by K.A. Rose

Stage 07:
Haunted
 
 

    They met in the gray shadows of November afternoon. The grass was progressing to brown, the leaves were drifting off in steady autumn snowfall, gentle earthy rain.
    It was not a field of The World. He knew what it was. It was the park two blocks from his apartment complex. This did not change anything for his own self, his appearance in the flesh rendered from bright orange polygons, voice manifested from digital sound chips. She was just the same.
    They sat in a center of a clearing bounded by trees on all sides and watched the small patch of sky unguarded by the high-reaching canopy. Faint wispy swirls of clouds drifted by, in and out of sight.
    He knew it was a dream. He didn't care.
    "Why haven't you talked to me?" BlackRose was asking.
    "I've tried," said Kite, voice sounding so strange filtered through that prepubescent recording set that no longer reflected him as it once had. An unwilling age regression. "You've been gone."
    "You're the one that's gone."
    "But--"
    "I'm here. I've always been here. Waiting for you, and you've never shown. Not once." She hugged her knees, yellow tattoos contorting over muscular arms. Such a contrast in the feminine action and the masculinity she meant to exhibit. "How much longer do I have to wait?"
    "Why can't you come to me? Why do I have to be the one to find you, if you know where I can be found?"
    "Because. I don't want to enter that place."
    "What do you fear there?"
    "You."
    "Me?"
    "You. And all the lives you've loved that you bring with you into that place. Those people you treasure enough to kill. I don't want to be one of them."
    "The lives that I have loved..." Kite repeated. He struggled with the words. Her language had grown obtuse in his absence. It made her sound older, like Bear.
    "And all the actions you've hated, all echoing in that place. Everything of you."
    "Everything... of me..."
    "That's right. What did you think the house was?"
    "It..."
    His own words, though he spoke them, were lost. Drowned out, inaudible, replaced with an annoyed, "Kite-kun!"
    Kite snapped his eyes open.
    Edges crispened, colors sharpened. The scenery around him was digital once more. The high snow-capped peaks with tribal markings painted on bare stone faces, the low-lying mist that was actually the upside of clouds, and the circular kites perpetuated out in a line by the constant breeze were not features of any real-world location, try as they might. He was back in the Theta Root Town, Dun Loireag.
    In the same instant that this realization dawned upon him, Kite's character unfroze, his eyes unglazing and managing to refocus on the profile of Sora, his looks unnatural in the daytime light.
    Sora crossed his arms petulantly when he saw Kite's shift in posture. He complained, "Pausing in the middle of a root town, you're dumber than I thought. I've been shouting at you for the last ten minutes. Where the hell did you decide to go?"
    For a moment Kite considered confessing to falling asleep in front of his terminal, and even telling Sora about the dream, but thought better of it. He wasn't sure how something like that would go over with him.
    Instead, he said, "Sorry. I was AfK. Finishing my homework."
    Something in Sora's look indicated that wasn't going to fly. But to his surprise, instead of staying his present course in exasperation, Kite saw the taller PC untense his shoulders and grimace. Reproachful sympathy.
    The next words were an effort.
    "You're not getting a lot of sleep these days, huh?"
    Kite found himself thinking suddenly that this was quite possibly the most the guy had ever tried to make an effort with anyone over the net, ever. And that if he was a little more awake, he'd have the capacity to care.
    He just about managed to nod. "Yeah."
    "Me neither."
    "If I'm pushing you too hard with this..." Kite began.
    Sora shook his head. "We've been over that, remember? Anyway..." He glanced over his shoulder for a second. "When did you say he'd be coming?"
    "It's 'she,' isn't it?"
    "He's fine with either, last time I checked."

    Tsukasa was not an easy person to get in touch with.
    Kite had her member address, but that hardly qualified for much. Back when she was active she regularly declined his party requests, seldom replied to flashmail PMs, and was largely unresponsive even when she was around. To make it worse, these days she seemed to avoid accessing The World on principle, and given her continued reputation in the game as a potential administrative threat, and therefore an idol among certain groups, the queue in her inbox was practically suffocating.
