.hack//INFECTION
LOG IN 1
"Don't worry about me," he had said so naunchalauntly. "I'm going to introduce one of my friends to The World. I'll be at Delta Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field until he's ready to spin off on his own. Then you and I can go check out Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground to see what we can do. We might run into one of the Data Bugs, so make sure you're ready for it." I waited, but he never appeared. I was hoping for an email from him, saying, 'Sorry, my mom kicked me off for a while', but it never came. I called Yasuhiko's home, and I knew then when the phone went unanswered what had happened.
Orca had fallen victim.
It seemed so impossible. I had seen with my own eyes the comatose body of the PC named Tsukasa, but she was so frail anyways. Yasuhiko... he was young, but he was not weak at all. I tried to pay a visit, and after hours of pleading with the nurses, they finally let me in. It was horrible... his labored breathing was barely audible over the humming, beeping machine attached to him. I only stayed for a few minutes, vowing before I left to help him escape this.
I returned home, and to The World. After a delay, I logged on and entered the area Orca said he wanted to investigate. Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground. I entered the keywords, walking slowly towards the church. I recalled having met Subaru once in the area, but there was never monsters here...
I heard voices. Two PCs, within the church. Orca's words raced through my mind, and I flung the door open. 'We might run into some Data Bugs...'
"What do you think you're doing??" I yelled at them, the words still in mind.
"Wha--us?? What about you???" a female Heavyblade demanded, glaring at me. Her companion, a Twinblade, was still from shock.
"It's dangerous here! I'm telling you to get out!!" As I rushed forward to shoo them out of the area, a Headless Hunter landed between myself and the two newbies. It was a low level monster, so it only took one slash for me to finish it. I whirled around, and despite how much I had hoped not to see it, I saw that the monster had gotten back up, its data corrupted.
"Wha--what the hell IS that thing?? Wasn't that thing supposed to be dead???" the Heavyblade shrieked.
"It's glowing...!" the Twinblade noticed, flinching and darting half steps like a trapped animal.
"A computer virus," I explained quickly to them. After all, they needed to know why they were supposed to run. I could never allow such new players to fall victim as Orca did... "It's a Data Bug. It's information is corrupted with a virus. It has power that is... infinite."
"This is it..." the Heavyblade noted, staring into the glow of the creature before crying out and running to attack it.
"No! You fool! You'll be destroyed! Chh!!" I raced after her, pushing her out of the way of an attack. The Heavyblade was so reckless, and it irritated me so... because I thought then and there that I was going to be helpless to prevent these two new players from falling into a coma, and that I would fall into a coma myself. I was going to fail Orca before I even did anything to help...
The sound of a shatter brought me from my thoughts. I saw the Data Draining process with my own eyes, and I saw the monster regain normal stats. I slashed the beast, slaying it for good, and turned around, narrowing my glare to the one who cast the Skill.
"That Skill... I did not expect to find the one responsible so soon," I growled. In reality, my controller was shaking, and my hands were clammy from sweat. "Draw your sword!" I ordered, holding the point of mine to the Twinblade's head.
"No! I'm not... I wouldn't! I'd never..." he faultered, his voice shaking. "I won't do it! There's no reason for it!"
"There is for me," I replied, forcing my voice to a level tone. In response, those big turquoise eyes stared at me, afraid of me.
"Who do you think you are???" the rude Heavyblade barked, attempting to stare me down despite me being much taller than she. "Is that any way to treat someone who just saved your life???"
"..." I stopped, lowering my blade. No, it wasn't. However... I might never see this boy again, and that would be letting the one responsible for Orca's comatose escape. I glanced at the boy, noticing the look in his face. It was the exact expression I remember I had on my face at the ill news of Yasuhiko's fate. I sighed in frustration, sheathing my sword. There was a possibility that the boy wasn't the one responsible... "I will stand down for now," I cleared my intentions, noticing how the two relaxed a small bit. "But if I find that you are truly the one responsible for the virus in The World... I will kill you myself," I made myself clear, storming out of the church.
"My, that was awfully childish for Balmung of the Azure Sky," a familiar voice echoed from above the church. I looked up at her, and grimaced.
"I do not speak with hackers," I responded in a cool voice, still steaming from the events that had just occured. As I walked away, I felt the anger being replaced by depression once more.
