A/N: This is the original story, the part that Mio-san started writing, but lost her interest in writing the story as a whole. She graciously gave me ownership of the story, and gave me this chapter to add for the sake of story flow.

Anything written after this chapter is my own work, this is simply the original segment that many people - myself included - grew to enjoy. Without further ado, I herby present to you, Virtual Infinity, originally by Mio-san, but now it is mine.

Link Start!

11:45 a.m.

The IV was inserted carefully into her wrist, trailing from the thin mattress to sit on the sterile white floor before slanting upwards into the large, gray machine. It was an unattractive thing, stationary in the corner of the room, emitting soft beeping noises. Data trailed slowly across its screen, measuring heart rate, pulse, and other vitals. It was the first and only proof of life in the near-silent room.

Her eyes stared blankly, unblinkingly, at the screen in front of her. It was her only outlet to the outside world, and not a desirable one at that. But because of her condition, she was confined to a room without windows, and a single door that unlocked only for the staff. A stack of books rested on the nightstand beside her, and a plate of untouched food was perched on top of them. But she neglected them all, preferring to instead watch the television mounted on the wall, even if its volume was non-existent. It gave her a reason to escape from the bleak present.

On the screen, a reporter appeared with a headline scrolling below her. Newly Released Virtual Reality Game A Hit, it said. With the slightest hint of interest, her bony hand reached for the remote and unmuted the volume, ignoring the painful ringing in her ears at the burst of sound. The reporter was standing on the sidewalk and chatting with someone standing in a long line of people, trailing down the street and rounding the corner. "Sure, the lines can be pretty bad," the interviewee was saying, "but it's so worth it! I mean, who doesn't want the hottest game around? This is my first VMMORPG, and I already bought the NerveGear! It's gonna be awesome!"

The girl tilted her head quizzically as the reporter went on to explain that VMMORPG stood for Virtual Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, a new advancement in virtual technology. The game in question was a recently released Virtual Reality game from Kayaba Akhiko, considered an innovative genius in this field. The Virtual Reality games, the reporter said, worked involving another new technology known as NerveGear, which simulated all five senses to create a human avatar in a virtual world, where one could escape into a game and experience the thrills of a different reality.

Es cape ?

She reached for the button on the side of her bed and pressed down on it, once, then twice. The door swung open and a nurse walked in, eyes widening when she saw the unmuted television. "Is there something you need?" she asked with false cheeriness, reaching for the remote.

The girl clutched the remote, unwilling to relinquish it, and pointed to the reporter, who was still talking about virtual reality. The nurse frowned, confused, then laughed. "Oh, I see. You want to try out those new videogames? I'm sorry, I'll have to veto that. You should be resting. It won't be good for you to engage in such a thing."

With more insistence, the girl pointed at the reporter again and made a tiny sound of defiance.

"The answer is no," said the nurse firmly. "I'm sorry." She left the room after stopping to check the IV machine, which had begun beeping with a slightly increased tempo.

Eyes glossing over, the girl let the remote fall to the ground with a clatter. Her shoulders sagged in disappointment and she slid into a laying position, ignoring the reporter's amiable voice, now discussing the pros and cons of virtual reality. Of course, she wouldn't be allowed. The nurses refused to say so, but she knew that her days were limited, and something such as this would only speed the process. Why let her enjoy what remained of her life when she could live it out confined to a hospital bed? she thought bitterly.

The emotion of bitterness surprised her. She didn't express herself often anymore, but it was rather pleasant, even if the emotion was negative. As it shot through her mind, she almost smiled.

Then, her bitterness was replaced by a fierce determination. She had been through too much already to give up like this. Narrowing her eyes, she reached for the button and pressed it once more, silently praying that he would answer the call this time. After all, there were only two nurses at the nurses' station, and if Nurse Aida had come the first time, that meant that this time she would probably send

"Hey, there." The door opened once again, and Ron poked his head around its metal edge, grinning at her. "You okay? I saw you already buzzed us before."

The girl nodded, then pointed at the television.

"Hmm?" He walked over and sat on the edge of her bed, shooting a quick glance at the IV machine. "All okay over here. What'd you want?"

She pointed at the television again, where the reporter was wrapping up her story, and tried to force an urgent look on her face. Ron recoiled. "Yikes! Okay, okay. You want the remote or something? Where'd that little sucker go "

While he was kneeling on the floor, peering under the bed, she slammed her fist on the bed with all the force she could muster and tried to croak out the words that had abandoned her. Sadly, all that emerged was a sound not unlike the death chorus of a frog.

Ron jumped, and something jolted the metal frame of her bed. "Ow! God, what's with you today?" he moaned, getting up with the remote in hand. "You usually know better than to " His eyes fell onto the screen, where the reporter was still talking about the game, and something clicked. "You wanna try out those new virtual reality games?"

She nodded enthusiastically.

Ron squirmed, visually uncomfortable. "Gee, I dunno. I mean, they're kinda dangerous for you they can do brain damage and stuff. Plus, the NerveGear is a little risky. And you've gotta "

He paused, spotting the look on her face. "Is that what Aida told you, too?"

She nodded again, this time with an expression of disappointment or what passed for such a thing.

