.Hack: Penance
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. (Thoughts look like this.) Well, this is it. The last of Dean's chapters. There's still one more to go – the epilogue, the big tamale. Just sit tight. There's just a wee bit more closure to go after this. Don't worry; it's the good stuff. Count on it.

This chapter done to the tune of: Oasis – Live Forever

Chapter 42 – Reason Enough

"How's Hiro doing?" asked Dean as the elevator doors opened.

"He's a little shaken up, but he'll be okay," Masamoto answered. Together they stepped out into the lobby, assaulted by the chatter of police officers and paramedics. "We brought him down to the lobby, we're going to take him back to his mother. Dispatch says she's still at our mobile HQ."

As he looked up, the scene before him mirrored that of Cyber Connect just hours ago, albeit on a smaller scale. A detective interviewed the landlord near the office, and another officer took a statement from one of the few civilians that had stayed behind. Nearby, a photographer took a picture of a chalk outline, where Takeshi's body had fallen.

"I think I've seen enough of this to last a lifetime," Dean muttered.

Masamoto glanced down at Sebastian's outline, not five feet from where he stood. "That makes two of us."

"Is everybody else okay?"

Masamoto nodded. "Yeah. There was some collateral damage. Worst of it was from that damn machine gun, but fortunately nobody was hurt."

"Good," Dean sighed, "that's a load off."

"Dean!"

The boy's jubilant voice came from a far corner, where Hiroshi had been sitting, along with a previously unnoticed police officer. Hiro sprang up from the chair, breaking into a dash towards the detective.

Dean couldn't help but grin. "Hiro!" he cried, starting towards his younger friend. "Aw, man, are you all right?"

As they reached each other, Hiro surprised Dean by nearly tackling him in a firm embrace. His arms wrapped around Dean's back, and he buried his face into the older man's shoulder.

"Dean," he murmured. "I-I… I'm s-s-sorry…"

Initially caught off guard, Dean patted Hiro on the head, hugging him back with the other hand. Ignoring the slight pain from his cuts, he heard and felt the boy's quiet sobs, and was himself pushed to the brink of tears. "It's all right," he said back. "It's okay, man. You're gonna be fine now."

Hiroshi lifted his head up, staring at Dean through tear-filled eyes. "H-he said… they'd kill Aura if I didn't… didn't come with them." He then gulped hard, visibly shaking. "A-a-and… that guy, he…" another sniff, "he was gonna…"

Dean felt his throat tighten as his mind filled in the blanks, and he winced to choke back a sob of his own. "It's all right, Hiro… don't worry about it." He sniffed, and then added, "It's over, man, for real this time. I know… I know how it feels." Unconsciously, he tightened his hold on the boy. "Believe me, I know."

"I… I was scared…" Hiro murmured, trembling, "I really thought… I mean," he choked, "with the gun…"

"I know," Dean whispered, patting Hiro's back reassuringly. "I've been there too… it's scary, man, no shame in that." Gradually, he found his voice again. "But it didn't, and that's what matters. You're okay, man… everything's gonna be okay." Opting to change the topic, he continued. "We got 'em, man. Lios and Helba… they're getting Aura out right now. You and me, we stopped all this, man."

"She's gonna be okay?" he asked, his tone changing from fright to worry.

"Yeah… yeah, she'll be fine, man." Dean answered, releasing the boy. "There's a few people waiting to see you again… your mom, Yasu, Akira. You wanna go see 'em?" he asked, choking down his own tears and replacing them with a gentle smile.

"Y-yeah," Hiro muttered, doing his best to smile back. "I… I don't know how I'm gonna explain all this to mom…"

Dean shook his head. "Let me worry about that." Over his shoulder, he heard Masamoto talking, and quickly glanced to make sure the lieutenant wasn't talking to him. Spotting the elder cop with his cell phone out, he turned back to Hiro. "I told you before; you got a life to go back to after all this. Nobody and nothing is gonna take that from you."

Hiro managed to smile, and genuinely so. "Thanks… thanks, Dean." He swallowed. "Thank you… for everything."

The detective had to grin. "Hey, c'mon, you saved me too, remember? I figure we can call it even, what do you say?"

Hiro's own smile grew, and he impulsively stuck his hand out. "Deal."

Chuckling, Dean gripped the boy's hand firmly, giving it a good shake. "Good work, Hiro man."

"Yeah," Hiro replied, still somewhat shakily. "Y-you too, Dean."

An angry shout from Masamoto caught both their attentions. "What do you mean, 'he's gone'!"

