.hack//SIGN Fan Fiction ❯ Yasashii Yoake (Gentle Dawn) ❯ Twillight Rising ( Chapter 1 )

Yasashii Yoake (Gentle Dawn) By Sakura (aka L-sama no Miko)   Warning: Here be spoilers!!!!!!   A/N: I’m well aware that Tsukasa’s a wavemaster and really a she, but in this AU, Tsukasa’s male and a cleric. Also I have nooooooooooooo intention of doing ALL 26 eps of the series so expect quite a few to be cut out. This is set in the same AU as Yasashii Ryoute, so any talk of ‘the real world’ will be nonexistent!!! Oh yeah, expect updates to be far apart since I don’t have all the dvd’s. Yet.     1: Twilight Rising                  The gray robed priest of Morganna awoke to find himself lying on the floor of the dungeon of Θ Rejecting Oblivious Wavemaster, one of the few lesser lone areas of Lios, a Gott statue with a chest on the altar below it stood silently in front of him. Brushing the viscous mucus like stuff he’d been lying on off, he groggily rose to his feet, using his staff to help support himself.             “What was I doing here?” he asked no one in particular as he blinked and looked at his surroundings. He furrowed his brows trying to remember anything, anything at all, but could come up with nothing, not even how he’d gotten to the dungeon in the first place.             The silver haired boy was so deep in thought, hat he failed to hear the footsteps approaching him. “Oh, I didn’t know there was anyone here,” said a voice from behind. Turing around he saw a scantily clad girl with yellow tattoos covering her body, an enormous sword lay slung across her bronzed shoulders. It was clear to him that this girl was a human mercenary, probably out looking for some rare treasure or some such. “My name’s Mimiru. What’s yours?” she asked, smiling broadly.             He continued to stare at her, slightly annoyed that his pondering had been interrupted by this overly friendly human. “You ok?” she asked approaching him, “You’re not hurt are you?” The priest huffed and began backing away. “It’s really rare to see a priest adventuring by himself,” she said, missing the boy’s glare as she leaned closer to his face. Obviously this human had no sense of personal space, he thought. “That means you’re reeeeeaaaaaally strong. Well, are ya?” she asked again when he made no attempt to answer.             The silver haired boy continued to glare at her as he reached into his robes. Pulling out an ocarina, he blew a few notes on it and golden rings appeared around him, warping him out of the dungeon and the annoying girl.             “Hmph!” she said, insulted. “That’s no way to say hello.” Noticing that he had left without claiming the treasure, her eyes lit up with glee. “At least he didn’t get the treasure!” she said, giggling.   *************         & nbsp;     The young priest was sitting, leaning against an abandoned desert well in the ruins of an ancient village. ‘What was I doing in there?’ he mused, still perturbed about the apparent memory loss he still suffered. ‘Where am I?’             ; The sound of someone or something warping into the area caused him to abandon that train of fault and he looked up. Coming toward him were three figures clad in armor and swords drawn, one of them – probably the leader – wore a horned helmet.             Recognizing them as part of the famed Crimson Knights of the Twilight Kingdoms, the silver haired demon priest got immediately to his feet and held his staff in front of him in a defensive stance. He had no intention of fighting them, but he wasn’t above using force if he had to.             “Peace friend,” the leader said, putting his sword down. The others did so as well. “We are not here to fight.”           & nbsp; “We are the thirteenth squadron of the Crimson Knights,” one of the other two said, bowing slightly in greeting.             ; “Then I’ll be on my way,” the boy said, turning to leave. He really didn’t like dealing with people, they were always either stupid, bossy, noisy or just plain annoying.             ; “Just a moment,” the horned knight said, making him turn back. “It has come to our attention that you were seen with a cat demon the other day. Is that not true?”           &n bsp; “A cat demon?” he queried. An image of a purple and gray cat in baggy grayish clothing and hat appeared in his mind, smiling warmly at him. ‘Just who is that?’ he wondered.             ; “Well?” the leader asked again, growing impatient. “It is our duty to make sure all demons who come to the kingdoms do not cause trouble for the people,” one of the other two said. “We just want more information on that demon. All demons who leave the Helba Empire must be checked on to better protect the Twilight Kingdoms,” the third knight said. Deciding he’d better get out of there before they realized he too was a demon, the silver haired priest warped away. “He ran?!” the leader asked, surprised. Getting suspicious, he turned to his subordinates, “I think it would be best if we kept an eye on him,” he said. The other knights nodded then followed their leader as they continued to patrol the area, in case the boy warped to another section.   ****************          ;      The priest found himself back at the Highland City Dun Loireag. He was about to wander off when he was yet again disturbed by the sound of someone warping into the town. To his great annoyance it was the mercenary girl from before.             She glanced at him and huffed, obviously still miffed at his treatment of her earlier. Choosing to ignore her, he began walking away. However, the girl was determined to annoy the hell out of him and followed him wherever he went. Seeing that she wasn’t going to let up, he just sighed and plopped down on a set of stairs leading nowhere. The girl – Mimiru was it? – sat above him a few feet away.             “So do you always run off like that?” she asked. He ignored her, continuing to stare at the clear blue sky above. “Hey!” she shouted, “Can you even talk?!” Sighing, she decided to ignore the silent treatment she had received. “Anyway, I saw what you did back there in that desert.”              The silver haired demon stiffened.           &nbs p; “You ran from the Crimson Knights!”            ;  “Pest,” he muttered under his breath, but it was unsure if he meant the insect merrily climbing up his staff that had been leaning against the wall or her.             “What was that?” she asked, not catching what he said. Again no reply. “Well, I hope you know what you’re doing,” she warned, “No one runs from the Crimson Knights like that.”           &n bsp; “So what,” he spat.             “Hey! Don’t you even care?! Those guys can get you into some serious trouble with the admins!”              The administrators, or admins for short, were a group of elected officials from each of the city states to help govern the Twilight Kingdoms. It was those officials who were in charge of the Crimson Knights.             Deciding he’d had enough, the young priest rose to his feet, startling Mimiru with his sudden movement. He began to leave when she called after him. “What are you going to do if you run into them again? They’re probably not too happy you ran out on them,” she said, narrowing her emerald eyes at him in concern. She may have been a merc, but even she knew not to mess with the Crimson Knights.             He looked at the girl over his shoulder, shrugging nonchalantly. “Don’t know,” he replied, smiling, “Who knows, it may be fun. Besides, if things get too rough, I can always not come back to the kingdoms for a while.” He then headed back to the city’s Chaos Gate.             Mimiru’seyes widened in surprise. ‘This guy’s a demon?!’ she thought, shocked that she hadn’t felt anything from him. Most of the demons she’d met weren’t afraid to hide their true appearance, but even those who did, she could feel the aura of the glamour they’d cast to hide their demonic looks. This boy didn’t have such an aura. ‘Just who the hell is he?!’           &nb sp; “Hey matte (wait)!!” she called, running after him. “Are you sure you’re ok with that?!”           & nbsp; “As I understand it, everyone has their own way of doing things. You know what,” he said as he began to warp out of town, “I don’t think I like you.” Golden rings surrounded him again and he warped away.             “N-N-N-NANDA YO?!!!! (What did you say?)” she yelled, causing many of the passersby to stare at her. Blushing profusely, Mimiru murmured an apology. “Aho (dumbass),” she muttered under her breath before warping out herself.   ****************          ;      He was yet again in another field, a desert area like the other where he’d run from the Crimson Knights. Stopping at a strange glowing spring, he looked to see if anyone was near. Once he was sure he wouldn’t be bothered, he threw a small dagger into the water.             A few moments later, a strange teardrop shaped being rose from the spring. “Did you drop a gold axe or a silver axe?” it asked.             Needing to vent out the day’s frustration, the gray robed priest begun swinging his staff at the water sprite who nimbly dodged each strike. After a minute of this, the water sprite shrank to a tiny orb of water then flew up into the sky, leaving the spring totally dry and the priest looking like a fool as he had been in mid-strike.           &nb sp; Suddenly he heard laughing coming from behind. Turning around he saw another scantily clad human sitting on a rock, only it was a man with cinnamon colored hair and blue and white war paint on his face, half his chest and one arm. ‘What is it with these humans and their need to expose themselves?’ he pondered.             ; The man smiled at him, leaning his arms against the giant sword that was stuck into the ground before him. “It looks like you’re having fun,” he said warmly, always glad to see someone younger than him enjoying themselves. The young priest swung around, glaring at him and brandishing his staff in what he hoped was a menacing manner.             