State: Chapter 05: Mind of a blind

Concerned Characters: Kite, Tsukasa, Sora, Subaru, A-20...

Pairing: non pairing(?)

Disclamer: chapter 01 has all the answer you need.

A/N: Damn, too tired to comment. Anyway, I'll try to update soon.

Sorry for the grammar.

Enjoy!

Chapter 05: The Mind of the Blind

Tsukasa could only gaze in amazement at the girl who was lying before him, in a peaceful slumber. He had been here for so long and yet... he didn't feel tired at all. It seemed all his previous worries were gone. All he had to do was stare at her beautiful flying white hair, at her pale face, at her hovering body. He felt content simply with this. Macha the cat was right. This was a nice place. Finaly, he could rest peacefuly and alone... with her.

He tried to talk to her. To ask her name, what she was doing here, but it seemed all she could do was sleep. It was fine with him. She was sleeping and he felt like she could understand him... or he could understand her...

Was something else the matter?

No, there wasn't. was there?

'Tsukasa'

The boy jumped. Was it a voice he heard? It seemed so. A woman voice. The one from the dungeon.

'Can you hear me?' Continued the voice. She was so sweet...

"Who is this" he asked to the disembodied voice.

'I am on your side' She answered.'as long as you walk with me, I shall protect you.'

"'Walk together'?" repeated Tsukasa in wonder, "What should I do?" he wasn't sure anymore.

'Contact Mimiru' she sweetly responded.

Tsukasa pondered for a while. He didn't really wanted to call this pest. Even if... "But, the Crimson Knights are guarding the gate."

'Don't worry Tsukasa' She assured, 'Believe in me. Beside, your Gardian is with you.' 'Guardian?' he wondered, 'Does she mean that monster who...' he recaled his last enconter with the Knight, how the slimy hovering monster defeated him. Was this monster a guardian for him? His own, his personal guardian?

"My...guardian..." It was still a little hard to believe.

'I will bestow another power on you' she assured. Another power? This woman talked as if she was a god or something. Was she? It was possible. If she could summon such powerful monsters... This place...did it belonged to her? What about the girl?

He smirked. Those were unesessary questions. What was important now was: nobody would ever bother him anymore. If he had to deal with the other rude girl before he could come back here, it was fine.

He had powerful allies with him after all.

Fort Omph of the Sigma server was calm as always. This root town level was high and not very used by players. The red-claded Twin Blade was glad for this. He was relaxing after long hours of hard work. The boy had hoped to find some clues in special dungeons he knew. He wanted to find where Aura or anyone else might have gone to. But no matter where he looked, wether it was Cursed Despaired Paradise on the Theta server, Chatting Snaring Twins in Sigma, Merciless Grieving Furnace of Lambda, none of the fields he tried had any lead. The white rooms he previously visited weren't even here. He still had grounds to cover, but his hope was going thin.

Another worry came when he first battled a monster and got hurt. The pain was very real and he couldn't help but scream at it. It was luck for him Sora didn't noticed, as he was engrossed in the fight. The Twin Blade wondered how much time it'll be before he'll have to reveal his condition. The PK had left him hours ago, apparently tired of the wild dungeon's exploration. Kite had continued alone for a while without much success.

He sighed and admired the town. It looked like a flying advanced fortress in the sky. The last time Kite had seen it, it was so corrupted there were tears in the sky. It now looked as clean as it could be. Aura's disappearance, everyone's disappearance... was it linked to it? Or was it his apparition?

He let himself wander this time, as he was too tired to do otherwise. He had first assumed The World had changed after Morganna's last attack, but now he wondered if it was even the case. If it was him who had somehow been transported into another World, it made more sense. In this case, it would be normal for him to not be remembered by anybody, would it? This explanation was ridiculous to a serious mind and only half-satisfying actualy. Where would he find this World anyway? And what link could there be to Aura vanishing after the Data Drain, the corrupted flashmails and his own memory loss?

He closed his eyes, but again, stayed restless. He was having the time to calm down and reflect on his situation but he always felt like he missed something... Or more likely, there was something he didn't wanted to see. He reflected on every players and places he saw. A great majority, he knew them already. There were also a smal part of them he never met. None of them however, seemed to recognise him. Not any of the Dungeons or places he visited seemed corrupted. The only thing which was quite 'abnormal' was the disappearance of Aura's statue from the cathedral. The white rooms weren't here either...

What about the knights? Now, there was something else! Sora and everyone in the game seemed to think the organisation was a normal occurence. What more, he actualy remembered having heard of it before coming here. He also heard Wiseman say they were in the Epithaph of Twilight...

