A/N: I have an evil plan to save the world for every man! ...Nonetheless... I'm still very proud of the last chapter, 'cause I have no life. Sigh. Well...here's the next part of Named By Submission. Enjoy the show...well...per se, it's not a show, but...that's a technicality. Read damn you.

LOOK! IT'S HELBA, EVERYONE'S FAVORITE INTERNATIONAL HACKER WITH A SCARY CHARACTER DESIGN!

In this chapter, Helba explains stuff. Which is good, in case you haven't played the games. If you do know about Data Bugs and whatnot, then you can stare vacantly at the text, then you can impale the author on a pointy stick... This is mainly an explanatory chapter, which means not much fun. Oh well...

The worlds of the show and the game collide! Difference being? Since Sora's already awake...well, shit will happen! PREPARE FOR MINOR SPOILERS, BUT MOSTLY IT'S ALL ALTERED TO FIT THE PLOT. WOOHOO! DON'T HURT ME!

Disclaimer: I don't own .hack, the concepts related to it, or any of the songs I use as openings for that matter.

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Chapter 8: Access to Relapse Denied

Your anger don't impress me
The world slapped in your face
It always rains like hell on the loser's day parade
See, you'd love to run home, but you know you ain't got one
That you're living in a world that you're best forgotten
When you're thinkin' you're a joke, and nobody's gonna listen
To the one small point I know they've been missing 'round here
 Broadway - Goo Goo Dolls

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Tsukasa and Bear merely paused, then raised an eyebrow, the dominant emotion being puzzlement. No matter how familiar with the subject, poor Tsukasa/Annako knew nothing... Yet BT immediately stood stiff and rigid, expression brittle with the deepest concern; her staff was hoisted and tilted at her side, as if ready to zap the hacker in front of them into oblivion should she say something displeasing.

The elder Wavemaster spoke, valiantly trying to keep the waver out of her voice. "Are you serious? In what context do you say 'move'?"

"Quite." Helba said shortly and curtly. Her usual clever expression had faded, leaving the remains of a grimace. Her head moved ever so slightly, allowing ample time for Tsukasa to figure out she was staring at him. "You're lucky you woke up sooner then she had hoped," she said, bowing once more as a means to express respect and gratitude to whatever outside forces prevented further threat. Her pose didn't remain that way for more then a second, and she snapped back to attention, coldly stating: "Sora was not as lucky." She cleared her throat, preparing to deliver some supposedly life-threatening news:

"The power of the phase Skeith's data drain has pulled a piece of Morganna Mode Gone's data into the real world; into the mind of the unlucky recipient. A small ring of hackers I have met on occasion have called it a 'Virus'." She paused for a second and looked at BT, who nodded slowly, confirming her comprehension. Then, Helba continued. "I am...unsure whether or not Morganna knows her voice has cultivated itself in the minds of comatose and amnesiac players.

"But she is growing stronger. Little by little, she has sent Skeith to players who have encountered a Data Bug...

"Be it a glance or a confrontation, messages on the boards regarding the 'disjointed fiend' have multiplied. Although the administrators continue to delete them, players and hackers insist on being heard...word is spreading fast. Even well-known players...Balmung of the Azure Sky included, enraged by the...loss...of his partner...insist on quarantining the sighting areas."

BT seemed to fully understand, and she nodded quickly, fidgeting in place.

Cat PC... Both Bear and Tsukasa winced visibly, but nothing was said. "Hold the phone," Bear interrupted hastily, shaking his head and holding up one hand to halt the cryptic code Helba seemed to be speaking in. "Who's Morganna? And is the cat PC..." He trailed off. The second question would not be answered, however. Not for a while.

BT and Helba stared at Bear. Bear stared at Helba. BT raised an eyebrow at Helba. Helba stared at BT. Tsukasa stared at BT. BT frowned at Helba. Helba stared at Tsukasa. BT tucked her staff under her arm. BT made quotation marks with her fingers.

"'Mother.'" It was abridged; it was sufficient. Tsukasa's pupils shrunk considerably as the eyelids parted in alarmed recognition.