"Ah, well, I " Ron trailed off and rubbed the back of his head. "Aida wouldn't like it. Nope, she definitely wouldn't like it "

Her spirit fell. So much for determination.

" but, what the heck, live while you're young, right?" Ron smiled at her wide eyes. "After all, as long as Aida doesn't find out, no harm, no foul! But first, we gotta figure out how to get that NerveGear not to mention the game itself "

He pulled out a small phone and tapped something out on its screen. A few moments passed. The girl's throat tightened with anxiety.

Ron suddenly blanched, staring down at the display on his phone. "Holy crap."

The girl poked his arm with a thin finger, as if asking, what is it?

"It's just " Ron swallowed hard. "That's a lot of zeroes. Crap, that's a lot of zeroes."

There was silence once more as the girl's spirits fell yet again. She should have known that price would present an obstacle.

Ron noticed her moping and tried to smile. "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure if I dip into my bank account I can afford this. I have a job, remember?" He tugged at his uniform.

The girl tried for an expression of doubt, asking, Do you really want to do this?

He interpreted her expression and smiled again, a real smile this time. "Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry about it! By this time tomorrow you'll be entering the world of Sword " He broke off as the girl tugged on his sleeve. "What is it?"

She pointed at the TV.

"Oh the opening's this afternoon, huh?"

The girl nodded.

"And you want to be there at the opening?"

She nodded again.

"Dang " Ron sighed and looked at his watch. "Looks like my lunch break is in ten minutes I could run out and try to get it for you in that time."

The girl bounced a little, and Ron laughed. "Okay, I get it. One set of NerveGear coming up. Just don't tell Aida!"

He bounded from the room, and the girl thought to herself that his request was a rather ridiculous one, as she was physically incapable of doing so.

12:58 p.m.

The girl had grown steadily restless, moving about more than she had in quite a long time. It had been almost an hour since Ron had left, and she had continued to watch the broadcast during his absence, despite it having moved on to different topics.

Finally, the door swung open, and the girl twitched, whipping her head around as fast as she could (which was definitely lacking speed). Ron was standing in the doorway, with a coat flung over his nurse's uniform and a large plastic bag in his hand. His black hair was frazzled, like it had been electrocuted. "God!" he sighed, slouching into the girl's room. "Those otaku people are crazy! I was nearly trampled to death trying to get the stuff."

The girl made a fist and scowled. Did you get it or not?

Ron held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, hey! Don't get all defensive! I got it, okay?" He held up the bag and the girl nearly went spastic in excitement, trembling everywhere. She reached for it and pulled out the game first, but promptly dropped it on the floor. Her hands were still shaking too much to hold anything.

Her friend smiled at her and picked up the game, setting it on the nightstand. Next he pulled out the NerveGear, which was a sleek black helmet with several other cords and complex-looking technology. "Okay, looks like we have to move it around your body so it can calibrate your measurements I'll have to help you with that, I guess."

The girl made her best attempt at a smirk at his readiness.

Ron flushed. "Don't look at me like that, okay? I'm not shameless!"

She was still smirking. Yeah, right.

For the next ten minutes they went through the tedious task of calibrating the girl's body to the helmet. Ron helped her when her hands began to shake so that she couldn't hold it, preferring most of the time to stand a good distance away from the bed, red-faced and pretending to examine the instructions.

"I'm not shameless!" he muttered, whenever the girl stared at him with amusement in her eyes.

Finally, that was finished. Ron hooked up all of the necessary cords and pulled out the game. "Alrighty! Now that that's over with, we can get this up and running, huh?"

The girl poked him in the leg.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. We've gotta get it up and running before the opening. Don't worry, we've still got about fifteen minutes. Ready to put on the NerveGear?"

She bounced in her bed, excited. Ron mock-sighed and placed the helmet over her head, inserting the game into its disk port. "Okay. You know the rules. Log out by bedtime. And Aida can't know.

The helmet bobbed; it was slightly too big for the girl, so the visor covered most of her face. Ron stifled a laugh and rifled through the instructions. "Okay looks like you have to say 'Link start' to initiate the link oh."

The girl lifted the visor and stared at him despairingly.

"Don't worry!" he assured her, scanning the paper. "I'm sure there's a manual way somewhere "

Ron's face fell.

"Okay, maybe not."

What do we do? The girl widened her eyes.

Her friend thought. "Um oh, hey, got it! What if I say it close to the helmet?"

She nodded excitedly and put down the visor again. Ron lowered his face to the helmet until he was within a few inches of her, and said, loudly, "Link start!"

Nothing happened.

"Link start!"

Still nothing.

Ron's heart pounded, and he slammed his fist down onto the nightstand. "Dangit! Dangit "

The girl's hands were still, but he thought he spotted a shimmer behind the tinted visor. "Aw, no, no, don't get upset! We can figure this out! Don't worry " He sat on the bed and stroked her hair absently.

"L-lin "

"Hmm?" Ron turned to the AC in the corner to make sure it wasn't making funny sounds again. "You hear that?"

"Link start "

"Holy " Ron broke off. "Is that you?"

The girl mustered every bit of strength she had in her frail limbs and opened her mouth wide, the words wavering on cracked lips. "Link start!"