.hack/PRESENT

Wow, up to 5 reviews at this point. That's the most I've ever gotten for a fanfic. ((sweatdrop))

Disclaimer: Like all other previous disclaimers, I do not own .hack

CHAPTER 4: UNPLANNED EVENT

One twinblade and heavyblade were the only two present at the cathedral. The two walked down the center to the chained statue of Aura.

"Hm… there's a strange air to this…" Kite said. Blackrose took a sniff of the air around her.

"Ugh… I think Kazu forgot to do laundry…" She said.

"No, not the air in real life, the air of this place. The aura of it…" he looked up to the statue "uh… no pun intended." Kite looked down at his wrist to see the bracelet shining again. 'There has to be some meaning to this…' he thought as he saw the five arrows pointing toward the chained statue.

"Mia! Wait up!" Elk said as he ran across the bridge above the river of Mac Anu with Tsukasa following behind him.

"Hm… finding this spring seems harder than finding any aromatic grass." Mia said. She looked up into the dusk sky and pondered about what was in the hidden spring. Her thoughts were interrupted when she caught the scent of blood. "Huh? …WHAT THE!" She looked down into the river that was suffused in red. There was a dead corpse floating away currents.

"That's… that's Silver Knight." Tsukasa said, recognizing the figure. "He seems badly wounded…"

"Who would do something like this?" Elk asked, too squeamish to look at the bloody corpse.

"Hm… now that I think about it, Balmung is wanted for player killing." Mia said, recalling words she heard from another player.

"Balmung? Him? A PKer?" Elk asked.

"From what I hear, he killed Orca, his own partner. If he's so audacious to do that, than I doubt he'll try it on anyone."

"WHAT!" came a voice from under the bridge. "Now I'm to blame if someone is Player Killed?" Balmung's hiding place under the bridge was no longer any use as every player in the root town heard his shout. 'NO! Why can't I just keep quiet!'

"Hey! It's Balmung! Get him!" yelled a player walking by. Balmung, not reacting well to the sudden circumstances, lost his grip to the bottom of the bridge and fell onto passing boat.

"Excuse me, I need to ask you to get off." An NPC rowing the boat said to the winged knight. "If you will just…AH!" Balmung had thrown the NPC into the water and grabbed the paddle.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I need to escape from the area in any means possible!" he said as he paddled away with bounty hunters hot on his trail.

"Hm… what could it mean…?" Kite thought out loud. The five arrows still pointed at the statue of Aura. His thoughts were interrupted by the shattering noise of stone in front of him. Blackrose had hopped the railing and smashed the statue with her broad sword.

"Well, it doesn't seem like there's anything inside the statue." She said.

"Wha… Blackrose, you didn't need to destroy it. This isn't something you can just smash up." He said, looking down at the rubble and remains.

"Well, sorry. I didn't know what else to do!" Blackrose said, slightly scratching the back of her head. Kite pondered a few more moments before the actual AI appeared.

"Aura!"

"You must beware the oncoming threat. You must avoid the 'Present'." She said in her almost monotonic voice.

"Beware… the 'Present'?" Kite asked perplexed.

"HEY!" Yelled a heavyblade from the walkway in Mac Anu. "I saw what you did Subaru! Are you the actual player killer behind yesterday's killing as well?" Mimiru yelled. Subaru finished wiping Silver Knight's blood from her axe.

"No. I wasn't there. I just got rid of Silver Knight right here for his constant following me." Subaru explained.

"Hey, I'm back." Crim said as he hopped back onto the boat from the item shop. "Uh, where did Silver Knight go?"

"He… had to log off to attend to other business." Subaru said.

"Beware the 'Present'. It is a threat to the 'World'. If you come across the 'Present', you must run."

"But what in the 'World' is this 'Present'?" Blackrose asked.

"A force that lies within the 'World'. It is luring many to it at this moment. I fear for the safety of the players."

"… the event? The 'Special Spring of Myst'? Is that it?" Asked Kite.

"You are correct."

"But what's in it exactly?"

"There is………" The figure of Aura began to static. Soon, she began fading away and disappeared in a matter of seconds.

"What what what? Where is she?" Blackrose said.

"Something's not right here…" Kite said. With nothing more to do, the duo left the cathedral and went shopping for supplies.

"Sigh… we can't find the spring, now we're told not to find it, and I can't even contact Mistral." Blackrose said.

"…." The twinblade just stood still.

"Hello! Are you spacing out again?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking."

"Hm. Whatever. I'm logging off for today." Three gold rings surrounded the heavyblade's body as she exited the game.

An hour passed. Kite was off on his own, battling monsters and collecting any treasures. He hoped clearing a dungeon would clear his mind of some of the issues for the moment until he could ponder what to do next.

"AAH!" A cry went through the air.

"Huh?" Kite looked around for the source of the noise and found a Killer Snake chasing after a twinblade character.

"AAH!"

"RAH!" Kite being the one to help, jumped at the monster and took it down with a Staccato attack. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks for asking. I'm not very strong, so I can't do much about fighting."

"Don't you have any party members that can help you?"

"No. They're all busy with that whole 'Find the Special Spring of Myst' and none of them are available."

"Hm. Well, I was participating in it as well, but with current circumstances, you can say I'm out of it."

"Hey, can you come with me to the dungeon?"

"Me?"

"I can tell you're strong. So I thought if we went in there, I can level up a bit without worrying about dying."

"Hm… well, okay I guess."

"Alright. Oh, my name's A-20."

"Hm. I'm Kite. It's nice to meet you."

"Hm? You're Kite? I heard about you from one of my friends. Hm… although she never mentioned the funny hat." A-20 said pointing above Kite's head.

The two twinblade's battled their way through the dungeon. A-20 managed to go up 4 levels by the time they reached the gott statue room. Kite stepped up to the chest and removed its contents.

"Hm? It's a golden grunty." He said as he set the item in his arms.

"Oooooo…. Golden grunty…" A-20 said, almost as if it a drooling state.

"Here." Kite said, holding out the golden item "You seem like you really want it. Plus, I really don't have use for HP increase anymore…"

"Really? Wow, thank you. You're really nice." A-20 said. Kite gave a small grin at the comment. "Oh, I need to go. Invite me as a party member next time." A-20 gave Kite her member address just before logging out.

It was an early morning in Mac Anu the next day. Blackrose logged in to see her partner walking across the bridge.

"Hey! Kite!" She yelled running up to him.

"Oh, Blackrose."

"Okay, I don't know what Aura was trying to say the other day, but I think we should continue looking for the Spring of Myst. I'm sure we can take whatever's hiding in there."

"Hm. Yeah, okay I guess. We just need to find Mistral."

"Sigh… I tried, but she still hasn't responded to any e-mails. If we don't find a third party member to replace her, we won't be able to access the spring, and all my contacts are with another party."

"Hm… oh, I know someone we can call." Kite sent out a flash mail and waited by the chaos gate.

NEXT CHAPTER: DISCOVERY

Preview: The Special Spring's whereabouts are still a mystery. Kite and the gang continue their search as a dark force still lingers within. And Mistral's finally back and you won't believe what she accomplished!