volieredeatori | .hack//Reparation, chapter 2

.hack//Reparation
Chapter 2 - O, Castitatis Lilium

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This...this is The World...?

Puddles splashed beneath her boots as she ran; she was trying not to lose her footing, but to take care was to slow down, and she couldn't possibly afford to do so.

I don't like this...

She could hear them laughing behind her, gaining on her, and put on a burst of speed, though she was blinded by tears of fright.

...I don't like this at all...isn't there a single nice person anywhere in The World?!

She dimly saw walls looming ahead of her, and skidded to a halt, thankfully not losing her footing and shakily turning to confront the approaching figures; they were smirking, jeering, and it made her feel sick to realize they'd cornered her like a cat to a mouse.

What am I going to do? I...can't fight all these players alone!

Am I...going to die here...?

This isn't how I wanted to spend my first day in The World!

As they drew closer still, she dropped to a crouch and put her arms over her head, trembling harder now. "Stay...away," she choked out, barely audible above a crack of thunder directly overhead. "Stay away...from me!" But her words had no effect, and they gathered themselves into a neat semicircle around her, the leader of them - a young woman wielding a sword easily as big as she was - lifting the huge blade, which gleamed dimly even in the rain. "Say your prayers, little rat!" she sneered over the sounds of the storm, and swung the blade forward.

No...!

But suddenly she was pushed back, falling through a hole that hadn't been there before, and then there was nothing but blackness.

She opened her eyes to find herself laying on what appeared to be a thick sheet of ice; above her, a pure white tree towered and spread its fingerlike branches skyward, and some distance away, the ice faded into equally white sand. Awed by the ethereal beauty, but deeply frightened at the same time, she leapt to her feet, nearly slipping on the ice and quickly bolting off of it to the shoreline - that was it, she realized, the shoreline of a gigantic frozen lake, with the tree in the middle of it all. Strange, for a tree to be in a frozen lake, but that was the last thing on her mind right then.

"Where...where am I?" She sounded helpless, looking quickly around her, seeing nothing but dark cavern walls and a twisted pathway nearby, illuminated by the brilliant, stark white. "What is this place? I - I'm scared! Isn't anyone here? Anyone?" she called out as loudly as she dared, her voice quavering, but as she'd been afraid of, there was no answer. It looked like her only choice, then, was to go down that path; she hesitated for a long moment, then reluctantly called Spell Xialin to her hands and began to walk. For all she knew, it was just leading her into another trap, but she didn't know what else to do.

At the end of the pathway, she spotted a warp platform, and a girl seated beside it, dressed in a short white dress with matching hair, offset by caramel-colored skin. Forgetting herself in her happiness to see someone else there, she let Spell Xialin fade and dashed quickly to the girl's side, dropping down beside her. "Oh, thank goodness! I was so scared, I - I didn't know how I was going to get out of here. Where am I, do you know? And why are you here? Did you just suddenly fall in here too?"

The girl opened her eyes, wide disks of brightly-shining blue, and whispered, "Weren't you almost PKed?"

"PKed? I..." She looked down, her twin pink ponytails falling forward to tickle her cheeks. "Y-yes..."

"Don't you want revenge?" The eyes were curious.

She hesitated, then shook her head. "I couldn't possibly, I'm not strong enough..."

"Then you have to become strong." The girl stood up now, looking at her, and she felt an irresistible force draw her to her feet as well and return her staff to her hands. "I'll help you become strong."

She was trembling now. "How?"

The girl smiled and spread slender arms wide. "Kill me. That is the first step to becoming strong."

"Kill--? But I - that's - I can't do something like that!" Her hands fisted tightly around the staff, as if trying to break it; if she'd been less frightened, she might have dared to split the wood over her knee. "I can't kill another player! Even...even if they tried to kill me, I...I can't! That's just not right, it's not nice at all! All I want...all I want is to find another nice player in The World!" Throwing Spell Xialin down with a sob, she turned to run, but instead bumped right into an invisible wall, falling back and looking behind her with wide, fearful eyes.

It took her a moment to realize the girl was gone.

Instead, there was a tall young man standing there, a kind smile on his face and a hand extended to her; she hesitated for a long moment, then dared to shakily take his hand, letting him help her to her feet. "Killing another player...that's...just not right," she whispered, bowing her head, tears falling freely to the ground at her feet now. "I can't...I can't kill someone else!"

His arms wrapped around her; his hand nestled her head close to his chest. "You don't have to," he murmured, and his voice was apologetic. "I'm sorry for the test. But you have proven that you are truly kind, and that you just want to help the other players of The World." He stroked her hair, went on, "My name is Enoki, and I am the leader of a guild called Wandering Souls. We are dedicated to helping everyone in The World, to spreading kindness and generosity. Someone like you, with such a pure and innocent heart, would be an invaluable addition to the guild." He took hold of her shoulders then and gently nudged her back enough to look into her tear-filled blue eyes. "I must only ask...will you join us, pure-hearted one?"

She sniffled back the remainder of her tears, blinking wide-eyed up at Enoki, and finally gave the barest hint of a nod, deciding to trust him.

He smiled. "Follow me, then," he said. "We'll go to the Soul's Cry." And he turned to the warp.

"Hey...wait a second." She startled herself by speaking, but went on anyway, "You aren't...going to ask my name?"

