.Hack/G.U.

Eternal Darkness

Ch 2

We're Not Who

We Think We Are…

Ryou awoke from the darkness that had overtaken him; giving a small groan as he pulled himself up to his knees to take a look around. His head still felt as if it had been in a haze….. clouded out and unable to remember….. His eyes scanning the area in hopes for minor recognition of his surroundings…. But there was none to come….

The room was much larger than the cell he had been in before the incident…. His mind paused from its curiosity of the room to the vague flickers of what occurred, who knows how long ago… It could have been days by now for all he knew….. but his mind couldn't take itself off of her face… Syringe in hand as she backed away, leaving him to the mercy of the armored men….

"Shi…..nn…. no…?"

He grit his teeth in bitter frustration as he mustered up what strength he had to remember just exactly what had happened…. However a strange voice echoing out broke him from his chain of thought, whirling around defensively.

"Yo~ Haseo…~" The cunning voice echoed out from the second room beside his own, separated by a thick glass panel with holes cut into the upper trim for circulation.

Ryou paused in mid growl, eyeing the chamber through the glass, searching for the source of the voice that called out his PC name. Yet the room was full of so much foliage that there was no sign of the speaker.

"Up here silly~" The voice chuckled as Ryou's eyes scanned upwards towards a low hanging branch.

In the unraveling of giant, semi florescent leaves that floated outwards, they circled around their centerpiece of a young male figure standing upside down upon the branch, his long teal colored hair wrapped around the branch, almost tail like…. Ryou could of sworn that the end of it twitched every now and again as he stared up at the strange creature… Slowly coming into recognition…

"Ku….Kuhn….."

The figure gave a mild grin as he swiveled around to sit upon the branch, the long bundle of hair unraveling itself from its coils, the end curling upwards like a content puppy.

"I never would of guessed that you'd wake up too…"

Ryou paused for a moment, watching the familiar figure give a sigh, his words rambling on like some form of riddle he didn't understand…

"Wake up….? You mean from those injections?"

Tonomari's expression dimmed into a more solemn cloud as he watched his friend through the glass wall.

"So…. you don't have a clue huh…" The floating leaves around his body gave a turn in mid air, floating in the air in the opposite direction.

"Clue about what exactly…..?"

"About what's happening… About who we…. really are….."

Ryou gave a minor snarl towards the comment causing a few heads from the figures outside the enclosures to look up from their work for a moment.

"I know who I am!" Ryou bared his fangs up at the older male who in return continued to stare him down with the same serious expression…..

"But do you really Haseo…..?" Tonomari's chocolate brown eyes looked down upon the thorny devil like figure of Ryou Misaki with an unwavering hush of stillness that just sent prickles down his spine.

"What about yourself ya damned flirting womanizer?"

There was a short pause of silence between them as their gazes continued to remain fixed on the other.

"To start with…. I've never actually flirted with any woman….. nor have I physically met anyone to flirt with…"

"Like hell you haven't…" Ryou rolled his eyes, blowing the comment off.

"Then have you met anyone like that?"

"Pft….. Kuhn…. You're a flirt even at school…"

Tonomari gave another sigh as his mind ran over other possibilities to bring the subject to light to where his irritable friend could understand him.

"Haseo….. when was the last time you ever remember the feel of a controller in your hand….. or an MD2 in front of your eyes?"

Ryou's face went blank for a moment as he attempted to remember the last time he had picked up a controller and logged into [The World]….. nothing seemed to come to the forefront of his mind… then again he couldn't remember just how long he'd been in this god awful place…. His form having taken on that of his 3rd form Adept Rogue…..

After another moment of silence… nothing but the sound of a ticking clock in another room did Tonomari speak once more….. A break in the ice hit as he watched the puzzled expression of his friend.

"[The World]…. doesn't exist Haseo… We've never played such a game…. nor….have we lived the lives we think we have…." He gave a sigh before continuing on with his words, hoping that he could at least get part of it, "It was an illusion….. False memories implanted into our minds while we lay dormant….. just like them….."

Tonomari's hand raised itself up to point over at the front of their cells, revealing a scene of horror Ryou wished he hadn't laid eyes on. The distorted figures of bodies lined up in large vats upon the walls, some writhing around in agony, others seeming completely lifeless…. Floating there within the dim waters…..

"Are we who we think we are…. No… I sadly do not think so… As to what I think I am….. is another question entirely…"

Ryou, attempted to avert his gaze from the painful scene and return them towards the oasis like appearance of his friend's tank.

"Then who or what are we then….?"

