Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 01:21:36 +1000
From: BM
Subject: .Hack//Escape Chapter 5

.Hack//Escape
Chapter 5: Midge Field
22nd January 2004

The characters and plot in this story are copyrighted by the author.
However the concept of 'The World' is not. I take no credit for this;
the credit belongs to Bandai Entertainment who used the concept in
the animation series .Hack//Sign, .Hack//Dusk and .Hack//Liminality.
(Pronounced Dot Hack)

For those of you who have never watched any of Dot Hack before I
suggest you read the excerpt about it from the official site that I
included with chapter 1.



I woke with a start as my bedside alarm went off. Great, another day
of school to look forward to. I sighed to myself as I looked around my
room, wishing that there was some way to get the day off but at least I
have something to look forward to afterwards. I walked to the shower
catching a glimpse of the calendar on the way past, wait a minute... I
ran back to the calendar hoping that I had read it right. Yes! Today is
Saturday, my heart leapt with joy and I began to dance around my
room in celebration. I know every kid loves the weekend because they
don't have to go to school but for me it was extra special, it meant two
days without the constant humiliation and the bullying. I can't believe
I forgot what day it is! The last couple of days must have given me so
much to think about it must have skipped my mind. I pinched myself
making sure I was still awake and this wasn't all a dream. This all
seemed too good to be true; saving and making friends with Michael,
Dad's shift change and the sudden appearance of the weekend. Oh
well, it's about time good things started happening to me!

I jumped in the shower still thinking it must be all a dream. As I sat
there thinking about my experiences so far in The World I found
myself getting turned on as I remembered my experiences with
Michael. I moved my hand down and began stoking my six inches as I
remembered his smile, his voice, and his touch. God, I loved
everything about him. I kept this up for a few minutes before I finally
climaxed all over the shower. My body began to shiver when I
finished and I collapsed against the shower wall. As I stood there
trying to catch my breath and recover from one of the most intense
orgasms of my life I suddenly realized that the boy I was fantasizing
about was probably already in The World waiting for me to show up,
it was the weekend after all. I quickly finished my shower while
buzzing with anticipation of meeting him again.

After I was showered and dressed I went to the kitchen to get some
breakfast. I wonder where Dad is. He doesn't work on weekends so he
must be around somewhere, which means I must tread carefully. I also
have to remember to lock my door when I log into The World. Shit
would really hit the fan if he came into my room while I was logged
in. I poured myself some Coco-Pops and opened the fridge to get
myself some milk. As I closed the fridge I noticed a piece of paper
that was taped to the door which was covered with my Dads messy
handwriting.

Jim,
I'll be out fishing with friends today and I should be back around
4pm, I've locked the door so don't even think about trying to sneak
out.
Dad

I looked at my watch which said it was ten past eight. So that gives
me nearly eight hours in The World before Dad gets home. I ate my
breakfast in a hurry and rushed to my room. I smiled to myself as I put
the headset on and began the login process; my whole body was
shaking with anticipation. Come on! How long does it take to log in?
Hurry up!

Ahhh... I let out a sigh of relief as I found myself standing in Lut
Kalen wearing my sorcerer robes and holding my blue orbed staff in
my hand. I looked around at all the people passing by me. As always
it made me happy that they were just passing by me and weren't
stopping to make hurtful comments or bully me like passers by do in
the real world. I was so glad that none of them knew my secret.  My
heart jumped as I remembered that Dave and his group now knew I
was gay, had they told anyone yet? I hope not, otherwise this world
may turn out to be as unfriendly as the real one if the general
population in here was alerted to my sexuality. And what about that
Romero weirdo? He said he wouldn't tell anyone but after seeing
what he was capable of in the alley I wasn't sure if I could trust him
with such an important secret. It's not like I had a choice though, he
said he could tell I was gay when he first saw me. I sighed to myself,
why can't everyone just look at the other aspects of me rather than
just homing in on my sexual preferences? If they all would just mind
their own business the real world and even this world would be a lot
more bearable for a person like me. Oh well, time to go and find
Michael.

My worried thoughts stayed with me as I began to walk over towards
the square where the chaos gate was situated. As I reached the square
I felt a hand clasp onto my shoulder and I turned to see a very angry
group of boys led by an even angrier looking leader. Peter wasn't with
them again for some reason. I looked into Dave's eyes as he tightened
his grip on me and I could still see traces of the psychotic rage that I
had witnessed yesterday on his face.

