Author's Notes: Here we go! My first story here on FF, and it's a crossover between Kingdom Hearts and .hack/G.U. Now, for those of you not in the know, dothack is a conglomerate of anime, manga, and games revolving around an MMORPG that is more than it seems called "The World". It's not for everyone, but I personally love it and the themes it presents, and would recommend it to a good many people; it did the whole "carry details from your previous save file over to the next game" before Mass Effect did! As for Kingdom Hearts...well, I'm sure we've all heard of this game, one way or another.

This story takes into account almost all of the details of previous Kingdom Hearts games. It takes place post-Dream Drop Distance, so there WILL be spoilers! You have been warned. In terms of G.U., it starts a few days before the six month timeskip after Shino was (spoiler!) PKed by Tri-Edge in-game and fell into a coma in the real world.

But enough prepositionary banter! Now we read like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men!

Disclaimer: This is a fanfic written by me. I don't own either Kingdom Hearts or the .hack Conglomerate, nor the characters and concepts presented within them. They're owned by Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix, and Hiroshi Matsuyama, CyberConnect2, and Bandai Namco respectively. Please support the official releases.

All was quiet at the headquarters of the CC Corporation this night. Everyone had gone home for the night, locking everything up. Not a soul could be seen or heard. Therefore, nobody would see the corridor of darkness that came from the floor of the main server room, nor the figure that stepped out from it.

The old man had wanted him to come here, to this specific world. It had a world within it, similar to the computer of Ansem the Wise in Radiant Garden. The figure didn't care about the rest of the details; just that he was to infiltrate this system and find something. The old man had found something that he wanted on this world, and the old man always got what he wanted, one way or another.

The figure walked up to the machine before him and pressed his hand against it. Concentrating, he opened another portal, this time into his true destination. He seemed to sink into the server itself. Within seconds, he was gone, as was the corridor he had used to arrive here. No one on this world had seen him.

On another world, far away from this world, an old man, garbed in blue and emanating an aura of power that commanded respect, opened his eyes. Turning to the black cloaked figure beside him, Yen Sid told him to summon the trio to his tower. With a nod, the redhead disappeared into a corridor of his own, off to fetch the ones who had been requested. Pulling out a quill and parchment, he began to write a letter to his former apprentice, detailing the events he had scryed.

He didn't understand what was going on. One minute, he'd been walking with her, enjoying being in her presence, and then the next he was...falling. No, not falling; sinking. How long had this involuntary dive been going on? Hours? Days? Years? Just when he thought he couldn't handle it anymore, his feet touched down in a familiar place; the outside of the Hulle Granz Cathedral.

As he took a step forward, the boy in dark armor felt a strong hand on his shoulder, keeping him from moving. Looking behind him, he saw a giant of a man, tattooed in the azure and emerald hues of the sea. He wore nothing but a leather loincloth, a long sword sheathed at his hip. Before he could complain, the giant spoke in a deep yet friendly voice. "What's most important to you?"

"Being number one," the boy answered after a moment, somewhat confused as to why he was being asked something like that by this stranger.

The large man frowned, a hand resting against his chin contemplatively. "Hmm, being number one? Is that really so important?" Before he could say another word, the giant disappeared from his sight, surrounded by golden rings of light.

Slightly annoyed, the boy turned around, heading towards the entrance of the cathedral. As he drew closer, the boy saw a figure in front of the entrance, a couple inches shorter than him. She was wearing more than the man had been wearing, but she still wasn't wearing very much; she wore what amounted to an armored magenta bra, one strap going over her shoulder and the other around her back. She had purple skintight leggings, and an armored cod piece the same shade as her top. Pink hair framed her dark-skinned face. On her back rested a zweihander, as big as she was. Before the boy could tell her to move out of his way, she spoke to him, posing another question. "What do you want outta life?"

He didn't hesitate when he spoke this time. "Power, to get what I want."

A frown marred the young woman's pretty face. "To be strong, huh? Does strength really matter that much?" Just like the large man earlier, she too disappeared in rings of light before the boy could chew her out.

