.hack//G.U. and all of its characters belong to Cyber Connect and Bandai. Eon belongs to me, so no stealing her, and any other OC's that will join this fanfic will be a mixture of my other characters or Miffin's characters. Also, if you have any ideas about future chapters feel free to E-mail me and we can converse! I'll make sure to put in credit to all ideas added.

Oh yes, LOTS of spoilers from the third G.U. game are in here, so if you haven't beat it or don't want spoilers, don't read this.

Chapter 1: Arrival

Haseo sighed irritably. Ten minutes. Ten minutes to transfer from the Mac Anu server to Breg Epona, and she still wasn't there.

"Atoli is sure taking her time today, isn't she Haseo?" Zelkova asked innocently, apparently unfazed by his former Guild Member's absence.

"Taking her time?" Haseo asked, a hint of malice on the tip of his tongue. "She was the one that invited us here today! The one that said that she'd be here in a minute! It's already been ten, Zelkova! Where the hell is she?" The Adept Rogue demanded, making the nearest players jump in surprise.

"Why don't you calm down Haseo," Zelkova advised, giving him his normal childish grin. "She'll be here soon; it happened all the time when she was in Moon Tree."

When she was in Moon Tree? Haseo thought. It'd already been a month since Moon Tree was almost completely disbanded; only the area remained. Most of the players that were in it had either quit the Guild or playing The World all together.

"But this isn't Moon Tree, Zelkova!" He insisted angrily, "Moon Tree doesn't even really exist anymore—" He cut himself off before he could make any more damage, forgetting that Zelkova was the former Guild Master of the incredibly large Anti-PK Guild. Looking at the Flick Reaper, he didn't see any change in his grinning expression, though sensed that he should've kept his mouth shut.

He turned his back to Zelkova, unable to look him in the eye after his blunder. "I'll give her five more minutes to get here. If she's not here by then, I'm leaving." He announced, looking slightly over his shoulder to the nodding Guild Master.

Exactly four minutes and fifty four seconds later, Atoli came through the Chaos Gate, panting.

"I-I'm so sorry that I'm late!" She squeaked quickly, bowing her head to the two of them.

"It's alright Atoli!" Zelkova greeted cheerfully.

"No it is NOT alright!" Haseo cut in, "you were the one that asked us to adventure with you today! What took you so long to get here?"

Atoli flinched before answering carefully, "well, eh heh... You see, when I was in Mac Anu, just after I short-mailed you two, I was leaving the plaza but then I ran into Alkaid, and she asked me where I was going to in such a hurry. You know what she would have been like if I told her that I was adventuring with you Haseo!" Atoli put in quickly, shaking her arms up and down frantically. "So I had to come up with an excuse, but none would come to me, so I said the first thing that came to mind..." She muttered.

"And that was?" Haseo asked, crossing his arms and looking at her dryly.

"Well..." Atoli muttered, "I told her that I was going to level up... That was truthful, wasn't it? But then Alkaid said, 'Alone?' and then I said yes!" Atoli seem frantic and on the verge of tears, even for a PC body. "So then, Alkaid was like, 'That won't do!' and then made me come on an adventure with her!" She finished.

Haseo was silent for a moment, then slowly put his hand to his forehead in his usual 'I can't believe it' way. "You know that you could have refused her offer, right?" He asked, trying to remain calm. As much as he'd changed over the course of defeating AIDA and fighting Cubia to save The World, his impatience seemed to be the only thing that lingered.

There was silence between them as Atoli looked to the ground sheepishly.

"Weren't you going to bring us on an adventure today, Atoli?" Zelkova finally asked, smiling. "What area words are we going to use today?"

"Oh! R-right!" Atoli stuttered, giving Zelkova a silent thanks as she recited the words, "Sigma, Returning, Disappointment, End of Dreams"

Haseo grunted as he added Atoli into the party and started to flip through the area words that he'd already gathered. At least it was better then going through an area just to fight some AIDA, or even Cubia Gomora's...

-------------------- Sigma: Returning Disappointment End of Dreams ---------------

Eon sighed, bored out of her mind as she leaned against the outer wall of the dungeon. "It use to be more interested than this..." She growled to herself, her right thumb flicking her sword in and out of its sheath at a steady pace.

