Author's Notes: I'm evil, truly I am. MWHAHAHAHAHA. *bides her time* Just you wait, my pretties, just you wait. ^_~

And to Ghastly One-Eyed Minno, your review was hilarious! Don't worry, Kite will soon, in your words, "lay some serious smackdown on those bloody bastards." Oh my goodness, that still has be rolling on the floor!

Enjoy.

Ende des Tages

Part 3

Balmung of the Azure Sky, Descendant of Fianna, and companion to Orca of the Azure Sea, was a man who knew all too well what it felt like to lose one's partner. Though he was no longer alone, he still felt that hollow place inside of his heart that was meant for his best friend. It constrained him while making him passionate, gave him strength but also took it away. It was a void that he could never fill on his own, and he saw that same emotional hole in Kite.

They had moved BlackRose into one of the abandoned buildings of Net Slum, Mistral providing many items such as blankets, pillows, and many special restorative items she had collected throughout The World in order to make the ailing Heavy Blade comfortable. Kite had placed her in a room all of her own, thinking to give her privacy from the curious eyes of her worried friends. The Twin Blade had admitted to Balmung that she would not want anyone to see her in such a state, and the Blademaster had to agree with him. BlackRose had never been one to show weakness if she could help it.

Her condition had steadied since he had found her on the floor of the forgotten cathedral. There was still clearly something wrong with her, her markings had changed color, and her once wine-colored eyes had turned a shade of pale gray, fully supporting her claim that all she could see were blurry colors. She could talk, though, and could walk with a bit of support. Her memory seemed to have holes in it but, all in all, she was safe again.

At least in The World.

The real player behind BlackRose was another matter. Kite had firmly stamped down any idea that she might have fallen into a coma in the real world, her character still functioning, her mind trapped in the game like the long ago Tsukasa. Balmung remembered that time well and he did not want to repeat it, and so he had agreed with Kite. Until they knew otherwise, they would assume that BlackRose's player was alright, although it was likely she had somehow been affected by what had happened to her character. Helba had berated Lios into checking into BlackRose's character data, internet connection, and even her real world condition. The System Admin had not returned with any information but he had been furious that players were hacking other players while he was on the clock. A feeling Balmung could well relate to.

He never had trusted hackers, their livelihoods dependant on the breaking of rules and the throwing away of justice. It was why he was so angry about this situation, too. PKers should not be allowed in a world that had been created for everyone to enjoy, especially not when they played games such as these with people's minds.

It just wasn't right.

"BlackRose…"

Balmung turned smoothly to find Moonstone standing in the doorway, his low voice pitched quietly so as not to draw unwanted attention to the building. Balmung motioned him inside.

"She's in there." He made a motion to the closed door behind him. "Kite's with her. She's doing a little better." More than that, he couldn't say because they simply didn't know.

The stoic Twin Blade nodded once and then reached up to untie his bandana, his silver-grey hair falling around his shoulders as he passed the cloth to Balmung.

"For her eyes," he said, before turning and vanishing into the street from which he had come. Balmung felt his eyebrows raise in surprise at the man's speed but then shoved that thought to the back of his mind as his fingers tightened around the length of orange material.

It seemed everyone was worried about her. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. After all, here he was guarding her door when neither of them had trusted the other at the beginning. Still, he had been through too much with her and Kite not to feel anxious about her condition. It was his personal mission to make sure her kidnappers did not get away with what they had done. He owed it to The World. He owed it to Yasuhiko.

He owed it to Kite.

"Still here, I see," came Helba's amused voice as she floated into the room, the glow of her wand throwing shadows across his face and glinting off his armor. Balmung made an effort to keep his face smooth. Helba had her uses, after all, despite her often superior attitude.

The Wave Master smiled as if she knew exactly what he was thinking and felt the same way about him. "And Kite?"

"He hasn't left her side. I'm not sure how long it's been since he's slept," Balmung admitted, glancing at the door. "He'll be useless if he doesn't log out soon and get some rest."

"Ahh, but would you leave if it was Orca?"

Balmung shifted on his feet but was saved from having to answer by Kite's entrance to the outer room, the Twin Blade carefully closing BlackRose's door behind him. When he looked up, Balmung could see weariness in every line of his face, his shoulders slumped with a weight he had not had before.

"Helba," he greeted, his voice rising a little as he realized what her appearance meant. "Do you have any news?"

"I've just spoken with Lios," she answered, moderating her tone a little for the distraught Bracelet Bearer. "It looks like her captors were hackers, as we had guessed, and they have rewritten a portion of her character data. We're not sure how they broke the encryption but they have implanted a bug into her files, causing the physical malfunctions we can see."

Kite was frowning. "What about the malfunctions we can't see?"

Helba tilted her head as if she were thinking. "Those are a bit more difficult. Embedded in this bug is a program that emits certain chromatic wavelength patterns, color frequencies that can cause certain effects if you view them. It's why she can't see shapes, only colors."

Balmung's voice was hard. "What kind of effects?"

Helba glanced at him. "Hypnosis, or a forced kind of unconsciousness, if you will. In the real world, BlackRose's player is probably asleep at her terminal, her mind otherwise occupied within the game. This situation is sort of a dream for her and I don't think it will result in a coma, like the others."

Kite rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "Can you fix the bug?"

"I can try, but I must tell you that undoing another hacker's work is never easy. It's often booby-trapped, and for me to go poking around in her character data might cause more harm than good." At Kite's dejected look, she continued. "If you agree, I think our best hope is to find the ones who took her and force them to reverse the changes. I will tell Lios to work on deleting the bug if he can, while I look into this 'Dixie' character. I feel that she is the key to all of this."

