Morgana returned to her field, mind racing. Balmung had correctly guessed who she was. How long did she have until he decided to delete her? She clutched her arms; a shiver seemed to run down her spine. The thought of being deleted, of being killed, wiped from existence… it was too frightening to contemplate.

To distract herself more then anything, she looked around at the field. It had changed since she fought Kite through the Phases here. The landscape was still of a brick lay, but patches of grass had forced themselves through some of the shimmering hexagonal bricks. The bits of buildings were still floating around, but the sky seemed somewhat lighter. One half of the hemisphere was orange, yellow, scarlet, and dusky purple. The other half was muted to a blue. The edge of the field was blocked by an expanse of water, where more building bits jutted out like a post-apocalyptic town or city. The ground was much larger, and tree saplings were spread here and there, with small delicate white buds.

She walked over to the nearest of the saplings and sat down under it. There was something comforting about the gesture, though she could not be bothered to wonder why. What could she do? The normal process for hunting down a Vagrant AI was the report, the tracking down, and the deletion. The Cobalt Knights usually deal with the debugging, and the Captain was… Kamui. But the rub was whether Balmung would report her as a Vagrant AI or as the cause of the Twilight Incident, as Kite's adventure was called. If she was classified as an AI, she could either merely protect herself, or stage her death. The former would raise suspicion on her part; the latter, if she succeeded, meant that she would have to go into hiding, and not contact her friends ever again. Even if she appeared in a different view, Morgana knew that she couldn't keep up with that, so it would raise suspicion if they found her again. So what could she do? Protect herself and raise suspicion, or go away and raise suspicion anyway.

Morgana gave a great sigh, and put a hand to her forehead: the first sign of weariness so far. This needed delicate handling. Morgana thought about the different consequences. If they exposed her as the instigator of the Twilight Incident, they would try to delete her. Putting it off or pretending would be a waste of time, so she would have to protect herself. When they could not delete her, to what lengths would CC Corp. go? Would they shut down the servers? Contact Kite to delete her? Perhaps even – Morgana shuddered with the thought of it and the frigid breeze – shut down the entire game? Morgana didn't want to die.

In fact, not only would she die, but everyone else that dwelled within the game would. All of the Vagrants AIs and the Net Slum residents would be killed without a second thought. Morgana shook her head. Surely CC Corp. realized that they were living beings? How many times had AIs been demonstrated to be capable of thought? Morgana saw a fat red and white caterpillar munch on a dropped green leaf. The larva made her remember one such AI who had tried to plead his case with logic. It had been a couple of years since Kamui argued with and deleted Rin. 1 She had no personal recollection of him, but her system had kept track of and recorded his development. Even though Rin was created after her hibernation, her AI development file had followed his progress. Morgana saw how skilled his speech was, his logic that refuted Kamui's for his right to exist. Rin was right; Vagrant AIs are just as blessed as humans were, because they were equal beings in The World. Morgana respected an AI just as much as a human. Morgana felt, quite frankly, as the atmosphere darkened, thoroughly depressed.

Of course, this was not alleviated by the inky black corridor she was walking down. There was no apparent light source, but Morgana could see herself quite fine, and saw her reflection quite clearly on the walls and floor of the corridor; it was almost like walking on glassy black water. She walked down it for no particular reason, and although there was no external reason, she felt like she was going forward in the right direction. The corridor – tunnel – seemed to go on for quite a while, when she heard the murmuring as if from a large crowd. She strode forward and walked right into a wide expanse of a room, the same walls and floor glinting with the reflections of an immense crowd of players like polished obsidian. 2 They were all talking, but Morgana couldn't make out what they were saying, even when they passed less then half a meter close to her. Morgana looked around, but there was no one she knew. There were windows along the walls, showing the room to be circular, making an effect not unlike an aquarium. There was even blue water, but she could not see what was in the tank.