    Kite suspected it was only due to the particular nature of this situation that she responded at all, let alone agreed to meet the following day. It probably helped that he had sent her the link to Sanjuro's translation of the Holloway Journal.
    When she arrived, ten minutes past meeting time, the two Twin Blades did not rush to meet her. And it was probably only by this that Kite saw what a difference a year's absence could make. Instead of timid, soundless steps, the Wavemaster walked with confident stride, swinging her --his, because it was a male character model-- wand jauntingly, held more like a baseball bat than a mystic staff. His face was not placid with a hint of deep-seated sadness. It was perpetually annoyed, pointed, overly expressive and flirtatiously female. When he stood, it was with a posture that usually necessitated larger hips and a pair of breasts.
    In other words, anyone seeing this PC who was not previously aware that the user was a girl would have a hard time believing, by any stretch of imagination, that he was straight.
    Kite thought he put Nuke Usagimaru to shame.
    "Sorry," she announced in greeting, footsteps loud and pounding on the wooden planks of the dock. "I got held up."
    "You came at all, so I guess we should be grateful," Sora said, doing nothing to hide the disdain in his voice.
    "If I knew someone of your character would be here, I might not've," Tsukasa replied easily. She pointedly proceeded to ignore him and addressed Kite directly. "We'll have to be quick about this. My time here is incredibly limited."
    The short Twin Blade nodded graciously. "We'd appreciate anything you have to say."
    "In truth, I was about to call a meeting with you anyway. I just hope I have what you need to hear. But if I don't, I'd like not to waste my time in saying it, so..." she drew out, fixing Sora with a meaningful stare.
    "Good luck," Sora said automatically. "Anything you've got to say to Kite you say to me."
    "Don't give me that. If anything, for a person like you, you've involved yourself too much already, Sora-kun," she said, tilting her chin.
    Kite wasn't sure whether it was the implication or the suffix to his name that set him off, but either way Sora bristled. "What did you--?! You didn't just-- You bitch--!"
    Feet apart, hands on her hips, it didn't matter that Tsukasa was several feet shorter than Sora, when she spoke it was with the command of an imposing matriarchal force. "Little kids should watch their language!"
    If Sora had bristled before, this was him in full porcupine mode. He was literally shaking.
    "You--"
    "Do you want me to wash your mouth out with soap?"
    "What gives you any right--"
    "Go toddle off now and let the adults talk, huh?" she told him, mocking. She bore the most sadistic grin Kite had ever been privy to. "Oniisan and oneechan can take care of things from here. Why don't you go finish your homework? Oh, or even better, don't they have Pokemon Omega reruns on right around now? Boys your age like that show, don't they?"
    "You are so fucking dead..!"
    "Sora!" Kite pleaded. "Just go away for a few minutes, okay?"
    Kite had read about the Evil Eye, that nightmarish stare that could kill a man dead instantly. That had nothing on this.
    Watching Sora stalk off, Kite knew he'd be feeling aftershocks of this guilt for weeks.
    Tsukasa stood silent and unreadable, until Kite spoke up.
    "...That was pretty cruel."
    She sighed.
    "I don't mean to," she said morosely. "Or rather, I wish I didn't have to. But it's so hard to get him to leave; sometimes it requires the harshest means necessary."
    "I guess..."
    "You have to understand," Tsukasa persisted, a little more emphatic. "I really do not have anything against him, but these are not pleasant circumstances. He's being incredibly stupid to involve himself in something like this. Do you think I like that? I'd prefer to remand him than encourage his behavior."
    "Is Sora really young?"
    Rather than answering directly, she asked, "How old did you perceive him to be?"
    Kite considered this. It hadn't been something he'd given a lot of contemplation to, especially not in recent days when the entire question seemed to have been rendered moot. "I dunno. Eighteen or twenty or something." When Tsukasa emitted a half-suppressed laugh in reply, Kite felt pressured to defend himself. "Why not? He might be a bit immature, but who isn't at that age? He's really very smart, when he doesn't work on hiding it."
    "I can't discount that," she said, covering her smirk with a hand, "but you judge people too leniently."