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Annako shrank back from the monitor, as if repulsed by it; she stood and nearly tumbled backwards, knocking the chair over in her blindness. Her usually clandestine expression, somewhat shaded by the visor perched on her ears and masking her eyes, was wrought with a sort of isolated fear; the former problem was solved, as she flung the visor as far from her as possible and dashed to Sora's room, where a boy lay sleeping on the bed, cheeks stained with tears and hands washed of blood.

Ryo did not do the same, a small part of his senses not quite numbed and still seeking information. That which, of course, could only be retrieved from the two sly femme characters he was consulting. "Annako-chan, wait!"

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As if speaking to no one, the character Bear craned his shoulder and yelled something nearly inaudible. The image of Tsukasa flickered for a moment, and then remained stagnant and unblinking. She must have ran, BT thought with a glum expression, bowing her head. There were very few moments in which BT was sympathetic, and this was probably among the scarcity as she held more knowledge of the daunting voice then Tsukasa's own...well, "father".

The Blademaster's head turned back around slowly, eyes grief-stricken. Resolve steely now in an effort to save his daughter and to not fail his new son, he spoke, voice stern: "I want everything that Helba told you--" he pointed to BT "--reiterated for me."

For perhaps the first time in the ex-Wavemaster's "play time" in The World, Helba appeared unsure. And she cleared her throat, and she spoke.

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Helba & BT's Information - Ryo Sakuma

·".hackers" - two players recently registered to The World--a Twin Blade, Kite, and a Heavy Blade, BlackRose. Kite possesses Bracelet of the Twilight.
·Bracelet of the Twilight - the AI Aura gave this to Kite. can data drain--in other words, can do to monsters (people?) as what happened to Sora. Twilight--The World "apocalypse"
·Skeith; Phases - Skeith, summoned by in-game AI Morganna; one of the phases in the Epitaph ordered to bring destruction on The World. data drained Sora 6 months ago. phases--parts of the Epitaph of the Twilight; creatures summoned by Morganna to eliminate as many threats to the Twilight as possible (?)
·Morganna Mode Gone - the voice who posed as Annako's "mother" in game 6 months ago. (voice in Sora's head???)
·Epitaph of the Twilight - programmer Harold's ("broken man") love interest's poem. consists of Twilight, apocalypse of a world; Helba, queen of darkness and Apeiron (sys admin), king of light team up against "wave" (attack of phases and Twilight wrought by Morganna)

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In Sora's room, boxes threatened to tumble from their stack yet never fulfilling the deed; a few unused paint cans lingered in the corner. Ryo had bought them while he was at school. At the bedside, Annako lingered in a chair, hands clasped and gently rocking back and forth to a rhythm in her head; her usually whimsical expression had been replaced by fear and worry. She possessed perhaps one of the greatest fears of Morganna and all related concepts...

Even then, Annako was deathly aware that she didn't know the half of it. It was a bitter thought, and suddenly she wished her actions weren't quite as impulsive.

He's so small.

The floppy-haired boy twisting in bed before her bore little resemblance to the Twin Blade she had met on the internet. More frail; there were scars of various shapes and sizes riddling his skinny arms, and the splotched remains of an unhealed bruise on his shoulder. The teenage girl extended one hand to clasp around his smaller one, noting the uneven nails that appeared to have been chewed on at some point in his life, and the specks of dirt that collected underneath them.

...needs food.

She allowed herself a small smile, brushing a bit of hair away from his eyes in a motherly fashion. And a shower. His hair is greasy...

"Annako," the voice of Ryo called out from the doorway; softly yet audibly. He edges in and shuts the door behind him, despite the lack of light in the small room. "This place is a mess..." he murmured sheepishly, glancing at the stacked boxes. He looked at his daughter and winced at the steely-cold look on her face. "Oh...yes. There are a few players with whom we should make contact," he paused, "if we are to help Sora."

"Who are they?" she asked softly, not bothering to look up and instead focusing on how Sora tossed around in his bed.

"A Twin Blade by the name of Kite, and a Heavy Blade named BlackRose..."

"Ready when you are..." Annako slowly stood up, releasing her grip on Sora's scar-laden wrist.

Ryo nodded haphazardly and silently headed out of the room.

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A/N: Woo! So uneventful! READ! REVIEW! LEAVE!