Absolute Beginners
by
Deborah J. Brown

.Hack is copyrighted to Bandai Entertainment. I'm just playing in it.

Author's Note: This is an Alternate Universe fic in the sense that while I'm trying to keep as true to the original storyline as possible, I have something happen that may not be the case in the original story. I like getting reviews here, but in general all response comments will be put on my LJ. (You can find that by following my webpage link in my user information, since the Pit screws up HTML entirely.) You don't have to be a member to comment there, though I do screen all anonymous posts.

Should Auld Acquaintance…

It was, A20 was discovering, exceedingly difficult to research something without asking questions. None the less, careful reading of the boards told a story that made her very worried indeed. "People are disappearing from the game," she told Sora. They were making their way through the field of a fairly high level dungeon, higher than she was used to and the effort was leveling up her character rapidly. Even so, it would be a while before she could catch up with Sora's new level. "And there've been a lot of power outages and stuff."

Red eyes glanced her way, more realistic now that she'd persuaded her parents to buy her both the expansion pack and goggles for her birthday. The former made it possible to move her character in more realistic ways, though she had to use the keyboard to do so. The latter had better graphics that made everything seem that much more real. "What about that guy… Kite was it? You said there were a lot of rumors surrounding him." He paused, "Hello. Mimics. Hate those things. Back off. Cast spells and I'll keep them distracted. Don't use a restore on me if I get Confused. It's just a waste of potions."

Before she could say anything, her partner had run forward, blades out and ready as he struck. He was getting braver, foolhardy even, and she had to wonder if it was altogether wise, considering his claim that death for him here would be death in the Real World as well. His dependence on her ability to keep them both going worried her.

Another thing about the situation was bothering her. The scared, obnoxious kid she'd taken under her wing had turned out to be a smart, cunning and still obnoxious player of the game. She'd seen some newbies take off quickly, but two weeks of playing, even with a sudden burst of leveling up, wasn't enough to give a player that much of an edge.

The last mimic fell and she saw Sora running at her. From the yellow stars over his head it was obvious her partner had been unable to resist the mimics' confusion spell and she hurriedly tossed a Restore potion at him before he could get to her with those knives of his. That was the other clue. She'd thought they were some variant on Assassin blades - a low level set of weapons that she knew weren't strong enough in the higher level dungeons. She was realizing she was wrong. No one, not even a player at Sora's current level, would have been able to kill mimics that fast with a level three blade.

"Badabing, badaboom," Sora commented happily as the experience points from his latest kills leveled A20 up. "At this rate, you'll be up to my level in just a few more dungeon crawls." He cast a healing spell or so on himself, then sat on a rock. "Let's take a breather for a moment. That hurt. Wish I could use a Ceramic Helm."

A20 shared that wish. The item let you cast a spell that would keep healing you for a period of time. A convenient if rare item but one Twin Blades like herself and Sora couldn't use. She sat her character down beside Sora's, keeping an eye out in the other direction. "Sora?"

"Hmmmhmmm?"

"Why did you never Player Kill me?"

"Too easy," Sora answered, absent mindedly. "It wouldn't have been any…." His voice trailed off. "Oops. Me and my big mouth."

.oOo.

Gazing up at the windmill rotating slowly above them, Sora grinned wryly to himself. "Guess I lost that bet." At A20's stare, he shrugged. "I figured it'd take you at least a month to figure it out." He carefully avoided adding the words, 'if ever'. No point in getting her really mad at him, after all.

"A month? A month?" Ordinarily, Sora appreciated the fact that the new equipment A20's parents had gotten her included a microphone. The ability to hear real inflections made him feel less like he was surrounded by androids. Right now, though, her shriek of annoyance hurt his virtual ears. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"I dunno. All I had to do to get your member address was to ask. That's a dumb thing to do, y'know." Sora dodged A20's smack on his shoulder. "Ouch. Meanie." It wasn't much of a smack, really, owing to those new game rules, but he'd certainly felt it. He grinned, looking at his partner out of the corner of his eyes, "I mean, even I'm old enough to know better'n that."

A20 shrugged. "I was told it was easier to play the game with friends. If you turned out to be a jerk I would have reported you."

It figured that she'd think that way. Sora couldn't help but wonder at her naiveté. Admittedly, he'd been innocent enough to use his own, real, name for his character. Innocent enough to find himself being propositioned by some dirty old man on a message board. But he'd learned. A20 was older than he was, of that much he was certain. So why was he the more security minded one?

