Author's Notes: Ok, here's chapter 2! I really liked writing this chapter, so I hope you all like it to. The story is....erm...I think pushed forward a little more. I guess you should use your own judgement for that! Oh, and thankyou to all my reviewers!

To: BB.HF - I don't know about coolestI have a couple in the section I think are waaaaay better then mine, but thank you so much.

To: Anonymous - Thanks for that spelling correction. I'm a moron sometimes. Unfortunately my spellchecker doesn't cover Japanese words. (Yamete, Yamete, Yamete, Yamete, Yamete. Ok, I think I have it now.) Oh, and I never heard anywhere about Tsukasa's player being named An. Well, like I said before I've only seen the series and I know they never say her name there. So, I'll just stick with Lein for now. I've seen lots of other Authors giving her all kinds of names. ^_^

To: Torii - I hope this chapter meets your expectations. I, myself, was a bit disappointed with a couple of scenes, but. some characters I find really hard to write..

To: Radical Dreamer2 (a.k.a.: Jess) - I'll show you the whole series (If you can live with the grammatically incorrect subtitles and the funny names they give some people. Zea? Where did that come from?). And yay! Even if you are one of my close friends I'm happy that my story is going on a favorites list! I don't think that's ever happened before! *cheer*

Disclaimer: I don't own .hack//SIGN characters, world, or anything else related to it. The only things I own are my original characters and the laptop I'm typing this all on.

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.hack//TEARS

Chapter 2

Bear stepped back, pulling his sword from the spiderlike creature that exploded, scattering the remains of its' data. He knelt down besides the creature's spoils. Low level defense bracelets and a few potions. He left the bracelets behind as he continued his search for monsters to fight. He stopped suddenly, a familiar dinging sound indicating the message he had just received.

To: Bear

Could you meet me in Mac Anu by the fountain? It's very important.

Subaru

"What could this be about?" Bear hadn't gotten a message of importance from anyone since, well.... since the day's of Tsukasa's entrapment. Bear closed his eyes, sending his reply.

Subaru, former leader of the now disbanded Crimson Knights sat on the smooth gray stones surrounding a fountain. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap; blue eyes watching the happy, clueless players go about their business.

The small girl dressed in blue watched these people, amazed by how little hey knew. Sure, there were rumors, but to those who hadn't been directly involved found no more truth then a hacker who had no life.

Subaru stood to greet the blademaster as he approached. The tall man smiled down at her, before taking a seat on the fountain. "I can't stay long, Lein will be home soon."

"She's not there?" Bear shook his head and Subaru's face fell. "What's wrong?" Subaru stepped directly in front of Bear, face troubled. Bear waited for her to continue a sense of dread growing in the pit of his stomach.

"You haven't checked the BBS."

"I checked a few hours ago."

She clasped her hands together. "A novice player made his first post." Bear listened intently, chin resting on the backs of his hands. Neither spoke when Subaru finished her story.

Finally, Bear stood, eyes serious. "Lein's home. I have to log off now." Subaru grabbed his arm, grabbing his attention. "What will we do?" She released him, her arm falling back to her side. "I'm worried."

"Don't jump to conclusions. I will look at the BBS tonight. We can't be sure whether or not it's valid." Subaru said nothing. "I'll take care of her." He said, giving her a reassuring smile as he turned, disappearing in to the crowd of players going about their business on the streets of the peaceful city.

Subaru turned away, gazing at the sky. "I'll protect you."

Nothing very eventful happened when Lein came home. Yamato didn't mention his conversation with Subaru. He didn't mention "The World" at all. All that they spoke of was school, Rin's sleepover, and then the homework she needed to finish. She left for the library soon after, saying she needed to get some books for school. Lein never used a computer.

As soon as Lein had left, (she had insisted on walking) he retreated to the computer, cup of coffee in hand. He opened the web browser, immediately typing the address for "The World" BBS. He scrolled down the page, searching for a related title. I should have asked Subaru for the subject... He thought, mad at him for overlooking such a simple matter.

Real Weird

He clicked on the topic, read through the message, then clicked the back button to continue his search. It was just about some of the new updates and dancing rabbits. He wondered for a moment just who had come up with the idea for dancing rabbits.

He looked through a few more topics, but none helped.

Erm...Question. Logging out??

He clicked.

Subject: Erm...Question. Logging out??

Member: Kaikan

I'm new and was in a lowerlevel field where I met another character (the spellcasting class....forgot the name...) and asked if we could form a party. He started freaking out then *poof* disappeared. Did he log out or use some skill? I am so confused.

Yamato read through the replies, but found nothing to help solve the mystery. All the replies indicated one thing. There was no legal way that a player could just disappear. If a connection was cut the player's character would freeze and then fade out where they would reconnect in a root town.

Lein sat alone, curled up in one of the more comfortable chairs in the library. An open book was propped up on her knees. The young girl's violet eyes stared at the page, but made no sense of the words. Her mind was elsewhere, as it often is.

It means nothing.

Her thoughts were scattered about. Some focused on her strange dream from the previous night, others on her new life. She lived three different lives and she was only 15. First, the abused and hated daughter who was abandoned in a hospital room. Second, a lost and confused wavemaster trapped inside of a video game. Lastly, a daughter recovering from two sad lives, trying to be protected and understood by those around her.

She rubbed her arm, remembering the bruises that used to always cover her skin. That was her image of a father. Yelling....A raised hand.... pain. I want Bear to be my.... my friend.... like he was before.

She didn't look up as she felt a presence in front of her. Maybe, if she ignored them, they would go away. "Lein, it's nice to see you." Lein looked up and smiled. A young girl with long blue hair and glasses smiled back. Suro Miki pulled on the wheels of her wheelchair, angling herself to Lein. "I'm glad you're back. I was hoping to see you sooner, but..."