    Kite noticed for the first time that in addition to her overall change in mannerisms, her tendencies of speech had changed drastically since their last encounter. She was using more complicated language now, more a mark of her role as the Head Girl of her high school than anything else, but he noticed she was also opting for the feminine "atashi" pronoun, an even starker contrast to her male character model and voice set.
    "So how old is he?"
    "Well, I figured he was about six years younger than me..." she said, deliberately delaying, "so I guess that would put him at sixth grade right now."
    Kite's jaw dropped. "...Sixth?"
    "Only I believe he was held back a year, too, on account of his coma, so he's probably in the fifth grade."
    "Fifth grade?!"
    She smiled at him, not patronizingly. "Does that damage your perception of him somewhat?"
    "Well... ah..."
    "In any case, I suggest you agonize over it in your own time. My own grows quite short, and there's a lot to cover." She had been leaning on her staff before, but at this remark she stood upright. Kite straightened his own posture and nodded.
    "Sorry," Kite said, with effort. "Go on."
    "The first order of business," said Tsukasa, seeming to settle into a lecturer's tone, "is that of the field itself. Have you spoken with Lios concerning its quarantine?"
    "Not yet. We didn't figure it had much of a shot."
    "The Holloway element changes the situation somewhat, if the journal is to be believed. If it is, then it means two people have already died from this, that we know about. Has Sanjuro queried for news articles in the victims' areas that support the website?"
    "Yeah. Obituaries, both. And an editorial from the kid playing Jed in an Alabama newspaper, talking about the lawsuit Holloway's parents filed against him. He's under criminal charges too."
    "He'll most likely be found guilty, you realize. And given America's staunch anti-terrorism laws, he might be tried as an adult, and in which case, he may be facing life in prison. Or the death penalty."
    "Jesus."
    "This is not a pleasant state of affairs, I agree. We're fortunate that any record exists at all, and that you and your associates have survived as many expeditions as you have, in order that we may be able to stop this before it spreads any further. My recommendation would be to petition Lios as soon as possible. Surely in light of the current situation he will at least give your argument a fair hearing.
    "Past that, to address some of the issues listed in your email...
    "I do believe that it would be well within the realm of any decent hacker to override the Fairy's Orb disable and hack the dungeon's internal map. Helba and Mia are both out of commission, but you said that Elk was a friend of Mia's, correct? Speak with him and see if he knows anything. He already used a crack to use his wand as a flare-- Yes, that's my best guess that that's what he did, though if you want a full answer you'll have to ask him directly. If Elk cannot do anything to access the internal map, you may have to seek outside assistance. If you have Lios's support, it will be as easy as accessing his blacklist and calling up some of the hackers you find there. Otherwise you may have to seek out this Judge_X PC that purportedly assisted the Holloway team, or else locate someone through the BBS. That's the best for that that you can do.
    "A hacker would be good to have in this situation if only to provide you with item cracks, too. Despite their ill-fated campaign, the Holloway team had remarkable presence of mind in what to bring along with them on their excursions. Their description of the rope crack looked particularly intriguing, perhaps enough to merit a personal visit to Judge_X. But, of course, it's your decision."
    "I wish I could say I knew how much time we had, but I don't. That'd be my only concern in whether or not to get in touch with a hacker. I'll talk to the others."
    Tsukasa nodded. "The next item would be this creature that you mentioned. I, for one, agree fully with the Holloway Journal in the belief that it's nothing but the house realigning itself. However, this doesn't seem to coincide with your own experiences."
    "Yes and no. We heard it a lot the last time we were inside."
    "Hm... Yet you say when you and Sora explored it the first time, you didn't hear any sort of creature, even when the hallways changed."
    "It could be something that only emerges after prolonged exposure. Or it only appears if you venture in so far. Ah," Kite said, as a thought struck him, "as I remember now, both of us had shut off the auxiliary BGM channels that night, because the layer-one echo was bad interference on its own."
    "There we are then," Tsukasa said with a shrug. "Schrödinger's Monster. At the loss of any means by which to observe, the monster both does and doesn't exist at the same time. Even when you were able to observe its presence through audible means, there still leaves the question of whether anything physically exists. None of you were ever able to catch sight of it, right?"
