.hack/FRAGMENT

Saya

version 8.0

The Sky Glows Angry Red

new topic posted 11.14.05

Erika ran her hands through her long, white hair with her bright blue eyes closed in frustration. "I just don't get anything that's been going on!" She was sitting alone in a café, a new feature of the world since it had been brought back online after its long hiatus all those years ago. "And Koto said I'm not supposed to tell anyone else…but now there's Claire…"

She made an incomprehensible sound in her aggravation and messed up her hair before letting her hands drop to her side and resting her head on the small wooden table. People were starting to stare, not that Erika really cared at that point (when you're lost in thought, who cares what other people think of you?)

"You are the first person in 'The World' I've ever seen that needs a hairbrush…" Erika's head shot up and the girl scanned the room with her shining blue eyes. They rested on a seemingly young man with hair as white as the Twin Blade's and four long, white wings. His armor shone in the light as the door closed behind him and his two companions, a Twin Blade with aqua hair and a Heavy Blade with dark skin and light pink hair (in case you didn't get it they're Balmung, Shugo, and Rena).

"Balmung, Shugo, Rena!" Erika exclaimed, offering them a seat with her, though the table might have been only slightly too small (meaning, it was meant for two people max.). The three newcomers brought up chairs and sat with the white-clad Twin Blade. "How have you guys been?" she smiled, but the smile on her face was all too clearly fake.

Balmung looked at her oddly, but the other two didn't seem to notice. "Fine, fine. It's good to be back online again, though. Right, big brother?" Rena said, nudging Shugo with her elbow. The boy smiled sheepishly but didn't need to answer, everyone present agreed.

"That was really odd, though," Shugo said (meaning the game's hiatus). Erika squirmed but once again, the two siblings seemed not to have noticed while the winged Blade Master watched the white-haired girl closely with scrutinizing eyes. "When did you get back online, Erika? We just got back today…"

Erika shrugged, trying to appear nonplussed (and not surprisingly, failing completely) "When it first came back online. I have a friend who invited me for the Wave Master event…"

Shugo smiled a little, "I'll bet Mireille would have wanted to try that…"

"A chance for a rare item? Of course she would have," Balmung said, his eyes dancing with laughter and a smile on his lips. Erika and the others couldn't help but laughing at the comment. Shugo and Rena had introduced the white-haired Twin Blade to their (extremely odd) friend once for only a brief period of time until the other girl had to leave after hearing someone on the street talking about a rare item. "What was it you said about someone named Claire?" Balmung asked with only the slightest hint of contempt behind his voice.

Erika smiled meekly, "My Wave Master friend knows Claire and we did the event together. I'm guessing you know her?" (And I'm guessing he doesn't like her? Just a guess, really…)

The Blade Master grimaced slightly, "Yeah. She's one of the three founders of the Twilight Brigade." At the name of the infamous group, Shugo and Rena gasped in unison and people's heads turned instantaneously toward the group before going back to their own private discussions.

"Balmung isn't very fond of CC Corp, and he thinks the Twilight Brigade acts as their lackeys."

The armor-clad man said nothing, but it was clear that what his companion said was true. "I met Claire the other day, she didn't seem all that bad. But those other guys…" the feeling they had given Erika, the look in those identical eyes, it was unnerving and it had branded itself into the girl's memory.

Before the others could say anything someone came bursting in through the door. "Mac Anu is under attack!"

"What?" Balmung shouted as all four of them jumped up and made their way outside. It took a moment longer for the rest of the players in the café to react to the strange news. "This isn't supposed to be happening!"

But Erika did not hear him. Instead, an angry voice filled her ears as a group of monsters with purple skin and data swirling around them passed the Twin Blade by. "Where is it?" the voice screamed, "Where is the file! She cannot find it, she cannot find it!" The sound threatened to tear the Twin Blade apart but she showed no outward signs of her inner anguish.

"Come on!" Balmung said, motioning his three companions and heading out toward the stampede of monsters. Supposedly, once in a while CC Corp would have an event in which a monster would attack a city, but never this many. Unlike the other times that Erika had come across such strange monsters, the others were able to attack.

Suddenly, the golden bracelet on Shugo's arm began to glow, "Data Drain!" he yelled and in a flash of light, one of the monsters turned into something else. "Data Drain!" he yelled again, aiming the blast at another creature.

As the creatures changed form, apparently they became easier to defeat. One blow each and they disappeared into streams of data that flew into the sky. But Shugo appeared to be tiring out and Erika decided to step in. She ran forward and slashed at one of the creatures, causing it to immediately disappear. Balmung, who had been hacking away at the very same creature, stared at her in surprise but said nothing as they were attacked by another monster.

Then, everything stopped. As if the entire game had been put on pause. Everything but the PCs, player characters, stopped mid-action. Some creatures paused mid-air, shopkeepers and Grunties could not move and the players walked through this new wonderland in a daze. "Now what?" Balmung asked sarcastically, but Erika had a strange idea that she knew what was coming next.

That strange idea became reality when the voice that had been ringing throughout the girl's headpiece became audible to everyone else playing the game. "Give it back, give it back!" The file… "She cannot see it! She can never see it!"

Erika wanted to say something, she wanted to move but she was frozen by fear (who the hell wouldn't be in a situation like that?) Shugo spoke up, "We don't have anything. Stop attacking our city!" (Oh yeah, that's really going to work, Mr. Hero.)

"Who are you?" Balmung asked at the same time.

"I am everywhere, I am everything. I am Sky," as those last words rang through the silence, the sky behind the buildings of Mac Anu turned red. "Someone has it and I will find it. I will make sure she never finds it, I will make sure she can never come back." As the voice faded, so did the creatures and all of Mac Anu returned to normal.