One Night Alone a reboot fanfic by Mary Jane
CHAPTER FOUR: GAMES
Everyone was still, and silent. The occurrence had not yet sunk in, but the disgusting crack was echoing in their ears still. They all stared at the man in front of them, who had become something that he was not before. Before, he had been a gruff warrior who they all knew had dangerous potential, but they had never expected him to become something like this, something that would hurt them. And now, he was something else, something that they had never seen before, something that had wild eyes and an empty heart and a soul that had gone from tough to dead to absolute evil.
Matrix's arms still clenched, and they were still extended in front of him, in the position that they had been in when he grabbed the tiny little binome. But, now there was no binome in his hands, for he had watched as its core snapped in half, its eyes slowly drifted shut, and it faded into the surroundings. Matrix had no idea what he had done, but at the same time he had no idea that any of this was really happening. He was trapped, in a world where his rage controlled every action and every movement that he performed. His mind was focused on protecting the ones he loved, for he thought that all around him there were beings that lived only to kill, but in reality he was simply blind to the truth: that he was the evil one, he was the one who had given in to hatred, and he was the one who lived to kill.
As he continued to stare at the space in front of him, Matrix slowly lowered his arms down to his sides, panting heavily and smiling a tiny little smile. In his mind, the sound of the crack was music, for it was the sound of the death of everything that he hated. He pictured Megabyte, and Hexadecimal, and the red devil that had defeated him and had sent him into this world as a renegade. He pictured the sprite in the story, the one he hated so much, who had abandoned everything that it loved in order to achieve its own desires. All these pictures, all these memories were flooding his mind, and just as the little boy who had once dreamed of being a hero and defeating the forces of evil, Matrix now stood. A gleam in his eye, a feeling of strength and power flowing through his central nervous system, his heart bursting with pride; no man had ever been more wrong.
Ray was among the ones who stared, but instead of remaining in awe and fear of this great man before him, he stared with disgust and an almost equal amount of hatred to what Matrix felt. He whispered, in a voice that was so quiet no one could hear him even if they were listening, "What have you done?"
"What have you done, Matrix?"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The children all laughed as they watched him spin around and around, with a blindfold over his eyes and his hands stretched out in front of him. There were a lot of rocks around, and Enzo couldn't help but fall over them, for he had no idea where he was going or what he was walking in to. He could hear the other children laughing at him as he stumbled and fell, but he didn't care. He simply laughed along with them.
It was a beautiful day, with a clear sky, perfect temperatures, and not a game cube in sight. Of course, Enzo found game cubes fun and exciting, but he always enjoyed a little break from all the action. And that was what this was: a group of friends who had gathered after school and played blind man's bluff, a popular game among young children in the city. There was also an air of danger around all the children, one that they absolutely loved and thrived on. It was the feeling of complete freedom from all the responsibilities that life had to offer, like parents and work and problems and duties. The woods in which they played, although they had played in it so many times before, took on a whole new life. The trees grew larger, and they covered over every patch of grass beneath them, darkening the world with a frightening and exciting cover.
Enzo began to laugh harder as the other children began to chorus at him. "You can't catch us, you can't catch us!" They all yelled at him. Some of them even formed a circle around him, joining hands and spinning in a wild frenzy as the game progressed. Some of the bigger sprites came up to him and tried to figure out how close they could get to him without getting caught, and Enzo lunged in all directions in the hope of breaking their little bubbles. He thought to himself, 'I am the champion of the system! None of these viruses in training can escape the wrath of the guardian!'
One little girl sprite watched this all with a grin on her face. She actually had a little bit of a crush on Enzo; to her, he was the dark knight. He was much bigger than she, and he was strong compared to all the other boys, and he always seemed to be taking risks. He lived his life very dangerously, and was known to do crazy things like enter game cubes without anyone with him. There was even a rumor, which had become more of a legend around the playground, that Enzo once saved the life of the guardian of the city, Bob. The legend went that Bob, the indestructible, had been struck by a stupefying ray that made his intelligence plummet, and he became as stupid as an ant trying to cross the street. In fact, this ray had struck everyone in the entire city, and they were at the mercy of both the forces of evil and the game cubes that may come down. And when a game cube did, Enzo took charge, for he was the only one with enough strength and intelligence left to win the game. And win the game he did. Yes, to her, Enzo was a regular sex symbol.
