The Azure Orb

Chapter III: Devil's Guardian

Disclaimer: Oh tsh, if I owned it, you'd see a .Hack/Sign game.

A/N: I know, I know, not many BT fans out there, but, I can try can't I? O-o that's odd, a random flie just crashed itself onto my screen….. ewwwww :wipe wipe:

Oh yes, important, did you guys know BT was a model? O-o I only found out yesterday!


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The darkened sky seemed to grow darker within each second wasted. The skies…….. such a mysterious thing. Many just thought of it as a source of light in the morning, illuminated by the sun, and at night, dimmed by the moon…… such a simple task of it to complete.

Yet, there were some who seemed to wonder off about it more than others…….

A certain Swordmaster, imprinted with white streaks seperating his blue skin from the normal one as some remarked, surveyed the twinkling dim lights in the heavens as a younger individual sat there, hugging her knees to her chest looking lonesome.

She finally heaved a sigh and looked up as well, "I don't get it Bear…….. How was that possible? All of it?" her tone changed from a simple question to desperate measures, "I mean, look!"

Her arm was bruised in several places as for broken pieces of armour remained, "Even if I log out then back in! They won't heal! And……. What's even freakier is that those bruises are there in real life!" she became more distressed as she spoke, "My mom thinks I've been beaten up at school…… and……… I thought BT was your friend Bear……." Her complaints became harder to explain, or even prove by the minute, yet, no one could miss the miserable tone at those last comments.

The older man finally broke his gaze from the sky and turned to look at Mimiru's references. His face, half-hidden in shadows seemed more weary than usual as for his voice, tired of that event, "I don't know……. This is a very different situation……… BT…… she's someone……. someone like the sky. She could be nice, light-hearted like daylight, yet darker and malicious than night-fall itself……." He closed his eyes, propping himself on the cool grass beside his young friend, "Also, you can see her, but you can't quite grasp her emotions nor personality. Exactly like the sky……." He bared many wounds as well, but he took it lightly.

"Yeah, well she's got the nerves to stick with that weirdo guy……. What is that thing anyway? It almost seemed like……." Mimiru playfully tugged at the digital grass, seemingly at loss for words.

"Tsukasa's……. guardian? Yes I remember that…… it was like Morganna was back," Bear stood up, re-sheathing his sword back in place then spoke with a thoughtful voice, "Mimiru, should I check up on BT in real life? She was one to get injured the most, and while I'm at it, I'll see Crim too."

The younger individual paused for a second then nodded, "I guess that's all we could do at the moment," she shrugged throwing the bundle of grass away, revealing a bald patch in the soil.


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Crim paced around in his room a couple of times ignoring the constant phone rings that threatened to stop when not answered, pondering about that incident that happened just two days ago.

His raven-black hair, neatly spiked up in the front, as a good imitation from the game shone under the mini, bright chandelier from the ceiling and as for his shadow followed each of his steps, forming itself like a dark puddle underneath his feet.

The visor that would send Crim back to the gaming world layed there motionless, waiting to be turned on by human hands where it would bring the fake world to reality in one's mind.

Evening had settled between the real world and The World as he logged onto the server. As soon as the golden rings had disappeared out of sight, the Red Lightning dashed out towards that high place they had once visited a few days ago. If the clues would still be fresh, it would be there.


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Bear sighed as he hung the phone up. Maybe Subaru gave him the wrong phone number? No, she wouldn't do such a thing, especially with a grave situation such as this.

His computer screen flickered in the dusky room, emitting only a small and annoying buzz from the monitor. Sudenly, a ring echoed through the speakers indicating a new arrival of email. Surprised, Bear made his way to empty chair and settled himself, reading the letter silently in his mind.

Hey Bear, it's Mimiru again,

Did you see the news recently? There was this thing about a model being found in her apartment, presumably like……. In a trance thing. No, well, I'm not sure, I kinda thought of BT when I saw that but nah, there's no way she could be a model for a living right? Right! Anyway, if you're not busy, I'd like to investigate more on this…… thing. Yeah, yeah, homework and stuff but I can put that up for later heh, and did you contact Crim yet? Tell me on the contact list that he's online so I guess I'll email him to meet us.

Ciao!

Mimiru

Bear raised an eyebrow at the sudden invitation then shrugged. It had only been a few hours since they last met but it couldn't hurt to play a bit more during nighttime.


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"Mmm hmm hmm……." Sora jumped off a high ledge while humming to himself. It was sure a gloomy day for The World with all the dark clouds swirling around in the sky, yet not gloomy enough to make this Twin Blade back down. Backing down from investigating that is, "Where could you be? If I were a woman with a harsh personality and a blubbery boyfriend……. Where would I go?"

His green haired flowed to the digital wind as his lips thinned, specifying the effort he took to concentrate on a particular subject. Sora shrugged and jumped up and down onto other objects, "I don't know! Time to pay Mimiru a visit! Boing! Kapow!"

Golden rings surrounded him in mid-air as he disappeared after they dispearsed.


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"Dammit!"

A monster charged forward tackling Mimiru down in the process, but with a quick jump, the Heavyblade was back on her feet ready for the kill.

It's attacks were predictable and the weakling hadn't had a brain to think what he was doing. She took the opportunity to block another attack then striked the beast in the opening. A high pitch roar rang through the clearing as the demon flew away in pixel dusts along with the wind of The World.

"Great! Gold!" reaching out to grasp the gold that had flown out of the monster but another hand snatched them before Mimiru could even feel it, "H-hey what's the big idea?"

"Mmm, I think I'll take this!" His eyes admired longingly at his stolen prize, he smirked smugly.

"Ack! No! Give it back!" she sprinted forward only to fall back, face flat upon the ground with a tirumphant Sora nudging her gently with his foot.

