2750/Extra Scene: Bullet of Bullets

Extra Scene: Bullet of Bullets
Date of Scene:	07 August 2015
Location:	Alfheim Online <ALO>
Synopsis:	What happened between Kirito, Sinon and Asuna as they sat in that rusting ship before the battle with Sterben?
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, 9, 649

---

Sinon (649) has posed:
    While the other members of the Gatecrashers were converging on the riverside ampitheatre to make for a showdown with Sterben, some events took place which nobody else saw.

    To put it more specifically: Sinon was in no condition to fight, even after the APC chase, and if anything that might have even made it a bit worse. Therefore, it became necessary to find a place to catch our breath.

    All we could find was a rusty, drippy half-wrecked ship, though.

    So that's where Sinon finds herself now, sat against a side wall, using a medkit. Places like these are designed to be fairly decent boltholes for players who wish to use them- enough to hide in temporarily, but nowhere near a good place to turtle up for the entire game in.

    Sinon is looking at Kirito and Asuna, trying to think of what to do, what to say. Desperate to accept their comfort.

Kirito has posed:
    A bolthole it is. Kirito glimpses the outside through a crack in the leaky hull, but only for a few moments. He drops down and leans against a wall, only to seat himself near Sinon a few moments later. His expression's tense, broody, very mixed.

    He wants to be out there and yet doesn't. He fidgets anxiously, but only slightly. It's an unusual habit for him, Asuna would know.

    Kirito doesn't get fidgety when anxious over dangerous things. He tends to bottle it up and face it head-on.

    "... What happened back there, Sinon...?"

Asuna (9) has posed:
Asuna isn't sure what in the hell is going on.

Asuna slides into the bolthole after Kirito does, dropping down to her knees next to the other two, and she watches Kirito fidget. One slim eyebrow raises, and she turns her head back to Sinon, then back to Kirito.

"Okay, what's happened that I've been left out on?" She asks, quietly.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    As Sinon tries her best to cool herself down, some semblence of sanity is coming back to her ever so slowly. Unfortunately, it's not entirely there yet, and although she is cognizant of what Asuna and Kirito are saying to her, she is perhaps not really ...

    When Kirito outright asks her, she takes it as an oppurtunity to just freely speak her racing thoughts. With her head resting on her knees, she says "That gun... it's not a popular weapon, just cheap. Maybe he just chose it out of coincidence... I thought... it would be just another target I could shoot down and pass by, but..."

    She wants to just open her heart, to reach out to these people within arm's reach, but there is something fearsome holding her back. Even if she could get 'redemption' from them, there is always that crawling 'what if'...

    "Why don't we just stay here?" she asks suddenly, changing the tack of the conversation. "We can't log out by choice, but- if we tell the others to defeat one another and leave him, the tournament will be over-"

Kirito has posed:
    Okay that's not really an answer. But Kirito can tell that Sinon's going to pieces over that gun. He's quiet for a bit. Asuna, being much better at socializing than he is, will probably know how out of his element the Black Swordsman is here.

    But he does have a way of saying profound things at times like these, doesn't he...

    "The tournament will end, sure. But the murders won't. It can't end that way. Not when people will die if I do nothing." His tone is deeper than normal, sincere... flickers of desperation shining through. "I promised that wouldn't happen again... never again..."

    He shakes his head slowly, sadly. He's haunted by whatever thoughts are coming to mind...

    "Gun... or no gun. I don't want to pry, but a certain gun rattles you this badly...?"

Asuna (9) has posed:
"Sinon, you've surely hung out with us enough that you know that sort of thing isn't an option." Asuna says quietly.

"Not with Kirito's promise, not when people out there and in here have broken the very laws of reality to make things right in the past. If he wins the tournament, he's going to win everything, and it's not going to stop him in the future, and if anything, he'll just become more feared, and possibly more insane. We've got to stay and fight."

She stares at the other girl for awhile.

"What is making your heart so fearful?"

Sinon (649) has posed:
So these people really are 'heroes', Shino thinks. She realizes as soon as she said it that this was just the voice of fearful Shino, trying to run away, desperate to just leave the problem to someone else; but this time, she'd be pulling all of these people away too, trying to get someone-else-but-them to solve it.

    But these people... really are 'heroes'.

