Apologies for the delay everyone! I reached a point in this chapter that was very Mataras heavy, so, instead of doing the work myself, I recruited the aid of Mataras the author, who wrote the entire scene between Mataras and Sinon.

Thanks a TON to Antex- The Legendary Zoroark for the character, Xero, who appears in this chapter!

Thanks of course go to Mataras the Author, who came up with the beautiful work between Mataras and Sinon, kudos to you!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything here apart from my OCs. Mataras the Red Swordsman belongs to Mataras, Xero belongs to Antex- The Legendary Zoroark.

Enjoy!

Chapter 21: Finals

Kirito opened his eyes as he found himself standing in an open desert, this was a planet even he recognized, walking through the dune sea of Tatooine at night, he soon saw his opponent, wearing enough red to put even Mataras to shame.

He wore red battle armor under a black robe, with golden trimmings around the edges. He wore the same styled gear for legwear, boots and some black gauntlets were on his wrists.

"Darth Eugene," Kirito nodded.

"Jedi Kirito," Eugene returned the nod.

No more words were needed, as the two drew their swords, Kirito's black blade whistled with energy. Eugene had a thick, red blade emerge from his hilt.

Kirito analyzed the weapon from a glance, and nodded, this looked like a heavy weapon, compared to that of his current caliber of lightsaber. A light-club.

Kirito charged first, his blade clashing against the stronger form of Eugene. However, the dark lord was not out of the fight, and swung heavily, sending Kirito flying with one swing.

"Hey big red, your strength stats seem very high!" Kirito said, after catching himself and recovering with a harsh slide.

"And your reaction times are very impressive," Eugene said.

Kirito subconsciously remembered who last complimented his reflexes, someone who, ironically enough, was also wearing bulky red armor.

Then, they were back at each other's throats, neither player giving an inch, Kirito ducked under a swing from the larger blade, then landed a few light cuts on Eugene's arms, legs, and a gash on his left side.

It wasn't all Kirito though, Eugene landed a very accurate cut on Kirito's right cheek, then gave him several more slashes. It was then when Kirito decided to mix things up, using the force to hurl a torrent of grit and sand at his opponent. Eugene was initially blinded by the attack, but then he spun his lightsaber in a propeller like function, and pushed the small cyclone of sand back at Kirito.

Knocked to the ground, Kirito lost the grip on his lightsaber. Seeing Eugene thrusting towards him, he whirled around, summoning his blade back to his hand just in time to catch the incoming red one.

"You'll have to better than that," He smirked.

Kirito pushed the large red man back with the force, and leapt after him, slashing him twice across the chest in an X. Then, with a quick motion with his wrist, he sheared off Eugene's arms. Finally, he stabbed down on Eugene's heart, killing the sith with brutal efficiency.

Kirito nodded in satisfaction, slashing his lightsaber back and forth before returning the metal hilt to the clip on his back.

Melody looked through the scope of her rifle, this map works in my favor, if Reaper wants to come and get me, he'll need to go across this wide area. Her match was on Coruscant, in the senate district. Melody was lying prone in the busted window of the Chancellor's office, she was holding her rifle, looking at the main plaza, the map took a small chunk of the large domed building. Putting her rifle to one side, Melody brought out her electro-binoculars, which gave a better zoom function than the scope of her gun.

Looking around, she saw one man in black walking towards her, two heavy pistols in his hands. He was looking around as well, obviously, he didn't know how much of a climber Melody was. The girl picked up her rifle, and centered the scope on her rival. Pushing some small options on the butt of her gun, she took aim.

Melody may not be as a good shot as Sinon, but she still was best friends with the girl, and so they were often known as the best sniper tag team in the game. If Sinon missed, which was rare, Melody would take an attempt. Carefully watching the reticle that appeared in her vision, she waited for a moment when it was on Reaper's head, and pulled the trigger.

The moment the single shot left her weapon, she lowered it to watch as it slammed into the target. She grinned, "Nailed it," She said. A few seconds passed, but Melody noticed the winner alert hadn't shown up. At that very moment, she felt a jab in the back of her head, glancing at the spot where she had hit Reaper below, a small drone was sparking, and then shattered.