Sufficiently annoyed, the boy entered the cathedral. A stained glass window shone light onto a statue of a girl, the statue wrapped in chains as if to bind her. In front of the statue stood a girl that he recognized. "Shino!" The boy bolted towards her, past the pews. As he got closer though, he began to slow down, realization dawning on him. "Wait...you're not Shino."

The girl who had been looking at the statue turned to him. Instead of Shino's white and black robe, she wore a white and green one. Blonde hair and golden eyes met his own. Before he could say more, she giggled and faded from view, like she was an illusion that had never been there. The statue disappeared as well, allowing the boy to get a good look at the stained glass window.

A figure that looked like him, but dressed in white, was in the center with his arms spread out to his sides and eyes closed. What looked like two bladed pistols were held loosely in his grip, and eight portraits surrounded him, most of whom he didn't recognize. Below him, a blue-eyed boy with spiky brown hair sat on what appeared to be a throne, a smile on his face and an oversized skeleton key with a golden guard and silver keychain resting point down between his legs. To the blue-eyed boy's left stood a girl in pink, with red hair and another oversized skeleton key; this one with a flower motif. Her empty hand rested atop the seated boy's hand, their fingers linked together. To the boy's right, a young man with silver hair stood. He had his hand atop both of the previous two's hands. Unlike them, he wielded what looked to be black sword, like something a creature of darkness would wield. Upon further inspection, there was a white feather at the tip of the black and red blade, and half of the guard was like an angel's wing. Behind the throne stood a blond boy in a black cloak wielding two of the oversized keys, one black as night, and the other as blue as the sky. He was looking behind him at the other three, a slight smirk on his face. His eyes were the exact same shade of blue as the throned boy's. Above all of them was a glowing moon in the shape of a heart, a cliff with three armored figures rushing towards it, and the silhouette of somebody rising up to the moon.

The boy turned away from the odd mural, only to see a figure shorter than him standing at the end of the pews a few feet away from him. He was dressed in red, with shaggy azure hair peeking out from under his cap, and his blue eyes were staring into the boy's own crimson ones. Twin daggers rested on his hips and a golden bracelet adorned his right wrist. Crossing his arms, the taller boy scoffed. "What, you gonna ask me a question too?" He began to walk past the other, intending to leave the cathedral. Then the boy in red spoke, just as he had passed him.

"What are you so afraid of?"

The taller boy froze, a gasp escaping him. He was tempted to tell this figure to screw off, to mind his own damn business. Yet when he turned to answer him, he found himself answering the question. "Getting old."

Unlike the previous two, the boy in red just smiled as he replied to the armored boy. "Is growing up really that scary?" With that, he walked up to the pedestal. The statue of the girl had reappeared, this time without the chains binding it.

The white-haired boy turned to the boy in red. He walked back over, gazing at the statue with him. He turned to the boy. So many questions were going through his mind right now; 'Why is this happening?', 'What's the point of all of this?', 'Where did Shino go?', or 'What's the deal with that window?'. He found a different question leaving his mouth. "Who...are you?"

The boy in red turned, smiled at him, opened his mouth and…

SIND SIE DAS ESSEN? NEIN, WIR SIND DIE JAEGER! With a startled gasp, a brown haired boy with red-ish brown eyes shot up out of bed. Shutting off the alarm on his phone, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and began preparing for class. In the shower, he briefly pondered if the strange dream had any meaning, but he was already forgetting the details of it. Whatever, dreams are usually pretty weird anyway, he rationalized. Grabbing a piece of toast, he calmly made his way to school. It was a Thursday, so it was almost the weekend. As long as he didn't have any homework tonight, he'd play The World and continue his search for the truth. Leaving the apartment he lived alone in, he made his way to class.

After he had left, a mail truck came by and deposited an envelope into his mailbox. It was from the boy's father, but on the back was a silver, crown-shaped seal…

Author's Notes: IT BEGINS.