Some of her girl friends were playing the game with her, and they saw her staring at Enzo with stars in her eyes. They all giggled and gathered around her, teasing her about how much she liked Enzo, and how in love she was. She playfully denied their accusations, but as they began to push her closer to him, she didn't struggle. They practically carried her over to a reasonable distance by the blindfolded Enzo, and they told her that she should impress him. When she looked back at them with confusion in her eyes, they told her to do various things. Things like go up to him and let him catch her, then kiss him. Or, better yet, impress him by doing what only the big boys did: go up close to him, taunt him, and then run away. Yes, that was it, they all said. Impress him with your running skills, for after all, she was the best runner of all the girls!
The little girl turned around and looked again at Enzo, who was still trying to catch the guys that were around him. She stood in awe for a moment at how fast he was, and how much courage it must have took to be blindfolded in such a rocky area, where it is dark and mysterious and easy to get hurt. Then, after swallowing hard and clenching her fists, she stepped up right behind Enzo, slowly. The boys that had been around him didn't notice her at first, and continued along with their own antics, but slowly they all saw her walk up. A couple of them laughed at her, but as she continued to walk foreword they stopped and stared at her. They noticed, among all other things, that she was very pretty, with her long almost white blond hair, blue eyes and tanned cheeks. They also took notice of how little she was, and how they had never seen a little girl muster up this kind of courage to stand up to a boy much bigger than she. As she got within distance of Enzo's arms, there was no one around him except for her, and it had grown strangely, almost eerily, quiet. All eyes were on her.
Enzo was confused. He didn't know why it was so quiet, or where everyone had gone, for he felt that there was no one anywhere around him. He was alone, in the dark, without a hint as to where his friends were. He wasn't scared, for a simple little game like this where people were constantly trying to trick him didn't scare him, but he had never liked the feeling of being alone.
The little girl took in a deep breath, and said in a loud voice, "Enzo is blind! Enzo doesn't know about anything going on around him!"
Enzo whirled around and lunged in the direction of the voice, but there was nothing there. He continued to spin around and around, making himself dizzy, even though he could not see anything. He didn't recognize the voice, and since no one had said anything except simple little taunts to him before, he had no idea who he was chasing.
"Enzo is just a little boy in a big world! He is lost, he is in the dark, and he has no one with him, no one around him! There's no one here to help you, Enzo!"
All of the other children were deathly still. They were amazed at this little girl, for no one had ever done anything like this before. And what was more, they listened to her words with mystery and confusion in their hearts. She wasn't talking about the game anymore, and even if she was, she was talking about the game on another level than any of them had ever considered it before. It was a game, not life. But here, right in front of them, this little girl almost seemed to be accusing Enzo of something. In reality, she was simply flirting with him, trying to drive him closer to her, but something in her voice gave a different impression. Something in her voice wasn't right.
"Do you feel alone, Enzo? C'mon, you do, don't you? I'm here, but you don't know who I am! You, don't you know where your friends are? They're here, but you can't see them, and they aren't moving so you can't detect them. Do you really know if they are here or not?"
She paused for a minute, and circled around and around him, beginning to laugh. The children still stared as the game progressed. Now they were starting to get just the tiniest little bit scared. The world was spinning around in front of them, like a carousel ride on a warm night in the warm season. They saw the world in front of them as a blur, and as something that did not maintain all of the truths that it was supposed to have. This tiny little girl was a catalyst for their world; it was no longer an innocent world in the forest with games and laughter, but a world that they had all actually been trying to escape. The world in front of them was a whirl of confusion. Enzo, also, was confused, and he didn't want to play this game any more, but something drove him onward. He wanted to catch this person, he wanted to destroy the things that this person was saying. He wanted to stop the world that this person was creating, for it was a world that he hated. He did not like the darkness, the confusion, and the never-ending noise.
"Come on, Enzo! Come on, ENZO! Catch me! End it all, Enzo!"
"END IT ALL!"
With a scream, Enzo, managed to out run the voice, and he caught the being in his hands. He felt it go silent, and it struggled and squirmed and tried desperately to try to get out of his grasp. He could tell that this being was not one of the boys who had previously taunted him, but instead, this was a much younger, much smaller creature. It had long hair, and it wasn't very strong, for he easily managed to lift it off of the ground. A little cry escaped the throat of his prisoner, and from what he heard, he knew it was a girl. A little girl, no older than .8 or .9. Enzo thought about what he should do to her, for it was customary that the prey was at the mercy of the predator, in this game, at least. Normally, the boys would throw each other into the nearby stream, or they would body slam each other, or they would simply throw each other as far as they could, and wherever they landed was their problem. But Enzo didn't really know what to do with someone smaller than he. What does one do to someone smaller than himself or herself?
