Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online.

Chapter 3: The Phantom Arrow

It was the dead of night as the salamander player, Augustus ran for his virtual life. In the real world, Augustus was just an ordinary office worker with a shoebox of an apartment, but in the world of ALO he was a powerful military commander in charge of one of the largest forts in salamander territory. Yet there he was, suddenly fleeing to save his skin. He had been flying back to the base after taking care of some business when suddenly someone had started firing arrows at him. Augustus had decided to take to the ground and use the forest for cover, but that had proven to be a fatal mistake.

Once Augustus had entered the forest, the attacks had become far more relentless. As the salamander commander ran through the dark woods, four more arrows flew down at him from several directions. Somehow he had managed to dodge each one. An ordinary player might've thought that he was being attacked by an army of archers, but Augustus had the feeling that what was attacking him was far worse. Just as Augustus was about to make it out of the forest, a figure suddenly materialized out of thin air.

The figure in question was a young woman with fairly short light-blue hair and a pair of large cat ears on her head, indicating she was a cait sith. She had on a long coat with shiny silver scales and a hood, which she had pulled down as she had appeared before Augustus. Under her coat, the cat girl had on a black breastplate with decorative gold trim, over a green shirt with a short green skirt with a decorative blue and gold sash hanging down the front. The woman had on a pair of black fingerless gloves and a pair of black boots. She was armed with a black bow and a quiver of arrows, and covering the upper half of her face was a simple black mask.

Augustus knew very well who the woman facing him was. For the past month, the salamander player had been hearing rumors about a deadly cait sith archer with an item that allowed her to become invisible and a strange magical skill that could let her do things like fire an arrow and have it strike the back of an enemy who was standing directly in front of her. This archer had quickly gained the reputation of a mercenary in ALO, a player killer for hire. Her real name in the game was Sinon, but she had quickly earned a very fitting nickname. She had become known as the Phantom Arrow.

Sinon took an ornate black and gold arrow from her quiver and aimed it at Augustus. "Commander Augustus! You have failed your leaders!"

"What is the meaning of this?" Augustus asked, managing to gain his composure. "Just who hired you to come after me?"

"Your own commander, General Eugene." Sinon answered. "He found out about some of your shadier business dealings with the gnomes; how you've been letting them mine for resources in key parts of salamander territory in exchange for a chunk of what they haul up. Needless to say, he's not thrilled."

"So what? He sends a player killer to take care of me?" Augustus asked. "As if that would teach me a lesson! After all, it's not like dying in this game is actually fatal!"

"You know about the reincarnation system that ALO has, right?" Sinon asked. "Basically a player can basically be reborn as a member of another fairy race, provided they can strike a deal with the leader of that race. But one of the more recent game updates included a new wrinkle to that feature. Basically the leader of a race can put a curse on a weapon, making it so when it kills a fellow player in their race to be reborn into whatever race they choose. The arrow I'm pointing at you right now is a cursed arrow that General Eugene gave me. He decided that since you enjoy being a thief so much, than you may as well play this game as a spriggan."

"A spriggan? I'd almost rather delete my account than play as one of those powerless treasure hunters!" Augustus declared.

"You know a friend of mine happens to play as a spriggan, and he happens to be one of the strongest players in the game." Sinon told him. "But I guess you like having the glory that comes with being a salamander commander."

"Damn!" Augustus cursed as he took a step back. "Well… there's no way I'm going to let you use that damn arrow on me!"

"You've already taken some serious damage from my earlier attacks." Sinon reminded him. "One headshot, and your HP will be at zero."

Augustus suddenly turned and ran back through the forest as fast as his legs could carry him. Sinon aimed her arrow down at the base of a tree she was standing near and fired. The arrow vanished at the point where the tree grew out of the ground. A split second later the arrow reappeared struck Augustus' head from the side. The salamander's HP went to zero and his body turned into a floating ball of red flames. The fireball turned purple as Sinon walked up to it.

"If it makes you feel better, Eugene told me that he may make you a salamander again one day… if he thinks you've truly repented, that is." Sinon told the fireball. "For now though, you better get used to playing as a spriggan."

