Author's Note: For those who have read my other ffs: I AM BAAAAACK, PROGRAMMES, FEELS, FEEEEEELS EVERYWHERE!

For those who haven't: Hello.

I would recommend you to read them, since, as the name already implies, this little piece of art is an intermezzo between TRON: Downfall and TRON: Legend.

But you don't have to, because most of it will be explained anyway :)

It begins exactly at the end of the chapter called Beta Test, after CLU's visit in the End Of Line Club.

I have to say, it is sooooo much fun to write this. I really hope you'll like it!

ENJOY and REVIEW, my lovely programmes! :)

END OF LINE

CHAPTER 1

Still with a shocked expression on his face he just stood there, staring straightforward.

Zuse couldn't breathe, couldn't think. The feeling of fear paralised him entirely.

What was he supposed to do now? He definitely did not want to betray Susan, get involved with the one he had regarded as the enemy cycles-long, despite the fact that CLU had let him rebuild his club. That didn't cleanse him from his deeds, not in the least. He had the ISOs on his conscience, Quorra, hundreds of basics that were well-disposed to him and now he had banished his closest confidant, his best friend Susan as well. No, he surely didn't want to make common cause with this monster. But this was no matter of wanting anymore, CLU had made that abundantly clear.

Zuse had no choice. He HAD TO become CLU's spy, otherwise he would end up like Kurtz, a member of the slaughtered resistance, right in front of him. Meaniningless, forgotten, derezzed. But what if Susan found out about it? Would she understand? Would she forgive him?

His knees felt so week all of a sudden that he was close to collapsing, so he clung to his cane, stemmed it into the ground, supporting him.

He didn't want to think. The thoughts of the probable, incredibly negative consequences that both of the two options would entail nearly drove him crazy.

If he chose Susan's side, he would secure her affection and could sustain a pure conscience. Though, these advantages wouldn't help him in any way, since he would get killed by CLU for his decisions, before being able to enjoy them. If he chose the side of the latter, he would ensure his own survival, indeed, but would cause others much suffering and maybe he lost Susan thereby too.

His death or the one of others?

Susan or CLU?

Pain or pain?

There Zuse dashed off. In the elevator he pressed the button for Level 0 and while it went down let his fingertips tap on the wall nervously. As soon as he got out, he hastened to his light roadsterhe had used to bring the almost dead Susan here only two millicycles ago. Flooring the accelerator immediately, he manoeuvred the Car through the shining streets of Tron City, not minding the traffic rules in the least, since noone was on the road at this time anyway.

When he finally arrived at his destination, he abruptly brought the roadster to a standstill by a sharp turn to the right. Zuse scurried into a narrow alley where he touched the wall to his left on a particular spot, whereby a small pad with numbers on it lit up and he typed in the code he himself had programmed just a few millicycles ago. A part of the wall opened with a hiss, revealing the dark corridor behind it which Zuse entered now without hesitating. He was surrounded by total blackness that only retreated when he reached a bright light at the end of the corridor.

It was a well-lit round room. The biggest source of illumination weren't the luminous stripes on the wall, though, but a block of stone in the middle, encircled by an opaque white field of force.

When Zuse approached it, he slowed down his pace until he came to a stand completely. With an emotionless expression on his face he looked down at the black-haired programme that lay on top of the block.

Yes, Zuse didn't want to think of all the desperation within himself right now. He didn't want death in his thoughts. He needed a distraction. He needed life.

Kyto had to live and it had to be Zuse who saved his life. This was what would make him forget the inner fight with himself.

Zuse lifted his hands, letting the gloved fingertips, which now began to glow in white, run around the circuitry sign on his chest, so that the tailcoat-like part of his suit fell off, providing him a perfect ability to move. He sat down on a smaller block of stone near the programme's head that ascended from the ground and with quick movements of his hands navigated through the green shimmering digits of his now opened code.

He had already wasted too much time, had lost hope in being able of saving this programme's life when he found him earlier. Shortly after Zuse had patched up Susan in his lounge, he had begun to search for a backup of her friend. To him this Kyto meant nothing, quite the contrary, he didn't like him at all, especially since he had grievously offended him in front of his guests, though he knew that it would break Susan's heart if he died definitely. And Zuse had made a find, indeed, but after the initial euphoria he realised that the backup was enormously damaged, barely savable, particularly as it didn't even activate itself after the death of its original as usual. He had been able to put the programme into a force field which kept errors from spreading, though, it did not stop the process of deresolution. There was, as he had thought, nothing more Zuse could do for Kyto, which was why he didn't even tell her about the backup, didn't want to raise hopes where there weren't any.

But now his ambition was awoke again, driven by his own desperation.

No programme was irreparable, as long as it hadn't crumbled into pieces completely. It was immensely difficult, indeed, required full concentration and a load of luck, but maybe Zuse would manage to rescue Kyto.

So he fought his way through the ERROR reports and began to recondition all files as fast as possible. It would take an eternity and most probably wouldn't work anyway - the odds were at about 15% - Zuse was aware of that, but he simply had to try it.

