I think I may have found a contradiction in the .hack story line. (SPOILER WARNING: skip straight to the story if you don't want a spoiler) They say that Ryou lost his memory of ever playing the world when he woke up from his coma, yet wasn't Sora in the episode of .hack//sign when the game characters met the ones from the show? Wouldn't that mean he still had his memory? Well whatever. (END SPOILER) Put on those FMDs and log into The World

Reminisce

Ryou grumbled as he sat up at his desk, lifting his FMD to rub his temples. He scanned the area "what the hell," he said sounding surprised "why am I in Breg Epona?" Haseo had somehow ended up back in the root town Breg Epona! He searched his memory for any clue of how he got back but all he could remember was that he obtained some weapons the he could discard or unequip and then suddenly nothing. "But in my dream that guy said he was Skeith and he even transformed into a monster that looked similar to an avatar. And I'm sure that I heard his voice when I got these weapons. Maybe Yata might know something, I should-" Haseo let out a sudden yawn.

Ryou pulled off his FMD, taking a look at the clock he saw that it was nearly midnight! "I somehow missed the entire day?! What a way to waste a Saturday" Ryou shouted angry to the fact that he had somehow let the day slip by and had no memory of it. He groggily stood from his computer as he shut it down and stumbled towards his bedroom before collapsing on the bed falling into an immediate sleep.

Images flashed through Ryou's mind as he slept. They were images of The World. But somehow everything seemed different. There wasn't a single animal like PC and even images of root towns he never heard of appeared. Not even Mac Anu seemed to be the same. Slowly a video began to play in his head it was hard to make out and didn't even seem to have sound. In front of him was someone who seemed to be of the lord partisan class. He wore an all red kimono and had a picture of what looked to be a sun tattooed on his chest. They appeared to be in a crumbling building yet neither of them made a move to escape. The spears man suddenly lunged at Ryou but before the blow landed Ryou put his arms up to block…On his wrist were the same weapons that he found earlier today!

It seemed that the two had been locked in battle. But why was Ryou seeing this? He had no memory of ever fighting this person or even playing R:1! The video continued to play in his head as the two continued to battle as they seemed to fly through the air as they avoided debris while trying to deliver the final blow. They both charged for the final blow but suddenly stopped as a large piece of debris landed in the middle of them preventing further combat. There was a minute where the two seemed to be exchanging words before Ryou turned to run.

This didn't make since to him at all as question upon question popped into his head. Laughter suddenly broke the silence. "Aww is the little baby confused?"

Ryou recognized the voice "Sora?! Where they hell are you? Why are you in my head?"

The voice laughed again "why? Because I belong here that's why. I told you me and you are the same."

"What do you mean the same? I don't even know who you are!"

"Oh?" the voice of Sora called sounding almost disappointed "well if you don't believe me then just turn around" he said the last part with an evil chuckle in his voice.

"What do you-" as Ryou turned around he came face to face with a mirror. "What the hell is this?" The mirror showed his reflection but only half his reflection was his. The other half belonged to that of Sora.

"See I told you, we are exactly the same" the Sora half gave an evil grin before the mirror suddenly shattered with hundred of glass pieces flying Ryou's direction.

Ryou literally leapt out of the bed before coming crashing down on the floor. However he had no time to think about pain as the dream came swimming back into his mind, he rushed off towards the bathroom to take a look at his reflection. He let out a sigh of relief, he was the same Ryou Misaki that he was yesterday and the day before. He felt a sudden vibration in his pants pocket that was accompanied by a catchy ring. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his phone "Hello this is Ryou."

"You sound overly happy this morning. Have any sweet dreams last night?" the voice on the other end said.

"Ah good morning Chika," Ryou said as he had mixed thoughts on what she meant by 'sweet dreams'. He decided not to ask.

"Hey Ryou I was wondering if you'd like to go somewhere with me" Chika asked in a cheery voice.

"Sure where do wanna go, Rainbow Bridge?" Ryou asked remembering the email from when they were talking about if she ever came to Tokyo he'd take her to Rainbow Bridge.

"No, no where that special. I was thinking maybe just Breg Epona" she said the name of the location in a near solemn tone.

"Breg Epona…but we can meet there anytime" Ryou said sounding disappointed that she only wanted to meet in the game and not face to face. "Are you sure you don't want to go somewhere else?"