Not at all intimidated by the boy’s hostility the man continued to smile. “I’m Bear by the way. I often do that myself whenever I’ve had a bad day myself,” he said indicating the priest’s earlier antics with the water sprite. “If you need any help, don’t be afraid to ask. I’m known for helping new adventurers like yourself.”          &nbs p;  The silver haired demon quickly warped away.             “Well, that was rather odd,” Bear murmured, getting up.             “What’s the big idea abandoning the fight?!” a beautiful blond haired and winged angel asked as she approached him from behind one of the area’s sand dunes.             “You won I take it?” he queried.             “Yes, no thanks to you,” she grumbled, “I’m wiped out.”           &nb sp; “Then allow me to help you recover then.”           &n bsp; She gave him a wry smile. “No need. I already did that myself.”           ;   “So what’s the problem? You of all people should know that’s how one gets stronger, B.T.”           &nb sp; “And I thought you were a gentleman,” she shot back.             “Don’t get me wrong. I am gentle, but not a pushover.”          &nbs p;  The blond angel glared at the man’s retreating back, but chose to keep silent and sighed.   **************         &n bsp;     Meanwhile, at Mac Anu, the Twilight Kingdoms’ most populous and popular city, the Crimson Knights were holding a meeting on a rented gondola. It wasn’t a strange sight to those who lived there for 1) Mac Anu was a city full of waterways and canals spanned by just as many bridges and 2) it was where the knights had chosen to have their headquarters.           & nbsp; “I spoke to Lord Orca,” said a cobalt hair and winged angel, who just happened to be their leader, “He is also concerned about the growing problems in the kingdoms and Lios.”           &n bsp; “That is because of the increase in these lawless adventurers and mercenaries,” the horned knight from earlier replied.             The angel turned around, giving him a stern look. “He does not believe that is the cause, Silver Knight,” she chastised, “However, he still has not located any specific cause and has told me that he and Lord Balmung shall be investigating further.”            ;  “Then we shall not fear, Lady Subaru,” said Silver Knight, “not if Orca of the Azure Sea and Balmung of the Azure Sky are working together.”          &nbs p;  “I’m afraid that may not be so,” contradicted Subaru, “I’m even more worried, if they are forced to take action like this.” Suddenly, Silver Knight gasped, having recognized a certain silver haired boy sitting on the edge of the waterway they were traveling down. Upon seeing them, the boy shot up and ran off into the city. The horned knight rose to his feet, careful as not to rock the boat. “Acting in the name of justice is never easy,” he said, glaring at where the boy had been.     *************        &nbs p;      He was back at Dun Loireag again, hoping to find some peace in one of the town’s few secluded places. Once again he heard the sound of someone warping and saw it was the annoying girl, Mimiru. She hmphed and glared at him as he turned away from her. He had to chuckle and give her a wry smile when she rather childishly stuck her tongue out at her.             ‘Just how old is she?’ he mused. She looked no older than at least fifteen or sixteen, but by the way she’d been acting she seemed much younger.             “Can I ask you something?” he asked, pausing.             Mimiru scowled, but replied anyway. “Sure, but don’t expect me to answer,” she said stretching her arms above her head.             “Have you ever… you know, lost your memory after going to a dungeon?”            ;  “Lost my memory?” she parroted. “What do you mean by that?”           &n bsp; “It’s like I said,” he said going over to the edge of one of the town’s many cliffs and sat down. Mimiru followed, but opted not to sit, since she had a slight fear of heights and didn’t appreciate being so close to a cliff. “I can’t remember a thing since that dungeon where we met.”           &nb sp; “That’s weird,” she said, furrowing her brow. “You didn’t piss off some cleric or mage did you?” she asked, remembering rumors of spells that affected one’s mind.             “I-I don’t remember!” he cried, hanging his head. “T-There’s no way! I-I didn’t do anything wrong! I know you probably don’t believe me, but I-I just can’t remember a thing. Not a single thing.”           & nbsp; “Oh well,” she said, smiling, “You probably got zapped by some monster. It’ll probably wear off soon.”           &n bsp; The silver haired priest sighed then got up to leave. “I don’t want to be rude, but can’t you just leave me alone from now on?” he asked, the massive memory loss still frightened him.             Mimiru frowned but shrugged it off. “Sure, I’ll leave you alone,” she replied, “But before I do there’s something I wanted to tell you.”           &nb sp; He paused in mid stride and turned around.             “Remember when you said you didn’t like me earlier? You do remember right?”           & nbsp; “Um… yes.”           &nb sp; “Well… I DON’T LIKE YOU EITHER!!!!” she bellowed, her voice echoing into the distance.             ; “So we’re even then,” he said, smiling, “You’ll leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone and we can go our separate ways.” He started to leave again, but was halted by a rather hard slap to his marked cheek. He stood there stunned for several moments, looking as if he were on the verge of tears.             Mimiru looked as stunned as he. She really didn’t mean to slap him, but she was annoyed by his attitude and it was really getting on his nerves. Not knowing what to do, the bronzed mercenary huffed and nonchalantly brushed by him, one hand raised. “Well see ya later,” she said as if nothing had happened.             ; He continued to stand there, holding his now red cheek. “That really hurt,” he murmured, “Why me?” he asked, questioning his fate. “Why me?” he asked again. Why was it that he couldn’t remember a thing? What had happened to him at that dungeon? Not knowing was truly frightening to him.             Meanwhile, Mimiru gaped as the cobalt haired leader of the Crimson Knights warped into the town, followed by a large man with a horned helmet. Not being one to interfere when the Crimson Knights were concerned, she quickly warped away.             Lady Subaru and her second in command, Silver Knight, stopped at one of the towns few merchants. She stepped over to a heavy set teen and asked, “Are you the one who contacted us?”           &nbs p; “Sure am!” he said rather cheekily, “You don’t know how glad I am to see you.”           &nb sp; “Are you sure?” the young angel asked. “The item you received caused you some harm?”           &n bsp; “That thing is cursed I tell ya. Though it wasn’t me that got hurt, it was my friend ya see. He said he got it from a weird suspicious looking guy.”           &nb sp; Silver Knight’s eyes flashed dangerously from under the helmet. “Explain,” he said angrily.             “Well he said he got it from a cat. Not just a regular kitty cat you keep at home, I mean the kind that goes around wearing clothes.”            ;  “A cat wearing clothes?” the man repeated. ‘We must find that demon before it does any further damage!’ he vowed, angry at missing his target yet again. ‘Perhaps if we followed that boy,’ he mused, remembering the suspicious acting cleric they’d run into earlier that morning.   **********************         ;       Said cleric was far from Dun Loireag and was now dragging his staff along the floor of the dungeon he’d woken up in, leaning on it heavily after being drained of energy from the constant battles against monsters as he made his way toward the lowest level and the treasure hidden there.             He frowned as he pondered his current amnesiac condition and Mimiru’s words. ‘You probably got zapped by some monster. It’ll probably wear off soon,’ she had said. ‘But I don’t know of any monster with a power like that. I’ve read every book I have and none of them ever mentioned a monster like that. Besides, I don’t think this is going to wear off any time soon,’ he pondered ruefully.             ; ‘I’ve opened this before,’ he thought as he finally reached the Gott Statue and its offering. ‘But what happened after I opened it?’           &nbs p; Before he could continue philosophizing, a gray and purple cat in baggy clothes and a hat appeared hovering above the chest. It was sitting, its arms wrapped around its legs. The cat demon had a rather serious look on its face.             The silver haired demon cleric stared at this newcomer for a few moments, feeling as if he’d met this person before. Suddenly a name came to his mind. “Macha (pronounced Mah-hah)…” he said.             The cat demon looked at him then smiled, gesturing that he should open the chest. Then just as suddenly, the little cat demon vanished. “Matte!” the priest called, “What should I do?” But no answer came, the cat was gone.             Sighing, he opened the chest and a strange glowing tablet floated out. As he stood trying to decipher the ancient hieroglyphs carved into it, he heard a woman’s voice speaking inside his mind.             {I’ve been waiting for you Tsukasa}, she said, giving off a warm feeling. He pictured a beautiful young woman about thirty or so smiling at him in welcome. He stood dazed as she continued to speak. {for such a long time. We need each other, you and I.Come walk with me. As long as we are together, I will protect you.}             ; Before he could process any of what the strange woman had said, the tablet’s glow suddenly flared then the strange ancient artifact vanished, making a strange popping noise. “Waiting… for me?” he asked, but didn’t expect an answer, having sensed that the presence or whatever it was had vanished with the tablet. He then made his way back up to the dungeon’s entrance.             ; Tsukasa gasped upon reaching the entrance when he recognized the armored figure standing menacingly before him. It was the leader of the knights that had bothered him earlier. He attempted to warp to any of the cities, even the ones in his homeland of the Helba Empire, but to no avail, none of the Chaos Gates were working.             