A .Hack fanfiction by Renfro Calhoun
Disclaimer: Project .Hack and attached characters/concepts are property of Bandai and Cyber Connect. They are used without permission, but with the utmost respect.
Notes: Happens after the end of Quarantine, before the epilogue. (These) are thoughts, [this] is text, and until I find something better, {this} is an email domain. No fluff this chapter, but this time, we have PLOT!
Oh yes, my friend, there is a purpose to this story beyond ensuring that my favorite characters hook up. (Does the cutesy anime sweatdrop face via up arrows and semicolons, described in text due to formatting woes – the same formatting woes which royally screwed over my emails and thus, instead of actually looking garbled and weird like Aura's, they look like freakin' Jeopardy. Grrr!)
This chapter done to the tune of: Brother Cane – And Fools Shine On
Chapter 11 – The Band----------------------------
"I still don't understand why we don't just kill him."
"He dies, and we've got no way to find the rest, and with them goes our plan. You know what happens then."
"I'm just saying, it's a huge security risk. Just having him HERE makes me worried."
"It's not the best idea in the world, I'll admit..."
"And you saw yourself what's going on. What the hell are those things anyway?"
"They said something might happen. Well, something's happening. Deal with it."
"All this to nab one girl..."
"She's not just any girl. Trust me, she's worth every penny."
-
He gated in before Kite's eyes, looking every bit as the Twin Blade remembered; a tall, sturdily built Blademaster, the upper half of his torso covered in light green body paint, with white stripes crisscrossing over his chest and face. A solid blue shoulder guard sat on his left shoulder, matched in color by waist and leg greaves, and his weapon sat calmly in its sheath, strapped firmly to his back.
Orca's amber eyes gazed down at his diminutive companion, a smile set firmly on his square, masculine face. After a few seconds delay, he asked, "Hey... didn't you used to have a green outfit?"
Kite was forced to chuckle. "That's kind of a long story." Thinking for a moment, he corrected himself. "Well, actually that's a short story – the bracelet changed my outfit."
"Heh heh... you get all the fun stuff," said the warrior, his voice clearly not that of a 15-year-old boy.
The two players broke into a minor fit of laughter, and then embraced, slapping each other heartily on the back – though Kite's smaller stature forced him to stand on his toes to do so.
"Good to be back," said Orca as he released the teal-haired fighter from his grasp.
"Good to see the other you again," Kite replied with a smiley, and followed up by sending a party invite towards the Blademaster. "Ready to go?"
Orca nodded, accepting the invitation and joining the Twin Blade's party. "Where are we headed?"
"Almost anywhere on this server should do," said Kite, looking at the parapets which surrounded him – the towers and battlements of Fort Ouph. "You're still level 50, right?"
"Yeah."
With a nod, Kite started towards the Chaos Gate. "In that case, we'll just do a random field."
Glancing down at his new leader, Orca asked, "Do you think we'll need anybody else?"
"I sent a few flash mails already," was Kite's reply, "but nobody answered. BlackRose had to leave before dinner and said she wouldn't be on until late tonight. Balmung is in away status right now – the message says he's in the middle of something. The only other two I know who are online are in a party somewhere else – Sanjuro and Ryoko."
"So just you and me, huh?" Orca smirked. "Now that takes me back..."
Kite let out a small noise, unsure if he was amused or unsettled by the thought of their previous adventure.
They soon stood before the Gate, and Kite engaged it and immediately opted for a randomly generated field. In a heartbeat, the keywords appeared, and the boy took note of the field level and element before accepting.
The Root Town around them vanished, and was quickly replaced with a vast snowfield. Chunks of rock and broken, ancient structures lay here and there, most half-buried in tall snowbanks or blocks of ice, all tinted with many shades of blue. Above, the clouds were thick and dark, choking out the sun as tiny snowflakes sprinkled down to the earth, with only a faint breeze to interrupt their descent.