"Actually I do but…" Chika began before momentarily trailing off "my moms a complete blabber mouth and told my dad! So now he's basically watching my every move. I can't even walk to the bathroom without him trying to follow me." They both chuckled at her last statement.

"Well I'll be there. Just give me a few minutes." Ryou said as he hung up the phone.

"So who was that?" a voice said questioning the phone call. Ryou's head shot up to and looked at the mirror to see Sora standing at his side arms folded. He turned to his left only to see that nothing was there. Turning back to the mirror there was once again nothing.

"Now he's even outside of my dreams" Ryou said with labored breath. He splashed water on his face to clear his head before he went to his computer. He paused before putting on his FMD remembering what happened yesterday or rather not remembering. He took a deep breath before slipping the device over his eyes as he logged into the world.

Blue rings spiraled downwards as the player character Haseo materialized into the Breg Epona. Haseo looked over his character, "well at least I know I'm me." He said before he opened up the menu and checked his equipment; he saw twin blade weapons titled 'Last Betrayal'. "Damn it! So that incident yesterday really did happen."

"What happened yesterday?" A voice said accompanied by a face that was barely an inch from his.

Caught off guard Haseo took a step back, nearly falling over backwards. "Alkaid what the hell? Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Consider it returning the favor" the red haired girl replied with a smug grin while her hands rested on her hips. She took a look around the area to see that others were staring at them pointing as they whispered to fellow player. She lets out a small sigh, "Fight one a match against possibly half the users in this game together and suddenly everyone thinks you and I are a couple…well we can't say that's the wrong idea can we?"

"Yeah and not to mention that video that went out before the match didn't really help much either." Haseo said as he scratched his head.

"Almost makes you want to give them something to talk about doesn't it?" Alkaid smirked evilly at him.

Haseo flinched at the look on her face. He didn't like it at all. "Alkaid what are you planning?" He took a step back.

She suddenly tugged on his arm as she looked downward "Haseo…" Her voice sounded absolutely heavenly.

"Um yeah" he replied barely able to form words.

"Don't you remember your promise to me?" She looked up at him with a look that rivaled the one that she gave him when he gave up his emperor title and agreed to help Sirius.

'Cute' was the only thought that made its way into his mind. "Um what promise?" He asked unable to concentrate on anything else other than her face.

"Remember you promised me that when we could be alone you'd take me for a ride on the back of your steam bike." (I believe she asked in an e-mail once)

Haseo looked around as he heard an increase in the whispering "I-I did?"

She wrapped her arms around one of his, a big smile on her face "Of course now let's go!" She said as she dragged him towards the chaos gate as she selected random area words and warped to the specified area, making sure to plant a kiss on Haseo's cheek before they were out of view.

They entered the area with the sound of Alkaid's laughing "Did you see the looks on everyone's faces?!" she asked when the warp was complete.

"Yeah a real riot" Haseo replied sounding annoyed. "And what kind of area words are these, crying, her, nothingness? The monsters are way below our level."

"Oh come on lighten up" she said in an indifferent attitude "we both know you enjoyed. And you can't say that I'm some crazy girl who likes to toy with boys hearts in online game" she said as she wagged a finger.

"I know, you're just a crazy girl who likes to play with my feelings." He countered with a triumphant grin.

"Hey?! What's that supposed to mean you idiot?!" she asked sounding frustrated as she leaned forward with her hands on her hips trying to threaten him.

He simply laughed it off. "It's nothing. Now do you want to go on that ride or not?" He asked as he called up the steam bike and hopped on, extending a hand to her. She just nodded and hopped on the back of the bike, wrapping her arms around his waist. The engine revved before they took off.

The ride consisted of taking a quick spin around the area, Haseo swerved between trees and obstacles which he received constant complaints from Alkaid that they were going to crash. But once she got into it she began pointing out random monsters that she insisted he run down, which he did just to see the horrified looks on their faces right before impact. The act in itself earned him a few laughs from Alakaid, especially the one instance where he launched the bike off a rock for an aerial take down of a monster (Which is awesome to do).

But soon they ran out of targets to take down so the ride came to an end at the entrance of the beast temple. "You really have to let me drive that thing some time" Alkaid insisted as she stretched.

"Guild masters only" he said denying her what she wished.

"Oh come on that's not fair!" She whined "I'm not even in a guild anymore and 'somebody' had to go and defeat every palace emperor which nearly disbanded icolo."

"Did I do that?" Haseo asked giving a nervous laugh.

