Sword Art Online

After The Incident

Chapter 26 – The Truth

~Sinon's POV~

As me and Deathgun had starred at each other for a moment, it almost felt like time stood still. The gusts of wind was picking up, and dust was sent flying everywhere, obscuring both of our visions. This was to my advantage though, since I would gain a bit more stealth that way.

As a particularly strong dust cloud was picked up, I smirked a bit as I used my dash skill to dash out of Deathgun's line of sight. I dove behind an abandoned sports car, and pulled out my sniper, my trustworthy Hecate II. I smirked confidently as I looked through a window of the car.

Deathgun's behavior was strange. As the dust cloud lifted, he didn't even flinch of surprise. He just stood there and starred for a moment. Just starred. He chuckled slightly and pulled his pistol. I widened my eyes as I saw it.

It was the same kind of Black Star Pistol that had been used at the bank robbery when I was little. I could feel my muscles tense up from fear, and I had problems breathing. I could feel my body physically lock up, and I couldn't move.

I growled silently as I gritted my teeth, holding onto the sports car as I tried to get my body under control. I tried to calm myself down, and I gripped tightly at my shirt.

"Why does he have that gun!?"

All my confidence from before was gone. I felt like a weak and scared girl again. All that I had been through hadn't helped jack. My rehabilitation hadn't helped, and even in here, I froze up in fear whenever I would see that horrible gun.

I could slowly feel the knob in my chest loosen, and my breath slowed down a bit. I took a glance over the sports car, and I growled silently as I realized he was gone.

"Dammit!"

I sighed silently as I got out from my hiding spot.

"Damn" I mumbled again as I checked my minimap "He's long gone. It's outside the minimap radar"

I sighed silently and pulled my pistol from my belt, looking at my reflection in the handle.

"I can't believe I'm still so scared of that gun" I mumbled regretfully "It's been more than 10 years dammit!"

I growled silently, one moment thinking about throwing the gun away and giving up on this whole thing. But I knew that if I did that, I would never be able to overcome my trauma. I sighed silently and patted the space over my gun.

"I want you guys to help me again" I said with a sigh and a smile, as I took off along the highway.

~Kazuto's POV~

I frowned silently as I stared up at the screen in worry. It had seemed that something had scared Sinon to the brink of collapse, but what? She just took a glance at the guy and began freaking out.

Maybe she had realized something they hadn't?

I frowned deeper as I focused a bit harsher on Deathgun's side of the screen. He was currently jumping from car to car to get some decent cover and try to stay out of Sinon's line of sight. She was closing in on him though, whether either of them knew it or not.

It was then that I realized that I didn't know how much was at stake here. I wondered silently to myself. To anyone else, it would seem that this was a regular entrance tournament finale. Nothing particularly odd seemed to be at present here.

But to me, something seemed to be out of place. I couldn't quite think of what it was, but it felt like something deeper was happening here. Maybe Sinon had a personal relation to this guy? Or something else was happening?

I groaned a bit and threw my hands in the air as I collapsed my upper body onto our table. Asuna looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Kirito, would you calm down?"

I looked up at her with a pout.

"Why?"

"People are watching us you know"

"Huh!?"

I looked around me to both sides. It was true, people was really watching me with weird expressions or silent glares. I sweatdropped a bit and hid my face with my arms.

"Im sowwy"

"Aww don't be silly" Asuna said with a giggle as she scooted closer to me "You're adorable anyway"

"S-Stop, it's my job to embarrass you, not the other way around!"

She giggled a bit and continued.

"Not today it ain't!"

She giggled a bit and bumped into me playfully. I smiled a little and bumped back.

"Stop it you" I mumbled as I kissed her cheek "This is kind of the wrong place to get cuddly"

"Aww, but I'm lonely" Asuna mumbled with a pout "Pweeeaase!?"

"Oh alright" I said with a laugh as I wrapped an arm around her waist "How can I say no to such an adorable face?"

"Yay!"

She giggled loudly and cuddled into me, and I smiled widely and chuckled as I wrapped both my arms around her waist. She cuddled her face into the crook of my neck and I smiled softly as I kissed her scalp.

"You're so adorable" I mumbled silently, and she giggled.

"you too hun" She mumbled with a small yawn as she leaned against me.

I chuckled a bit and kissed her cheek softly as I pulled her closer.

As she relaxed against my shoulders, I looked up at the battle screen again. It seems Sinon had been caught in a gunfight with her opponent in a cross section on the highway. I could see that she was struggling to keep up.

"Come on Sinon" I mumbled silently "Hand him his own ass"

Asuna looked up from my chest and looked up at the screen worried.

"Do you think she´s ok Kirito?"

"I don´t know, I hope so"

I frowned a bit as Sinon was hit in the shoulder. She staggered back and clutched at her bullet wound, before diving behind a car.

"Damn…"

I didn´t know why, but I felt an intense feeling of worry. I had only met the girl today, but still, I saw her as a friend. And even though she wouldn´t be kicked out of the tournament if she lost, I still felt like something horrible would happen if she lost.

