Random Talk: Hm… Not a lot of people have been guessing at stuff I leave hints to…. I thought they were good hints to make you wonder what was going on. Oh well. Besides, I wouldn't tell you if you were right or not anyways! I just like to know what you guys are thinking.
I'm sorry for all the dialogue, but it's the way I play out this fic in my head. I'm trying to change that, but it's hard.
The Forgotten One
Login 6: Hide and Seek
When Reiko Saeki found her brother's video diary of GU, she knew what to do. She became a part of CC Corp and made her way into Project GU. She did so by showing her control over Tarvos. There she met Takumi Hino and Tomonari Kasumi, two other Epitaph Users. Together, they spent hours figuring out what triggered the Morganna Factor to allow a player to use an Epitaph. Reiko told them of her brother's diary and came up with a hypothesis. They thought that the stronger the connection to R:1 and the Second Network Crisis, the higher the chance the player could activate an Epitaph.
This hypothesis was true with Takumi and Tomonari, but no with Reiko and possibly the player Ovan. Then they had more proof when the Epitaph Macha suddenly disappeared from the CC Corp database. It was later found in the player Enderance, in which Takumi found out to be player of Elk, a .hacker like he was. That was the last proof they had since two others, Innis and Gorre, didn't follow the pattern and went to what seemed like a random player. It took awhile, but Skeith also broke the pattern by going to a random player as well. This was a disappointment to Reiko because she wanted to prove her brother right in that it would have gone to the player of Sora. Yet there was nothing in the CC Corp database that could link the two players together. So, it proved to be random with who got an Epitaph.
Then something strange happened. Shino, the Epitaph User of Innis, was PKed and sent into a coma. At that moment, Innis "jumped ship", if you will, into another player. This was strange, but not as strange as what happened to Haseo, the Epitaph User of Skeith. Somehow, Skeith was sealed without a fight. This confused Reiko greatly and made her wonder how strong of a bond could an Epitaph have with a player if one left at the sign of trouble yet another one stayed.
The five young adults sat in the waiting room. An, Mariko, and Reiko listened to Mai and Tomonari about their story of. Reiko was clearly confused as to why it was relevant to Ryou's condition. An and Mariko were shocked, but yet you could tell that they believed every word they said.
"So you see, Ryou had the same reaction to both me and Mai," Tomonari said. "At first I thought it was the fever, but for it to happen to Mai, something is connected."
"I didn't think I would have to tell you this, but Ryou has a condition," An said reluctantly. "It's called Dissociative Identity Disorder, better known as Multiple Personalities. I don't know what caused it, but Ryou is a strange case. It's like his other personality has to fight for control, which gives him headaches afterwards. Maybe it's of his past self from before the coma and amnesia."
"But we never met him before," Mai said, "yet he was sorry about something that happened to the both of us."
"He also acted strange with one of our friends he never met before, too," Mariko said.
"Would you happen to have met this friend in R:1?" Reiko asked.
"Well, yes," An answered.
"Then that has to be the connection," Reiko said. "Ryou had to have played R:1."
"Wait, he did!" An exclaimed. "I remember his parents talk about the game. Well, it was more of an argument. His father was blaming his mother for getting him hooked onto The World, thus causing his coma. When he woke up, he had no memory of ever playing the game."
"How interesting," Reiko murmured.
"Ah, I think I see Iori!" An said. "Iori!"
"Ah! An-nee," Iori said with a smile. "It's good to see you again."
"It is," Mariko added.
"Mariko-nee! I didn't see you there," Iori added. "I'm sorry,"
"Don't be," Mariko said smiling. "Ryou's room is the last door on the left."
"Thank you!" Iori said as he took off down the hall.
"Don't run Iori!" his mother yelled.
"How does Ryou know him?" Reiko asked.
"He plays The World," An replied. "Boy, he's really attached to Ryou. Even calls him 'nii-san'."
Reiko and Tomonari faced each other, both realizing the same thing. "Sakubo."
"Wait, I think I figure out our connection to Misaki-kun!" Mai exclaimed standing up. Before she could say any more, a scream came from the hallway.
"That sounded like Iori-kun!" Mariko exclaimed. Alarmed that something might have happened to either him, Kaoru, Ryou, or a combination of the three, the young adults made a mad dash to Ryou's room. They could see doctors and nurses running in and out of the room in a panic. When they reached it, what they saw did not bode well.
Ryou was fine, no changes to his condition. That was the only good thing they saw. Iori was against the wall in his mother's arms, crying. The vase he was carrying was shattered on the ground. Doctors were swarming around the unconscious Kaoru, barking orders to the nurses. A few noticed the discarded HMD near net-addict. Tomonari cursed as soon as he saw it.