Two weeks had passed since she woke up from what the doctors called a coma from 'over-exhaustion by gaming'.

Yeah right! She thought irritably. The only reason that I was in a coma at all was because of that man with the weird arm! She shivered at the thought of it. All that she could remember from that day was the orange light outlining the Steam Gunner, twice her size, and his manic grin. The thing on his arm opened. The cracking sound of the lock was clear in her head. She remembered the throbbing pain in her head and gut. Then everything went black.

"I knew I should have studied that day..." She muttered to herself dryly. Not only had her character level been reduced dramatically, but the few Member Addresses that she had were gone too.

What happened to all of my data anyway? She wondered. This was the first time that she'd been able to play The World in four months. It was a downer that she'd lost everything to go with it.

"Enough!" The Blade Brandier suddenly barked, standing up straight and clenching her character's hands into fists. "It's time to level up and finally get some action flowing!" She announced, looking determined…until the fact that she was level six in a level one hundred and twenty three area set in.

Maybe I should have chosen a WEAKER area... She considered, though disregarded it, turning to face the inside of the dungeon. Well, let's see how far I can get anyway! With that, Eon stalked into the mouth of the dungeon.

--------------------------Five Minutes Later-------------------------------

The familiar sound of dungeon music filled his ears as Haseo, Atoli and Zelkova teleported into Sigma, Returning Disappointment End of Dreams. Haseo blinked the brightness of the transfer from his eyes then scanned the area.

"A forest dungeon, huh..." He muttered, using a fairy's orb. He opened the map. "It looks like this area is pretty straightforward... Or at least this floor of the dungeon." He noted as he pointed out the simple curved-line structure of the dungeon.

"It looks like there aren't very many turn-offs to get lost in," Zelkova agreed, his smile brightening. "Do you know what that means?"

Atoli shook her head, having not been in a party with Zelkova very many times.

"What does it mean?" Haseo asked. A lack of monsters?

"Lots and lots of Chim Chims of course!" Zelkova announced.

Haseo nearly fell over.

How old IS this kid? He can give me the Xth Form, Hack into Tartarga, the Netslum, AND give me an Avatar Awakening, but he still chases Chim Chims! He brooded, though it agreed with all of posts on the BBS about Zelkova chasing Chim Chims while Kaede did the dirty work of fighting the monsters off. Maybe it was his way of Role Playing like a normal player.

"Sure..." Haseo muttered. He started into the depths of the dungeon.

The monsters in this particular dungeon were far from what Haseo would call decent to level up with. After each fight, even with a Rengeki bonus, the party barely gained seventy Experience each, nor any decent items. He wasn't willing to tell Atoli what he really thought though; he wasn't going to risk another break down from the Harvest Cleric, or another attempt of her sicking the Area's Lucky Animals on him (though how she had even managed the first time was the true question here...).

"We're almost to the end of this floor." Zelkova stated calmly as they rounded a bend into another room.

Something was off. For a room as big as this one, there wasn't a single monster in sight.

"Where are all of the monsters?" Atoli asked, looking around the empty room. Not even a treasure chest or a single mushroom remained in the room; only the few passing Chim Chims on their train in the corner.

"I don't know..." Haseo answered as he scanned the area as well. "Maybe this area is part of a quest?" He suggested, though he doubted it. He'd read nothing about any new quests yet; not after the Forest of Pain had just closed again.

"Maybe someone got here before us." Zelkova said as he started to walk towards the Chim Chim train, then kicked the steam switch button, sending three Chim Chims, two blue and one yellow, flying to the floor before chasing them and kicking them joyfully.

"Well that sounds probable," Atoli agreed, and chased after the quick yellow Chim Chim.

"I guess so..." Haseo mumbled, though couldn't help but feel like something was still off somehow. Maybe it was just the lack of excitement since they fought Cubia, or the burrito that he ate at lunch, but whatever the reason was, he didn't like it.

"Let's get going." Haseo announced, just as Zelkova finally caught up to and kicked the yellow Chim Chim.

"Whatever you say, Haseo!" Zelkova chimed cheerfully and ran back over to him, Atoli not far behind.

