Harry Potter did not understand why his aunt and uncle had bothered bringing him to Japan on their vacation, but he did have a sneaking suspicion that Uncle Vernon just didn't want to leave behind his personal punching bag. It would have been an enjoyable trip if it weren't for the fact that literally anything Harry did may set his uncle off and result in horrendous consequences for him later down the line.
Currently, the family was visiting a gaming terminal where they could test out demos for various virtual reality games. Dudley was looking for one he wanted to try. Eventually, they came across one called Gun Gear Online.
"I wanna try THAT one!" Dudley demanded.
"Atta boy Dudley!" his uncle said happily while calling over an employee to set up the dive capsule before grimacing when the employee set up two, one for Dudley...and one for Harry. Scowling, he knelt down and grabbed Harry by the shoulders. "Listen here boy," His uncle growled into his ear "If you upset Dudley in any way while in there, I will take beat you until your hide is unrecognizable before leaving you here to rot." Harry whimpered and nodded to show he understood. "Now get your bloody ass in there and don't draw any attention to yourself." He snarled. Harry scrambled into the capsule as fast as he could, trembling uncontrollably.
Climbing into the pod, he felt it scan his body before his vision went white and he found himself in a grungy steel grey world with a keypad next to him where he could enter in his name. After he just typed in 'Harry', he felt himself being dragged away by an avatar whose name read 'High King Dudley' as his cousin took them to the place where you could gamble and buy weapons.
Harry took the crowded room as an opportunity to run away and hide. He wasn't supposed to be seen. His uncle would have his head on a silver platter if someone found out what happened behind the scenes...
He was about to take off when his Cousin threw him forward, "Don't even think about it Freak," his cousin snarled "I'm going to need the family slave to carry my stuff around. Now come on!" This caused Harry to nod meekly and follow his cousin towards a game where he saw a 'cowboy robot' standing at the end of a lane and the players had to dodge the bullets. As they went over though neither of the boys noticed a bluenette girl narrow her eyes in their direction.
Sinon had been minding her own business, trying to go about her game stuff, when she noticed the way a round beach-ball like child calling a MUCH smaller, skinnier child a "freak" and the "family slave". Those titles did not resonate well with her at all... Suspicious, she followed behind them, keeping a safe distance so as not to draw attention.
Sighing, Harry stood next to the game terminal and watched as Dudley slapped his hand on it, the game withdrawing some money, before his cousin ran down the game's 'lane' only to die during the first set of bullets, his cousins avatar being as wide as his real body and barely able to fit into the game lane in the first place. He tried to stifle his snicker, but unfortunately, his Cousin heard it and growled. "Why don't you try it then freak!" before grabbing his hand and forcing it on the button to start the game and then shoving him inside.
Harry's eyes widened in horror as the game started up. He panicked and began to run as fast as he could.
Seeing the arm move, he dodged to the side, having learned how an arm would move and aim when throwing or shooting something after seeing his uncle throw things at him and, once, try to shoot him with a nail gun. Thankfully his uncle was drunk during the nail gun incident and didn't realize that he had missed and he always healed up enough after getting hit with beer bottles or stones. Still he ran as fast as he could to to get past the robot, having heard from other players that if you touch it the game will shut down. As he neared the end he dove with a yell and barely touched the robot's shoe causing the room to go silent.
Harry's eyes widened when he realized what he had done. Had he broken the game? Or worse yet...Had he just beaten Dudley?!
Before he could react, a window at the top of the 'building' he was standing in front of opened and gold poured out before entering his inventory as he turned to see a furious Dudley, as well as a pretty woman with blue hair looking at him, intrigued. "Good job kid," the girl said, walking up. "Where'd you get reflexes like that?"
Harry's eyes widened in fear, and he looked down. "Um...M-My uncle...taught me..." He said shakily. It was technically the truth...
Sinon frowned at those words as she noticed the kid's flinch, the way he seemed to shift as if used to favoring one side because of an injury, the fact that he had said 'uncle' instead of parents...how the other boy had referred to the kid as 'the family slave'..."Well... how would you like for me to show you around and help you get the hang of the game? I can tell by how you're confused by...well everything that you're a new player." Really, she was hoping she could get some information out of the little boy. Her feminine intuition was telling her something was seriously wrong.
Dudley scowled and turned away. "Get lost, freak, I don't wanna look at you." He said angrily.
At those words, Harry flinched as if struck, knowing that once the three hours his Uncle paid for were up he would be beaten badly before left somewhere
The blue haired woman glared at the fat child, before smiling at Harry. "C'mere." She said gently. "Don't worry about him. I'll help you get used to things around here, okay?"
Seeing Dudley run away, he nodded hesitantly, as he knew if he followed Dudley, he would get an extra strong beating for disobeying one of his 'masters' and if he stayed he would get a beating for 'showing up one of his masters'. Might as well as enjoy spending time with a person who was pretending to be nice and be able to pretend, even if just for a little while, that someone cared about him.