He looked at his options and managed to select his Epthaph's excerpts. He still had them all... he thought they'd be lost like his member addresses. Looking through them he found himself to be disappointed. There was nothing on the knights in his own textes. Maybe he could find someone who had others? Sora might have relations. He was on dark buisness himself right? Him being a PK and all...

He sat up straigh. Suddenly, his nagging feeling became clear. There is no PK on the newest version... Why did Sora reacted to his reflexion as if he was insane?? As if he was wrong in thinking PKing wasn't allowed anymore? It was clear now... But how could this be possible? There was no way! Even as he saw everything assembling together perfectly, he couln't believe it: the reason why the Crimson Knights still exist, the reason why PKing is still allowed, the reason why the players don't know him yet, the reason why the servers aren't corrupted yet, The reason why Aura's statue isn't....

Aura's statue...

Aura...

Aura's statue isn't here...

Aura isn't here...

Aura's statue isn't here yet.

Aura isn't here yet.

Aura doesn't exist yet.

The PC 'Kite' doesn't exist yet.'I' don't exist yet.

As for everybody...

Kite started running on the plateform of the fortress. He'd actualy wanted to sleep rather than think of this. But he couldn't. Why couldn't he? Wasn't he human enough? Was he? The air which rushed on his face when he was running, his legs starting to hurt him and his breathing becoming hard weren't proofs of this? Would an AI feels this? Would Aura and Mia feel this? Did they feel this?

He stopped his run, breathless, and wounded in his heart. He needed to move somewhere. Anywhere! Any field! Anything so he woud stop thinking.

He left the town, cursing against Aura, all his inside burning of unrestrained and harsh emotions.

Mac Anu was a highly populated town, even in the night. On this day it was hard to keep peace. The number of players was increasing. PKs and various hackers came in the game and played unfairly. Because of this, a Root Town like Mac Anu was a perfect place for the Crimson Knights to settle their guild. A lot of players were relying on them even before they were relying on the admins. And it was all thank to their leaders.

Lady Subaru the Heavy Axeman had gained a lot of respects as well as responsabilities. She was good at dealing with them however. Her morals and understandings made her an extremly efficient leader. Had she been told this, she would have answered it was natural for her to be as such, considering her rank. There wasn't much problems which couldn't be solved by the knights.

It seemed however, that this particular one was part of this minority.

The blue-haired girl was waiting anxiously for news of her knight compagnon. The Silver Knight was the second leader and was thinking highly of her, she knew this. His will to prove himself was dangerous at time, like this one. He came to a dungeon alone to arrest a suspect. This was inconsiderate of him. He should have gone with others knights. Now they were trying to find the Wavemaster themself and were keeping the Chaos Gate of the Delta server, where he was last sighted. It had been two day already though. Subaru had the suspicion he already logged out of the server.

What was worrying her was Silver Knight. He hadn't logged in since his last encounter with the Wavemaster and hadn't contacted anyone in the guild. Subaru had seeked contact with people in the game who knew him in real life and was waiting for their answers.

She sighed a little. It was hard to keep her calm now. Such thing never happened before. It felt like she couldn't solve it on her own. She just wished she wasn't on her own anymore. If Crim was still here...

"Lady Subaru"

She turned to see Salu, one of her most faithful knight. He was kneeled before her, waiting for her order. She asked him his news.

"One of his friend informed us by the Board." he started, "he is currently resting in the hospital."

Subaru's heart stopped at this. with difficulty, she asked.

"Please, explain what you know."

"He was found uncounscious at his computer, he had been transported in the hospital. He seems to have recover, but is unable for now to remember what could have caused his state. He'll come around in a day or so."

"So, he is alright?"

"It's seems so, Lady Subaru."

She felt a wave of relief going through her body. This was one thing she could stop worrying about. There was still the problem of the player who rendered him unconscious in the first place. She believed however, that it would soon be out of her own range. The problem will probably have to be dealt by the admins, as Lords Orca's and Balmung's hands were full with more important matters. The strange occurences...

"Lady Subaru, we may have to think of a way to deal with the Wavemaster;" said Salu "If he can somehow injure players in real life, then he is a threat to them."

She considered it. "Keep your position in front of the gate for now, we'll soon be informed of any changes in the situation."

"Yes, Lady Subaru." at this, he parted with her.

The grass was green in this field. The sky was blue and the background music was nicely going with the atmosfer. In other word this was in perfect contrast with the current players who were running through it. Jumping up and down as usual, the infamous PK Sora had made sure there were no one else here but him and the knights. Those idiots where still looking for the boy on the Delta server! They were ridiculous! They couldn't even protect the players who were exploring from getting PKed!

But they were still useful. He now was sure the suspect Wavemaster was really the hacker he saw on this field. After questioning them, he warped out of the field. Arriving at Mac Anu, he proceeded in entering the keywords of the field he sighted the Wavemaster. This simple action made him remember of his exploration with the other Twin Blade two days ago.

