Hey guys, remember me? That guy who was doing an SAO fanfic and totally didn't forget about it for a good three weeks?

Serious thou, yes that is the unfortunate truth. I somehow managed to completely forget this story existed again. But it's okay because I've remembered and here it is.

I had to do a small bit a re-writing in this chapter as I felt it was formerly not up to par, but now it is, so enjoy!

"Guess we're headed to the western meeting colosseum," Kirito said as they turned left down the nearest street and headed to the west of the Town of Beginnings.

"I'm getting a strange feeling from that message you got," Leafa said with a hint of concern. Luckily, the entirety of the Town of Beginnings was protected by a safe zone of sorts which meant that it was impossible to take damage at all unless you accepted a duel from someone, so a trap or an ambush of sorts was impossible. After a small walk, they reached a colosseum that looked very old and overgrown in places. It reminded Leafa of that giant Colosseum in Rome that tourists love going to, except a lot smaller.

They both stayed completely silent as they climbed the stairs leading to the gate at the top that lead to the seating area. Once they entered through the door and looked at the arena, they saw Toran looking somewhat confused while he gazed at the many features of the Colosseum, but as soon as he saw them, he immediately took on a serious face that also showed hints of worry.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked as Kirito made his way slowly down the stairs to the arena. Leafa decided it was best to remain in the audience seating area and watch from a slight distance in order to let them handle it themselves as per her cousin's request.

"Yeah, I got your message," Kirito said as he finally reached the sandy floor of the stage where the duels happened.

"I didn't send you a message, but I'm assuming you got something similar to what I was sent," Toran admitted, surprising Kirito a little before Toran spun his virtual menu around to show Kirito the message he had received.

Head to the western colosseum in the Town of Beginnings, I feel you have something to explain to your friend.

As Kirito read it, he thought about who could possibly be sending them both messages to help them settle this conundrum. Mr. Reki or Natsuki came into his mind but he disregarded that thought for now.

"Okay, so someone wanted us to have this chat anyway? Doesn't bother me," Kirito said seriously as he prepared for a revelation. "I'm going to jump straight to the point, why aren't you dead? The game's code shows you as deceased, and I don't mean this new version of the game,"

"Allow me to explain myself, I was one of the ten thousand people who got stuck in the original SAO," Toran started "It had been two years since the death game started and I and two other people were attacking an unlooted dungeon on the 71st floor, we were doing well and had gotten deep until suddenly, we got ambushed by undead overlords and couldn't defend ourselves. After the first one died, the other guy used a big attack to give me time to escape and due to the post-motion delay of his sword skill, he was killed as well. I ran as hard as I could to escape but was hit by a paralysis spell from behind, and while I was down, the stabbed me with a poison blade and my health slowly depleted until finally, it ran out and I died. It was at that exact moment in time that you defeated Kayaba in the 75th-floor boss room and cleared the game," As Toran explained himself, Leafa was getting emotional hearing his story from sidelines. Kirito was shocked by certain parts of the story so far, but he had predicted a good amount of it after his discovery with Mr. Reki and as such, remained mostly unphased expression-wise.

"What happened after that? Shouldn't your NerveGear have fried your brain?" Kirito asked with a serious-like curiosity.

"That's what should've happened. But as far as I can tell, as a result of the unfortunate timing, I was deleted right along with the game while everyone else was logged out," Toran continued, the strain of having to relive the memory clearly showing on his face.

"I see, so because you died right as the game ended, your data was taken to the cyberspace with the game, right?" Kirito asked to confirm his suspicions.

"It appears so, and as such, I never woke up. Meaning that my real body has been in a coma for over three and a half years," Toran admitted painfully "Who knows, my real body could've died in that time as a result and I'll never know because my consciousness is a part of the game now, which is also why, for over eighteen months, all I did was journey through the pitch black abyss that used to be Sword Art Online," This was the revelation that finally got Kirito to show his shock.