"You bet your ass it was!" She said sounding slightly annoyed. She let out a deep sigh "But for the real reason I asked you out here. There's a rumor going around that a really powerful pker is taking down people who are in fields with 'betrayed' or 'nothingness' in the keywords. Weird think is right before he pks them he ask for their member address. If they say yes they get to walk away but the ones that say no aren't so lucky."

Haseo looked slightly irritated "so you dragged me out here so I can stop this guy?"

She stuck out her term and gave herself a little knock to the head (you've seen this before. I just can't describe it right). "Well kinda."

"Fine I'll do it. But don't you think we should have saw-" The sound of a bell tolling interrupted Haseo's train of thought. The bell soon accompanied by the a deafening roar. "That's the-aaaaaaah!" he let out a scream mid-sentence as he fell to the ground clutching his head.

"Haseo?! Haseo, what's wrong?" Alkaid said shouting over the noise.

"Alkaid get out of here! Get away from me!"

She ignored his cry as she dropped to his side and clutched him tightly in her arms. "Why? What's wrong?"

The roar over the speaker suddenly stopped and Haseo looked up at her. "Haseo's not in right now" a voice completely different from the Haseo she knew echoed from his character.

Alkaid jumped back just in time to avoid a swing the character took at her. "Who are you and what have you done with Haseo?"

"I told you he's gone. And why do you care…" the character in charge of Haseo's body licked the blade that extended from his wrist. "Are you a friend of his? If so then please give me your user address.

"Like hell!" Alkaid replied having flashbacks of their recent situation.

The characters shoulders slumped, "Oh that's…to bad" there last two words were layered with malice as the character charged forward. But Alkaid leapt to the side at the last moment. Sensing danger she attempted to make a run for it. But her plan was thrawted as the player spun on his heel of his foot and drove the blade into the wall blocking her escape route. "He raised his other hand and pointed the blade directly at her face "last chance" the character smirked.

Alkaid felt helpless. She wanted to fight back but she couldn't. If she went for her weapons she's be killed. And even she did get them out how was she supposed to fight back when the mysterious person was using the face of the boy she cared for? She began to mutter the words "help me" over and over again.

"Asking for help won't save you now" the character pulled back his arm preparing to strike.

"HELP ME RYOU!" The scream escaped her lips right before the blade pierced into her. She waited for the attack…but it never came.

"That name…why do you know that name?" the character voice asked in a shaky tone. Alkaid stared back confused as the character began to jerk back and forth. "Shut up! Shut up! Get out of my head!" The voice repeated over and over. "Alkaid run! I don't know how much longer I can hold him!" The true voice of Haseo called out to her.

"Haseo what's going-" She asked wanting an answer.

"No time to explain! Just go hurry I-" Haseo's voice was suddenly cut off by a high pitched laugh. "I guess I have no choice. I'll have to kill the girl." Haseo's character became covered in red lines. "Alkaid you idiot, get out of here before he actually kills you!"

"I won't," Was her response.

"Stop with the trying to be strong crap and get out of here" Haseo called as he dropped to one knee.

She pulled him into a tight hug again "No! You said…you said you'd be there for me. Now it's my chance to be there for you!"

"You idiot!" Were Haseo's last words before a giant explosion went off. When the light finally faded from the screen Haseo expected to find Alkaid lying in his arms lifeless again. But this time he saw her smiling back at him.

"Aww now isn't this touching?" A voice called at their side.

They both turned to see a PC with a bandaged head dressed in a cape. "Sora!" Haseo said shouting out the culprits name.

"Ahh good to see you remember my name." Sora said waving.

"You're the voice from earlier!" Alkaid pointed out.

"Yes I am. And you're the girl that this boy desperately didn't want me to kill. It seems from that he was able to drive me out and allow me to reclaim my old body. I should really thank you but…" The PC lunged forward and swiped with arm. "you wouldn't give me those user ID." The characters of Haseo and Alkaid turned to ghost before warping out.

The two warped back in to breg epona and instantly collapsed. "Haseo, who was that guy? He was able to take us both down in one move. Haseo?" Alakid turned to see that he wasn't listening for he was selecting something on the chaos gate. Blue rings surrounded them both and they were warped elsewhere.

