(Cain)

I can do this. I can go on forever, in this world. Lost in my dreams when I haven't dreamt in years. I won't go down without fighting. I'll fight out of this place, despite the comfort, despite the warmth. I won't forget when I wake up. I won't forget. I'll remember all of it, every bit. I'll remember it all. Right here, in my mind where I have to stay for now, I'll remember. I know in the waking world Winston still works feverishly on me. Trying to save a life, despite his disdain for it. Here, as I sleep, I know I'll remember. I have to.

"Cain."

A deep, guttural voice. It's been years since I've heard it. It's a welcome surprise, and one I've unsurprisingly, missed.

"Charon."

I say back, knowing both of us want to hug the other, but we're too stubborn to do it. Too stubborn to admit that after all this time, after all that's happened, there's still familial love between us. Charon walks over, as if covered in a black fog. This whole place is black, and green segments of code flash above. I suppose, when I dream, I just go into some sort of central nucleus of my mind. Some…I don't know. I'm nothing but an advanced AI. But I know here, I'm still alive.

"Come here, son."

I hadn't seen Charon as my father in almost a decade. But hearing him call me that, emotions I can't begin to describe overtake me. Succumbing, I give him a hug. The comfort I didn't even know I missed so deeply is presented to me again. I've missed him, more than I ever realized.

"You will be alright."

He says to me, patting my back hard like he did when I was a child. I bite my lip, hiding tears, hiding pain. I won't let it show. I'm strong. I can do this. Despite the fears I have, despite knowing I may lose everything, I still have to be strong.

"Thanks."

I say to him, fear still creeping in at me from all directions. I'm worried I'll forget, and there won't be any shot at remembering. Worried, that I'll lose myself to the programming as I had been built to do, and there won't be a way to stop me. I'm worried I'll hurt people, hurt Dizzy.

"She misses you."

We let go of one another, and my resilience to show no emotion holds fast. Somewhere, Winston is working on fixing me. In the waking world, I'll soon be nothing but what I was designed to be. The thought of that terrifies me. But what other choice did I have? Charon looks at me, his eyes narrowing and focusing on something. He wasn't ever a man of many words. To me, it seemed like he only spoke when he had something to say. I don't remember his words ever being wasted.

"She is a strong woman now. She has grown in many ways. I'm proud of her, and of you."

In this desolate and dark place, where dark fog likes to linger, I feel frightened and alone. Though Charon stands beside me, I know that in no uncertain terms I'll be alone and lost when I wake. I won't remember anything, only what I was programmed to remember. Only what I have at my disposal. It'll be a sole reliance on Winston to take me to where I need to be, guide me and help me. A blind trust I put into someone, who for very good reason wanted me dead. A part of me is worried I won't even wake.

"I understand you are scared, Cain. It's alright, to be frightened. It reminds us we care enough about something, to fear losing it."

I look over at Charon, the fear inside like a bubble waiting to burst.

"What if I can't remember who I am?"

"A person never forgets who they are."

"But I'm not a person."

"Machines, especially, can remember. Data, in any form, can always be recovered. Not all of it, and not all at once, but enough to make a picture large enough for the viewer to understand. You are not an exception to this rule."

"Have you ever forgotten? Did you ever lose yourself to your training? To the people who raised you?"

Charon stands in silence for a bit. He contemplates his thoughts and folds his arms over his chest. Inside, I smirk at how similar our stances are. How in my life I've mimicked him in so many ways.

"I have. Many times."

"What happened?"

"I always came back. I always remembered."

"How?"

"The annoying persistence of a haggard and determined woman."

Dezbe. I smirk a bit at Charon's description. He loves Dezbe, truly he does, but his ways of describing her have always been…frighteningly accurate and honest.

"I hope Diz has the same conviction."

"Hardly. She's a selfish woman, much like her mother. But she's like myself more. She'll give you an inch and demand you go the rest of the mile. This problem can't be solved solely by her, nor will she solve it alone. It seems my daughter has more pressing matters at hand, like figuring out what new and inventive ways she can decimate small towns in."

"This humors you, doesn't it?"

"Very much. I was worried she would be a carbon copy of her mother and even in my death I'd worry for her safety. It seems I was mistaken. She'll be just fine."

"And me? How can I remember something I don't know I've forgotten?"

Charon looks at me, and smirks. As if he knows the timeline of our lives but is refusing to give away too much information. That would actually not surprise me at all.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out, Cain."

It shouldn't comfort me, such vague and blank advice. But, it does. Together, in the dark silence, Charon and I stand. We stare out at nothing, but we both know that inside the vastness of this place, there's everything we could ever hope to see. There's something on the horizon, just as there is in the waking world. That at the end of the metaphorical day, things will be alright. Despite the paths my life will take me on from this moment forth, I'll wind up exactly where I need to be at the end. Where I need to be, I'm not sure yet. But I know it's beside Dizzy. It'll take time to get there, but I know I will. I guess I inherited more of Charon, than just being in his body. I think, I've also inherited his determination to keep going. Especially, if at the end, there's a life with the person you care most for.

"Persistent, annoying woman."

Charon says, as the surroundings soon begin to fade. I hear Dezbe's voice somewhere off in the distance, calling to him. He growls, grumpily as he always has, before turning and heading towards her voice.

"Annoying…determined, arrogant woman…"

His mumbling speaks more to me than if he were to start singing her praises. Because I know when he sees her, he'll happily embrace her. Just as he has done his entire life with her. His distaste of Dezbe's personality comes only from deep admiration and respect for all the things she's done for him. She's a persistent, annoying, arrogant, loud woman, but, he loves her. And in that same light, Dizzy is my idiotic, annoying, brash and impulsive woman. Yet, I still love her just the same.