After a long session of thought, Enzo found that he didn't really have time to make a decision. The little girl was still struggling in his arms, and she was beginning to become very frightened. She hadn't known that Enzo was this strong, and she didn't think that she would be captured. But here she was, at the mercy of her predator, and she had seen what the predators had done to their prey. They hurt each other, even if it was a playful hurt. And she didn't know if Enzo would do the same thing to her. Honestly, she didn't really want to find out. So, she had continued to fight, until she did feel Enzo's hands going a little loose on her. With all of her energy, she bit his hand as hard as her little teeth would bite. Enzo screamed in surprise and in pain, and he carelessly dropped her to the ground, then turned around, took the blindfold off, and looked down at his hand. The girl fell to the ground with a cry, hit it, and then she was still. But for the moment, no one noticed.
They all gathered around Enzo. They were still in shock from what the game had morphed in to, but they just wanted to make sure than Enzo was okay, for he was the one that they thought had gotten hurt. They asked him, "Are you bleeding? What did she do? Does it hurt? What was going on back there?"
This went on for a while. But, slowly, one by one, they noticed a little bit of liquid on the ground that had not been there before. They looked down, pointed it out to their friends, and gawked at it and also at the little girl, who was still stagnant and motionless on the ground. Eventually, one of them tapped Enzo on the shoulder, saying, "Enzo, what did you do to her?"
Enzo turned around, and then his eyes widened, and he rushed over to the little girl's figure. Her eyes were still open, frozen in time, and they still possessed the look of terror that had been in them when she was in his arms. He slowly turned her over onto her back, and he gasped with fear as he saw her hair, once light, was now becoming a deep shade of crimson red. It stained everything around her, from her neck to the ground to the rock on which she had fallen. The other children gathered around, and Enzo sat back, putting his hand over his face, his eyes beginning to fill with tears of fear and shame. He didn't look up once, but he could feel the eyes of everyone around him, looking back and forth between him and the little girl. He knew what they were thinking, and he was thinking the same thing. She was smaller than he was, why had he done this, why had he been so cruel? He didn't think that he had done it on purpose; his arms had just almost been possessed by something that wasn't him, something that was dark and hateful. He realized that he hadn't dropped her; he had slammed her to the ground, in his rage. And no one knew if she was still alive.
Their eyes said it all. 'What have you done? What have you done?'
What have you done, Enzo?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Matrix felt like he had been run through by the sharpest sword of energy that existed. His heart, it felt like it had been pulled out of his chest and was lying on the ground in front of him. His mind swam with confusion, and his ears rang from the noise produced from inside his head. He thought he was going mad, or, he wondered, was he only coming back to sanity?
History had repeated itself. He only now allowed himself to notice it, as he looked around and only then began to see. He saw all the eyes, staring at him, accusing him of being evil and disgusting when he wanted to desperately to say that it wasn't his fault. But, then, he knew it was his fault, even though he felt like he had not been in control of his own body for the last cycle. So, what was the truth? What had he done? He asked himself over and over again, 'What have I done? Am I as disgusting and evil and repulsive as the things that I hate? Am I becoming what I hate? Am I feeding the creation of the world that I hate? What have I done?'
And he began to cry again. Except this time, he did not fight it, for he wanted to cry. He felt so hopeless and so unloved and unwanted that he just wanted to start his life all over again. He wanted his mother, he wanted his sister, he wanted to be an innocent little boy again, he wanted everything bad in his life to just disappear, he wanted someone to come up to him and comfort him, for he felt so alone.
All the binomes and all the sprites on board the ship still looked at him, their eyes becoming confused at the sight of Matrix openly crying in front of them. They hated him, but they pitied him at the same time. He had changed right in front of them, going from a wild, evil man to a scared, innocent little boy trapped in the same body as before. They didn't know what to do. So, they just listened as Matrix sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. And among the sobs, they only heard a few words come out. They were almost the same words as he had said before, under his breath. He had been saying, "What have I done, what have I done?"
Now all he said was, "What have I become?"
Whew! Another long chapter! Sorry about that, I'll work on that in the future. Thank you for reading, and please, as always, review!
--MJ