When the warp was done they appeared to be in a rundown city. Strange NPC's running about. "…This is the net slums" Alkaid voiced as she recognized the area from being brought here on several occasions. However she was ignored as Haseo had already taken off. "Hey wait up" she shouted as she ran after him. When they finally stopped running she found them both to be in a huge control room. A man dressed in a robe stood in the center of the room apparently working on the center console, a pig tailed tribal grappler stood next to him. "What is this place?" she wondered as she had not been brought here before.

"Haseo you know bringing outsiders here is forbidden!" The female tribal grappler said adjusting her glasses.

"I don't have time for your garbage old hag!" Haseo shouted shocking both female in the room.

The tribal grappler seemed furious "Old hag?! Who do you think you-"

"That's enough Pi." The robed man said waving her off. "I'm sure Haseo has reason for bringing her here. And from what Kuhn has told me…the two are what you call an item."

"Master Yata?" the women known as Pi stared.

Alkaid flinched "An i-item?"

"Stop with the jokes. This is important!" Haseo shouted ignoring his words. "Yata you played R:1 didn't you?"

"Yes I did. Why is this so important?" Yata raised an eyebrow.

"Did you know of a green haired pker that wore a cape?"

Yata searched his memory "…I'm sorry but I have no memory of such a player."

"Dammit! I'll find you one day Sora!"

"Wait, did you just say Sora" both Pi and Yata shouted in unison.

"Yeah why?" It was Haseo's turn to raise a brow.

"Pi, search any of the character Sora! You might even have to check the record of that project." Yata gave the command which the tribal grappler obeyed as she went to work on the console in the center of the room. Screens lined with data appeared throughout the room.

"Haseo, what is she doing?" Alkaid questioned wide eyed.

"Let's just say I have friends that can get their hands on things most people can't" He answered not giving her a fully truthful answer.

"That sound like they're hackers! You're friends with hackers? And now I'm an accomplice!" Alkaid said freaking out.

Haseo grabbed Alkaid by the shoulders and lightly kissed her to bring her down to earth. "Calm down. It's nothing like that. They're just resourceful." Alkaid smiled back at him and nodded back an okay.

The sound of someone clearing their throat echoed throughout the room, "as much as I would hate to break up a lovely moment, but I found what I was looking for" Pi explained.

"Sorry" the pair said blushing.

"It seems that this Sora character did indeed play R:1" Pi said beginning to read off the data. It also seems that he had a small relation to the second network crash when the first network crash happened. What's this…" Pi paused as she found an extremely interesting piece of information. "It seems that Sora was one of those users like us." She used the word those for the secrecy of what it was didn't use the correct term in front of Alkaid.

However Haseo was a little taken a back. "He was an epitaph user? But how?

"No one really knows" Yata answered. "Somehow he became possessed by one of the phases and that's all anyone really knows. Later when CCcorp. began to design the epitaphs they wanted to ask Sora if he wanted to join he was no longer playing the world."

Haseo took a minute to absorb the data "is that all you have? Not even a name of the player?"

"I'm looking but so far…wait I think I found it. The name of the player Sora was…oh my god." Pi paused over what she just read.

"What is it? Tell me!" Haseo grew irritated that she wouldn't tell him.

Pi had a worried look on her face as she took a deep breath "the player behind Sora was a 10 year old boy named…"

"Spit it out already!"

"…His name was Ryou Misaki." Pi said finally getting it out.

TBC

Yay another part finished! Hopefully this will keep the fans entertained while I escape. On a side not I found out something interesting. To help me explain. Let us bring in Sync from Tales of the Abyss

Sync: why the hell am I here? I'm not even in this game!

Me: you'll see. Now lets bring in alkaid!

Alkaid: Geez can't you give a girl a break?

Me: fine fine. But I need the both of you to read this cue card

Both: Why the hell would we do that…wait

Me: strangely that's what the card says.

Both: you sound just like me!

ME: that's right two of my favorite characters are voiced by the same person, Erin Fitzgerald. Makes me feel kind of weird when I think about Alkaid then it's just like WHAM Sync comes out of nowhere. Well enough talk! Next episode guy go!

Announcer: This is it folks, the final log in! Ryou has learned of his dark past as the pker known as Sora. Maybe being a pkk was him atoning for his sins or does he truly not remember. Well one thing can be certain Haseo and Sora will have to battle it out to determine the stronger persona. Who will win and gain control over Ryou!

Ryou: Come on I'm right here! Skeith!...Skeith! Why won't my epitaph comeout?!

Announcer: tune in next time as we'll be placing on our FMD's one more time