Dean spun around, looking at Masamoto quizzically. "What's going on?"

Masa gave him a harried look. "It's Yumi. She says they found out it was Takahashi. His ID was tied to an email sent to Asara Corporation."

"So it was Takahashi," said Dean. "Who's gone, then?"

Masamoto frowned. "Francis. Yumi says he stormed off when he found out."

"Where'd he go?"

"Where do you think?"

Through the darkness, he heard two rather distinct noises. Above, a fan hummed quietly, gently churning the air in the study. The other noise came from the hallway outside, footsteps rapidly headed his way.

"You can't come in here!" a woman yelled. "This is Mr. Takahashi's house!"

"I know he's here, and I know he's up," a man barked back at her. "I'm going to see him. Get out of my way!"

(So that's it, isn't it?) he thought to himself. (That's how this ends?)

"S-s-sir!" she cried. "He's here for you! He forced his way in!"

"Let him pass, Shizu!" he yelled. "I'm in here!"

A few seconds, a few more footsteps. The door to his study opened; he sat up, opened his eyes, and found himself face-to-face with a very livid Francis Moritsu.

Frank scowled at him. "Why'd you do it, Kyoya? Why set all this up? Was it all just to get rid of Aura?"

Takahashi stared blankly at the intruder. "Frank, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, cut the bullshit!" spat Francis. "I got your letter. The one you sent to Asara, the one that asked Rosenberg to help you get rid of a certain program buried in 'The World.' You knew how to get her out of there, you knew how to get rid everyone who could interfere, and it was your idea from the start. Why? Why go through all this just for Aura?"

"I have to explain?" Takahashi asked, amused. "She's illegal, for one. You think we could sell a product that had AI on it? AI capable of doing what her and Morganna did?"

"We could've solved that. Maybe if you hadn't cut everyone who knew a bout the damn things…"

"Two, she knew too much." The vice-president closed his eyes again, reclining in his chair. "She wasn't just a part of 'The World'; she had access to our mainframe, and everything on it. She was a security threat."

Francis' eyes blazed. "She's just a girl! I don't care what she knows, she's just a girl without her father, born into something even she didn't understand. We could've helped her. We could've stopped all this a long time ago if you'd just told us."

"Are you so sure?" Takahashi challenged. "Morganna nearly corrupted her; god only knows what would have happened then. And need I mention Pluto Again? Apart from that she wasn't supposed to be there, apart from her knowing too much," he glowered, "she was a goddamned time bomb waiting to go off. All it would take is someone with an agenda to get to her."

"Maybe if you hadn't locked her in a box," Francis growled, "we could've made sure none of that happened."

Kyoya sighed. "Maybe… maybe. Of course, she still knew an awful lot…"

"Like how it wasn't me that night? The night Dean broke in?"

He crooked a smile. "So you did find out about that."

Francis stared at him, his blue eyes meeting with the brown of Takahashi's. "You had Shinji killed, tried to have Dean and Mr. Kerrek killed, too. All to keep Delphi hidden."

"Tip of the iceberg," Takahashi replied. "Tip of the iceberg."

"But why?" Francis almost pleaded. "Kyoya, why? Is that all that mattered to you? Profit? Keeping these secrets of yours hidden?"

Takahashi gently shook his head. "It wasn't always like that, no…"

"Hiring hitmen… sending people to kill an AI… for god's sake, your men kidnapped some innocent kid tonight!" Francis exclaimed. "He could've been killed! You sent Sato after Dean because you knew he'd kill the man he thought killed his son, and all the time it was you! And now Aura's trapped on our servers, being tormented to the point where she'll kill herself!" His face grew red with anger. "How can you sleep at night! What the hell is the matter with you!"

Takahashi didn't immediately reply, giving Francis room to continue. "I don't care what kind of crap you were up to, what other secrets you have to hide. It's over now. Your men are dead or behind bars, and you're going to join them one way or another."

"You have evidence to back that?" Kyoya asked tersely. "As opposed to letters given to you by an AI that shouldn't even exist?"

To his surprise, Francis stood up straight, reaching into a pocket on the inside of his coat. The object he removed caused Takahashi to gasp.

"I think your words will suffice," said Francis, holding the tape recorder up.

"S-sir! Mr. Takahashi!" called Shizu from the hallway. "There's more!"

Sure enough, more footsteps came from down the hallway. Through the open doorway, a police officer in a tan coat entered the study, followed by a haggard-looking American in a tattered leather jacket. He recognized the latter immediately.

