hackEVA: Catharsis Chapter 47: Interlude: Das Wandern, an Evangelion + .hack/SIGN Crossover fanfic

.hack/EVA: Catharsis: Das Wandern

Disclaimer: In this universe in the quantum foam, I do not own or in any way shape or form hold a claim to the .hack series or Neon Genesis Evangelion (or of course, any other GAINAX series I might reference here).

" " denotes speech

'italics' denotes thought

'bold' denotes location names

'bold italics' denotes skill use

Overture

He stood alone in an open gazebo outside the grand citadel of Hy Brasail, the great Isle of Kings, blue hair and silver robes rustling in the wind as he looked out across the moonlit sea, drinking in the sight of the twinkling lights of the Eternal City. His eyes were clouded with thought and fatigue, as the events of the turbulent day finally took their toll, and at the last he sighed, pondering what had transpired.

'I fought a desperate battle in the Arena, not for the adulation of the crowd, or for praise, but because it was something I had to do. I won, but what did I really achieve, and at what cost? This victory seems all too…hollow.'

Earlier in the evening, after the fierce title match against the AIDA-PC Eris, he had been crowned Emperor of the Holy Palace, hailed as a legend who surpassed ordinary men and understood the meaning of power, a hero who had vanquished the great avatar of discord and fear. Skari didn't especially feel like a hero, as in his heart he knew that this small spot of hope was but the beginning of a much wider conflict.

'Pawns in a game of chess, under the command of the white-clad Queen of the Dark,' he mused, clutching his right forearm, where the Bracelet sat invisible. 'Though at least I have my own mind, and I was not as lost in my hate as Asuka, as I know full well what that can lead to in the end, as the AIDA have shown me.'

In the end, he had only won because Eris' AIDA storm triggered something within him, causing him to shift into the berserker B-ST form, a job extend that defied the parameters of the system, surpassing even the power of a fully unsealed AIDA-PC.

'If not for that…I might well have become a Lost One…yet I press on, no matter what the cost will be, because the only thing I can do is keep on moving forward, one foot on the path of light, the other in the deepest black, as I walk the path of the twilight spiral. Onward I must go, despite the risk, despite the danger, if only for the sake of everyone else, for I am void.'

Maybe that was why the Adept Rogue had exiled himself to this place, while others talked and celebrated in the distance, so as to gather his thoughts, steeling himself for what was to come.

Clip-clop-clip-clop! Came the sound of quiet footsteps from behind him, as the azure-haired Skari turned about in curiosity—coming face to face with a tall steam gunner dressed in mostly in blue and white, with traces of leather scattered through his outfit, a long, flowing scarf, orange sunglasses—and a huge metal cylinder around his left arm.

"Should the star of the party be in a place like this?" the enigmatic one spoke, as he approached the new Emperor.

"You…" Skari whispered, eyes flashing with suspicion as the Bearer of the Bracelet recalled the last time he had seen the other. "What are you up to in this place?"

'More importantly, why is an AIDA-PC giving help to someone fighting AIDA?'

But Ovan merely chuckled, moonlight glinting off his orange sunglasses as he looked over the boy, then walked past him to glace out over the sea.

"My name is of no consequence, and is it not right to congratulate to the Emperor of the Holy Palace, Dark Evangel?" the man said gently, "As I am the one who saved your life, I simply wished to see what you had done, while living on borrowed time."

Skari frowned slightly, the winds picking up with a slight chill around him as he did so.

"…what do you mean borrowed time?"

"Oh? Could it be that you do not know?" the other asked distantly, still facing away even as his words drew in the Adept Rogue. "That you live on despite your wounds, despite the darkness inside your heart—that life is a gift of the twilight goddess."

"A…gift? You mean the…"

"The bracelet, the same power as is borne by…the pursuers," the Steam Gunner commented, smirking slightly. "Some have said it to be one of the many forms of the great Key of the Twilight."

"Key of the Twilight…well, Reimeiki-chan did call it the Twilight Bracelet…but…'

"…what exactly is the Key of the Twilight?"

Skari heard a simple 'hmm' from the other, and raised an eyebrow, critically regarding the strange man's back. In stature, the white-robed steam gunner seemed very composed, almost gentle, but there was a strange air about him, very much like his father had been.

"Why, it is said to be the greatest treasure in the world," Ovan responded in measured tones, looking over his shoulder to meet the boy's gaze. "A mythical item said to be an all powerful key that could grant the possessor any wish…as it has granted to wish of the goddess to protect you from the AIDA lurking within you."

'AIDA…does he mean…'

The Adept Rogue froze, eyes narrowing as he thought back to the end of the match, when he had summoned…

"Yes, I see you understand…your avatar, the angel of light you summoned to defeat Eris, was an AIDA itself," Ovan continued, a strange smile playing on his lips. "AIDA Victorian, to be precise, the one referred to as Conqueror. A great irony, is it not, that the avatar of the Slayer of Angels is itself a divine messenger?"