Then the crowd parted and Kite was standing there, staring at her, completely still. Morgana tried to pretend not to see him, but his blue eyes were boring into her, and the surging crowd seemed to collectively avoid passing between the two. She could not pretend not to see him anymore, so she faced him and asked, "What do you want?" Although she spoke in a normal tone of voice, Kite seemed to hear her from about five meters away. Without a change in his blank expression, he slowly walked toward her, the buzz of the crowd dimmed so she could clearly hear his boots clicking on the glassy floor. As he got nearer, Morgana's sense of dread increased, and she unconsciously tried to take a couple steps back, only to realize that the crowd was pushing together to form a wall of bodies she could not penetrate. She whirled around, trying to push through while the boots went click, clack, click, clack behind her. Giving it up as a lost cause, she spun around to face Kite. He finally stopped about a scant meter away, and just stared. Morgana felt her insides freeze and clench, but she firmly stood her ground and repeated to his staring face:

"What do you want?"

Kite's bracelet, invisible until now but never forgotten for an instant, glowed and pulsated slightly into existence at his side. Morgana, if she could, would have stepped back from the thing she feared. Kite finally raised his hand, palm outstretched with the fingers pointing down, and Morgana choked back a scream with difficultly. But although the bracelet's luminous polygons were slowly, lazily spinning, he was not Data Draining her. She hardly had a moment to wonder why when the floor beneath her turned into liquid. Morgana really did scream then, and struggled to swim and thrash out of it, but her dainty feet seemed to be weighted, pulling her down. She caught a glimpse of her friends, Lory, Nezumi, Shake, Lane, Grove and Kettle, all in turn, and she caught a glimpse of a dark Twinblade... She screamed, yelled, pleaded to them for help, she was sinking, she would drown, she would die, please help but they all ignored her, thronging and talking like the rest of the crowd. Kite looked down at her, and the last thing Morgana saw before her head went under were the tanks, which carried shattered and broken AIs.

01100110011100100110111101101101

"No-!" Morgana said as she shot up. A low-hanging branch scratched and clutched at her black hair. She disentangled herself and immediately sank to her knees, confused.

What had happened? That was the question that was running through her spinning mind, panting as though she had completed a marathon. Morgana closed her eyes and tried to think. Before sinking, she had been in a room, before that, a corridor, and before that… in her field. She opened her eyes; she was still in her field, though the once dark cloud cover was now a whirling storm, whipping the trees and bending the grass; a reflection of her mind. As she calmed herself down, so did the weather. 'I had a dream', Morgana decided, 'I was dreaming I walked through a black corridor, then a black crowded room…' she shuddered as she recollected the rest of the dream. Kite had tried to Data Drain her. But… the hand wasn't aggressive. 'His hand was out, not as if to kill me, but… acceptance? Help? What strange things my mind thinks of!' she allowed herself a brief smile, 'It was quite a frightening dream, though.' She gazed sadly into the now calm distance, 'I wish Sora was here to comfort me.'

Morgana stopped abruptly. 'Why did I think of that?' she shook her head, 'It is the aftereffects of the dream, no more.'

'Is is really?' she countered to herself, the tone curious.

Morgana pondered upon the unbidden thought. It was a manifestation of a feeling she never looked at, or was even aware of, until now. This was not the first time the dark Twinblade crept into her thoughts. In fact, now that she thought about it, she thought about him quite often, wondering what he was doing (and promptly checking), remembering her experiences, reading his past conversations, following the logs of where his character went. Why hadn't she noticed this behavior before? Most likely reason: plain and flat denial. Imposed ignorance, even. Well, no more. If there was one thing she saw no reward in, it was lying to herself. It would do no good.

Morgana probed her own thoughts as a shimmering dragonfly swooped by. She fixed her gaze on the glittering insect, just to occupy her eyes. How did she feel about him? She fixed her mind upon him, and found that she felt warm and… a sort of floaty happiness. That was rather strange; Morgana had never encountered that feeling before, so she could not fix a name to it. Finding no answer within herself, she sent away for relevant files in her Phase program. A small ping alerted her that the search was done. It had taken exactly 0.08 seconds, but it was a large file, so it was all right to be a little slow. Morgana opened the first file. It read:

"0100110001101111011101100110010100100000001010000111010101101110011100100110010101110001011101010110100101110100011001010110010000101001001000000110100101110011001000000110111101100110011101000110010101101110001000000110010001100101011100110110001101110010011010010110001001100101011001000010000001100001011100110010000001100001011011100010000001100101011110000111010001110010011001010110110101100101011011000111100100100000011010000110000101110000011100000111100100100000011011110111001000100000011101110110000101110010011011010010000001100110011001010110010101101100011010010110111001100111001011100010111000101110"