The fireball finally died away and Sinon exited the forest. Just as she was about to put up her hood and fly off into the sky, she saw Asuna standing before her a few feet away.

"You're actually pretty frightening." Asuna remarked. "Bet you make good money as a player killer, huh?"

"How the heck did you find me?" Sinon asked.

"That coat of yours may make you invisible, but it can't keep me from finding you with my friend list." Asuna answered. "Of course I had to wait for you to finish off that guy before I could find exactly where you were. That's the first time I've seen one of those curse weapons in action."

"Yeah. Guess the designers wanted to put in a few new consequences for dying at the hands of a player killer." Sinon replied. "So is there a reason why you came to find me?"

"I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to join me and some of the others on this quest." Asuna answered. "We're planning to go to R'lyeh to take on Cthulhu, and we could use all the help we can get. Um… if it's a matter of money, I'm sure we could pay you something."

"Nah. You wouldn't have to pay me for something like that." Sinon told her. "Still… I'm not really sure I'd want to go on a quest like that right now."

"Oh… well, if you change your mind, we're meeting at Lisbeth's shop the day after tomorrow." Asuna told her.

"I'll consider it." Sinon replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to my apartment in-game so I can log out for the night."

"Sure." Asuna responded. "Hey Sinon… why did you end up becoming a player killer anyway?"

"…Let's just say it's my way of dealing with some issues I'm still having." Sinon answered. "Later."

With that, Sinon put up her hood and vanished before Asuna's eyes. Asuna sighed and flew off into the night sky.

In the real world, the girl known as Sinon the Phantom Arrow was an ordinary high school student named Shino Asada. Like the day before at the SAO Returnees' School, things at Shino's high school were starting to wind down after a brutal week of exams. That gave Shino plenty of time that day to consider Asuna's request. Later in the afternoon, Shino was participating in the activities of the school's archery club. The dark-haired girl had joined the club just a few days after the Donis incident.

Shino hadn't joined the archery club to improve her skills in ALO, but rather she joined as a way for her to release her anger at Donis, which was also the same reason why she had become a player killer for hire in ALO. Almost every time Shino aimed at the target, she imagined that she was aiming at Donis's crotch. Shino was able to hit the target practically every time she did that visualization, but that particular afternoon Shino's arrows had been off. She hadn't been missing the target completely, but at the same time she hadn't been able to hit the bull's-eye even once. Shino found that the more she missed, the more frustrated she became, and that frustration was working against her.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this off before, Shino." A voice spoke from behind.

Shino turned, and standing before her was a young woman who was the same age as she was. The young woman was a little taller that Shino, and had long very dark brown hair and deep dark-grey eyes. This woman was Nakuru Kitamori, the president of the archery club.

"I guess I'm just having an off day." Shino told Nakuru.

"I think the problem is you're just too tense." Nakuru assumed. "Take aim at the target."

Shino turned back and prepared another arrow. As she prepared to fire, Nakuru suddenly pressed herself against Shino from behind and gently took hold of the wrist that was holding the bow. As Nakuru adjusted Shino's aim, her other hand pressed against Shino's rear, causing her to let out a gasp.

"Keep your leg straight." Nakuru whispered in Shino's ear. "Breathe… focus only on the target. Don't let any other thoughts cloud your mind. And when you're ready… release."

Shino cleared all other thoughts from her mind and took a deep breath. As she focused on the target, her breathing became in sync with Nakuru's. After a few moments, Shino released her arrow and it flew through the air to hit the center of the target.

"Much better." Nakuru told her as she stepped back. "Well, I think that's it for today everyone. I'll see you all in a few days after the break. Shino, I trust our plans for coffee are still on?"

"Yep. I'm looking forward to it." Shino told her.

With that, the other club members started to disperse. Shino began to pack up some of her equipment before heading back to the changing room.

"Hey Asada. Got a minute?" a voice suddenly asked. Shino turned around to see it was one of the other girls in the club.

"What's up Yumeji?" Shino asked.

"Well, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but I think President Kitamori has a thing for you." Yumeji answered.

