NOTE: I do not own any part of the .hack series.
.hack/ AUREOLE
By StarWulf.EXE
Prologue
"Sir, we're getting major system errors in Delta!"
"Impossible! Shut it down and transfer the data to Dun Loireag."
"We can't! The bug is coming from the church area. We've locked it down but everything else is being overridden by The Black Box."
"What in The World has that Aura gotten herself into?"
- - -
A woman dressed in a flowing white gown staggered as she tried to make it back to her bed. Whatever broken into her sanctum had its intention on killing her. And do far, it was working.
She looked around weakly. "Zefie…my daughter. Where…are you?"
"Mommy." Aura's gaze fell upon a small girl dressed exactly like her sprawled on the ground. Data drizzled steadily from her weak form.
"Zefie!" Aura ran as best she could over to her daughter. She bent down and cradled the girl in her arms. Her data was beyond repair.
"Mommy," Zefie coughed. "I don't want to die."
Tears streamed down from Aura's eyes as her daughter's body faded for a moment before completely disappearing.
The woman collapsed and fell to the ground. Her breathing became shallow as she too started to fade. "Zefie…I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."
Aura gently closed her eyes as calm began to spread over her. Is this death? She wondered. And with that, she exhaled for the final time and disappeared from The World.
A few moments later, a large group of System Administrators dashed into the church. They looked around, searching for some sign that Aura was still alive. Sadly, the only sound echoed from the four pendulums swinging in perfect unison with each other.
Tick-tock, tick-tock…
The leader of the group waved his hand and opened up a display window.
"How is she?" a voice on the other side of the window asked. The leader shook his head.
"I'm afraid she's gone."
The voice paused for a moment, holding back tears. "Well, nothing we can do now. Lock down the area and shut down the system. We'll reboot when we tell everyone what happened."
The leader saluted. "Yes, sir." He waved his hand once more, closed the window, and then turned back to his troops. "Log out." He commanded.
The System Admins gated out and secured the area.
Tick-tock, tick-tock…
- - -
Lios logged himself out and sat down in a sofa in his cubical. First the dot hackers, then Tsukasa and her group, after that it was Shugo and his friends, now…It's Aura and Zefie. They're all dead along with their characters. It's gotten so out of control that we might have to shut down the game.
If you are near to the dark
I will tell you 'bout the sun
You are here, no escape
From my visions of the world
You will cry all alone
but it does not mean a thing to me
Knowing the song I will sing
Till the darkness comes to sleep
Come to me, I will tell
'bout the secret of the sun
It's in you, not in me
But it does not mean a thing to you
The sun is in your eyes
The sun is in your ears
I hope you see the sun
someday in the darkness
The sun is in your eyes
The sun is in your ears
But you can't see the sun
Ever in the darkness
It does not much matter to me
Song: Aura