.hack/FRAGMENT
Saya
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version 24.0
Greeted by the Sky
new topic posted 10.3.06
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We're almost done; are you sad to see us go? I know you're sad that I'm leaving, that's common sense, but what about the others? Never mind, they don't need to know, they aren't that important anyway.
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Erika looked at the notes she had written on her hand; it was a good thing there was no school that day. Not that it really would have mattered; she would have allowed her mind to wander anyway. After all, what did it matter now, compared to what she was learning in 'The World'? Normally, that would be an odd statement, but this particular teenager's situation was far from normal.
The girl took a deep sigh and tapped the loose bun at the back of her head which attempted (and failed miserably) to keep her long, dark hair out of her face. Maybe she should let it down, she could use it to distract herself when things became too difficult. But for some unknown reason (I, personally, would have wanted the distraction, then again I always like to have some form of entertainment when my mother is trying to talk to me), she decided to leave it up. "Mom?" she called from the upper floor as she slowly walked down the stairs, craning her neck as if it would allow her to see around the corner at the bottom (though she wasn't even half-way down yet).
"What is it, Erika?" her mother shouted back, still not aware that at this point her daughter was finally able to succeed in peering around the corner before she entered the kitchen. The woman was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book with a pair of glasses slipping onto her nose (she always seems to be reading like that, one wonders whether she ever actually does housework or not and how said work gets done, I think it's Erika's father who does it all).
The teenager squirmed as she neared her mother's throne (eh…seat) and glanced once more at the notes in her hand. You see, she had a slight difficulty: she didn't know anyone who had been through her current situation and who could help her get through this dilemma (I mean, come on, how many people have to tell their parents that they're really computer programs that were created to defy and yet at the same time rule over other computer programs?). "I have something to tell you…"
That seemed like a sound way to begin. "How much will it cost me?"
Ah, ever the response of cheap, but wise, parents. "Nothing," the daughter continued uncomfortably. "I just have something really important that I need to tell you. You see—"
With perfect timing, as usual, the telephone rang and the mother motioned for her daughter to answer so that she may continue reading her book (she needed to find out who the murderer was, after all, and that was much more important than any call in her opinion). "Hello?" Erika asked dully while she was placing the receiver delicately against her ear. She was in no mood to deal with telemarketers, who were undoubtedly her timely callers.
"Erika!" someone shouted so loudly through the phone that the girl's mother instantly snapped her dark eyes onto the scene before slowly lowering them once again toward the words of her book.
The teenager would know that voice anywhere: Koto (I thought I had perfect timing with that one, Erika didn't need to go through the hassle of telling her parents anything while I ended up being the one to do all the work!). "Koto? What's going on?" Obviously, something was very wrong.
It wasn't as if Koto didn't call often, because none could deny that she certainly did. Instead, it was a matter of: she had called so often that the other girl could easily calculate her mood simply from the way she screamed the name. "I have a major new lead, I think you'll be interested…"
Interested? Normally, the other girl would be completely right. But that seemed not to be the case right now. At this point in time, Erika was only interested in telling the people who had become her family over the years what it was she had learned about her past, and preparing them for the inevitable moment when they would soon never meet again. But maybe this was a good thing: the teenager would not have to deal with the difficulties of good-bye. Although the girl had no idea when this goodbye would come, she knew it must come at some point.
She'd just put it off until she got back. Painful goodbyes could always wait.
"Alright," the dark-haired girl said with a resigned sigh. The teenager hung up the phone and stared at it for a few moments longer before she made her way to her computer, falling backwards onto the rolling chair (which is never a good idea because it tends to move around; trust me, I would know) and placing the headpiece gently over her…well, her head.
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The white-clad Twin Blade opened her eyes to 'The World' and jumped back in surprise when she saw a pair of large brown eyes only a few inches (if that) in front of her face. "Koto!" she shouted reproachfully after having landed none-too-gracefully on the ground, her backside now thoroughly sore. "It's times like these that I wonder if you've ever heard the term, 'personal space'."
"I've heard of it," the brunette replied with a shrug. Her friend was slowly picking herself off the ground and brushing the dust off her pure white clothes while Koto watched with a hint of a smile in the slight curve of her lips and her arms crossed gently over her chest. She hadn't even given a thought to helping the other girl up. "But just because I've heard of something doesn't mean I have any regard for it."
There was no point in continuing the subject; there was just no arguing with the girl (you'd think Erika would have learned that by then, though). "I was in the middle of something important, so whatever this is had better be even more important than that otherwise I'm wasting my time." What was with the attitude? It was very un-Erika-like. The girl closed her blue eyes and took a few slow, deep breaths to regain the composure she couldn't even recall having lost at all. "What's this lead you mentioned?"
Koto had looked hurt for the moment or two before the other teenager had calmed down. "You're in about as bad a mood as when you come back from one of your hospital trips," had anyone else mentioned it, Erika would have been mad. But it wasn't anyone else, and despite the girl's almost constant lies, she was always honest when it came to judging another person's mood.
Insensitive though she was (I resent that…even though I am the one who wrote it), she was oddly sensitive to that sort of thing.
"Trust me, it's big. We just have to wait for everyone else to come on…" the girl said slowly. Everyone else? It was a well-known fact that Koto was not on very good terms with any of the other friends Erika had made online. What was this all of a sudden? And aside from that, who was it that the Heavy Blade had forced herself to invite? Death? Obviously not. Amaya? Another definite no. Claire was a possibility, until Erika remembered what it was the Blade Master did in the past as a profession in 'The World.'
If Koto was calling the others, then things were certainly very strange indeed. Within the half-hour, Amaya, Claire, Death, Koto, and Erika stood on the main bridge in the center of Mac Anu. They filled up most of the bridge, but that didn't really matter at the moment. Instead, the group was still getting over the stunned fascination at having all been called together by the usually cynical and anti-social Heavy Blade. "So, you're ego alone isn't enough to defeat any obstacles you may come across?"
As always, Death was the first to place his insults (no, wait…I think I'm usually the first, I think it just makes me sound better if he's the one to start it). "My ego's a lot more helpful than your paltry tricks. I don't have to resort to PKing to make myself feel better."
"And I don't need to resort to hacking to make myself a stronger player. I have strength behind my words," Death shot back.
"I, personally, always thought that brains were better than brawn."
"Did you hit your head on something?" the boy asked concernedly. "I sincerely hope you aren't referring to yourself."
Claire stepped between the two, her arms outspread to keep them apart. "Though I have to say I agree with Death, there must be something slightly more important than your arguments." As always, the Blade Master was down to the point and down to business.
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"Would it have killed you to warn us before gating us someplace?" Amaya shouted and slammed the butt of her staff into the ground. The girl looked down and her chocolate brown eyes widened in surprise. She wasn't standing on a ground, at least it didn't look like any sort of ground she had seen before. Instead, it was as if the group was standing on a great, black expanse that extended towards infinity in all directions.
Koto, however, was skilled at ignoring her surroundings and was therefore unfazed by the fact that she was standing solidly on nothing. "Yes, I think it really would have killed me. I could feel my heart stopping from just thinking about giving you a warning."
The others smiled; they had become wise enough to stay out of the arguments between the Heavy Blade and the Wave Master. They didn't get along and all present had the feeling that there was no force in any world that could change that fact. There was no point in even trying.
"You have something else you might want to worry about instead…" the darkness shattered to reveal the Net Slums and two figures at the other end of the strangely empty street: a young man who stood with his arms confidently behind his back and a black suit that had somehow remained free of dust and a young girl who hovered a few inches above the now-visible ground.
They had entered a strange world and Sky had come to greet them.