"You'll tell me when you're ready to," was Enoki's reply.

She paused at that, blinking in surprise, then smiled.

"...I'm Lilium," she murmured, and moved to stand next to him, following him through the warp.

~*~

There were so many people in the main chamber of Soul's Cry - Enoki had told her the full name of the area was Sunken City Schrei der Seele, but she found Soul's Cry much easier to remember - and it made her rather nervous to see them all, her hands trembling just slightly as she stayed very close to Enoki's side and listened to him introducing them all. "This is Shino," he said, gesturing to a Harvest Cleric in black, "Atoli," another Harvest Cleric in green, "Endrance," a tall man in purple with long blue hair, "Silabus," a brown-haired young man wearing green and white, "Gaspard," a short, plump, pink doglike creature, "Agate," a lightly-tanned girl with hair that faded from blue to black, "Kuhn," a smiling man in yellow with a surprisingly large ponytail, "Pi," a pink-haired, scantily-clad woman with glasses, "and Haseo," an Adept Rogue wearing black and red. "These are my friends, who have helped me out of more trouble than I can possibly remember. There's more, of course, but the rest couldn't attend. Everyone?" he addressed the crowd then, and moved aside just slightly, putting a hand on Lilium's shoulder. "This is Lilium. She's the newest guild member."

Shino's eyes lit up, and she tilted her head, putting a finger alongside her cheek. "You're the girl from earlier," she said in a gentle, quiet voice. "The one who was nearly PKed. I'm glad I got there in time to help you, and I'm glad to see you're all right." She smiled, giving a small bow, and Lilium suddenly realized her mouth was hanging open slightly, quickly blushing and closing it. So this Shino was the one who had saved her, then. She tried to voice her thanks, but she couldn't manage to get any sound out through her dry throat, so mimicked Shino's bow instead with the most grateful smile she could manage; she hoped Shino wouldn't take her silence the wrong way, and wished - not for the first time - that she wasn't so incredibly shy.

"Shy, huh?" The tone was sharply amused, but not offensive; Lilium glanced cautiously up, and saw the voice had come from the scantily-clad Agate, who was standing confidently with a hand on her hip. "Don't worry, we don't bite. Hard. Unless you ask - ow!" The last was caused by Silabus politely driving an elbow into her ribs, and she broke her confident posture to rub the elbowed spot. "Hey, c'mon, it was a joke. You know, just trying to get her to relax a little - oh, fine, fine. Sorry about that," she directed at Lilium, looking chastened; the blue-eyed cleric blinked in bemusement, then offered a faint smile, shaking her head slightly to say it was okay and looking up at Enoki, whose eyes were seemingly fixed on Haseo. "Um, Enoki?" she started quietly, paused, then went on. "You really know some...um...interesting people."

"They're a strange bunch," Enoki agreed, smiling when most of the assemblage pulled various faces at him. "But they've all helped to shape my character in various ways. I think...the biggest influence to the way I am today, however, is Haseo. He's overcome so many obstacles, and never gives up on his ideals...I have always wanted to be just like him, and follow in his footsteps." He sounded almost adoring, which probably accounted for Haseo's blush; when he went on, though, his voice was quickly lighthearted again. "Haseo's PC design was even the inspiration for my own. I didn't know him then, but a friend of mine who played The World sent me a picture, and I liked the design so much I based my own PC off of it." He shrugged as if it were no big deal, smiling once more, but at Haseo only this time. "So, the path I walk...it's the same path Haseo walks. We're the same, now."

Haseo made a rude noise. "I beg to differ. I am not all mushy like you."

"Mushy...?" Enoki's smile faltered, then faded, and for an instant, Lilium thought he looked almost sad. "Perhaps I am...but...it isn't such a bad thing to appreciate your friends once in a while, don't you think...?" He shook his head lightly, as if shaking something off, and caught Lilium's curious gaze from the corner of his eye; easily reading the unspoken question on her face, he gently shook his head again, dissuading her from asking and seeming grateful when she said nothing. "...In any case, you've all met Lilium now. I want you all to do your best to help her become stronger if the opportunity should ever arise," he went on suddenly, turning slightly away from the assembled group. "I have to attend to a few things now, I'm afraid. You are welcome to stay, as you know."

"Nah. If we hang around, you'll just get distracted from your work, right? Silabus, Gaspard, c'mon." Agate, the first to speak, thumped her hand lightly down on Gaspard's head and took Silabus by the arm, ushering them both out; next to leave were Shino and Atoli, the latter saying something about being late for a meeting at her own guild, then Kuhn and Pi each with a nod of goodbye, and finally Endrance leading a silently chastened Haseo. As they filed out, Enoki watched, his eyes filled with indescribable emotion, so strong that Lilium had to turn her eyes away and could barely speak even when they were alone in the room. "You seem...so sad," she whispered.

"I suppose I am, a bit." Enoki sighed, and seemed to sag for a moment, as if worn out. "...But I'll be all right. Why don't you log out for the day and get some rest? I'm sure you must be exhausted from everything that's happened."

Lilium considered it; she was exhausted, and it sounded like a good idea. "Okay. But - if you need me for anything, just mail me, okay? I'll wake right up."

"I will, I promise." Enoki touched her shoulder and gave her a soft smile, which she shyly echoed before logging out and leaving him alone to return to his thoughts once more.