"That boy... he's your partner's friend, you know," Helba commented before Gating Out, which stopped me in my tracks.
"Orca...?" I asked out loud, looking upwards. 'Is that boy the friend you were speaking of yesterday...?'
It made no sense. I sighed irritably again, logging off.
In the real world, I shut down my computer, glancing at myself in the mirror. The bags under my eyes were huge... and I remembered that I had forgotten to study for my Physics exam. I cursed under my breath, taking off all but my boxers and crawling into the dorm bed, hoping that my roommate wouldn't find it funny to wake me up in the middle of the night.
( x ) ))
( ) ))Next Day, Nyaa
-- -- -- --
About a week had passed since the news of Yasuhiko's comatose. I had encountered the player called Kite, whom I assumed was the friend Orca had been teaching the basics to. This, however, wasn't easy for me to swallow. I needed to know why a newbie had a hacker item, and had the ability to corrupt data like that... and I needed to know his connection to Orca. It was paining me.
It took a while, but I soon managed to meet Kite outside of the Delta chaos gate. He had leveled up a bit, but was still relatively low level. Taking this into account, I swore to myself not to raise my sword unless he rose his. I approached him, and he gave me a look of surprise.
"I've considered the situation," I told him sternly, with a level voice, "I want to know what connection you had with Orca, and how you obtained that bracelet."
"Do you trust me...?" he asked me, giving me a look I had never seen before. The look in his eyes was more mature than I ever imagined--as if he were ready to smile at me or defend himself. The look of a trapped puppy.
"It depends on what you have to say," I said, crossing my arms to make it obvious that I would not draw my blade on him.
"Orca... is a friend of mine in real life. When he graduated, he came over to my house and left me a copy of the game. I didn't know until later, so I signed up for The World about a week or so after he graduated." Sounded accurate. It had been a little over a week since his graduation, when he fell comatose. "Yasuhiko joked with me, told me not to pick a smartass name..." Kite laughed a bit. I smiled a bit in my mind, realizing why he chose his name. His eyes were like that of bird's--beautiful and calm one moment, then sharp and alert the next. The upliftedness didn't last long, though. "Then, Yasuhiko--Orca--called me to Delta Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field. We went through the dungeon... at first, we caught a glimpse of the girl in the white dress, and a monster with a red wand chasing her. We followed, but we didn't find her." I thought for a moment, and made a facial gesture that caused Kite to slow and wait for a moment. He recognized that I was still thinking on it. I had a rough time with the story so far... it sounded too familiar with all of the rumors flying around. In essense, it sounded like an excuse.
"After we reached the Gott Statue, we turned around and got caught in a sudden noise. We were moved to a different field... it was falling apart, and glowing where runes were inscribed in the ground. We saw Aura, and she gave Orca a book. 'The power it holds brings forth salvation or destruction at the whim of the user', she said. She then vanished... and that monster showed up. It... Data Drained Orca, and almost Data Drained me. I... blacked out. When I woke up, I was laying at my desk, with my desktop staring back at me..."
"Then you went to Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground," I assumed.
"Yeah. Blackrose asked me to join her there," Kite said softly.
"I see," I noted, taking the story in. "However... I still do not trust you. You must remember... that power on your bracelet... is the one that destroyed Orca."
"I don't need to be reminded of that..." I heard Kite say as I turned and walked away. I also heard Helba log in, and decided that contact with a newbie hacker was more than enough. I didn't want to hear whatever mishmash Helba had to say.
I wandered through the town for a few minutes, before turning around and using the Chaos Gate, making sure that Kite was out of contact. I changed to another server, and decided to fight out my ill emotions.
Who was Kite, really...? A friend of Orca...
Or the enemy of The World...? He is a disturbing enigma... he molds my emotions more than even he himself knows.
I logged off, repeating the process that I had done the last time I encountered Kite. Undressed, and flopped on the bed. Luckily, this time, I didn't have to worry about an exam. I managed to pass my last with a solid 89, even though I hadn't studied.
Normally, such news would have excited me, and I would've been bragging. But, my confused heart left little room for happiness.
I realized then that the little sparks of amusement in a while had been a reaction to Kite's facial expressions.
I became even more confused then, with what was really going through my mind.