"Nailed it," Came the raspy voice of Reaper.

"How's it going Reaper? Nice decoy, you fooled me good!" Melody asked, turning around to face the black clad smuggler, putting her hands behind her.

"Oh, I'm great, after all, now I get to blow your head off," Reaper laughed.

Melody ducked under the blaster, and pushed him back. Then, as he was getting back up, she grabbed her rifle, attached a cable shot to it, and fired at the ground. Pulling the trigger again, she let the wire pull her to the ground.

Reaper stood, and fired some shots after her, while he did, he heard the sound of beeping. It was speeding up. He glanced down, at the two sticky grenades that were attached to his chest. "Oh… Son of a…!" He never got to finish his curse, as the bombs detonated.

Melody landed in a crouch, and looked back at the fireworks, "I repeat, nailed it!" She grinned, giving a cheeky salute.

Angel flew from one tree to the next with her jetpack. Goggles attached to her helmet meant she was able to see perfectly through the Alderaanian forest, would Xero?

She got her answer when a hail of shots burst into the trees. One shot grazed her pack, and she threw off the aerial device before it consumed her in fire, in the direction of the enemy.

"You can't hide forever dear!" His voice called, as he shot the improvised explosive.

Angel growled, this man was mocking her. With a cry of rage, she burst from the tree branches, both her wrists raised. The moment she cleared the leaves, she was firing rocket after rocket.

Xero kicked his rifle backwards, then underwent a triple backflip, gracefully avoiding the explosions and taking barely any damage.

Angel landed with a thud, as Xero caught his weapon. "Are you friends with the player calling himself Mataras?" He asked.

"I am. How do you know our friend?" Asked Angel, hand reaching for her blaster.

"Call it bad blood," Xero said, "He and I know each other from two years ago, not long before he got stuck in the coma."

Angel pulled her blaster to fire, letting off a large barrage of lasers at the Imperial soldier.

He dived for the closest rock formation, and tossed a grenade in Angel's general direction.

The bounty hunter rolled to her right to escape the explosion, and ducked behind a fallen tree.

From there, both sides stayed, and traded shots, trying to get their opponent to die first, Angel put her arm out, and fired three rockets. She was suddenly hit in the same arm, which blasted it off completely.

The girl gasped at the new development, Ion had said he lost a leg in the Black Iron Dungeon in SAO, but this was her first limb loss in the virtual world. Angel made a roll call of what she had left, she had one pistol, a couple of separate grenades and a flamethrower in her remaining gauntlet.

"Want to give in? One arm means one half your skill set!" Xero called.

Angel sighed, then looked up, the man was being cocky, and walking towards her. She decided it was time to heat up his day.

When he rounded the rock, ready to finish her off, he found her one arm now pointed at him. A small nozzle appeared on the gauntlet, and a black liquid was poured all over Xero, including his eyes. In his confusion, he dropped his rifle.

While he worked to clean the substance from his line of sight, Angel brought her gauntlet up to her face, and pushed a few controls with her nose. Now, from the nozzle, a small blue flame was hissing.

"Burn in hell!" She cried out, and clenched her fist, flames roared from her arm, setting Xero on fire. "Oh, and that liquid? It's oil," She gave him a sweet grin, then gave him a salute as he was turned into a fireball. Angel watched the HP gauge drop to the yellow, into the red, a sliver left. She squinted her eyes, examining the wisps and flickers.

Xero jumped from the inferno, a knife in his hands, and his face with a look of pure hate. "You made me angry, and that is a bad idea," He said, swinging the blade to skewer her.

With her one arm and all her strength, she caught the arm holding the knife. While this happened, she glanced right. "Hey Xero?" She asked, "What's that?"

Xero was conflicted, was it a trick? Or was something there? His eyes were not focused on Angel, while he was trying to figure her out. And it was all Angel needed.

And then he regretted not paying attention, as he suddenly had his legs swept from under him. Angel kicked the blade from his hands, whipped out her blaster, and shot him straight in the face.