---------------------------------Three Minutes Earlier----------------------------------

Eon stepped lively as the giant bird-like monster swung its huge head toward her.

One hit and I'm done for! She thought frantically as she just barely dodged the attack, only for the goblin-type monster behind her to swing its sword at her.

I'm finished! She thought as the sword came, shutting her eyes tightly. Even if it was just a video game, she couldn't bear the thought of watching her own defeat from a monster THAT much stronger than herself.

She was silent and waited.

The attack never came.

Huh...? She slowly opened up one of her eyes to look at what happened to her attacker.

The Goblin before her was still, before slowly falling backwards, only to disappear in a flash of grey and orange light.

What...? She wondered. She turned in a 180 to the giant red bird.

Gone.

"What...?" Eon asked aloud, before she spotted the reason for this strange occurrence.

"Well, that wasn't too tough. Whaddaya think, Asta?" A silver-haired male asked a shorter broad sword-wielder as she put away the giant blade.

"I dunno, IYOTEN... I've seen better..." She answered, turning her attention to Eon. "What're you doing in a place like this, kid? Don't you SEE that the monsters here are way above your current level?" She asked harshly.

Eon let out an angry "Pft" and glared back at the newcomer. Wasn't it a little obvious that she figured it out with the running away and the lack of smokescreens?

"Hey now, Asta, I think she figured it out." The Steam Gunner told his companion, "but she's a N00b, so what can you expect?"

Eon turned to IYOTEN and gave him a glare. "I am NOT a N00b!" She snarled.

"Is that so..." IYOTEN muttered, obviously thinking. "Well then, I guess that it can't be helped then, can it?" He asked, though it was mostly directed towards himself more so then Asta. "I guess that no harm can come from bringing her to the Beast Statue, can it, Asta?"

"Guess not." The Broad Sword wielder answered cheerfully, though Eon felt strange with their sudden offer.

"So, you comin'?" IYOTEN asked Eon, holding his arm out in her direction.

Eon hesitated. Something seemed wrong here, even if they did just save her. Why would they suddenly ask some 'n00b', as they liked to put it, to suddenly go to the Beast Statue? Wouldn't it be better if they just brought her to the nearest warp panel? Or at least give her a smokescreen or two?

Misgivings aside, it wasn't as if she could just overlook their invitation. The two of them had just saved her from a game over, and she had no smokescreens left to get passed the monsters that she ran from in the rooms before.

"I...guess so..." She answered slowly, turning towards the passageway leading to the next area.

"Off we go!" Asta announced loudly, racing into the next area, IYOTEN behind her.

Eon waited a moment for the two of them to get into the next area before she followed.

Why am I so...nervous...? She wondered, but shook it off and raced after her two rescuers.

Haseo was walking at a leisure pace for once, rather then running through the area like he normally did.

What happened to all of the monsters? He wondered. It'd been two floors since they'd last seen any sign of a monster. Could this place really be a quest? Or were there really some other players here? If so, they couldn't be too far from them now. To have obliterated so many monsters must've taken quite a while, and the person or party that did so must've been powerful too.

Haseo tightened his fist, quickly letting it go limp again before his two Moon Tree companions could notice how much this was bothering him.

What will happen when we meet? He wondered before a shrill squeak came from beside him, making him jump.

"What?" He yelled in surprise, only to see Atoli there.

"Look! It's the Golden Bird, Haseo! The Golden Bird!" She yelled, pointing towards the corner of their current room.

Haseo turned his gaze towards it, then let out a small sigh of relief before turning to Atoli.

"Don't do that!" He demanded without even thinking.

"Do what...?" Atoli questioned.

"Scream like that out of nowhere!"

"But I was here the whole time..." Atoli whimpered, then turned to Zelkova, "Right?"

"Yep! She was right here, Haseo!" Zelkova chirped.

Haseo grit his teeth. "Well then—stop standing in my blind spot!" He yelled, turning to the Golden Bird and racing toward it at full speed, ready to take out some of his anger by abusing the poor thing with the strongest kick that he had.

Atoli looked down at her feet sheepishly. Out of everything that had happened with Cubia and AIDA, she still seemed to have the ability to find the 'Terror of Death's' blind spot without even trying, to her dismay and obviously his.

