The Ebbing of Time
The towering roof of the Principal Office seemed to be the perfect place to come to be alone, to think private, personal thoughts. She peered over the edge on which she sat. The ground seemed so far down, and the figures moving about down below seemed so very small. For a moment, she considered jumping, but quickly dismissed the thought, pushing into the back of her processor, back where all her dark thoughts lurked. She would hurt too many friends and loves if she took that plunge…her deletion would amount to nothing.
She sat and gripped the edge, digging her fingernails into the concrete. Thinking: of the ones she had lost…of the ones she had failed to protect…too many losses to eat away at her soul…
Zara started as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see AndrAIa standing behind her. "Oh, it's you…" Zara patted the space next to her.
The game sprite settled herself down beside the Guardian, dangling her legs over the edge. "I've been looking for you everywhere. I finally had to get Bob to locate you for me." Zara raised an eyebrow. "I just thought you might like to talk," AndrAIa explained.
They sat in breezy silence for a moment, as a fine wind blowing from Los Angles played with errant strands of hair.
AndrAIa could see that she would have to speak first. "How are you doing?" she finally managed to ask.
Zara drew her knees up under her chin and wrapped her hands about her legs. "Okay…I guess…" She remained silent for another nano, her lips set in a firm, angry line. "It's just been so hard…First, the system I was assigned to was ravaged and destroyed…then I lose my family…"
AndrAIa reached over and placed a hand on the Guardian's shoulder. "It's not your fault.
"That's what everyone keeps telling me…especially Bob and Matrix. But I can't help but feeling responsible for all those deletions, even those of my parents." She pounded a fist into the concrete. "Arun didn't even have a chance!"
AndrAIa listened silently while she young women vented the emotions that were throwing her processor and heart into a state of turmoil.
After uttering a string of colorful curses, the Guardian turned back to her friend. "I'm know, I'm overreacting."
The game sprite shook her head. "No, you're not. Any other normal person would have acted just as you have."
Zara sighed. "I suppose you're right." She turned to AndrAIa, a devilish glint in her blue within blue eyes. "So how are things going between you and Matrix?"
AndrAIa giggled as a blush reddened her speckled cheeks. "Perfectly fine, but I won't elaborate further. But enough about me. What about you and Michael?"
Zara abruptly chortled. "Me? And Michael?"
"Of course! Don't tell me you don't like him! I've seen the way you two look at each other when you think no one is looking."
Zara crossed her arms, disbelief and denial flashing across her face. "I do not feel like that toward him! He's just my friend!"
"Oh please, you two are worse than Bob and Dot."
"What are you talking about? I thought they were an item."
The green-haired sprite laughed. "They are, but you should have seen them before the restart. Their feelings towards each other were so obvious to everyone but them it was almost embarrassing!"
Zara paled slightly, letting her arms drop to her sides. "And you think…Michael…and I are like that?"
AndrAIa shrugged. "I'm not denying or confirming anything." A smile formed on her lips. "That's up to you."
"You're random, you know that?"
The smaller Guardian observed the system passing below her as she and Bob zipped along towards Lost Angles. "tell me again why we're doing this," she asked incredulously.
"We're just going to as Hex for a favor."
"She's a virus."
"A benign virus, and a registered sprite."
"She's still a virus, and a chaotic one at that!"
"Yes, she may be a couple circuits short of a motherboard, but we still need her help."
Zara shuddered. "Couldn't you have taken Matrix?"
Bob turned to look at her skeptically. "We're talking about Matrix, giant green guy with a gun, right?"
"Is there any other?"
"Well, I don't know what she'd think of him, but I'd be worried close contact between the two. I don't think Matrix would be very civil to anyone related to Megabyte, and Hex, well…I have no idea how she'd react to him. He might provoke her into to doing something that involves blowing up things. Which would be bad."
"Very bad," Zara agreed.
She shifted her gaze forward as Lost Angles came into view. The bridge that connected the sector that was all that remained of the Twin City was twisted almost beyond recognition, forming into loops and spirals, certainly not to be used to walk across.
The sector that all inhabitants of Mainframe avoid whenever possible was even more distorted. It was an array of colors, splattered every which way. A colossal chessboard dominated one corner of the sector, and contorted structures that were the nightmare of architects were strewn about. The building in which Hexadecimal had her lair situated jutted out of the very center of her beloved chaos, a black thorn against the sky.
Zara fidgeted uneasily as Bob led her downwards. "I hope this won't take too long…this place gives me the jaggies."
"I'm sure it-"
A gaping opened up beneath them. Their zipboards were ripped from beneath their feet, and they plunged into complete darkness as the chasm closed over them. Zara bit back a scream as they fell down a long slide, impossibly fast. As they continued, it became lighter.
She actually did scream as the ground disappeared from underneath them and she started to turn head-over-heels.