One Fairy's Orb later, the two were making their way towards the nearest portal. "So, did you meet with that administrator yet?" asked Orca, breaking the silence.
"Not yet," Kite answered. "I'm back in a GM queue, just got a flash mail a little while ago that Lios would meet with me."
"Lios? You asked for a specific admin?"
"He's the one that helped us before, and when I told him what was happening this time, he told me to contact him directly," Kite explained. He cut himself short as a portal popped up at the edge of his view. "Hey, look!"
Orca hefted his sword, gripping it firmly in his large hand. "I'm ready!"
The two dashed towards the spinning golden disc, and watched as sparks began to cascade down its surface. A low whistle began and quickly grew in pitch as the disc brightened, and, in a flash, it was gone.
"Yaaaahhh!...oh."
Sharing a mighty war cry, Kite and Orca charged into the light, and just as suddenly skidded to a halt before the treasure chest which now occupied where the portal once sat.
"Huh." The Blademaster shrugged his broad shoulders and cocked his head towards Kite, a weak grin on his face. "Well... at least there's treasure."
Kite nonchalantly strolled up to the box and lifted the lid, poking his head inside. "Hey, it's a Hanged Man scroll. Those are always help-"
[You already have 99 Hanged Man scrolls. Gave up Hanged Man scroll.]
"-ful."
The box vanished into thin air, taking the contents with it and leaving the would-be combatants to simply stand and stare.
"O...kay," muttered Orca, "it looks like you've got enough treasure already."
Kite shook his head, causing a few bangs to bounce around in front of his eyes. "I really have to sell more often."
At that, they headed towards the next closest portal, Kite taking point with Orca close behind. Their feet kicked up tiny clouds of snow as they ran, leaving footprints that slowly disappeared behind them.
"Hey, quick question," Orca began out of the blue. "That player, BlackRose... you mentioned her before, yesterday. Is she involved in this too?"
"Sort of," said Kite as he led his friend around a large pile of icy rocks. "She was trying to help her brother back then, and she's been helping me out ever since." He coughed, then added, "We actually were just talking about that."
"Really? Why, what's going on?"
"I told you how some of my email was being deleted, right?" He slowed his pace, glancing back at Orca and waiting for an affirmation. When the Blademaster nodded, he continued. "Most of it was from her; that is, all of her mail was deleted, along with something from an anonymous email address."
"Anonymous... you mean like the one you got last night? From that guy Dean?"
"Yeah, the ones that were scrambled. Anyway, I think whoever's watching me is watching her, too, but I can't figure out why."
The look on Orca's face grew darker. "This sounds pretty serious."
"I wouldn't have asked for your help if I thought I could handle it myself," said Kite. "Strange characters, deleted mail, people spying on us... and I don't even know if it has anything to do with me at all this time."
"Right, because that first character was just looking for the Wavemaster, wasn't he?"
Kite gave a short nod. "That's what we were told."
"Hmm. You know, maybe we should have Balmung take a look at those scrambled emails you've been getting. You made copies, right?"
The Twin Blade stopped and faced his sole companion, spying their intended destination – another portal – out of the corner of his eye. "I saved all we had in a log file, and then again in a text document," he confirmed. "I tried going over those yesterday with BlackRose and Ryoko, but we couldn't figure it all out. All we have is that it came from the man in black, that first character."
Orca chuckled. "I mean it. You wouldn't know from looking at him, but he's really good at that sort of thing. He once told me he does a lot of crossword puzzles."
"Really?" Kite raised an eyebrow. "Well, all right then. I'll show them to him as soon as he's back."
"Good. Anyway... if you would..." Orca said quietly, looking over at the nearby portal.
The younger player followed his gaze, and caught on right away. Raising his blades, Kite replied with a confident "I'll warm them up for you," and dashed forward to engage the enemy, barely finding time to close the statement with another smiley face.
-
"You sure it's nothing important?"
