AN: Next chapter! After I do this, It's time for Torment, Chapter 2! Oh yeah...Sorry if this chapter is TOO dramatic, but I felt the book was losing it's 'angst' feel, and that shouldn't be yet...O.O Oops! Did I give something away!
Gratz and thanks to C'tari C'tari mew mew, ZeroZeroThree, ILUVTSUKASA, and Zyte, who contributed their OCs for this chapter!
Chapter 4: Alliance
" Sakura...There's something I want to tell you..."
" What is it, Tsuk?" The woman replied, smiling at her long-time friend.
" I...uh...love you..."
Mimiru sobbed as the man droned on, her eyes locked on the gilded box, it did not hold her beloved...his body lay in a simple, pine box, this was his real funeral, where his friends and love was...this had always been where his heart lay.
" Mimiru." Came the voice of her almost-father, Bear, as he touched her shoulder, " Are you...going to make it through this? Huh?"
She shook her head slightly, that...was impossible...
" No..." He replied, " I know you will...because we both know Tsukasa wants you to..."
He had promised she'd make it through, and, in a way, she had...but then, he left her too, she was all alone now...everyone had abandoned her. She turned to look at the man who had spoke, Sora was standing there, the look on his face was one like Tsukasa might have had, full of compassion, and of love...
He leaned down and his lips were about to touch hers, when she was suddenly sitting bolt-upright in bed, panting heavily.
What a HORRIBLE dream!...It must have been those silly memories I'd been dwelling on...combined with seeing Sora...that's all...complately meaningless...Sora... She thought to herself, trying to calm down.
She wished she could shake the feeling that it was something more, as she picked up the WonderGoggles 3k3, and logged into the world.
Sora sighed as he looked across 'his' field...he seemed to have successfully claimed it, as he was the only one ever there...even before it became locked...not even his beloved Heavy blade was anuwhere to be seen...
He gave a defeated sigh, what could he expect? It was pure foolishness to hope that she would be back...after all...some people had lives...
Suddenly, a woman ringed in, on top of his cliff... Mimiru? No...it was an old friend of his...but...why was she playing, and more importantly, how was she here?
" Miko? Is that you! I thought you'd quit!" He said, surprised.
The woman turned her head towards him, her long black hair, highlighted with red streaks, fanned out behind her from the wind, she closed her eyes as the gust caressed her skin.
" So...it must be..." She whispered absently.
" Must be what?" He asked, confused.
She opened her eyes, and appeared to see him for the first time, " Sora! I...didn't know you were still playing..." She said timidly.
He smirked slightly, she was so easily startled...she had been one of the first girls to give him her address when he'd asked 'politely', and one of the only to go adventuring with him...yet her depressed, timid personality tended to get wearing on his nerves...still...it was nice to see her...
" Miko...what are you doing here?"
" I...thought I'd go somewhere...I knew the wind would blow..."
" But why?"
" I...I better go now..." She said nervously.
" But you just got here!"
She apparently didn't hear him, as she turned around, and gated out anyway.
" Sheesh...wasn't she acting weird..."
" So, you just hang out alone, talking to yourself all day?" Came a familiar voice from behind him.
He spun around quickly, smiling, Mimiru!
" You came back! What ever could have possessed you to do such a thing!" He teased.
She smiled slightly...she was stunning when she smiled, in 'the world' and not..." I heard there was a meeting in Mac Anu, and I wanted to see if you were going."
" Me! Hah!" He laughed, actually, he hadn't heard that...why not check it out, after all? " Maybe Alpha will be there, and we can form a party together..."
" Alpha, hmph." Mimiru grumbled, but she smiled anyways, and said, " Okay, let's group then."
" What? No war before-hand this time?" Sora laughed
When Mimiru warped into Mac Anu, following Sora, she was surprised to see the amount of players wandering through it's beautiful streets...almost enough to make it look like it had when this server had been the main one...with the exception of the missing NPCs...
" Well, let's see what all the commotion's about." Sora said cooly, apparently unsurprised.
Mimiru nodded, and walked up to one of the female characters.
She wall tall, and slight, obviously a wavemaster, by the elaborate robe she wore, and matching staff, she had a thin red line stretching from her ears to the bridge of her nose, at which point, it arked upwards to her hair line., the woman looked towards her, as Mimiru approached.
" What do you want?" She asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.
" I don't see many 'oldies' on anymore."
" Leave me alone." She said, and turned to walk away.
