HackSign 2

Author's note: I decided to start this project after being dissatisfied with the Hack games and Hack/Legend of Twilight's Bracelet. It's based loosely on LoTB. Aside from that, assume nothing. ;)

Chapter One

"How can you use that thing?" Tsukasa asked. Since moving out of her father's house and getting an apartment in downtown Tokyo with Subaru, Subaru had continued to play THE WORLD at least three times a week. She had stepped down as an administrator, and had started trying to build up her Heavy Axeman character.

"There hasn't been a single reported incident of someone not being able to logout," Subaru told her. "When Helba crashed the server, allowing you to logout, the AI's were all destroyed. We haven't seen Skeith or heard anything from that omnipotent voice, either."

"What about the girl... Aura?"

Subaru closed her eyes and looked away. "Nobody has seen her since that incident." She looked back to Tsukasa, who thought about this for a moment. "Tsukasa, she was just an AI."

"Whatever she was, she was or had the Key of the Twilight, which allowed me to logout. Besides, she was like..." Tsukasa trailed off, thinking.

"Like a sister?" Subaru suggested. "All the time you spent in your own world, with no one but her and - "

"Maho!" Tsukasa exclaimed. "What happened with him?"

"Nobody's seen the cat character either. Why?" Subaru asked.

"If Helba did kill Morgana and Skeith and Aura... Maho may still be around."

"If he is, he won't show himself to just anyone," Tsukasa said.

"Maybe you can bring him out."

"Maybe I should just go to bed," Tsukasa said, heading for the bedroom. "I don't play online games anymore."

"Suit yourself," Subaru said, slipping into her virtual reality headset and picking her controller up from the desk. Her screen showed a static image of THE WORLD as she entered the game through the headset.

Subaru saw only the darkness of the headset, and then it opened as her computer connected through the Hypernet to THE WORLD. Dark became an array of rainbow colors, and she was falling. Her clothes shredded off and were replaced by her character's outfit, her axe appeared in her hand, markings appeared on her skin, and she materialized in the new root town of Mac Anu, as her character of the same name. She no longer wore the wings, which signified her status as an administrator. Instead, she looked like many other characters, with little differences. Subaru immediately entered three keywords into the Chaos Gate, and was instantly transported to a novice battle field.

Tsukasa was having another dream in THE WORLD. Since laying in a coma for the better part of a month with her mind stuck in the game, though disconnected, she still dreamed of the game world. In her dreams, she had the same character, only female. She would be with Subaru, Mimiru, and Bear, fighting some monster or finding their way through a dungeon. It was usually one of two dreams. Either they were in a strange field, unlike any she had actually seen, where it was cold and dark, and unused code could be seen floating about, almost like the Net Slum which Helba wiped out; or a dungeon, in which they would run around in circles, first looking for the boss, then looking for the exit.

She was in the dungeon again, but the others were nowhere to be seen. She was sure they were in the room ahead, or just behind her. They rarely were split up, but it wasn't unheard of. She could run to the room she had just presumably come out of, but that would make no sense to the party, so she continued on ahead.

Before long, she noticed she was not in any area she had dreamed of before. She was walking across a rickety wooden bridge over a chasm, and incoherent voices could be heard from the pit below. It was a scary area, but she was sure she would find the exit sooner or later. Had she heard... no. She continued across the bridge, and heard a voice only she could hear.

"Tssssssukasssssaa..." it seemed to hiss. It was barely more than a whisper. But she knew the voice. Maho, the catlike character, who spoke only to her, and shared that strange realm with her and Aura. She had never dreamed of Maho before, but she hadn't spoken of him before today since logging out, either. Part of her wanted to run - but where, she could not log out, just like when she was really trapped. Besides, a part of her wanted to see Maho again. So she followed the voice across the bridge, and into a dark room.

As she entered the dark room, it lit up. There were no exits, not even the one she presumably entered from. Everything was white, for as far as she could see. A little girl's bed seemed to float in what appeared to be the center of everything. It was the same bed Aura had floated above, and she herself had rested against for countless hours while trapped in the game. Maho lay on the bed, his head supported by both hands, elbows in front of him. He just smiled at Tsukasa.

Tsukasa approached the bed, and knelt beside it, taking the pillow - which was also white, of course - in her arms. Suddenly, Maho floated away from the bed, not changing his position in the least, and faded away. The whole area glowed brighter than ever, nearly blinding her. She had been blinded by light this bright only once before. When the light dimmed again, a jeweled pendant lay on the bed. It was a figure 8. Then she recognized it from school - the mathematical symbol of Infinity. She turned it over in her hands. It was made of a solid white metal, jeweled with diamonds. No one was around, and it was a dream, so she put the pendant on.

The infinity pendant seemed to fuse to her chest, and she noticed the bed getting bigger. Or she was getting smaller. Her clothes were getting a little looser, and slowly morphed into a beautiful dress. Her facial features rounded out, and her hair grew out, fading from reddish brown to white. She looked where the pillow was on the bed, and saw a silver looking glass.

Tsukasa picked it up, and looked at herself. She had somehow become Aura, or a girl like her. Her reflection winked at her, and just as she started to drop the mirror, she woke up.