"You're dead Articus," he said with a glare.

Shit, these are the last people I wanted to see in The World today yet
they're actually the first I actually see, great. The situation doesn't
look good; there are four of them and only one of me. But wait! We're
not allowed to fight in town so there is no reason for me to be afraid
of them. As I realized this I smiled at Dave who had obviously
realized the same thing and he released his grip on my shoulder and
moved back a couple of steps. It was time to get him back for all of
the horrible things he'd done to Michael,

"No I'm not Dave, as you can all see I'm very much alive at the
moment," I answered. "Geez Dave you're not very smart, all brawn
and no brains I'm afraid," I added with a grin.

Dave's expression turned from dislike to rage in a second and he drew
his sword. "Why you little shit, nobody makes fun of me, I'll..."

"Excuse me is there a problem here?"

We were interrupted by a man who wore a scarlet outfit which was
covered in places by thick armor. He wore a helmet that covered his
whole face except for his mouth and it had two horns coming out the
top which gave him a very warlike appearance. He had two glowing
red balls attached to his helmet that covered his eyes. I'd never seen a
scarlet knight before but it was easy to deduce that this guy was one
not only from his appearance but also from his voice and posture. The
way he stood there just screamed out authority and his voice
commanded respect.

"Ummm... nothing sir, we were just talking," Dave answered
nervously as he cowered under the glare from the knight. It was
actually quite a funny sight, I've never seen Dave cower or even look
remotely nervous before. He always acted like he was superior to
everyone around him. Well, it was about time that he realized that he
isn't the most powerful one around.

"I see," the knight answered as the two orbs covering his eyes began
to glow a piercing red. "Well how about you and your friends go talk
somewhere else and leave this boy alone."

"Yes sir," Dave answered in a nervous tone and after signaling his
group to follow him, he began to walk away. I watched him as he
retreated and he turned his head around and glared at me for a couple
of seconds, long enough to give me a message; this wasn't over, not
by a long shot. I let out a sigh of relief and turned to look at the
knight, who was smiling at me,

"Thanks a lot," I said as I smiled back.

"No problem son, don't let those bullies get to you. However I must
warn you that if you are not in town and they attack you then I can do
nothing about it because technically they aren't breaking any rules.
Attacking and defeating other players for experience is all part of the
game. However from the look of that lot they don't really care about
the experience, they just want to hurt people. Am I right?"

I nodded, that sounds like Dave and his gang alright. I'd doubt that the
attack on Michael yesterday was for the gain of experience, in fact
Dave offered the experience from the kill to me.

"And by the looks of you I can tell that you're fairly new to The
World so if I were you I'd concentrate on leveling up so you don't
have to worry about people like them making your time in here a
misery."

I nodded again and the knight turned and walked off the other way. I
thought about what he said with regards to Dave and the others
targeting me outside of the Town Areas, I really do need to level up if
that's the case. Out in the real world I'm constantly being beaten up
by bullies, I'd have to become powerful with my ice magic if I want
to avoid the same fate in here. But how can I level up if Dave and his
posse are always looking for me? I guess I'll have to wait and see
what Michael has to say about the matter. Speaking of which, I'd
better get moving! I walked up to the chaos gate and yelled "Midge
Village" and I closed my eyes, smiling to myself at the thought of
finally meeting Michael again. It was less than a day since we'd last
met but for me it felt like a week!

As I opened my eyes I found myself standing in the middle of a small
village next to a chaos gate. The whole village was just one street that
had mainly shops and a few houses lined up on each side. I began to
frantically scour the street for Michael, it seemed like he wasn't here
yet. I began to walk down one side of the street looking at the shops as
I waited for him to show up. As I looked at the many potions and
power ups that were being sold I heard a tone sound which meant that
I had an email sent to me, "Open," I said as I wondered who it could
be from. It could only be from two people, Peter or that Romero
weirdo. The small screen appeared in front of me displaying the
email;