" Well, geez! That's awfully rude! You're not even going to tell me your name!"
The woman simply ignored her.
Mimiru's temper snapped, and she ran up to the woman, and spun her around, " Hey! Look here pal! There are rules you have to follow here, same as the real world! You can't just ignore me! When some one asks you your name, you answer them!"
The woman looked at her flatly a moment, " My name is Nereid, of the Azure forest."
" Azure forest? What? Like the Decendants of Fianna?"
The woman just shook her off, and walked away.
" He-hey!...Grrrr...she completely snubbed me! I can't believe it!"
Giving the woman a final glare, Mimiru 'humphed', and turned around to see where Sora was.
He was leaning teasingly into a woman's face, she was reasononably middling height, she had short black hair, almost reaching her chin, she had a simple dark-blue tank top, with matching black pants and undershirt, and she was gripping a beautifully crafted spear so tightly, it was a wonder she didn't snap it in half...in fact, the woman's grey eyes were smoldering with unhidden anger.
Sora smiled slightly, as he leaned into the woman's face, her model was attractive, he would give her that...but the fact that she was mute was a big turn-off...well...at least he finally had a use for the sign-language he'd learned from his deaf aunt!
" Soooo...you think you're pretty tough, huh?"
She frowned at him coldly, refusing to answer him.
" I see...backing out are we?" He chuckled, " That's perfectly normal, since I can't be defeated."
Oh shut up, you pompus idiot! She signed furiously, I don't have to fight you , to know I can anihilate you!
" Right, little girl..." He smirked, " I doubt you understand what you're up against, 'Raven'...since you haven't played in...oh...forever..."
What do you know! You arrogant, dimwitted--
" Sora? What are you doing!" He heard Mimiru say suddenly, Sora turned his head towards her, and smiled his most 'innocent' smile, " Why, Mimiru, I was only discussing the Wonder Goggles 3k3.
" Y-you too?" She gasped...was her cheeks coloring slightly?
" What do you mean?" He asked, cocking his head slightly.
" I recently got some...I thought they were CC Corp. promotionals or something..."
What an odd coincidence...all three ofus at relatively the same time?
" So...the theory materializes into a pattern..." Came an oddly familiar, and slightly arrogant, voice.
" Balmung!" A woman yelled suddenly.
Balmung? As in the? Sora spun on his heel to face the man, sure enoughm he had shoulder-length platnium hair, heavy armor, and large, white, wings
" It is good to see you again, Nereid..." He said, smiling slightly at a strange looking Wavemaster.
" So she was his partner!" Mimiru exclaimed, from beside Sora.
"You've met her?"
" That is beside the point." Balming said cooly, " You see, I too, have recieved the WonderGoggles, as a gift from CC Corp...However, that alone did not re-awaken my interest in this, dying, world...I recieved an anonymous e-mail, not long ago, that said, quote, ' What was once thought defeated, will rise yet again.' I dismissed it as junk at first, but then my friend, Orca, recieved a similar e-mail, saying: ' Who was dead shall return.' No signature, no return-email...nothing, and to top it off...the strange events in the world..."
Strange events?
" Like the dungeon whose parameters changed every room?" Nereid asked cooly.
" Yes, that, and the undefeatable creatures' return.."
" I had not heard of the creatures, but I was under the impression the dungeon was a special event?" Came the voice of LostMiko, from behind him...she was here too?
" Yes, the CC Corp. has been spreading that rumor..." Balmung said, " but the truth cannot be denied, what ever malignant force that had once risen up, then quietly disappeared, is back with vengance...sending five people into comas in as many days...all from the older generation..."
" What does this mean to us?" Sora asked cooly, in no mood for heroics...all that ever led to was pain...
" You and Mimiru.." He said crisply..how did he know their names? " Are from the time when this...this 'virus' last struck, correct?"
" So? You think we know something you don't? Tsukasa's not stuck in the game anymore." Mimiru said, a hint of bitterness creeping into her voice, suggesting a fate far worse than freedom, for the late wavemaster.
" I know exactly what transpired with your group, as you may remember, I am friends with Subaru, " He said, frowning, " And I am sorry for 'Tsukasa', but this is directly related to those events...and we need everyone's help."
" Shut-up! You're not sorry, you don't know sorrow!" Mimiru snapped, Sora barely suppressed a wince, as he gazed on her tightly frowning face, digital tears threatening to mirror the real ones obviously running down her counterpart's cheeks...it hurt him sorely to see her like that...to be unable to reach out and comfort her...
