.hack/DELETION
A .hack fanfic by Timothy MeierStory by Tim Meier and Matt Burrell
Character Designs by Katy Robles Edited by Matt BurrellWritten by Tim Meier
Disclaimer: I do not own .hack, or any of it's characters, however, I do own this fanfic, so please don't steal it from me, thank you
Chapter Three
.hack/REJECTION
Tiro was standing on the bridge, staring down at Mac Anu's main river. He had been thinking ever since Riu logged out yesterday, how he was going to explain how he took out that monster. He knew that the skill, or whatever he used, wasn't a normal skill. Could that have been Data Demolish? He thought it must've been, He sighed to himself, as there was still so much he didn't know. What was he going to tell Riu? Should he make something up, or just spill his guts?
"You know, I should really get more WaveMasters on my team. Those Physical Tolerances can be a real pain in the ass."
He spun around to see who's voice that was, "Riu?"
She smiled, "What? I said I would be back." She walked over to the side and leaned on the rail next to him.
"Anyway, what's a 'physical tolerance'?"
"Well, basically, when normal attacks wont work on it, you would have to kill a monster with magic."
"Oh…I see." He was secretly relieved now that he didn't have to make anything up. She had unknowingly made up a good-enough excuse for him.
She smiled at him, "You good to go again?"
"Yeah, why? You find an interesting area?"
She laughed slightly, almost as if she were nervous. "Well, I wouldn't say that I found it."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
A man's voice spoke up behind them, "Hey Riu, are we going to go, or just wait here all day?"
Tiro turned around again to see an older BladeMaster towering over him. He was dressed in blue and green knight armor, had flaming red hair, cropped short, and red crescents on each cheek, with intense violet eyes. Riu smiled at him, but it seemed fake, like she was just doing it out of courtesy, "Hi Ace, sorry to keep you waiting."
"Yeah, it's okay." He said, obviously irritated.
"Who's he?" Tiro asked, somewhat intimidated.
"Oh, sorry. This is Ace, he's my uh…"
Ace cut her off, "Boyfriend."
Tiro nearly choked, "Boyfriend! What? Really?"
Ace's eyes flared, "Yeah, what's it to ya!"
"Ace calm down, I never told him I had a boyfriend."
"Okay…sorry." He grumbled, though he didn't really mean it, "So, are we going to go?" He didn't seem too happy that Tiro was tagging along.
"Yes, let's go." She smiled at him, but again, it seemed to only be out of good manners that she did this. Tiro knotted his eyebrows, There's something she's not telling me, he thought as he sighed, might as well tag along. The window came up, asking him if he wanted to join Riu's party. As he selected 'yes', he quickly checked Ace's stats, Hmm, level four, two levels above me.
They started towards the Chaos Gate, but Riu gave off that vibe, like she was hiding something. Not only that, he wasn't comfortable with Ace. He acted like Tiro was constantly hitting on Riu or something. Oh well…I might as well make the most of it.
Ace spoke the keywords, "Delta, Entwined Worst Frontline," and once again, Tiro's vision blurred as he was transported away from the root town.
((Delta, Entwined Worst Frontline))
Tiro nearly had a heart attack as he landed in the field. What is this? Lava? The entire field was covered in it, volcanic lava as far as the eye can see, and yet, they were able to stand on it. Thank god, I thought for a second that we were going to burn to death. He sighed in relief.
"Let's go, we don't have all day." Ace still seemed irritated. Tiro felt that he had to speak up.
"If you're irritated, then I don't think I should be on this adventure with you." He didn't want to be the target of this guy's tension.
Ace was about to say something, but Riu spoke for him, "No, it's okay, it's no trouble at all." She smiled, but what was she hiding?
Ace sighed to himself as they started across the field. He was taking the paths that lead them away from any possible battles. He must be in a real hurry Tiro thought to himself. They must have passed at least eleven portals. Tiro started to notice that he had trouble keeping up. He started running as fast as he could, but they were already in the cave. CRAP! He ran into the cave after them, but they were already ahead. Tiro felt his temper slipping, Well it seems Ace did a good job of getting rid of me, he thought as ran into the cave.
