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: Thank you so much for all your support! I'm glad that people are enjoying this fic! I'll do my best for all of you!

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Atoli glanced at the chronometer that ticked away silently in one corner of her display. It had been well over an hour since she had e-mailed Haseo, and he still hadn't arrived. But, it wasn't totally unexpected. He was busy now—probably more than he had ever been—and probably had better things to do than head all the way out to some random dungeon just because she had asked him to. In fact, he had probably taken one look at the e-mail (which seemed downright cryptic the more she thought about it) and deleted it. After all, he wouldn't come all the way here. Not for her.

There was only one person for whose sake moving heaven and earth would seem an insignificant feat for him.

Shino.

Atoli perched on the treasure chest at the Beast Statue. Her feet didn't hurt—or rather—they couldn't, but the world had started to blur and spin and event he act of sitting down relieved some of the dizziness. Though on that day at Hulle Granz he had chosen to come after her instead of remaining with Shino, she wasn't going to delude herself into thinking it meant anything. She had to be realistic, no matter how much it hurt.

He had probably felt sorry for her—as people always did—sorry that she wasn't good enough, sorry that she had, in so many words, lost, sorry that her defeat had been so clearly emphasized.

Why had Shino called her to Hulle Granz that day? There was no reason that Atoli could see for it, unless Shino wanted to make it clear to Atoli that Haseo was hers and hers alone.

The world blurred again. But…there was no reason for Shino to think that Atoli had any such claim on Haseo (after all, she had been "asleep" the whole time." And, at any rate, when Atoli looked at the whole situation realistically, there wasn't anything—spoken or otherwise—to even imply that they were anything more than friends.

Then again, maybe even "friends" was pushing it.

Atoli sighed and eyed the nearby Chaos Gate that spun silently in the corner of the Beast Temple.

Maybe she should just leave and save herself the trouble. He hadn't shown up yet, so she could just leave and e-mail him an apology later. And even if he was angry with her for leaving, it wouldn't matter anyway…

Another glance at the chronometer.

But, of course, that was is he was even coming. It had been nearly an hour and a half since she'd sent the e-mail and there was still no sign of him—not even a flashmail to say he was on his way.

He probably wasn't coming.

She thought about waiting another ten minutes, but the longer she waited the more her uncertainty grew. With each second that passed she grew more desperate to leave, but each time she found some way to convince herself to stay.

First, she drained her SP practically to zero by casting LaPha Repth over and over again, saying that she'd wait until her SP had regenerated completely. That time passed and there was still no sign of him. Then, she spent another ten minutes staring at the Beast Statue, trying to remember if all Beast Statues looked the same. After that, when he still hadn't arrived, she considered heading back into the dungeon and fighting a bit but quickly reconsidered. (She had used up all of her Smoke Screens just trying to get to the Beast Statue in the first place, and she didn't feel quite confident that she'd make it back to the statue without them.)

Another fifteen minutes passed. Many times she looked towards the Chaos Gate; many times she looked away, trying to convince herself to stay.

She sighed.

"He's not coming," she said to herself.

Not that I really expected him to.

She stood and started for the Chaos Gate.

After all, why would he waste time on her now that he had Shino? There was no place for her in his life any more. Maybe there had never been in the first place.

She brought up the Chaos Gate menu, cursor hovering over the "Yes" on the "Return to Town" dialog box.

Maybe just five more minutes. Maybe…just maybe.

She shook her head. No. That was just optimism speaking, and she knew better than to listen to it. It would only hurt more in the end if she did.

Her hand moved for the Confirm button.

"Where are you going, Atoli?"

At first, she thought she was hallucinating. After all, she hadn't even heard the door to the temple open. If it was a hallucination, it was best to ignore it. She didn't dare turn. Instead, she shut her eyes tightly.

Be realistic. Be realistic.

"Atoli…?"

There was the voice again, not angry but irritated. That too had to be a hallucination. After all, since when was he anything but angry at her? Since when was she anything but a disappointment?

For a long moment all was silent. Maybe she had finally regained her tenuous hold on her sanity.

Then, "Hello…? Are you there?"

She opened her eyes now and nearly jumped out of her skin. He had circled around in front of her and was now waving his hand in front of her face and was leaning so close to her that their faces were scant inches apart. If he leaned any closer…

"I-I'm here! I'm here!" she burst out, taking a few stumbling steps backwards. Even if it was only their characters, she didn't trust herself to get so close to him.

He stared for a long moment, an undefinable expression crossing his features. "Oh," he said straightening up, "I thought you were away. That's all."

Oh. That was all. Of course.