'Wait what? I'm an AIDA-PC? But that would mean…'

"…if I'm an AIDA-PC, why haven't I been corrupted by it, like Eris?" the Dark Evangel countered, a reasonable question to ask in times such as this. "For that matter, why haven't you, since you have AIDA hidden within your arm?"

'That's right, he's an AIDA-PC, so why is he telling me this? More than that…why is he helping me? The other AIDA-PC's I know of were either homicidal or wracked with pain…could it be that the cylinder is…?'

The Adept Rogue directed a meaningful glance at the locked metal cylinder upon Ovan's arm, the one he had seen crash to the ground at Θ Sickened Imprisoned Fallen Angel when the Steam Gunner had appeared, releasing from confinement an immense blade of liquid darkness that had ripped apart the AIDA-Monster that had threatened his life.

"It is because I am like you," the Epitaph User replied cryptically, turning from the harbor view to face the Dark Evangel. "You see, I, too possess the blessing of the Twilight Goddess, in the form of a portion of the Will of Morganna."

'The will of…Morganna? What does she have to do with…?'

"Morganna…?" Skari breathed softly, the name coming out with an almost reverent hush. "As in the Shadow Warlock? What does Morganna have to do with this?"

Behind the nearly opaque lenses of orange sunglasses, the eyes of Ovan revealed nothing, as the strange man stood there silently, like a sentinel watching for a coming storm on the horizon.

"Yes, I suppose that is indeed the guise the goddess of dusk wears in this new world," the Steam Gunner acknowledged neutrally, betraying no sign of what he felt. "In the old, she was the mistress of eight powerful avatars with whose will she brought The World to twilight, and then again to dawn, when Aura took her place. You who know of the Epitaph may be familiar with their names…I, for example, am the wielder of Avatar Corbenik, the Epitaph User called 'The Rebirth.'"

"Corbenik?" the Adept Rogue hissed, startled into a guard position. That was indeed a name he had heard of in the past, only in association with the… "…the last Phase of the Cursed Wave? The Blessed Body that arrives from deep with the void?"

"The very same, for you see, each of the eight Phases formed a fragment of the divine will of Morganna, the very power which holds sway over the network," the Steam Gunner explained, voice a melodic lull that sought to set its listener at ease, his expression revealing nothing. "This is the truth that was discovered by the dothackers of five years ago, when her power broke before the dawn, at the birth of the Goddess that watches this World. And it is by that blessing that I control AIDA, forming the barrier about my arm to seal my mind from it, much as you have been blessed by a Child of Twilight. For the AIDA within you is a very highly evolved form of the intelligence that would have taken over the mind of anyone without the protection of the goddess, and yet, you have bound it…living on borrowed time."

'Eight Phases…the will of Morganna…dusk and dawn and twilight, as Reimeiki-chan said…but—'

Shaking his head, the Dark Evangel closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling to empty his head of thoughts, then opened his eyes again.

"What is your true purpose for coming here?" he asked, taking a step towards the Epitaph User, as he suspected that the man had not come only to chat. "Is there something you wanted?"

The Steam Gunner looked appraisingly at the Dark Evangel and nodded, as if in approval, before producing an item from his inventory, an oddly shaped bayonet that was not like any other he had ever seen before. Wreathed in azure flame, it was a strangely built gun blade inscribed with flowing silver lines that wavered as he looked at it.

"Simply to congratulate you...Emperor," Ovan replied, seemingly amused by the query. "And since we are alike, seeking to bring back the Lost, to present you with this…I am afraid it is not the Key of Twilight, but it in its own way is blessed, imbued with the dream of dusk and dawn. Take it, Dark Evangel, and may you find the path you seek in what time you have remaining before your coming reincarnation."

Handing over the item, the mysterious man vanished, leaving Skari to wonder at what he had been bequeathed.

'Saying such things, giving me a bayonet unlike others in The World, claiming to be the wielder of Corbenik…who was he?'

Aria

In the antechamber of the grand citadel of the Isle of Kings, two queens held court, speaking formally with one another as they looked out upon the world they so dearly loved, the world they had watched over for many years, each in their own way. Hacker and fallen Goddess, Queen of the Dark and Cursed Wave, for now the two worked together as one to deal with the current threat to The World, though assuredly each still had their secrets.

"So, Eris has been defeated, and the corrupted Melchior eliminated," spoke the Phantom Queen, the dark robes and silver infinity brooch she wore marking her as the Shadow Warlock known as Morganna. "It would seem that this phase of the operation has been a success."

The other, a mysterious dark-haired swordswoman in red robes, nodded, in essence agreeing, though with some reservations.

