Twilit Souls

Fanfiction for .hack

By Sargent Snarky

Beta Reader & Editor: Tsukasa-Magic

Summary: The 8 Avatars and the Twilight Dragon are the keys to controlling the world. Together, they have unlimited power. Morganna seeks this power for her own; Tsukasa and Kite and the allies they gather seem to be all that stands in her way.

Disclaimer: If I owned .hack, then Skeith or the Guardian would rewrite Subaru's data so that she's not such an annoying Mary Sue-ish character, and Azure Flame Kite would steal Piros The Third's sunglasses just for the hell of it. :)

A/N: Although it is AU, this will definitely contain spoilers for a few things in both the original games (and anime and manga and novels) and the more recent G.U. era things. Some chapters will have more potentially spoiler material than others, and some might not even have any at all. Read at your own risk. If there's a big spoiler for the GU games/anime/manga, then I'll try to remember to let you know ahead of time. If there's a big spoiler for the originals, though, I probably won't mention it, as I'm going to assume that you've played 'em.

Also… A HUGE thank you to Tsukasa-Magic for beta-ing for me. Her advice and editing has been invaluable!

And one final note before I shut up: Yes, there will be elements of GU/Roots here and possibly from AI Buster, Another Birth and/or Legend of the Twilight, as well. Also, the phases will be something in between the ones from IMOQ and GU, and no, I won't answer any other questions about them besides that, so you needn't ask. Any other questions you have, I'll be happy to answer – provided that the answers aren't going to spoil anything, of course. ;)

Enjoy!

Prologue

"What could be taking them so long? Orca, Kite, where are you?"

Tsukasa paced anxiously back and forth, her violet eyes narrowed in worry. She crossed her arms across her chest and chewed upon her lip, her gaze shifting between the ground, the child who sat, curled up a few feet away and the narrow passageway between buildings that led into the small square where the pair waited. Occasionally, her eyes deviated from that pattern and looked to the slowly revolving gold-rimmed blue portal in the center of the square, but for the most part, her movements fell into the same consistent outline.

The young girl near her feet watched Tsukasa's pacing, solemn and quiet. However, at length, she broke her silence: "They are coming." Her eyes narrowed and she frowned. "And they are followed by… something else."

Tsukasa paused, looking over at the girl. "Something… else?'

Any further explanation was interrupted before it could begin by a call from the passageway, "Tsukasa! Aura!"

The two girls quickly turned to behold Kite sprinting with Orca legging it after. A satchel that undoubtedly contained the book they'd gone to retrieve banged against Kite's hips as he skidded to a halt by Tsukasa and Aura.

Orca, following close behind, paused only a fraction of a second to draw a breath. Then, he spoke: "Flee, now, while you can."

"Guards?" asked Tsukasa.

Kite shook his head, biting his lip, even as he doubled over, clutching at his side. Now that he was still, Tsukasa could see a nasty gash there from which ample blood flowed, staining Kite's clothing; she could also see that it was not his only wound. "Something worse. Something your mother summoned, I think," the boy gasped.

Tsukasa's eyes widened as she was momentarily distracted from his injury. "A Guardian?"

"No," said Orca. "Something else. Now, go!"

However, it was too late to flee, for the "something worse" had appeared. Tsukasa tried to tap into the portal – the city's Chaos Gate – to get them out of the city, but the looming entity prevented it, somehow blocking out the spells. Letting out a cry of frustration, she turned her attention back to the others and to… it, for it stood just inside the square, tall and malevolent. Tsukasa could not put a name to it, though she recognized it from a drawing she had seen somewhere.

It was generally man-shaped, for it had two legs, a torso, two arms, hands, and one head, but that was as far as the resemblance went; at the very least, it was too slim and nimble. Its long, tapered legs ended in sharp points, upon which the creature balanced with an effortless grace. Its fingers were long and ended in talons, and its head bore no true features, with only the suggestion of a face. Two horns curved up from its head, and strange crimson markings decorated its body, glowing with their magic. One or two looked like eyes, watching those before it with a blank, unfeeling gaze.

It might simply have been her imagination, but for a moment, as it took a step forward, Tsukasa thought she saw, instead of it, or perhaps inside of it, the figure of a youth not much older than herself, with bright crimson eyes and silver hair; in that brief instance, the youth seemed to be covered in glowing symbols that almost perfectly matched those traced across the larger creature. However, as soon as she saw him, the boy was gone and it was only the monster for which she had no name.

"Skeith," whispered Aura, shrinking back, clinging to Tsukasa's skirts.

The wavemaster's eyes widened. Skeith… that was its name. But, how did Aura know…?

There was no time for such wonderings, for again, Orca cried at them to run, flee, find some way to escape, even as he charged at the creature, intent on distracting it or even driving it off so that they could slip away. Quick as lightening, the creature summoned forth a long scythe, black and red and obviously a powerful weapon. Unfazed, Orca attacked, lunging forth with his broadsword, delivering stroke after masterful stroke…. but it was all for naught.

Kite, Tsukasa and Aura watched in horror as the creature avoided or blocked all of Orca's blows with uncanny precision and agility. After a few moments, it grew tired of the game and, in two moves, it had disarmed Orca, sending him sprawling, leaving several nasty gashes across the man's body. Despite being obviously mismatched and in pain, Orca still urged the children to flee while they could.