"I don't know why you asked about Mataras, but if you decide to mess with one of us? You'll have the whole gang come after you," Angel said, as Xero shattered.

Mataras opened his eyes to see the deserted streets of a planet named Corellia. According to what Melody had told him, this planet's industry was based heavily on fighter craft for the war in addition to other types of flight machines. In the area around him, he could see a small park dedicated to nature, which wouldn't help him much in the way of finding cover from Sinon once she started to open fire. And looking further around, he could see that the terrain they had been put in lay vastly in her favor. There were tall buildings of all kinds, many of them emitting smoke, perfect for her to hide behind. Truly, if he were almost anyone else, he would have been a sitting duck.

But he wasn't just anyone, he thought as he put his hand on his lightsaber, moving it just enough to unclip it from its perch on his shoulder. I am the Red Swordsman, he thought even as he whirled to his left without warning just as the flash of a sniper rifle met his gaze.

Instead of swinging his blade to counter the bolt as most Jedi or Sith would have, though, he reached out with his left had to exert his will over the Force and freeze the shot mere inches from his hand. Well, not exactly 'freeze'- the bolt quavered in the air, as if trying to break free of his grip- but it wasn't going anywhere.

His eyes quickly spotted the petite sniper, and he allowed a wolfish smile to break out over his face. The hunt had begun.

Sinon's heart was stopped, she was sure. There was no way he could have seen her taking up her position, but somehow, he knew where to block. And it wasn't just that he had found her, it was the way he had stopped her. It took incredible mental fortitude and stamina to use the Force for even a few seconds, yet here he was blocking a laser blast without any visible effort.

His face showed no signs of strain, and other than his rigid left arm, his bearing was completely relaxed. She had seen signs of incredible strength back at their first encounter, but now it seemed that he was showing what he could truly do. He was strong, confident, and unafraid- everything Shino Asada wanted to be.

Who are you, really? For the first time since she had dove into Star Wars, she wanted the answer to a question that could only be answered by another person in real life. Before she could continue down that thought path, her attention was recaptured.

A red blade with a black core flashed to life in his hand, and he pointed the sword at her while maintaining his smug expression. Heat flared into her face as she realized he was challenging her to try that again.

I'm not playing his stupid games, she snarled to herself as she retreated from her vantage point and went inside to begin running down the stairs as fast as she could. I'm tired of playing by everyone else's rules!

Mataras waited patiently for her to come out of the building, not moving the whole while, except to lower his arm, thought the laser blast stayed where it was, shaking in the air. After a couple of minutes, the blue-haired girl came out of the building she had taken up position in, fury etched in her face.

She came to a stop about ten paces away and levelled her sniper rifle at him from her waist, showing that she wasn't going to shoot him- at least, not yet. But she was certainly going to yell at him.

"What the hell is going on with you?!" she demanded.

"A lot of things," he replied dryly, deliberately infuriating her further. "You'll have to be more specific, Sinon."

"I oughta shoot you right now," she growled.

"So why aren't you?" he taunted her, the smile still on his face. "Are you afraid?" Then the smile fell from his face as he looked at her with dark flames in his eyes- flames that seemed to be piercing through the wall of ice she had built up around her heart so that he could read her soul like an open book. "Or are you seeking answers?"

The rifle lowered a fraction, but he did not move to attack her. She stared at him, eyes wide, and various emotions warring inside of her. "It's none of your business," she finally said, the rifle coming up to her shoulder.

"So both, then," he said, still unmoving, his expression neutral. His words froze her in place, her eyes widening even further.

How does he know? She could only wonder.

"Let me tell you something, Sinon," Mataras said as he deactivated his blade and set it back over his shoulder. Sinon realized that if she was going to win, now was going to be her best chance. But then she may never know what he was going to say next.

What do I want more?! She cried inside. Do I want to kill him and advance on my own power, or do I want to know what makes him strong?!