After Haseo had successfully kicked the Golden Bird with his entire PC Body might, the three of them continued onward. The Golden Bird's effect was useless, there being no monsters in the area to even turn into treasure boxes for them to pilfer.

"Looks like this is the last area of this dungeon." Zelkova observed as he finished using the Fairy Queen's Orb on the map to see their current location. A little red flashing arrow pointed in the direction that the party was generally facing, and little symbols of warp panels and the few Chim Chim Harvesting areas in the area were also displayed. "The chest near the warp panel must be the Beast Treasure chest."

"Yeah," Haseo agreed, taking a closer look at the map. "This seems like the fastest route," he pointed out a thin route around all of the main rooms. "Let's take this way."

"Okay, whatever you say Haseo!" Atoli agreed quickly, though not before standing straight in front of him to stop from any further 'blind spot' incidents.

Haseo gave a curt nod as the party quickly trekked around the major rooms until they came across a Chim Door. He quickly inserted the five Chim Spheres needed to open the door and it slid open instantly, only to reveal a battle zone no more then ten feet away from them.

"What?" Atoli asked, "A battle zone, here? So close to the Beast Treasure?"

Haseo remained silent, only looking at the blue barrier before him, but agreed with Atoli completely. Out of the two years that he'd played The World, he'd never seen a battle zone in the room before the Beast Statue. Monsters weren't stationed in such a place, and PKer's normally waited until they were at the Beast Statue, if not, floors above or before.

"C'mon!" Haseo barked, pulling out his twin guns. "We've got to help whoever's in there!"

"Agreed!" Zelkova said, nodding. "PKing is a horrible thing to do, and must be stopped, even if it means to have to be a part of the fight!" He then pulled out his Goddess Scythe and looked toward the blue barrier, obviously conflicted about his Anti-PK philosophy.

"Yes! Let's go, Haseo!" Atoli agreed, bringing out her staff.

With a quick nod, Haseo charged at the barrier, and with little more then a few quick shocks, entered the fray, Zelkova and Atoli at his side.

IYOTEN and Asta turned instinctively when they heard the barrier breached by outsiders. It wasn't like their newest prey would be able to put up enough of a fight to stop them anyway, so what difference did it make to turn their back on such a weakling?

"Who are you—" IYOTEN cut himself off the moment that he saw the one that he was facing, and even Asta's PC body looked pale.

"T-the 'Terror of Death'!" She exclaimed, staring at Haseo in horror. Of anyone to have come to this kid's rescue, why him? Not only did the PK Tournament two months back tell them that they were no match for him, but they even had two Moon Tree members with them! Kestrel's previous biggest threat!

"Wh-what do you want?" IYOTEN demanded, taking a step away from Haseo and his team.

Haseo only gave a fierce grin in their reaction. After all of this time, even after the PK Tournament, and the battle with all of the Cubia Gomora's, they still couldn't remember that they were the ones that PKed him on his first day in The World. Even if they were the reason that he met Ovan and the became part of the Twilight Brigade, and found out so much about himself and The World, and even the reason for all of the people that he'd met, he couldn't believe how ironic it was. Here they were, shaking in their PC Body boots in terror of him, the opposite of what happened on that day two years ago.

"I came..." Haseo growled, "to save her!" He announced, pointing at Eon, who was backing as close to the barrier that she could without taking any damage from it.

Well, at least a late entry is better then none at all... Eon thought as she crouched wearily away from IYOTEN and Asta. I wonder who he is though...to scare em like that?

IYOTEN looked like he was going to faint with fear. They all knew that once two opposite sides had entered a battle zone, neither could leave until the other was gone, or a smokescreen was used...and Kestrel members rarely carried such a 'useless' item with them. IYOTEN and Asta were no exception.

"W-w-we won't lose! Not like the PK Tournament!" He managed, though the shaking didn't make it a very believable statement.

"Y-yes!" Asta agreed, holding her broad sword's hilt so hard that her PC Body's knuckles where white.

"I guess we'll see about that then, now shouldn't we?" Haseo asked coolly, holding his twin guns in a ready position.

Asta jumped and IYOTEN looked around frantically from party member to party member, to Haseo.