The answer to that, though, was simple. A kid who goes wandering around and poking into places where he shouldn't be either learned caution quickly or even more quickly bought themselves a world of trouble. And he couldn't really claim perfect caution, either. He'd been the one dumb enough to think he could get away with betraying the entity called Morgana without repercussions. He'd convinced himself that he could hit the power switch before she could hurt him. He remembered stretching his hand out, about to do exactly that, and being paralyzed by that awful sound. "What an idiot."

"Hey!"

"Sorry. I meant me. I was… remembering how I got into this mess." Sora grinned at his companion. "Never mind. I'm ready to go. Tell me more about the boards."

.oOo.

There had been so much information to go through. Months and months of board messages. Even more messages on the unofficial boards. There were tantalizing hints. Conversations about a strange message that had shown up on the net and been deleted. Areas that had been mysteriously blocked, then later opened. "Like the place I found you." She remembered the field, with its peculiar, shattered graphics and tendency to fuzz out into static.

Running beside her, cartwheeling occasionally as if so full of energy that he simply couldn't do anything else, Sora nodded. "I remember. Sort of. I was a bit busy trying to run from the monsters. That's how I ended up in the Spring. They couldn't reach me there. Made the spirit really mad at me, though."

Somehow, A20 couldn't help but reflect that making people mad at him was tantamount to Sora's own special power. She said as much but the sour comment was met with laughter as Sora agreed with her. "You don't have to be so proud of it," she grumbled as she dodged around a corner, smashing a skeleton on the way and getting a Restore potion as a reward. "Anyway, the other thing is that there's a rumor that Kite has something that's upsetting the SysAdmins. Some device that regular gamers aren't supposed to have."

"A monster?" At A20's confused silence, Sora elaborated, waving his hands in the air to describe a shape rather like a barbell. "That's what She gave Tsukasa… No?" He shifted gears as a monster approached them, leaping into the air and over the giant's head. A20 had a moment of severe envy, watching him. She didn't believe his claim that he was literally inside the game but it was hard not to do so when he did things like that. "So, what does he have?"

It took A20 a moment to answer, as she was busy trying to catch up with a Hysteria. The annoying little witch monsters were fast, almost too fast even with a speed spell. As the thing screeched and died, she turned her attention back to Sora. "I'm not sure, really. Someone says they saw him use it on a Chaos Gate, though. Maybe it lets him get into Protected Areas?"

"Oef cuorse eet duos"

.oOo.

Sora spun around, blades at ready. He hated, just absolutely hated being snuck up on. Two players were approaching them, the one near twin to Tsukasa - though Sora was absolutely certain it wasn't him… or rather her. The other looked like a humanoid cat and while the design was different from the cat he remembered, some instinct told him that it was the same kitty who'd brought him Morgana's hidden place. Well, almost the same, because he didn't remember that kitty ever talking to him. Spitting angrily, yes, but not talking. If you can call that gibberish talking.

"Mia said 'Of course it does,'" the Wavemaster said, hiding nervously behind the tall cat figure. Sora eyed them, considered for a moment and finally let his blades slide back into their sheathes. "I'm sorry we startled you. Please don't be angry."

A20 moved her character to stand beside Sora. "Who are you?" Her tone was suspicious and Sora didn't blame her. "That character design isn't possible. Are you a hacker?" Their experience with those two other hackers had made her a bit paranoid on the subject.

The cat approached, cocking her head and smiling in a way that answered one question for Sora. He didn't think even a hacker would be able to give their characters such smooth shifts of expression. He said as much, adding, "Did She send you after me? Are you going to try and kill me?" The look of fear on the feline face both startled and relieved him. As much on the run as I am, I bet.

"No!" The Wavemaster interjected. "I don't know much about what's going on, but Mia's not like that." He was standing beside the cat, his movements as protective as A20s were for Sora, a point that the Twin-blade didn't ignore. "We saw you in town and… Mia sensed something odd… Do you know Kite?"

.oOo.

A20 shook her character's head. "No, but I've heard of him," she admitted, even as Sora moved slowly towards Mia. The two of them circled, both clearly fascinated by the other. "Sora? What are you doing?" It was like watching two cats trying to sniff each other's tails. Mia's character made the analogy particularly appropriate and it occurred to A20 that there was something rather feline about Sora too. Nobody tells him what to do and he goes where he wants. The cat who walks by himself.