Balmung shook his head, tousling a few strands of his silver hair in the process. "He just said he was going to help Orca level. It didn't sound important." He folded his arms across his chest plate, staring evenly at the man opposite him. "Not as much as this, anyway."
The bright orange of his tunic and slacks was the most noticeable aspect of his outfit, with the eyepatch a close second; small, linked pieces of some foreign metal ran the length of his left arm, green paint doing the same on his right. His hair – shoulder-length, brown, and parted down the middle – was brushed neatly back and did little to obscure his hard-set face, or his remaining eye.
Sanjuro met the Azure Sky's gaze. "In that case, as soon as Ryoko gets back, we'll show you where we found him."
At the name, Balmung eyed the halo-adorned Heavy Axewoman, restraining a smirk at the amusing contrast between her outfit and her armament. The axe lay still in her hands, as inert as she was; her body made no movement at all, lacking the guidance of a human player.
Less than a minute later, Terajima snapped back to life, her face lighting up with a kind, cheerful smile. "Thanks for waiting!" she exclaimed.
"No problem," said Sanjuro. "C'mon, let's show him that guy."
Without bothering to form a party, the three fell into a loose semblance of formation, Natsume and Balmung following the samurai as they sped across the lush, rolling plains around them. Grassland stretched for miles in every direction, broken up by the occasional windmill or rock pile, most indistinguishable from one another – as if some lazy deity on the development team had been overly fond of 'copy and paste'.
"So how did you find this thing?"
"I've been hearing about these characters on the boards," said Sanjuro. "A guy I know mentioned this area, and I wanted to check it out."
"Were you with him the whole time?" Balmung asked, addressing Ryoko.
She doubled her pace to keep up with Sanjuro. "No, but I heard the same rumor, and this time it seems like we're a few of the first."
The winged swordsman peered curiously at her. "This time?"
Ryoko nodded. "BlackRose and I were following another rumor last night, but we were too late, and the character was killed by another party. When I heard this one, I wanted to get here as soon as possible." When no one else spoke, she kept talking. "I found Sanjuro here with the character."
"There have been a lot of rumors about this lately," remarked Balmung. "I'm surprised so many are turning out to be true."
"Not really that many," said Sanjuro, "at least not from what Ryoko told me. Anyway, I thought you should check this out before we start sending emails."
"Why didn't you ask for Kite?"
"He said not to," was the quiet answer from Ryoko. "He said that... oh, just a second, let me check the logs." Her face went forward as she stared into the empty air. "Here. He said, 'They're getting nervous. They might do something if they know I've contacted him again.'"
"They?"
"We're here," Sanjuro interrupted, stopping their march through the plains. He cleared his throat, then sheathed his sword and cupped his hands over his mouth – a reflexive animation preceding a shouted message. "Hey! You can come out now!"
Shuffling feet caught Balmung's ears, and he whirled in the direction of the noise. "Balmung of the Azure Sky, I presume?"
He stood at average height, a medium build, and clad completely in dark clothes – shirt, shoes and pants. Short black hair topped his head, which was devoid of any distinguishing features save for a weary cast to his eyes and skin that was a tad on the pale side. He was utterly unremarkable in every sense, obviously intending to avoid attention, and yet in 'The World' he stuck out like a sore thumb.
Balmung held his ground, watching the newcomer carefully. "You called for me?"
He sniffed, casually sliding his hands into his pockets. "Sorta. I needed someone to talk to that wasn't Kite."
"Why not him? Why couldn't you tell Sanjuro, or Ryoko?"
"It's a long story, brother. You all better sit down."
Feeling his confusion get the best of him, Balmung forced one more question past his lips. "So... who are you, anyway?"
The man turned away slightly, a deep sigh escaping his chest. "I imagine I'm being called lots of things right now... but for what it's worth..." he paused, running a hand through his hair, giving his forehead a brief massage in the process. "The name's Dean."
- End of Chapter 11