Translated, the binary read, "Love (unrequited) is often described as an extremely happy or warm feeling..." this file looked prospective, so she read on:

"Love (unrequited) is often described as an extremely happy or warm feeling. There is a yearning to be with or make contact (physical or otherwise) with a certain person. A sampling of these symptoms include a warm feeling in the abdomen (described as "butterflies"), dilation of the pupils, a flushed or hot face (varies from individuals), watching the certain person when s/he comes within view, and the certain person being thought about often, or more then any other individual…"

Morgana closed the window. Some of the traits reflected her own, but she still wasn't sure. Putting aside the more pressing problem, Morgana went through her Member Address list and picked Lane; she sent him a Flash mail:

"Lane,

There is something important I want to talk to you about. Please meet me at Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground as soon as possible. I will wait.

-Morgana"

010101000110100001100101

"Eh?" Lane looked up in the middle of a dungeon with Kettle and her friend.

"What is it, Darling?" Kettle's friend, Mayuko, asked.

"Oh, Morgana asked me to meet her in a field right now." He looked at the other two, "Sorry."

"No, it's quite all right." Kettle said, "We can always come back, and we got so much treasure already!"

"Alright, I'll just use an Ocarina, ok?" Lane responding, taking out a white-colored ocarina. 3

"Wait" Mayuko said, stepping forward, "Can I come too? I want to meet her myself. Is that ok?"

"Well, alright." Lane responded, the hand holding the ocarina dropping, "She said she wanted to talk about something important, but she didn't say come alone, so I think it'll be all right."

"Then let's go!♥" Mayuko cheered as he used a Sprite Ocarina.

0101000001110010011010010110111001100011011001010111001101110011

Morgana leaned against the railing in Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground. She leaned all of her weight on her hands and her head was tilted up, staring at the high ceiling. Morgana refused to look at the statue of Aura behind her. The chains were long gone, she had noted earlier when she first came in, even though the statue was exactly the same as it was those years ago, different dress and all. 4 The pendulums on the ceiling still swung back and forth, measuring out the time. The light poured from the ornate window behind the statue, reflecting off the highly polished floor onto the pews, making quite a beautiful effect.

Morgana looked down into her reflection. Her red dress with the white ruffles showed up plainly; her shoes had not marred the floor in any way, like it might have in real life. She looked up when she heard the door open at the other end of the service hall. Two people walked in, one of who was Lane, though she did not know the other one. She retrieved his character data, and learned his name was Mayuko.

"Hello Morgana," Lane said, hurrying toward her, "I came as soon as I could."

"I didn't know you were bringing company…" Morgana replied.

Mayuko, looking a little sheepish, said, "I'm sorry, I can leave if you want…"

"No, it's alright. I did not specify to come alone."

Mayuko instantly brightened, "Well, in that case, I really wanted to meet you! I'm Mayuko!"

"My name is Morgana." She said simply. She looked Mayuko up and down. He was a Fighter with the Werewolf extension. He wore a tight light green sleeveless shirt with a white ragged stripe running down it, with the water Wave symbol picked out in pink; He also wore matching colats. His deltoid water Wave tattoos were also pink. He had a furry white boa and leg warmers, with heeled boots. He had shoulder length black hair and golden eyes with a little make-up, and pink oblongs by his face 5 and little silver rings in his black wolf ears. A black tuft of fur was on the front of his shirt underneath a green choker with another pink Wave dangling from it. A black tail swished behind him.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Sweetheart♥" Mayuko sprang forward and shook her hand with both of his.

Morgana was a little shaken with this enthusiastic greeting, "'Sweetheart'?" She wondered, "Why..?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear, do you not want me to call you thank?" he asked, ears drooping a little.

"She's just not used to nicknames, Mayu." Lane grinned.

"You may use the name, even if it is… different." Morgana said with finality.

"So what did you want to see me about, anyway?" Lane asked, sitting on the front pew.

"Well, ah…" Morgana looked away in embarrassment, even though they could not see her eyes and her face did not color, "I want to know what… love feels like."

"Oh, um…" Lane also averted his eyes, but his face reddened a bit.

