[_16_]


-
His world consisted of a blur- it was getting harder and harder to distinguish the days. He'd wake to a world of cold ice; clinical and gleaming, feel the slickness of cold metal beneath his shoulders and legs before he even opened his eyes in the morning. Before he had time to wonder what the hell he was doing here and before it hit him and he remembered and oh god how he wished he didn't.

Ignorance really was bliss.

Bliss… those precious few moments before blinding reality cut in and sank its icy claws into his chest again and his seconds of lucidity were swept away in the current of another's life, and he was gone. Again. He's stopped trying to resist the tug at this point, instead letting his head slip right under and embracing the feeling as mist rushed in and clogged his lungs. There's no point trying to hold back the ocean. The instant he gave in… he… he was… was… gonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnne-
-


GNIDAOL… GONLIDA… OLNGIAD… OLIADNG… LOAIDNG… LOADING… LOADING…


MEMORY SYNCED… FAST FOWARDING MEMORY TO A MORE RECENT ONE… MEMORY SYNCED…

[Her voice sounded so sweet, like poisoned honey]

GNIDAOL… GONLIDA… OLNGIAD… OLIADNG… LOAIDNG… LOADING… LOADING…

[so digital]

MEMORY SYNCED…

[he found he liked the taste]

WARNING DESYNCRONISATION IMINENT… WARNING DESYNCRONISATION IMINENT… RESTORE SYNCRONISATION IMMEDIATELY… WARNIN-

[even when she was telling him he was going to die]

REFRESHING MEMORY… MEMORY SYNCED… MEMORY SYNCED…

MEMORY SYNCED… MEMORY SY-

[even when-]

ANCESTOR DEATH… SUBJECT DESYNCRONISED. D-DESYNC-SYNC-RONI-I-I-I-ISED.

[-he couldn't remember.]


-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep… bleeeeeeep… bleep-blip… bleep-blip… bleep-blip… bleep-blip… *breathe*


-
Gone. Gone only to wake up screaming hours later as the aqua-blue glare and the sound of a flat-lining heart monitor assaulted his senses and he nearly shattered the fragile screen as he jolted up in his attempt to get away from it but oh LORD it never seemed to work, for the visor never moved no matter how he tried, his fingers sliding futilely off the edges as he clawed at its slick surface in sheer desperation. But no dice, it remained locked in place. As always. He could have cried out in frustration had his throat not already felt as though it had been sandpapered raw already. He could already taste blood.
-


-
Cold, it was always s-s-so c-cold. Frigid. Like a morgue. His breath fogged the accursed visor as his heart hammered in growing trepidation from the waiting, the god awful waiting. THAT'S ALL HE EVER SEEMED TO DO! Lie around with baited breath waiting for his moment of god damn icy freedom to be snatched from his numb fingered grasp as he was swept off again, dead and lost to the world as he plunged into the awaiting waters of the memories, dredged up from the depths of time by that machine. How he hated it.
-


-
His freedom was always bittersweet, for with lucidity came reflection. And fear. He realised now, he was but a piece of the puzzle. A cog in the system. A number in the coding. He was merely a bridge- his own existence meant nothing. It didn't matter what happened to him. He'd played his part. Their words were not meant for him. He can stop the cycle, tell the secret.

The epiphany was like a light bulb flicking on in his head. He was going to die.

Had he been able to, he would have laughed. As it was, it came out as more of a shuddering wheeze, but he didn't care. He was too preoccupied, mind still reeling at the revelation.
He could escape. He could be free… But hell, he had work to do first.
-


GNIDAOL… GONLIDA… OLNGIAD… OLIADNG… LOAIDNG… LOADING… LOADING…


-apoplastic-
Realised I had more than a few Bleeding Effect drabbles knocking around. Will upload them here. Not sure why I find it so damn fascinating, but I do.
The P.O.V. might swap around a bit, but if you lookie there at the top, the characters name will be in square brackets. I know I spammed with the line break, but I figured 16's thoughts would be pretty disjoined by this point. I'm not entirely sure where the hint of 16/Female-Animus-Computer-Voice came from either, probably something to do with the fact that 16 is left alone in the Animus for days, he'd likely latch onto the only thing he could be sure wasn't a hallucination or memory, the only other 'person' he knew was real. The voice appears in the brotherhood glyphs as well...

(Next A/N won't be this long, I promise.) Reviewers, do your worst.