"Th-this can't be!" He yelled angrily, and charged at Haseo blindly.

It was over in seconds for IYOTEN. Haseo used only six shots, then used 'Justice', followed by the Double Trigger Technique 'Judgement' to shoot him up into the air and into the barrier, which he bounced off of, dead before he even reached the ground.

"I-IYOTEN!" Asta yelled, staring at where her partner's body had just been, before vanishing in a mixture of orange and black light.

Haseo narrowed his eyes as he reloaded his weapon, then aimed one of them at her.

"Stop!" She yelled, jumping back to the opposite side of the barrier.

Haseo paused, but only to see what futile attempt the Kestrel PKer was planning.

"If you attack me..." Asta started, holding her broad sword ready, "then she dies!" She threatened, holding the end of the broadsword to Eon's neck, making her flinch and nearly hit the barrier she was so close to.

Haseo grit his teeth. Before, he gained his title as the 'Terror of Death' from not caring about what happened to those around him. All that he cared about back then was fighting Tri-Edge, and taking out any PKer that didn't know anything about him. He even killed 100 PKer's, just to get stronger, but now he was different… Shino had already returned from being a Lost One, and not only her, but all of the other Lost Ones as well! He had no reason to act so carelessly anymore; to ruin the game for more people like the PKer's that roamed The World.

Eon looked down at the broad sword to her neck. Even a touch of it could kill her at her current level.
Why did it turn out like this? She wondered, lifting her gaze to the now hesitating 'Terror of Death', as they liked to call him.

"That's not fair!" Atoli couldn't help but call to Asta, "she did nothing to you!"

"What does that matter?" Asta asked, lifting the broad sword to Eon's eye level, "It's like Gabi always says: "let the PKer's, PK!" So what if there's one less n00b in The World? It's not like CC Corp. cares! In fact, they allowed PKing, just for some ratings!" She explained, grinning, "IYOTEN and I are only doing a service for The World as regular patrons!"

Haseo couldn't even look at Asta after her stupid remark. Doing a service for The World? He thought, gripping the guns in his fists tighter. If she really thought that, then he must be doing The World a service as well: by destroying every PKer that walked that path!

Asta was now laughing, though at what, Eon was very unclear on. Her first day in The World after four months of being comatose in a hospital bed; what a lovely way to start it off, no? She looked around desperately for a way to escape, but she had no smokescreens still, and she'd take too much damage if she backed up any farther into the barrier.

Well, good by cruel, cruel, The World. She thought sarcastically, giving Haseo one last desperate look.

"You really think that you're doing The World a favour?" The Adept Rogue demanded as he looked to the ground, arms shaking not with fear, but with anger.

Asta didn't seem to notice, though stiffened slightly to listen timidly.

"If you are doing a favour to this 'World', then I too," Haseo growled, looking up at Asta, raising his twin guns to face her, "am doing this 'World' the favour of destroying you!" He yelled, and within the blink of an eye used the Skill Trigger command, switching to his broad sword. "Armour Break!" He screamed, lunging at Asta at full speed and cut down on her PC body five times, before a hard, finishing vertical blow.

Asta fell just like IYOTEN, and within moments, was nothing more then some orange and black light disappearing from the fray.

Almost instantly the barrier disappeared. Eon gasped as if she hadn't taken in a breath for days, before falling onto her butt, starring blankly at the wall in front of herself.

"Wow Haseo! That was so cool!" Zelkova praised cheerfully as he put his scythe away behind himself, disappearing.

Haseo gave a grunt of acknowledgement, putting his broad sword away in a similar fashion to Zelkova.

"Are you alright?" Atoli questioned frantically, rushing towards Eon without a second thought. "Do you need healing?" She asked, holding her staff close. Without an answer she cast Ol Rep on her.

Haseo shook his arm in his usual, 'c'mon, let's go!' way, then approached the shocked n00b casually.

"You okay?" He asked, and to his surprise, she stood up quickly, as if nothing had happened to her at all.

Eon nodded, a little grin on her face, and took a step towards Haseo.