"I can tell you, Sweetheart." Mayuko said kindly.

Morgana's head snapped up, "Really?" she asked, "Tell me."

The werewolf got a far-off look in his eyes. "Well, it feels warm, like a hot water bottle, in your torso; sometimes in your gut, sometimes in your heart, and sometimes in your throat, choking your words. You think about that special person, and it makes you happy to do so. When you're away, you'd like to be with them, and not go away when you are with them. Does that sound like it, Sweetheart?" 6

"…Yes." Morgana said quietly.

"If you don't mind," Lane said, looking directly at her, face still rosy, "Who is it?"

"No one you know by name." She replied mysteriously.

"Oh."

Morgana stiffened abruptly; she could feel the Cobalt Knights assembling. Kamui, along with her assistant, Magi, was talking to other members of the debug team. Quickly acquired the dialogue box, she saw that they were talking about an AI "wearing a red and white dress." It could only be her.

"Is something the matter?" Lane asked.

"Leave." Morgana said, the single word weighted with urgency.

"Eh? But what - ?"

"Go, now!" Morgana said more harshly. Because of her tone, they both shrugged and logged out.

No sooner had they logged out then the Cobalt Knights came in and sealed the area. No less then a score of Knights had accompanied Kamui and her assistant. The debuggers held their spears up defensively, but they would not fight until their leader gave the command.

"This is the one, isn't it, Magi?" Kamui asked her assistant without taking her mismatched eyes off of Morgana.

Magi opened her book and called up the specifics. "A woman in early twenties in a red and white dress, long black hair and obscured eyes. This is the one Balmung told us about."

"Good. According to regulations, this NPC is recognized as an irregular Non-Player Character that is not in the specification of the Japanese version of The World. Prepare to debug." With a synchronized click, all twenty of the Knights closed their circle, pointing their spearheads toward Morgana. Time for the confrontation.

She gazed around at the circle of spears, glittering in the sunlight. "How did you find me, Kamui? Chance?" she said, though she could guess easily enough.

"Balmung told one of the brass about the instigator of the Twilight Incident, and the assignment was given to us. For palming off the blame onto one of the most dedicated workers, I will delete you."

Morgana nodded, "Yes, though indirectly, it was Balmung. Yes… I suppose this would happen sooner or later."

"Delete the AI!" Kamui yelled, and all twenty-one 7 activated the feature and twenty-one beams of light cascaded onto Morgana. A burst of white noise and the graphics twitched to the negative. It was quickly gone, and Morgana remained where she stood, not a hair out of place.

"What? What happened?" Kamui looked to Magi, who flicked furiously through her book. "The effect was nullified somehow, Kamui-san." She responded.

"A virus..?"

"No." Morgana leaned back on the fence, "I don't want to die yet." She gripped the top tier and flipped herself so she was vertical, then flipped back behind the fence. One Knight lost his head completely and said, "T-that's impossible!"

"Not for me." Morgana said, as the sunlight bathed her in its glow, and she was gone.

010000100111001001101001011001000110010100101110

Shibiyama pounded her desk in frustration. How in hell had the AI escaped? First it manages to avoid or nullify over twenty different debug programs, then it breaks the very laws of the programming!

'Wait, Watarai-san said something like this before' Shibiyama thought 8, 'When he first saw the red AI, he said she broke the rules by flying… and now another red AI breaks the programming in the same field. These incidents must be related somehow.'

"Shibiyama-san, here." Saitou had been sent for extra strong coffee earlier and had now returned.

"Thanks." Shibiyama drained half of the cup in one gulp; it was bitter, and would strengthen her for the report that would loom over her. Outside the small office, she could detect frantic movements of her co-workers. They were probably filling out reports about the failing debug attempt. She prayed that she would only get a chewing out for this slip.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Saitou saying, "I got stopped by one of the higher-ups, and they told me to send this to you." She passed a few sheets of paper to her superior.

Shibuyama took the papers and looked over them. Minus the buzzwords, it basically said, "Go finish the job, take no less then twenty-five Knights. This AI could be dangerous." The Captain smiled; this was exactly what she wanted.

