Disclaimer: I don't own .hack//INFECTION, .hack//MUTATION, .hack//SIGN,
.hack//LIMINALITY ..nothing. All I can do is buy them.
Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews. ^_^ Sorry I didn't update sooner, but I'm slightly lost at how this is going to go. ...it took me about a month just to get this chapter up..
1. The original character, Shadow, only has one part in this chapter. Not a main character at all.
2. BlackRose makes an appearance in this chapter, just for a little. ^_______^ Mia is mentioned. ^___^
3. Strain yourself from killing Elk's mother. :-)
Nothing else to say at all, so READ!!!!!
"Why did Kite say that I shouldn't beat myself up? Is he mad at me?" Mumbling to himself wouldn't answer the question, as Elk knew, but he still asked himself. His mother was gone to get beer, so he assumed that he wouldn't see her for a while.
The World, his pathetic attempt to make friends, as his mother had explained. Her assumption was correct, but she didn't expect him to actually make one. Still, she believed that he would be too shy to even talk to Kite in the real world.
Mia.
He didn't say a thing to Mia, which was unusual in itself. He was beginning to see Kite more often, for some odd reason. He knew that Mia was the character he always wanted to be; she was better at social skills, she could voice her thoughts better than he could.
Elk sighed as he shifted in the uncomfortable bed he was stuck in. Was the floor more comfortable than the bed? He knew that the bed was acquired from a garage sale, and that it was very old. His mother wanted to spend more money on beer and as little as possible on him.
Shifting to his other side, his thoughts turned to Kite. Kite showed some actual affection, which kind of affection, he didn't know. He just appreciated Kite's efforts, though Kite didn't know much at all, he was the only thing that was cheering himself up.
And, Kite, he was coming soon. Tomorrow, actually. Five O'clock, to be exact. And his mother knew it. She might be the one to blow the things up, though. She probably let him invite Kite over for some reason. Her reasons qualified as having something to do with torturing him.
Burying his head in the pillow, Elk soon fell into a deep slumber. And the slumber lasted until the morning. The morning when he logged onto The World.
~*~ Aqua Capital Mac Anu. The easiest root town. And he still was strong enough to go to the Theta server. Still, training would do some good, though it was hard to train alone when you are a wave master. You have a limit to your power, unless buying many Mage Soul's, which were expensive.
So, instead of training like the usual routine, Elk decided to get a better weapon. Trading. While checking his item pack, he discovered that he indeed had some good items, most acquired from Kite. Smiling to himself, he began to browse the town for some good traders.
Shadow. Some person named Shadow. Sounded interesting, and this character looked to be at a high level. And.. Elk had never seen him before. It was a good opportunity, plus the character did have a good weapon equipped, and was a wave master.
"Hey... um... Would you like to trade?" He asked the character, in his usual shy voice. Something about the character just gave him some weird thoughts.
"No," he replied, "I don't believe you'd have anything to interest me with."
"Well... o-okay then," Elk stuttered, and then began to walk away.
"Wait," the character threw a weapon, so fast, that Elk had almost dropped it, but didn't succeed in stopping his stumbling. "Keep it; I have no use for it. Your quite amusing, and a rare sight to see, so you already paid."
Elk examined the weapon, then looked back to see that the character was gone. The weapon was indeed of his type, and by checking the status, it had some good status, and a level 2 summon. Wow, a level 20 weapon traded in for... amusing the character?
He shrugged it off though; it was better than having his old weapon. And he accomplished what he wanted; a new weapon. So, he was about to log out when...
"Hey, Elk, wanna join my party?"
It was Kite, sending this from a distance. In the Theta server. The server he wasn't strong enough to go in. Well, at least he'd get some EXP.
"um... Okay," he replied, and then ran over to the chaos gate to get into Theta. But he stopped, right before clicking in the words. What if he wasn't strong enough?
"Hurry up, Kite. Black Rose is getting impatient."
So, he punched the appropriate buttons to get to the Theta server, without any hesitation this time at all. Just regrets. He shouldn't stay on long at all; his mother would come home, sometime, a time that he wasn't informed.
Pushing it off, he appeared at the Theta server. He hadn't seen it often; he only came here to trade or to buy some good items.
Edited characters were wondering around, trading, talking, getting prepared to enter a dungeon. And one weird character that was right in front of him, right after he just got on the server. It was a good thing that he looked around before stepping in front of him, or this character would have been bumped into.
Walking off to the side in a search for Kite, Elk gave the character a glare before proceeding in his search for Kite. Searching, and not looking where he was going. Just paying attention to the left side of him.
_Bam_
He knew this would've happened. And it had to occur right now, of all times. Bumping into someone without any notice until the incident occurred. Looking up, deciding that it was best for him to apologize.
