have. Once I'm satisfied that none of them will bleed out, I move to Dyne.

"Hey, cupcake." He groans, weakly.

"Now's not the time to be teasing me, Dyne." I scold him, knowing it's his way of trying to reassure me.

He's got his arms folded over his wound.

"Let me see." I nudge him, and he winces, before removing his hands.

Thankfully, the wound isn't as bad as I thought. The round passed clean through his body- his only problem now is that he's lost a lot of blood. With my limited supplies, there's not much I can do but wrap his torso with several layers of bandages, and sit next to him.

I adjust the frequency on the radio connected to my earpiece. "Klein?" I tap it a few times. "Klein?"

"I'm here, Shino."

"Good. Get us evac. Oh yeah, and a god damn doctor."

"Will do, ma'am."

I turn off my radio, and look at Dyne.

"You did good, cupcake."

"Thanks," I reply bitterly. We may have succeeded, but I can't help feeling like I failed. Everyone's been injured… But me. Honestly, I don't know what to expect for the future. If this was my first raid and it had gone this badly, I didn't dare think about the future.

A/N: Hey guys, TheSilentSwordsman here! (If you hadn't noticed already, this chapter was written by me.) When Rstyle first approached me with the idea for a collab, I wasn't sure what I was gonna get. But when he introduced me to the concept, I can say I was excited! This is basically what I came up with after he gave me the premises of the idea and said, "Now go write some stuff." Kudos to him for the idea, even if it's based off of the division... A little bit. Ha! Anyways… Not much else to say? Rstyle usually has ridiculously long notes, so I guess I'll leave all the boring stuff to him, lol. And now, Rstyle with the weather.

A/N 2: Hey there! RStyle's here. This is a project I have been wanting to do for quite a while and I knew that I could never do it without TSS's help, so yeah, here it is! I'm not going to spoil of what this is story is all about; you will have to wait for the next chapter to understand a little better this universe I adapted from The Division with TheSilentSwordsman. About the boring stuff? Yeah, let me explain.

TheSilentSwordsman will be writing all Sinon segments while I'll be doing Kirito's (that sentence is a little weird, but meh) and so you'll see a huge gap between his and my writing, the sort of gap that you'll ignore all of Kirito's segments to just read Sinon's one, but hey! I don't really mind.

Update rate: we're not sure... I mean, we'll publish it when it's ready, but since there is more traffic on FFN on Fridays/Saturdays, I'll focus the updates there. My plan is to launch Kirito's and Sinon's chapters with a three days interval between the chapters, and after that, another week or two of waiting for the next chapter, since TSS and me will be writing simultaneously.

For a better understanding of this universe, follow this story and wait for Kazuto's chapter.

Ah, and no cover for a while.

Thanks for reading,
-RStyle.