Zara had no need to worry, for she and Bob were abruptly suspended in midair. She looked to Bob, or more like his boots, floating next to her, but he seemed to be perfectly calm, while her heart was thumping in her chest.
A gleeful laugh crackled around them. "I'm so glad you've come to visit me, Bob!" A white face floated in the inky blackness, its eyes an eerily bright green. A leather clad body appeared behind the mask as Hexadecimal melted out of the shadows.
Zara struggled to refrain from shuddering, not knowing how the ex-virus would react.
"Hex, could you let us down, please?" Bob asked.
"Of course! Anything for you, love." Hexadecimal complied, and the two Guardians floated downward until they were a couple of inches above the floor, and dropped. Bob awkwardly caught Zara as she fell.
"Being right-side up is much better than being the other way around," Zara commented as Bob helped her to her feet.
"I see that you bought a friend!" Hexadecimal moved closer to them, examining Zara closely. "My, you're so little! Zara, correct?"
"Yes."
"One of last three uninfected Guardians, if I am correct. Just you, Bob, and the renegade Matrix, up against the whole Collective." She laughed softly to herself. "This little war of yours shall be very interesting."
"Hex-," Bob started, but she interrupted him.
"How rude of me!" she exclaimed. "I've been such a dreadful hostess! Please take a seat." Hexadecimal waved her hand, and Zara and Bob found themselves seated in elegant chairs similar to Hexadecimal's throne, and a table between them. "I'll be right back with the tea and cookies!" The ex-virus vanished.
Bob leaned over and whispered to Zara, "Whatever you do, do not eat the cookies. Hex couldn't cook something edible to save her life. And User knows what she puts in them."
He sat back as Hexadecimal reappeared, tray of said cookies in hand. Another chair appeared behind her, and she sat down, setting the tray on the table. She waved her hand, and a teacup appeared in front of each of the sprites.
"Now," Hexadecimal said, pulling a teapot of nowhere and pouring tea for each of them, "what brings the two of you all the way out here?"
"Hex, we need your help." As soon as Bob had said it, he looked as though he instantly regretted it.
"Me?" Hexadecimal raised a shapely eyebrow. "You need my help? Whatever for, dearest?"
"Allow me and Zara to explain."
Zara plopped down on the couch next to Michael. The old springs squeaked in protest. "I'm so exhausted." She sank back into the overstuffed cushions and closed her eyes.
"Same here." Michael unsuccessfully tried to suppress a gaping yawn. The two of them had deposited themselves in Michael's room, fatigued from the past second.
The Resistance, as it had come to be called, had been working nonstop for the last second on their battle plan. As promised, Turbo had been their eyes and ears in the Super Computer, and had informed the Resistance that a war fleet was scheduled to attack Mainframe, infecting the last clean Guardians: Bob, Matrix, and Zara.
Working together as they helped the Mainframers prepare for the impending battle, Zara had found, despite herself, she was growing closer to her friend, feeling emotions so strong they were impossible to deny. She hoped, prayed that Michael felt the same, but neither had ventured to discuss it. Yet.
"Helping Dot organize everything has worn me out," Michael said, his voice tumbling Zara to the present.
She mumbled an agreement.
Michael moved aside the speckled arm the Guardian had draped over her face. "Is that all you have to say?" he asked. She half-heartedly slapped away his hand, then stretched out over the couch, resting her head in his lap.
He rubbed her other hand, marveling at how small it was compared to his own. "How are you holding up?"
Zara sighed heavily, and opened her eyes, gazing into Michael's own brilliant green eyes. "I'm…not too good." She pulled herself into a sitting position with her back to him so that he could not see the tears that had started trickling down her face.
He hesitated for a moment, then slid an arm around her small waist. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked quietly. He noted the spots that stood out upon skin paled by stress and megacycles sitting in front of a computer screen.
She wiped a hand over her face and nodded grimly. "Bob and the others need all the help they can get." She sighed again. "Can't go against my protocol."
Michael sank back into the couch, running a hand through his jet black locks. "You don't have to go!" he said fervently. He sat back up and pulled her into his lap. He lifted up her chin and looked into her eyes, wanting to drown in those sapphire pools. "You don't have to leave me."
Her voice was barely more than a whisper. "Michael…" She laid a hand on the side o his face, lightly touching his silver skin. "I have to. There is no alternative."
He placed his own hand on top of hers. "Then let me go with you!" he demanded, knowing well what the answer would be,
"You know I can't do that," Zara said softly. "You don't have any training, and I can't risk you getting hurt." He looked away. "We need someone to stay here, if we…" She faltered, afraid to finish the sentence.
Michael breathed out a long sigh. "I know, I know…but I can't stop worrying about you."
She remained silent for several moments, then spoke, gathering all the courage she could muster. "Michael?"
"Yeah?"
"I…I love you."
He looked at her a moment, then leaned in close to her, so close that she could feel his warm breath whisper against her skin. "I love you too."
Impulsively, she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down, and he sank into her embrace.
