Daybreak

====Daybreak==== =a .hack fanfic= ================

• AUTHOR'S NOTE: I obviously suck with getting anything submitted in a timely fashion. Ehhh, bare with me. I just read the whole Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Thats 800+ (depending on the size of the print [which version of the books you have]) of wonderful British humor. Excuse me if it rubs off at all in the meantime on this story. I wrote half of this before I read the novels and the other half after. LEt's see if anyone can determine when is when. "Ford, you're turning into an infinate number of penguins! Stop it!"

• NOTES: This story is a fan fiction taking place in 'The World' of .hack 'The World' and .hack is copyright its respected authors.

• WARNING: This story contains homosexual properties. Teh OMG!

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TERMINAL: 1. terminal [turminel] internal text chat started with text-based command line prompt. Celest: used in 'The World' to activate ] Celest: You're sure that he functions discreately (no verb- was a level one this morning? ilization required) > Yes. ] Celest: The programmers haven't reported any security holes recently. How do you suppose he went about doing this? > If I knew, I would have either dealt with it already or had reported it. ] Celest: Well, I'll look into it. Don't alert any suits until I get back to you, all right? We don't need them getting all pissy. > Got it. Thanks. internal text chat ended terminal link closed

"So Chris, you know...," Nikedemus stumbled, searching for the right words, "you know that your irregularly fast level gains have drawn attention, right?"

"I suppose so."

"And you know that any sort of hacking, cheats, et cetera, is against the game's terms of service."

"I didn't hack anything."

"Then what did you do," he questioned, taking a seat in a local tavern.

"I... found a bug... and exploited it," Chris replied, simply.

"Did you plan on reporting this bug?"

"I did. Right after using it."

A soft beep sounded above Nikedemus.

"Uh... just a minute."

TERMINAL: terminal link established internal text chat started with Celest: ] Celest: He apparently used a bug that was also coincidentally reported right after he used it. > Uh... yeah... he just told me that. ] Celest: Oh. What are you going to do? > I really can't do anything. ToS says that as long as he was the one who discovered it... and didn't spread it around... we can't do anything. ] Celest: All right. Well... just keep me updated. > Will do. internal text chat ended terminal link closed

"Well. We can't punish you for doing what you did. But... you do know what your getting into with The Order, right?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure? The Order is a secretive clan, built by people who want anarchy for the game. They want to destroy the administratial system; remove all moderators and logging system."

"I'm aware," he replied with a knowing stare.

Nikedemus sighed, shaking his head.

"Why, though?"

"My brother is the leader."

"Ah. So thats the reason you know so much about the game?"

"I suppose," he said, avoiding a glance.

Suddenly, a powerful signal arose Chris. His eyes glowed white, then receded. He looked about in confusion.

"I have to go."

"No! Wait--"

But before he could do anything about it, he had faded from view, using the clan feature to warp, at will, to the clan hall.

================ A BRIEF HISTORY

No administrators have ever been disabled or killed in battle. This, not only because of their high health and mana, but because of their cunning and intelligence when it comes to decisions. If a situation breaks out with many high level players, an admin does not rush in. That would lead to certain death. Instead, the players could be banned from a distance, to avoid conflict, or freeze the user, rendering them helpless.

The reson for such caution is simple: a user endowed with godly powers such as a moderator or administrator, cannot warp out of a battle once it has began. All other resources are locked once a battle has started. Though this is unethical in some cases, it is a necessary feature to solve a large flaw in the battle system, that could not be repaired in the beta stages of the game. Sinse then, the game has expanded so much and the userbase has gro so large that a repair of that scale would dramatically impact gameplay. And noone could estimate how long it would take to even conoct a working fix.

================ CLANS

Administrators and moderators are not allowed in clan halls. Period. Unfortunately, this is not a bug. The rule was laid down in stone by the founders early in the developement stage. Privacy is a big issue in 'The World.' It is held as a top priority in the ranks of the administrators and coders. Personal mail IDs are given out with normal user IDs. If you do not want a person contacting you, you simply do not give out your mail ID. This is similar with clans. Noone but other clan members can enter a clan hall, including administrators. In any case, there usually is no problem with that, as no clan has ever plotted a significantly dubious plan against the game.

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Nikedemus sulked the rest of the day. He waited and waited, staying online as long as he could, waiting for Chris to pop up anywhere. He didn't. He knew he was online the whole time though. The system told him that much. He just couldn't get to him because he was stowed away in his clan.

Chris was deliberately waiting for Nikedemus to sign off. He felt something strange when he was around him, but had no time to worry about that. This was a role playing game. His brother had got him into it to help him escape from the real world and have some fun. The last thing he wanted was to drag up real world emotions in a game where the primary was of leveling up was killing other people and monsters. It just didn't seem right.

So he floated around the clan doing odd jobs for other users. He re-alphabatized the library, re-wrote the clan charter to sound better, found some spare change lying on the ground, bought himself some sim-coffee and waited.

================ PASSING TIME

THe game deliberately prevents the active gaming mind to fall asleep while in the headset. The staff had not yet tested any sleep features and were reluctant to anytie soon. In any case, they figured, "Why would users want to sleep in game?"

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Chris wanted to sleep in game. He tried, desperately bored, but realized after an hour of keeping his eyes closed, that it wasn't working. He got up, stretched, and logged out. Perhaps he could get some experience gaining action in tomarrow.

Nikedemus had set an alert in his client to tell him what Chris's status was at all times. Either a green or red light flickered in the right of his peripheral vision telling him if Chris was either on or off line.

He nearly cried when the dot went red and he still hadn't heard from the one he was now obsessing over. Maybe he wasn't gay. Maybe he didn't feel the same way. Maybe he was just an average gamer in 'The World' who wanted to kill shit and start fights with nebies.

It just didn't fit though. He couldn't see Chris as the type. Maybe he'd talk to him tomarrow. Nikedemus logged out. Rinds of golden light eminated from his head to toe and then he was gone.

Matt took off the headset and rubbed his eyes. Another side-effect of the game: most users don't blink while wearing the headset. Some people wondered by in the box that contained the headset, installation disk, etc. that there was also included a bottle of eye drops, but most other users happily took the free gift and readily used it before and after playing in 'The World.'

Matt got up and made himself a sandwhich. He hadn't eaten real food in 6 or more hours. It was considerably late and he desperately needed sleep. Finals were tomarrow in school. But he just couldn't get that image of Chris, being rirtualistically initiated, out of his mind. He eventually decided that if anything were to happen, it would tomarrow and that he couldn't do a damn thing about his feelings now.

He slipped out of his clothes and into bed, fretdully dreaming of dragons and rabbites.