"Yes, I'm fine... You IDIOT!" She yelled, making Haseo flinch back in shock from the sudden tone to her saviour. Eon grit her teeth and clenched her fists, looking like she was about to attack him. "If you could have done that, then why did you wait? Even for a PC body like yours, the Skill Trigger had to have been full minutes ago!" Eon ranted, glaring at him. "She could've killed me anytime!"

Haseo couldn't help but glare back at his rescued 'damsel in distress.' Who did she think that she was, yelling at him after he just saved her from not one, but two PKer's?

Sensing the tension in the air, Atoli stepped between the two of them before there could be any further hostilities, or even worse, Haseo ending up PKing this...newbie? Atoli was shocked when she looked at Eon's low HP. 212 HP? What level was this girl?

"N-now now Haseo! Why don't we escort her to the Beast Statue?" She suggested quickly, though the question about Eon's stats still burning in the back of her mind.

"I agree." Zelkova said, "with a level that low, it could be troublesome for her if there are anymore Kestrel PKer's ahead." He explained. If Zelkova found it strange about a now level ten 'newbie' being in a dungeon levelled one hundred and thirteen levels higher then her current level, he didn't show it.

"Alright!" Haseo growled, still angry about how Eon snapped at him for waiting. I should have just let Asta PK her... he thought bitterly as he watched Zelkova lead the way into the long hallway that lead to the Beast Statue, Eon falling into less then five steps behind him.

Eon herself wasn't pleased with Haseo. Who did he think that he was? If his level was that high, he could have taken out Asta in seconds, but noooooo, he prolonged it, and she nearly did end up PKed! She brushed a black bang from her PC body's eyes as she followed the shortest one in 'The Terror of Death's' party to the Beast Statue. This was definitely not her day...

"So, um..." Atoli started, trying to break the ice between the two, though it'd be difficult with this ice being the size of a glacier… "W-what are you doing in an area like this?" She questioned, though received a cold, green glare in place of an answer.

"Training." Eon answered simply, before hearing Haseo let out a small 'tch'. She wheeled around on him in an instant, her PC body's green eyes aflame. "I was so training, you moron!" She yelled, clenching her fists together tight. "If not for...for that guy, I'd still be level one hundred and nineteen!" Eon yelled, completely enraged now. "This was the first time that I got to play The World in months!"

"What...?" Haseo asked, his anger replaced with curiosity. "What guy?"

"N-none o' your bee's wax!" Eon answered quickly. She knew that it was weird enough that she was PKed by the guy with the arm and ended up in a coma. What was weirder though, was what he said to her before the fatal strike.

"Return...as the Judgement!"

Eon shivered in the real world. What did he mean by that? Not that it really mattered to her anyway... She only played 'The World' since she couldn't go outside.

Back into the game.

"Helloooo?" Haseo called, waving a hand in front of her face. "Anyone in there, brat?" He asked, only to receive an elbow into his gut.

Minus Three HP.

"Don't call me a brat." Eon growled, pulling her arm away from Haseo. "It's rude."

"And hitting me in the gut ISN'T?"

"Enough talk! Let's get this over with!" the Brandier announced, running ahead of Zelkova and into the final room of the dungeon, though not before taking a weary glance around, to make sure no PKer's were going to suddenly jump them.

Haseo grunted as he followed Atoli and Zelkova into the room.

"Great, so we're here." He muttered unenthusiastically, though Atoli seemed to not notice, or at least not let it dampen her mood for once.

"We did it Haseo!" She announced happily, "We cleared the area, Sigma Returning Disappointment End of Dreams! Now we can get the treasure from the Beast Statue!"

Haseo only grunted in response as he approached the treasure chest.

"I wonder what it'll be!" Zelkova chirped enthusiastically behind him. "Maybe some armour, or maybe a really good accessory!"

"Yes! Maybe a rare item of some sort!" Atoli chimed in.

Eon merely crossed her arms and waited. Truth be told, she never went in a dungeon this highly levelled before. It wasn't like she was in a Guild, or had some collection going like some players did, so there was no reason for her to go out of her way to even get to the Beast Treasure Chest. She didn't even have any real reason to really even play The World other than to pass the time. Items were to of no interest to her, as well as levels.

Haseo walked to the chest and kicked it to open.

Nothing happened.

"…what...?" He asked, kicking it again.

No change in its current closed and locked status.