010011110110111001100101

Morgana logged onto her field. She had taken that first step, to the point of no return. It was a little frightening to think about. Sooner or later her friends would find out, and she rather it came from her own mouth. Although their reaction could vary from surprise, fright, or placidity, so it was indeed a delicate situation. The question right now was whether she should tell them about herself now, when the opportunity came up, or only when necessary. It was not an easy decision to make. Morgana wanted to keep the friendship she treasured so dearly, but she felt it would be disrespectful to lie to them any further.

There was no doubt; Morgana had changed now with her interactions with her friends. She felt warmer, kinder then she was when she first made the PC. Perhaps she still acted aloof, but it was a great improvement to be seen as icy then a threat that must be deleted. It felt good to care about something other than her own existence. It was easy to see why humans craved companionship; it felt so good, no wonder making friends was a high priority. And speaking of which…

Morgana sighed. She looked up her current priorities and decided to rearrange them for now. Her priorities now read:

"1: Deal with feelings for PC Sora

2: Decide on strategy for communicating with friends

3: Avoid deletion and further detection (prioritize when necessary)"

Morgana pulled up the logs; Sora had logged in, and was now in Lambda: Twisting, Truth's, Reflection. With no reason to wait or doubt, she warped away, leaving only the trees behind.

0110100101110011

"I wonder what that was about."

Lane looked up; both he and Mayuko were on a stone structure in a nighttime wasteland area. The large moon gazed down in benediction on the swirling green fireflies. Mayuko was sitting and looking at the insects, chin in hands, while Lane was leaning against the central support.

"What was what about?" Lane asked.

"She told us to leave as if the church was on fire. Seems strange, doesn't it?" Mayuko's ear twitched as a firefly drifted near.

"Well, I'm sure she had her reasons. I just hope she's ok." Lane sighed.

Mayuko turned around to face the gray Wavemaster, "Hey, I'm sure she's fine. From what you said, she can take care of herself. Meeting her just confirmed it for me" he gave a grin.

Lane returned it, "I suppose you're right, but doubts are getting to me. I mean," he grunted as he sat down as well, watching the fireflies, "I feel like there's something she's hiding from us. Earlier, I talked to a couple of her other friends, Shake and Lory, and they get the same guarded feeling. Like there's some big secret that she cannot bear to escape, y'know?"

Mayuko leaned back on his hands, pink lips twisted in thought, "I got kind of the same impression. Sweetheart seemed rather… reticent, like she is aware of every move she makes. I think… perhaps her panic had something to do with that?"

"You're too damn smart Mayu." Lane grinned.

"Well, you're lovely too, Darling."

"By the way, why do you give nicknames to people?"

"Oh, I just like to give my friend pet names. Most don't mind, and the others get used to it. I try and give names that fit." Mayuko looked back to the moon, "You're just a darling boy, so you're Darling. Morgana, though she acts cold and haughty as a queen, seems like a sweet person inside, so it's Sweetheart."

Lane laughed, "You're a great judge of character, huh?"

Mayuko smiled a little, "So I've been told. Kettle is just so sweet and comforting, just like honey in tea, so she's Honey. I never give names that the person isn't comfortable with or inappropriate for their personality."

"It might be perceived as odd, but it's a neat idiosyncrasy."

Mayuko laughed, "You have a good vocabulary. Good thing Honey isn't here, I don't think she could keep up."

"I studied very hard." Lane said, "My dad's actually Japanese, so he spoke it to my brother and I when we were small. I've wanted to learn it as much as possible, so here I am."

"That's a good reason." Mayuko sighed, "Still… I'm rather worried about Sweetheart."

Lane looked toward him, "How so?"

"Well…" Mayuko drooped a little, "It's not only her freaking out at the church, though that is worrisome in itself… but also, Sweetheart asked about love. And judging by her actions, I think she's in love herself, but is afraid."

Lane laughed, "Don't take this the wrong way, but it's kinda difficult to think of Morgana being scared of anything."

"That's where you're wrong, Darling." Mayuko said seriously, "Everyone is afraid of something, even if they themselves don't like it. After all, I think Sweetheart is the type of person who's reluctant to ask for help or forgiveness; she wants to be strong and standoffish, not to depend on other people."

"Really?" Lane looked down and frowned. "I…" he said after a pregnant pause, "I want to make Morgana feel like she doesn't have to make pretenses to cover her fears."

