Resolutions
By: seraphimstarlight
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Disclaimer: I do not own dot hack GU (or any of them for that matter) , so please don't sue.
Author's Note: Contains spoilers for all GU games.
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Haseo, the Terror of Death (now more widely known as the thrice-crowned Arena Emperor) had just finished restocking Canard's guild shop with the spoils of his latest trip through a high-level dungeon when he noticed the new mail icon flashing persistently in the corner of his display. He hesitated, uncertain if it was worth logging out just to check it. Through he had just returned from a level 140 dungeon with Sakubo and Endrance—what a pair they made—he had planned on heading for a level 145 dungeon (slightly challenging at his level of 141) with Kuhn and Atoli. Even though the fight against Cubia was long since over, there was no sense in letting one's skills grow dull.
He glanced back at the flashing icon one more time before deciding to ignore it. The email could wait until later. He, on the other hand, had to catch his party members while they were still online.
He brought up a list of his friends' member addresses, quickly finding the two he needed and dispatching flashmails to both. Kuhn responded almost instantaneously (as he always did) and said he'd be right there. Moments later, the blue-haired steam gunner appeared by Breg Epona's Chaos Gate.
"Haseo," he called as he jogged over to where the white-haired adept rogue was waiting by the save shop. "I got your mail. A level 145 dungeon? You're really pushing the envelope, aren't you?"
"Not really," Haseo shrugged, "I just want to keep up my skills. I've been fighting off a lot of high level PKs these days."
"Attempts on you?" Kuhn asked, disbelieving.
"Of course not," he snorted, "I meant on other players."
Kuhn laughed and slapped his friend heartily on the back. "I guess you're still a PKK at heart!"
To the steam-gunner's surprise, Haseo hesitated for a moment.
"You know," the rogue said slowly, "I don't really think of it that way anymore."
"You don't?" Kuhn asked, raising an eyebrow.
Haseo shrugged again and glanced away towards the Chaos Gate. "I don't know," he sighed, "but it's not just about hunting PKs. It's more like—it's not right that those people take advantage of those weaker than them—those who can't defend themselves. I mean, if those PKs want to fight so badly, I'd rather they fight me instead."
Kuhn tapped his chin thoughtfully. "So…I guess that makes you like…the guardian angel for new players, right?"
"Ugh. When you put it like that…"
"But, you know, Haseo, you've sure changed."
"What does that mean?" he asked defensively.
"Ahh…nothing, nothing." A pause. "It's just that, before, when we first me, I couldn't ever imagine you saying something like that, let alone doing something for someone else's sake. Looks like Atoli's trained you well!"
There was a moment of profound silence. Then…
"WHAT?!"
Haseo's irate outburst cut through the ambient noise of the plaza, drawing stares from all present.
"Now, now," Kuhn sighed, patting his friend's shoulder placatingly, "you know it's true. You've changed since you met her—willingly or unwillingly," he added when the rogue "humph"-ed and turned away stubbornly.
"Speaking of Atoli," Haseo muttered, "where is she? I sent her the flashmail nearly twenty minutes ago."
"For starters," Kuhn corrected him, "it's only been about 10 minutes since you contacted me. Are you so anxious to see her that it felt like 20? Okay, okay! Stop glaring like that! It's freaking me out! I was only kidding! But you know, Haseo," he said, suddenly serious again, "she has her own life. She doesn't have to come running every time you call."
The first response that came to mind was "but she always does" but he bit his tongue, knowing that saying that would take the conversation places he didn't want to go. The second response of "but I'm used to having her around" wasn't very helpful either, so instead he opted for a muttered "Fine," adding, "but I'm not going without a healer," almost as an afterthought.
"Well, you could always call…what's her name? Shino?" Kuhn suggested.
Haseo considered the suggestion for a moment, agreeing half-heartedly when he realized that she was, indeed, the only other Harvest Cleric he knew.
"But she's not as high a level," he said as he scrolled down the list of member addresses and dispatched the flashmail, "so we'll have to go to a lower level dungeon."
"Sure, whatever," Kuhn said. "I'm going to go stock up in the meanwhile. I'll meet you back here in a bit."
"10 minutes, Kuhn," Haseo said firmly, "no running off with every girl you see."
"Yes, mother," the steam-gunner laughed as he headed off in the direction of the town.
Haseo, meanwhile, continued scrolling through the list of keywords, trying to find a suitable combination. The first gave a level 116 dungeon; the next gave a level 150 dungeon. He wanted a field—something one level and easy to navigate—something that she'd probably like…
Where was she? It wasn't like her to not even answer when contacted. He opened up his friends list again and scrolled to her name. Sure enough, the icon beside it indicated she was online. Maybe she was away or maybe asleep? But she normally signed off or set her status to busy if it were that.
Maybe she had simply forgotten to change her status? He could just imagine. She was, after all, the type who could fall asleep in the middle of a field. The other alternative, however, was that she was actually busy (though the idea seemed painfully foreign to him since she did end up spending the majority of her time with him nowadays). Busy? Doing what? The question "with who?" nagged incessantly at the back of his mind, but he brushed it away, refusing to consider it.
She was probably asleep. That was all.
He turned his attention back to finding a suitable keyword. After a few attempts at random generation he finally found a suitable field. It was only level 134 (lower than the dungeon he had just returned from this morning) so it was unlikely he'd level, but that was just as well. Having leveled together for so long, he and Atoli were the same level, and it just didn't feel right to go on without her. Hell, it just didn't feel right without her.
"Haseo?"
He turned quickly, coming face to face with a Harvest Cleric with a large hat and a wing-like cape.
