AN: My stories follow another time line(unless otherwise noted) where the when the PCs die, so

do their RL counterparts....a side effect of battling the virus so long.... Usually they can still be

revived, so long as they are in a party.....unless fighting Innis, Magus, Skeith, etc...

Usually they can feel, too, but that is explained individually in each fiction...One more thing :

Tsukasa's always a boy unless other wise noted.



Chapter 1: Memory

The young Heavyblade smiled softly, as she looked across the wide expanse of Mac Anu, So

much had changed now, the game was so closely monitored after that virus scare....but Mac Anu

weathered all changes.... It was no longer considered to be on the 'newbie' server.....this was the

'historical' server.

The streets were always nearly abandoned, the golden ship of the Crimson Knights, long ago put

to rest, and their castle open to tourists.

And yet .... she could still hear the whisper on the wind, the faint echo of his sad

laugh....Tsukasa.

Her nostalgic smile faded into an unhappy frown, as her lower lip trembled slightly, and a lone

tear ran down her tanned cheek.

Lonely, just like she had been, ever since.....

Why? Why didn't she listen to reason?! When his cough grew worse, despite his protests that it

was a simple cold....Why did she listen to him???

" Because you were love-blind....admit it girl...." She whispered to herself, " You were weak,

and love-blind... and because of you ..... Yasa...."

Overwhelmed by a wave a grief, she sank to her knees and wept.

Ten years....Ten....long...years had passed...

For the first six, the years had passed in a blur of ecstacy, heaven, nirvana, what ever you wished

to call it, to Mimiru, it had been perfection, the only thing she had desired...to be with her

beloved Tsukasa, or Yasamuri, not that she ever called him that...those blissful days seemed like

only an instant, compared to the eternity of torment and pain that followed....... He'd

seemed....so pale....He had never fully recovered from his extended period in a coma, but he had

always continued on, smiling that heavenly smile her way, never crying, or complaining about

the pain he felt inside, from injuries sustained from the improper care at the hospital....

First....there were the coughs....at first she'd dismissed them as nothing, but then, they

intensified, wracking his entire body, as he wheezed for breath....coughing up blood.....He was

always so tired, refusing to eat often, or even drink.....All the while, she had remained so

oblivious, trusting his claims that it would all pass soon....

" And I.....lied to myself... pretending he was right....." She whimpered, " Pretending we would

have the money to go to ER if he were ACTUALLY sick....as if nothing was out of the scheme I

wanted my perfect world to be......And he pretended right with me...."

One night, He smiled at her, kissing her goodnight.

" You...took off your ring?" He whispered hoarsely, all he could ever manage lately was a

whisper.

" Tsuk....do you expect me to wear it to bed??" She laughed, gently running her hand along his

sunken cheek.

" I....do..." he coughed, showing her the golden band on his right ring-finger, and looking at her

expectantly. His lavender eyes looked the same in real life, as his counterpart's did, in The World

".....Alright, you big crybaby!" She laughed, sliding on her slim, golden band on her finger, "

Happy now?"

He smiled softly, weakly, and leaned in, whispering 4 words....4 words that would echo in her

ears, and haunt her in the long years of loneliness that followed.

" I love you, Sakura ."

She smiled back, and whispered, " I love you, too." Then she curled up in her beloved husband's

arms, and fell asleep, unaware at the time, of his silent tears.

" Why did I sleep? Why didn't he tell me?..." Mimiru sobbed, " I would have stayed there with

you to the end, Tsukasa..."

' You were there....as I wanted.....' She thought she heard him whisper, as a soft breeze blew by

her hot cheeks, sticky with tears.

Startled, she looked around, but no one was around, not even the usual Newbies, who gawked,

and pointed at her old-style, revealing clothes.

" Tsukasa...?....Am I going mad?..." She whispered, half to the digitalized wind, half to herself.

" Oh, I wish you were here ro answer me, Bear..." She whispered, but she knew it was just as

likely he'd appear, and smile down at her, squatting down to listen to her problems, like he used

to....as it was her Beloved, Tsukasa, would run up to her, and tell her everything was okay, that

she had imagined the years of grief, and loneliness.