((Cave, B4))
Tiro was exhausted. He had just been through 9 battles all by himself, easy battles, nothing more than Goblin WaveMasters and Possessed Long Arms, but still nine fights nevertheless. No matter, he still had to catch up with them. They'll be looking for the Gott statue before they leave, so I think I'll head there, He thought, moving south into an 'L' shaped room with a portal in it. "Oh, wonderful," he sighed as it summoned 4 Goblin WaveMasters. Too easy. All he had to do was get them next to each other and use a water spell on them. As soon as they were lined up next to each other, he shouted, "Rue Kruz!" Tiro smiled as ice blocks converged on the monsters, killing all four of them. The door groaned open and he proceeded through, only to find himself at an Impass. There were 3 possible directions open to him: north, east, and south. He headed east. What's this? The Gott statue! It's still here! He sighed in relief. He wasn't too late.
((Cave, B4, Northern Room))
"Ace, come on, we have to go look for Tiro!" Riu pleaded once again.
"Why? You can see his HP; he's doing fine. Besides, we don't need a WaveMaster."
Riu sighed, "Still, he might need us more than we need him."
Ace walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, "Then again, we do have this time alone, just the two of us."
She shoved him away, "This isn't the time Ace! You go do what you want, but I'm going to find Tiro!" She jogged towards the door, but it was blocked. "Damn, there's still one more portal left." She looked behind her; there it was at the back of the room. "Ace, help me take care of this."
He sighed, "Fine." The two of them approached the portal, it summoned a large monster, but strangely, its head was where it's hand should have been, and in the other hand was a large sword.
Riu lunged at the creature, but caused little damage. Then, in a lightening-fast move, it thrust it's sword straight through her abdomen. She looked over at Ace before her eyes rolled up in their sockets. The monster pulled the sword out of her torso and she crumpled to the ground, motionless. Ace finally boiled over as he charged at the creature, screaming at the top of his lungs with his sword raised high over his head.
((Cave, B4, Gott Statue))
Hearing the scream, Tiro bolted out of the Gott statue chamber. He had two choices from there: north, or south. His gut told him to go north, so he followed his instincts and headed into the north chamber. There! Across the hall in the chamber beyond, he could make out a monster fighting a player, which he guessed to be Ace. He ran as fast as he could into the room, where he saw Riu's body on the ground, lifeless. "Riu! What happened to her?"
"Just stay back and let me take care of this!" He said, taking another blow from the monster, "Heal me, dammit!"
Tiro nodded, holding up his staff in the air, he chanted, "Repth!" But he was too late. Before the casting could be completed, the monster had sent its sword through Ace's throat, killing him instantly. Tiro was now alone.
He had no idea what to do. Filled with fear, he tried using magic, not knowing if it would help. He held up his staff again, "Ani Don!" He watched as skulls dropped down on the target. The monster was able to block it with a barrier. Huh? What's this? The monster started charging at him. Wait a minute. Will my staff will save me again? I don't know if I can go through that again. That was the most painful experience of my life. He swallowed his fear Now's not the time to be worrying about pain. He set his staff down in front of him, and set his arms to his side. But nothing happened. The monster approached him and plunged its sword through his chest. As everything went dark, he could see a dark red splotch spreading from his wound.
GAME OVER
Continue? Yes / No
The words flashed before his eyes. He was ashamed of himself. Everyone died because of his assumption…
((Aqua Capitol, Mac Anu))
The three of them landed in Mac Anu, somewhere near the center of town. Tiro looked over at the other two. Ace's face was as red as his hair, "Great job! We lost all of our treasure thanks to you!"
Tiro looked down in shame, "I'm sorry…"
"Sorry doesn't cut it you little bastard!"
Riu stepped into the conversation, "Ace calm down."
"And I can't believe you Riu! You've been standing up for him ever since you met him! You're standing up for a stupid little n00b bastard!"
Tiro couldn't take it any more, "I'm sorry!" He darted off towards the chaos gate.
Riu started to run after him, but Ace pulled her back, "Let him go, we won't have to put up with him anymore. Good rid…" He was interrupted by Riu's fist making hard contact with his jaw. His head snapped back, blood dribbling from his lip. He growled, "You're gonna regret that, you bitch." He drew his fist back and threw a jab at Riu's face with all his strength. But he never made contact. His fist was blocked by her small hand. She hardly seemed to be exerting herself. Then, in one quick move, she spun around behind him, twisting his arm and pinning it against his back.
