A/N: Oh my God! A piece of fanfiction. How peculiarly common...heh. I hope you enjoy my first work... Just pretend the events that awoke Sora disappear, okay? It's fanfiction. Deal with it.

Enjoy the show.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Bandai...and those other people.

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Prologue: A Lifeless Awakening

A hundred days have made me older
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don't think I can look at this the same
All the miles that separate
Disappear now when I'm dreamin' of your face
 Here Without You - Three Doors Down

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In 2009, among the first appearances of the monstrosity named Skeith occurred, having been called in order to initiate the elimination of three players and the mystical little girl named Aura. The three players were: Tsukasa, a Wavemaster with a mystery as well as an identity complex; Mimiru, a tough Heavy Blade; and Subaru, a calm and gentle Heavy Axewoman lacking the willingness to fight. They prepared for whatever would come, grim expressions set in stone.

Betraying the orders Morganna gave him, a player-killing Twin Blade gated in and offered to provide a distraction to allow those three players and Aura to make a quick escape...with a single request:

"Tsukasa, let's be friends, okay?"

Aura, Tsukasa, Mimiru, and Subaru had gated out immediately with silent regards. The green-haired assassin taunted the voice--an optimistic approach to a sadistic ending. Irritated, Morganna summoned the first Phase mentioned in Emma Wietland's Epitaph of the Twilight: the death-dealer, Skeith, who had only one purpose in such a point in time...kill any attempt at martyrdom that stood in her way. With no free will and no boundaries, the PK was Data Drained.

In the real world, a 4th-grade boy collapsed.

Bold, red letters flicker faintly on a fading screen; the boy's visor had flown off his eyes almost of its own free will, clattering to a halt mere inches away from the boy's hand.

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It had been months since that day; I had been sitting patiently by a hospital bed, maintaining a strong hope that she would awaken any second, that their mission was a success. The girl who would soon be my foster daughter--her purple eyes shot open and she had basically flown out of bed, huffing and puffing as if she'd run a mile. And with that, she had whispered one word, a note of terror in her voice: "Sora." I knew that player; BT tended to complain to me about him. Annako was Tsukasa's name.

Annako later told me that she thought--no, she knew Sora was in trouble. I hadn't cared much for the boy back then; it wasn't a great concern for me.

I don't know why I waited after that, why I tried to. I didn't go looking for Sora; I didn't try to hunt him down as I had with Annako. But I knew it would come back to haunt me...

I just can't ignore things like that...it's never been in my best interests.

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"W...what day is it?"

His head felt as if it was made of lead; with great effort, a weight-ridden eyelid cranked itself open, willing not to slide back over his eyes even though he saw spots like fireflies floating in his vision. Everything hurts so damn much... Even speaking was a great effort for the boy; his throat felt thick and coated with emotion. That seemed foreign to him. New. Pain...pain, the lump in his throat... It was uncomfortable.

It all felt like he was experiencing them for the first time, like a newborn with no knowledge of the world. For some reason, the lack of "knowledge" displeased him. Why?

"Doctor! Doctor, HE'S AWAKE!" One eye sleepily shifted to the panicked, curly-haired nurse who had abandoned her magazine and spilt her coffee in her haste to alert this...doctor. Since when had he needed a doctor? "The one who came six months ago! Mitsurugi Hikaru!"

Is that my name?