    'People will die if I do nothing'. 'We've got to stay and fight'. These people...

    They all have so many things that Shino doesn't have any more. She has lost all her courage, and she knows that if she /did/ choose to hide she would never recover. No matter what world she was in, she'd always live in terror of that man in the shadows.

So...

    "Then don't pry," she replies, straightening her legs out. "Alright. Then we'll go out and fight that guy, then. I won't be afraid. I'll refuse. I'll refuse the fear of dying like that. Goodness only knows I'm sick of it..."

    She wants to go out there now, to make her death march, but- "It's me he wants to kill. It was never you," looking at Kirito, "Like I thought. But if I go out there alone you'll just follow, because, because--"

    She balls her fists, suddenly, and clenches her teeth, her arms and neck stiffening as if in spasm. "Why?! It's not like I ever asked you all to- I, I never hoped to have a relationship with anyone!"

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito once again shakes his head. "No... Asuna and I are definitely on his hitlist as well, now that he knows we're here. That man, Death Gun... Asuna and I both fought him once before. It was a full-on serious deathmatch! ... And for him that fight isn't over!" And does he ever sound shaken by this fact. His voice is tense, choked up... on the verge of terrified at what's about to happen. What might be happening out there.

    Just as scared as Sinon, perhaps.

    "Back in SAO... the assault team had gotten together for a raid on the base of Laughing Coffin, the number one murder guild. There was an info leak and our team was ambushed. Once the team regrouped we had little trouble outmatching Laughing Coffin. Except... our foes were real murderers who would fight to the end and kill without hesitation. Our people hesitated. Time and again. We lost too many in that battle, even though we hit them back ten times as hard. Laughing Coffin was all but wiped out that day. Of the few dozen there, only about ten surrendered to be imprisoned. ... at least two died by my sword..."

    As that grim tale's recounted, Kirito closes his eyes and leans back against the rusty hull.

    "I'd forgotten all about them until just recently. Faces, names. I killed them in a rage. In a panic. I'm not even sure if they would've surrendered."

    He can only sigh, long and drawn out, before adding in a sincere tone full of regret, "That's the kind of conflict you've been dragged into, Sinon. I'm sorry you've been dragged into the bloody legacy of that game. Bringing it to a close here is all I can do... but that's no reason for YOU to go out there and risk your life, is it?"

    He makes a really scrunched-up face after realizing she's using the r-word though. "You didn't ask, but that's what happened. You're a member of the party... of course we're looking out for you!"

Asuna (9) has posed:
Asuna stares at both of them briefly. Jiiii.

"No. If he's from the Laughing Coffin, he's been out to get Kirito and myself longer than you, trust me on that." She tells Sinon, her voice light. "After all, we destroyed most of his guild, are the heros of Aincrad, and we're busting through every other VRMMO out there with high leveled multiversial shenanigans. If anything, we've doomed you by your interactions with us, and I'm so sorry."

Asuna sounds distressed, but she catches onto something. "Why did you not party before us?" She asks Sinon, very simple. It's a multilayered question.

Sinon (649) has posed:
Is she doomed? Really? Are all of these stories going to end here in the face of this supernatural power? Is she just a victim of the Gatecrashers, for reasons she can't understand? It's a strange feeling. In the classroom, Shino would hear Dont touch it, you murderer! Youll stain it with blood when she accidentally touched other peoples belongings. She was so isolated for those five years, that even when she made friends with Kyouji, no amount of openness he showed her would cause her to reveal details about her past.

    "Because... because I've always...! For five years, no one would show me anything but their wickedness...! I've always, always had to shut myself behind this machine made of ice, but it was only ever a sick illusion--"

    But this... this is different. If she could tell anyone, he-

    These people are not just here because... the situation is, while they are here in this game, Death Gun is determined to hurt them. But because he is also determined to kill /her/, and because those goals are not mutually exclusive... she, she has to be a part of...

    A part of Kirito's bloody story. It is him that explains things first, rather than her, he who tips his hand.

    The same. They're the same. It all falls into place for her. The same. They are, really... the same... and so...
    The emotions in Sinon's heart finally ignite. Every desire she was suppressing combined into a feeling she has never experienced, and so, she...

    Sinon shifts her weight onto one leg, then swings her legs to the side, pushing herself so that she can move forward on her hands and knees towards the two of them.

