The Liberated Children

Haseo has been feeling as if he's no longer needed in The World and considers quitting altogether. Too bad some new issues involving a possible new virus, hackers, and mixed up emotions between his friends suddenly keep him from leaving. And what's up with Skeith and the other Avatars acting so strange now?

WARNING: May be possible yaoi/yuri pairings.

Disclaimer: I do not own .hack/G.U. games. If I did, Haseo would be able to choose to marry any guy in the game instead of just one. (Though Endrance and Haseo is a really cute wedding pairing...)

They're feeling useless.

They have no more meaning.

Those poor AIs, my children.

Come back to me.

I shall embrace you all fully.

Prologue: An Uncanny Union

Tartarga, a haven for hackers and special AIs who look to this place as an escape from the limitations of The World. Very few have little access to such a place as this and it's also nearly impossible for any admin or normal programmer to trace this Netslum's exisitence. Thus, it was usually empty of most PCs and non-hacked NPCs. That's why Haseo enjoyed coming here so often these past few weeks.

It's not that Haseo doesn't like to be around his friends these days. He had even grown accustomed to their daily ramblings and such almost all of the time. (Even though he was still quite annoyed to a certain point by it all.) Haseo was still Haseo, and always enjoyed those moments of piece when playing The World. He never has a chance to relax in a normal server town, for some n00bs would come up and ask him a million questions, a PKer would call him out in front of everyone and challenge him, or some old Moon Tree guildie would give him a long sermon about how his PKKing was hurting the feelings of other players. (Though he pretty much gave up the "Terror of Death" title a while back, he still had to deal with PKers here and there and many still called him by such a title as well.)

Now, the rogue was finally away from all those annoying and nagging voices that bothered him so much. He finally has time to himself to reflect on whatever happened in The World or the real world today. Just his own thoughts...

'No annoying guild quest or comforting of the user of Innis with with whatever the hell is bothering her for the day? Heh, considering you've been ignoring your so called friends this long, I'm beginning to suspect that you've finally decided to abandon them. Have you, dear Haseo?" The familiar voice that Haseo hadn't heard since the Cubia aftermath made him jump slightly in surprise. He had got so use to his epitaph no longer bothering his thoughts or coming out of no where that he almost forgot that Skeith is always there with him no matter what.

'For a while, I thought that you were the one who was doing the abandoning. Any reason to why you've suddenly left me alone this whole time?' Not that Haseo cared much, but it just seemed strange that the AI that was so obsessed with him wouldn't bother him for such a long while. He could picture the avatar giving that sly grin in his mind.

'So you've missed me have you, my Haseo?' The PC shook his head in disagreement.

'Actually, it's been quite nice without you. I've actually had time to do things that I've wanted to do in The World without your remarks or attacking me when I least expect it." His avatar laughed at the boy who would've glared daggers at the AI if he wasn't just in his mind at the moment.

'You still haven't answered my first questions, my little Haseo.' Skeith's laughter faded and his voice seemed slightly serious for some strange reason. The rogue crossed his arms as he was silent for a moment.

'Am I not allowed some time to myself?' The avatar's laughter echoed through his mind again right after that question. Of course he's never truly to be alone at any point. 'I'm not abandoning them, I just need to clear up some thoughts. You should know that considering you always know what's going on with me.'

'So I've notice. You worry too much about things these days. You've got your dear little friends back, so there should be no problem and no worries, right?'

'There isn't a problem, it's just...' Haseo thoughts went silent while trying to look for the words to say, but Skeith spoke the words in his head before he could process it.

'Haha! Don't tell me you feel as though you're no longer needed! since you've saved the ones close to you and stopped a whole world ciris with plenty of my help, you think you no longer have a purpose to play the world?' The rogue stood there not responding. Of course he had a reason for still playing...right? Well, he had started playing the game in the first place because his friends told him about it, and then after getting PKed, he just wanted to become more powerful. He even had new found reasons to battle through-out The World and changed so much that he realized his old ways of wanting power was almost gone. So why did he log on today? Why did he only keep coming to this hackers' place and not even bother speaking with any of his friends?

'You question yourself too much boy. Trust me, my dearest Haseo; you're still needed here unlike...' Skeith cut his sentence short and Haseo noticed someone standing in front of himself. It wasn't a hacked PC, but a normal PC...or some kind of weird PC. It was a male character that had graceful and almost effeminate features. (Much like Endrance's.) They were drapped in dark, greyish, purple clothing with faded wrappings over their eyes, lower legs, and arms. The features chosen for this player character didn't seem like any normal spec choices you could normally choose from character creation. With how they looked and the area that they were in, Haseo automatically thought of this PC as a hacker or something close to the sort. The player seemed to be staring straight through Haseo's whole self, which seemed awkward for he couldn't even see the character's eyes through the wrappings.

