Disclaimer: I do not own .hack//SIGN or any of its characters. All I own is my thoughts and my own original character Lain Auska X. Oh and I would just like to correct an error, which I think I fixed… Lain is seventeen when she's in the 'Crazy house'. I mean it just wouldn't make since if she was ten in the Mental Hospital and seventeen in the game, now would it? Umm… thanks for being supportive and stuff. I'm glad people seem to be enjoying it. Keep reading please!

.hack//SIGN

Episode Four: Found to Only Be Captured

Saga: Born from Darkness

"What the heck? Were am I?" Lain asked allowed looking around the new server she had just appeared in. "How did I get here? Where are Tsukasa and Sora? And what happened back there? In that dungeon? Why was I in so much pain? It felt as if I was…dying…"

Lain sighed and then shock her head vigorously. She couldn't have those thoughts crossing her mind right now, what she really needed to do was find Tsukasa. But where was he? And would it be that easy to find him? She didn't have his E-mail so she couldn't just meet up with him somewhere. She had to go search for him or he had to contact her. But why hadn't he done it now? He had her mail address. Was he in trouble? Did he die also?

"No, no, no, no, no," Lain said shacking her head again. "Of course he didn't die. But the question is….where is he?"

She sighed again and then took a closer look at the server she was in. She hadn't realized it before but this server, it was so strange. As if it were different from the others she had visited. As if it had some unknown presence to it. No. There she went again, trying to get herself all worked up and scared. She had to stop thinking like this. She was fine and she was going to find Tsukasa soon.

She nodded her head and then smiled. Of course she would! What was stopping her!?

Lain took a step forward on the stone bridge that was connected to the huge castle she was on. She continued walking on it until she was at halfway. Someone was calling out to her. It was a man's voice. Someone she hadn't heard before. Someone new. Would this person help her find Tsukasa?

"I said halt!" he shouted out to her again. "Stay where you are!"

"Huh?" Lain replied turning around to face him. It was a male player. He had green-blue hair and sharp yellow eyes. His weapon was a Naginata[1]. His kimono was red and outlined in gold. The top of his kimono was cut down the middle to reveal his chest, which had the games markings on it in a light blue. His shoes were white and he was starring at Lain with a sly look.

"You Lain, huh?" he asked giving her a strange look. "For some reason I thought you might be armored and more jumpy. You seem to be taking this breakout of Tsukasa very lightly. Hey… where is he anyway?"

"Who are you!?" Lain asked now frowning at him. She reached for her sword and stopped halfway when she saw him start to get into a battle position. "What do you want!?"

"Me?" he asked looking at her blankly and then smiled. "Crim. And I'm here to take you back to Subaru. She's not to happy with you at all Lain. She wants you and Tsukasa in her possession. It would sure make us happy if you came quietly, without a fight."

"I don't do requests," Lain replied pulling out her sword and then pointed it at him. "What does Subaru want us?"

"That's for you to find out!" Crim shouted out charging at her. His weapon was up at his side. He flung it down on Lain who blocked it with a quick movement of her sword.

Whoa! How did I get so fast! I've never been able to fight like this before! It's as if my sword is acting for me! Against Sora I would have already lost! Is it possible that this player is weaker than Sora!? All these thoughts ran though Lain's head as she blocked more of Crim's attacks on her. Would she win? She didn't know. All she could do was hope.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tsukasa looked over to Sora still shocked at what had just happened. Lain had disappeared only a few minutes ago, leaving her bloody mess behind. Had she died? Or been deleted perhaps? No not deleted. Subaru would have gotten rid of him too, but he was still here, so that meant that Lain was still alive in this game.

"Where did she go?" Sora asked looking at the bloody puddle that was all they could see left behind by Lain. "She couldn't have just disappeared without you. What were you two planning? Is this some sort of show? Cause I don't like it."

"It's not a show," Tsukasa replied looking at Sora still. "She…I don't know why…she died in the game."