Toran's words made him realize that, back before their mission in new SAO had started and he saw that brief vision of a shadowy figure in a dark abyss, his NerveGear was actually showing him Toran. Kirito was left momentarily speechless at this. Once he regained some of his composure, Kirito continued.

"So in other words, you're not a real human anymore. Do you at least know what hospital your body was taken to?" Kirito asked with a slight rasp to his voice that was a result of his shock.

"Unfortunately not," Was Toran's sad reply to that. Luckily, Kirito quickly thought of another alternative, he looked around to make sure no one was around before voicing it.

"What about your name? If you tell me your real name, I can get someone from the real world to search all of Japan's hospitals for a patient of the same," Kirito said with his normal voice returning as he spoke. There was an uncomfortable pause in between talking but eventually, the silence was broken by Toran's reply.

"Before I do that, Kirito…I want you to fight me," He suddenly said as he unsheathed his sword and took a fighting stance.

"What!? No, I'm not going to fight you, Toran!" Kirito shouted. He had a slight fear that this would happen and, of course, it had to. Just his luck. "Besides, you wouldn't stand a chance. I'm at least seventy levels above you,"

"Prove it then," Toran said threateningly. "If that's the case then this shouldn't take a second. We'll say the first person to make contact on the other with their sword wins. Deal?"

"No deal, Toran!" Kirito shouted again but with a hint of angriness to his voice now. "I said I'm not going to fight y-"

"I SAID FIGHT ME!" Toran shouted very loudly, enough to send a mysterious wave of shock in Kirito's direction. "Please, Kirito. It's not that I blame you, I just…need this," He got quieter with this but still very audible. With this, Kirito thought for a moment and realized what Toran was trying to tell him. He sighed before reluctantly accepting Toran's challenge.

"Okay, fine. The first person to make contact on the other with their sword wins, and if it's me, you have to tell me your real name," Kirito repeated the terms of their duel, to which Toran corrected him on something.

"It doesn't matter who wins, I'll tell you my real name either way," He confirmed. Kirito wasn't surprised by that. In fact, it helped confirm his suspicions regarding this sudden duel. A duel that he was confident he could end quickly. So he grabbed his Dark Repulsor and readied a stance.

"Let's start," Toran said, signaling the beginning of the duel. Kirito's battle plan was that he would use his speed to stun Toran, then get behind him and very lightly cut at his back, thus winning. However, this plan was ruined when Toran basically teleported in from of him and slashed so fast that he only barely managed to get his sword up in time. The clang that was caused as a result of the two blades clashing reverberated throughout the arena and sparks were thrown everywhere.

Kirito didn't even have time to react to this before Toran disappeared from his sight. His danger senses suddenly spiked from behind and without even thinking, he thrust himself forward in a dodge roll. Due to this, Toran's blade just barely missed his back. Once Kirito got a hold of the situation, and realized that being apart of the game wasn't Torans only secret, he got serious and unsheathed his Elucidator.

"Let's go then," Kirito said as he closed his eyes. Toran used this opportunity to once again basically teleport to Kirito and attack from the side. He leaned to his left and began a sort of spinning attack, but right before his blade made contact with Kirito, the black swordsman somehow parried.

His stature changed in the blink of an eye. Toran had only barely realized his attack was blocked before he realized that Kirito wasn't there anymore. Suddenly, a stabbing attack came from his left. Toran moved as fast as he could to block. But as he got in position, the black swordsman's blade just passed right through his, as if his sword didn't even exist. At that moment, as Toran was only just starting to react to Kirito's ghost-like sword. He was stabbed through the right hand from behind.

"I win," A voice from behind said as the Kirito in front of him vanished into thin air. Toran whipped his head around to see Kirito behind him with the tip of his sword embedded in the center of his right hand.

"Was that…a mirage?" Toran asked in shock.

"Yup, it's a dual blades skill called Mirage Step. It allows me to move at close to the speed of light for exactly one second," Kirito replied, surprising Toran.

"Wait, Dual Blades? When did you get Dual Blades?" Toran asked, saving his shock for later.