'Bear' had died two years ago, at the age of 54, from complications from cancer.

BT...she had quit playing The World soon after the quest for the Key, with the sole exception of

Tsukasa's funeral....Having to see, and hear about Crim and Subaru each day, had become too

much for her, and Mimiru had neither seen, nor heard of BT, or her player since the funeral, but

then, other than Bear, she hadn't seen much of anyone since Tsuk had died.

Crim and Subaru....They quit not too long ago, themselves, so she had heard, the constant

changes of The World and the constant unpleasant, or nostalgic memories called up by familiar

territory had been too much for them, as well.

They had married, so she had heard from Subaru, before Tsukasa had died, before she had shut

herself off from the real world, hiding in this one, pretending she could find Tsukasa, were she to

look hard enough. She had also heard, on the news, an announcement, that the president of a big

corporation....Crim's real life counterpart, had just had his third child....

Children.....

Mimiru touched her stomach, where her womb would be, were this not a digital world... She had

no children, Tsukasa was unable to produce children, from a lingering wound from his comatose

state.

The only one she didn't know about, was Sora....

After the search for the Key, the two of them had went their separate, only glancing at one

another at Tsukasa's funeral.

" I wouldn't be the least surprised if he still played....that rascal!" She laughed, yet, despite the

insult she had directed towards him, she did wish she could find him....even him....just someone

from her past....before her world had plunged into darkness, before her light had been

quenched...

And if there was ANYONE still alive that could reawaken her old self, if only Mimiru's

impatience,

or maybe even.... perhaps, just perhaps, teach her how to laugh again, it would be good ol'

Sora....

Delta Hideous passionate Nothingness.

The keyword....where Sora had always met up with her...but the word 'Nothingness; was in

it...only those with the pass-card could access it anymore...

" Luckily....I am a great pickpocket!" Mimiru laughed, and turned to the, now archaic, Chaos

gate.

Smiling, she manually input the keywords, so different than the annoying ' spout random

numbers!!' that the modern servers were all about.

The console 'beeped', requiring the keycard, and she swiped the card through the blue 'sea' of

the gate.

Beautiful, golden, rings encircled her, as the old teleportation method, so unlike the 'happy'

bubbles of other servers, took her to the dark, abandoned zone.

Giant toadstools towered above, the huge, yellow moon setting behind a lone cliff in the

distance, and a steady rain poured down.

Foreboding. That was the word that came to her, it was no wonder the system management

disallowed new players to explore the 'old world'....With all the sickeningly 'happy' and 'bright'

designs of the other servers, a newbie would likely have a heart attack, were they to 'warp' into

this place.

Carefully, she climbed up to the top of a familiar cliff, and surveyed the area....no movement

registered to her eyes in the dense rock formations below, and no 'Boing!' was there to greet

her....Sora, too, had quit.....perhaps they all had to grow up someday, and love....except, only she

had to lose....

She turned to leave, when, silhouetted by the artificial moon, a man ringed in.



There it is!! The first chapter?? What do you think? Nostalgic? Too sad? Corny??

Review!!

BTW:...I was going to be soooo mean to her in this book..( Not that I don't like her..just

the opposite..) But as I was writing this chapter, and contemplating the others, I decided

to be merciful....I'm not saying how, though.

SO! This is probably a 5 chapter book at most, unless you can convince me other wise!!

Oh, And I'll add one of you in my book, if you like, though you won't appear until at

least Chapter 3....

Just E-mail me, filling out this form, and you can frolick in .hack, too!

Name: (in book RL)

Char's Name:

Class:

Gender( it's assumed your char is same gender as its char:

Tattoos( every char has 'em):

Newbie or Oldie ( from the early World, or the new one):

Alignment:( Lawful Neutral, Chaotic/Good neutral evil):

Attitude( Is you char like Crim, or more like Tsukasa?):

Misc. Info ( anything special I should know about him/her/it):

Get writing!

~Yusagi