"Has she now?" Sora replied with a faint grin on his face. "Where has she gone?"

"How would I know?" Tsukasa answered. "No one really knows where people appear when they die. It all starts at random in front of the chaos gates. You should know that. You are a player."

"Must have slipped my mind," Sora said shrugging it off. "Are you going to look for her?"

"Oh course," Tsukasa said. "Why wouldn't I? I have to. I mean shouldn't I?"

"I guess," Sora replied shrugging at that too. "It all depends on what you want to do. Me on the other hand. I think I'll just run off. I'll show up again when you find her. I have my own business to do."

"Really?" Tsukasa said annoyed with him now. "You seemed to be interested in her earlier. Now you don't want to look for her? What a good friend you are."

"Quite touchy where it comes to her with you," Sora said laughing a little. He ignored his anger and smiled at Tsukasa. "I am in a way looking for her. I'm going to log out and do some more research about the two of you. Get a better grip about what happened. What put you two into the coma. When I find out more you'll here from me." He waved at Tsukasa and then exited the field.

"What a jerk," Tsukasa said sighing. "I don't know why Lain even bothers to talk to him. He's just a waste of her time… But then again it's her decision. She can do what she wants. I have no control over her." He sighed again and then exited the field. He was going to go to all the fields that he would suspect her to be in.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lain looked down at Crim who was now on the ground. She was over him with her sword pointed at his face. She took no notice to his panicked stricken face and heavy breathing. All she wanted to do was leave this server and go find Tsukasa. But she had this problem to take care of first. All though, she was quite proud of herself. She had managed to beat another player for the first time in a battle.

"What are you planning on doing?" Crim asked her not moving a muscle. "Why haven't you disconnected me yet? Killed me?"

"I'm not a ruthless as Sora," Lain replied shrugging her shoulders, but still wasn't taking her eyes off of him. "Killing other players isn't my thing. It's like killing a human being in real life right? Or at least it would feel like that to me. Monsters on the other hand are a different story though."

Crim looked up at her an laughed a little. "Kid. Your not as bad as Subaru said you were," Crim said now smiling at her. "She said you were some sort of ruthless human being or something. Ignoring game rules and everything. Is it true though that you can't log out. Like Tsukasa."

"Yeah," Lain replied looking a little grave. "Look I'll remove my weapon from you and let you stand up if you don't try to attack me again."

"Fine with me," Crim replied. "Not that attacking you would do any good. Since you have already proven that you're the stronger out of the two of us. You should use your abilities for good. Join the Crimson Knights or something."

"Isn't that I little old fashioned?" Lain asked raising her eyebrow at him. "Not that that wouldn't be a good thing and all…it's just that the Crimson Knights are after me, remember? Didn't Subaru send you to get Tsukasa and me? I would have thought though that you would have had backup here or something. What are you planning against me now?"

"Nothing. Honestly," Crim said as she removed her weapon from his face and sheathed it. She steeped out of his way a second latter to let him stand up. He did with ease and stretched a little. "I'm not with the Knights anymore. I quite. I just do favors from Lady Subaru right now. Do you know Sora? Heh, he also said the same thing when I asked him why he doesn't join the Crimson Knights."

"Oh, that jerk," Lain replied frowning. "Yeah, but I'm actually sorry that I ever met him. All he's been is a problem for me. Since the first time I met him."

"Has he now?" Crim asked sighing. "He's like that with everyone so don't get to down. What are you planning on doing now?"

"Nothing much," Lain replied shrugging her shoulders and giving him an innocent look. "I got separated from Tsukasa not to long ago. I have to go and look for him."

"You don't know where he is?" Crim said looking a little disappointed. "Lady Subaru's not going to be to happy with me. I managed to let you escape and never found Tsukasa."