"Kayaba. He told me had given me something recently and turns out it was the Dual Blades ability with all its enhancements already attached," Kirito replied again, Toran was in awe but had other business to take care of.

"Right then, I guess I owe you an answer…My name is Tobio Renkawa," He said. "If you can find me in the real world, be sure to tell me my state," Toran asked in favor.

"Then maybe, if you are still technically alive and have the NerveGear on, then maybe I can log you out with my GM status," Kirito said upon realization of a possible outcome to the situation. "And in worst case scenario, if I can't do it, then maybe Kayaba can log you out via his admin status once we reach the hundredth floor,"

"We can only hope so," Toran said with a sigh as he went and sat next to Leafa in stands. The blonde haired sylph then hugged him while tears came from her eyes.

"That must've been so hard for you," She said "To have your humanity ripped away like that, I just feel so bad for you," Toran reciprocated the hug with one of his arms.

"Yeah, I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone, no matter how much I hated them," He said as he softly rubbed her shoulder to calm her down. Kirito then joined them in the stands of the Colosseum and just pat Leafa softly on the back in silence. Neither of them spoke for at least five minutes before Leafa finally regained her composure.

"Well then, I guess the only thing we can do is to give you eighteen months worth of friendship and happiness while we beat this game and get that Kayaba guy to log you out once and for all," Leafa said cheerfully while there were still a couple of virtual tears left to dry. Her words finally made a genuine smile appear on Torans face as he replied.

"I look forward to it then," He said as the three of them rose from their seats and made their way back to the center of the Town of Beginnings together. Soon after that, Leafa announced that she was logging off and waved goodbye to Kirito and Toran before departing from the virtual world.

"So, what should we do now?" Toran asked as he thought about the many quests that were probably still available on the first two floors.

"What say we go attack the second floors boss room? I bet we could tag team it with no problem, especially with that insane speed of yours," Kirito suggested, remembering that Toran was just as knowledgeable as him with the old SAO. Toran brought a hand to his chin as he considered it until suddenly, he started running in a sprint towards the teleport gate.

"Betcha I can hit it first!" He said as he bolted off. Kirito quickly snapped out if his surprise and ran after him.

"Over my dead body!" Kirito ran after his friend while shouting this and eventually caught up to him as they both reached the teleport gate at the same time and teleported to Urbus in search of the second floors boss room.

Sinon, or in this case, Shino Asada, had just finished checking up on her old friend Shinkawa Kyouji.

Though, to say 'friend' was a bit far fetched now. Ever since he had gone insane and tried to kill her at the end of the 3rd annual Bullet of Bullets tournament in Gun Gale Online, which Kazuto had heroically risked his life to save her from, she had never really considered him a friend anymore. But even so, she still found herself checking up on his rehabilitation progress every now and then. She eventually promised herself that once he had completely recovered, she would give him a chance to apologize to her face and then never see him again.

Before the entire BoB incident, she considered him her only close friend and even had a few genuine feelings for him at some point, to which now she shuddered in disgust every time she thought about it. However, she oddly felt that she at least wanted to give him one last chance to properly see her before they parted ways forever.

In any case, she had been in and checked on his progress, which was slow but steady, and was on her way home via the bus line. She put in her earplugs and listened to music as the bus trotted onwards.

She was an unusual case when it came to music. Most people that she knew just listened to your average Japanese pop, but she was actually quite a fan of western music. She wasn't as good at speaking and understanding English as Asuna but she had been learning for a fair few amount of years now and she could get the jist of most songs.

One of her favorite artists was a man who called himself Owl City. He wasn't a very mainstream artist but she loved the creativity and artistic-ness in the lyrics of his songs. The one she was currently listening to, titled 'Vanilla Twilight', was a good example of his usual style. She was heavily disappointed when she recently found out that he had retired from making music a couple of years ago but it sure didn't stop her from listening to his many albums.