"The world outside and this one are only separated by a gateway," he said, interrupting her thoughts. She realized that her golden opportunity was gone, and she was committed to the current path now. "The person that travels from one side to the other is still the same person. They share the same weaknesses- and the same strengths." He paused to let his words sink in.

"No," Sinon shook her head. "That's not true. We're stronger in this world than we ever could be in the real one. That's why so many people come here- to forget their weakness!"

"Or they come here to show their true self," Mataras countered evenly. "Tell me, O Sniper, where do you think my strength comes from? You saw it yourself, I only began to play this game yesterday. If what you said was true, how can I be keeping this laser blast from going anywhere?" He gestured at her projectile to emphasize his point.

"Rrgh…" she growled, face blazing with fury. She let out a scream and threw aside her rifle in favor of her fists, running right up to Mataras and punching him in the stomach.

She felt like she had hit a brick wall, and her face paled as Mataras grabbed her wrist with an iron grip and shoved her back with no discernible effort. "If you're going to fight me, do it right," he said, his tone now bored. "I thought there might be more to you than bluster and bravado, but it seems I was mistaken."

"Shut up!" Sinon screamed at him, frustrated tears beginning to leak from her cold blue eyes. "Who do you think you are, getting to mess with people like this, huh?! You think you can get away with whatever you want?!"

"No," he replied bluntly. "I don't expect to get away with anything I do. I fully expect to bear the consequences of my actions for my entire life. But choosing to accept consequences of my actions is what sets me apart from most people, who try to avoid consequences- whether circumstances were their fault or not- their entire life." He glared at her pointedly.

"You bastard…" she snarled, getting ready to run at him again.

"What do you aim to achieve here?" Something in his voice stopped her. "What will defeating me do for you?"

"It'll shut you up for starters," she snapped angrily.

"I meant beside the obvious," a faint hint of humor colored his expression as he spoke.

"I'll be one step closer to becoming the strongest in this world!" she shouted at him. Dead silence followed her words as Mataras pondered them, both contestants unmoving. Then the blaster bolt behind him shot towards the ground and left a hole in the street, startling the sniper even as he pointed at her rifle.

"Pick it up," he said firmly. "I'm going to show you what the strength you are seeking brings you in the end." Under his burning gaze, she complied, picking up her heavy rifle from where it lay on the street.

Mataras nodded and grabbed the hilt of his sword but did not yet ignite the blade. "We're going to have ourselves a duel here," he said, his expression unreadable now. "You and I are going to stay right where we are while I throw this piece of scrap up in the air." Using the Force, he summoned a broken piece of a speeder over to him and gripped it tightly. "When it lands, it'll be your rifle versus my lightsaber. First person to land a hit wins, no matter if they survive."

"You do realize you're about to commit suicide, right?" Sinon asked. "There's no way you can block my shot at this range, let alone hit back."

"Humor me," he said flatly.

"Why, though?" Sinon had to know.

Mataras considered her question for a moment before he answered, "Because the last time I saw that look of desperation in someone's eyes, I found a new family. In that moment of horror, we all came to understand one another, and an unbreakable brotherhood was formed. And it's in the name of that brotherhood that I fight- and why I cannot hold back." To that, Sinon finally had no response.

"Now then, are you ready?" he asked her abruptly. When she nodded that she was, he heaved the piece of machinery into the smoky afternoon sky as hard as he could while simultaneously igniting his lightsaber. The pair waited for innumerable seconds, waiting for the piece to come back to the ground.

As they waited, Sinon put her face up to her scope out of habit as she considered where to shoot him. I'm a sniper, so he'll expect me to go for his head or chest, she thought. But he did say it didn't matter where we hit each other, so I don't need an instant-kill… The leg it is, then. Course of action decided, she simply had to wait.

Clang! The speeder part crashed back into the street behind Mataras, and Sinon eagerly squeezed the trigger, her victory secured.

A trail of black-and-red light smacked into her shot and sent it right back at her, clipping her in the face and leaving a red mark that leaked scarlet polygons. She stumbled back in shock, tripping over another broken piece of machinery as she realized that he had not only intercepted her fire from roughly ten yards away, but had also reflected it so that it would hit her just enough to prove his point. The rifle fell from her hands as she realized that she had lost.

