Ignorance Is Bliss

By Sargent Snarky

Sequel to Fragments Of A Shattered Mirror.

Note: This occurs after Epilogue Three. The 'prologue' actually occurs before the epilogue, but I never included it in the epilogue, because… I didn't want to. It just didn't fit there. It's pretty depressing, but… It's necessary to set up a few things. I may actually delete the prologue later, a few chapters down the road. It depends on how the writing of this goes.

Disclaiming: I do not own .hack, but I DO own this plot. Please don't plagiarize!

Further notations located in the Author's Notes at the end of the chapter.

Summary: Kite and Tsukasa now exist merely as vagrant A.I.s, remembering nothing of their past before Aura gave them their 'second chance.' While their friends grieve, they wander The World innocently, freely, and happily. Ah yes, their ignorance is bliss.

Prologue : Dead as a Doornail

"Any change?" asked Balmung of Orca.

Orca shook his head and sighed. "No… Still in comas, both of them… still teetering between life and death…"

Balmung nodded, eyes clouded with worry. It just wasn't right! Kite had saved everyone else from being trapped in comas forever, so why did he have to fall inescapably into one? It just wasn't bloody fair.

Orca shifted a bit, then asked, "So, how have you been doing? Haven't seen you since…"

"Mmm.. I've been fine. I felt under the weather for a day or two after waking up, and luckily I was excused from classes," said the knight. He smiled a little. "Hey, I must say, falling into a temporary coma is certainly an effective way to get due-date extensions."

Orca laughed softly. "Tell me about it."

"Ah, but you had a lot more catching up to do. I just missed three days of classes total. You missed several months."

Nodding, Orca sighed, what little levity he had gone. "Yeah, but Kite helped me catch up, even though he had a hell of a lot of work to make up, too."

"Eh?"

"During… the… uh… incident, Kite apparently really let his grades slip because he spent so much time here… fighting…"

"Oh. How just like him."

"Yeah…"

Silence followed, not exactly awkward, but not exactly comfortable either. Their thoughts once again drifted to Kite and Tsukasa, still unconscious, with their bodies slipping closer and closer to death with each passing day.

Suddenly, Orca closed his eyes, shaking his head and speaking with a slightly cracking voice. "Oh god, it's awful to see them there… wasting away like that. It's been a month, yet they've shown no signs of awakening. No sign of even being here in The World. Even the logs don't hold any trace of them after… But, they're just lying there! They don't respond to anything! The only things keeping them alive are machines, medicine and needles… And even those are failing. It's summer holiday, but all three of us have the exams to get into high school coming up, but even if they do wake up, they won't be able to take them… and it'll be a long time before they can take them and my family doesn't even live on the same island anymore, much less the same city. So it's not like I can even go see them often anyway… Not that there's anything we can do for them anyway… and… I'm sorry about ranting like this, Balmung, but I just can't take it anymore!"

Balmung nodded. "I understand. Go ahead and say whatever you need to. That's what friends are for, you know."

"I know… I just wish there was some way I could be useful. Some way I could do something for Kite and Tsukasa. Neither of them deserves this… And I just feel so helpless."

A sigh escaped Balmung's lips. "I feel the same way, Orca…"

The avatar of Orca froze for a moment as Yasuhiko half removed his neuro goggles. He blinked several times, then rubbed his eyes, fighting the stinging tears, which threatened to spring forth. Once certain he wasn't going to cry, he pulled the headset back on and turned to Balmung.

"I'm sorry," Yasu murmured. "But… I've got to go."

And he logged out, then put the computer to sleep. Heaving a sigh, Yasu stared at his desk for a long time. Specifically, he stared at a picture frame that held multiple pictures of him and his friends goofing around. He and Kite had been best friends, and Kite was in many of those pictures. Yasu felt his eyes begin to water again, and he stood up, turning away, trying to force his thoughts upon anything else. He even resorted to getting out one of the books he was supposed to study to help him on the rigorous exams for getting into high school. It didn't work. Nothing worked.

- - - - - - - - -

Mimiru sat curled up in a chair next to Amaya's bedside. The chair was crowded in among a multitude of monitors, a machine that gasped and clicked horribly as it forced Amaya's lungs to work, an IV stand laden with a few bags of stuff, which dripped into Amaya's veins via a needle in her arm, and other things, about which Mimiru knew little if anything at all. Though the monitor of Amaya's heart rate, among other things, beeped in a steady rhythm, and the machine that made sure the girl kept on breathing made a fair amount of noise, Mimiru didn't hear them. At least not anymore.

She had, at one point, been unable to spend more that ten minutes at a time with Amaya or Kite, because the noise had bothered her so, but now she was acclimated. She spent hours with them, watching over them as long as the hospital staff allowed her to stay there. Sometimes her vigil was alone. Sometimes she was joined by others: Bear (Mimiru never called him by his real name), Yasuhiko, Marie, Kite's sister Naomi, occasionally his parents (usually when they came, his mother was in tears after maybe ten seconds, and they didn't come often in part because it did pain them so to see their only son like this), Sora (who didn't live too far away – not within walking distance of anyone, but certainly within driving distance, and he'd somehow gotten Bear to bring him here, since he was only eleven ), a few classmates of Kite who came by every now and again, and a few teachers of Kite or Tsukasa. Twice, Akemi and Kazu had come. Once, Crim had come. Mimiru didn't remember his name, though – only that he was Crim.

