Author's Note: Sorry for the grand delay, I've been working on original stories that I lost track of time. Hope this story and the next make up for it. Also…thank you to Simple Magi & Tawnis for the wonderful characters.
"Man doeth this and doeth that from the good or evil of his heart…"
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A darkened red sky. The screams and fears of people as they shouted to be released from a prison, they thought was a game. But the same cannot be said for two players. One player with short cut dusty blonde hair stood his ground despite being pushed around by players who ran all over the place. The other, with hair of a dull, pitch black with a few strands of white, flowed with the movement of others.
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"Kayaba…" The 6-foot-tall blonde spoke with malice in his mind.
"Kayaba…" The man with faded raven hair spoke with a hint of fear in his voice. "I will…"
"Never forgive you. I will help everyone." Riordan spoke with a chivalrous tone.
"I'll find a way to survive." Tanuki spoke with not much confidence backing his words.
"But in the end…I'll never give in!" They both said to themselves as, without noticing, they walked past each other in opposite directions.
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A Month Later on the 2nd Floor of Aincrad…
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A group of young players consisting of 2 swordsmen, a spear user, and a mace user. As the group of 4 began to move, they moved on the words of a man who was dressed head to toe in heavy armor (was too lazy to give a good description, so just think of the starting armor from Dark Soul and you're good to go👌👍). This man moved in with a large circular shield stopping the attack of a cow-like monster. When the man did, he turned back towards the group and gave tips on how to defeat the monster. Following those tips, the group of 4 began to hack at the monster, then after a few heavy swings, the monster's HP vanished and exploded into a million tiny particles.
Seeing their victory, the group began to cheer, as they embraced each other a Lvl up board appeared before one of the players, showing his level going up from Level 10 to 11.
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"Great job Max." The leader of the group, one of the swordsmen patted the mace users back. "If we could keep this up, we might be able to join the frontlines soon."
"Yeah!" Max, a boy with brown hair and hazelnut-colored eyes spoke with joy, as he cheered, everyone else cheered.
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As the group thanked the tank user, they left for a safe zone, leaving the tank all by himself. Even though his face was covered, one could tell that the man underneath the helmet was smiling. Sighing, he looked up towards the sky.
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"It's been over a month since this Death Game started." Riordan spoke to himself as he began to return to the 1st Floor. "Over the past month, I've helped countless group with moving to the recently opened 2nd Floor. Even though it was tiring hiding the fact that I was a beta tester, the past month was still interesting in its own way. Especially with the new term for the beta testers: 'Beater.' And the man who started it all…I believe his name was…
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"SHIROU!" Shimizu yelled to the top of her lungs that if the moment were an anime, the people around her would have either lost their hearing or bled from their ears.
"What is it?" Shirou said casually as he began to rub his ears from his partner's screams.
"You can't just go around like you normally do. What if someone decided to attack you?" Shimizu spoke worryingly as she approached Shirou.
"I doubt anyone can hurt me, and even if they did…" Shirou's eyes darkened, as a joke, as he looked towards Shimizu and smiled wickedly. "I'd kill them."
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The look of fear that plastered over her face, Shimizu looked at the boy she knew for her entire life like he was the newest person on the planet.
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"Are you…joking?" Shimizu asked still dazed by this new attitude.
"I am." Shirou answered confidently only to receive a hard slap to his face.
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A few minutes later…
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Rubbing a large red spot on his now swollen cheek, Shimizu began to walk in front of him.
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"I said I was sorry." Shirou's muffled voice spoke to the girl before him apologetically, but Shimizu never answered back. "Come on, it was just a joke."
"Didn't sound like a joke to me." Shimizu answered as she glared at Shirou over her shoulder, to which Shirou flinched as the response.
"Well, what do you want me to do then?" Shirou asked, which caused Shimizu to stop in her tracks. "If I kept acting like I usually did before all this mess happened, people would try to take advantage of you and everyone I know. I couldn't let that happen."
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Surprised by his sudden words, Shimizu wanted to turn around but with her face feeling hot from her cheeks, stayed completely still. But the moment between the two was short lived when a rat ran into them.
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"I finally found ya!" The rat yelled, her brown hooded coat flowing as she jumped onto Shimizu.
"Wait, what! Who?" Shimizu turned around to a curly auburn haired, short girl just behind her. "Argo?!"
"Sup, you two. Haven't seen ya in a while. How's it hangin?" Argo, another beta tester and one of the best info brokers there is in SAO, greeted herself to the duo.
"Hey, Argo." Shirou answered nonchalantly, only to feel Shimizu shivered from shock as she grabbed his arm.
"H-hey, Argo." Shimizu answered through her breaths.
"Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya like that." Argo answered as she put one of her hands up in an apologetic way. "But I came to ask somethin' from both of ya."
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Both Shirou and Shimizu looked at each other in a curious way.
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After a few moments of explaining…
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"So…you want us to find any info, or the person/people called The Red Hunter, and the Iron Giant?" Shirou repeated.
"Yup. That just about sums it up." Argo answered.
"Why ask us, though? You could've asked just about anyone." Shirou spoke up, quite a bit confused about the favor.
"Well, you see…a certain player wants them to start a guild, but since they are beta tester, according to him, he thought they'd let down their guard if other beta testers approached them." Argo explained.
"Approach, huh?" Shimizu repeated.
"So…" Argo spoke as she bent forward to look at Shirou from below his gaze. "What do you say?"