    "You-- if that's the truth, then-!"

    "IT THAT'S THE TRUTH, THEN YOU COULD HOLD THIS HAND THAT HAS KILLED SOMEONE BEFORE!"

    Her eyes blur, and tears flow down her face. She will go on. Even as these tears sting her, even as her posture on all fours becomes the silhouette of an animal, she lunges for Kirito, and shouts.

    "If you're going to look out for me- if you're going to protect me- THEN PROTECT ME FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!"

    And having said this-

    She presses her lips against Kirito's, forcefully, as if it had all led up to this-!

Kirito has posed:
    WAGH-THUMP-WHUMP. That's the sound of Kirito being roughly grabbed, making a startled query-like noise as he stares into the approaching Sinon. Wait what's going on what's going on--

    Oh god.

    The face he makes is the panicked, conflicted one of a married boy being put in the worst sort of position between a rock and a hard place. Wide-eyed, brow furrowed, shoulders bunched, he finds himself smooched and smushed at once, pancaked right against the rusty metal. "Mmmmph?!"

    It's no kiss of love on Kirito's side. He's not even really returning it. THankfully for Sinon, nor is his hand going anywhere near the sexual harassment warning window that's standard for most VRMMO games.

    After a few seconds of consternated, flabbergasted brainfreeze, Kirito puts his strength to work and gently pries Sinon's lips off his... and instead pulls her head into his chest for a tight hug.

    "I can't go that far." The boy answers, gently, sadly. His gaze is a bit downcast.

    But he seems to have no problem letting Sinon vent all her pent-up feelings on him. It's all he can really do, really.

Asuna (9) has posed:
Man, Asuna's best friends in Sword Art Online were /Lisbeth/ and /Silica/. People making the moves on Kirito hasn't really been that surprising before, although she is quite good at jumping down on the delicate, green eyed monster known as jealousy. Let's be fair to those two here, though - neither one of them has actually tried to kiss him that she knows off, so Sinon just vaulted off strange and dangerous territory to strange and dangerous and new territory. Asuna makes a noise that sounds like a little squeak when Sinon liplocks her husband.

She closes her eyes for a few minutes. There's a brief considering noise. Sure, she's jealous. She's been Kiritos' for-- nearly three years running at this point. Their relationship has gone through so much and she /knows/ no one is really never going to come between them, ever, but there's still that tight hint of worry across her face before it fades away as she considers Sinons' words.

It probably surprises them both when Asuna walks up to the pair, and pulls them both into a hug, sandwiching the other girl between them, much like she would do with a crying non-Pixie Yui. She locks eyes with Kirito over Sinons' head. All three of them are legitimate murderers, and while Asuna doesn't know her story, she's got the feeling it's because of something similiar to theirs - killing to protect the person she loves, and that touches Asunas' tempermental heart.

"We always protect our friends." She whispers. "I promise you that."

Sinon (649) has posed:
This is honestly all getting to be a little bit much for Shino. She doesn't really hear Kirito's response. She probably isn't really, again, all that aware of a lot of things that are happening because there's just this roaring in her ears and her feelings are just pouring out like water, almost literally in fact as the tears continue to fall.

    In trying to make sure that nobody sees this, she buries her face in Kirito and Asuna's chests, crying between gritted teeth.

    She's sort of punching them quite a bit, half-heartedly.

    "I HATE YOU... YOU ... I HATE YOU THE MOST...! WHY DO YOU ALL HAVE TO BE SO...!"


    What we really needed, perhaps, was silence. Silence for a while, for Sinon to consider what a terrible mess she's just made of everything, how fucked up their lives are, what's been done, whether she was right, was wrong, what happens now, what's happened before, everything, anything.

Eventually she just decides that the only thing left at the bottom of the bottle is the truth.

        So.

"I killed soneone before," she begins. "In the real world, I really killed someone. The cause was the robbery that happened in the northeast part of the city seven years ago. Rather than what the news reported, which was that the culprit's gun misfired and the chamber exploded following his shooting a mailman... I was there. I snatched his gun, and I shot him."

    "I was eleven."

