Disclaimer: This story takes place after .hack//SIGN, and therefore, has some potential spoilers; read after seeing the show unless you want some things spoiled! This story has little relation to any of the other branches of Project .Hack, but uses a character from the game, Elk, whom is potentially the same person, but with some minor tweaks. PG for mild language and mild violence. I do not own Project .Hack, or any of it's components, they are copyrighted © by their official owners, all rights reserved.

.hack//WAVE

encounter: 001

A WaveMaster-class PC stepped down from the log-in/out Chaos Gate in the Dona-Roiak main server of "The World." It had been a long time since he had played; for the last time had been a not-so-pleasant experience for him. He had been stuck in the game, and his Real-World body had been thrown into an instant coma—he had not been able to log-out, for his conscious had been stuck in the game. Even if he died within "The World," he would still be reincarnated. He could feel pain. But now he was a free-player. No longer omnipresent.

Closing his eyes and walking forward, he felt the wind on his face, blowing his brick-white hair. Sighing, he turned and leaned against a wooden railing at the edge of the cliff. Dona-Roiak was full of green hills with rocky alcoves and mountains, windmills and wind-toys flowing through the air. It was the central server of "The World" where all characters logged in and out. He mused upon all the hours, days, weeks, he'd spent there.

Feeling the rough surface of the wood against his cheek, the WaveMaster opened his deep, purple-slate eyes and gazed upon the twilight over the mist-shrouded hidden-valleys. The twilight was beautiful; even more so than he remembered it being in Tokyo where he lived. The vivid pixel-image of the sky soothed him, and he remembered how much he'd enjoyed this game, despite his ensealment within its depths.

He was glad in away that he had been persuaded to play the game again. Mimiru, his class-mate and former-comrade within "The World" had constantly passed notes:

[ Tsukasa-- Please log-on to "The World" tonight, 5:30, okay? The New Update came in, and we should try one of the new dungeons! Come on! --Mimiru]

And Subaru—another comrade—had been constantly calling him every day, trying to get him to come. He made a personal note to try and dodge her character if he ever saw her in "The World":

[Tsukasa, let's get together today; we can play "The World" at my house. I heard the New Update is neat.]

He shuddered, and returned to gazing at the twilight. Now he was here. What to do?

However, before he could think of anything, the WaveMaster—Tsukasa—heard muffled screams coming from behind him. He slowly turned his head, and saw an unfamiliar-skinned character attacking a blue WaveMaster. The character—he assumed they were a PK, due to their strange character-skin—was clad in all black robes, tied with buckles and ropes, bearing two long katana blades and lustrous black hair. The victim had basically the same skin as Tsukasa, but in a blue-tone set, not a brown-tone. His hair was ice-blue, and his eyes were crimson. His long staff had been knocked from his hands, and now lay on the ground a few digimeters away from him.

Tsukasa walked forward cautiously to see what was happening.

But before he was too close, the PK teleported away, leaving just the struggling WaveMaster on the ground. Tsukasa bent over, and looked at them.

"Need healing?" he inquired.

The blue character struggled to talk, but managed to make out a muffled 'yes'.

"Grab my hand," Tsukasa told him, "I'll heal you."

"Th…thanks…"

Tsukasa used a full-heal item, and the WaveMaster's character shimmered for a bit, then returned to normal.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Tsukasa murmured as he walked away. Maybe he could find one of the new dungeons.

"Um…I…" the boy stammered. "Do you—"

He would have finished, but Tsukasa rudely teleported away through the nearest Chaos Gate.

When his character materialized, he was in Mak-Anu, the City of Water; "The World's" digital Venice. He pushed his way passed the crowds of other players, and sat down with his feet dangling off the stone side of one of the water canals. Hugging his knees to his chest, and setting his head on his knees, Tsukasa gazed into the ever-moving surface of the water that reflected the salmon and gold-streaked twilight-sky above. Images blurred together as a water-beetle skimmed the surface causing ripples to disturb Tsukasa's reflection. He slowly reached for his staff, and lowered it down, pushing the beetle around with the weapon's end.

Sighing, he pushed the beetle underwater and waited until it died.

But even so, it was boring. He wanted to do something, now that he was in "The World". Now that he was no longer bound by time; his day parceled into tiny packages at school and at home. In "The World" he was free, a high-class mage or sorcerer, not a Japanese student. He could ask one of the other players where a dungeon might be, but it would seem weird for a PC of his class to ask that. Everyone would laugh, or think that he had hacked into the game to get the skin, and then he would be in trouble again. And he didn't want that.