As she listened to the current song, her mind floated to their current government mission in this new restart of Sword Art Online and the many adventures she had already had in it. However, every time she would get deep in thought about it, for some reason, she would always end up thinking about Toran and what Kirito had said just before she logged off for the next few days.

"I wonder what they needed to talk about," She said softly to herself. She delved slightly deeper into the thought and started thinking about the possibility of Toran not being the person he claims to be but brushed that thought aside. She had spent a small amount of time with him, even done a quest together, and he just had this air about him that made her want to trust him completely and hope that this wasn't that big of a deal.

It was around now when she realized that all she could think about was Toran so she softly slapped her cheeks to knock herself out of her daydream.

Due to her dive into her thoughts, two songs had passed without her realizing, which meant she was now listening to 'Hot Air Balloon', and the bus was almost at her stop. She took her earplugs out and returned them to their permanent home of her pocket as she rang the overhead bell that signified the driver to pull over at the next possible stop.

After the bus stopped and let her off, she walked about a hundred-ish meters to the little second-floor apartment that she called home. It was small, with only a kitchen, bedding, and bathroom area to make up the entire room, but it was all she needed. She almost never had anyone over and spent more than half of her time lying on her bed playing VR games.

Today was no different either. After quickly fixing herself a cup of orange juice and plugging her electronics into their chargers, she grabbed her own personal AmuSphere and lifted it above her head before bringing it down and allowing it to cover her eyes and surround her head. After that, she took off her pants and jacket to sport just a simple men's navy blue t-shirt and purple panties. She then laid down on her bed, closed her eyes and spoke the same command as always before getting whisked away to the virtual world.

However, instead of colorful landscapes, lush greenery and vast mountain ranges, the world she dived into was dark, musky and littered with slums being shadowed by tall buildings of all shapes and sizes. It wasn't what the average person would call beautiful but it was the place that the now neon blue-haired avatar named Sinon called home.

She didn't dislike Alfheim or Aincrad, she loved them as well. In fact, the change of scenery was a breath of fresh air for her at times. But this was the only place where she truly felt at home. Never would she feel the same amount of happiness and nostalgia than when she dived into this ugly world. Even if there wasn't anything in particular that she wanted to do, just to be immersed in this world of hers gave her enough satisfaction. This was the unbeatable feeling that the world of Gun Gale Online gave her.

"Yo, Sinon!" A voice called out to her from her side, which turned out to be the group of people that she used to party up with occasionally. The one who called out to her was someone by the username of Dynaster. He wore light leather padded armor in an attempt to be more stealthy than the average player with only a red bandana for headwear that covered all his hair. "We're planning an ambush on a party making an ammo delivery about three hours from now. Word on the street is that they're also carrying an FIM-43 Redeye Rocket Launcher with them,"

"Yeah, apparently, only two of those things were ever put in the game so imagine if we actually got our hands on one," the other of the men in the group stated excitedly. "We could sell it and be rich if anything,"

"Or we could use it in tournaments and stuff," The third person in the party said, they looked and sounded like a girl but constantly claimed they were a dude and was decently skilled with twin pistols so they didn't really push it anymore than that. "That way, we could get our group noticed and we might even become popular,"

"In any case," Dynaster said as he rested his Thompson Submachine Gun on his shoulder. "Would you like to join us for the ambush? We'll leave in about fifteen minutes to set up at a point in the route,"

"Count me in," The neon blue haired sniper said as she cocked her rifle to further confirm her acceptance.

Toran's past has been revealed...

So with this, we put Toran's main arc to rest. *happy sigh* feels good, I tell ya.

So tell me, what are your thoughts on the chapter. Leave a review if you liked it and if you did, feel free to follow/favorite as well :)

I will say this, that last bit with just Sinon was so much fun to write. Never tried writing descriptive before and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

One last thing, from now on, updates will be slow. Not because I'm catching up to where I am with the story. I'm just busy you know. Working on other projects that have a higher priority. But don't worry, I've said it before and I'll say it again, i will finish this story no matter what :)

'till next time.

pls excuse all grammar mistakes, proof-reading ain't my strong suit.