A quarter of a millicycle passed by, half a millicycle, without Zuse allowing hinself to take a break. Early on the fist symptoms of the fact that he hadn't slept for almost a whole daycycle because of the problems with Susan already had made their presence felt, drained him of strength, though, he didn't let it affect his performance, concentrated on the numbers, letters and shapes in front of him even more, moving his fingers even faster. Giving up was no option.

Yet again he perused the whole code in wiping movements, checked it for remaining orange spots, for errors, but when he couldn't find any, Zuse let his arms he had held up the whole time sink.

After a three-quarter millicycle of work, six hours in User-time, he finally made it. The code of Kyto's backup was free from defects. He had had to remove the memory store, in order to avoid additional complicatons, but it could be inserted into his system later anyway, so it was dispensable at the present time. Now the moment of truth had come.

Did all of that make a difference? It was still quite likely that he began too late and the surface sequence had already collapsed by now, was only kept together by the field of force. In this case the activation would not succeed.

Zuse closed the codes.

Laboriously, he stood up, positioned himself next to the block and deactivated the force field at its side, letting the white gleam disappear. Small hovering letters lit up.

AKTIVATE PROGRAM?

YES - NO

The eyes still fixed on the black-haired programme, Zuse tipped on 'YES'.

...

Nothing happened.

Zuse frowned. Again he pressed 'YES', but the result remained the same.

"Dammit...", he uttered quietly, tipping onto the luminous 'YES' again and again. "Come one, come on...", Zuse brought forth between clenched teeth. Then he quickly wiped the menu array away and, in a rage, let his fist plummet onto the chest of the programme. "COME ON!"

There it lifted its lids, took a deep breath and came to sit at one go.

Zuse backed off. For a moment he just stared in shock at the quickly breathing Kyto. Then he shook his head lightly to regain his composure and stepped up to him, gently put his hands onto his shoulders, which made him look up with widened eyes.

"Calm down.", he tried to appease him with a soft voice, though Kyto just kept staring at Zuse in fear, breathing morbidly.

"Calm yourself, I said..." He held up one Hand right in front of the face of the programme to force him to look at it. With the palm pointing up, he raised it, saying "Breathe in..." and at lowering it again "... and out. In... and out." Zuse repeated the whole thing a few times, until he noticed how Kyto's chest stopped moving that fast.

"Where am I?", he brought out.

Zuse sat down on the small block, where he had been sitting during his work. "You are in some sort of healing and activation room."

Kyto looked around with squinted eyes, before letting his eyes rest on Zuse again. "Who are you?"

"My name is..." He thought about it for a moment. The former Kyto had learnt about his true identity from Susan. It would certainly be wiser, if he took the chance to undo her little mistake now. "... Castor. My Name is Castor."

Kyto nodded lightly, looking to the ground, as if he wanted to confirm to his system that it should burn this name into his mind. Then he raised his eyes again. "And... and who am I?", he said, fear resounding in his voice.

Zuse examined his features. He could understand his anxiety. It had to be really frightening to wake up in an entirely unfamiliar environment, with no clue about who one was, to what purpose one existed, completely vulnerable, helpless.

"Your name...", Zuse began eventually. "... is Kyto. You are a programme of the Grid, written to improve the data traffic of the system, thus a mechanic."

"The Grid...", he repeated quietly. "... created by Kevin Flynn."

Zuse wanted to smile softly, though, the exhaustion kept him from doing that. "Good. It is set in your source code. That means I do not have to teach you every detail by myself...", Zuse sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Castor?"

"Yes?"

"You... are wearing clothes...", he said hesitating. "... I'm not..."

Zuse opened his eyes again. "Oh. Right. One moment." He activated Kyto's code near his head again. "Lay down and don't move."

Kyto did as he was told, noticed, however, that it was incredibly difficult for him to not move. Just after his activation he was pumped full with energy he urgently had to let out somehow. Though, now he had to follow the instructions of this white-haired man.

Zuse typed in a few orders, whereupon little black squares stretched over Kyto's skin until he was covered to his neck. He had hardly sat up after Zuse closed the codes, when suddenly the primarily dull patches on his body began to gloGreene gaudy green. Zuse eyed him for a moment.

The green of the former Kyto had been paler, softer, definitely not like that, rich and loud. He blamed it on the energy boost. Probably, it would change back to normal later.

Zuse walked up to the back of the room, sensing Kyto's attentive gazes in his back, and picked up the disc he had prepared earlier when bringing the backup here. "Back to me.", he said, when reaching the block again and put the disc onto the input on Kyto's suit, feeling in his hands how the programme flinched at the synchronisation.

Then Zuse positioned in front of Kyto again. "So...", he sighed. "How are you now?"

"I'm fine, I guess."

"Can you stand up?"

Slowly Kyto let his right foot glide to the ground. Then the left, but when he tried to push away from the rock, his knees gave way, making him fall forward. Zuse was barely able to catch him.