So he sat and racked his mind for something to do. The Chaos Gates in "The World" were all unfamiliar to him, for he had never bothered to use them before. He had always just teleported himself away with his ocarina—a secret item he had found in some high-level dungeon. Tsukasa felt around in his tunic, coming across the familiar bulge of the item. Reaching into his shirt—and luckily not drawing a bunch of suspicious glances, for no one was paying attention to him—he pulled out the ocarina. It was sleek and beige, sort of egg-shaped but a bit more pointed, with six finger holes, and a stubby mouthpiece protruding from its polished surface. With it, he could transport himself anywhere within "The World" that he wanted.

Smiling a bit, he began to stand up. However, a long, dark shadow was cast over him. Fearing that it was the PK from earlier, or some annoying player that had seen his rare item—the ocarina—and wanted to buy it from him, Tsukasa froze up. However, it was neither.

The blue-clad WaveMaster sat down next to him, and set his staff next to the edge of the water, dangerously close for Tsukasa's liking, but far enough away from the edge that it would have to be obviously pushed in order to fall in.

"Hey, you're Tsukasa, right?" the boy inquired. "The legendary Tsukasa with that guardian…?

Tsukasa shrugged. "Sure."

"It is you, isn't it?"

"…yeah."

"I… never thought that I'd see you."

Tsukasa said nothing in reply to this, but stared at the water some more. He could see the dead carcass of the beetle he'd held under water, slowly deciding whether it should sink to the bottom or float to the top; then over-loading its server, it disappeared into oblivion.

"Here," the boy held a sprig of grass, digi-millimeters in front of Tsukasa's nose. "C-can you… smell it, t-too?"

Tsukasa coughed and pushed the plant away. It smelled heavily like perfume, not like grass should.

"You… you can smell it?" the boy asked excitedly. "You really c-can smell it!?"

"Of course."

The blue WaveMaster smiled. "I was b-beginning to think I…I was the only one. Whenever… whenever I asked someone else. Th…they'd just looked at me s-strangely and then walk… away."

Tsukasa wanted to retort and say something around 'that's because you're some strange PC who shoves grass in people's faces', but he didn't say a word. It seemed obvious that he should smell it—he always had been able to. He could smell, hear, taste and feel in "The World", like always. Like when he was omnipresent within it…

But then a sudden thought struck him. Mimiru and Subaru… they had never been able to do any of that. If he wasn't stuck in "The World", how could he smell the grass? How could he feel the stone against his body, the sleek surface of his ocarina, the wind through his hair?

"Why?"

"I don't know," the WaveMaster answered him, taking back the grass and putting it in a pouch that hung around his shoulders. "I think it might have been part of the System Upgrade."

Tsukasa stood up, and began to walk away.

"Please… don't go!" the blue-clad boy stammered. "D-do you want to… do… a dungeon together or… or something?"

Tsukasa said nothing in reply, but began to move one foot forward, staring at the puzzle of stones that made the road.

"No one else will go with me… a-and…" he stuttered, seemingly at a loss for words, "…you're the first person who hasn't just… b-blown me off, and…! P-please? I'm n-not a n-n-newbie, or… anything. We can do whatever dungeon you like. I… I don't mind! Just something… please? This game isn't fun unless… you're…"

Tsukasa moved the other foot forward. He hated people pushing themselves on him. He wished that everyone would just leave him alone; he'd talk to them if he wanted. This WaveMaster just wouldn't get the clue.

"It's not fun if you're alone!" he concluded. "I can't stand being alone in this place… it just… m-makes me f-feel that… I'm the only one in 'The W-world'."

Tsukasa turned his head vaguely, and looked at the persistent character. His eyes were hollow and glassy, like crimson beads, or drops of crystalline blood, frozen and smooth. They made Tsukasa shudder. The boy had no pupils, no nothing in his eyes. He wondered why such a skin for a character was created; it was so haunting!

"…I'm sorry," the blue-clad WaveMaster looked down at his feet. "I didn't mean to push myself on you. I…I'm just really bored here, and that PK stole all of my items… and… I don't really want to continue playing this game, really. But if you would… go to a dungeon with me… maybe… uh… I… I'm not really good with words. But… I just want to fight some things and g-get some rare-items, sell them and you know, do stuff you're… s-supposed to in this g-game… and…a-and…"

"Well…" Tsukasa looked up to the sky, and sighed. "That in it's own way… might be fun."

"R-really?!" The WaveMaster inquired ecstatically. "That's g-great—I mean, thank you!"

Tsukasa managed a wry smile.

"I…" he started, but thought better of it. "W-where to go?"

The brown-clad WaveMaster shrugged. "Mushroom Field has some stuff… but… uh…"

"Those are intermediate dungeons, right?"