"Yes, although with the creation of AIDA-PC Aruna, Siarl had already prepared for this scenario, with either outcome likely acceptable to him," voiced the Mistress of Net Slums, the current organizer of the new dothackers. "Either way, a Child falls, and as Eris would have been soon been eliminated anyway, with the World Network Council having discovered her deeds, this incident was an opportunity that could not be wasted."

"Indeed," the fallen Goddess mused aloud, looking at her counterpart. "With Eris having joined the ranks of the Lost Ones, she cannot betray any secrets Siarl may have revealed to her, meaning that his stratagems are still unknown."

'Currently, he is a servant of both SEELE and AIDA, but then, it is not unheard of for a servant to betray a master, especially as he was compatible with Macha the Temptress, who seduces with the sweet trap. Thrice now, Macha has betrayed me, as its bearer may betray his masters…'

"For now, we have continued to gather data, observing those movements which can be tracked, using the Siarl-00 item that Lycoris retrieved, among others," the hacker queen replied in turn. "He seems to spend most of his time in secret areas, particularly in the Outer Dungeons, where in-world surveillance does not work, rising from them only to accomplish certain tasks. In The World, both Eris and Melchior were his swords their defeat, and he seems to have replaced them with Aruna."

'And I do not think either of the dothackers will be very happy at the prospect of having to fight against him—nor will the Marduk Institute, or rather, Commander Ikari, be very pleased, considering that they now lack a pilot for EVA-02. A Fifth Child will soon be selected…'

"Let us hope that Aruna will be more subtle than Eris, at least, as it would be inconvenient were the World Network Council to take note of him as well," Morganna noted, a mild frown crossing her lips. "I would confront him and cleanse him of his infection, to rid Siarl of an ally, but then, Siarl would likely resort to finding another pawn, one we may not be aware of, or one of the irregular characters. That, and it would draw unwanted attention to the numerous coma cases in Tokyo-3, something which is rather…undesirable at the moment."

The Queen of the Dark merely inclined her head in reply.

"Indeed, which is why we must continue to mask the location of the fragments of the Child of Twilight, preventing Siarl from locating them," Kaede spoke quietly but firmly. "For although she never ascended to be reborn as Aura was, she is still of the Twilight, and is the forerunner to the Goddess…as you well know, Morganna."

She spoke knowingly, remembering all too well the days when a certain nearly omnipotent AI had gone mad with power and fear, lashing out at the world in an attempt to escape her fate, to be freed of the cycle of death and rebirth.

"Yes, that is the mission you have assigned to your remaining Knight, isn't it? As it was the mission of both Casper and Balthasar, before the former had to be sacrificed in order to eliminate the most powerful of Siarl's servants—the AIDA that nearly destroyed you?" the fallen goddess asked, knowing her old enemy very well. "That is very much like you, to work from the shadows even as the dothackers steal the attention of the enemy…is that not how you fought against me all those years ago?"

Kaede turned from her companion then, taking a few steps towards the great door to the outside.

"So it is, and so it was, my dear Phantom Queen," the regal woman acknowledged quietly, locks of hair tumbling around her face as she looked down briefly. "Though I'm sure you have your own objectives to fulfill, and your own scenario, at least so far, our goals and methods are in accord."

The black-clad Shadow Warlock, fallen goddess of The World, smiled at those words as she herself headed towards the Chaos Gate nearby.

"For now yes…as our plans do involve more than just The World, don't they?" Morganna inquired, almost to herself. "Especially in the case of the Third Child…'

"Perhaps so, and perhaps not…just see to it that Fili the White finds what he seeks, as he will prove to be most useful in the trying days ahead, as 'Father' to dear Skari," the red-clad noblewoman spoke at last, heading to the door. "Our berserker is fast learning some of his unique abilities, and someone must be there to occasionally help him on his path."

"Ah yes, I do recall that match and the words that Fili spoke as Gendor," the Phantom Queen murmured approvingly, smirking. "I must say, of the phases, you are most like the Machinator, Gorre, as you are more devious than I had expected."

"Coming from you, that's quite the compliment."

Rings of azure light descended, as a heavy door swung open and closed, leaving the citadel as silent as it had once been.

Concerto

Though the crowds were long gone after the coronation ceremony, Tomoyami of the Shadow remained on the presentation platform, standing on the red carpet spread between four great pillars of marble that reached for the sky. Without her weapon and without the emotional mask she normally wore, she looked rather like anyone in The World, a simple, vulnerable player who showed no sign of being either an Arena champion, or a greatly feared Chaotic PK.

Were someone to look at her, watching the way she sighed, as her loose flowing white dress shifted fluid in the wind, with her long streaming pigtails of lustrous black hair steaming out behind her, one might even think she had lost in the Arena, as her melancholic air did not seem that of a champion.