" Perhaps, but if you care as much for Tsukasa as you claim, you would want his murderer brought to justice...before it gets anyone else." Balmung said bluntly, " You know of the events that transpired just shortly before he fell ill with that mysterious illness, do you not?"
" What are you talking about! He suffered from acute pnemonia!" She spat.
" So they claim, but does that eat away his insides bit-by-bit, until he is only a shell?" Balmung challenged.
" What do you know? You weren't there!" She cried, tears now running freely down her brown cheeks, and no doubt even more so, in reality.
" Of course, he never told you about that strange, taunting e-mail...or the nightmares that preceded it...he logged on in secret to meet with Subaru..."
" What!"
" Yes... he didn't want to upset you, " Balmung said, nodding his head, " He was worried, so he met up with his only other friend, they agreed to meet a week later..but he never came...tell me...he never survived that long...did he? Only a few days shy, so I heard..."
" Wh-what?...I...I don't know!" Mimiru said nervously
" Yes you do! You have to! I f you don't, more and more people will die! It won't end on it's own this time!" Balmung demanded, stepping towards her, " What did he tell you!"
Ican't handle it anymore...can this blind idiot not tell? What he is saying is tearing her apart!
In an instant, his blades were against a shocked Balmung's throat.
" Did you not hear her? She doesn't know...now back off!" He growled threateningly.
Balmung stared at him, wide-eyed, a moment, then got a knowing smile on his face, taking a step back, " I see...most interesting.."
Interesting? Why...if that idiot does one more thing,I will gut him!
For the moment though, Sora backed off, and glanced towards Mimiru...only she wasn't there.
Where is she!
Mimiru sobbed, as she slid down into a corner, in a back alleyway of Mac Anu.
Tsukasa...couldn't have died normally!..Why not? Why did he have to be attacked and tortured even after he gave up his passion! Why him? Why didn't he tell me? Why couldn' t he have had one completely oblivious, happy moment...?
I had it...with you... A voice whispered, touching her shoulder, Now don't cry Sakura, my beloved...I'm right here with you...
Shocked, she looked up, and saw Sora standing above her, a pained expression on his face.
" Sora?...What did you say?"
" I..." He said, slightly surprised, " Said...it's okay...Bamung's a bloody idiot..."
But...but, but...I heard...I'm not insane! How...?
He squatted down beside her, and looked at her seriously, " I...you won't believe me... but I ...know what it's like to lose...someone you love so much, it hurts...to try to make a mockery of life...when everything in you...all that was living...has rotted away..."
Silently, she stared at him a moment, What...what...could he be saying? Is he...sincere? More than the well-wishers at memorials and funerals...all the same, hollow, meaningless drivel...
Sobbing, she hugged him tightly, he was the only friend she had left...the only one she could trust with her all...that was so bitterly ironic, she almost laughed...Almost.
" Mimiru..." He said finally, " I..."
" Oh, guys.." A girl's voice called suddenly, causing them to whip their heads around to see who it was, a long haired brunette stood before them, a lost look in her eyes...she had been the one to talk about that strange dungeon...right?
" Balmung and alot of them have forged an alliance, and..."
" I work alone.." Sora said coldly.
He...always had...but... this was something Mimiru knew she had to do...
" I'll join them..."
The woman nodded, and walked away.
" Are you sure you want to?" Sora asked
" Yes. I...need to..."
Sora nodded confidently, " Then it's settled."
" What? " She asked, confused.
" I'll join them...I have an old score to settle with that old Lady..."
And such...the Twilight Alliance...last alliance of men...was forged
AN: What do you think? A little Epitaph-esque line in the end...
So, more importantly, do you people want me to raise the rating of this book? If you feel making it 'R' would inprove this book, tell me, that will shape the form of the entire book from here on out...don't worry though...I have a pretty little curve-ball pitch for the end all set up, and it will remain intact, either way we go...so, it's entirely you, the readers, choice...the quicker you choose, the quicker I can get around to updating this.
And, Torment...is almost all geared up to have ALL chapters up...I need a name for part 3...lol!
Othe .hack stories of mine:
Alone: a tragic story of love...too late...
Torment: The continuation...can the crew move on..?
PT 3(not yet published): As the casulities mount, can the wavemaster and the Long arm come to a truce?
Yusagi Sombermoon