Hey Articus,
I just wanted to say that I think it was really cool what you did
yesterday, but I'm sorry that your plan didn't work out. I knew that
the way you were running led to a dead end but I couldn't
communicate that fact to you without angering the others even further.
I just hope that when Dave and the others caught you both they didn't
make you suffer too much before they finished you off.  Sometimes
Dave goes over the edge, especially when it comes to dealing with
homosexuals. Well since I'm on his shit list and none of the others are
talking to me at the moment because of my refusal to participate in his
bullying yesterday, I was wondering if you wanted to come and level
up in mushroom field for a while. I'll be standing by the chaos gate in
the main town area.
Peter

I sighed to myself. There was no way I was going to ditch seeing
Michael again to go meet up with Peter. I felt guilty though because
Peter seemed like a really great guy and he'd helped me a lot when it
came to learning about my ice magic and how to use it. I'd have to
email back and tell him no. But I'll definitely have to meet up with
him soon; he's too much of a nice of a guy to just blow off
completely. It was funny for some reason that he thought that Michael
and I were killed but he couldn't have known about Michael's Sprite
Ocarina so it seemed logical that he assumed we were caught and
killed by Dave and his group. Even I assumed that we were finished
until Michael transported us out of there. That ocarina seemed very
useful; I'd have to find out where I can get one from Michael. I
pressed the reply button on the little screen with my hand and began
to dictate my response to it. Thank God I'd read the manual! Without
it I'd have no idea how to send or receive emails.

"Hi Peter, new line. It turns out we weren't killed yesterday. We got
to the dead end and I thought we were finished but it turns out
Michael had a Sprite Ocarina and he transported us out of there. As
for your invitation I'm sorry but I have other things to do today and I
can't make it. But I'd be happy to go out with you some other time.
New line, Articus. Send."

There, that didn't seem too harsh. I really hope Peter isn't offended by
my refusal to go with him but I can't wait to see...

"Well, aren't we here early?"

My whole body tensed as I realized who that voice belonged to. I
turned and my knees nearly gave way as I looked straight into his
eyes, it was him! It was really him! He stood there smiling at me with
one hand on his hip and the other holding his staff. No! Not that staff!
I giggled at my own private joke and he began to grin,

"What are you giggling about?" He asked.

"Nothing," I replied. "It's just really good to see you."

"L-Likewise," he replied nervously, suddenly reverting back to his
shy personality for some reason. "So, ummm... do you like, wanna
hang out with me today?" He asked while beginning to blush.

"Okay, sure!" I replied with maybe too much enthusiasm. God, I'm
such a dork! Take it easy Jim, just take it easy!

His face lit up once I said that and he beckoned me to follow him. We
both began to walk down the main street of the village in silence. As
we walked my brain was trying to come up with something to say.
Damn! This is just like yesterday, I'd think of something to say to
break the tension and I'd turn to him to say it. Then he'd look at me
with those hypnotic blue eyes and then my whole mind would empty
of all thought and I would just gawk at him. I can't even walk straight
when I'm around this kid let alone have a normal conversation! But
judging by his silence he had trouble talking as well for some reason.
This is stupid! I have to say something... I was about to speak when
he beat me to it,

"W-W-Why don't we go out to Midge Field? It's near the village and
only has low level monsters so there won't be any hard fights out
there."

"Okay, sure," I replied. Whew! I'm glad that he broke the silence! If I
had tried I'm sure my words would have just come out in Japanese!

It was strange but after that initial exchange of words we began to talk
more freely after that. Nothing of importance was discussed, we just
talked about The World and how awesome it was to be able to
perform magic. But as we reached the field Michael suddenly turned
to me with a serious expression on his face,

"Look Articus, I really want to thank you for what you did for me
yesterday. Without your help I couldn't have escaped Dave and his
gang. I'm sorry that you had to expose your secret for me; you didn't
have to though... I'm not worth that."

He jumped back as I spun around to face him with an angry look on
my face. "No Michael, No!" I yelled. "You are worth that! I'd tell my
secret to millions just to be with you!"

He looked at me with tears in his eyes, "Articus, what are you
saying?"

"Call me Jim, Michael. That's my real name and I have no problems
telling it to you. Listen..." I paused, my mind suddenly going blank.
Dammit! Why does this always happen whenever I have something
important to say?

"I love you," I blurted out. Wait, did I actually say it? I'm not sure; I
could have imagined it, maybe I...

