Author's notes:
-This one may feel rushed as well, but this time it's normal, as the pacing gets up several notches in the original story.
-Next time, the cave scene ;). Okay, just to be fair, it won't be the best part. The best part will be all the stuff after the events of the original story.
-Well, you're in luck. I'm covering that cave scene now. Because if I let this chapter go like that, it will be the shortest chapter out of all I've written so far, and that would be quite dishonorable for me, especially since this one is rather rushed so far. So look for the SIX lines of three dots.
For only the cave scene, the below signs apply:
- An horizontal line indicates a change of perspective (from Sinon to Kirito and vice-versa).
- "~~" indicates that their perspective is in sync.
Chapter 4
Time: Episode 9, Episode 10, & Episode 11.
Something bigger than the tournament was going on, and now Sinon was caught in it.
Mere minutes before, she tried to shoot the one now known to her as "Death Gun". But Death Gun managed to dodge, and shot Pale Rider, somehow disconnecting him.
Kirito had explained that this guy had the power to kill people in real life with his gun, something she refused to believe. If that was the case, this wasn't a game anymore! Her PTSD was starting to surface even in-game, which terrified her.
At least Kirito was a reassuring presence. They'd just been ambushed, and he managed to deflect all the shots before Sinon shot their attacker dead. She still refused to admit it, but despite her cold attitude, she was starting to yearn for more than friendship with him.
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As they entered into the abandoned city, they checked for Death Gun's presence. Seeing as Death Gun wasn't his avatar's name, they also needed to find out which player it was. Right now, only Gunner X was in the city, so they decided it must be him.
But as they moved to ambush him, another player appeared. If Gunner X was Death Gun, they needed to stop the other player from running into him! So they separated, Kirito going in to ambush Gunner X from the back, with Sinon supporting him.
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Moments later, she was on the ground, shot by a stun round. Death Gun's avatar (who they had presumed was Gunner X) had appeared out of nowhere, like a phantom.
He made his cross-like gesture, and aimed his black handgun at her.
A Black Star Type 54.
Images of the event that traumatized her she was little suddenly resurfaced to her mind.
It should not have been possible, but at that moment, Sinon was certain that Death Gun was the ghost of the bank robber she killed, coming to finish her off.
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How many times had Kirito surprised her? She'd lost count now, but it felt like over a thousand.
There she was, lying on the ground, hoping for her death to be a short one; when suddenly, a smoke grenade was thrown on the ground, and Kirito, hidden from view, rescued her.
They managed to board a buggy, and it was now Kirito driving in the front, and her shooting in the back.
But she couldn't shoot anymore.
Her PTSD had fully surfaced in the game, and she was paralyzed by fear.
But Kirito, for the second time now, came to her rescue. He said: "We'll shoot together."
And she finally managed to press the trigger.
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Several minutes afterwards, when she could finally catch her breath, she could feel strong emotions rise in heart. One, fear of what was coming, and whether she could face the situation like Kirito did, giving it all he had.
The other was feelings for Kirito. Because in the heat of the moment, she finally let him steal her heart.
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Although lightly, Sinon kept punching him, and punching him, and punching him. Why couldn't he understand that she just wanted to die, to no longer live in fear? She wanted to hate him, but she couldn't.
Eventually, she wore herself out, and leaned against his side. Then she revealed her entire past to him, how she had killed that robber at the post office, and now every time she held a gun, she could see the man's face and either puked or passed out.
As she kept punching his chest, Kirito listened to her attentively, hoping for a moment he could reassure her. Then she leaned against his side and revealed her entire past to him.
When she was done, Kirito told her that he had killed someone too, three people actually. In Sword Art Online. Three murderers of the PK guild Laughing Coffin, and he had all but forgotten them until yesterday, when he came across Death Gun.
Then he told her that he figured out how Death Gun did his dirty work.
After his explanation was done, Sinon could feel the trauma threatening to overwhelm her, and make her lose all hope.
Until Kirito pulled her into a hug.
"Sinon, it's okay!" he said.
"I'm here for you."
"Really?"
"Really.
He pulled back abruptly, and she figured out why pretty quickly. The camera that usually only filmed battles was right above them.
Kirito could tell his explanation had shaken her to her very core, so without giving it a second thought, he hugged her fiercely, and while he didn't pay much attention to her reaction, he tried to calm her down from the trauma that he could tell was threatening to overwhelm her. While he was doing this, he finally understood the feeling from his heart:
He loved her.
She was the exact person that he wanted to protect and to be protected by. She brought out the best in him, and he seemed to bring out the best in her.
Before he could say or do anything however, he pulled back abruptly. The camera that usually only filmed battles was right above them.
Sinon, feeling rather sassy at that moment, asked him: "Relax, it doesn't pick voices unless you yell. Just wave at it or something. Or is there someone you don't want seeing this?"
"N-No. What about you?"
"Nah. Actually, if the male population of this game thinks I'm lesbian, maybe they'll finally stop hitting on me."
"Okay."
Kirito relaxed, and prepared himself for a potential massive embarrassment.
"Um... Sinon, I don't know if this is the right moment, but I wanted to let it off my chest. I... I love you.
He could tell by her gaping at him like when he cleared "Untouchable!" that he had just given her the surprise of her life.
Sinon just froze, her jaw on the floor again. She couldn't believe this. After realizing her feelings for Kirito, she had hoped at intervals (when they weren't running for their lives) that he felt the same way. And now that she knew he felt the same way, she couldn't stop herself a moment more. She leaned onto his body and gave a him a passionate kiss, which he answered back with just as much ardent, downright burning, passion.
~~ And so their lips were locked, though they weren't making out yet.
(that would come in a later scene)
~~ But they certainly didn't the mind the camera anymore, though they needn't bother. It had disappeared a mere second before they started lip-smacking.
Citations: "Right now, only Gunner X was in the city," (originally "Right now, only Gunner X is in the city.") "giving it all he had" (originally "He's just giving it all he has."), "and he had all but forgotten them until yesterday, when he came across Death Gun" (originally "But I'd forced myself to forget what I'd done. Until yesterday, when I met that man, Death Gun."), and "Relax, it doesn't pick voices unless you yell. Just wave it or something. Or is there someone you don't want seeing this?" (originally "It's okay. It won't pick up voices unless you yell. Why not wave? Or is there someone you don't want seeing this?") are taken from the Crunchyroll subtitles.