Dean smiked at Francis. "Thanks, Frank," he said. "That'll do."

Takahashi inhaled sharply, almost hissing. "You…"

"Hiya, Takahashi," Dean said flatly. "Francis here says you've been doing some bad things lately."

"Yeah, lucky we got ahold of him," said Masamoto. "If he got to you without us, you might have to have been carried out."

"Damn," grumbled Kyoya. "Damn you…"

"Aw, don't even," scoffed Dean. "You're the one hiring maniacs and criminals to kill and kidnap children. You tricked Sato into thinking I was responsible for Shinji's death. You're worse than Felix." He glared hard at him. "If I have any say in it, you're going to jail with him for the rest of your life."

"She was not just some child!" hollered Takahashi, rising to his feet. "Haven't you been listening! These… things… have nearly doomed us all!"

"Now you're just waxing dramatic," Dean shot back. "How do you think you'd feel if you woke up in the middle of a fake world with no parents, people trying to either kill you or control you?"

"If you'd just told us about her," Francis insisted, "if we'd greeted her with open arms, or at least if we'd known about Morganna and everything Harald did with 'The World'…"

Masamoto took a step forward. "You could've stopped all this," he said slowly. "You could've set everything right. Nobody would've had to die, or be hospitalized, or at least not so many. You kept a lid on it, all at the expense of innocent people."

"You don't understand," Takahashi feebly replied. "You… don't you get it?"

"Buddy, you're going up the river one way or another," said Dean. "Just give us the code to set her free."

"Why the hell would I do that!" he yelled, almost desperately.

"Takahashi!" shouted Francis, moving between his boss and his two companions. "He's right. You're going to jail one way or another. You're not going to get away with this anymore. And I couldn't care less, because right now there's a scared little girl that's in trouble. She's trapped, and you put her there."

Francis gazed long and hard at Takahashi. "If there's anything resembling a soul in you… if you have any honor at all, any compassion, any decency… you won't let her die. She's alive, Kyoya, like you or me or anybody. She doesn't wanna hurt anybody, and if we help her she's not going to."

"You've done a lot of illegal things tonight, Mr. Takahashi," Masamoto added, "but this isn't just criminal. This is evil."

"She's just a kid, man." Dean swallowed. "For Christ's sake, let her go."

Takahashi looked helplessly at the three men opposite him; from one, to the next, to the last. He let his eyes fall shut, and he hung his head, wheezing slightly as he took a deep breath. (I… I… god, why did this happen? I can't… I can't believe…)

"Why," he murmured to himself. "Why did it have to end this way…"

"Please," Dean whispered.

He had it all worked out. The alibi, the escape plan, the rationale for the five hundred million about to vanish from the company's account books. He knew what it meant, what she was capable of, and what he would have to do to get rid of her. He was so certain.

Or so he told himself.

His knees grew weak, and he all but collapsed into his chair. "Damn it… god damn it."

"Kyoya…"

"What am I doing?" he asked himself. "What am I doing? What have I done?"

He got a distinct image of Aura; just one, but it was enough. Her silver hair, tattered dress; tears staining her cheeks, beating her tiny fists against the walls of an invisible prison. Darkness surrounded her on all sides, slowly encroaching, consuming her.

He cracked when he started to hear it… her. His hand almost unconsciously drifted to a desk drawer. He pulled the drawer open and removed a minidisk, placing it on the desk. "Put that in any computer on the mainframe," he said quietly. "Tell her… your father loves you very much." He paused. "That's… that's the password."

Francis approached the desk. "Thank you. We'll release her immediately."

Masamoto got on the phone as Francis scurried off, leaving the study. Dean stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, casually examining the rest of the room.

"You," said Takahashi. "Dean."

Dean glanced blankly at him. "Yeah?"

"You… were once a criminal?"

The detective furrowed his brow. "So they tell me."

Takahashi took a deep breath. "How did you… deal with it?" he asked, his voice hesitant and small.

Dean's answer was quick, almost rehearsed. "I suffered," he said, almost under his breath. "I suffered until my debt was repaid."

"Does it ever end?" Takahashi asked with a hint of curiosity.

Dean looked away, staring longingly into empty space. "It can," he answered, then added, "If you want it bad enough."

"Mom!"

Hiro scampered breathlessly across the lot, through the headquarters the police had set up. His mother turned to him upon hearing his voice, and her face lit up in joyful surprise.

"Hiroshi!" she cried, racing towards him. "Hiroshi! Oh, god, you're okay!"