However, they did not obey him, though Aura implored Tsukasa and Kite to follow Orca's will and leave. Tsukasa instead cast a healing spell upon Orca, while Kite, despite his own injuries, drew his blades, ready to fight if necessary, though how he could even begin to scratch a creature Orca had not been able to touch, the boy did not know.

Without his sword, Orca could do little, once he staggered to his feet, but lift his arms in weak defense against a final blow by the creature with the pole of its scythe, sending him flying into the wall of the square, where, by virtue of the creature's power, he remained pinned. Though at first narrowed in pain, his eyes widened in surprise and horror as the creature lifted its arm, holding it forth, talons outstretched, as if it intended to claw Orca's heart right out of his chest. However, that wasn't quite what the creature had in mind.

For a moment, it remained perfectly still, and the subtle symbols tracing its body flashed brightly. Then, materializing out of nowhere, several shards appeared, spinning about its wrist to form a bracelet. The pieces appeared to be transparent scales or fragments of colored glass that glowed with a peculiar inner twilight and danced with alien shadows; to sensitive ears, it seemed as though they resonated with a sound akin to a low glass bell or a tuning fork. Once enough splinters had collected to form the first ring of the bracelet, several larger ones appeared, forming several lengthy prongs that tilted towards Orca.

With a brilliant flash and a breathless feeling akin to that felt just ere lightening strikes, the bracelet ceased to spin, and from each prong extended twirling ribbon-like spears that flew through the air, embedding themselves in Orca's flesh without leaving any trace of a wound. Even without leaving physical marks, however, they still caused exquisite pain, and Orca screamed in agony, writhing, arching his back as every muscle tensed and every nerve was lit on fire.

And then, with a shattering sound, it was done. The ribbons retreated, carrying back to Skeith a glowing sphere that felt like Orca. As it was pulled from his chest, his lips moved a final time, forming a final despairing phrase: "It wasn't supposed to be this way…"

Like a puppet whose strings were suddenly severed, Orca's body fell limp upon the ground, and Kite cried out his name in horror, starting towards the older man. He didn't make it very far, however, for Skeith turned, smacking the boy across the abdomen with its staff, sending Kite tumbling back into Tsukasa and Aura. The youth groaned, doubling over, clutching the wounds that he had hitherto forgotten about and now was harshly reminded of. Tsukasa, after moving out from under him, stood before both him and Aura, holding her staff before her defensively, glaring darkly at the creature before her.

"You will not take their souls," she hissed in a tone eerily reminiscent of her mother's when the woman was furious.

Skeith regarded the wavemaster for a moment, hesitating just a little before lifting its arm. Again, the bracelet, which had vanished the moment the creature had grasped the stone, began to assemble itself. It did not get an opportunity to finish its task, however, for out of nowhere, even as Tsukasa began her spell, a glowing white scepter whistled through the air and embedded itself in the ground between the creature and the children. The scepter flashed, and a shockwave rippled out from the two rings encircling its top. The shockwave sent Skeith reeling backwards even as it disrupted the anti-transportation field, and Tsukasa cast a spell of translocation.

Amid trios of golden, shining rings, Tsukasa, Aura and Kite vanished, leaving naught in their wake save a perturbed Skeith and a smirking woman in white who summoned her staff back to her hand and turned, disappearing off into the night.

A/N: Right, so I didn't want to post this until I had the first chapter ready for posting as well. However, I've come to the realization that that isn't going to happen any time soon. I did my best to get it done, but this summer has been quite hectic, leaving me rather scatterbrained and unable to concentrate on any extensive projects. I still have been writing, as you may have noticed, but the writing has been short, spur-of-the-moment deals with very little planning involved, for the most part.

This story, however, requires a lot of planning on my part, because it has a lot of back-story to be revealed, several sub-plots to deal with, many more important characters than I usually deal with in a story and, among other things, a world to create. As it is an AU where The World is the real world, I must really make my own world that just has its basis in a video game. Seven video games, actually, or two – it depends on if you count IMOQ as one game or four and GU as three games or one. So, when I work on this story, I have to sit down with my notes and carefully write; I don't want to contradict myself if I can help it, and I don't want to reveal something too early or confuse people by going on about something I haven't really explained, yet. I also want to have the main plot line more firmly mapped out than it is now so that I can figure out the pacing a little better.

I suppose my excuses aren't really good ones, and I suppose if I really wanted to get the first chapter out like nothing else, I would get off my lazy ass and just write it… but I feel I should at least make some attempt to explain what's going on. Hate me for it, if you want. Heh.

School restarts for me next week, and I have a completely full schedule. With luck, the homework will be light enough that I'll have time for creative writing, but I don't know if that'll happen during the first semester, as I also have to deal with working on applications and essays for college and all that joyful senior year stuff.

I'll try to get more of the rewrite done, but I can't guarantee it. As for the novelization of the first four games, that is definitely on hiatus indefinitely. That's another very time consuming, concentration-heavy thing that I don't have the inclination to deal with right now.

Thanks for reading my works, anyway, even though I absolutely suck at updating stuff!

Love, Snarky