"Sorry about this and stuff," Lain said yawning wildly as if she was bored. "You can tell her something if you don't mind being a message boy. Tell her that I'll met up with her only if she promises she will take Tsukasa and me off her wanted list. We'll disappear after I have a conversation with her. Can you do that for me?"

"Sure why not?" Crim said grinning at her. "At least I have something to tell her now. She won't be very pleased with what you have to say but it is something."

"Well I'll see you around then, Crim," Lain said waving at him. "Try not to let her get you too down." She grinned at Crim and then exited the field still waving good-bye at him.

"She's a funny character," Crim said grinning still. "It wouldn't be too bad to be teamed up with her. Hopefully we'll met up again one day in this game."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"She's nowhere!" Tsukasa cried out frustrated. He had managed to search all the fields that he and her had ever entered to find absolutely no trace of her. He sighed and then frowned.

Right now he was in the dungeon like castle that he had shown Lain his very first time around the world with her. He was standing in front of the stain glass window with the angel on it. He was looking up at the light that was streaming though, while thinking about what he should do next.

"At this rate I'll never find her."

"Find whom?" a girl's voice said behind Tsukasa. She sounded confused but yet happy as if she had finally found something. "Don't tell me you've been looking for me the whole time, Tsukasa. I found you on my first try even."

"Lain!?" Tsukasa shouted out spinning around to face her. She was smiling brightly at him. He was so revealed to finally have found her or more likely she had found him. Tsukasa ran over to her still grinning. "What happened to you!? Where were you!? I looked everywhere! I couldn't find you! And to think you would just run into me!"

"Yeah, I guess that happened," Lain said grinning at him. "So you've been looking for me have you?"

"For like ever," Tsukasa replied still smiling at her. "But what I don't understand is why you disappeared. Did you log off the server on us?"

"No. I died," Lain said sure of what she had said.

"What happened to you?" Tsukasa asked. "You were in so much pain. You were bleeding so badly."

"I was reliving a bad memory. It came back to me. It was how I first played this game, like a few weeks ago I think," Lain said looking a little confused. "Tsukasa. Have you ever died in this game?"

"A few times," Tsukasa replied frowning a little. "It was only because I didn't want to use my guardian or I got a surprise attack and didn't realize what was happening until the last moment."

"What is it like?"

"It's not painful for me."

"It's not?"

"Yeah. It's like when someone you don't know sneaks up behind you and says guess who. You don't know what's going on though. Your scared, and it gets so cold. It's not painful though. It's like waking up from a bad dream. You don't remember a few small things though. I guess unimportant stuff sort of leaves you. Was it like that for you?"

"No. You heard me, right? I was in so much pain. It was I was reliving what happened to me when I first met Mitski. I hope I never meet her again. I don't want anything else bad to happen. But it's not that I'm too happy being stuck in this game. I'm happy to be with you and everything. It's just I'd like to go back to the real world for once. I miss stuff that you can only do there that you can't do here."

"But you can do almost everything here."

"You can?"

"Yeah. You have all your senses. You can feel, hear, smell, and taste. You can do all of that."

"I know. But it's just so strange here. It's just not the same for me. This is all so new, even though I've been here for a while. I guess I'm still trying to get used to it and everything."

Tsukasa just looked up at her blankly. Did she miss that ludicrous world so much? Why? All he knew about it from her was that it had cased her pain, just like him. Why would she want to go back if she was just going to be put back in that pain again? Wouldn't she rather stay here with him? Be happy for once? If not happy… then at least not sad or lonely?

"But then again I don't know. I might not want to go back. Even though it's nice to have a goal though. Maybe if we found a way out…would you log off…Tsukasa?"

"No."

"Why not. Surly you must miss some of the real world. I mean it wouldn't be to grand to just spend the rest of your life in a coma playing this game."

"I don't care though. I just don't want to go back."

"Oh."

"Yeah…"

"What happened to Sora? I thought he might have come with you to annoy me some more…"

"He logged off the game. He went in search for more information about us. He told me that when he found out more he would contact us…"

"I guess that's alright. I just hate having him know more stuff about me than I do. It's sort of creepy…ya know?"