"We don't attack nice ones! We ask them nicely to give it back!"

The female sighed in frustration as she got up and brushed off the dirt, clinging to her armour annoyingly, "Look, I just did!"

"Not nicely though……"

"Just give it here!"

"Not until you apologiiiiize……"

"I won't! It's mine! Give-it-to-me- AAH," The hair on her back stood on end as Mimiru jumped back several paces, after feeling a hand on her shoulder, "Bear! Ack, don't scare me like that……."

The older man chuckled, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you……. Anyways shall we find Crim with his user ID? I have important things to ask of him," he gazed silently at the pair, as Sora threw the coins back at Mimiru and shouted in glee.

"I'm coming too!"

"Oh god no….. Not you!" she whined.


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From the darkness hanging off from the moonlit tall mountain, the dragon huffed out, stretching it's wings in the cool night air it they quietly landed upon floating grounds. It watched the individual jump off his back as he rushed to the sealed entrance.

There were many people amongst the night-fallen and hazy grounds mummuring to themselves spreading yet again, other rumours.

"Hey have you heard?" a particular player whispered to his partner, "Skyway's been closed before too, it was said to be the first dungeon ever made here. Though there was this guy who died in real life after beating it," he smirked, "Who knows what's at the end of the dungeon. Man I wonder how it's even possible for someone to die like that in a game's premiere," he shook his head.

"Yeah, and apparently, it closed ever since, only to be opened now once again. Though did you see the girl that came out? She was all beat-up! I swear, it's impossible to enter that ever again. Not to mention, how the hell that could even happen," his ally replied smugly, apparently proud of all the information he had known.

Crim narrowed his eyes, advancing towards the mouth of the cave, but as soon as the view unfogged, a sword halted his steps.

"Back away, Skyway is now closed," The guardian's face appeared through the thick mist, he had a mask with horns protruding from the helm and crimson eyes matching his uniform and white armour.

"Ginkan, I need to pass through. BT's-"

"I do not care. This dungeon has been restricted from entering, officially confirm by-"

"What do you mean you don't care! She's one of our friends and you'll just let her die with that psycho?" he pushed aside his sword, coming to a halt as a barrier revolted him back. The Long-arm withrew from the blow and glared at it shocked, "What the…… Ginkan! Take this barrier off, I demand you!"

Yet the Crimson Knight merely chuckled, refusing his demand, "If it were my barrier, I wouldn't have taken it off anyway for the likes of you. This is the work from another player, now, please leave immediately, I have no time to waste."

"You know movies kinda get to your head?" The Red Lightning snapped out of frustration.

"I asked you to leave, so do so!"

It seemed almost impossible to get through at this point. Instead Crim decided to find another way around, sticking around somoe rumors in case anything was revealed.

The think fog started to disperse, yet as soon as a single wisp evaporated, even more vapour appeared by the second. It was unusual to have fog in The World, yet this dungeon was abnormal anyway.

There were so many groups chit-chatting away that anyone could've believe it was some event about in-play message boards about the mysterious area.

"Uh? You mean the super model found in her apartment? No, can't be. Anyway, did you see the offline boards? They say that this other player online got a guardian and is like, killing off other players. Berserk huh-"

"What do you know about this?" Crim interrupted their conversation at last, desperate to find more answers if atleast he'd be able to find here.

The three players looked at him awkwardly, each baring symbols on their faces. Finally the same one that had spoken the rumors stated, "Uhm, there's this player who has a guardian like that other wavemaster? Probably gonna be wanted sooner or later too. And who are you to barge in like this- Hey! I'm talking to you!"

But it was too late, the Long Arm had already dashed out, jumping onto his dragon, and flew off towards real land once again.

The problem was……. which server would she be wandering around in?


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"Have you tried emailing her?"

Bear closed his eyes, "I imagine she would ignore them……"

"Then…… you want me to give you her adress? No it's fine, I'll go check up on her myself……" his shimmering, blue hair swayed to the wind, eyes full of guilt and unbearable sins.

"I'll come with you," the old man stated, standing up, "I should've talked to her more often. I didn't know BT felt that lonely."

"It's not your fault Bear. She hates me, and she knows I hate her too……. But…… I can't help but feel guilty as well, I'll come too!" Mimiru raised her tanned fist in the air with her usual care-free smile.

Crim on the other hand seemed a bit perturbed. He didn't want anyone to get hurt when really, everything was his fault…… He had rejected her that one night where she devoted herself to him, though he didn't feel the same way……. Somehow, his mind kept racing to her beautiful smiling face. That auburn hair when she entered his apartment and her personality. She was indeed beautiful to him, but he didn't know himself why he had…… told her off that one evening.

The sadness in her eyes stabbed him like a million daggers, clawing at his raw insides and that phrase she repeated twice…… 'I understand…..'

She really didn't. She thought she did but she didn't, in the end, it hurt her as much as him. He was a fool to think that someone of her status would affect his work. Now that he mentioned that to himself, his work was aactually the source of the problem. Crim was afraid that he wouldn't have time to see her, spend time with his girlfriend and all this was due to his previous one as well…… He had nearly lost his job back then too.

The moon was now almost engulfed by darkness as it dimly radiated back……

"C'mon, we don't have much time," The Long Arm logged out followed by his friends


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It was similar to The World. The moon peeped behind thick clouds whom's shadow overpowered the light of life at the moment setting the landscape in pitch black darkness with the exception of homofaber technology.

Everything seemed to come to an end, the world crumbled beneath his feet…… but that was his world and night-fall seemed have lasted an eternity.

The building all seemed identical but the one he knew shone brighter than others……. The window from her room shone brilliantly………

With police interviewing the owners of the building at the entrance………


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A/N: I command you to review! Make Lenne happy PLEASE X-x My writing? Yes, it has improved for the better……..