"What the—what's wrong with this chest?" Haseo demanded, giving it another fierce, yet failed kick.

"Hmm...?" Zelkova murmured, looking closely at it. "It looks like a normal chest." He commented.

"Maybe you need to open it with your hands, rather than your feet." Atoli tried, wondering herself why it didn't open after not one, but three of Haseo's deadly, Chim Chim murdering kicks.

Haseo reached down and tried to pry the chest open with his hands.

No go after all...

"Hmmm... well this is odd." Zelkova said, tilting his head to think. "Do you really think that this is part of a quest after all?"

"Well, that is a possibility, isn't it, Haseo?" Atoli asked. "Weren't there posts on BBS about the Abyss quest starting like this?"

"Yeah, but the quest is done. We finished it in the Forest of Pain, remember?" Haseo asked, surprised that Atoli could really forget fighting something as powerful as what they faced in that one hundred-block forest.

"I-I guess..." Atoli murmured quickly, looking down at her feet for the third time that Haseo had seen that day.

"Heh," Eon murmured, making Haseo turn to her, obviously forgetting her presence completely. "Baka," she said, stepping towards the chest, "can't even open something like this?" She asked, aiming a kick towards it.

Eon truly hoped that it would open, if not, she would like an even bigger idiot then Haseo right now.

There was a small click that echoed around the room as the chest flew open.

YES! She thought, resisting the urge to shoot her arm up into the air in triumph.

"Wow, looks like she had you beat, Haseo." Zelkova noted calmly, to Haseo's dismay.

"What's inside?" Atoli inquired as Haseo glanced into the chest.

"It's a—" He paused, then looked confused. "A piece of paper?" He nearly yelled as he reached into the box and grabbed the time-worn sheet.

"Does it say something?" Atoli asked, and after receiving a nod, Haseo started to read it aloud.

"With every passing day, there is a dawn, a day, and dusk." He paused. A riddle? He wondered before beginning to read again. "After the dusk of a day, Twilight will soon bring a wake, and day will be restored to its full glory."

Atoli seemed oddly stiff, her eyes glancing around every so often, as if searching for something invisible.

"But even a day must end." He continued, trying to look into the deeper meaning of this riddle. "And thus, does dusk, return once—"

Atoli suddenly gasped loudly, and held out her hand, as if to try to stop Haseo from saying the final word.

"NO!"

"--more." Haseo finished, turning towards Atoli, but she was covering her ears in agony.

"What?" he asked himself, but it was too late. Around them, thousands of familiar, black bubbles filled the room, appearing from the Beast Statue, the walls, and even the floor.

"AIDA!" Zelkova yelled in alarm, looking at the AIDA surrounding them. "Haseo--!"

Haseo already knew. Without a second thought, he pulled his arm to his chest.

"Come on... Come on...." He muttered to himself, the AIDA still multiplying everywhere. "I'm... Right... HERE!—" He yelled. "SKEEEEEEEEEEEITH!"

With a bright purple and black flash, Haseo was floating in the familiar Avatar space, staring down at all of the AIDA. He pulled out Skeith's scythe, ready.

"I'll teach you..." He said slowly, pulling the scythe back and charging one of his beam slashes. "To never mess with this 'World' EVER AGAIN!" He yelled, and released. A large glowing beam flew at the AIDA bubbles, but they just simply moved aside, the attack doing nothing more than flying away until unseen in the distance of the realm.

"What?" Zelkova gasped, watching the AIDA move away from where Haseo had been aiming. Though he couldn't see the Avatar, he knew perfectly well that something was wrong... He turned to Atoli, seeing if she was in any condition to fight, but she was holding her ears tight, yelling "Stop it!" to the AIDA; whether that would help or not was not really the case here. Zelkova grit his teeth, before spotting Eon, still next to the treasure chest.

"Hey!" He yelled, though she seemed not to hear him; she only looked at the space that was previously the Lion-like God's face. "You need to get out of here!" Zelkova tried, but still, no response from her. What was going on here?

Haseo swore furiously as he swung his scythe over and over again, only to miss all of the AIDA. Why wasn't it hitting? Where was the main body? Haseo looked down from where he was floating, scanning for any sign of the AIDA body, before spotting Zelkova, trying to move the brat's PC body towards the warp panel, little more then ten steps away from her. She wouldn't budge.