And so, without a word, she approached the bluenette and forced himself to smile. Sinon smiled back, then bent down and scooped him up into her arms, deciding to carry him around, as he was clearly injured.
The second she reached down, he flinched, expecting to be slapped. When she picked him up, he expected to be thrown, when she cradled him...he was confused.
Sinon felt a warmth in her chest as she cradled the child like an infant. He really was a cute little boy...
Looking up at her, he whimpered in fear, trying to figure out what she was going to do to him.
She frowned at his reaction. "What's wrong?" She asked softly.
Looking into her eyes, he wondered what she would do to him before remembering how you can't feel pain in these games and whispered softly "I...I was afraid of what you were going to do to hurt me."
Sinon raised a brow. "Hurt you? Why would I hurt you?" She asked gently.
Looking down, he whimpered "Because I'm a freak and people are supposed to hurt freaks.".
Sinon's eyes narrowed. Harry flinched under her withering gaze, and her eyes softened. "Who told you that?" She said gently.
Knowing that if he told her about Uncle Vernon he would just beat him even harder, he mumbled "I'm not supposed to say."
"it was your 'uncle' wasn't it?" the woman asked causing him to flinch
"N-No..." He replied nervously. "It wasn't my uncle...Please don't ask him about it...Please..."
Frowning Sinon decided to let the matter drop...for now, before she took Harry over to get him some gear, the kid having an amazing amount of money as the game masters made a double or nothing feature recently which several high end players used repeatedly until they were broke and now Harry had enough money to get fully outfitted right away in the best gear for him.
Nodding hesitatly he winced when she took his hand, slightly less surprised when she didn't try to crush his hand, as he checked his gear in his 'inventory'. The pretty woman, Sinon, had reccomended he be a stealth fighter and helped him pick out a good sniper riffle, pistol, some combat armor, and a laser sword that was the same color green as his eyes.
Once Harry was all set up to begin the game, Sinon grinned. "All right! It looks good." She said calmly. "Ready to go?"
He looked up at the woman holding his hand. "Um...Are you sure I should have all this...?" He asked softly. "I've...n-never had this many things before..."
At that question Sinon frowned, while the weapons were good it was only four items. "Don't worry little guy," she said softly as she ruffled the kid's hair "you've more than earned them."
"But-"
"No buts." She replied gently. "You deserve these weapons. ...Don't you have anything outside of the game? Not...weapons, but toys or whatever?"
"I...i had a toy soldier once that my neighbor gave me." he admitted and saw the woman smile softly only for it to vanish at his next sentence "But my Unc...uh...somebody broke it saying Freaks shouldn't have toys."
Sinon internally scowled. It was explicitly clear that this child was being abused. She had to figure out some way to help him...
"So kid," she began as she took him to a beginner hunting spot "where are you doing the dive from?"
Harry looked at her in confusion, head tilted to the side. "D-Dive?" He asked softly.
"What you did to get into the game little warrior." she said softly as the kid blushed at the endearment.
"F-full immersion gaming cafe" he admitted hesitantly causing her to blink in surprise.
"That's only a minute's walk from my apartment." she said in surprise.
"Really? I-Interesting..." He replied politely.
"So where do you live?" Sinon asked.
"E-England." he said hesitantly, not able to think of any reason as to why his Uncle would beat him for that bit of information.
Sinon's eyes widened in surprise. "England!" She exclaimed. "That's really far away..." 'Might make it difficult to save him...' She thought the last part to herself.
"That's what Uncle says anyway...I'm not allowed out of the house much." he said sadly, he was't even allowed to go to school
Sinon scowled. 'Somehow I don't think it's because his aunt and uncle are overprotective.' Finally she got him to a good hunting spot for beginners and taught him how to properly use his sniper riffle. "Okay...Um...I don't believe I caught your name..." She said sheepishly.
"I...i think It's Harry." he said softly, not entirely sure as his Uncle usually called him 'boy', 'freak', or 'slave'
Sinon raised a brow. "You...think? What do you mean you "think"? She asked.
Gulping as he realized he had said that part out loud and there wasn't really any other way out of it he admitted softly "I'm usually just called 'boy', 'freak', or 'slave'." before curling in on himself, expecting to be beaten.
Sinon closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was ridiculous...Something needed to be done. As she was distracted, however, a player had plans.
He had seen the child earn the money from the game earlier, and wanted the money for himself. In order to do that, he decided the best course of action was to take the woman out of the picture so the child would have no one to protect him as he took the money... He didn't expect Harry to hear a twig snap beneath his foot as he took a step in their direction.
Looking behind Sinon, Harry saw a big looking man with a lot of scars pointing a gun at the pretty lady, causing him to yell out a warning to her as she turned and ended up being grazed by the shot, falling to the ground with one of her arms gone and a weird virtual red patch where it had been. Scared he pulled his pistol out of his inventory and fired at the man and kept firing until the gun stopped shooting bullets
Sinon quickly got to her feet and turned to see what had happened. She placed a hand on her hip and frowned with a tilted head.
