Flung towards the edge of the desert sector, Yumi struggled to grip onto the strangely crumbled rocks. For a virtual world, the moments of most urgent panic seemed to be more real than the usual cartoon-esque missions to get Aelita to a tower. With a struggling groan she attempted to pull herself up, but before she could attempt to get anywhere, a cloud of black smoke emerged from all around her, gripped onto her limbs and began to tug away, almost teasing her with the thought of being deleted – her death.
The warriors had been scattered, all in a similar situation. Ulrich was hanging from his sword which was almost slipping out of its sharp grip, and Odd dangling from a tower root which was sticking out from the sector. In fact, all of the warriors were surrounded by the black smoke – all but Aelita, that is. XANA had a better plan for her. It was at that exact point in which William, under control, simply held a strong grip against the girl's neck. There may not have been a sense of touch or any oxygen to be inhaled, but the quick moment during the process of devirtualization, when prolonged, was the most painful any of them could imagine.
His clenched fingers around her neck elicited smaller strands of the boy's dark smoke which surrounded her head, and much like the Scyphozoa, began to extract her consciousness and replace it with a conscience that darkened her mind, darkened her thoughts, and darkened her actions. The excruciating pain felt like an anaesthetic not in work – like she was awake and feeling every inch of pain in her body during an operation.
In the distance, a cry from a boy she knew not which, not anymore. Who knew what was happening at the edge of the sector – all she was currently trapped in was the deadly transfiguration of her entire being by one small string of smoke. Then the deed was done – and she wasn't thrown to the ground or dropped much like the Scyphozoa did before. In fact, Aelita wasn't in the desert sector anymore. Where she was looked much like the white void where she saved Jeremie, but with a visible grounded area, and faded glitches that made up four walls, ending up in an extremely small boxed containment.
In front of her was William, his arm still held up to her yet his hand was not around her neck anymore, but was placed upon her shoulder instead. His expression was somewhat sympathetic and a tired smile made its way to his face as soon as Aelita looked up at him. He suddenly flinched away from her – his presence probably made her nervous enough already. Immediately as his hand left her shoulder, she took many steps away from him until she reached the glitched wall which lightly stung her back.
"I'd keep away from those," he huffed out with a morose smile.
Confused as she was, she gave the dark haired boy a squinted glare as she turned to glance behind. He only responded with a sigh and a mellow shrug, as he sunk back into a seated position in the middle of the 'room'. Aelita stayed close to the electric walls, turning to face him entirely now. Sure he had dark William's outfit, but there was nothing dark about his aura. She rubbed at her temples, trying to work out where she was, however it didn't seem like she'd get anywhere without asking the seated figure in the middle.
"Where are we?" she asked firmly, arms ready at her side just in case anything was provoked. For all she knew he could have just been any old XANA trick.
Raising his previously hanging head, he gave her another sad smile.
"We're free."
She raised a brow and found herself taking another step back, only to have the back of her foot electrocuted again. With a wince, almost too quickly a hand found its way on her shoulder again, pulling her away.
"I told you, I'd keep away from those if I were you," he muttered, tugging her along to the centre of the area. He gave her an immediate apologetic look as soon as he let go.
"What do you mean 'we're free'?" she yelled out, feeling more and more exasperated as the situation unfolded.
"Have you not figured it out?" he scratched at his hair before crossing his arms quite pathetically.
"No! I haven't! Just... just explain all of this, please."
"It's me. It's really me. I think we're in a prison, but all I know is that here I'm free."
"I...-"
"Of course you don't believe me," he laughed, somewhat scoffing.
Before she could speak out a retort, he started to move towards the glitched wall, and with a sprint, he flung himself at the wall, getting electrocuted all over.
"H-hey, stop! What are you doing?!" Aelita called out, wanting to stay back though finding she couldn't exactly do so.
Ignoring her questionable cries, he continued to fling himself at the walls – all four of them – hissing at each sharp jostling contact. The white void started to darken, the soft hum becoming distorted, and an enormous smoke of pitch darkness surrounded the room. The dark haired boy lay on the floor, fidgeting with his thumbs and jerking his body to relieve himself from the electrolyte running through his body. Aelita ran over to him to – sharply – help him up.
"Are you out of your mind?! What did you- what's happening?!" she yelled at him, his limp figure only eliciting a painful groan in return.
"S... sorry," he whispered, and she could only watch with wide eyes, a slow understanding coming over her – until both his and her bodies were flung upwards into midair, held by their throats by the dark smoke.
Flitting through their necks in a ghost like manner and taking control of their inner mind's sight, their view went pitch black, and with a sudden jolt of pain and loud ringing throughout their heads, they began to see something fading into view. Aelita could see her own arm reaching out for Ulrich, as if to help him up, but as soon as he swings his arm up, she jerks her hand away from his reach as a dark laugh emitted from... her? It was like she was within her own body but unable to control it whatsoever. He, however, was well aware of this – watching his darker, eviler self being controlled by the virus. His corrupted puppet teased Yumi's clenched fingers on the sector's edge, lowly chuckling as panic rose in her begging voice. There was nothing he could do – he'd tried many a time but never succeeded. Her last jolt of strength left her and soon she was falling, hand still outstretched in the hopes of still being saved – oh how her faith in people wrecked the boy inside, but of course his corrupted self wouldn't know any different. Simply shrugging the fallen girl off, he walked towards the other dangling boy which Aelita – no, Aelita's corrupted self – was taking care of. Using the tip of her right foot, she nudged the sticking sword that Ulrich had been holding onto for his life, and it slowly began to slip out of where it had been ledged in. The one more jostle and he, too, falls into the digital sea along with Yumi and Odd.
A quick flash in their trapped vision and with another electric jolt, the pair was back in the clear void, the dark smoke fading away into the horizon. Yet again the silence rang in their ears, calming yet causing more nerves to shriek. Taking a long breath, Aelita turned her gaze from the ground to the boy.
"You're... you're really him, aren't you..."
He turned his head from where he was on the ground, gasping for breaths. With an ever so slight nod, she was immediately by his side, clutching his arm and hand and face. It had been almost a year now. She could only make hushed sobbing noises, tears not able to fall out in her virtual form.
"P-please don't tell me they're gone forever, William..." she stuttered.
"They're gone but they can come back," he took another deep breath before letting out a shaky laugh. "If I survived then they most certainly can..."
From that point on they just held each other – unable to devirtualize one another or escape the digital cell. They held on to the one thing they had left. Together they would not forget their identity. For now the only hope they had was Jeremie, and so they hoped and prayed each passing second for that one miracle. However it wasn't too long until Yumi, Ulrich and Odd made their painful way into the digital cell too. Hope seemed to have been lost.