My thoughts were interrupted by Michael touching his lips to mine
and that's all it was, our lips touching. It wasn't even a kiss, but to me,
it meant everything. It meant the boy of my dreams has the same
feelings for me as I have for him! He moved his head back quickly
and I took a deep breath as he looked at me nervously. I felt different,
like I had been reborn. I felt like I had everything I've ever wanted, I
smiled at Michael and he returned it with a gleam in his eyes.

"I love you too Jim. I don't know what it is about you but ever since
I've started to hang around with you I feel different, I feel complete."

I nearly fainted on the spot! He said it! He loves me! He really loves
me! This perfect boy standing in front of me actually loves me! What
are the chances of that?

What happened next I had absolutely no control over. I began to lean
forward. I couldn't stop! Not like I wanted to stop anyway but it felt
like our lips were magnetically attracted! We kissed for about ten
seconds, both of us only using a very small amount of tongue. I'm
glad he's as nervous about this whole thing as I was! We stopped and
both began to giggle nervously. I leaned back in for another kiss but
then Michael raised his hand up to stop me. I looked at him in
confusion,

"Sorry Jim," he whispered. "But there are people looking and we're
not supposed to have any sexual contact at all The World. Even just
kissing is breaking the rules."

The look on his face told me that he was as frustrated as I was about
the rules of The World. This is just like the real world, where any
sexual contact between males is frowned upon. The only difference in
this world is that heterosexual couples have to abide by the rules as
well so at least it's fair. I sighed to myself and looked around to see
who was watching. I spotted two men who looked to be in their
thirties frowning in our direction. Great, once again everybody else is
minding my business and preventing me from being happy. I looked
back at Michael, who smiled nervously at me,

"Lets get out of here; those two guys are making me feel
uncomfortable." I agreed and we began to walk through Midge Field
looking for some monsters to fight.

As we walked my mind was still spinning from the tender kiss that we
had shared a few moments ago. This all felt like a dream, as a matter
of fact everything that had happened today felt like a dream. I pinched
myself again to really make sure I wasn't dreaming and Michael
looked at me with an amused expression on his face,

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm just checking for the second time today that I'm not dreaming. I
don't think I've ever been this happy, I just love you so much
Michael." I felt a lump form in my throat, oh great! Here come the
water works! I couldn't help it! I just felt so happy! Michael stopped
walking and looked at me with tears in his eyes.

"You've only pinched yourself twice? Jim, ever since I've met you
my whole life has turned around. I can actually see the point of living
again..."

It took me a few seconds to register what he had said. "The point of
living," I repeated. "What do you mean Michael?" I asked in a
nervous tone, not sure of what he meant.

He suddenly looked very shocked at what he had said and an
uncomfortable silence descended on us for a few moments before he
began to speak,

"Ummm... nothing! Just forget I said that! What I mean is that I've
pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming at least ten times since
I've met you. You're like a dream come true to me Jim, thank you."

My mind was still trying to work out what he had meant by his earlier
statement. He had seemed so serious when he had mentioned it, like
he had really lost the will to live before he had met me. This made me
wonder what his life is like outside The World, it must be pretty
horrific if he'd lost the will to live! I've had pretty bad experiences in
my real life but the idea of killing myself had never crossed my mind,
it just seemed too extreme. I looked up at Michael and he was
watching me nervously, waiting for what I was going to say. I decided
to ignore his comment and talk about something else so he wouldn't
feel bad about himself.

"Michael, I just can't believe that you feel the same way about me
than I do about you. And whatever happens, I want you to know that I
will always love you and will never leave your side." Without
thinking I leaned in to kiss him again. I couldn't help it! I swear that
there's something on his lips that creates a pulling effect on my face!
He once again held up his hand to stop me as he looked behind us.

I turned around and saw two girls about our age who were glaring at
us in a very rude way I could nearly read their thoughts from their
facial expressions, 'Oh my God! Were those two boys going to kiss
just then? Sick!' I sighed to myself as they finally turned around and
walked away.

"Let's go kill some monsters," I suggested to Michael. He agreed and
we walked further into the field. "Do you know a good place where
we can go hunt?" I asked him.

"Yeah, there's a dungeon area just over this hill. All the monsters in
there are low levels but there are heaps of them so it should be good
experience."