"I-I'm sorry," she said quickly, "I was just…rearranging my inventory. That's all." She bit her lip. Really, she hated lying to him, but surely, he would be upset if she told him she was about to leave after he had come all the way down here.

He considered her words for a moment before saying, "Oh. Right." His tone was cautious. Maybe he didn't believe her. She wanted to ask him why it had taken him over two hours to get here, but she didn't want to make him even madder at her than he probably already was.

He was watching her now as though trying to figure out what she was thinking. Maybe he'd gained telepathy along with the other abilities of Xth form because at that moment he said, "I didn't mean to keep you waiting that long. I didn't check my mail until a little while ago, and then I headed right over here. And then…" he paused, and his face twisted into an utterly exasperated expression. "And then… that dungeon! That was…the worst I've ever been through! Those damned Carries! Ugh. If I ever have to see another one again…! And then, all those trap rooms! I was already low on Chim after the dungeon this morning—and then…Mecha Grunty…! I spent forever trying to get enough Chim to escape those rooms! And…four floors?! Agh! This has to be the absolute worst dungeon ever!

He raked his hand through his hair, face flushing, and doubled over, all but gasping for breath after his full-fledged rant.

At any other time she might have found his outburst funny—downright hilarious in fact—but right now, she could find little humor in the situation. All she could see was that he was angry—with her. It was the only possibility after all. He hadn't wanted to com here—hadn't wanted to bother with her, but he had come out of politness and now was regretting it. That had to be it.

Be realistic. Be realistic.

"I-I'm sorry," she said quickly, not trusting her voice to remain steady. Don't show any weakness. "I guess… I should have picked a Lost Ground instead."

He stared. "Why…are you apologizing?" he asked, clearly confused. "The dungeon was just irritating. That's all."

Be realistic. Be realistic.

"But, I should have thought about what would be best for you. I didn't. I'm sorry."

He folded his arms across his chest. "Look, it's okay. You don't have to apologize."

Be realistic. Be realistic.

"Oh…I'm…."

He frowned. "Atoli…"

She bit down on her lip to keep it from trembling.

After a long moment he sighed. "So…what did you want to talk about anyway?"

Bluntess. Irritation. He probably wanted her to hurry up so he could leave.

She looked away towards the ground. "Oh…umm…."

Her voice trailed off.

"Atoli?" there was something in his voice she could not name. She dared not think what it might be.

Be realistic. Be realistic.

"Haseo…I—"

He was watching her intently now, and she wanted to look away but couldn't bring herself to. Instead, she drank in his presence. Even if it was only his character, he was still there, standing with her for what might be the last time. She had been foolish before—foolish to think that this would ever go anywhere—foolish to think that he—that anyone would ever choose her, but she was not so foolish as to waste what might be her last opportunity to see him.

No. Not might, but would. After all, she knew better than anyone how this would turn out. This was the end. It had to be—for both their sakes.

No longer would her heart jump whenever she received an e-mail or party invitation from him only for her spirits to fall when she realized he'd only called her because he needed a Harvest Cleric. No longer would he have to tolerate her. No longer would she be a burden to him. No longer would he have to pity her. It would all be over for the better.

But still…it hurt to think that she would never see him again. It hurt more than she had thought it could.

Never. Not even once would she be able to see him again. That was for certain.

She hesitated. Did she really want to do this?

Be realistic. Be realistic.

But…she had to. It was the only way. She had drawn this out as long as possible, hoping to avoid this moment, but…there was no sense in it.

Be realistic. Be realistic.

It would only hurt more in the end if she drew it out now.

She opened her mouth to speak, but could not find her voice.

Just say it!

Her voice cracked, but she forced the words out.

"I…I'm quitting The World."

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Author's Note:

Ah, sorry about the cliffhanger, but this seemed as good a place to end it as any. Originally, this piece was supposed to be longer, but I figured that the end to this section would be better written from Haseo's point of view.

I'm not completely happy with how this part turned out, so it might be receiving some minor edits in the near future. Nothing too much though.

At any rate, I decided to try characterizing Atoli a little bit differently than she might otherwise be charactertized. Normally, I think of her as the introspective one. But, I think this story's going to flip that around a bit. He's trying to figure out what going on, so I'll portray him as more introspective, and she's trying not to think too deeply into things, so she'll be less introspective. I hope this works out all right, lol.

Still, it was interesting to right this part. Lol, my trip through that dungeon was practically the same as Haseo's rant. I'd never personally experienced such a frustrating dungeon except for maybe those teleport ones. And fighting my way down the four floors was so harassing that I almost resorted to using Smoke Screens the entire way down lol.

At any rate, this fanfic will probably be about four or five parts total. I'll do my best to stick to that.

Until next time!