    "The screencaps from the journal, though..."
    "Never forget that it was lies that wove the web. Any potential by which to mislead an audience has to be taken into account. Those pictures could have easily been manipulated."
    "Do you believe that?" Kite asked.
    "Not really. No, actually I believe the pictures to be one hundred percent authentic. Which is all the more troubling, of course.
    "Ah. Hold on a moment. My wife's calling."
    "Your... wife?"
    "Heh."
    Before Kite had the opportunity to respond, Tsukasa's character froze. Kite sighed inwardly. This was shaping up to be a bad day. He was low on sleep, Sora was probably never going to speak to him again, and Tsukasa seemed to have no qualms in arbitrarily switching from heavy barrages of information to incredibly long delays.
    "Sorry," she said, returning a few moments later. "What was I saying?"
    For a second Kite thought of asking about the "wife" remark, but reminded himself that there were more important things than delving into people's private lives at the moment. "The screencaps of the monster."
    "It might not really be a monster, you realize. Consider Kirby_Wax's remarks that items spontaneously disappeared from their inventories when purportedly forgotten. The same could possibly apply to Holloway."
    "His transcript said he was trapped in The World. Like you."
    Tsukasa frowned. Another PC who didn't like to be reminded of the past. "We can't ascertain based on present information what may have caused that or why, or even if it's true. In all honesty, if we can resolve this without ever finding out, so much the better."
    "Agreed."
    "As for the house's nature, I can only provide conjecture, probably nothing you haven't already heard. For as much as it seems the result of sentient interference in The World, it could just as easily be an accumulation of glitches, or a clever piece of hackwork. Unless more information is presented to us, we can't know. It's possible this is an isolated phenomenon and we will never know more about it than we already do. Which is another issue, something neither the Holloway Journal nor your email has elucidated me to, which is this:
    "What do you hope to gain from your present mode of action?"
    Kite seemed to take a sudden interest in the grass by his feet. "Do you know, I really wish I could say. When it started it was just the Mount Everest explanation. Why did I go there? Because it was there. And if I was being simple about it I could say it's just curiosity. The deadly kind to do with cats, but curiosity nevertheless."
    Out of the corner of his vision, Kite could swear Tsukasa smirked. "But you're not going to be simple about it, are you?"
    "I'd hope not to," he agreed, nodding. "But then that means that there are, in fact, a lot of reasons motivating me. Not all to do with tangible return, either. And not many of which are the kind you like to share with other people. No offense meant, of course. And I'm sure Sora and the others have their own reasons too. Some of which probably have to do with me."
    "I'm glad you brought up Sora willingly," Tsukasa said, sounding relieved. "It would have sounded ham-handed if I had to force the conversation back that way on my own."
    "What about Sora?" Kite asked warily.
    "Kite," Tsukasa said soberly, "you said that when you went into that place the first time with Sora, both of you started to exhibit anxiety."
    "Well... yeah," Kite admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "It was a little nuts. It's completely understandable, that a fear takes over there."
    "It's not acceptable."
    The fierce tone with which she said this caught Kite off-guard.
    "Why?"
    "For you to admit your own fear of that place, it might be unmanly, but you're old enough to be in a position to say it. Unlike you, Sora does not have the capacity to cope with that fear. He isn't old enough, and even for his age he isn't as progressed as he should be." She took a much-needed breath. "I don't agree with the Old Man in saying he's permanently damaged, but right now he still bears scars. Until he works through those, that house is anathema to him. He cannot deal with it."
    "I think you're exaggerating," Kite said, after a moment of consideration. "We were all a little scared in that place, even Moonstone, I think. I'm not about to say it's all right for us guys to go around scared of things, but in the house I think it's human."
    "Fear is one thing that knows no depth," Tsukasa warned. "If you enter into that place again with Sora and whomever else, will you take responsibility for what might happen to them?"
    "I will," Kite answered defiantly. "I'll be strong for them, if I have to."