After a moment, Kite nodded. "Do what you think you can. I'm going to take BlackRose back to the field where we first saw that Blademaster. If he really is watching me, then he might show himself upon seeing us alone."

Balmung's brows drew together. "Are you sure you don't want company? If it's more than one person, you might need help."

Kite actually smiled. "We'll be fine. Besides, I think seeing the legendary Balmung might scare them off."

Balmung grunted disdainfully but handed him Moonstone's bandana. "A gift for her," he said. "Tie it around her eyes. It might heighten her other senses."

Kite wound the cloth around his hand and nodded.

"Well, time is of the essence," Helba said, inclining her head towards them. "I'll send word as soon I know anything." Her unseen gaze fell on Kite. "Take care in the field. We don't know their true motives yet."

"I understand," the Twin Blade answered, "but no matter what, I'm not leaving until she can log out." Kite's expression was determined and Helba could only acquiesce in the face of it.

"Then let us hurry."

* * * *

"I feel like an idiot," BlackRose complained, her voice betraying the nervousness she was trying to hide from him. To cover it, she lifted a hand to adjust the blindfold around her eyes, pulling at the heavy material. "Do I really have to wear this thing?"

He shrugged before realizing she couldn't see it. "Balmung says it might help."

She scoffed and he smiled to see her reacting with her usual spirit. "Well, if the Great and Powerful Balmung says so…"

He squeezed her hand and moved closer to her side, allowing her to use him as a guide. "Come on, it's just a little further."

BlackRose looped her arm around his and let herself be led along to the hill where they had been resting hours before, her steps slow and careful as she walked, complete trust in him not to let her trip. When they got to their spot, he kneeled down, pulling her with him and then reaching up to help her sit next to him. Once she was settled, he pulled out Nil & Despair and laid the twin daggers in the grass beside him, within easy reach. It was better to be prepared when the time came.

His partner must have heard the ring of steel because her head turned and her fingers tightened in his. "Do you think you'll need them?" Her voice was quiet and unafraid, and he wished he could have looked into her eyes just to see what she was thinking.

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "I hope not."

She didn't answer and he tilted his head to look at her, finally able to admire without worrying about getting run through by her sword, or worse yet, lashed by her sharp words. He had always thought she was beautiful, ever since that first day in Mac Anu when she had snapped at him for staring. And though he knew BlackRose was just a digital illusion created by her player, he had a feeling that the real world BlackRose was just as beautiful, inside and out.

"Geez," she suddenly moaned, "I can't tell if you're staring at me or you've fallen asleep. Would you say something already?"

He felt a blush stain his cheeks and was once again grateful she couldn't witness it. "Uhm… I was staring."

"You…," she stuttered, but words seemed to desert her in the face of his truthfulness and she closed her mouth, her lips thinning as she pressed them together.

And all of the sudden, Kite felt his body still, his mind completely focused on her, a certain pleasant heaviness in the center of his chest that made him lean forward, a hand reaching out to cup the side of her face. To his surprise, she seemed to feel something too, because she leaned against his hand, her head tilting and lips parting slightly.

His body temperature rose five degrees as he let himself be drawn towards her, completely helpless to control himself. He knew what was going to happen, knew there was a million rational reasons he should probably stop it, but there was one burning reason for him to let it happen.

He wanted to.

And, closing his eyes, Kite surrendered.

His mouth covered hers in a kiss so gentle, it was like a feathery touch of wings, her lips soft and pliant against his. The petals behind the thorns. He felt her fingers thread through the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him closer, but his mind was whirling too fast to notice much more.

Including the sounds of footsteps in the grass.

Instead it was BlackRose, with her sharpened hearing, who broke the kiss and threw herself at him, pushing him backwards as a spear embedded itself into the ground where he had just been, its shaft vibrating from the force of the throw.

Finally realizing their danger, he rolled to the side, placing BlackRose behind him as he reached over and hefted Nil & Despair into his hands, pointing one of the blades at the approaching figures, one bearing the weapon of a Blademaster.

"We didn't think you would come back here," the Blademaster said, icily. Behind Kite, BlackRose stiffened at the familiar voice and he knew these were the ones behind her abduction. "And we certainly didn't think you would bring her here."

"I guess we surprised you then," Kite answered, tightening his grip on his daggers. Then the second figure stepped up and Kite recognized her as the player who had been PKed in front of them, prompting BlackRose's battle with the girl's partner. Kite shook his head, finally disgusted. "You had it all planned out from the beginning."

The Long Arm smiled prettily and nodded, obviously pleased with herself. "We knew your so called 'high ideals' would never let you stand by why someone got killed, but we also knew that your partner was more hot headed, and would probably react first." The girl smirked. "As you can see, we guessed correctly."

"Why?" Kite asked, "Why did you do it? Why her?" BlackRose's fingers tightened on his sleeve.

"To hurt you," the Blademaster answered, his dark eyes flashing. "Revenge for what you did."

Kite could physically feel the situation sliding out of his grasp. "I don't know what— "

"ENOUGH!" the Blademaster snapped, lifting his sword. "I've had enough of your excuses. I've come for Dixie's justice, and I'm going to have it no matter what."

"I don't want to fight you," Kite said firmly, "but if we must, I would ask that you leave BlackRose out of this." He glanced at the small Long Arm. "No matter what you think I've done, she's innocent."

The Blademaster and his partner exchanged glances.

"If you manage to beat me, Fantasia will give BlackRose the quarantine code for the bug she has inside of her," the Blademaster conceded finally. The Long Arm next to him bowed in acknowledgement. "We didn't want to hurt her in the first place, but it was the only way to show you we were serious."

Kite's jaw tightened. "I got the message."

The Blademaster beckoned. "Then come, and let us end it."

To be continued…