I usually don't do stories that include character death, in fact I try my best to avoid it, but I though that just this once I'd try it out. I didn't put it in the summary cause I'm slow but yeah, if you don't like multiple character death, then you might want to turn back. There's no death in this chapter but the next one will be like watching Higurashi . . . well maybe not that drastic, but close enough. If you don't mind then please enjoy the show. Also, this is one of my 'first pass' type stories meaning I've only proofread it once, so if some stuff doesn't make sense don't hesitate to tell me.

Malignancy

By: Gin van Geovanni

Chapter 1

Inside of the Hulle Granz Cathedral, Azure Kite sat on top of the altar. He swung his legs slowly, allowing his right heel to hit the Sign on every other swing. In his right hand were the remnants of the chains from Aura's old statue. His bright green eyes narrowed at the rusty fragments. 'It's such a sad circle . . .' He thought. 'Humans are so desperate for a goddess that they would attempt to bind her soul to the earth . . . But then the goddess was so desperate to be close to her subjects that she put up with their ignorance . . .' His grip tightened on the chains, causing them to crack. 'But in the end she distanced herself from them; she even created guardians for herself to keep humans from her . . . For some reason, she attempted to make them look human . . . I suppose in the end she didn't want to be so far away from humans but she absolutely had to . . .' He sighed and closed his eyes.

All of a sudden, the doors opened slowly to reveal a man with a cylinder locked around his left arm. The light outside reflected ominously behind his orange-tinted shades. Azure Kite looked up then hopped off the altar. ''Ovan, you're late." He snapped.

Ovan smiled ambiguously.

This further irritated the patchwork knight. "If you don't have anything important to say then leave."

"Now Kite," Ovan chided. "No need to be so hostile. After all we are both comrades as well as NPCs."

Azure Kite crossed the narrow cathedral hall and yanked Ovan's dark blue scarf. This forced the taller man to lean down to his eye level. It tightened around Ovan's neck, but he continued to smile as though it did not bother him. "Just because you're an NPC now doesn't mean that I won't destroy you! If you do anything to threaten this World I will make sure you don't come back a second time."

The lock on Ovan's cylinder glinted. His smiled widened when spoke. "I would do no such thing; after all, this is my World as well as yours now."

Azure Kite paused then let go. He turned his back to Ovan and floated back to the altar. Ovan caught him midway. "What is it?!" Azure Kite snapped.

Ovan wrapped his right arm around Azure Kite's neck. "There is . . . something . . ." He smiled painfully. "Something . . . is bothering me . . . Lately it feels . . . as though the AIDA within me is becoming . . . malicious . . . it feels excited when it's near you . . ." Black and red crooked streaks crawled up the left side of Ovan's face. "It tells me that it feels contempt when it is near you . . ."

Azure Kite ducked from under Ovan's arm and backed away. 'What is he talking about?!'

"It feels your contempt of yourself," Ovan continued, a twisted smile forming on his lips. "It feels your contempt of humanity," His glasses began to crack. "It even feels your contempt of this World's beloved goddess." The glasses broke revealing his black and red eyes. ". . . It wants to harness that contempt and turn it into to something much more . . ." The lock fell to the floor as the AIDA emerged. It flexed and writhed from his arm like an energetic serpent.

Before Azure Kite could make a move it grabbed him tightly by the neck and lifted him off the ground.

"The last time it mere dismembered you . . ." Ovan spoke in a slow, creepy tone. As he spoke the AIDA spawned an additional tentacle. It sharpened then poked lightly against Azure Kite's vest, near his heart. "This time . . ." The sharp appendage pierced his heart.

"It will consume you."

.Chapter 1//End

Author's Note

Somewhere near the beginning Ovan mentions Azure Kite and himself being comrades and NPCs. I got that little bit from //G.U.+ vol. 5

-Spoiler alert! - I apologize to anyone who has not read the final volume of //G.U.+. After Ovan activates the Rebirth his PC ends up in some kind of virtual underworld. In reality his player died. However, it turns out that the AIDA in his left arm had infected his PC all the way down to his Epitaph; as a result it managed to mimic his avatar's abilities and in a sense bring about it's own Rebirth. It used Ovan as a template, but sense the real player was dead it used the information it had of the PC and created a 'copy Ovan' very similar to way Aura created Azure Kite using her memories of the original Kite.

The comrade thing comes from the fact that in the manga Aina is a medium between the World and Aura. Sense Azure Kite is duty bound to protect Aura, he is protective of Aina by default. This also means that he would listen to her and she will not let him do anything to her brother. Of course Ovan cares a lot for Aina so, in a sense both him and Azure Kite are comrades . . . a very small sense though.

Other than that this was just to feed my curiosity. I will make this short at all costs! And I will get around to finishing the first half of Innocent Atrocities as well as that .Hack//Matrix thing.

Later!