I just had a really bad feeling about that guy, Deathgun, I guess. He seemed to be off somehow. He seemed like a threat somehow. Just the fact that he had revealed he knew of my identity, but decided to keep his own secret, was extremely unsettling.

I sighed silently as I looked away from the screen.

"We just have to trust her I guess"

~Sinon´s POV~

I groaned silently as I duck behind a nearby car. The dust and wind was picking up again, obscuring the battlefield again, which gave me another chance to collect myself and prepare myself for the next wave of attacks.

"Damn he´s fast" I mumbled silently as I reloaded my gun "And I´m down to my last magazine"

I looked at my sniper rifle. If I ran dry of ammo for my pistol, my sniper rifle would be my last line of defense. I sighed silently as I picked it off the ground and looked at the Hecate II logo on the refined metal. I ran my fingers across it, a wave of sentimentality running over me.

"I don´t think you can protect me this time old friend" I said with a sigh as I tucked the gun back over my shoulder "Let´s get this over with"

I looked around the corner of the wall I was sitting by. He was gone. Perfect. I smiled a little as I rolled out of my hiding spot and got to my feet, running towards a nearby car. As soon as I began running, a salvage of bullets shot against me, left and right. I ducked and dodged as much as I could, before sliding behind the car.

"Dammit all" I mumbled silently as I took a glance over the car roof.

His shots had appeared to come from inside the dust cloud. How in the hell could he see anything!? There was dust and rubble everywhere!

"I have no choice. I have to go aggressive" I mumbled with a sigh "I can´t dodge and hide forever. I'll be a sitting target!"

I growled silently. It all came down to this. I closed my eyes shut and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I took a final breath and held it, before charging out of my hiding spot full speed.

"Raaaghh!"

I screamed at the top of my lounges. Maybe to intimidate, maybe to raise my own spirits. I screamed again as I ran straight through the dust and rubble, the wind picking up stones that hit against my face.

I widened my eyes as the preemptive lines appeared and I dodged left and right, left and right, the wind of the bullets whistling just aside my head and body. I gasped a bit for each bullet, but stayed focused and sprinted forward. As I began seeing Deathgun´s silhouette in the dust, I took aim and pulled my trigger, my own bullet´s whistling towards him.

"Take this you asswipe!"

I screamed at the top of my longues, hitting him several times in the shoulders and his gut. He collapsed to his knees, but when I was about to finish him off, I ran out of bullets in my pistol.

"Shit!"

I was only a few feet away from him now. I widened my eyes as he pulled his gun.

"Fuck!" I dodged again and jumped, spiraling over him in a screw. I smirked a bit as time seemed to slow down to slow motion. I pulled my sniper off my back, took aim and pulled the trigger…

It hit him right between the eyes.

I grunted a bit as I landed onto my back on the ground. I picked myself up and smirked a bit as I watched Deathgun´s body collapse onto his stomach, and the red "Dead" message hovering over his body. I panted a little and smiled as I put my sniper onto my shoulder confidently and victorious.

"Noscope, bitch!"

I smirked a bit and raised my fist in the air victorious as the airhorn sounded, and I was teleported back to the tournament rest area.

As I spawned back at the rest area, I opened up my menu. I smirked a bit as I saw a message scroll over it.

"Congratulations for winning the BoB entrance tournament. Your prizes have been added to your bank and inventory, which include…"

I smiled a bit as I went over the list of rewards. I had received several weapon attachments for machine guns and snipers, as well as 50.000 for my bank.

"Damn, I didn´t know winning the tournament gave this much" I mumbled in surprise.

I looked down at the list in surprise, but I was interrupted as Yuuki and Kirito ran up to me with excited expressions.

"Sinon! That was glorious!"

I smiled a little as I hugged them both close in a friendly group hug.

"You were so cool Sinon!" Asuna squealed loudly "that was one hell of a finishing move! If I didn´t know better, I would think it was a skill in the game or something!"

I chuckled nervously of the sudden praise. I wasn´t used to get put in the spotlight like that.

"Hehe, I guess it was a lucky shot or something" I mumbled with a smile.

"A lucky shot!?" Kirito looked at me with wonder "Don´t make me laugh! You owned that battle!"

"Thanks guys" I said with a smile "but the battle is far from over. We still have the main tournament to ready ourselves for"

"That´s very true" Kirito mumbled "And since Deathgun was a finalist in this tournament, he´s going to be competing too"

"Yeah" Yuuki mumbled with a sigh "He´s a powerful opponent. Plus, since he lost to Sinon in this tournament, he will probably focus a bit more on her and her strong and weak points"

"I guess that makes sense" I mumbled as I put my hands on my hips in thought "Well, enough about that. You guys promised me that you would tell me who you are if I won. Spill it out already"

Yuuki and Kirito looked at each other with a worried expression for a bit. I guess they asked each other if they should trust me or not without words. Their doubt turned into resolve and determination as they nodded at each other, and turned towards me with serious expressions.

"Alright, we´ll tell you" Kirito said with a serious frown "But you have to promise you will tell absolutely no one. Do you understand?"