"We are but lab rats to them….. experimental figures laid out in test tubes over and over again….. only those that are strong enough to survive the first stages… wake up and become like us….. …. To them…. I am just 42….. and you….. you're just 65…."

The scribbling of a pen followed after a soothing hum from the female scientist; jotting down notes here and there before raising her head to notice the male figure standing next to her.

"Section B wanted me to inform you that the move in wasn't as smooth as expected….." He rubbed the back of his head feeling a bit uncomfortable about the matter, expecting her to yell at him as she usually did.

"Then what may I ask is the problem this time Marshall?" Sarah frowned, resting the pen down upon the clipboard to turn her attention towards him.

He gave a sigh, "65's been pitching a fit at the neighboring cell….. I think it was a bit early to move him into close quarters with the others… They're concerned it's going to cause all the other subjects to freak out if he doesn't calm down…."

There was a drawn out pause between the two of them before either of them could muster up another word. When the silence was broken, it did not burst with angered screams or cursing winds, but in a soft sigh.

"So he's still not sociable with neighbors… is that it?"

He nodded, grateful that she hadn't broken out into a yell at him like some of the other times that occurred.

Sarah gave another sight before she handed her clipboard to him.

"I'll go check on him and see what there is to do about it….. For now… you can go check up on the piranha….."

Her smirk echoed into the very back of his head with the mentioning of the words…

"p..pp….p… piranha…. b-b….. but I….I…. hate fish….." He stammered in protest, but his coworker had already left the room on her way to section B.

Ryou sat back upon the hard floor, tapping his claws against the armored shell over one of his knees. His face twisted up in a sour expression as he attempted to make sense of all these scenarios that did or did not exist.

Tonomari eyed him from time to time, curled up around the branch he hung from. He didn't believe it was all true himself when he'd found out himself; recoiling back into the leaflets that floated about him. In time he knew his thorned companion would have to admit to himself that this was no dream or false reality… Whether or not Haseo took it as well as himself however, was the question of concern.

Sarah sighed as she pushed her way through the large doors into Section B, gazing through the crowds of people and other things; her eyes came to rest upon the figures of 65 and 42 within their cells. Both growling and making gestures towards the other through the thick glass that separated them.

She sighed once more, moving a strand of hair behind her ear, "Seems like he might be right…."

Her concentration was broken from the two experiments upon the thrusting of documents in her way, the fingers holding the papers leading up to an older male as he smiled calmly over her shoulder.

"You forgot these back in your office." He smiled once more, pushing his orange tinted glasses back up to their resting place.

She frowned, accepting the documents with no words for quarrel and began to turn towards her destination once more before he called out.

"Furthermore, from your data readings, you should try introducing new things to him. It'll lower his frustration level." He gave a mild grin, turning back and walking through the doors before she had a chance to respond to him.

"….. Why does he always have to meddle with everything everyone's doing….. honestly…" Sarah muttered under her breath, giving an offended huff.

Tonomari raised his head in a perk of interest as he scanned the room outside his cell. His change of attention in turn perked Ryou's interest, turning to give a quick glance upon the white coated men and women outside. His crimson eyes caught sight of the glimpse of silver hair weaving through the crowd.

"S…s…Shino!" Ryou called out, his mind already having left the thoughts of what was real or not.

"She can't hear you Haseo…" Tonomari sighed, resting his chin in his hand as one of his emerald eyes looked over at him.

Ryou shot him a nasty look, his tail giving a stubborn flick, "It's not like I'm whispering damn it…."

"That's not what I meant. She can't understand anything you say…. We just sound like beasts to them…" He sighed once, more, turning his gaze back towards the silver haired female that was making her way towards them, "Looks like they're going to be moving you again too….."

Ryou gave a pause, his eyes turning towards his friend, then back out through the glass. A grimace started to form upon his face at the thought of those armored men swarming him again, but tried to turn his mind towards the other half of Tonomari's words.

"In other words…. I have to find another way of communicating with her, that doesn't involve dialect?"

The leaves swiveled around him before he nodded in an answer towards Ryou's words. His posture turning more towards a guarding stance than his composed, carefree self, "Have fun with that. For now…. Just take care of yourself, alright Haseo…?"

"It's Ryou damn it…."

"You know that's not your real name…." He sighed, "I'm just 42, and your just 65…"

Ryou had barely blinked once before the figure of his companion had disappeared from view, having dashed back up into the higher branches and out of sight. His gaze then turned to see the source of Kuhn's panic, to find himself seeing the same bomb squad like team filling into the room. He could merely grimace, knowing what was to come.