    "Oh, yes, you're being strong for them, all right," said Tsukasa, crossing her arms. "No one's arguing that. Still, though, Kite, how many people do you plan to be strong for? Are you setting up a queue?" But then her expression lightened some. "No one's contesting that you have the best intentions for everyone you encounter. You're one of those unfortunately good-natured people. But you forget that not everyone is that way, not in that house, and the Holloway Journal proves that. As you said, a fear takes over. Not everyone is able to handle that fear.
    "When you enter that place, it isn't just you that's being put at risk. Sora, especially, is placed in grave danger. Even if nothing physical results in your exploration, what kind of mental, emotional damage will you inflict upon him? Because you will, you know. I've seen terrible things in the time I was subject to Morganna's will, things that will probably stick with me until I die, but I can't even begin to imagine what replays even now inside his haunted head."
    She added, fixing her eyes with Kite, "Because he is, you know. Haunted."

    Tsukasa left soon after, citing that her time was up. She promised to do some of her own research and get back to him in email, but warned that Kite shouldn't hold her to it.
    "You're in high school too now," she said. "You should understand."
    He'd never told her his age, now or ever. How she had found out he could only guess.
    In all, her behavior was understandable. Kite had gleaned from her agitation that in spite of her elaborate vocabulary, she wasn't able to express some things as well as she'd like. Her relationship with Sora among them. It seemed in hindsight that she had, in fact, tried to be Sora's "oneechan" in one way or another. She just didn't know how.
    Kite recognized soon after her departure that she had instilled in him the belief that for whatever reason, Sora was in his charge. She had done this subtly, so that he might have accepted it readily, but seeing it now for what it was he didn't know whether or not to reject her conditioning.
    It was obvious that he had some manner of obligation to Sora, since he had involved him in this. On the other hand, Sora had made clear to him he wouldn't be involving himself except by his own volition. And until about 20 minutes ago, Kite had been willing to concede to his judgment.
    Did it really change things, though? Sora's character remained unchanged with or without the addition of this new information. If Kite had been willing to trust his ability before, why not now?
    The thing was that it did shift Sora's character somewhat, no matter how Kite tried to deny that part of it. Like as not, the things he'd perceived before as age regression were in fact just relics of a boy acting his proper age. Other things, like his adamant refusal to relate, transformed themselves into simple shyness and social detachment, and probably a good bit of embarrassment as well. Now it wasn't that Sora was being a jerk, he was just doomed to a defense mechanism.
    Can you imagine being ten years old and experiencing the hell that he went through? Tsukasa hadn't said, but had seemed to say. Just think about that.
    Kite wasn't religious, but Christianity had once held a certain amount of fascination with him. He had read an awful lot about Hell, through Bosch and Dante and other such men. Those that had devoted all the energy of their beings to imagining the worst possible cases of human suffering.
    I will show you there are things far worse than death, Morganna had told Sora, before he was Data Drained. The only thing Sora had ever told him about his experience.
    Do you suppose, then, worse than Hell?
    By his own estimation Kite had been able to judge that Sora had spent roughly 18 months in a coma, his consciousness in Skeith's wand. That was 78 weeks, 546 days, 13,104 hours, 786,240 minutes, 47,174,400 seconds experiencing what one instant of could drive a grown man insane.
    Should he be surprised if the boy had a few scars?
    It was a miracle he was even alive.

    And it was ten minutes of searching through the town before he came upon Sora, perched on an outcrop of rock on a ledge far removed from the structures and other people inhabiting the place. Kite knew that Sora heard his approach, but he didn't turn around of utter greeting. Instead he was possessing himself with the task of stabbing at the dirt with his blade, muttering furiously.
    "...stupid dyky bitch, who the fuck does she think she is all of a sudden, nagging cunt with a fucking ego the size of fucking China..."
    "You know," Kite tried, voice free of judgment, "you kids really shouldn't be using language like that."
    For a moment time stretched out in front of Kite as a discernible path, split in two. He knew it was a gamble. He was pretty sure he'd lost.
    It was hardly an original thought, but Kite reflected that there was no reset button for human beings. The mistakes you made you were left with.