He couldn't believe how boring it has been!

All they did was exploring, clearing dungeons from every monsters and going down to the lowest level! He couldn't remember how many of them he did, but they had been quite numerous. Heck, he even leveled up by four levels just by doing that! And the other guy -Kite was it?- didn't even seemed satisfied by that.

Sora admited his assumptions were right: this guy was good and not only as a player, but as a leader as well. More than once, his advices and orders saved him against oponents several times stronger than he was. They traveled to high level fields as well as low ones. Actualy, when the servers were high, Sora had sometime enjoyed himself. It was nice to feel the thrill of avoiding death by an inch again. He still prefered PKing though. It was a shame the older guy didn't let him do so.

Arriving to the dark field, Sora proceeded to the dungeon. What had frustrated him more was they didn't took time to look for the Wavemaster. The other had been so much into his search he forgot his promise to Sora. What was he looking for anyway? Sora wasn't stupid, he knew that this 'Kite' was hiding something. He first thought he was some old player coming in the game after a while, after being banned from playing maybe? This would explain his uneasiness. But...

He wouldn't have admited so easely his version was oudated. Not only that, what about his weird flashmail? And the strange things he said to him the first time they met? Maybe there were some connection with the Wavemaster after all. For now, he'll just observe him. He'll decide what to do later.

The dungeon wasn't deep. Once he arrived to the Gott statue room, he examined the wall. No trace of a hack, he didn't expected so. How did he do this? He knew hacking the game wasn't simple. Even the most advanced hacker had trouble with it. Would an average boy be able to do so? As well as knocking out a player in real life? How was it possible? You needed to be free of any known rules to do that. to be above average players. To surpass any bondaries like...

He stopped his move for a while. He recalled. What was free of bondaries of the game, what was said to override the fondation of the game. Could it be? Could he have it? The key?

"That guy..." He muttered, exitement in his voice "I wanna be friend with him!" he grined widely at this.

He had a feeling this was going to be fun. And there were other uses for the knights.

Lambda server. Kite had come here to trad some of the treasures he found during his explorations. Even by sharing half of them with Sora, he still had a lot. Of course he had continued for a while after the PK left and had spent quite some time in higher dungeons. He had decided to come here because Carmina Gadelica was known for its number of trads.

Once finished, he decided to wander in the town again. He still had some places he wanted to go but he'll wait a little. He still felt a little down after having realised what disturbed him. How could he have gone in the past? And what about his memories? And Aura? He still hadn't found her. Why did she do this to him? For what purpose?

He now recalled the sign which had appeared on Corbenik's eye during his Data Drain. It had been a strange sign composed of circles and line with a dot in the center. He couldn't remember well. Did this sign had something to do with his situation?

He was so much in his thoughs he didn't notice the player who was before him. They knocked each others.

"Ouch!" he yelled. Surprised and hurt by the sudden shock.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't wanted to make you fall!"

The voice was high and chirping. He standed up and looked at the figure on the ground. It was a girl dressed in a pink outfit, pink hair and closed eyes. Kite recognized her as being A-20, one of the treasure hunters of The World who specialised herself in Golden Grunty. He leaned forward and took her hand to help her stand.

"It's alright, I was the one who wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry" he excused himself.

"Really? All right then!" she replied, apparently satisfied with this. Some would not have taken well her bold attitude, but Kite wasn't one of those. He greeted her and started to walk away when she called him again.

"Hey! Are you free?"

"Huh?"

"For a dungeon. That's what people do in the game right?" Kite stared at her for a while. What was that all about? Didn't she knew this already, or...

"So are you free or what?" She looked eager for it.

"Well...I guess so..." he finaly answered."Are you planing to invite me?"

"If you want to."

Kite considered it for a while. It wasn't like he had anything else to do. He didn't felt it would impact much more on future events than he already had either. He barely knew her after all. He agreed and soon they were exchanging adresses. At the Chaos Gate, Kite selected an average level of the server. Maybe it was his imagination, but he had a feeling a player was looking at him strangely. He forgot as they arrived at the fire field. The air was oppressing and the sun was hot. He soon find himself covered in sweat.

"Lets just find the dungeon entry." he huffed.

"We're not killing the monsters in the field first?" A-20 asked.

"Suit yourself. Lets make it quick then!" he pressed.

His problems were barely starting however. Arriving at the first portal, he took notice of a very important thing: A-20's level was much lower than the current field. Actualy it was lower than any fields the current server could offer. But it was too late. The portal was already activated.

"Why didn't you said your level was so low before we go into the field!" he shouted at her as the monster was violently attacking him.

"I didn't thought it would matter so much!" answered back the female Twin Blade, Her grip on her blades uncertain."You're strong after all, no?"

