.hack/FRAGMENT

Saya

version 18.0

A Confusion of Loyalties

new topic posted 5.22.06

Koto warned you, I assume, that she would be MIA for the next few weeks. Which leaves it up to us to continue our story, or you would otherwise suffer a lack of entertaining posts to make checking the Message Board worthwhile.

My name is Claire and I'll be your narrator for the duration of the week. Please fasten your seat belts and listen carefully as I instruct you of what to do in case of emergency on the flight.

Sorry, I'm being cheesy, I'm aware of that. I won't be telling the story next week, so watch out for your next narrator. I'm not allowed to tell, by threat from Koto. You'll just have to keep reading to find out. Oh, and Koto, if and when you read this, I'm sorry for always yelling at you for interjecting. I've realized, after having tried to write these first-hand experiences from an outside viewer, that it's much more difficult not to include one's own thoughts.

Erika's vision cleared to take in a room that wasn't quite so clear. As far as she could tell the walls, floor, and ceiling were stone, like in a cave. But that was about as far as the limited light took her. Death was already awake, staring at her from where he sat in the corner of the 'room' with his legs crossed over each other. "Where are we and what happened?"

"Making coherent sentences, I see?" her companion said, unfurling himself from his rather comfortable looking position and walking over to the white-clad Twin Blade. "That's always a good sign. It doesn't look like they've done anything to your character yet…"

The girl gave him a blue-eyed glare as she stood up shakily while her knees quivered beneath the sudden weight. "Good thing they didn't, I'm still in the game," she knew Death would understand the meaning of what she was saying, the sole purpose of the choice of words being that she could not think of any other way to put it.

He understood, or so Erika surmised from the nod and the knowing glint in his almost-black eyes.

Light footsteps echoed just outside the door that the two players only noticed was there. "Are you two awake?" a familiar voice asked through a crack in the thick, dungeon-style wooden door. Without waiting for an answer, the speaker pushed open the door and sent a wave of light flooding through the dark room.

Erika shielded her eyes from the sudden change in light, though Death's character did not move. The benefits of not actually being in the game, but only playing it. When her eyes had adjusted, or at least the number of colored dots in the corner of her vision had decreased dramatically enough for her to see, the girl recognized the form of a friend: Claire. "What are you doing here?"

"Twilight Brigade business," the girl shrugged, stepping in and closing the door behind her and returning the light back to its normal lack thereof. Erika waited another moment for her eyes to adjust yet again, if she hadn't known better she would have thought Claire was doing this on purpose.

Death stepped up beside Erika, dwarfing the much smaller character, and placed a hand protectively on her shoulder. "She didn't do anything…"

"Don't worry," the Twin Blade interjected, "she's a friend…"

The blonde shook her head though neither of the others knew to which statement it was directed at. Thankfully, she made it clear a moment later. "I'm not here for you, Death. And yes, I know who you are. Death, player killer, Long Arm, active for eleven months one week and two days…No, the reason you're here is because of Erika."

Erika shot her friend a confused glance and waved her hands slightly in the air in front of her, egging the other girl on…hopefully. It worked. "We received an anonymous e-mail speaking of a character who, at times, appeared to defy all laws of the game. I'm right in assuming that you didn't log into the game by normal means? And am I right in thinking that you haven't logged out for quite some time?"

"Yeah…" the white-haired girl replied with a solemn nod.

Her companion glared. "Why did you tell her the truth?" he demanded in a tone that would have been considered almost childish had it come from anyone aside from him, Koto for instance.

The other shrugged, trying to make the situation appear as if it were nothing. "Because she's a friend?" she answered, her voice rising slightly at the end as if turning the statement into a question.

The blonde Blade Master stepped backwards and leaned her back against the thick wooden door, making sure it stayed closed and that no unwelcome visitors should show up. "You're friends with a Player Killer, then, Erika? I suppose he can't be entirely bad, then. How about we do this," the expression on her face was serious as her blue-green eyes swept over both the characters standing in front of her, "you tell me everything that's going on and I'll let you go. We just can't let the other members of the Twilight Brigade know…"

Erika grinned; she knew her friend would come through for her. "Alright…" Due to the laziness of your narrator, however, the girl's explanation will not be repeated here. "And that's that…"

Claire had looked thoughtful throughout the entire explanation and even when the other girl had stopped talking, the pensive look remained. "That certainly is intriguing," she said finally after such a long moment's pause that Erika was beginning to assume the girl had left in the middle of the rather one-sided conversation to get a sandwich or something IRL. "I'd like to know a bit more about these Fragments, and this Sky character…or program as that seems most likely considering what you've mentioned about the long-disappeared Aura.

"But I don't think I could find out this information on my own," a mischievous smile bloomed on her naturally red lips, "so I'll just let the two of you out on one condition." At the worried look on the Twin Blade's face, the blonde gave a short, yet somehow still elegant and mysterious sounding, laugh. "You have to keep me updated. Anything and everything that goes on, deal?"

Erika laughed as well, and nodded. But she had completely forgotten that they were still in Death's presence. "Doesn't anyone want my say in the matter?" And thought the looks both girls gave him clearly said 'no,' he decided to give it any way. "We could get out of here on our own, without your help, Twilight Brigade."

"Relax, Death…" the white-haired girl smiled and placed a hand on the blonde girl's shoulder. "Like I've said, Claire's a friend of mine. Let's just get out of here before she gets into too much trouble with the rest of the Twilight Brigade…" and she stepped away from one friend to pull her other friend down the hallway through which Claire had come through.

When they reached the end and burst out of the cave's opening into the clear, crisp open air with the bright sun temporarily blinding them, yet again, Erika felt something tackle into her and knock the wind out of her. "Death! What do you think you're doing?" She asked, her heart racing for fear that, in his anger, he would let his Player Killer side loose.

"Stay still, little ones," a voice rang around them. Erika's eyes adjusted fairly slowly and she looked up at the image of a young girl floating in the sky, glaring angrily at the characters piled on top of each other. The white-clad Twin Blade shoved her companion off of her, though she needn't have done it as he was standing up on his own to brush the light sand off his dark clothes. "I deserve to stay! I won't disappear! I won't let her come back!"

The two players jumped in opposite directions as something blasted at them from one of the little girl's outstretched hands. Erika would recognize that voice anywhere: Sky. The Twin Blade pulled her weapons out of the sheaths at her sides, but before she could do anything, Sky chuckled and was gone. "Sky?" Death asked. He didn't need an answer, it was obvious from the look on the girl's face.

Claire chose that convenient moment to race out of the cave herself, sword ready to slash at whatever was there. But Sky had already gone, and all that remained were Death and Erika standing lengths apart with weapons drawn and facing each other.

In case any of you readers have read or seen anything about the new series, .hack/ROOTS, I'd just like to say a few things. When I thought up the concept and began writing this fic, everything was original except for the classes, Aura, and 'The World' itself. Coincidences between my fic and ROOTS are, well…coincidental. Such as: the Twilight Brigade, Aura's disappearance, the old version of the game being lost (and this being a new, rebooted version of 'The World').