"Sounds good, I should be able to grow a few levels and maybe even
get some new Ice Spells. What level are you?" I asked.

"I'm level 5," he answered.  I don't really level up all that much I just
come into the game to get away from him... I mean you know,
ummm... school. I looked at him trying to work out what's going on.
He must have sensed my confusion at his little slip up and looked
away. "You?" He asked while looking the other way.

Once again I decided to not talk about what he said. "I'm level 2," I
answered, unable to hide my worried tone. He must have picked up on
that too because his hands began to shake.

"Are you alright?" I asked him, now extremely worried. I stopped
walking and grabbed his free hand and looked into his eyes.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm alright. Sorry, I'm just not feeling too well, that's
all." He moved his hand back to his side and suddenly began to walk
forward again so I starting walking again too. I kept sneaking worried
glances at him and when he caught me for the third time he let loose a
fake laugh,

"Look, I'm alright. Ok?" He said in a reassuring tone.

"Yeah, I was just a little worried there for a second," and managed a
fake laugh of my own to try and relieve the tension. He just smiled
and we kept walking up the hill. At that moment I made myself a
promise to try and find out what happens to him in his real life.
Hmmm... he said something about getting away from him, maybe his
Dad beats him as well but for some reason, it seemed like it was more
than that. There was a awkward silence following us at that moment
so I tried to get rid of it by asking him when I would learn new spells.
It seemed to bring him out of his shell again.

"You won't learn any new spells until you reach level 10. Or that's
what other ice sorcerers have told me. It's fortunate that you've
chosen to be an ice sorcerer, apparently they're one of the most
powerful characters."

Damn! Level 10 huh? That could take ages! We made it up the hill
and a small temple was situated about twenty feet in front of us. We
kept walking and made our way to the entrance and climbed down
some steps into darkness. As we walked a few more steps torches on
the wall lit up on both sides of us. Ok! This was creepy! We walked
through the lit passage way for about a minute before we reached one
of those portals that teleport monsters into The World.

"How are we going to do this?" I asked.

"Well, I reckon we should both hit it with an ice blast when it
teleports in. That should be enough to kill it; it's only a low level after
all."

"Okay," I replied. "Let's go!"

We both walked up to the portal and as we got closer it began to glow
and after a few seconds a weird creature jumped out of it. It was about
three foot tall and it had the head of a crocodile and the body of a
human. It stood there growling at us for a few moments and then it
suddenly charged us with its mouth wide open, bearing its teeth.

"Ice Blast!" We both yelled at the same time and our streams of blue
hit the monster and shattered it into pieces. As the pieces were melting
into the ground a chest appeared, I ran over to it and opened it to find
a health potion inside.

"You can keep it," Michael said with a smile. "Consider it payback
for the one you used on me yesterday." I smiled back at him as I put
the potion in my belt.

We spent the next two hours walking through the dungeon defeating
monsters, growing levels and collecting items. At the end of this time
I had grown two levels and Michael had grown one. We also got
heaps of health and mana potions from the chests but we didn't get
anything else. When I asked him about the items Michael explained
that we'd get better stuff once we took on higher level monsters.
There were other people wondering around the dungeon so we didn't
get any chances to act on our desires for each other even though it was
really hard to hold back. By the end of the two hours I was using all of
my energy just to stop myself from kissing those sweet rosy lips of
his. He must have been sensing that I was feeling uncomfortable not
being able to do anything because out of nowhere he asked nervously,

"D-Do you want to go back to the village so we can... you know...
have some time alone?"

"Um... Ok, sure." I said biting my tongue to hide the great surges of
joy that I felt inside. Wait a minute... did he say the village?

"But Michael there's more people in the village than there is out here
in the field. How are we going to get time alone?" I asked.

He smiled at the question and replied, "Don't you worry about that.
Well, we won't actually be alone but we'll be around others who are
like us and they won't care what we do."

"Are you talking about those guys I saw you hanging around with the
other day?"

"Yeah," He answered. "Well, are you ready? It'll be quicker if we use
the Sprite Ocarina, grab my hand."

I did as he instructed and he grabbed his ocarina out of his robes and
yelled "Midge Village." I lurched forward as we were being
transported to a place where we can finally get some time alone and
be ourselves. Once again, it all seemed too good to be true.

End of Chapter 5.

-{BM}-