There was Kite, on the ground, in the same situation as Elk. Rubbing his head and feeling embarrassed because of what had just occurred.
"Bumped into two different people twice already," Kite mumbled, obviously recalling another time he had bumped into someone, which appeared to have been recent.
Kite finally examined the person only a few feet away from him, and immediately recognized the young wavemaster to be Elk. Since he wasn't as shy as Elk, he had gotten up first, apologized, and lowered a hand for the wavemaster to grasp.
The twin blade kept his hand extended, while the other just stared blankly at it. To reassure the wavemaster that it was all right to hold his hand, he extended it further, and did constant movements with his arm.
Finally, Elk grabbed Kite's hand and he sprang up to stare at Kite's eyes. Vice-versa with Kite.
"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. It was all my fault," Elk simply stated as he looked away from Kite's stare.
"Nah, it's all my fault; I was paying too much attention to BlackRose's lectures on impatience and to not keep a lady waiting." He chuckled, as BlackRose began to give him a death glare.
"It's impolite to talk about someone to someone else when they are standing right behind you!" BlackRose complained, and then playfully smacked Kite's elbow. "And to keep a lady waiting," she glared further at Kite.
"I'm sorry I took so long," Elk finally said, causing BlackRose to laugh.
"No, I don't blame you at all. You are too cute to argue with. Twinblade, on the other hand, just pisses me off." She began marching off to the chaos gate, in a faster pace than both Kite and Elk combined, as the both of them just trailed behind.
"She sometimes gets like that, no need to worry about-" Kite was cut off as BlackRose's super hearing turned her around to glare at him. "Well, she can't inflict any real pain here." He started to walk in a faster pace, leaving Elk to be the only one trailing behind.
"They act as if they are a married couple." Elk sighed as he thought about it. Kite would never worry about him; he had other people, who he definitely enjoyed more, and called for more often. He could never win at this competition. All he could do was come to Kite when he called him.
~*~
"B-but y-y-ou s-said h-h-he could c-come over," Elk protested against his mother, which was a poor mistake.
_Slap_
He fell to the ground against the door, venerably, unable to pose in a better landing.
"Oh, he can come over!!! Without me here, and to find you in a puddle of your own blood." And she drew out a large knife, and slashed Elk with it on the arms, hard enough to draw more than a little blood.
Elk screamed, or had tried to. That was before his mother clenched on his open neck, and began squeezing it, resulting in a bunch of coughs, appearing unstoppable.
His mother then began to take more favor in using her own fists, as she punched his stomach, kicked his stomach, and then picked him up and threw him by the door.
He trembled, he cried. Tears fell from his eyes and stained his cheeks in an unnatural red, clearly showing that he was crying. Drops fell to the floor, losing hope, as his mother attacked his legs with the knife, cutting the black pants and causing more blood to sink out from its original location.
And she laughed. Laughed at his face, only to make the pain worse. And then she took two twenty dollar bills and went outside, getting in the car, and driving in the direction of the bar.
Elk stayed on the floor, being unable to move, even though he knew that Kite was coming. Kite would find him like this! He'd ditch him for BlackRose, as she was obviously flirting with him earlier in the dungeon they went in. The thought only made Elk cry more, and he gripped him legs in a death grip, holding them close to his chest, more tears staining his cheeks. Blood being drained out of him onto the carpet.
~*~
Today was the day. Currently, Kite was walking down the street, the same street that Elk lived on, and was following the directions that had been given to him.
The thirteenth house. There it was, a pale, blue house. It was a medium size; didn't look too small or too big. But, the size of the house didn't matter, it was the person inside it.
_Knock, knock, knock_
Oh, great, no answer. Waiting two minutes, and still none. But, it wouldn't hurt if you opened the door, would it?
Entering the house, Kite could hear some sniffling. W-e-i-r-d. Well, it was that, until he began to see traces of blood on the carpet, that were still wet, leading down some kitchen and going down to what appeared to be a living room.
And the cries got louder as he approached his destination; Elk.
And when Kite finally got to the living room, he saw a figure, holding onto its legs in a death grip, crying, and spilling blood as the clock ticked. The figure noticed him immediately, and as he looked up, recognized the intruder immediately as Kite. He shook a little, but continued holding himself, crying.
As for Kite, he was speechless. That was Elk? Bleeding, crying. Appearing as helpless as he could be. He actually resembled the character he edited on The World. But, that didn't matter right now. What had happened?
Finally finding his voice, Kite released the only word he could think of, "Elk!!!" And he ran over there, going on his knees and examining the wounds on the wounded.
_+=_+=_+=_
A/N: CLIFF HANGER!!!! ^______^ I'm evil, aren't I? Well, at least I updated this chapter. I mean, this chapter is longer than the other two... I think. Well, the author's notes on this chapter were shorter than the other two. :- P
REEEVVVVIIIIIEEEEEWWWWW!!!!
Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews. ^_^ Sorry I didn't update sooner, but I'm slightly lost at how this is going to go. ...it took me about a month just to get this chapter up..
1. The original character, Shadow, only has one part in this chapter. Not a main character at all.
2. BlackRose makes an appearance in this chapter, just for a little. ^_______^ Mia is mentioned. ^___^
3. Strain yourself from killing Elk's mother. :-)
Nothing else to say at all, so READ!!!!!
"Why did Kite say that I shouldn't beat myself up? Is he mad at me?" Mumbling to himself wouldn't answer the question, as Elk knew, but he still asked himself. His mother was gone to get beer, so he assumed that he wouldn't see her for a while.
The World, his pathetic attempt to make friends, as his mother had explained. Her assumption was correct, but she didn't expect him to actually make one. Still, she believed that he would be too shy to even talk to Kite in the real world.
Mia.
He didn't say a thing to Mia, which was unusual in itself. He was beginning to see Kite more often, for some odd reason. He knew that Mia was the character he always wanted to be; she was better at social skills, she could voice her thoughts better than he could.
Elk sighed as he shifted in the uncomfortable bed he was stuck in. Was the floor more comfortable than the bed? He knew that the bed was acquired from a garage sale, and that it was very old. His mother wanted to spend more money on beer and as little as possible on him.
Shifting to his other side, his thoughts turned to Kite. Kite showed some actual affection, which kind of affection, he didn't know. He just appreciated Kite's efforts, though Kite didn't know much at all, he was the only thing that was cheering himself up.
And, Kite, he was coming soon. Tomorrow, actually. Five O'clock, to be exact. And his mother knew it. She might be the one to blow the things up, though. She probably let him invite Kite over for some reason. Her reasons qualified as having something to do with torturing him.
Burying his head in the pillow, Elk soon fell into a deep slumber. And the slumber lasted until the morning. The morning when he logged onto The World.
~*~ Aqua Capital Mac Anu. The easiest root town. And he still was strong enough to go to the Theta server. Still, training would do some good, though it was hard to train alone when you are a wave master. You have a limit to your power, unless buying many Mage Soul's, which were expensive.
So, instead of training like the usual routine, Elk decided to get a better weapon. Trading. While checking his item pack, he discovered that he indeed had some good items, most acquired from Kite. Smiling to himself, he began to browse the town for some good traders.
Shadow. Some person named Shadow. Sounded interesting, and this character looked to be at a high level. And.. Elk had never seen him before. It was a good opportunity, plus the character did have a good weapon equipped, and was a wave master.
"Hey... um... Would you like to trade?" He asked the character, in his usual shy voice. Something about the character just gave him some weird thoughts.
"No," he replied, "I don't believe you'd have anything to interest me with."
"Well... o-okay then," Elk stuttered, and then began to walk away.
"Wait," the character threw a weapon, so fast, that Elk had almost dropped it, but didn't succeed in stopping his stumbling. "Keep it; I have no use for it. Your quite amusing, and a rare sight to see, so you already paid."
Elk examined the weapon, then looked back to see that the character was gone. The weapon was indeed of his type, and by checking the status, it had some good status, and a level 2 summon. Wow, a level 20 weapon traded in for... amusing the character?
He shrugged it off though; it was better than having his old weapon. And he accomplished what he wanted; a new weapon. So, he was about to log out when...
"Hey, Elk, wanna join my party?"
It was Kite, sending this from a distance. In the Theta server. The server he wasn't strong enough to go in. Well, at least he'd get some EXP.
"um... Okay," he replied, and then ran over to the chaos gate to get into Theta. But he stopped, right before clicking in the words. What if he wasn't strong enough?
"Hurry up, Kite. Black Rose is getting impatient."
So, he punched the appropriate buttons to get to the Theta server, without any hesitation this time at all. Just regrets. He shouldn't stay on long at all; his mother would come home, sometime, a time that he wasn't informed.
Pushing it off, he appeared at the Theta server. He hadn't seen it often; he only came here to trade or to buy some good items.
Edited characters were wondering around, trading, talking, getting prepared to enter a dungeon. And one weird character that was right in front of him, right after he just got on the server. It was a good thing that he looked around before stepping in front of him, or this character would have been bumped into.
Walking off to the side in a search for Kite, Elk gave the character a glare before proceeding in his search for Kite. Searching, and not looking where he was going. Just paying attention to the left side of him.
_Bam_
He knew this would've happened. And it had to occur right now, of all times. Bumping into someone without any notice until the incident occurred. Looking up, deciding that it was best for him to apologize.
There was Kite, on the ground, in the same situation as Elk. Rubbing his head and feeling embarrassed because of what had just occurred.
