.hack//LIMINALITY Fan Fiction / .hack//SIGN Fan Fiction ❯ .hack//CHECK ❯ Gone ( Chapter 33 )

Chapter 33//Gone

 

. . .

 

“That's right, you little ****. Step right through that door... I'm ready for you...”

 

. . .

 

Naomi lowered her stance, and spread her arms as flames began to encircle her. Deacon Blue plunged his arms onto the fragment of ground on which he stood. Stan extended his fist into the air as a burning light surrounded his person. From the flames rose the giant Phoenix, from the ground emerged Wonder Wolf, and from the light appeared a giant tiger.

 

Deacon, standing on Wonder Wolf's back, looked over at Stan, who was riding the giant tiger, and said, “What the hell are you bothering with a low-level summon for?!”

 

Stan's tiger leapt forwards, and began to charge Swan.

 

“Stan! What are you doing?! Are you nuts?!”, asked Naomi as she hopped onto a piece of land that had just flown by.

 

“Watch.”, said Stan.

 

Swan, swung his large energy blade, and released a beam of light that was dragon-like in appearance. Stan lept off of the tiger just as the beam coursed through the tiger, instantly tearing it to small polygonal shreds. Stan managed to grab the edge of one of the floating land fragments.

 

“How foolish.”, quipped Swan. As he looked in Stan's direction.

 

Deacon, still riding Wonder Wolf, hopped to another fragment of land, and thought <I>That's it. That's what he's doing...</I> “Naomi, quick! Protect Stan!”

 

“WHAT?!”, she shouted.

“Just do it!”

 

Before Stan's eyes appeared text:

 

TARGET: SWAN

HP: 1

SP: INFINITE

 

With a mighty leap, Swan jumped to the piece of land that from which Stan was hanging, and readied his sword to deliver a blow to him.

 

“GIGA FLAME!”, shouted Naomi.

 

Suddenly, Swan disappeared, and the ball of flame shot past Stan and obliterated a chunk of land floating in the distance. Stan pulled himself up. “Guys! He only has one hit point!”, he shouted, “X, Y, Z equals P! Commence division!”

 

COUNTDOWN 10, 9, 8...

 

Swan reappeared in front of Wonder Wolf. “Hello, Jack!”

 

“Wah!”, said Jack as he vaulted off of the wondrous Wolf to avoid Swan's horizontal Slash. With amazing speed, Swan hopped off of the wolf, and slashed Deacon Blue across the torso, taking away all but one hit point. Wonder Wolf opened its jaws and released an orb of energy. ELEMENTAL HIT, ELEMENTAL HIT, ELEMENTAL HIT, DEATH. When the bright light subsided, the Wolf had disappeared. Deacon Blue tumbled through space, and landed on a different piece of land. He was motionless.

 

... 5, 4, 3,...

 

. . .

 

Jack slumped in his seat.

 

. . .

 

... 2, 1... COUNTDOWN ABORTED.

 

Swan appeared in front of Stan, and skewered him with his sword.

 

“Damn.”, said Stan as Swan pulled his blade out of his body.

 

. . .

 

Danny's head lowered to his chest.

 

. . .

 

Swan, then, appeared in front of Naomi. He performed a horizontal slash. Naomi blocked. He advanced. She retreated. She swung at him with her blade. He disappeared, and reappeared behind her. The next thing she knew, she had been slashed in the back. Swan extended his palm towards the small of her back, and released another beam of light that resembled a dragon. The force pushed Naomi off of the land piece, and onto another piece that floated by.

 

. . .

 

Tiffany's hands let go of the controls.

 

. . .

 

“Hmph...”, said Swan as he reappeared next to Naomi's lifeless body. “Looks like we're all going to hell together.”

 

Suddenly, a bird's cry could be heard.

 

“Huh?”, said Swan as he looked up.

 

The phoenix that had been circling the area prepared to dive. Suddenly, Swan had noticed that the three land fragments Deacon, Stan, and Naomi's bodies occupied were coming into perfect vertical alignment.

 

“CRAP!”, said Swan. The bird dived through Deacon Blue's platform, leaving a large explosion.

 

Swan hopped onto a rapidly moving fragment as the Phoenix dived through Naomi's platform, leaving a large explosion. <I>That was close</I>, thought Swan. The Phoenix proceeded to dive into Stan.

 

. . .

 

Jack straightened up in his chair.

 

Tiffany gripped her controls.

 

Danny raised his head.

 

. . .

 

“Huh?”, said Jack.

 

“We're still in it!”, said Naomi.

 

<I>The Lamp!</I>, thought Stan.

 

. . .

 

Suddenly, Bonner began to cough.

 

“Shoaubeh—mit! What the hell happened to him?!”, shouted Ian.

. . .

 

Stan used the lamp that he had won. A small genie-like creature popped out. “What is your wish, master?”

 

“Kill that guy!”, hastily ordered Stan.

 

“Can't do. What is your wish, Master?”, repeated the Genie.

 

Suddenly, Swan began to circle around, and head straight for Stan.

Naomi, seeing this, thought, <I>What do I do?!</I>. She remembered the item she had picked up in the first dungeon. She took the item from her inventory, and shouted, “Barrier! Activate on Stan!”

 

Before Swan could slash Stan, a blue force field appeared that repelled his assault.

 

“Um, resume the freakin' countdown!”, shouted Stan. “As you wish.”, said the Genie.

 

0.

 

Suddenly, Swan's body shattered. The pieces remained static.

 

“DEACON, NOW!!!”, shouted Naomi and Stan.

 

Deacon Blue extended his palm. “HYPERSONIC BLASTER!” An intense beam of light shot from his palm, and pierced Swan's shattered form.

 

A red number 1 rose from Swan as he began to disappear into nothingness. Hundreds of screens scrolled in front of them, each displaying halted countdowns.

 

The three plopped down, and looked at each other. “So,” began Stan, “Anyone up for a dungeon adventure?”

 

. . .

 

The medical monitors all displayed the same thing. Jason Saint was dead. His wife, crouched behind his hospital bed, aiming a pistol at the door, let a tear roll down her cheek. “This is for you, darling.”

 

Suddenly, the door flew open. *BLAM* *PIF*

 

An officer was shot in the head. A Military Policeman shot into the room. *POP*

 

A bullet pierced Christine William's heart. She was knocked backwards, and slumped against the wall.

 

“All right!”, said another officer that entered the room. “I want this mess cleaned up...”

 

Suddenly, Saint's body began to convulse and vibrate.

 

“Sweet, fancy Moses!”, said the officer.

 

Saint sat straight up, and his head looked right at the officer. In that same moment, Saint had rushed in front of the officer.

 

“Jes-...”, started the man. *SNAP*.

 

The two military police who were on the scene emptied their clips into Saint's body as he advanced on them. *SNAP, SNAP*.

When the commotion had died down, Jason went to where Christine lay, and held her. She looked up. Jason was smiling at her. That same warm smile she had fought so hard to see. The same smile she sold her soul for. The same smile she sacrificed everything for. It was right there.

 

“Thank you, darling. For that one last time. . .”, she rested her head on his shoulder. He rested his head on hers.

 

. . .

 

Tiffany, Jack, Danny, Ian, and Bonner opened the front door of the office building.

 

It began to snow.