"What do you want?" Haseo question in his usual stern and gruff tone he uses most of the time with others. The PC tilted their head down a bit, as if he were nodding towards the rogue, but didn't say a word. He then moved smoothly up towards the Chaos Gate that was behind Haseo, and brushed slightly by the adept. Haseo's eyes went wide as he spun about to catch the PC.

"Wait!" But the player was already gone. Not only was a weird player watching him the whole time he was having a mental conversation with his other self, the player had said something very strange and almost confusing as he passed by Haseo.

'Skeith is needed once again, Terror of Death. That's what that man said. Do you need me to repeat it again so you'll understand that sentence beeter?'

'I know what he said! I just can't believe he knows about...'

'Us? Heh heh, sorry little Haseo, but it looks like out secret is out.'

'Damn...'

'He must've spied on us during our little moments together in the fields.' The rogue rolled his eyes at Skeith and ignored his chuckling. First his avatar suddenly starts speaking to him after about a month of ignoring the user and then there was that strange hacked player with his weird message. Skeith is needed once again...strange how for once it wasn't specifically Haseo that was called for assistance.

"HASEO!" Gaspard nearly knocked the white haired player off of his feet as he hugged the guild master when he walked in.

"Haseo, it's been some time. I was almost afraid that you were taking a long hiatus from playing The World or worse." Silabus commented with his shy smile while Haseo pried Gaspard off of himself.

"Yeah yeah...I've had a lot of things to do." The guild master said straight forward.

"Umm, well, Atoli will be happy. She was the most worried and kept visiting back here everyday asking why your stats always said you were offine or busy."

"Don't worry about it." Haseo was making most of his sentences short, mainly because he wasn't really paying attention to what his guild mate was saying. Silabus frowned slightly with concern and Gaspard saw this as well.

"Is there something wrong Haseo?" The pink player questioned the rogue, but Haseo said nothing as his mind began to wander. Skeith seemed to know something about what that player from yesterday was talking about; somehow he sensed the avatar did. It was no use questioning the AI, for he'd either tease the rogue with such information or want a certain trade for it.

"Heelllloooo! Haseo! Are you in there?" Gaspard asked for about the tenth time.

"Maybe he's afk (away from keyboard) right now Gaspard." The green clad player told the smaller guildie. Haseo shook his head before letting out a gruff sigh.

"No I'm fine. I said don't worry..." He then heard a slight noise; it was a notice that he had new mail. Not like that doesn't happen often, but he thought he cleaned out his e-mail box before logging on.

'It's probably Atoli again or something...' Haseo then forced a small smirk towards his guild mates in order to make their worried looks go away. "Hey sorry about that, I've just got a lot on my mind these days. I gotta go for now, but how about a quest next time we all meet up?" The adept rogue had sure changed from his old days, though it was mainly because of friends like these two and other players like them.

"Ok Haseo! We'll pick out a really good one!" Gaspard said aloud with enthusiasm.

"Alright." Silabus just nodded, but his look of concern was still there. He managed to catch Haseo right before he walked out of the Home for one more talk. "And don't hold so much weight on your shoulders. You don't always have to be the one to bear so much. Plus, your friends could always help you lift some of that burden." The blade braider smiled warmly which made Haseo smile a bit more as well.

"Thanks Silabus." He then walked out of the Home by himself.

'You're blushing. Are cute little players with kind words like him your type?' Skeith always knew when to ruin Haseo's moments. The player blushed more, this time in anger as Skeith chuckled echoed in his thoughts.

'Sh-shut up!'

The Forest of Pain had recently started to have an empty and eerie feel whenever you took a stroll through it. It was way different than how it normally was, which is why many never really take on this large challenge these past days. Not only did you start seeing things and start freaking you out a bit, but it would somehow make you physically feel chills and a weird prickling across the surface of your skin. This place was definately not a favorite place to be for most users thses days. Apparently that was a different case for this user clad in greyish and purplish clothing wraped up with strips of fabric.

Once he was on the lower floors, the atmosphere became darker and cloudly and the further he walked, the more enclosed in the dark he became. Finally, it sallowed the whole level until it seemed like some whole new place. The player stood there amongst the dark and spoke with a neutral voice to what appeared to be nothing.

"You're Children are ready."

Yeah, this was orginally wasn't going to be created, but it happened after a full night of no sleep with me and my friend thinking of a good .hack/G.U. fic. I type up the story and she draws it. Soon she shall have pictures that go along with the fic up on her dA and I shall be updating this quite a lot because of it too. I'm actually really excited about this one, and it's actually not a crack humor fic either! Please re-view and I shall torture myself if there's any typos or what not.