Kirito has posed:
    A group hug is exactly what Kirito needed too! Asuna joining in calms his own trembling heart. His eyes meet hers, full of relief and, briefly, a boyish desire to just bawl himself boiling up. This is too much for ANYONE to handle, let alone a nineteen year-old!

    But although his eyes nearly tear up, he clamps down on that urge.

    He listens earnestly. There's no judgement in his eyes.

    "Sinon..." He's had his chest beaten on and tanked it like a champ. he's listened... but now he speaks.

    "I don't have an answer for guilt like this. All three of us have blood on our hands." Just admitting it is done in the quietest of voices. But he slowly puts a bit more confidence in his voice. Just a little. It's forced... but what about his bravery isn't, most of the time?

    "My philosophy of swordsmanship boils down to this: past simple technique, everything depends on what feelings you put behind your strikes. I fought through Aincrad for survival. For everyone trapped. For my friends... and for Asuna, my wife." He finally nods at her, casting a warm glance.

    "Whatever feelings went into pulling that trigger were, if it was anything like that... then all you can do is lift your head up and keep moving. Someone told me this... at the very least, you have a right to consider the good that came of it all. You... wouldn't have fired a gun, knowing it would kill someone. Not unless it was to protect yourself or someone close." Instead of asking... he simply states this as a fact.

    He's that certain.

Asuna (9) has posed:
"You were protecting yourself, weren't you? When you pulled that trigger? Or someone you loved." Asuna says, quietly, thinking out loud. "Neither one of us in this room would do anything different, I promise you that, even at that age."

She glances at Kirito as she backs off, peering outside the crack at the activity outside. "That's part of what it means to have relationships, to have friends."

Sinon (649) has posed:
So, that confirms it.
Kirito being a dimwit who can never really read the mood, that is. Not Kirito and Asuna being married.


    "Everyone judged me, and nobody taught me a way to redeem myself... not even the person I did it for. I don't know how to live if this fear makes 'Sinon' vanish. I'm sorry... even so, forgive me. You were the perfect counterpart to me, the first, the only one I've ever known... I don't know if I can let go of this feeling... forgive me, Asuna."

    But Shino feels like she will. Or perhaps 'hopes'.

    This warm feeling works wonders for a frozen heart. She's never touched anyone else like this for so long. Shino realizes that, no matter what, she feels utterly, unambiguously safe here... and nothing will change that.

    "You'll be my source of strength. I can face him, if you're there. And then... together, if we overcome that ghost... maybe I...we can move forward."

    The virtual object which has probably been recording the three of them for quite some time now, in the form of a floating semi-existant digital blue ring, collapses and winks out. It has other things to record, like the other people approaching in large numbers.

    It's almost time to go. Sinon moves her hands, and reaches out for Kirito and Asuna's.

    "No matter what else... please... from now on, I want to be together, with both of you."

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito might be a somewhat dense dunce when it comes to that. It has bitten him in the past... but... girls!

    So hard to read.

    Erk.

    After a glance at the video - to which Kirito finds himself making a rather sheepish 'oops' face, the boy slowly gets to his feet, and helps Asuna and Sinon up too. He grasps Sinon's. If she needs some support right now, then she has it.

    Even if he's kind of embarassed by this turn of events.

    He just has to keep walking forward.

    "The others will need our help... you can stand up strong, Sinon. The three of us can settle this... then the death game will finally be over... case settled." And he can make good on a promise that must be fulfilled...

Asuna (9) has posed:
Asuna brushes her hair, leaning down next to the other girl, her brown eyes wide and worried, before she gives in to her instincts, placing her palms against her cheeks so she can turn her face to stare at her.

"Sinon." She says, her voice soft. "I don't know exactly where you are, but I know I have been somewhere similiar to you. Watching, waiting, sure death was coming for me. It was all I could do to not watch someone strike down someone I loved, and I broke everything - all the rules I had followed, I'm pretty sure I even broke the laws of physics-" Kirito probably knows where she's going- "Because I couldn't let my fear control me, not when it was I and everyone I've loved at the risk of letting it do so. I had to step forward into my future, and that's what you're about to do. Show him that he doesn't scare you, even if he does - so take my hand, it'll be alright."

She then glances at Kirito, nodding at him. "Trust me. Friendship does wonders. So does love..." She steps out, pulling Sinon with her, and hopefully with Sinon pulling him.