But right now, Mimiru's vigil was a solo affair. She stared listlessly at Amaya, eyes full of worry. The girl on the bed was entirely too thin. Amaya had always been skinny, but now she seemed almost anorexic, or perhaps worse than anorexic. Her skin was pale, almost gray in a way, and it was stretched tightly across all her bones, outlining them for easy viewing. Her hair – usually a glossy blue-black – was lank and without shine. Mimiru had brushed it every now and again, but since the only movement of Amaya was when the nurses tended her, (and then the movement was not caused by Amaya herself) the hair remained relatively tangle free.

Kite was little better. Worse, actually. He seemed thinner (if that were possible), and his skin more ashen. And similar machines surrounded him, forcing his lifeless body to keep on living. Or at least existing. Mimiru would hardly call the state they were in 'living.'

Mimiru sighed, shifting her position in her chair as one leg began to go numb. Suddenly, though, against all hope, Amaya stirred. It wasn't much, just a soft noise and the twitching of her fingers, but that was at least something. Mimiru leant forward anxiously. She called Amaya's name, but nothing further happened. She gripped Amaya's hand and kept calling, but still nothing. She sighed and was just leaning back in her chair when Amaya stirred again.

Her fingers curled weakly around Mimiru's hand, a pitiful attempt to squeeze it. And a soft sound escaped her lips, but it was muffled by the apparatus over her mouth and nose that forced her to breath. Her eyelids twitched, then squeezed together. A few tears leaked out from the corners, and Amaya made another (more successful) attempt to squeeze Mimiru's hand. Suddenly, Mimiru noticed that the beeps of the heart rate monitor were growing slower, and slower. And then, even as Amaya's hand abruptly grew limp once more, the machine let out one long, continuous beep.

The only other sound besides those of the machines and the click of shoes as nurses ran to the room was a heart-wrenching sob…

Suddenly, even as two nurses were about to rush into Amaya's room, Mimiru came running out of it, barely able to walk herself. Ignoring another nurse who tried to do something to comfort the distraught teenager, Mimiru ran into Kite's room. And then her legs gave way as her eyes saw the same straight line upon the monitor and heard the same continuous beep. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

- - - - - - - - -

"I don't suppose there's been any change from yesterday?" asked Balmung of Orca.

Orca didn't seem to hear him, but was staring straight ahead at nothing. Then, he twitched. "Huh?"

"I said, I don't suppose there's been any change from yesterday," repeated Balmung with a frown. "Are you all right?"

Orca only now looked into Balmung's eyes, and then he burst out laughing. It was a terrible, cynical, bitter, unhappy, awful laugh, and Balmung did not like it at all. He wondered for his friend's sanity.

"Orca?"

Suddenly the laughter vanished. "They're dead, Balmung," Orca said, voice and eyes utterly hollow.

Balmung's eyes widened. "Wh- what!"

"They're dead. I only came online to tell you that. Damn it. They died yesterday afternoon, maybe an hour after I talked to you. They're gone… Oh god, they're gone," he whispered.

And then Orca was gone amid three golden rings, leaving Balmung to stare at where he'd been with horror and grief.

Author Notes:

Wow. That officially qualifies for the most depressing thing I've ever written, I think. As I said before, I may wind up deleting this a few chapters down the road. Why? Because depending on how the writing of this goes, the prologue might wind up being redundant. But, right now it just serves to let you know a few things. Like, they're dead. I know. Really depressing, right? Sorry.

Umm... and as for Orca and Mimiru's reactions... well.. I was just thinking about how I'd react if my best friend died... And I think I'd probably be sobbing my eyes out like Mimiru... Or just kind of... staring off into space in shock like Orca.

Please be assured that, while parts of this will always be depressing, I will have some happy fluffy parts. Yay for fluff! Even though I'm not the best at writing it, this'll give me good practice. This story will include angst, romance, joy, sadness, depression, elation, and just a little bit of action. There won't be much action in this (I'm sorry adrenaline junkies) because this story doesn't follow a particular quest, or anything that really requires fighting. Again, sorry.

Portions of this will focus upon Kite and Tsukasa, but other parts will focus upon their friends, because this story is about 'what happens next.' And things happen to everybody. Please note, however, that this won't be as long as Fragments. At least, I don't think it will.

Don't you like how I've got four updates in a row? And it seems that the first four titles listed in the .hack/SIGN catagory are mine?

Hm… I have a niggling idea of a sequel to this that takes place four years later… I'd like to hear what you guys think about it.

The idea is thus: How would LotT be different if this had occurred? I'll follow the manga, because I really don't like the anime. I will resist listing my reasons, for this will turn into a rant, and I don't want that. Anyway, I think writing a version of LotT as if this had occurred would be quite interesting. I mean, there are some fun to write ideas to be brought up, such as what would Kamui do about Kite and Tsukasa? What would Zefie say to them if she met them in Net Slum while with Shugo & co? Heck, what would Shugo & co. say? What would Tsukasa and Kite think about the whole affair? Would they poke their noses in? Or would they try to stay on the sidelines, watching? I wouldn't completely rewrite LotT, though. I mean, I'd skip things that wouldn't really change, or that I don't' need to talk about, since they wouldn't involve K&T. O.o So… what do you think?

Get thee hence and prithee review!