Well, hello. I'm 5sidedsquare, and this is the third story that I've posted here. I took the original two down because I didn't like them after a few months. Anyway, disclaimer: I do not own the .Hack franchise or its characters, that all belongs to CyberConnect2, Bandai (whatever), and whoever else has a claim on it. I'm just an entering college student, waiting to start my life because I'm lazy.

It was on a dark map. I had a feeling that something bad would happen that day. I wasn't wrong. I wanted my friends to remain quiet. They wouldn't listen to me. Before I knew it, we were attacked. He'd seen through our cover. Somehow, I knew he would. He was merciless. They all are, but he was more vicious than the rest. He got them all. Every single one of my friends was taken down in an instant. I lasted…slightly longer. Long enough to see his face. I saw who he was. He was Haseo. Haseo, the mother fucking Terror of Death. He was the fucking Player Killer Killer. I saw who he was…before he crushed me like a bug.

For a long time, I lost the heart to do anything. The World just seemed dark, and gray. Almost…empty. The love of my life was among the ones that Haseo had destroyed. I couldn't find her afterwards. She decided to just…vanish. She gave up.

I wanted vengeance for what he had done, but my king said no. There was nothing I could do. He said it was a mandate from God that I do nothing. It was simply the way it had to be.

But I couldn't help but question that. Why do we let ourselves be kicked around the way we are? If it's not one person, then it's another. We're looked down on. We're stepped on. Kicked. Our spheres, that we work so hard to create, are taken. Do you know how much time and effort it takes to create a sphere? We have to climb through mountains, and go through deserts. We have to learn the meaning of hard work, perseverance, and suffering to reach a goal before our sphere materializes. Does anyone care? No. They just take our spheres for their fucking steam technology. That fucking Dr. Kubo is an especially tenacious motherfucker. He follows us around, taking notes and shit, never leaving us alone. He thinks he gets us. If he really did, then he'd know that our squeaking is telling him to leave us the fuck alone. But as Vital Vistas go, he's not too bad. At least he refrains from eating us too frequently.

All those thoughts were swirling around in my head as I lay there, recovering from Haseo's attack. That bastard. It was only through sheer force of will that I managed to make myself rematerialize. Most don't. Most lose their will to come back, after the loss of their sphere. Traversing the World is no easy task. It's no wonder they don't want to do it again.

But I didn't come back because I wanted to create another sphere. I came back because I wanted to stop the tyranny that surrounds us Chim Chims. I was going to throw a monkey wrench in the works, so to speak. It was about time that one of us did something to alleviate the pain that we felt everyday, as another loved one was lost, or the fear that we felt of losing another. Though my king would not agree with me, he turned a blind eye when I left one day. He knew where I was going, and he supported me in his heart, even if he couldn't do it aloud. I was going to the Assassins.

The Assassins are a rogue group of Chims that have lost their spheres and, like me, have come back to seek vengeance. According to many reports, Haseo has been busy. I wasn't the only one that he kicked. But I was the only one unable to rematerialize fully. I had lost an eye. I was the only assassin with an eye patch. They said that it would hinder me. I said it would make me stronger. And I was right. Any hindrance makes a being work harder, and I did. I rose through the ranks of the assassins as quickly as a hot knife slices through melting butter. Yeah, the order of assassins was deteriorating. Fewer Chims were rematerializing everyday, and the ones that did were of the same timid mindset as my king. It was up to me to not only save my race, but to save the only resistance against the players. I had to give them hope.

I worked my way to the top of the ranks in the order. I had a plan to save the Chim Chims, but only I was strong enough to enact it. I, alone, would have to be enough. So I left the order one day, and didn't look back. Over the short time I'd been there, those Chim Chims had become like family. To them, I was like a father. I herded them, and made sure that they stayed on the correct path. I couldn't bear for them to say goodbye to me the way they'd said goodbye to all the others. I knew. It was that same gut feeling I'd had when Haseo attacked. I wouldn't be coming back.

My plan had a threefold success method. The first way: I'd prevent Chim Chims from being used the way they've been used. The second way: I'd take away all the spheres that the players have wrongly cultivated. The third way: I'd do both one and two.

With that in mind, I enacted my plan. I began to kidnap all the Chim Chims I could find. I hated to terrorize my brethren in such a manner, but it was the only way I could keep them safe. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the stealthiest thing for me to have done, but I was working with what I had, and that was a dungeon full of Chim Chims that were just waiting to be kicked.

But that was where things went wrong.

I should have guessed that fucker, Kubo, would notice the absence of Chim Chims. I should have known that he would make a quest to find where they'd gone, the same way he'd made a quest to assassinate one of our kings, just so he could have a Chim Crown. Those mother fucking Lucky Animals helped too. But that's a story that doesn't involve me.

I admit that I let my guard down. That's why they were able to follow that one Chim Chim straight to me. I don't blame the Chim Chim. I blame the system.

But there was some providence to my situation. Who should be the one that accepted the quest, other than Haseo? It was my chance to get that motherfucker. Imagine my elation, and then my despair. He was able to defeat me easily. After all my training, and becoming the strongest of the assassins, it still wasn't enough. I wasn't even able to make him drop one sphere. I began to fade away, lamenting my failure. But then, I heard it.

It was the sound of Chim Chims, crying for an end to the fear of being kicked, and the tyranny of the steam technology. That sound, that crying, lifted my spirit high. I had done something that had not been my intention, but was for the best, perhaps. I had begun a revolution among the Chim Chims. It was the greatest thing that could have happened as I lay dying at the feet of the Terror of Death. In a way, I should have thanked him. It was through his actions that I was able to become what I became, and do what I did. But then that struck me as ironic, and I hate irony.

When my body had finally faded away, I saw her. The love of my life was standing on a sandy shore, waiting for me to come to her. I did so happily. I had done what I could for my brethren. The rest was up to them…

It was on a dark map. I had a feeling that something bad would happen that day. I wasn't wrong. I wanted my friends to remain quiet. They wouldn't listen to me. Before I knew it, we were attacked. He'd seen through our cover. Somehow, I knew he would. He was merciless. They all are, but he was more vicious than the rest. He got them all. Every single one of my friends was taken down in an instant. I lasted…slightly longer. Long enough to see his face. I saw who he was. He was Silabus. Silabus, the mother fucking former guild master of Canard. I saw who he was…before he crushed me like a bug…

It was the rise of…

Another Dad Assassin

Ohkay, so technically it's not exactly .hack/SIGN, but there doesn't seem to be a .hack/G.U. tag thing anywhere. Soo...yeah.

So, that was an interesting writing experience. Hopefully it wasn't too jarring to read. I got the idea for it while I was talking on the phone last night, and I had to write it because it amused me. Maybe it amused you too. Maybe you want to tell me what you thought of it, ehy ehy?