XXX

And We Pray

Summary: All that is visible must grow beyond itself and extend into the invisible. A lost program and a lost Hope, and a villain born of desperation in both cases.

Genre: General/Fantasy

Rating: K plus

The prayers that ended in despair will not reach anyone. – Full Moon o Sagashite, Volume 6

Clu believed the Sea of Simulation was dead.

Rinzler knew better.

Somewhere, underneath his code, where part of him was still himself, and begging and writhing and praying for escape from the curse Clu had put him under, he knew that the sea was still alive.

Rinzler knew because he had seen it.

Once, going back to the sea (there had been a reason then, but he couldn't remember now why) he had gone into the water and stood, knee deep, in it.

Whatever the ISOs had sought in the Sea was gone, but to a Program there was no poison to hurt them and he had stood there and watched the water ripple.

And then she appeared.

She must have been a User, for she did not look like a Program or an ISO. She wore white: a long white dress, with a strange skirt longer in the back than in the front. Her legs were sheathed in tall white boots with wings on her heels, and her gloves were white as well. Most Programs wore gloves that connected to their sleeves; her gloves were not long enough – or maybe it was her sleeves that were not long enough – to connect and cover her arms. Her hair was pink, and flowing, tied back in white.

But it was the long skirt of her dress that Rinzler preferred to see. Underneath, it looked like what he had once thought the stars would look like, a long time ago.

Once, before Clu had made him Perfect, he remembered Kevin Flynn, the hated enemy.

He remembered one night when the hated Enemy was working on modifying his Light Cycle again, and Rinzler had been there. (Or had it been the other him? The one before Clu made him Perfect?) Kevin Flynn had talked about taking Sam outside one night to watch shooting stars.

Rinzler remembered asking what the stars were, and Kevin Flynn had tried to explain.

"They're these …well, they're lights in the sky, like the lights in the sky of the Grid. But the stars move, and turn, and they rotate and change. One of these days, Tron, I'll get things equalized on both sides of the Portal and I'll take you out of here so you can see the stars. Maybe we could bring Clu. Wouldn't that be a kick? He could fill in for me at Encom and they'd never know the difference. They'd probably like him better, since he's Mr. Organized and on top of the game."

But Flynn had betrayed them. So it had never happened. (And Rinzler is Perfect. He does not need to see the stars.)

Rinzler did not think about these things often.

Until he saw her.

She was nothing more than a reflection in the water. Never really there. And she knew she wasn't there, either.

He pulled up as close to the sea as he dared, and let the Light Cycle derezz back into a baton. He waded out into the water, knee deep. Perhaps she was here today. She wasn't always. But then again, he could almost tell when she was...

But today she was. She smiled sadly when she saw him. "Hello. I'm glad you're here. I keep reaching out. But I'm going the wrong way. I'm going further in, not out."

Rinzler growled, a little, to let her know he was listening.

"I'll get it right. I have to. Everyone's counting on me. I have to fix what Homura did." She held out her hands, even though she was a reflection. "I'll make it. I know I will." Then she faded away, leaving him alone in the water.

Rinzler growled again. She hadn't been here long. She never was.

Maybe someday she would get out. And then, maybe, she could come here and save him and the rest of the Grid-

- Except that none of it needed saving. Clu had handled that when he drove away Kevin Flynn, who was keeping them here against their will.

And the tiny, hidden part of him that had struggled so hard against recoding was so tired and worn…

~xXx~

Clu did not pay attention to reflections.

In a world where so much was dark and reflective there were always reflections to be looked at and he had better things to do with his time.

Jarvis was presenting a report on the new construction in Argon City. Because Clu did not look, he did not see her. But she was there, floating in a reflection upside down.

Her magic kept her black dress, longer in the back than in the front, where it was supposed to be. Her long black gloves, patterned stockings, and flats did not need the help of magic, and her skeletal black and white wings were extended above her as she listened.

Breaking every law to become what she was had some benefits. Homura's new favorite past time was sending her psyche to the Grid, to watch, because it amused her to see how the world ran so efficiently now that unnecessary programs had been removed. She really thought it brought home the point that the ends justified the means. And she enjoyed the knowledge that here, in this finite system, things were really no different then there were in the whole galaxy. Of course, no one knew what she had done and most Programs were aware of what Clu had done and who was running the place.

But still, it amused her. So she floated there awhile longer, a strange reflection on the wall of Clu's ship, and listened.

At least, if Clu ever did get out, he sounded like someone she could work with.

END OF LINE

[A/N:] So...I have no idea where this came from. Ummm, I thought there were comparisons between Clu and Homura and Tron/Rinzler and Madoka, so I decided to write when an idea hit me. But yeah, other than that I have no idea. The quote is just there at the top because I like it. I don't think a prayer that ends in despair will fall back to the ground or anything like that. I don't want to imply that I think either Homura or Madoka are goddesses, because that's an uncomfortable thought for me, even in the context of a fictional work. But I don't know. This idea came to me and I wrote it down.

If you read this far, please review and let me know what you thought. It would be appreciated.