Opening his eyes, Harry stared in shock at the avatar in front of him as it vanished in a burst of blue polygons before seeing a screen pop up in front of him
"D-Did I just...K-Kill someone...?" The little boy breathed in horror.
The horrified tone of his voice awakened something inside Sinon that she was unaware she even had. Rushing over to the kid, she pulled him against her chest and ran her fingers through his hair "No, no little one," she reassured him "this is all a game, the rules of the real world don't apply. That was a player yes, his avatar did 'die' yes, but he was just transported back to the starting point where you began with a portion of his gear and money gone."
Harry looked at her, tears starting to form in his eyes, and sniffled. "Ho-Honest...?"
Smiling softly she leaned forward and kissed his forehead tenderly "I promise you my little warrior, i will never lie to you." She was internally slightly confused...yet not. This felt right to her. This child was actually causing her to forget her own issues, and was awakening the happy side of her that was able to genuinely care for someone besides her only friend IRL.
Harry blushed at the affectionate gesture and turned away shyly. "Th-Thank you...um..." He remembered he didn't know her name either.
"My name's Sinon my little warrior." she told him softly as she picked him up and cradled him against her chest. She was loving the feeling that was welling up in her chest. For the first time in so long, she was well and truly happy.
Harry smiled and snuggled closer into her, enjoying the warmth of her embrace.
They spent the rest of their time before he would be logged out when his session ended simply talking as he stopped seeing her as a threat and more as his guardian.
"So...Harry. How old are you?" Sinon asked.
"I...I'm five Ms. Sinon." he said unsurely as he wasn't entirely sure what his exact age was
Sinon looked at him sadly. 'Five...Why does he look like he's three?' She thought sadly.
Seeing her looking sad he looked down "I'm sorry for making you mad Ms. Sinon." he mumbled miserably
Sinon smiled and ruffled his hair. "It's not your fault, kid. Not your fault at all..."
Smiling he nuzzled up into the contact and hugged her tightly
Sinon sighed. He was a sweet child...She absolutely had to get him out of his difficult living situation...
Deciding that she would head to the cafe he was at the moment he began to log out so she could confront this 'uncle' of his she spent the rest of her time training Harry on how to use his weapons properly and enjoying his adorableness.
However, it couldn't last forever, and after a while, the three hour time period ended.
Seeing his character begin to dissolve into polygons, she kissed his forehead once more and said "See you in a minute my little warrior." before logging out and running out of her apartment, barley taking time to lock her door, grateful that for once she had done her dive in normal clothes instead of her sleep ware as she ran to the cafe.
Beforehand...
Harry let out a whimper as his uncle picked him up. Dudley had told Vernon about Harry upstaging him in the game, and Vernon was furious.
"I warned you, boy." The man growled as he dragged Harry into an alleyway.
She ran in through the doors, and looked around wildly. Harry was nowhere to be seen. 'OH NO, AM I TOO LATE?! DID I MISS HIM?!'
Stepping back outside she passed an alley when she heard the distinctive sound of flesh striking flesh and a muffled child's cry
A very familiar cry...
Her eyes narrowed. She had to phone the police, right away...
Calling the cops she reported what was going on and the adress before running into the alley and, seeing a large fat man about to strike her little Harry, grabbed a metal pipe and swung it at the back of the man's head, knocking the man to the ground before she used the same to knock out the skinny horse faced woman while the little fat boy she had seen in the game wet himself and fainted. Dropping the pipe, she dashed forward pulled Harry into a hug, pressing his head into her bosom. "There, there my little warrior," she said softly "I'm here.".
Harry stared in shock at the woman who had saved him, recognizing the voice.. "S-Sinon...?" He asked, looking ready to cry.
"Yes my dear little warrior, it's me," she said softly before letting out a small giggle "I'm just a little less blue than i was before."
Harry looked up at the woman holding him, sniffled, teared up, then buried his face into her chest and began to cry, letting out all the bottled up pain he had kept inside himself.
As he sobbed into her chest she continued to run her fingers through his hair and whisper reassurances into his ear, telling him she wouldn't leave him
The sound of sirens were heard in the distance. Sinon scooped Harry into her arms, and went out to greet the police.
It took several hours of talking to the police and a medical official before they were allowed to leave, the lead medical officer saying it was the best idea to have Harry stay with her, at least for now, as he would panic if taken away from her.
Sinon had no problems with that. She was more than willing to take Harry into her home.
"Come on little warrior," she said softly as she picked him up "let's get you home." before carrying the nodding off boy back to her appartment.
By the time she reached her home, she heard the sound of soft snoring. She looked down to see that he had fallen asleep in her arms, clutching to her shirt.
Smiling softly at him she kissed his forehead before taking him into her appartment and laying down on the bed, cuddling him close to her.
It had certainly been an eventful day...and she was glad for it.
As she drifted off she faintly heard Harry mumble "I love you mommy..." and wondered idly if he was dreaming about his real mother...or her.
Regardless, she smiled and kissed his forehead. "I love you, Harry..." She whispered softly. Then, sleep claimed her.