COMING HOME Dan Green Dan Green 2 6 2001-11-10T04:42:00Z 2001-11-10T04:57:00Z 3 1256 7161 59 14 8794 9.2720 0 0

COMING HOME

CHAPTER V

Author's note:  Some of you may be aware that I agonized a bit over whether or not to finish this fic – after all, with Mainframe dishing out a new orthodoxy every week – 11/9 being no exception – anything I wrote was bound to be blown out of the water.  In the end, though, I decided to finish it.  What fanfic is all about  - or should be – is doing stuff the show can't.  This is the post "Sacrifice" Mainframe I envisioned, and it may not be "canon" anymore but so what?  It's my own version of it and I never claimed it was anything else – so why stop now? 

You've been warned…

Pain.

User, it hurt.  It hurt so bad Enzo was sure there would have been tears rushing down his face if he could've made tears.  But he was pretty sure he couldn't – his head felt hot, like an oven, baking his processor like a loaf of bread.  There was no way any tears would survive in there, they'd evaporate in a nano.

He tried to groan – anything to express how much he hurt – but he couldn't even do that, his throat was as dry as his eyes.  His voice was burned away.  There was a sound in his ears like data waves crashing into the beach but from far, far away he heard voices – faint voices.  And a touch on his hands, a cold touch.  The coldness of the touch seemed to revive him, to focus him – he drew towards it, and the pounding in his ears began to lessen, and the voices grew clearer.  They were still soft, barely above whispers, but they were closer.

"I think he's awake."  Bob.  Not Bob.

"Enzo?"  Can you hear me?"  Soft, musical.

He tried to speak, could feel his lips move, his throat muscles expand and contract, but nothing came out.  "Are you thirsty?  Do you want a drink?"  Yes!  Yes, oh how badly he wanted a drink - data, applet juice…  He panicked – what if he couldn't tell them how thirsty he was?  What if they didn't understand, he couldn't talk…  His lips moved faster but still, his ears registered nothing.  "Shhh!  It's all right."  He was being lifted, slowly, carefully.  He was in a sitting position.  There was a glass at his lips, moisture trickling across his tongue.  He coughed and sputtered mightily as the liquid danced down his throat.

"All right, take it easy."  The not-Bob voice again.  Glitch-Bob.  That's who it was.  Wasn't he sick?  Enzo opened his eyes, winced as his pupils dilated.  Heard himself panting from his coughing fit.  There was Bob – sitting next to his bed, smiling gently.  There was the long hair, the web scars – but it was Bob.  "Hey Kiddo.  You left us there for a while."

The boy gestured feebly for more to drink – he assumed it was plain data, though for all he could guess his taste buds might be fried anyway – and Bob gingerly tipped another sip into his mouth.  Enzo began to feel his panic receding, just a little.  "Bob…"

"Don't try and talk, Enzo.  Chill for a few nanos."

Enzo nodded, almost imperceptibly.  Talking did seem like an awful lot of work.  There was something odd, though he couldn't put his finger on it immediately.  Then it broke through the fuzzy cloud surrounding his brain – Bob was sitting on his right, but someone was holding his left hand.  He lazily rolled his head over on the pillow, every movement sending sharp pain down his neck.  "Hey, Sparky."

AndrAIa.  He smiled, just a little.  He couldn't help himself.  "Hey."  He had a sickly thought.  AndrAIa!  Had she seen him?  How much did she know?

The game sprite saw the sudden panic on his face.  "Don't worry – you'll be just fine.  We're taking good care of you."

Enzo nodded again, closed his eyes.  He'd been wrong at first – he wasn't in his bed, he was in a strange one - must be the P.O.  Under his blanket he was clad in sweat-soaked pajamas.  "Where…  Where is Dot?"

"She's with me and Phong." Glitch-Bob said.  "They're looking over your test results.  Don't worry – she'll be back soon."

"K."  User, it was so hot!  He opened his eyes again, looked at AndrAIa's gently smiling face and turned to look at Bob.  There was something, something different in the way they looked at him.  Different from Dot, Matrix…  "Can…  You guys move closer?  It's too hard to turn… my neck."

"Sure." AndrAIa replied.

She swung around to Enzo's right and sat on the bed near Bob's chair.  Now he could rest his head on the pillow and see them both at once.  It was a small victory.  "Thanks."

"Don't talk so much." AndrAIa picked up a damp cloth and dabbed cool data on his face and neck.  "You have a little fever, I think.  Phong gave you something for it, so don't worry."

The data felt wonderful, like sheer heaven. "How long was I asleep?"