At last the two stopped circling, though their expressions were still wary. A truce declared but not an actual alliance, then. "She's like me, but not," Sora said unhelpfully. "Mia, right? You sensed something odd about me?"

The cat's sweet smile didn't make A20 feel any better about her. "A gipt pir a gipt."

At their confused response, the Wavemaster translated quickly, "A gift for a gift."

Thinking fast, A20 replied, "We just answered your question. We don't know Kite. So?" She couldn't help but cross her character's arms and tap its foot impatiently, in not quite as smooth a fashion as Sora managed.

The cat character gave her companion a frustrated look and said something incomprehensible. Despite this, the Wavemaster seemed to understand her. "Mia says that it's difficult to explain. Her speech center isn't working properly anymore, so I have to do the talking for her… and she…" he hesitated. "Mia, please. Why won't you let me help you?"

For several moments the two argued and it occurred to A20 that Mia was trying to protect the other player. At last, however, Sora made an impatient noise. "Okay. I get it. She doesn't want you involved more than you have to be. That's fine because I don't want her involved more than she has to be." He jammed his thumb at A20 "Mia, let's go talk in private."

"Bwest…."

"I'll figure it out. You two stay here." Before A20 could argue, Sora had grabbed the cat character by the arm and had dragged her off around the corner. As the pair disappeared, A20 sent a FlashMail Sora's way that consisted of nothing more than a long series of exclamation points. "AND DON'T DO THAT!" he yelled back at her.

In the silence that followed, A20 eyed Mia's nervous little companion. It was odd. Her character was smaller than he was and she still felt like she was towering over him. It had to be the attitude. "Uhm. What's your name?"

"Elk." He was gazing wistfully off towards the corner. "I wish she'd let me help her." A20 couldn't help but nod agreement. "I mean, how can I do anything for her if she doesn't talk to me? I know it's something big. I'm sure it has to do with all the other problems in The World, but she won't explain. She'll let me come with her when she goes with Kite but…."

A20 sighed. "I know how you feel. He won't talk about things either." In Mia's case, though, the silence seemed more to do with protecting a friend than Sora's unwillingness to admit to his troubles. She sighed, "At least it isn't affecting his speech. What happened to her?"

"It just started a month ago. Back when we had that glitch in the system that shut everything down for a bit. She thinks her data file got corrupted. We thought it was fixed but it came back" Elk's character shrugged inelegantly. "I don't know. I've had a look at it but…." He stopped talking suddenly, as if he'd said too much and it occurred to A20 that he had. The only people able to look at someone's data file that way were CC Corporation's employees. And Mia's character is clearly non-standard. Did he help her out by changing the code for her? It occurred to A20 that Elk could well get himself fired for doing something like that. Not my business, though.

With a sigh, she sat on a rock to wait.

.oOo.

They considered each other cautiously, still aware of how much damage each could do to the other. "Yuuu… leesten cahfuli. Ieee no eit's hard to understand me." The shift was sharp and sudden and for a moment Sora thought she was simply dropping the accent. "Oh! That's so much better! Thank you!"

Sora frowned, "I didn't do anything," he denied, but weakly. He'd felt something happen inside himself, a reaching out that had felt similar to the Drain but not exactly the same. Mia's speech pattern had annoyed him and somehow he'd made it stop. Startled, he stared at her. "Is it because we're the same that I could do that?" he didn't want to think about what that might mean, but he had to ask. Even if it meant learning something he didn't want to know.

Mia shook her head and considered Sora carefully. "No, we're not that alike. You were Data Drained. She made me…" Sora didn't have to ask whom Mia meant. Almost instinctively he looked around, nervous that Morgana might somehow be listening to them. The stone walls of the room seemed unmoved and unaware, however and he could only hope that meant they were safe as Mia continued, "I have had no life outside the World. That's a very big difference."

"I don't see one," Sora disagreed. "You have as much of a life as I do, it feels like." He wasn't sure what she meant by Data Drained, but he guessed that it was what Morgana, through Skeith, had done to him. What she'd probably done to Tsukasa - if a bit more intensively. For a brief moment he wondered what had happened to his body, but some instinct made him decide not to explore that thought too closely. He wasn't ready to find out.

