.hack/SAGA
by Dessa
Disclaimer: I don't own Xenosaga nor .hack/ANYTHING. Deian is mine, though. The name "Chone" is my own, but all the other character's "game names" come from other roles that their seiyuu or voice actors have done.
Note: Most of this story will be written from Deian's POV. I'll probably write her story later, but basically, because of stuff that happened in her past, Deian doesn't talk much. When she does talk, she only talks to chaos, because he never tried to force her to talk.
Note #2: Deian is pronounced "Deh-ee-ann", so instead of writing chaos' nickname for her as "Dei", I'm putting it as "Day," which is how it sounds. "keiosu" is chaos' name in romaji, and while phonetically it sounds just like chaos, Deian pronounces it slower and with emphasis on each syllable, so I'm choosing to write it in romaji to emphasize the difference.
Note #3: This story takes place in that wonderful "nevertime" that seems to exist solely for the purpose of fanfiction. Meaning, it's sometime after the entire group gets together and the events in the Encephalon occur, but sometime before important plot points happen that may or may not separate them (I haven't played Xenosaga episode 2 yet).
Note #4: I don't know if it's just me, but descriptions of the characters' outfits detracts from the story, so the descriptions will be at the end of the chapters.
Note #5: Thank you to chibigrau from GameFAQs for getting me the German text of the Epitaph. And thanks to my friend Angie, whose translation of these lines are going to be used in place of the translation from the game, as they are better.
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Chapter 1 – Enter
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Der
Mann des Schattens, auf der Suche nach dem Abenddrachen, ist noch
nicht zurückgekommen.
Der Herd der Finsternis grollt.
Helba,
Königin der Finsternis, stellt schließlich ein Heer
auf.
Apeiron, König des Lichts grüßt sie
Und
sie treffen sich am Fuße des Regenbogens.
Die verfluchte
Welle muss gemeinsam bekämpft werden,
der See von Alba
brodelt,
der große Baum des Lichts fällt.
Alle macht
zerfällt zu Tropfen im Tempel von Arche Köln.
Wesen ohne
Schatten ihre Welt zerfällt zu Nichts.
Der Mann des Schattens
auf der Suche nach dem Abenddrachen kehrt niemals mehr zurück."
Epitaph der Dämmerung - Emma Wieland
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On the Elsa:
I stared at the Vector chief, giving her my best version of "puppy-dog eyes," waiting for her answer. After contemplating it, she finally answered.
"Alright, Deian, you can use the dive equipment. But only for a couple hours. I want to have it free when I run KOS-MOS' maintenance scans," Shion told me. I jumped up and hugged her, then ran out of the women's cabin before she could change her mind.
Impatiently, I knocked on the door to the men's cabin, waiting for a response. When chaos finally answered, he was rubbing sleep from his eyes. Seeing the excitement in me, he knew exactly what I wanted.
"Sorry, Day, but I was up all last night working, and I've gotta get caught up on my sleep. Besides, I'm not finished designing my character yet. You go on without me."
I pouted, attempting the same technique I did on Shion earlier, when she hadn't wanted to let me use the dive equipment. But chaos knew me well enough, and wouldn't let it pass.
"Day, I really can't right now. Besides, the whole point of playing the game over the UMN network is so you can meet new people. You do realize that you're going to have to speak while you're playing 'The World,' right?" He looked at me for a response, and I looked away. "Day, you understand, right?"
I looked back at him, then opened my mouth. "Hai, keiosu." He smiled back at me, then yawned. I giggled, then turned to go down to the room that had been converted to KOS-MOS' maintenance lab, where the dive equipment was kept.
I could play The World with the visor I had, sitting at a computer, but since they'd made it compatible with dive equipment for a fully immersed experience, I decided to take advantage of it.
Allen was there when I got there, and he asked me if Shion had agreed. I nodded, and he told me to get ready. Seating myself in the dive seat, I relaxed as Allen got everything ready. When he signaled me, he loaded the program, and I felt myself being pulled into the network.
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In The World:
I looked around myself excitedly. From what I'd heard, the game hadn't been created, but found. Someone was searching archives of data, and found a fragment of the game, and recreated it from scratch. Apparently, the data about the "root town," "fields," and "dungeons" and their layouts was intact, so this is what it was supposed to look like when the original players were using it. As the golden rings disappeared from around me, I found myself in a town that was on a river. Running from the platform I was on to the river, I passed shop fronts along the path, and when I stood on the bridge crossing the river, I saw players riding boats along the river, either idly or to get to other parts of the town. I looked up at the sky, and could barely believe that it was digital. This game was amazing! Looking down at myself, I noticed how nice my clothes looked. They were a light moss green, with deep purple binding and highlights. Hanging off of my belts were sheathed daggers, denoting my class of "Twin Blade."