"A few seconds.  It's almost thirty-hundred."

"Jeez…"  That was longer than he'd slept after the last time, or the time before.  User, he wanted to ask AndrAIa – ask her if she knew.  If she'd seen.  But how could he ask?  If she hadn't seen – if he'd imagined seeing her face…

"You made quite a mess, you know." Bob said amicably.

Enzo's heart fell.  "W-What?"

Bob laughed softly.  There wasn't a trace of anything in his expression but affection and worry – his or AndrAIa's.  "You did a little redecorating in the armory, Pal – not exactly the style I'd have chosen, but it was interesting."

"Oh User, no…"

"Shhh." AndrAIa soothed.  "It's OK, Sparky.  No one's mad at you.  Everything's just fine – you didn't really damage anything anyway.  Just threw a few boxes around."

"And blew a few holes in a few walls." Bob chuckled.

"Nooo."  Enzo moaned softly.  "I… I did that?"

"Hush, now."  AndrAIa bent and kissed him on the forehead, her lips cool against his burning skin.  "Don't upset yourself.  We're trying to understand what's happening, and we'll figure it out.  No one's angry, I promise.  Don't worry about anything."

"Yeah, Kiddo."  Bob clasped the boy's hand in both of his.  "You're having some kind of reaction to your new icon, that's all.  We'll get you through it."

There were too many thoughts, too many feelings.  "Did…  Did you see it happen?"

"Yeah I did, Sweetie – well, the tail end, anyways." AndrAIa whispered.  "It was kinda cool, actually!"

"But-"

"No 'buts'.  Just settle down and rest.  You can't be getting yourself worked up."

"Bob, am…  Am I a virus now?"

"No, Enzo.  We're not sure exactly what happened, but you're definitely not a virus.  Trust us – we'll get it all sorted out."

"Crash…" Enzo sighed.  How could Matrix have been right?  How could Hex have done something that would make him sick?  It didn't make sense!  She liked him – he knew she did.  She liked Bob too…  "Bob!  You're better?"

"Yeah!  I'm all right.  Never felt better."

"Really?"

"Yeah.  Thanks for asking."  The Guardian winked and tousled Enzo's damp hair, just as the door to his room opened.  Matrix walked in, followed by Dot and Phong. "Look who's up, Dot."

"He's awake?" Dot breathed.  In a flash she was by his bed, and AndrAIa slid away to make room for her.  She held his head against her breast gently, almost gingerly.  "My poor angel…  How are you feeling?"

"Not too good." Enzo rasped. 

"Sweetie… It'll be all right."  Enzo sighed as she smoothed his damp hair and kissed his head.  No one could make him feel safe like she could.  "I'm here now.  Everything's gonna be just fine."

"Dot…  I'm scared.  I don't understand what's happening to me."

"We'll find out, I promise.  Mouse is helping Bob and Phong - you know how smart they are.  They'll get to the bottom of everything, you'll see."

"Dot, I… I did something bad…"  Enzo felt her body stiffen.  "I did something bad.  I didn't mean to…"

"I know, Enzo.  I know you didn't.  Just hush now and don't talk."

"I believe you need to rest, Child."  It was Phong.  He wheeled to Enzo's beside and grasped his wrist in his left hand.  "It is nice to visit wit friends and family – it heals the spirit.  But right now you need sleep more than anything – your body is weak and feverish."  He lifted a small infuser in his right hand.

Enzo weakly tried to pull away.  "What's that?"

"It will help you sleep, Child.  I'm just going to upload it into your arm – you will feel no discomfort, I promise."

"No…"

"Shhh.  It's all right Sweetie.  You need to rest – I'll be here when you wake up – don't worry."

"Don't…"

"I am all done, Young Guardian." Phong smiled.  "That was not so bad, was it?  Sleep now Child, sleep."

"Dot…"  Enzo could already feel a fogginess descending on his brain, but the sensation of burning was fading, too, so it wasn't so bad.  He fluttered his eyelids, saw Dot and Bob, AndrAIa and Matrix surrounding his bed.  All their faces, staring down at him.  Sleep was coming fast but his processor tried to cling to consciousness – there was something important in their faces, something….  Something important, he'd been thinking about it.

Keeping his eyes open was just too much of an effort.  Too much effort…  He took one last look at them and closed his eyes, reassuring darkness.  Before sleep claimed him he realized what it was, what he'd been seeing that bothered him.  It was something he saw in their faces, Dot and Matrix, not the others.  Their faces as they looked at him, it'd been there since D-Day and now that he knew what it was it seemed painfully obvious, even as he surrendered to sleep.

Fear.