Kite cursed through his breath before dealing the final blow to the monster. Panting under the heat and his efforts; He stayed here for a while. What did he do to deserve all this?

"Uh," started the girl, "aren't you taking this a little too seriously? It's just a game after all, no sweat!"

Kite laughed harshly at this. Yes what exactly did he do to The World to deserve this? Her remark was a torture to him and she didn't even knew it.

"Why?" he finaly asked.

"Huh?" the girl looked at him surpised.

"Why did you invited me?" he stocked his weapons and tried to refresh himself with a move of his hand " Didn't you have anyone to go with? Or even, can't you try a dungeon solo?"

"Why?" she repeated, "I have reasons. Beside, isn't the purpose of the game creating links with others?" she reasonned, "Or are you unhappy to go with me?"

"Err, it's not like that but..." he didn't wanted to upset her, "but aren't you more interested in hunting treasures like Golden Grunties?"

"What's a Golden Grunty?" She looked genuinely curious.

"Never mind then." he sighed.

"Are you going to give up the dungeon now?" asked A20.

"Why would I?"

"I didn't tell you about my level and you seem angry." She tilted her head. " Beside, it's what everyone else did when they discovered it."

"Well, I'm sure people wouldn't do that to you if you were a little more honest with them." he noted.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Anyway, there is no reason for me to quit now that I started." he assured." Once you start something, you'd better finish it." he smiled at her. She was just a newbie after all. She looked at him for a while before smiling back. He was suddenly remembered of Natsume, his comrade Twin Blade. Were all female Twin Blades so uneasy in the game? Well, Natsume had been much better after, and he knew A-20 would soon become an expert at treasure hunting. They started heading to the next portal. The heat was still barely bearable so he hurried, making the other Twin Blade stumble to catch him. He used a speed charm on her.

They were nearly reaching it when a high pitched scream echoed through the field from the opposite direction. Both of them stopped and, in a common agreement, they rushed in the direction of the voice. Three portals were directly in front of a single player. One of them was activated and the giant monster who had appeared from it wasn't looking too happy.

Without a second thought, Kite rushed on it and planted his weapons inside. With the help of the skill Saber Dance, in four strong hits, he defeated it without taking much damages. A hand on his face to try and get rid of the sweats, he turned to the player to see if he or she needed help. His shock was great however when he recognised him. He looked like a Wavemaster, but his avatar was filled with holes.

The wandering AI by the name of Plaird started speaking:

"Hi! Do You you know what I'm looking for? I don't know what I'm looking for, do you?" his voice was high pitched just like Kite remembered.

"Err..." he really didn't knew what to say. The AI had been deleted during his time. Looking at him now was strange. What was he doing here?

"Oh! You're looking for it too, right?" He continued "You're looking for it like she does! Who is she? Who is you? Are you looking for 'she' too?"

"What?" this was different from what he remembered. Two feets from him, A-20 looked unsure.

"Say?" she questioned,"Who is that and why is he looking like this?"

"Who is that is him!" responded the AI, misunderstanding the question. "He should know but he doesn't. She doesn't know either. I don't know either! Say, what's 'I don't know' ?"

"What should I know?" pressed Kite. This may be no coincidence he found Plaird here.

"What shouldn't you know? What should you know? What should I know?" he looked exited " What shouldn't you know at Theta, Bitter Fantasy Mirror World ? 'What should you know' isn't here! ' What you should know' is somewhere else. Do you know where it is?"

Before Kite could ask anything else to the wandering AI, he heard A-20 's scream. She had activated the two remaining portals and was in deep trouble. Kite quickly got to her in order to help, but she had already disbanded and left the field, apparently overwhelmed by the attacks. By the time Kite had dispached the monsters, Plaird had disappeared. He sighed and caught something shining on the ground. He recognised it as one of the golden Kai blades A-20 was carrying. She had lost it. He tucked it and readied himself to leave the field.

As he arrived to the gate, he was disappointed when he saw A-20 wasn't here anymore. He sighed again. This could wait he guessed. He was starting to feel better from the nice wind which got through him as he arrived. He was going to stay here for a while. Maybe he'll contact Sora later in order to go to Theta, Bitter Fantasy Mirror World like plaird suggested. Those words were familiar. He remembered going there. This was a Lost Land... The upside down dungeon..;

He supposed this'll have to wait. For now, he'll just relax a little. There maybe a way for answers after all. He payed no mind to the Heavy Blade Mimiru as she arrived to town, a distressed look on her face.

A/N2: Plaird is a vagrant AI who help Kite's party access Net Slum in //Mutation (is it a 'he' or a 'she'?).

The upside down dungeon is a Legendary Land of the game, also in //Mutation for those who, like me, haven't played the game.

Reviews are welcomed!