"At—ah—Shino," he said, catching himself, "how long have you been waiting?"
"Not long," she assured him. "Were you looking for a keyword?"
"Yeah. I finally found one though. Σ Unsheathed Overripe Emotion. We can leave as soon as our last party member returns." He glanced in the direction of the city.
Twenty minutes passed and Kuhn still didn't show up despite the numerous and increasingly hostile flashmails that Haseo sent (which led to Shino suggesting that perhaps that was why Kuhn had not returned). In the end, Haseo had worked himself into such a furor that Shino ended up suggesting that maybe it would be best if he logged out for a while. At first he had wanted to argue, but he once again noticed the "new mail" icon flashing in the corner of his display.
"Yeah," he had agreed at last, "I guess I'll log out and check my mail or something. Sorry about this, Shino."
"It's all right," she smiled, " it was good to see you again."
"You too."
"See you again."
"Yeah," he said to her fading form.
When she had gone, he quickly brought up and selected the Logout command. Slowly, The World blurred and dissolved before his eyes, and he found himself staring at the start-up screen. Removing his M2D, he selected "Quit" from the menu, returning him to his desktop.
He scrolled quickly through the circular interface until he reached the mail icon. Clicking on the icon brought up his inbox. As it turned out, there were several e-mails—mostly letters of challenge from Arena Contenders (those had been coming more frequently than ever)—and buried amongst them was one e-mail in particular that caught his eye.
"Atoli…"
Quickly, he glanced at the send date, noticing that it was, in fact, sent about an hour earlier, before he had ever contacted her. His previous irritation with the Harvest Cleric quickly dissipated.
So she had contacted him (not that he cared mind you…it was just nice to be kept in the loop).
He opened the e-mail, expecting it to be at least several pages long as Atoli tended to ramble, jumping from whatever topic she was on to whatever new idea happened to cross her mind. So, he was understandably surprised when he noticed that the e-mail contained only two lines.
I'll be waiting at the Beast statue at Σ Beloved Maiden's Emotion. Please come alone.
The message was uncharacteristically concise and cryptic. Normally, if she had a concern she addressed it in an e-mail or asked to meet at one of the lost grounds. It was unusual for her to suggest meeting in a dungeon. Even stranger was that she had likely headed there on her own. She would have to fight her way through that dungeon all on her own to reach the beast statue, and, generally, Atoli wasn't one for fighting. Not that she couldn't, mind you (in battles she generally fared as well as he) it was just that she preferred not to fight. And for her to willingly fight her way to a Beast statue on her own just to deliver a message? What was it that she couldn't say through e-mail?
Briefly, his mind drifted back to the last time she had called him out like this: shortly after they had discovered Tri-Edge's true identity. An unsettling feeling turned in his gut. Then, he had not been ready to hear what he was certain she was going to say. (Contrary to popular belief he was not completely oblivious or socially inept.) But now…
Before, his reaction would have instantaneous, ranging from "Hell no!" when they had first met, mellowing to a "Now's not the time for this" and evolving now to…what?
If asked, what would his response be? He had never really stopped to think about it. There had never been any need to. She had always been there—wanted or not—and, strangely, he found that he had grown accustomed to having her around. As, for the longest time she was the group's only healer, he had been forced to rely on her both in and out of the Arena. As time passed and they went through more and more together and they both grew stronger and stronger he began to view her more as a companion than a burden.
It hadn't really hit him until after the Kudan quest. Now only had she changed but so had he. And now…what was happening? It felt like something was one the verge of changing for the worse—like the ground was being pulled from beneath his feet.
He glanced back at the clock. It had been over and hour since she had e-mailed him. She'd probably been waiting quite a while.
The uncomfortable feeling settled over him again, but he dismissed it. Whatever she wanted, there was not point in keeping her waiting. After all, he owed her at least that much.
He closed the e-mail window and logged back into The World. Slipping on the M2D, he found himself back in front of Breg Epona's Chaos Gate.
"I'm going on my own," he muttered to no one in particular, "I should at least take some healing items."
After purchasing the necessary items and customizing his accessory with a Boost Candle to double the effect of those items, he headed over to the Chaos Gate and picked out the correct keywords, finding them quickly.
He stared at the display for a long moment.
She had said Σ Beloved Maiden's Emotion, right? So why was it showing in a level 141 field? No, not a field, but a dungeon! One of this Shinto shrine types! The type he knew they both liked least.
Level 141! He couldn't believe that she'd go to such an area on her own. Would she even make it to the Beast Statue? Hell, would he? But he was not one to shy away from a challenge. He did, however double check his inventory and equipment before heading out.
He reselected the keywords from the list and took a deep, steadying breath before he clicked OK. He had the feeling that things were about to get a whole lot worse.
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Author's Note:
So, this is my first foray into dot hack fanfiction. To tell the truth, I had a lot of fun working on this so far. It was so amusing to actually generate random dungeons and test them. But, it was so funny how the actual dungeon for Σ Beloved Maiden's Emotion turned out in my game. It provided a lot of inspiration for the next part, lol.
At any rate, I am a bit worried about how I characterized Haseo in this. I'm not sure I got it quite right. I think I made him more mellow and introspective than he actually is. Oh, well, I guess there's just trial and error for now. The next part is from Atoli's POV anyway, and I should be able to characterize her better.
To tell the truth, I wasn't originally a fan of this pairing (originally, I liked Haseo X Alkaid more), but, at some point, Atoli really grew on me. I'm not really sure when it happened, but I really grew to like her. And so came about this fanfic.
At any rate, I'll get to working on the next part. Until next time!