"Oho" Mayuko gave a coy smile, "Is dear little Darling falling in love with Sweetheart?"

"What! I…" Lane averted his gaze toward the dancing fireflies, "I don't know. I just want her to be happy. Even when she hung out with us, I felt like she was… sad, somehow."

"I felt the same way." Mayuko said, wrapping his arms around his knees, "There's a sort of, of, 'weight of the world' type thing, you know? Like she's carrying some immense weight all alone. I suppose it's enough to bring pity to anyone."

"But not the fleeting kind, the true kind that really makes you want to help."

Mayuko's pink lips smiled brightly, "Exactly!

1010101

"Your Member Address, if you please" 9 a dark PK cooed in the ear of a victim, this time a petite Heavy Axe.

Morgana watched her player-killing quarry pursuing prey of his own on a moonlit earth-type field. A female Heavy Axe had run daintily from the shadowed stone arches upon which her assailant scampered. Morgana smiled to herself; evidently, this young woman had no encounters with Player Killers, suggesting a naiveté trademark of inexperienced players. This girl was, in layman's terms, a n00b. Sure enough, in less than a minute Sora had put his arms around her neck and two steel katars at her throat. The former goddess watched the woman squirm in his arms, brown hair shimmering in the moonlight. She felt strange, almost envious of this ensnared girl.

"Wh- who are you?" the Heavy Axe squeaked. "What do you want?" Although one could never make assumptions based on the sound of a player's voice alone, she gave the impression of being very young, twelve years old at most. Sora shushed her, gently stifling her fright.

"Stop whining already," he said offhandedly. "Give me your Member Address." The girl blinked.

"My… address?" she faltered.

"Yes," he said, and put his mouth close to her ear. "If you don't, I'll kill you" The girl's eyes darted around nervously. She stuttered an "O-okay," and a chime sounded, signaling that Sora had received a Flash Mail with her information. Sora's eyes darted to where the icon displayed itself in the corner of his view screen.

"Mm-hmm" he said. "Now…" Sora unwound his arms from the girl's neck. She, being shorter, fell a little to the ground scrambled unsteadily to her feet. Sora looked at her appraisingly and stepped forward menacingly. The girl backed away, terror showing on her face.

"You- you said you were going to let me go, right?" she squeaked in her voice nearly on the edge of tears.

"I never said that," he replied airily. "And I need to blow off some steam." She squealed, and her foot caught a rock, causing her to fall backwards. With untouchable speed, Sora struck his blow. The girl's PC was dead before she hit the ground.

"Too bad she was so weak," he said to himself as an afterthought. He regarded the address in his view-window and sent her his Address. "Still," he continued thoughtfully, "she might be useful when she's stronger. Hee hee!" he laughed to himself, and almost ran into another female Player. Sora started. Something about her (perhaps the unconventional PC) made him uneasy, and he stepped back instinctively. Unfortunately, he tripped over the same rock the girl had, and sat down hard on the ground. The woman laughed with quiet elegance. Sora suppressed a growl and scrambled to his feet.

"What?" he said with more harshness in his voice than he meant. Sora altered his tone to lightness and asked, "Am I funny?" Morgana smiled, slightly abashed.

"Not funny," she said softly. "Only… amusing." Sora snorted.

"You sound like somebody's math teacher. Better watch out, or you're next." He sheathed his katars and turned away. As he began to leave, he heard her say,

"You certainly have an interesting way of making friends, Sora." Sora stopped suddenly. Did she just..? No stranger could know his habits... He whirled around.

"So?" he pouted, keeping his composure "Who are you, anyway, my mom?" His eyes narrowed further. "Or are you… one of those goody-good Crimson Knight idiots?" She laughed again.

"No," she said. "Truth be told, I don't care much for people like that, either." Sora smiled coldly.

"Then we have something we can agree on," he said. He paused to get a better look at her, and realized that she was a Wavemaster. He scoffed. "You got a weird PC, but if you're a PK, you're either a cheater or an idiot. Wavemasters naturally do not have the stats to actively hunt other players. Which are you?" She turned away.

"'Boring and smart, or interesting and foolish. What's your preference?'" Sora gasped, and, in a moment, had his blades at her throat.

"That's it, oba-chan. Who are you?" She smiled again.