"Yeah I can see it from that point."

They both laughed a little and then smiled at each other.

"So what do we have planned for today?"

"Anything you want. I've thought of nothing so far."

"How about we go and see Bear and Mimiru?"

"Mimiru?"

"Don't tell me you guys are still mad at each other. Look, just forget what happened. If she really wanted you to have been captured on purpose she wouldn't have been worried about you. She sounded as though she was. I'm sure that this was all just a miss understanding. It's in the past and now this is present. You should be trying to look into the future to figure out what were going to do next?"

"Yeah. I guess your right."

"Well then lets go!"

Tsukasa smiled at her again slightly and then exited the field along with her. They both reappeared in the field at the docks. As soon as they were up on the mountain they saw Bear and Mimiru looking horrified. As if something bad were going to happen.

"What the?" Lain said noting their horrified expressions. "What's wrong with you guys?"

"Lain! Tsukasa!" Mimiru exclaimed. "Get out of here! Subaru and the Knights are here to capture you again! They wouldn't let us E-mail you to warn you! Get off of this server."

"That will be enough Mimiru," Subaru said steeping forward.

How had Tsukasa and her have missed Subaru and her knights? How had the two of them not been able to see her!? Everything was going to go wrong again! Didn't she tell Crim that she wanted to be put off the wanted list!?

"Look I'm really sorry about this," Crim said steeping out from behind the knights. "I tried to talk Subaru out of this but then again it's not my decision. But then again Lain… you get part of what you asked for. You are going to talk to Subaru."

Lain just glared at Crim angrily. She picked up her sword and sheath and threw it down on the grass in front of her. She rose her hands into the air and grinned faintly at the knights.

"What are you doing Lain!?" Tsukasa cried out not following her actions.

"Drop your weapon, Tsukasa," Lain said not taking her eyes off of the Knight, Subaru and Crim. "They have us out numbered. We might as well come as she asks. I mean I do want to talk to her after all."

"But-," Tsukasa began and then stopped when Lain cut him off.

"Just drop your weapon. You'll get it back soon," Lain said.

Tsukasa didn't reply to her. He threw his rod up by Lain's sword and looked at Subaru with complete hatred.

"So what are you going to do with us?" Lain asked now looking at Subaru with hatred along with Tsukasa. "If you delete us then your only committing murder. We are in coma's after all." Lain laughed a little but didn't take her eyes off of Subaru.

"How dare you talk to Lady Subaru like that!" the Silver Knight yelled at Lain drawing his sword and pointing it at her.

"Hey you shouldn't try and attack an unarmed player," Lain said shrugging her shoulders at him. "Wouldn't that make you just as bad as Sora?"

"Arrest her," Subaru said angrily. "Her and Tsukasa."

"Hey you can't do this!" Lain screamed out angrily as the knights stepped forward and walked over to Lain and Tsukasa. "This is just wrong! I've done nothing wrong! Getting Tsukasa out of your dungeon was probably the best thing I did for him! You wouldn't listen to what he said! You wouldn't believe what he went though! YOUR NOT LISTENING TO ME!"

Two of the knights steeped forward and grabbed Lain around the arms. They seemed to be taking no notice to her struggles and screams of anger at Subaru and Crim.

"TSUKASA!" Lain screamed out in panic as she was forced to leave the field with the two knights.

Tsukasa stood there shocked as two more knights took a hold of him with out any effort. He just stood there motionless. Lain had managed to leave him again. Would he ever see her again? Or was she gone forever? What where they going to do to her, and more likely him?

Naginata[1]: A Japanese polearm weapon similar to a halberd.

                Well this chapter is over. Stay tuned for the next. Review and tell me what you think. Would like to know anything that would help make this story better. Like if you have any comets on how to improve my writing and stuff…. Well read the fifth chapter when it comes up…