"Careful...", he said, helping Kyto up again. "It is perfectly normal to not be in control of all functions after the activation. That is why I am here. I'll help you, alright?"

Kyto, supporting himself on Zuse's shoulders with shaky hands and trying to stand upright, whispered: "Alright..."

Zuse put his hands on Kyto's sides. "We will take a few steps together now. If you fall, I catch you."

"Okay."

Bit by bit Kyto placed one foot in front of the other. He was afraid of his legs giving way again, but the tight grip of the programme opposite to him stabilised him and gave him the feeling of being protected. With him he was comfortable and felt stronger with every step, quite contrary to Zuse who desperately tried to hide that Kyto's weight drained on the strength of his already exhausted limbs.

More and more they approached the exit.

"Do you think you can take a step on your own?", Zuse asked, looking into Kyto's green eyes.

As his opposite did the same with Zuse's, he noticed their intensive colour. "You... you really got... weirdly bright eyes, Castor, did you know that?"

Zuse narrowed his eyes to slits, let go off Kyto, taking one step back so that his counterpart stumbled, quickly leaning onto the wall next to him to not fall. Zuse smirked. Walking past Kyto towards the room with the block of stone again, he said: "The colour is called silver. Save this word on your disc, before you little rascal have to call my gorgeous eyes weird again." He picked up the part of his suit he had taken off earlier, put it on in pacing back and offered Kyto his Arm, which he quickly clung to.

Slowly Zuse guided Kyto out to his light roadster, whose appearance the young programme took in with a wide marvelling smile. "Wow! That looks amazing! Can I have a closer-"

"No.", Zuse interrupted him, while hurrying around the vehicle. "I want to get home as fast as possible. You will explore this world and everything in it soon enough. Now, please get in."

Kyto hesitated, but let himself sink on the passenger seat yet.

He admired Zuse at driving, how he sped through the streets with adamant, though tired gaze forward, as if it was the simpliest thing to do.

When they arrived at their destination, getting out of the car, Kyto looked up with his mouth agape. "Now THAT is a huge tower!"

"Mhm..."

During the lift ride up Kyto stared out the windows with a sparkle in his eyes, absorbed every detail he could detect from the increasing height. Zuse was glad to not have to answer even more questions, he was far to tired for that at the moment. The torrent of queries would come soon enough anyway.

As the elevator doors opened, Zuse marched right into the club silently, whereas Kyto entered it slow paced, since he wanted to take in his evironment in amazement. "It's awesome here! You really have a wonderful home, Castor!"

Zuse, picking up his glass cane which he had left standing next to the big bar the whole time, paused. Yes, the club was his home. CLU must not take it from him, by no means. "Thank you..." He took a few steps back, beckoned Kyto, who still stood in the small corridor marvelling at his surroundings, over, letting his cane tap on the ground, whereupon the stairs to his private lounge hovered up.

Kyto laughed. He really liked this place.

"After you, please.", Zuse said with a little bow.

Kyto looked at him in bafflement, then smiled widely and ascended the staircase. Instantly, he took a look around, while Zuse went past him, behind the small bar and got a few blankets out of a drawer that moved out with a hiss. "I realise that you are all of a tizzy after your activation and almost bursting with energy, but believe me, this is just the first wave of excitement. You will get very tired very soon and therefore I suggest that we settle down for the night.", he spoke in the meantime. "Besides..." He put the blankets onto the counter, giving Kyto a look full of exhaustion. "... it's a personal concern of mine to have some peace and quiet now."

Kyto thought for a moment, but agreed then. "Alright."

"Good. You can lay down right there."

Zuse pointed at the big couch at the right side of the lounge, where Kyto sat down now, checking how it felt and decided then that it was pleasantly soft, especially in comprison to the rock he was lying on earlier. Yes, he would be able to keep a perfect sleeping cycle hereon. Meanwhile, Zuse had brought Kyto's blanket, put it down onto the side table together with a bottle of fluorescent blue liquid.

Kyto listened to Zuse whilst lying down, wrapping up into the dark blue blanket.

"So, here you have some energy in case you wake up and feel weak. If you need anything, wake me, however, I would be very grateful if you didn't do that for every trifle. And please do not leave the lounge in the meantime. Of course you can serve yourself from the bar, but please... don't break anything. At this point I wish you a nice sleeping cycle."

Before he could move away from Kyto, the black-haired programme got hold of his trousers.

"Thanks.", Kyto said smiling. "You activated me, gave me a chance to live. I don't know you yet, but I really appreciate what you did for me. I owe you something, Castor."

Zuse eyed him for a moment, then said: "I didn't do it for you. But to be honest... I am glad to not have to be alone now. You don't have to thank me. And now go to sleep, Kyto. Tomorrow, when you explore the Grid, you will need all of your energy."

With these words Zuse stepped over to the couch on the other side of the room and lay down with his own blanket. The lights in the lounge and the club went out on its own.

Zuse was glad to be so exhausted that he just fell asleep without his thoughts finding the way to one of the many negative experiences of the last day cycles.