"That's not the first time you called me that, and certainly not the first time you asked me who I am. I told you once. Don't you remember?" Sora shuddered, finally remembering where he had heard her voice before. "I am… The World." She whispered. Sora hastily withdrew his arms, and backed away. Trying desperately to regain his composure, he harrumphed, and turned away, as if uninterested. As he walked away quickly, she turned around and spoke to him again.

"Don't you want my member address…?" she asked softly. Sora tried to refuse, but already a flash mail appeared. He saw that her PC was named 'Morgana.' He whimpered involuntarily.

"That's it!" he said. "I'm outta here!" He tried to gate out, but the three golden rings stopped around his waist and disappeared. Sora stood motionless, almost as if he had stepped away from the computer. Morgana patiently waited for the storm that would surely come. Instead, Sora tried to log out again without luck. Morgana quickly blocked the function once more; if she did not stop him now, then he would forever run away. "What the heck!" Sora whispered, and began to perspire. He suddenly felt light-headed. Sora swayed, and fell over again, stunned. He realized that something like this had happened to him before…

Morgana approached him and knelt down.

"Here," she said, extending her hand. Sora uttered a cry and scuttled away on his back like a crab.

"Go away!" he cried, forgetting his voice modifier, making his voice much higher than usual. It was clear how much younger his actual voice was from the adult's voice that he always used. Morgana stood and followed him slowly. He continued to crawl away in terror, and finally found himself backed against a wall. For the first time in a long while, Sora knew what it was like to be the hunted.

Morgana extended her hand again.

"It's okay," she said gently. "I'm not going to hurt you." Sora, however, slapped her hand away. Like a cornered animal, he flattened his back against the wall.

"I'm… I'm warning you!" he squeaked, brandishing his katars, although he knew full well that they would be of no use against her.

"Please listen, Sora," Morgana implored. "I- " However, Sora swung his katars at her.

"I told you!" he sputtered. "I told you before, I don't want to be your friend!" Morgana started, looking as though she had been slapped. "You're so fishy! You hurt everyone! Anyone would say you make me look like an angel!"

"Sora, please, I-" But Sora would not listen.

"No!" he screamed. "I don't want to hear your lies! You locked me up in that lonely place! What makes you think that I'll forgive you for that!" A reckless look came into his eyes. "I don't know how you survived, but when Kite hears about this, you're gonna get it bad! I hate you!" Then, in the real world, Sora's player forcefully pulled his FMD visor from his head, and, sweating profusely, dove under his desk and tore the power cable from the wall.

Back in The World, his PC froze, and, like a poor TV signal, flickered and disappeared into static. He was gone.

Sora's words echoed in Morgana's head for a time. Sinking to her knees, she recalled Sora's face and tone when he said, "I hate you!" and Morgana froze. She made no outward sign, but she felt something… crack within her. The crack grew, and cleft her heart in two. The crack then spiderwebbed over her entire being, breaking and smashing her into despair. Her PC was immobile, but across the World, even in special areas such as the Church and the Net Slums, the sky rolled over with dark pregnant clouds, which burst and dumped water everywhere. From the ground, fertile forest and barren desert alike bloomed with yew and weeping willow trees, shading bright little tufts of marigolds. It seemed the very air was still, waiting for Morgana's slighted wrath.

But it never came. A biting, howling wind picked up, and whirled around Morgana. In the eye of the vortex, she rose slowly from the ground; a tear fell from her dark lashes onto her white cheek. From the trail it left, her snowy skin transformed to a mottled, veined, greenish vistage. The change spread from her cheek to her face down her torso and to the extremity of her limbs, and her hair became shorter, coarser, and lost its sheen as it whipped about her shoulders. She then screamed and shrieked as if her very being was being ripped apart. The ghastly wind howled and shrieked alongside her, and all over the World players shook and took shelter from the raging storm. The BBS exploded with posts inquiring about the vicious weather. Messages were sent by the millions, and the text boxes were overfilled with outcries.