Miki smiled apologetically, but that slowly turned into a frown as she saw the confused look cross Lein's face.

"Subaru..." Miki smiled, nodding.

"Why are you here...?" Miki's smile faded. "I-I wanted to see you..." Realization suddenly hit the 15 year old invalid. Lein wanted Subaru, not the crippled girl in front of her.

"Lein, this is the real world. This is who I am. Please..." For once she didn't know what to say.

Lein reached out for the blue haired girl who stood in front of her. Lein could feel Subaru's blue skirts brushing against her legs. "This...can't be real." She gulped, but she couldn't deny that the Clone Perfume wasn't drifting through the air. Tsukasa always smelled that when Subaru was near. Lein reached out a gloved hand... Her eyes widened as she stared at her hand, the fingerless gloves now gone. She looked up to see the girl who played as Subaru, once more bound to her wheelchair. "I-I'm so lost."

Miki leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Lein as the lost child collapsed in to tears.

Mimiru was still a very active member of "The World". Her time spent with Tsukasa had changed her. Those who had been as deeply involved as she had been had experienced some sort of change in their lives, but none stopped playing altogether. None of them feared the world or what it could do, but they had formed a greater respect for the forces, both visible and not, that resided within the code behind the game. They all still played, some more often then others. Only Sora had disappeared and Mimiru tried not to think of that. She had never held a great liking for Sora, but he had helped them out in the past. "All for himself of course, but still..." Sora didn't seem like the type who would ever want to quit "The World", especially after knowing what had happened to Tsukasa. Sora never seemed to have any fears.

The heavyblade yawned, stretched then leapt off the rock she had been lounging on. She shouldered her blade and made her way towards the Chaos Gate to spend some time leveling. Perhaps fighting would get her mind off of these somewhat tiring and depressing thoughts.

She stopped suddenly, her eyes widening as she stared straight ahead. She read the message she had just received. She snapped from her daze and ran the last through yards to the floating blue gate, entered the keywords and disappeared in rings of gold.

BT walked through the field of giant mushrooms, staff at ready, searching for something. She thought back to the Administrator's post on the BBS that had given her this new mission. It told about the new, part of the environment, monsters and traps. BT was never one who liked surprises. She liked to be in a control and understand things, so she set out to find all these new traps and monsters in each field type. Many players were doing this very thing. She had found most of them in the forest, desert, and mountain fields already, all rather predictable. Man eating plants, hidden pits, avalanches, a rain of rocks, sand worms that liked to grab at the feet of unwary players, and quicksand that looked exactly like real sand until you stepped on to it.

So, the mushroom field was her next stop. She continued to walk, looking this way and that. A snap of a twig could be heard behind her and she spun around, staff at ready. She still felt annoyed by how easily she had died in that quicksand an hour ago. The golden-haired wavemaster was not going to be surprised so easily again. BT relaxed when she saw who it was, although that did not stop her from arching a brow in surprise.

"I never expected to see you here again." The young wavemaster didn't look straight at her, instead staring off at a particularly large mushroom to their right. He merely shrugged, choosing not to reply. "Why did you return?"

Tsukasa looked up; sighing as her met her curious gaze. He averted his eyes again. "I'm always here. You know that."

"You're terrified of this place."

"Where else can I go?" BT took a step forward, lowering her staff all the way. "You can go home." The silver haired wavemaster narrowed his eyes at her, then walked right past her. He paused, looking back over his shoulder at the female. "What home? I'm not welcome anywhere."

"I thought Bear would make a good father." BT closed her eyes briefly as she sent out a quick message.

"Bear....my father...?" He shook his head, turning away from her. "Why are you so cruel?"

"I'm not cruel, just being truthful." He shook his head again and kept walking. "I hate you. You know I'm trapped and yet you still wish to mock me. That's cruel."

"Tsukasa, log out." He turned fully back to her, eyes downcast. "I can't logout. Don't you believe me yet?" Then he faded right out of existence.

BT just stood there, staring at the spot Tsukasa had just stood. "Looks like things are being stirred up again..." She whispered to the wind, trailing off as the golden rings announced Mimiru's arrival.

"Where is he!?" BT merely shrugged before leaving the field. She had played this game to long for one day.

She left Mimiru fuming at her abrupt leave. "Why doesn't she tell me anything!?" She turned just in time, dodging the mushroom like creature that leapt down from the oversized fungus above.

Meanwhile, Yamato was still sitting at his computer, coffee cup long empty, and pen tapping the table irritably. He had found nothing. Absolutely nothing to try and solve this mystery. There were no leads to follow. With a sigh he left his computer desk and walked as quietly as he could up the carpeted stairs. He smiled as he entered the girl's room. She was sitting at her desk, head resting on the open books she had been studying. Her breathing was slow as she slept peacefully. Yamato smiled again as he took a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders, not wishing to disturb her, but hoping to keep her warm.

He paused at the door, turning back to his sleeping child. He was happy, truly happy for the first time in years. He was given another chance at turning a child's life in to something worthwhile. I won't mess up again. I'll be the father I should have been. He knew the process would be slow. He knew Lein did not seem him as her father. He hoped to someday change that. "I will protect you." He whispered, unheard by the slumbering girl.

He closed the door as he left, not knowing he had already failed at the promise. Lein was left alone with her dreams of "The World".

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Author's Note: This chapter was a lot harder to write then it should have been. Probably because I find BT so hard to write. There was this whole scene I was going to include in the end, but I wasn't really sure where to go with it in the end, so I'll probably have that in the next chapter. The only thing I'm really worried about is the pacing of the story. I don't want it to fly by, but I don't what to drag it along either. *sigh* Pacing is so hard. Ok, so review and tell me what you think!