"I thank you for feeling that way. I would like to believe it to be true." Mia considered him. "Your nature is similar to that of Skeith. You can shift your nature and the nature of those around you, based on your will alone. You can hide within the system, unnoticed, a chameleon changing to fit the circumstances. I'm sure you can do more than that. There is something odd within you."

Skeith's power being inside him wasn't really news but he didn't like the way the conversation was going. He wanted to fidget, to pace around, possibly even walk up the wall and sit on the ceiling. Somehow Sora didn't think Mia would appreciate it, so he managed to control himself. Focus, Sora. This is important. "Skeith? Is that what you mean by something odd in me?"

She nodded. "Your character… no… you… contain the spells that he used. You can destroy or recreate at a thought. It's because you contain that code that I can tell you these things. My own system sees you as part of him." At Sora's disgruntled expression, Mia smiled, put a hand on his shoulder. "You are not him, though, or I wouldn't be speaking to you."

With a sigh, Sora nodded. "Tell me about Kite," he asked. "What does he have to do with all this?"

"Aura gave him a key, a bracelet that gives him the ability to Data Drain. Unlike Skeith's abilities, however, it lets him break the data packets that have been hidden in the World's monsters and spread them throughout the World as they ought to be. Skeith, and Her other slaves steal all the data possible from their victims - both A.I. and Player - and lock it out of the system."

It took several tries for Sora to work out what Mia was telling him. A memory of a conversation his father had had over the phone at work came to him, the fact that small packets of data apparently drawn from every character in the World were being poured into an unidentifiable part of the system. Skeith had been preventing that flow, locking all that external data away from the system and preventing it from influencing the World's programming. Kite's Data Draining must be putting them back where they were supposed to be. "Aura was born from that kind of data, wasn't she?" He didn't want to think of what it meant that he had that power. Nor what he might be able to do with it. What he'd already nearly done.

"Yes, she did. And when she woke, she tried to share that data with the A.I.s in the system Tried to wake others. She gave Kite the bracelet so he could help her. But Skeith…."

Sora shuddered, pulled in on himself. His memory of his time inside Skeith's wand still terrified him. Would have given him nightmares if he slept. The very worst memory of all was that moment when he'd felt Aura's Self being ripped apart around him. He still heard her scream somewhere inside him sometimes, and he said as much. "Tsukasa was able to go back when Aura woke up. Does that mean I have to wake Aura, now?"

"Who is Tsukasa…" Mia's voice broke and her expression said the name troubled her, that there were traumas she too was hiding from. "No. Never mind. She is not important. Aura is. You cannot save her. Kite's bracelet is the only thing that can do that. You are the bracelet's opposite pole. You can steal more from players, even from other A.I.s, but you cannot use that data to give sentience, as the bracelet can. The best you can do is use the data to create an invincible shield around them. There are quite enough of Her slaves doing that already. Too many, in fact." Mia shuddered.

That hurt. "In other words, I'm not part of the solution. I'm part of the problem. I could run around like Skeith and Data Drain players, but it wouldn't help the system. I'd just be able to make those databug monsters."

"You aren't just a program, the way we are. You have free will, where we don't. Elk woke me by accident, but I know that if She realizes I'm here she will be able to control me. If She realizes her sub programs are waking to a separate life from her, she will either control or destroy us. You cannot be controlled."

It was obvious from what wasn't said what could be done to him and Sora hit the wall, then shook his hand at the pain. "But I can be destroyed. And what can I do? I can't do what this Kite is doing, so I can't break up Her plans by spreading the data packets. If anything, the only thing I can do is exactly what she wants done." He paced, ready to scream. Somewhere deep inside him, the little boy he really was wanted to sit down in a corner, stick his thumb in his mouth and cry. I want Mr. Blinky.

"You can help," Mia corrected. "Aura isn't dead. Skeith shattered her into several parts. Some were captured, put in the hands of Her slaves. Others have gone into hiding and are protected from all the World. Not even Kite's bracelet could get him to her. You can find her. You can open the way for Kite to reach her with the pieces that call to him from those captured parts."

"But…. How?"

Mia put a hand on Sora's shoulder, brushed a tear from his cheek. "That I don't know, child. Seek the place where it began. The trail begins there." She eyed him, compassion in her expression. "You aren't our only hope. Others seek her and it may be that we can break open the shell that protects her without your help. We ask much of you. But remember, if the system dies, She dies. Aura dies. We die. You die." She looked intently into his eyes. "You can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. And if you do not choose, that is still a choice."

To Be Continued….