"I thought you told everyone to be careful, Reiko!" he yelled.
"What are you talking about?" Reiko asked as Tomonari pulled her aside.
"The other Epitaph Users! Kaoru was Enderance!" Tomonari revealed. This made Reiko curse as well.
"He must have wanted to figure out what happened to Ryou," Reiko sighed. "You know how strong his feelings are for him in the game. But I thought he was a hikikomori."
"He is," Tomonari explained. "Like you said, his feelings for Ryou are strong. He came out here just for him. Did it before, remember?" He watched as everyone was escorted out of the room while they brought a bed so they could thoroughly examine the latest Lost One.
"I'm going to go tell Ichinose-san what happened," An said. "Mariko, could you stay here and try to help calm down Iori?"
"Of course."
He found this new World amazing with all the differences. He was currently at a large building surrounded by lava. He never took the time to take in the sites before, but now he had some time with all the running he did. The little one was safe, and that is what matters.
"Found you!" a young voice yelled as a body tackled him from behind. "You're it! : )"
"Hm? I didn't know we were playing a game," he drawled.
"Yup!" the younger voice chirped. "We're playing Hide and Seek! It took me awhile to find you."
"Oooo, one of my favorites!" he said as he released his sword, showing it to the other.
"Of course, how could I forget that?" the other asked.
"Too bad I don't have the time," he sighed. "She's catching up."
"I know," the other suddenly went serious. "Another one has fallen. Be careful. I don't want to lose you again. You're so hard to find!"
When Tsuki and Hiroshi Misaki made it to the hospital, they didn't expect the other bed in their son's room. Just like their son, the beautiful young adult was hooked up to numerous machines. A woman a few years older than they were, was sitting by the stranger's bedside, crying. There was no sign of An or Mariko.
"Oh, you must be Misaki-kun's parents," the woman said. "I'm Hanako Ichinose, Kaoru's mother."
"Ah, it's a pleasure to meet you," Tsuki said. "Ryou tells us a lot about Kaoru-kun. I'm Tsuki Misaki and this is my husband, Hiroshi."
"Nice to meet you to," Hanako said. "I hope you don't mind them sharing a room. I know Kaoru would want it that way, and I'm sure Ryou wouldn't mind."
"Not at all," Tsuki said smiling sadly. "What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Kaoru went onto The World," Hanako said softly. "I heard him talking last night about how the game might help wake up Ryou. I don't see how."
"Right, it's just a game," Hiroshi said. "I still don't get how the game can cause comas anyways. Not now, not seven years ago."
"You went through this before?" Hanako asked shocked. "Now that I think about it, Kaoru went unconscious for a short time seven years ago playing the game. I thought it was exhaustion."
"I guess there are things that will never be explained," Tsuki said. "Do you know if our son had any other visitors?"
"Oh, yes," Hanako responded. "Four women and a man were here before I got here with my son. I believe they were going to go to the cafeteria."
"So An and Mariko were here," Tsuki said. "I'll be right back, I just want to thank them for their support."
Elk was lonely. Mother requested that he wouldn't go to the root towns and to hide from other players. She didn't want him to attract any attention, something about him being out of place. So, Mother gave him the ability to warp to other areas without needing to go to town. Mother only had one request, find the one that would wake up the teen. She didn't give much help though, only saying that he would know who when the time came. It was time like this that he missed Mia.
It was weird. For some odd reason, he couldn't remember why Mia wasn't around anymore. Just that she was there one day, and gone the next. In fact, his memories were a little scrambled. He remembered Kite and the others, yet he couldn't remember why they played together. But he couldn't dwell on that now. Something in him told him that he had to help the teen.
"Silabus, Gaspard! Wait up!" Elk heard a boy say. He looked towards where the voice came from. A boy in dark purple with black hair and a white scarf was running towards a guy in green and a pink creature. The boy stopped and turned his head towards Elk, as if he sensed him. This made Elk panic and warped to another area.
"Hey, what's wrong, Cubia?"Gaspard asked as he and Silabus walked up to the Twin Blade.
"I felt something off," Cubia said. "There was a player over there. When he saw I was looking at him, he warped."
"That's weird," Silabus said. "There's a platform not too far from here. Why use a Return Feather?"
"No, he warped to another area," Cubia said as he closed his eyes in concentration.
"How do you know that?" Gaspard asked.
"I just do."
TBC
Random talk: To tell the truth, I had no clue what to do for the first part. So I just did some random thing that was more like me rambling. Sorry if it didn't make much sense. The title was a little random too, so I snuck that one part with the two "mystery" people. That whole scene will be explained later, so don't freak with what I'm doing. It will all make sense.
Cubia's design is based off XXXX, but the color scheme is based off him in LINK.
Until next time!
Rubi-chan, over and out!