Seeing his prey was trapped, the knight drew his sword. “There’s no escape,” he said, “I’ve had a kekkai(barrier) placed around this entire area.” The demon boy then ran back into the dungeon, desperate to get away from the knight. Letting out a battle cry, Silver Knight ran after him, then flipped as he jumped into the air, successfully cutting the cleric off.             The silver haired boy then attempted to strike him with his staff only to have that blocked by the knight’s sword. After fighting for a few moments, the knight asked, “Why even run?”           &nb sp; Giving him a malicious smile, the demon replied, “Because I think it’s fun.”           &nb sp; “Is that so?”           &nbs p; “Not satisfied are we?” the demon priest shot back.             Their weapons continued to clash, neither landing a single blow. “If you tell me what I want to know about that cat demon, I’ll forgive you this time,” the knight said as his sword was blocked yet again.             “I’m just as clueless as you are,” Tsukasa said, smirking evilly.             “My sword thinks otherwise,” Silver Knight retorted.             ; “Then it’s gravely mistaken.”          &nbs p;  The irate knight then let out another battle cry as he pushed against the staff with all his might, causing the boy to slide backwards into the dungeon’s wall. The silver haired demon then cried out in pain at the blow and slumped to the floor. “GET UP!!!” the knight commanded.           &nbs p; Tsukasa struggled to reach his staff which had been knocked several inches just out of his reach. When he failed to comply with the knight’s order, the man let out a frustrated yell and lunged at him. Just as the flat of his sword was about to connect with the demon’s head, the air above them rippled and a strange gelatinous golden monster in the shape of a dumbbell appeared above the prostrate demon. It then promptly extended and knocked the man to the floor.             “W-What kind of monster is that?!” Silver Knight shouted in fear, never having seen its like let alone a monster that could catch him off guard like that. He shakingly got to his feet and brandished his sword. With the movement of a snake, the dumbbell monster shot a thin tentacle toward him and impaled the human’s chest, missing his heart by mere inches.             The tentacle lifted him up as if he’d weighed nothing and then began to glow. Silver Knight screamed in agony as if his very soul was being torn to shreds. The attack was over a few scant seconds later and the human collapsed onto the dungeon’s floor as if he was nothing more than a toy soldier that a child had grown tired of playing with.             Tsukasa backed away in fear as the monster began to approach him. It pulsed, one of the ends bulging slightly as if it was sniffing the silver haired boy. He whimpered when he noticed he was trapped against the dungeon wall.             The monster let out a mournful howl then just as mysteriously as it appeared, it vanished. Sighing in relief, the demon priest looked over to the fallen knight. The helmet had taken on the look of an animal’s skull for he could no longer see the man’s eyes behind it. Feeling creeped out by the unconscious human lying there, he quickly turned his head away.             “As long as we are together, I will protect you,” he said, recalling the woman’s gentle words. He smiled, happy to have found someone who cared enough to look out for him.   ***********************        &n bsp;      Later that evening, found Tsukasa lounging by one of Mac Anu’s many waterways. ‘So what if I can’t remember,’ he mused, ‘Dwelling on it won’t make it any better.’ He smiled, admiring the city’s lights reflected on the calm waters. ‘I’m here. That’s all that matters. Besides, do I even want to remember? Do I want to remember that ludicrous life I can now barely remember?’ A sudden buzzing drew his attention from his pondering. Turning his head he saw an insect had landed dangerously close to him. Tsukasa glared at the intruder then stood up.             ‘It’s not that bad,’ he thought, ‘I think I like being like this. I can start over.’ He then squashed the bug with the pointed end of his staff before going in search of a place to stay for the night.       ~TBC!!!~     Sakura: Can’t believe I started a prequel!!! Yasashii Ryoute has only just begun. -_-‘   Tsukasa: So why bother doing this?   Sakura: Why indeed. Ask L-sama, she’s the one who kept bugging me to do this. She got bit by the .hack bug. Again.   En-sama: Does this mean you’ll be spending less time with me? ;_;   Sakura: Of course not En-sama!!!! I’d never abandon you and Haseo like that!!! My time will just be split between Tsu-chan and you. Besides I’m not going to do a rewrite of every single //Sign episode, just the one’s I think are important to my plot line.   Kite: Ano…   Sakura: Don’t even think of asking, buster!!! Just be grateful I even bothered to play your games again. Anyhoo, please tell me what you think minna? I liiiiiiiiiivvvvvvvveeeee for feedback! ^_^