"Excuse me," a somewhat familiar voice said from behind me. I turned around, and saw a tall, red-haired archer, wearing forest green. His costume had a hat, tunic, vest, and leggings, with soft-soled boots underneath. On his back was an automatic crossbow. In his wake I saw a Wavemaster who appeared to be just shorter than myself. Her hair was pink, and her outfit blue and pink. She clutched a rod close to her, and looked nervous but excited. "I noticed you standing by yourself, and was wondering if you were alone?" the archer continued.
I nodded, and, seeing my response, he continued. "My name is Rushe, my companion is named Onpu. We were wondering if you'd like to join our party?"
"My name is Chone, and I'd love to join your party."
The Onpu's eyes were shining. "Do you know of any good beginners areas?" Rushe asked me as we exchanged member addresses.
"I was told that Discovered Primitive Touchstone is an ideal area for beginners. I was planning on going there myself." They nodded, and the three of us went back to the platform I'd entered at, and used the Chaos Gate to go there.
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We glanced around the field, but there wasn't much to see. There were a few large structures around the desert-like area. Some looked like shells of some sort, and others looked like pyramids. We also spotted a strange looking item that was identified as a "Snakey Cactus." I'd heard that it was a type of "Grunty Food," that you could use one higher level servers. We ran to one of the "magic portals" and waited for the monster to appear.
An explosion-like sound was heard, and two sets of three swords came out of the portal. A notice near them identified them as something called a "Disco Knife."
"Wonder Battle!" I heard Rushe call out, followed by "Onpu, First Aid!" Complying with his suggested battle strategy, I pulled out my blades and charged at one, Rushe standing defensively in front of Onpu and pointing his crossbow at the other. I hit mine with a swirl, performing an attack called "Saber Dance." As I watched it fall, I failed to notice that the other Disco Knife that Rushe had been shooting at was headed straight for me. "Watch out!" he called, but I wasn't fast enough, and as I turned, I felt one of the swords hit me, causing me damage. I fell to the ground as Rushe hit the monster one more time, defeating it.
Rushe held out his hand, helping me to my feet. As he did that, I heard Onpu call out "Repth," and my HP was restored. A chest appeared where the monster had been, and when we opened it, we found that it contained a weapon called "Steel Blades." As I was the only one who could equip them (Twin Blade weapons as they were), I took them, and was delighted to see that while I lost my "Saber Dance" attack, I gained a "Staccato" attack, and my Physical Attack and Accuracy went from 2 and 1 to 4 and 3, and my Magical Attack and Accuracy went from 1 and 1 to 2 and 2.
As we entered the dungeon, we fought more monsters, and picked up more items. Soon, Rushe and Onpu also had new weapons, as well as the three of us now being equipped with Steel Caps, Wrist Bands, and, for Rushe and I, Leather Armor (Onpu couldn't wear it). Unfortunately, before we could reach the Gott Statue at the bottom, it was time for me to return use of the dive equipment to Shion.
"Gomen ne sai," I told the other two, "But I have to go now."
"What about the treasure?" Onpu asked me.
"Well, there's three items aren't there? You guys pick what you want, and save the third item for me, next time I'm online." They nodded, and I pulled out a Sprite Ocarina to use to get out of the dungeon, then warped back to town, saved my game, and logged out.
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On the Elsa:
"Did you have fun?" Shion asked me. I nodded fervently.
"Maybe you should try it out, Chief," Allen said.
Shion looked over at him. "You think I should?"
"I could make a character, too, and we could form a party," Allen replied, but she was already turned back to me.
"Do you think that I could join your party, and you could show me around?" Shion had obviously not heard Allen's offer, so I giggled as I nodded my head. Waving to them, I left the maintenance lab, heading back toward the cabins.
I could always use my goggles and log in from the cabin, but I figured that Rushe and Onpu would probably still be online, and I wasn't in the mood to explain why I had to log off so quickly, and then get right back on. Glancing at the chronometer on the wall, I noticed that it was almost dinner time. Shion was busy, so it looked like it was up to the crew to cook. Grinning, I thought of Captain Matthews' oft-repeated complaint of me needing to "earn my keep," as I headed toward the ship's restaurant. I wasn't that great of a cook, but with Shion giving me lessons, I was improving, and I was certainly better than the guys.