Just before she could fall, though, a slim-yet-strong arm wrapped around the small of her back, keeping her from falling over. A dark red glow moved just underneath her throat as she looked up into the burning eyes of Mataras the Red Swordsman. He was keeping her in place with both his hand and blade.

"How did you know where I was going to shoot you?" she asked hoarsely. Her voice wasn't dried by fear alone- it was some other emotion that she could not identify, one either new to her, or otherwise long forgotten.

His burning eyes regarded her silently for a moment before he answered, "The next time you pick out a target, don't look directly at it before you shoot. I could see your eye through the scope on your rifle."

Her eyes widened again at the strange boy. "You saw my eye…?" she repeated dumbly. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"In another lifetime, one filled with more pain and suffering than I care to recount," he answered flatly. "Only the fires of tribulation is the strength that you seek born…" He peered closely at her, their faces only inches apart. "In your eyes I see the ashes of one such fire… But you let it destroy you instead of making you stronger. Now you seek to light the flames of another inferno, hoping to re-forge yourself."

Sinon couldn't speak to deny his words- they were all true. He could see everything about her that he needed to destroy her, and she had no defense against his strength, earned and reformed in the trials of his own lifetime. What kind of suffering has he known, that could turn him into this? She wondered.

"See now?" he asked, as if he could read her thoughts. "The strength you seek comes at a terrible price to yourself, Sinon. That is, if you decide to achieve that power on your own."

Huh?

He let her consider his words for a moment before he continued to speak. "Even though I was surrounded by people who loved me, I chose to keep my suffering mostly sealed in my heart, unknowingly letting it out bit by violent bit- and that turned me into something terrible. It is only recently that I have learned to open my soul to those that care, and let them heal what has been broken."

He paused once again before he said, "Don't make the same mistake I did. There's no guarantee that you'll meet a family that will help heal you like I was healed."

"But if you never become strong on your own, what's the point?" she asked, her voice still weak. "That's all I want- is strength of my own, like yours."

"Strength of your own character will only get you so far before it becomes arrogance that destroy s you," Mataras shot back, the fire in his eyes brightening. "But if you let those that you trust intermingle their strength with yours, you will realize that the strength you fought so hard to achieve will be surpassed like a candle compared to a burning star. So you see… The strength I wield is not mine alone, but that of my entire family."

Sinon said nothing in response- everything he had just said contradicted everything she had been telling herself for most of her life, so her instincts were screaming at her that he was lying, that there had to be something else that made him so powerful. But her heart and eyes saw nothing but fierce determination and sincerity in those dark, fiery eyes. She reached up to touch his face, drawn by some unknown force, but he glanced at her hand and shook his head slightly.

"Think on what I have told you," Mataras said as he pulled back a bit. "Keep in mind which of us won here today when you measure your ideals against mine."

Sinon blinked once before she remembered that they were in the middle of a tournament qualifier. For a moment there, she had forgotten that they were in the virtual reality, lost in the intensity of Mataras' gaze… Her face reddened rapidly as she looked down and saw that he was still holding her close to her waist, and she scrambled to get out, sputtering furiously.

"All right!" she growled. "Now what?! You won, so what happens next?!"

"You withdraw," he stated flatly, his expression back to neutral. "And then I'll see you in the finals."

"I'd better," she snapped, opening her menu to withdraw. "And when I do, you won't be stopping my shots again."

"We'll see about that," he smirked slightly. "See you tomorrow, Sinon." Not bothering to respond, she angrily slapped the resign button, teleporting her away from her opponent.

I'll prove him wrong, she seethed silently. I'll kill him, and when I do, I'll prove to him and everyone else that I'm the strongest in this world! I don't need anyone else to be what I want to be!

Kirito: Whoa, when you write...

Mataras: He asked for my help, I helped him out.

Ion: And I am grateful for the help.

Melody: We all are, now, let's get back to it shall we?

All: Yeah!

Next Time: Every Man for Themselves!