'That idiot,' she thought to herself, shaking her head. 'When I told him to be a man, I didn't mean to take stupid risks and get himself infected with AIDA trying to be a big damn hero. From the Flash Mail that Arano sent me, I know that they went to try to find whoever it was behind these PK incidents, but why did they have to go off alone? I know he's gotten stronger after our training together, but…I never thought he would just get taken by AIDA like this. There was such pain in his eyes…it was like he could see everything he was doing, but couldn't stop it, like he was trapped inside his own mind. Can AIDA really do such a thing?'

She shook her head, idly stretching out her hand as if to grasp the very wind, feeling how its currents slipped through her fingers, like teardrops lost in the rain. How fragile even the strongest of bonds seemed sometimes, when in an instant, tragedy could strike with subtle knife, slicing away memories, self-control, reason…tearing away what made a person who he was.

'Because if I'm honest, it wasn't Eris that made Arano into a Lost One…it was Aruna, wasn't it?'

Chains of control and guilt, forcing an undesired conflict in which the stakes were the same as during the Eris conflict, but where the one controlled was patently unwilling. Tomoyami could see that clearly enough, as every move the Tribal Grappler had made was laced with frustration and regret, and thus weaker than it could have been—and yet, for all her power, she had only managed to fight Aruna to a standstill. What would happen when next they met, the girl had no idea, though she could sense the rate at which everything was spiraling out of control.

'And yet I have to face him, because I don't, he'll never be free, will he? These hands with which I've fought, with which I've touched the lives of others, and explored meanings for myself—will the strength in them be enough when he's no longer holding back?'

Clank-clank-rustle! From behind the pigtailed girl came the sound of footsteps, causing Tomoyami to whirl about to face an unshaven Steam Gunner wearing orange sunglasses, a blood red tunic, black trousers, and a flowing black overcoat.

'This man…Gendor…he fought Skari early in the Tournament, and he had Casper and Balthasar with him,' the Flick Reaper recalled, studying the other curiously. 'Could he too be one of Helba's agents? Or does he have his own agenda?'

"It does not suit such a pretty young woman to be consumed with sadness," the unshaven Steam Gunner voiced, seemingly concerned for her welfare. "Especially when one has prevailed in the Arena and fought well against a superior foe."

"You…you're the one who fought Skari as his father…Gendor, was it?" asked Tomoyami of the Shadow, recent victor of the Holy Palace Tournament. "The one who told Skari to become strong, to destroy the memory of you…"

"I am indeed. So, you remember me, although I am insignificant in the grand scheme of things," Gendor noted, shrugging expansively, a trace of something flashing through his eyes and vanishing. "So how does it feel to have survived a near-death encounter?"

"Hm?" 'How much does he know?'

"Don't bother pleading ignorance, as I am aware of the existence of AIDA, as well as the identity of the boy you faced," the rogue spy replied, his tone indicating that he was not there for his amusement today. "As I am aware of who you are, for though you call yourself Tomoyami of the Shadow in The World, in reality, you are the light, are you not?"

'I'll play along for now, that I may discover this man's objectives…'

"And what of it?" the Flick Reaper asked, responding to the question with a noncommittal other. "Am I not on self here and another there?"

"Ah, the human quality of self-deception…for you know as well as anyone else how the thesis of Hikari and the anti-thesis of Tomoyami come together in a sort of synthesis," the Steam Gunner said knowingly. "As the light, you have always been a seeker of truth, a protector of order have you not? And though you claim to serve Chaos in this guise, you continue to seek the truth."

"What is your point Gendor? I tire of this," Tomoyami uttered wearily. Indeed, the pigtailed girl was somewhat unnerved, as this intrusion had come when she was already on her last legs from exhaustion. The day had not been pleasant for her, though the over-the-top Commentator did tend to inspire a small smile here or there with his over the top remarks.

"Then I shall I ask of you, what is your essential truth?" the unshaven man inquired of her. "What is your reason for fighting and risking your life in a grand conflict? Do you believe you are fighting for something more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Is it that you fight to protect the order that you are so adamant about, the status quo, or do you as well have a sense of purpose…Fifth Child? I would ask that you discover this for yourself if you hope to achieve your aims. That is all."

Without another word, the Steam Gunner turned and walked away, leaving the pigtailed girl deep in thought on the dais.

Dithyramb

He screamed in the darkness, but no one could hear his voice, now where he was, suspended in the air, entrapped by all the evils of the world. The living shadows clustered around him, searing into his mind, reaching into his past and showing him memories of failure, memories of loss, memories of how many suffered that he could reach the place her was now.

"Well now...shall you and I play a game, Touji Suzuhara?" a strangely sibilant voice inquired from without. "Look upon yourself…and be judged!"

In his mind, the boy was chained, forced to watch again and again as he punched the Third Child, showed aggression to his friends, turned Kensuke into a Lost One, fought Tomoyami, leered at girls, and committed a thousand other violations.