For the second time that night, Hiro launched himself into a tight embrace, his mother catching him with one of her own. She half-laughed, half-sobbed as she clung to him. "Oh, Hiro, honey, I was so worried… you had me so worried…"

"I'm sorry, mom," he said, too exhausted for more tears but no less emotional. "I… I didn't mean to…"

"Don't you ever wander off like that again," she said sternly, almost whimpering. "I… I couldn't bear to lose you..."

"I know… I'm sorry," he repeated, desperate. "It just all happened so fast…" a lump welled up in his throat. "It just…" he weakly began, clinging even harder to her, as if to dispel a certain image from his mind; a gun barrel, pointed squarely at him.

"It's okay," she urged. "I'm just glad you're safe."

A pair of familiar voices called out to him; one boy, one girl. "Hiro!"

He loosened his hold on his mother, just enough to see Akira and Yasuhiko as they approached. Both had jubilant looks on their faces, Yasu grinning widely and Akira also smiling, though she was clearly fighting down a few tears.

"Akira!" he cried as they joined him. He reluctantly pulled himself free from his mother. "Yasu! You guys… you waited for me?"

"Dean said you'd be right back," Akira answered, shifting one of her feet on its toes. "I… I told mom I'd be getting a ride home."

Yasuhiko nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to wait for you. I had a feeling you'd be back soon," he said confidently, though his eyes betrayed his concern.

"You guys," Hiro began, smiling sadly. "You… guys…"

"I'm… really glad you're okay, Hiro," Akira said meekly. "You really had me… us all worried, you know that?"

"All of us," said Yasu in agreement. In spite of levity, he added, "Some more than others, though," rolling his eyes suggestively towards Akira.

"Wh-what are you talking about!" she yelped defensively, facing Yasuhiko. "You were scared, too!"

"It's all right," Hiro urged. He smiled again. "Really… it's all right. It's good to see you guys, too." He sniffed. "I was worried, too… I mean, I didn't know if I would…"

He sniffed again, growing quiet; he then remembered his mom was standing right next to him. Slightly flustered, he gestured to Akira. "Um… mom, this is a… f-friend of mine, Akira."

His mother smiled, bowing her head. "Hello, Akira. How do you do?"

Akira returned the gesture. "It's nice to meet you," she said, her voice abnormally high-pitched. "I'm, uh… one of Hiro's class…" she caught herself, remembering their age difference. "We go to the same school."

"Oh, so you met at school?"

Akira shot a shrewd smile at Hiro. "Kind of… he helped me out with something important. He was really… really sweet about it."

Hiro smiled back, his ears starting to burn. "So was she," he said. "I, uh… I couldn't have done it without her."

His mother caught the looks between them, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "Is that so?" she asked, her tone warm and knowing.

"Is… is someone there?"

What sounded like a footstep echoed through the darkness, followed closely by another. "Aura." The word was spoken slowly, calmly, though there were hints of restrained joy.

Her eyes searched the darkness, scrutinizing every visible inch. Somehow, she felt the 'walls' of her prison beginning to fade. "Who is it?" she asked. "Who's there?"

Something started to form at the very edge of her vision; a vaguely human shape. "Aura… can you hear me?"

"Yes… yes, I can hear you. Who are you?" She tried to walk towards the figure, but found herself still stuck in place. "What's going on?"

"Good," said the voice. "Listen to me. Your father loves you… very much."

She never took her eyes off the figure. The body remained unclear, but the head and face sharpened to picture-perfect clarity. The white hair was a dead giveaway, though she instinctively knew who it was regardless.

Harald smiled at her. "Aura… my daughter…"

She quivered, as if in disbelief. "F… father?"

He said nothing further; the smile on his face saying more than enough in his stead. He approached her, his arms wide, beckoning to her.

"Father!"

Her bindings were gone. Just like that, she felt free once more, and ran through the tangible darkness towards the man. She collided roughly with him, clinging to him, and felt him embracing her in return.

"Shhhh. Everything will be all right, my daughter." His words were soothing, gentle, full of love and life.

"It was… it was so dark…" she mumbled, trembling in his arms.

He stroked her hair softly. "Just rest… rest, for me… and when you wake up, everything will be back to normal." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I promise."

"I will… thank you. Thank you… father."

The text box closed, leaving Yumi to stare at the now empty desktop.

"Did it work?" asked Francis.

Yumi turned her head, looking up at the administrator. "Yes," she said, relief mingling with exhaustion in her words. "She's free."

End of Chapter 42