Anon laid under the covers, curled in a ball, shaking with fear in his sleep mode. His recharge was almost over though. Snapping his eyes open he sat up quickly, gripping onto his shirt for dear life. Another nightmare... Normally he didn't have dreams while sleeping, only when getting updates and being able to see what seem to be a countless new vast stream of data. But these dreams...no, they're nightmares...they seemed so vivid it broke his recharge state every time now into uneven stages, no matter how hard he tried it always happened...they always came... It wasn't his fault, was it? It was always the same thing over and over again.
They were about Gibson...when he had no choice but to derezz him due to being infected by the Abraxas virus. He couldn't take it, always hearing his voice over and over, a repeated cycle of having to hear him; "Dammit! End it already!" Anon shook his head. Maybe if he deleted the memory from his disc he would be able to stop having these constant nightmares of the event. But he wouldn't be able to bring himself to delete it, no matter how much it put him through, he wouldn't do that, it would only make him feel selfish in a way. He had to spare every memory of the ISO even if it was a memory that hurt the most.
He thought back to how he first met Gibson. He was just about to be sent to the Games, but they traded places. Anon hadn't expected that to happen at all, he had first thought of Gibson to be selfish and couldn't be trusted, till he came back, crushing his last opponent with a Recognizer. So why couldn't he dream about that? Did he has some sort of trauma from the event of killing him that had to be repeated? It wasn't going to make him feel any better if he were to think that. Maybe, just maybe he could repair himself if he can figure out the problem...
However he would have to wait until the next cycle, get as much rest as possible to complete his recharge, he's going to need to have as much energy as possible if he's going to spend countless time trying to figure out the problem...
Again. Gibson came charging at him, his circuits glowing a bright yellow from the infection. Anon gripped onto his disc tightly. He didn't want to throw it. The infected ISO was about to tackle him down. Anon's body was acting without him thinking. Was it self defense? No. He was doing everything, the same thing every time. It was a replay of the battle, he wasn't in charge of his body. There was no way to alter what's happening, not even as a dream. There was nothing he could do...
"Hit me now! I can't hold it back anymore!" Gibson commanded holding back the virus making himself vulnerable before he could tackle down Anon. The Monitor Program hesitated for a moment before releasing his disc to hit the ISO, inflicting the damage and seeing him return back into the Infected seemed to break his heart. Why was this happening to him again? Was there something he wasn't noticing that he had to take notice to or was it really from trauma? Why must this keep repeating itself?
He snatched his disc off his back and quickly scrolled through the memory storage, he watched the memories of the ISO and every event that happened at the Bostrum Colony. Running from Abraxas, fighting Infected, setting up the reactor, everything...He stopped it at the part right as Abraxas was infecting him...There. He stared intensely at the scene, replaying it and replaying it, over and over. There was nothing he could pinpoint that could've helped him. He replayed the scene of them fighting. Though he was sick of having to go through all of it he watched it carefully.
"SPREAD THE PAIN!" He heard Gibson practically scream that several times throughout the battle, but he hardly recalled him saying it when he was dreaming it. He normally heard Gibson beg him to finish him already and say; "Oh not this again!" whenever he entered one of the energy terminal vents. Something seemed off from the actual memory and the nightmare. He got up and paced around his room, thinking as he watched the replay. He mounted the disc back onto his back, rezzed on his suit and clad armor and quickly headed out, activating his lightcycle and racing out of Tron City to the Outlands.
He revved the bike, willing it to go faster as he raced through the Outlands. Rain whipped against him and the sky flashed with lightning, no thunder though. He stopped at a cliff, quickly snapped the cycle back into a baton and sliding to a halt just before falling. He retraced all his steps, leading back to the place he still dreads the most. His battlefield with the ISO. It still glowed yellow from the Infection that's still there, but its dim now and fading, it was a dying disease. He walked around, avoiding any contact with the yellow veins of circuits that would inflict damage on him or give him a minor virus.
He jumped up to the second platform to where a destroyed energy terminal vent was at and traced his fingers on it. It glowed a faint white from the touch. He remembered having to destroy these when Gibson jumped into them in order to weaken him...He jumped down and briskly walked over to the only remaining two active vents. He sat down, leaning against them and closed his eyes, letting the rain wash down on him. Rain cycles lasted a long time in the Outlands, maybe they'll help wash something away from him...
He dreamed, was he still dreaming? He wasn't sure. There was no nightmares...He walked around. Anon stared down at his own hands the blue circuits flashed white. A hand laid gently on his shoulder and he turned his head slightly to look back. Gibson. He smiled at the System Monitor and Anon smiled though it was unable to be seen due to him wearing his helmet. But Gibson was a little strange, always claiming he could see his expression through the helmet.
"No, no don't answer I can see it on your face." Gibson said his soft smile warming through Anon's cold circuits. Oh how he missed the ISO dearly...