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Several Minutes later…
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Walking around the fields of the 2nd Floor of Aincrad, Shirou looked up towards the sky as Shimizu trailed just a bit behind him. Then looking up towards the young man, Shimizu flapped her coat and rushed forward.
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"So…how are we going to find them?" Shimizu asked hesitantly.
"Don't know." Shirou answered nonchalantly, still looking up at the sky.
"Don't know?" Shimizu repeated as she stood in front of Shirou and stopped him from continuing in his tracks. "Well, why did you accept?"
"Simple." Shirou answered as she placed one of his hands on Shimizu's shoulder. "Because in the end, I always figure something out." Shirou stated as he walked away comfortably.
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Sighing because of his answer, Shimizu knew well that Shirou was joking, but at the same time she knew he was not lying. After a good minute of silence, Shimizu spoke up again.
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"So, how are you going to find the so called 'Red Hunter' and 'The Iron Giant'?" Shimizu asked.
"Don't know. But it's not like this is an anime where we will run into them just because the story says so." And in that moment, like the story was foretold before it even began, Shirou was hit from the side by a person much smaller than him, after a few inches shorter. Looking down to see a red coat flutter before him, the person hidden underneath the coat looked just as shocked as they both fell towards the ground. Seeing Shirou on the ground, Shimizu squatted down and spoke.
"A moment in an anime just happened. This is why I tell you not to jinx yourself." Shimizu said confidently.
"OH shut up." Shirou groaned as he held the person on top of him from their shoulders. "You alright?"
"I'm fine…OH Shirou." The person spoke in surprise. Looking at the person on top of them, Shirou was also surprised to see the person before them.
"If I remember you were partnered up with Diavel, no?" Shirou asked.
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A few minutes after collecting themselves…
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"I guess now's a good time as ever to introduce ourselves." Xena spoke as she placed a hand on her chest. "My name is Xena, it's a pleasure to see you again Shirou." Xena smiled sweetly.
"Same here. I'm glad your still up and kicking." Feeling a tug on his sleeve, Shirou looked behind him to see Shimizu waiting. "OH, right. And this is my friend Shimizu. I believe this is the first time you both met, right?"
"No, I met her back in Tolbana, on the first floor." Xena smirked as she continued speaking. "I had no idea Shimizu had such a loud, crystal clear voice."
"So, you noticed too?" Shirou questioned as he leaned into Xena, who was also doing the same and smirking even wider.
"Yup." Xena answered.
"You two, stop it. This is getting too embarrassing for me!" Shimizu screamed in embarrassment.
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In the Town of Urbus…
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As both Shirou and Xena sat in front of Shimizu, who at this point had begun to eat whatever she could get her hands on with a smile on her face, both of them sat in silence, afraid of angering the goddess before them.
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"I had no idea she could get so angry." Xena finally whispered to Shirou.
"Oh, believe me, she's much worse than that. The last time she got severely angry, she…" But Shirou was cut off by Shimizu speak with food in her mouth.
"Would you two like to share what you're talking about with lil' old me?" Shimizu smiled as she pulled the fork out mouth in quite a seductive way. But to the two players, which shivered from her voice, shook their heads in fear. "Honestly, I told you to stop, didn't I?"
"We're sorry." Both Xena and Shirou said together, only to laugh at each other as they heard themselves. Not being able to stay angry for long, Shimizu joined in as well.
"So, I've been meaning to ask…" Xena finally spoke up, causing the two young adults to stop and listen. "Were you two doing something before I arrived?"
"Oh, right. Nearly forgot about that." Shirou rubbed his head, as she chuckled. "Don't worry though, I've got it handled."
"Hmm?" Both Xena and Shimizu looked at each other confused as to what Shirou meant, only to see him stand up and walk towards another table and sit in front of another person.
"Shirou! What are you…" But Shirou raised his hand and spoke.
"You think you could find the Iron Giant?" Shirou asked, to which the man simply nodded. "How much?"
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The man pulled up on his bandana to cover the lower half of his face, then he raised a couple of his fingers, which made Shirou flinch. But, reluctantly, Shirou opened his menu and coughed up the money and sent it over. Standing up, the man's dull, pitch-black hair waved with his sudden motion before walking away.
Once he was out of sight, Shirou breathed a heavy sigh as he leaned in back in his seat.
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"Oh, that was scary." Shirou said, as both Shimizu and Xena approached.
"Who was that?" Shimizu couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah, I was going to ask the same thing." Xena responded after.
"Oh, he belonged to a guild who are like info brokers, they deal in finding info on players, such as their whereabouts or their levels." Shirou slid his hand through his hair. "But I'm glad I got him, and no one else."
"What makes him special?" Xena couldn't help but ask. Her question caused Shirou's expression to change drastically.
"Simple…" Shirou spoke slowly. "I paid Argo and a few other info brokers to find out about the group."
"Why though?" Shimizu couldn't help but ask.
"Since the beginning of the 2nd Floor, you've been hearing about how people have been going missing, right?" Shirou asked.
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Both girls nodded at this words.
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"Well, there have been rumors going around that those missing people have been killed." Shirou spoke with a straight face.
"But you said, they're like info brokers." Shimizu added shocked at the new information she was just given.
"Yeah, but that's not all the group the man's a part of deals in." Shirou continued. "They deal in finding players, but also deal in killing them."
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The sudden info thrown their way, shook both women to their core. They wanted to say something but realized that they couldn't as they were too scared to do so.