    In this way Kite was already prepared to admit defeat and remove himself from Sora's immediate vicinity and probably his entire life, when the other Twin Blade said:
    "...Why do adults always say that?"
    "Because," Kite replied, fighting down a wave of relief so powerful it was, in its own way, nauseating, "when you're young you don't know how to swear right. So it doesn't actually have the effect you think it does."
    "Is that so?" Sora huffed. "Never heard that one before."
    "Adults don't like telling kids straight answers."
    "Apparently not."
    Pause.
    "I don't--" He stopped, choked down the words, fought a cough to clear his throat. Kite respectfully waited until he was ready. "I don't actually... talk like that, outside."
    Kite sat down beside him on the outcrop before he could raise protest. He didn't look in Sora's direction, but watched the sky with him. A flock of birds in V formation flew lazily past, blotting out the sun for individual moments of time.
    "You're very soft-spoken IRL, aren't you," he said eventually.
    "If I could do something about it, I would," Sora answered bitterly. "The doctors said all that time on the respirator's trashed my lung capacity. I was fine before."
    "Did you used to be very outspoken?"
    "Not really. I wasn't very well liked. But y'know... at least I could shout and scream or whatever. If I was ever that desperate, at least I knew I was able to. Do you know what it's like to have your voice stolen out from under you?" He sighed. "I don't know why I'm even bothering with this. Probably just been spending too much time with Americans. They like wearing their problems on their sleeves." Sora stabbed angrily at the dirt, a punctuation for his disdain.
    "No one's expecting you to go nuts. But people respond more to those who don't hide all the time. The people who consider themselves your friends, especially, don't like getting left in the dark if something's troubling you."
    "...That was funny. Was it deliberate?"
    "Sorry."
    "It's fine. But you're getting awfully trite. You're going on the assumption that I have friends to leave in the dark in the first place."
    "You don't consider me one?"
    He didn't look up. Nor did he answer, even by gesture. He merely stayed silent.
    But the insecurity Kite had felt before about pushing Sora away from him was gone now, though he couldn't discern how. And a thought that had been knawing at him since Tsukasa had spoken of Sora's school troubles was queuing up to be voiced.
    "Sora... Y'know, if you wanted to, I could tutor you."
    It was his turn to keep his eyes to the ground, though a rustle of movement suggested Sora had snapped his head up to look at him, probably to study his expression.
    "You've been going through a lot of tough things with classes, right? And being a year behind, I can understand why it gets hard. And well... I'm in the top five of my class, and people say I'll probably go into teaching someday, so..."
    "Are you patronizing me?"
    There was a pain in his voice he didn't seem able to hide. Kite winced with empathy. He'd never met a kid so damaged to automatically distrust an offer of assistance. But he wasn't going to let himself run out now.
    "My mom once said life's too short to waste on false courtesy," Kite said, as an offering.
    Sora scrutinized him for a moment, before turning abruptly away again when he sensed Kite had noticed. "You'd stick your neck out for anyone, then, and that's just as bad."
    "No, I don't think so. There's limits to kindness."
    "Then... why?"
    "Sore wa Sora," Kite said kindly, smiling. "Do I need any more justification?"
    "..."
    For a Moonstone impersonation, it was very impressive. Kite permitted himself a chuckle, knowing Sora wouldn't take it wrong.
    "We'll start as soon as we're done with this present business, okay?"
    This condition seemed a bit dissatisfactory, but Sora nodded nonetheless. "All right."
    He added: "Thanks."
    "No problem, man."
    Sitting as they were on the ledge, Sora was at a slightly lower elevation than Kite, so that the effect, from a distance, was that the two were of equal height. Seeming to use this to his advantage, Kite flipped caution the bird and let his hand tousle Sora's hair, as a brother might do.
    Sora's blade was pressed to his throat in an instant.
    "Don't get too comfortable there."
    "Heh. Sorry."
    Sora lowered the dagger only at the same time Kite removed his hand from his head. "B4k4 n4. Don't think you can get away with treating me like a kid all of a sudden. Next you'll want me to go around calling you oniisan," he added callously.
    Kite could only chuckle.
 

End Stage 07.

>>Stage 08: Don't Cry

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