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That evening, as I sat behind the bar, serving the meal, I watched everyone else. Even though I didn't talk much, chaos said I was really good at observing. Shortly after we met Ziggy and MOMO, chaos decided to play a little game with the realian and I. He took us into the boys' cabin (a mess as usual), and gave us ten minutes to look around. Then he took us back out and quizzed us. I matched her point for point on the questions, but when he ran out of questions and had to resort to simply us listing what we'd seen, MOMO blew me away. Still, I'd done good, especially since my brain wasn't a computer. So on this night, I was watching everyone. At a booth in the middle of the restaurant, directly across from where I was sitting, chaos was sitting with Captain Matthews. Matthews seemed annoyed with something, and chaos was trying to calm him down. Down at the far end of the room, in another booth, were Hammer and Tony, the former looking quite sheepish. Knowing that we should've reached the Dock Colony already (we were running an errand for the Little Master, who was back on the Durandal with Ziggy and MOMO), I figured Hammer had mis-navigated, and we were off-course, which would explain Matthews' annoyance. Tony said something and pointed, though, and both men started laughing. I looked to the end of the bar nearest them, where the butt of their joke, Allen, sat by himself, oblivious to them. Of course, if he wasn't busy, Allen was usually oblivious to most everything except Shion, who was also sitting at the bar, nearer to me.
chaos got up from his seat, and came back up to the bar, looking for seconds. As I served him, he told me that he'd finished designing his character. "I'm not busy anymore, so you want to go play when we're finished here?"
"Oh, you were going to play 'The World' some more, Deian?" Shion asked. I nodded. "Well, would the two of you object to me joining you?" chaos and I shook our heads. Shion handed me her plate, then said, "I'll go make myself a character, so when you're done we can all play."
Taking her plate and setting it next to the sink, where I was about to start doing the dishes, I noticed Allen get up as well. "Would you mind if I played, too, Chief?" Shion shrugged, and, handing me his plate as well, the Vector employee followed his boss out of the room.
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Opting not to use the dive equipment, since both Shion and Allen would be joining us, and we'd have no one to monitor the equipment (Matthews was determined to reach the Dock Colony that night, and was pushing Hammer and Tony to get us there), we decided to use the goggle set-ups in the cabins. Since there was more room in Shion and my cabin, the boys brought their set-ups in there, as it would be easier to organize stuff when everyone was in the same room.
Briefly, I wondered if Rushe and Onpu would still be online, as I wanted the others to meet them. I wondered if they and the others would recognize each other, as well. "Ready?" chaos asked, and at everyone's nod, we donned our goggles and entered "The World."
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Well, that's it for the first chapter. I hope you guys like the story, and please review and tell me what you like (flamers will get Tsukasa sent to them to be disposed of).
Next time, we'll get more "The World" action, as well as some back story on Deian (but not much, I'm gonna write another story with her). Also, this chapter will probably be edited and re-uploaded once I get some text I'm waiting for.
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Character Descriptions
Chone's outfit: Deian usually wears pigtails in her blonde hair, which she retains in The World. She wears a rounded hat over them, with side-flaps covering her ears (think Kite's hat). The hat is a moss green with purple borders, and an amethyst stone. Around her neck is a deep purple swath of cloth, sitting above the collar of her jacket. The jacket is short-sleeved, moss green, with purple borders, and in the center-top, right under the cloth, is an amethyst jewel. Under the jacket, barely visible, is a dark purple short shirt. Her midriff is bare, and she wears a half-calf skirt of moss green, with two leather belts hanging low and crossing. Attached to each belt is a dagger sheath. On her feet she "tabi-" and "geta-"like socks and sandals. Above them are shin guards, still the same moss green. Think of it as a mix between Kite's outfit, and the oufit Flare and the other female Twin Blades in the games have.
Rushe's outfit: Since there's no archer class in the games (but they exist, since you do see them in SIGN), I had to design it myself. The outfit is all forest green, in varying shades. The base is a turtle-neck tunic with long sleeves, that goes down to just below the butt. There is a brown leather belt at the waist. Over the tunic is a slightly darker vest, and the hat is the color of the tunic, with a band around the bottom of the vest color. The leggings are lighter than the tunic, and there are soft-soled brown leather boots on his feet.
Onpu's outfit: Onpu's outfit is identical to Hotaru's outfit from .hackLegend of Twilight's Bracelet, except for the color. The "poncho" is a medium-dark blue, as is the front part of the skirt (the skirt looks like it's a regular skirt with an apron on front, so I'm assuming it is. The body part of the tunic is a dark blue, and is the same color as the hat. The sleeves and rest of the skirt are a normal blue, as are the sides of the hat. For the design on the end of the sleeves and bottom of the skirt, there is a light pink band, with diamonds in the medium-dark blue. There is also a diamond shaped jewel at the base of the neck and just under the tunic on the skirt, as well as the sides of the hat, which are the light pink, lined with the dark blue. The small, round jewels on the hat, as well as the belt, are the same light pink, but are surrounded by silver. Her boots are the dark blue.