"Bumped into two different people twice already," Kite mumbled, obviously recalling another time he had bumped into someone, which appeared to have been recent.
Kite finally examined the person only a few feet away from him, and immediately recognized the young wavemaster to be Elk. Since he wasn't as shy as Elk, he had gotten up first, apologized, and lowered a hand for the wavemaster to grasp.
The twin blade kept his hand extended, while the other just stared blankly at it. To reassure the wavemaster that it was all right to hold his hand, he extended it further, and did constant movements with his arm.
Finally, Elk grabbed Kite's hand and he sprang up to stare at Kite's eyes. Vice-versa with Kite.
"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. It was all my fault," Elk simply stated as he looked away from Kite's stare.
"Nah, it's all my fault; I was paying too much attention to BlackRose's lectures on impatience and to not keep a lady waiting." He chuckled, as BlackRose began to give him a death glare.
"It's impolite to talk about someone to someone else when they are standing right behind you!" BlackRose complained, and then playfully smacked Kite's elbow. "And to keep a lady waiting," she glared further at Kite.
"I'm sorry I took so long," Elk finally said, causing BlackRose to laugh.
"No, I don't blame you at all. You are too cute to argue with. Twinblade, on the other hand, just pisses me off." She began marching off to the chaos gate, in a faster pace than both Kite and Elk combined, as the both of them just trailed behind.
"She sometimes gets like that, no need to worry about-" Kite was cut off as BlackRose's super hearing turned her around to glare at him. "Well, she can't inflict any real pain here." He started to walk in a faster pace, leaving Elk to be the only one trailing behind.
"They act as if they are a married couple." Elk sighed as he thought about it. Kite would never worry about him; he had other people, who he definitely enjoyed more, and called for more often. He could never win at this competition. All he could do was come to Kite when he called him.
~*~
"B-but y-y-ou s-said h-h-he could c-come over," Elk protested against his mother, which was a poor mistake.
_Slap_
He fell to the ground against the door, venerably, unable to pose in a better landing.
"Oh, he can come over!!! Without me here, and to find you in a puddle of your own blood." And she drew out a large knife, and slashed Elk with it on the arms, hard enough to draw more than a little blood.
Elk screamed, or had tried to. That was before his mother clenched on his open neck, and began squeezing it, resulting in a bunch of coughs, appearing unstoppable.
His mother then began to take more favor in using her own fists, as she punched his stomach, kicked his stomach, and then picked him up and threw him by the door.
He trembled, he cried. Tears fell from his eyes and stained his cheeks in an unnatural red, clearly showing that he was crying. Drops fell to the floor, losing hope, as his mother attacked his legs with the knife, cutting the black pants and causing more blood to sink out from its original location.
And she laughed. Laughed at his face, only to make the pain worse. And then she took two twenty dollar bills and went outside, getting in the car, and driving in the direction of the bar.
Elk stayed on the floor, being unable to move, even though he knew that Kite was coming. Kite would find him like this! He'd ditch him for BlackRose, as she was obviously flirting with him earlier in the dungeon they went in. The thought only made Elk cry more, and he gripped him legs in a death grip, holding them close to his chest, more tears staining his cheeks. Blood being drained out of him onto the carpet.
~*~
Today was the day. Currently, Kite was walking down the street, the same street that Elk lived on, and was following the directions that had been given to him.
The thirteenth house. There it was, a pale, blue house. It was a medium size; didn't look too small or too big. But, the size of the house didn't matter, it was the person inside it.
_Knock, knock, knock_
Oh, great, no answer. Waiting two minutes, and still none. But, it wouldn't hurt if you opened the door, would it?
Entering the house, Kite could hear some sniffling. W-e-i-r-d. Well, it was that, until he began to see traces of blood on the carpet, that were still wet, leading down some kitchen and going down to what appeared to be a living room.
And the cries got louder as he approached his destination; Elk.
And when Kite finally got to the living room, he saw a figure, holding onto its legs in a death grip, crying, and spilling blood as the clock ticked. The figure noticed him immediately, and as he looked up, recognized the intruder immediately as Kite. He shook a little, but continued holding himself, crying.
As for Kite, he was speechless. That was Elk? Bleeding, crying. Appearing as helpless as he could be. He actually resembled the character he edited on The World. But, that didn't matter right now. What had happened?
Finally finding his voice, Kite released the only word he could think of, "Elk!!!" And he ran over there, going on his knees and examining the wounds on the wounded.
_+=_+=_+=_
A/N: CLIFF HANGER!!!! ^______^ I'm evil, aren't I? Well, at least I updated this chapter. I mean, this chapter is longer than the other two... I think. Well, the author's notes on this chapter were shorter than the other two. :- P
REEEVVVVIIIIIEEEEEWWWWW!!!!