"Zelkova!" Haseo called, catching his attention instantly. "What's wrong with her?" He called down, before aiming the beams on Skeith's back at any AIDA nearby. Once locked on, he shot. Unlike the scythe, it hit every AIDA bubble that it was locked onto, and they popped on contact, but only to reform, two in its place.

Zelkova tried one last, powerful shove, but it was like something possessed the girl. She didn't budge at all.

"She won't move, Haseo!" Zelkova yelled back, quickly ducking as some AIDA lunged to where his head was a fraction of a second ago.

Haseo growled as he glared at the AIDA. How was this even possible? Didn't the Rebirth, which Ovan gave his body for, wipe out all of the AIDA, even if it did call Cubia? He looked around quickly before staring down to Atoli, who finally lifted one hand from her ear, and pointed at the Beast Statue's face, as Eon was starring at.

It's there? Haseo wondered, though gave no time to doubt himself. He charged his scythe once more then released its fury onto the statue.

The Beast Statue shattered, something you didn't get to see everyday as a normal player of The World. The AIDA around them suddenly stopped advancing and multiplying, and started to twitch violently, as if Haseo had just hit a pressure point on them.

"Got them!" He announced triumphantly to himself as Atoli took her hands off of her ears, only to look in horror up to Haseo.

"It's come." She said quietly, as a giant, translucent, purple beast slowly emerged from the depths of the space below the dungeon.

As an AIDA, it had no distinctive face, only a little neck-like thing sticking out of the top of its body. There were two giant claws, supporting itself up on the ground of the dungeon, and two long, sickle-like things sticking out of its sides. From his angle, Haseo could not see any feet, or even legs from the monstrous AIDA, but three long, demonic tails swung randomly from behind it, and two translucent bat wings were plastered onto its back.

Haseo looked at it with horror. He'd fought many forms of AIDA before, but this one was completely different from the rest of them.

"Be------come." It growled, the low voice echoing throughout the dungeon.

It...spoke? Haseo thought, incredulously. That was another distinctive feature about this new species…AIDA didn't speak…never.

"Be-------come..." It repeated, it's sightless head not looking at Haseo, or even Atoli, a fellow Epitaph User, but to Eon instead, who was staring right at it as well.

Haseo hesitated. What was happening? For one thing, AIDA was gone. Why did it come back after the Rebirth? And it talked! Sure, when it possessed people, the people had spoken through the influence of it, but never by itself. And what about the girl? What did she have to do with this? Become what?

The beast suddenly threw its giant wings out, reaching from wall to wall of the room, and began to levitate with them, picking up its arms, and holding them cupped around Eon.

It was quiet, but Haseo heard a "No..." come from the entranced child as the monster let out a huge blast of energy, sending Haseo flying back into a wall hard, forcing him to separate with Skeith. It closed its arms around her, all of the AIDA bubbles around them in the room flying into its arms encasing Eon.

There was a scream of pain before the monster extended its wings farther and closed them around itself, making a bright flash of purple light. The Cyberspace area disappeared; the monster, and girl, were gone.

Haseo barely had time to blink; it all happened so fast. Atoli ran to his side, Zelkova right behind her.

"Are you alright, Haseo?" Zelkova asked as the two of them helped him up.

"Y-yeah..." He muttered, before looking at Atoli's pale face.

"They... They said..." Atoli started, tears streaming from her PC body's eyes. "They said, 'return'...and..." Atoli shut her eyes tight. "'Revenge'..."

Haseo stared at her. This was too much to take in for one day. What happened next did not help with matters either.

A Short Mail alarm came, and Haseo read it aloud for his party-mates to hear.

"Come to Raven. Urgent. Pi."

Rewrite-kinda…trying to edit out all of the bad stuff…my spell check messed up BAD! I'm wondering how it missed so many errors…but it seems a little better now… I'm also re-going-over what happened in the story. ^ ^;; I forgot! (Horrible memory! Whee!)

So, as always, reviews are nice…this is my first time re-uploading a chapter…so I dunno what'll happen! (Thumbs up) So until next time!