Morgana contorted and twisted in ways that would surely break her spine and other joints, still crying that banshee screech. Her clothing changed; where there was a red and white belled dress, now there was a close-fitting garment made of crudely stitched-together swathes of purple cloth. Her arms were enveloped in similar bandages, also sewn with large, coarse stitches, and a turban covered her head, a drop of cloth covering half of her face. Her body changed last; while the general proportions remained the same, he eyes became wide and yellow, with a slim black pupil dissecting it. Her dainty hands curved and sharpened. Her feet burst from their shoes as they became ugly bird talons, and her neck was engulfed by a mantle of white feathers. From her back burst black, feathered wings, and the right wing instantly broke with a sickening crack into a twisted and awkward angle.

With the metamorphosis complete, the wind died down, though the rain did not, and Morgana disappeared.

1 The cover, which was most likely English originally because of the odd phrasing, of that story in /AI Buster 2 said the AI's name was Rin. So for consistancy's sake, I'm going with Rin for Butterfly Boy. nn

2 Actually, obsidian can't reflect very well, but it's so shiny and smooth and black that I thought it was an appropriate metaphor.

3 Orcarinas are lovely instruments, with a sort of earthy flute sound. Of course, I've only played the "potato" shape, which is like a Sprite Ocarina and the ocarina from Zelda. I have one, actually, and it has about eight holes, two of them being thumb holes on the bottom.

4 If you look at the Aura Statue in the games, her dress really is different. It has sleeves, for one. It's quite pretty.

5 You know how Ouka has rings like earrings? They're held in place by long strips of hair – it's like that. I hope I'm not boring you all with the description. nn;;;; I drew him long before the description, so it's a little difficult. nn;; He's so cute, though. n.n I'll scan all of my OC pics and link to my photobucket in my profile, k?

6 Personal experience, yo Only I can stand being away quite well.

7 A score is twenty. Twenty Knights and Kamui is twenty-one. Magi never showed evidence of having the debug option.

8 For reference, Shibiyama is Kamui, Watarai is Albireo, and Saitou is Magi To complete this list, Reki is Fujio

9 The Japanese is "Member Address, choudai!" which is akin to "Gimme your Member Address." But like I said before, I feel awkward writing in Japanese, with a few exceptions. Plus, I thought the English translation in the anime for this is too deliciously Soraish for me to put anything else. nn

Ooooh, plot, plot, plot. n.n I hope y'all are happy. Some of my symbolism is getting a tad more obvious here, so I hope you can all catch it. :) If not, don't worry about it. Eh, it's not rushing, is it? ;; That would be bad.

It was a bunch of fun writing this, but a more somber fun. It made me feel good. I'm glad Mayuko is finally here, he's so adorable When I drew/made him, I was trying to get "flaming gay man – nice". I hope I've captured that in a realistic way. I don't know any gay guys personally, though. nn; My former English teacher was a British lesbian, though, and some of Mayuko's personality is based on her (the approachability and niceness), although Mayuko is more energetic. I liked her, she was so nice, and I really learned a lot from her. She taught the class really well, and everyone liked her.

Kamui, believe it or not, was hard to write about. Since this takes place after /Udeden, I'm trying to capture her personality and keep her experiences in /Udeden in consideration. The reason she's so pissed is because it was Obachan that made the Twilight Incident, and Albireo got (unfairly) blamed for it. That is why she is angry. As for why the Cobalt Knights still exist, the brass at CC Corp. are stupidheads :) And there are still bugs… A lot of the reason Obachan is chased is the fact that Obachan is the one that made the problems, so they don't want a potential repeat of what happened. Who can blame them, really? It is in the best interest of the company and the players to try and delete Obachan. Rather, if it happened IRL, that's what a company would do, since they see her as a potentially dangerous virus. But don't worry though, I'm still on Obachan's side. :DDD

Wow, Obachan transformed and promptly went nuts, huh? That description was the easiest to write, oddly enough. I'm very good with descriptions. D Also, I'd like to personally thank my dear friend Chaos009 for co-writing the Sora scene, though the description is purely mine. Thank you so much, you've really helped! DDD

And finally, I'm realllllly sorry for the long, long update. ;; I got two (three?) emails aside from reviews asking me to update. I feel so appreciated! nn Thank you all very much for putting up with my delays, even though I had Compy-kun breakage and vacation as legitamate excuses. As always, please review! And if you don't have an account, please leave an email or some way I can contact you, so I can respond! I can't, otherwise! ;;