"I'm so tired of your crap. If you ever go anywhere near Tiro again, I'll do a whole lot more to you than this." She whispered in his ear, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot: we're through." She kissed him on the cheek and flexed her wrist. There were several muffled popping noises as Ace's arm was shattered in three places. Tears welled in his eyes and his jaw hung open as Riu walked off towards the Chaos Gate. Some girl gave her a strange look. "Some guys just can't take rejection." Riu told the girl, a fellow TwinBlade, who gave her an understanding smile.
When she reached the Chaos Gate, she saw no sign of Tiro, just a girl standing there, panting. "Are you okay?" Riu asked.
Her green, glowing eyes stared back up at Riu. "Yes I'm fine." She was a Heavy Blade. With the exception of the samurai armor, she was a rather common looking blue-haired Heavy Blade.
"You didn't happen to see a WaveMaster wearing red going through the gate?"
"Um…Yes, he went through just a minute ago."
"Do you know where he went?"
The outburst startled her, "Yes, but only the last two keywords…"
"What are they?"
"Um….Forbidden, Holy Ground."
"Thank you!" Riu yelled over her shoulder. She would have to search through god knows how many areas for him. Well, better get started, she thought as she walked up to the gate, "Bursting, Forbidden, Holy Ground." She silently cursed Ace as she disappeared through the Chaos Gate.
((Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground))
The words 'Pathetic WaveMaster' kept echoing in Tiro's head. It was my fault…Ace was right…I am useless. He sat back on the pew in the sanctum, listening to the choir in the background music. This music…It's so calming… He sighed. How am I ever going to apologize to Riu? Will she ever forgive me for failing her? I know Ace won't… He laid his head back, closing his eyes, finding solace in the music. He felt someone put their arms around him, cradling him, as if he were with someone he loved. He thought he was imagining it. He felt so comfortable, he felt at home.
"Hey…" Tiro's eyes jolted open, and he turned his head.
"…Riu?" He really wasn't expecting to see her so soon.
She sat next to him on the pew, "I had hoped to find you here. I searched all of Bursting, Forbidden, Holy Ground for you." She smiled.
He looked down, "…Why did you come?"
"…Why wouldn't I? You're my friend."
"After I failed you?" He closed his eyes and laid his head back again.
She leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder. "You didn't fail me, Ace was just being an asshole…it doesn't matter about him, I'm not seeing him anymore."
"Oh, I'm sorry…"
"Don't be. It wasn't your fault; I was going to break up with him anyway. I was hoping that I could change that by introducing him to you. Show him how a man should act, you know? Treat his girl like a person, not a possession." She laughed a little, "Boy that plan backfired, didn't it?
For the first time in hours, Tiro smiled. "Thanks Riu."
"Don't mention it." She yawned, already bored, "So, you want to get out of here?"
"Yeah, lets go." The two of them got up from the pew, and started walking out of the sanctum. Just as they were leaving, Tiro took one more look back, and caught a glimpse of something. Huh? What was that? I could have sworn that I saw someone…
"Tiro, you coming?"
"Yeah. Wait for me." The two of them then gated out to the town.
'He has actually found his home…The one who carries my staff…Why does it have to be him, him of all people, that carry this burden?'
((Highland City, Dun Loireag))
Ace didn't feel comfortable being here. Usually, you don't come here until you are at least level 15. But he was here on business. He walked over to the grunty farm, just as he was instructed. He saw a female Long Arm, leaning against a pillar, she looked at him, "The air up here is real thin."
He cleared his throat, "Thin enough to make a grunty's nose bleed."
"Okay, who's the target?"
"His name is Tiro, he's a WaveMaster, wearing red."
"I want 20,000 GP, 5,000 now, and another 15,000 upon completion. Those are my terms. Do you accept them? Yes or no."
"Yes, of course."
"Very well. He is in Delta Server right?"
"Yes, now remember, he may be with a Twin Blade, you are, under no circumstances, to hurt her!"
"If she's not on my Death List, she will not come to any harm."
Ace thought for a second, "On second thought, the TwinBlade is expendable."
The assassin nodded, making a mental note. A jealous lover, she thought.
"What if you fail? Then what happens?"
The assassin smirked, "I never fail!"