"What're you talking about?" Shino asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Take the way she helped you with your aim just now. She was using that as a way to feel you up." Yumeji told her. "She even grabbed your ass!"

"You're reading way too much into things." Shino told her. "Nakuru would give the same kind of help to anyone else in the club."

"The president's helped all of us when we haven't been performing at our best, but you're the only one she's so 'hands-on' with." Yumeji pointed out. "Trust me. She has a thing for you."

"You really don't know what you're talking about." Shino told her. "And even if you're right, it really isn't any of your business anyway."

"Yeah… you're right." Yumeji replied. "I just felt like I should say something so you wouldn't be caught off guard in case she tried to do more than just help you with your aim. Well… see you after the break, I guess."

With that, Shino went about her business and completely dismissed her fellow club member's comment. Of course Shino have to admit that it did seem like Nakuru was just trying to cop a feel every now and then, but she was fairly certain that had never been Nakuru's intention. The fact was that Shino and Nakuru had actually become good friends fairly quickly after Shino had joined the archery club. One thing that cemented their friendship was an incident where Nakuru had protected Shino from this group of bullies who regularly harassed her at school. Shino had long ago learned how to deal with those bullies, but there were some days where dealing with them was just too hard. Since that time incident, Shino and Nakuru were often seen together at school. The simply fact was that Shino really liked being around Nakuru, and it had been her friendship with Nakuru that had helped Sinon recover a great deal from the Donis incident.

Later that afternoon, Shino and Nakuru met back up at this little café that they usually frequented. Their conversation had mostly started with small things, like how they were both glad that exams were finally over.

"So Shino… just what was it that was affecting your concentration before?" Nakuru suddenly asked. "You know… when you were trying to hit the target?"

"Oh… well, last night this friend of mine sort of asked me to do this favor for her." Shino answered.

"Is this favor something you don't want to do?" Nakuru asked.

"No. It's just… you remember me telling you about my ex-boyfriend, right?" Shino asked her.

"You mean that asshole who cheated on you with several other girls and basically put you off men for at least a decade?" Nakuru replied, quoting a statement that Shino had once made. "Yeah. I think I remember you saying something about him."

"Well, my friend's boyfriend looks just like my ex." Shino revealed. "In fact they could've been long lost twin brothers. And the truth is that the reason why I fell for my ex in the first place was because I had a crush on my friend's boyfriend. Plus if that wasn't bad enough, my friend and her boyfriend both pretty much know about this crush."

"Oh… yeah, that is kind of awkward." Nakuru admitted.

"It's just… I can't really figure out how I'm supposed to act around the two of them after this." Shino continued. "I guess we've kind of drifted apart because of it. But the thing is… I'm kind of afraid that my friend sort of hates me now… because of how I once felt about her boyfriend."

"Shino… if this friend of yours asked you for a favor, that she probably doesn't hate you." Nakuru pointed out. "Besides, do you have any plans to try and steal her boyfriend away?"

"Hell no! I could never do that." Shino answered. "Not with how he also looks like my ex. That would just be weird!"

"Then there really isn't any problem." Nakuru told Shino as she took her hand from across the table. "You shouldn't let what happened with your ex destroy your other relationships."

"…You're right." Shino realized. "It's past time that I really put what happened with my ex behind me. Thanks Nakuru."

"No problem." Nakuru told her. "I'm here whenever you need me, Shino."

About half an hour later, the two friends parted company and Shino headed back to her apartment. The dark-haired archer had decided to go ahead help Asuna with her quest, but there were a couple of things that she needed to do in ALO that night before then. For one thing, she still needed to get paid for the Augustus job, and there were still a couple targets that she needed to take out. Shino was still the Phantom Arrow after all, and going on a single quest with some friends wasn't going to change that anytime soon.

Author's Note: The inspiration behind Sinon's Phantom Arrow persona actually comes from the hit CW T.V. series, Arrow. My dad and I spent much of the last couple of months streaming the first three seasons of the show from Netflix. It's a good show, though admittedly I'm kind of burnt out on it at the moment. Plus I had some issues with season three that I won't get into.

Please review and let me know what you think.