"Yeah… What about that Church in the middle of the mist-filled lake?"

"Sure," he smiled. "That s-sounds g-g-great!"

Tsukasa managed another wry smile, and held out his hand.

The WaveMaster gave him a questioning glance, and Tsukasa shuddered; those eyes!

"You don't have any items," Tsukasa said, "And if we're gonna do a dungeon, it's better not to waste MP on transportation spells. I have an item to transport us anywhere I want."

"But what about t-the Chaos G-gates?"

"Never used them," Tsukasa shrugged the question off, and pushed his hand forward. "I can't transport you if you aren't holding on."

"Oh… okay." The blue WaveMaster hesitantly reached out his own blue-fingerless-gloved hand, and slowly wrapped his small fingers around Tsukasa's hand. Even with the Update, the characters weren't warm. "I-I'm E-e-elk, b-by the w-way."

Tsukasa reached into his shirt again, and brought out the pallid ocarina. Elk's eyes widened, red pools of iced-over , half-melting blood, glassy with liquid.

"But that item's—"

His words were cut off by the shrill note—an 'a'—that Tsukasa piped out of the item. Orange rings formed around them, and with a burst of light, they disappeared and were transported to a realm of computer-coding. Ones and zeros flashed all around them, and words in computer-script floated around. Tsukasa had been here before—whenever he had tried to log-out, it had taken him here. When he was thrown into a coma and stuck in "The World" he had first been zipped here. His eyes widened now, dark purple abysses where not even the fish of the deep-deep sea could go.

"You can't use that—!"

But once again, Elk was interrupted. They were engulfed in light, and then something that felt like a rock hit them in the backs, and they were thrown forward into the fathomless void of the system. Tsukasa watched as his skin was ripped away slowly, and as his clothes and body began to dissolve. He managed to turn his head and see Elk, to whom the same things were happening, and he trembled. The boy's eyes were larger than ever, for he was frightened. Tsukasa smiled, and Elk looked even more horrified as he saw the grin.

He didn't know why he was smiling, but it just felt so right to do so. He almost laughed; boy, would Bear, Mimiru and Subaru have a shock if he got stuck in "The World" again! But before he could think more, another invisible something hit them—but this time hit their fronts—and a bright light coruscated.

When they could see again, Tsukasa found himself laying face-down on a soft bed of grass. His eyes bolted open, and he shot up to his feet. The grass smelt like heavy perfume, like the type that Elk had showed him before. He looked down and saw the boy on the ground, too. Their skins were back, and it looked like nothing had changed. But…

Tsukasa looked around himself as Elk tried to get him. Where were they? This was not the Church.

They were underwater, it appeared. His long brown tunic slowly billowed around his feet, and his clothes moved with the flow of the unfeelable water. His hair flowed around his face, and the same was true with Elk's. It was not merely grass, but a sort of sea-grass, and coral and sea-weed were present, too, he noticed. The sea-weed moved from side to side as if a current was there.

Leaning against his staff for support, Elk managed a weak, "Where…?"

Tsukasa shrugged, and continued surveying the scene. They were definitely in an underwater, but the water wasn't there. It was as if the Upgrade missed this server.

As he looked passed a school of shimmering mackerel, Tsukasa realized why.

There was a bed, with winding sea-weed, starfish and barnacles along its frame, and a sheet blowing with the unfelt current. But that was not what worried him.

Above the bed floated a child seemingly made of opalescent light. A child clothed in a billowing white sheet-like garment. A child with their eyes closed. A sleeping child.

Elk walked up to Tsukasa's side.

"Th-that item's been forbidden since after the Upgrade and—"

But he stopped as he saw the sleeping child.

"Who…?"

Tsukasa said nothing at first, but just gawked. The child's hair was short, but still flowing with the 'water', and their pale face bared no markings like the PKs'. However, their pudgy, baby-face and short, baby-hands and feet reminded him of her. That was why this server was not upgraded. It was a secret server—a forbidden place where a sleeping child laid. Tsukasa didn't turn towards Elk, but answered him finally.

"It's…" no, it wasn't "…it's…" it wasn't…! "It… is…" no! It wasn't her…!

It wasn't Aura!

To be Continued in: 'submergence: 002'

Note: Soooo… how was it? Us at Blue Sea would sure like to think of what you thought of our .hack fanfic, .hack//WAVE. This is only the first chapter (we don't quite know how many chapters there are in total), and more are planned to come out. If you liked it, or disliked it, or have comments, suggestions, peeves, inquiries, or any other sort of feedback, we would really like to hear it!