I was taken quite aback by the suddenly dead serious tone in the conversation. This caused me to get more serious, and I frowned silently as I nodded in understanding.

"Good, let me tell you everything then"

Yuuki and Kirito continued to explain the whole reason they were here. From what Yuuki´s actual name was, which was Asuna, to how they had been mauled up into this mess. How they had been taken into SAO about 3 years earlier, and how Kirito had fought the last boss desperately to get his friends and girlfriend out.

They told me about how Kazuto, which was his real name, had been pulled into ALO somehow after clearing SAO, and how this psychopath had tortured him for months for reasons that was still unknown. They also told me everything about the following year, and how this bastard had been stalking them both and inflicting painful torture onto Kazuto to get into both their minds.

And finally they told me the reason they were here in GGO. They had gone in here because they had received a tip that the psychopath had fled from the authorities into the game, and that Kazuto had been asked to get him back out so he could be put behind bars.

I looked at them both in disbelief. It was a lot of information to take in all at once. I put a hand to my head and sighed silently from mindly exhaustion, unable to process all that information in the matter of seconds.

"Sounds like you guys have been through a lot" I mumbled with a worried expression "that also explains why you both have acted so nervous"

"Yeah, exactly" Kazuto said with an angry huff "Now we´re entering the tournament, so we can lure Sugou out and get things over with"

"That sounds like a pretty unstable plan to me" I mumbled as I led them over to a table so we could sit down "I mean, there's no guarantee he will show up if you "merchandise" yourself like that"

"We know" Asuna mumbled with a frustrated sigh "But it's the best plan we have. We can't keep asking around forever, and we certainly won't find by just searching for him. That would be virtually impossible"

"Yeah I can see what you mean" I mumbled silently "Guess it's a good thing you're both guaranteed a spot in the tournament huh?"

"Yeah, you bet" Kazuto mumbled as he called for a waiter "Could you help us? We'd be eternally grateful id you did"

"Well, I can always tell you how the tournament works" I mumbled as Kazuto paid for some soda's for us "But I don't want to be involved too much in this. This is much worse than I imagined after all"

"We understand that too" Kazuto mumbled with a sigh "We kind of don't want to involve anyone else either. That's why we wanted to keep it secret from you"

"I understand" I mumbled as I took a sip of my drink and put it back onto the table "Well, let me tell you about the BoB tournament"

~Deathgun's POV~

I growled silently as I watched the scene. I couldn't believe it, and I didn't understand how, but somehow they had pulled Sinon, my beloved Shino, into their plans.

"Damn you Kazuto!" I growled in rage "you bastard! You're taking everything from me!"

I sighed silently as I pulled myself back into hiding, not wanting them to see me.

"Guess there's another reason to kill that bastard" I mumbled silently "And I'll show you Shino. When you see how powerful I am, you'll forget everything about that jerk in no time at all"

"Hmph, sounds like a good idea to me!"

I widened my eyes and spun around. Weird, I thought I had heard a voice. I looked around me again, but no one was there.

"Do you want revenge?"

There it was again.

"Who are you!?" I snapped as I pulled my gun "You know you can't hurt me in a safe zone"

Suddenly a man stepped out from the shadows. He was tall. He seemed really athletic as well, his muscles showing through his clothes. He had long dark brown hair that reached towards his lower back, and heavy military gear with a higher level I had ever seen. And this smirk on his face, and the glint in his eyes. It was clear that this guy meant danger.

"Relax, I am not here to hurt you" He said with a sadistic chuckle "Actually, I'm here to help you"

"With what!?" I growled silently, pointing my gun at him "What could you possibly help me with!?"

"Well, first of all, I could get you better gear" he said with a smirk "Second of all, I could lend you power that would ensure the death of Kazuto Kirigaya"

"Huh?! You know that bastard too!?"

I looked at him surprised. I didn't know that Kazuto had other enemies, though the concept didn't exactly surprise me.

"Don't worry my friend" He said as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders like we were bst friends "I sense that a strong partnership is sprouting"

And with this he pulled me into a nearby alleyway and out of Kazuto's and the other's sight.

A/N

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Damn, even though the power of writers block hit me full force this time, I still managed to upload this in time. Hallelujah.

Actually I have a request for you guys.

I know I'm being a bit selfish here, but I would like you guys to leave more reviews.

I know, I know, I'm a greedy bastard, but hear me out for a second.

Two or three every week telling me that I am doing a good job is good and all, and I truly appreciate this.

BUT!

It doesn't say anything about interesting plot points I could come up with.

It helps me immensely motivatively and I'm happy you guys even consider leaving anything at all, but I would also like if you guys could come up with something, and send me ideas. That way, I gain a more deepened way of communicating with you guys, and with that I create a community where I can talk and have fun with my fanbase.

I want to reach out to you guys and be your friend. If you guys help me with this fanfic, I can do that much better.

So would you please consider leaving an idea or two? It would be greatly appreciated and I will be sure to make shoutouts if I decide to use your idea.

That´s all. If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review. It helps me a lot.

Again, thank you guys for reading, and have an amazing week!