By: Mercenary Mouse
Author's Note: Okay, I haven't written in a long time so this is kind of bad… but you'll have to put up with it this time. I need to get back into the mood of things. Anyways… All I have to say is that remember in the Daemon episodes, Matrix excepts that he has part of a guardian code in him and hence he would want to become a full fledge guardian… Or so I thought, but that's just me.
They sat by the docks, the ocean the only thing in front of them. Gulls squawked overhead and as a slight breeze blew over the water, it brought with it a sudden drizzle of light rain. It was chilly February day and about mid after noon. The docks were deserted except for the two figures using it for a day away from the orders and work life of the city.
A young lady with long green hair, pulled from her eyes at one side by a pink star fish, slipped off her eel skinned boots and slowly dipped her webbed feet into the cool water. Water was where she was most at home and could fight her best. She loved the feel of the rain on her face and closed her sea green eyes as she tilted her head upwards.
Sighing, she turned her gaze to the tough looking man beside her. His hansom green face framed by a dark green, almost black, moustache. His forehead was creased with lines of intense thought, as if he were contemplating some great mystery. It was a great wonder how different he was now from when he was a game hopper, or a renegade, which ever you would like to call him. He seemed more at peace with himself now that he had accepted his guardian code. Still he was struggling with some inner turmoil.
"What is it Enzo? What are you so worried about that you can't even share it with me?" she questioned him smiling. She splashed her feet around in the water and waited for a reply.
He laughed quietly to himself. "Enzo? Been awhile since you last called me that AndrAia." His glass eye twitched and turned towards her, focusing on her extreme beauty and the love in her eyes. She was the one thing that he could never live without. She had been with him through everything, even when she knew she could have been deleted. Like when she had followed him into a game not knowing if her newly configured icon would let her leave again.
"Okay fine!" AndrAia smiled again, "if you wont answer to that, then what are you not telling me Sparky?" she tried her best to look so serious that the man burst out laughing and walked to the end of the dock where she sat.
"Come here you!" he said, still laughing and acting as if he were going to pull her into one of his hugs. As she stood up though, she realized too late what his plan really was.
SPLASH! He laughed so hard he fell to the ground. AndrAia's spluttering form appeared above the water as she screamed up at him, "Matrix! I can't believe you just pushed me in here! Do you have any idea how cold it is?"
Matrix was laughing so hard that tears started to stream down his face. She, being the water game sprite that she was, dove deep into the water and then immerged catching Matrix off guard. As she plummeted back towards the water she dragged with her his huge frame. Then a fruitless chase began and she swam away from his flaring arms farther out into the water.
He dove after he and she let him catch up. He didn't give into her mercy for him though and started a relentless splash fight that ended fifteen minutes later with them far from the docks and AndrAia's arms around his neck, kissing him lightly.
"We got a long swim back Lover." Sighed AndrAia, "Think you can make it?" Amused with herself, she splashed him once more and headed for shore. He dove after her and thought he passed her at one moment. Awhile later his hands grasped the tough wood and he hauled his weight from the cold water.
He stood up panting and looked out in front him. No sign of AndrAia. A smile crept slowly over his face and he whispered, "Beat her for once!" His victory was almost immediately shattered when a voice behind him called out "What took you so long Matrix?"
There sat AndrAia with their blanket already pulled out and two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. He went and sat down beside her and wrapped the blanket around the two of them and sipped his drink quietly. He was being silent again.
AndrAia laid her head on his shoulder and listened to him breathe, quite content just to be sitting here with him. The sipped their drinks and sat until dusk rolled in. Pink and purple clouds hung in the dark blue sky as dusk faded into the dark of night. They hadn't spoken the whole time and AndrAia began to think that Matrix had been lulled to sleep by the sound of the water.
"Why do you always say to me, that your place is with me?" he suddenly asked her.
Startled, she breathed in and answered slowly, "I was just data when you first met me. No sprite wanted to be my friend. My format was to kill all other players in that game, but you… you did something to me… You talked to me as if I were your long lost friend and cared if I got hurt and wanted to laugh and play. You showed me happiness so I came back here, to Mainframe with you. Mainframe isn't technically my home, but neither is that game now. I feel lost and out of sorts if I'm not with you. Even when Daemon had me, I- I felt alone and still thought of you. My place is with you. I mean, I can fend for myself and all… but… " She sat up and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that's how I know I love you."
He put his arm back around her and kissed her head. AndrAia thought that she could feel a single tear roll off his cheek and unto her shoulder. He kissed her again and whispered, " I love you too. I love you more than you know and I can't imagine what life will be like without you. My place is with you also."
"Why are you…"
"Shh." He cut her off and pulled a little pink box from his pocket. Opening it, there lay a little ring made of seaweed with a little pink stone in it. "AndrAia, take this and wait for me. I promise you I'll come back!"
"Wait for you? What…" she was starting to cry from happiness of his proposal and sadness because of the anguish on his face as if something horrible was to happen.
He cut her off again and drew her close and told her just to sit with him the rest of the night. "I made that ring for you. A long time ago too. When we were game hopping I found this stone at one of the ports stuck in the seaweed. I know you love the water so I made this for you but never had the courage to give it to you AndrAia."
"Thank-you, it's beautiful… I just want to know…" he caressed her hand with his and kissed it lightly.
"No questions. Not now. I don't want to explain. I can't explain. You'll know sooner or later. So just don't okay." He said turning his head away. "Just don't."
Understanding that something was tearing him up inside AndrAia gave in and went silent. She put her hand on his shoulder and he turned back to face her. Laying her head on his chest she cried.
"I'm going to the guardian academy," he whispered. "I don't know when I'll be back."
Matrix felt her sobs and tears of his own fell from his eyes and he just wanted to stop time and make her tears cease to flow. Day came faster then they both would have liked and they somehow knew that the inevitable would happen when the sun was finally above them.
Matrix got up and pulled AndrAia up with him. "I love you. I love you. I love you. You are so beautiful. Damn…" he started to cry and pulled her into a kiss and began to walk away down the docks as a portal appeared to the super computer, the grounds for guardian training.
"Matrix! Matrix why do you have to go! I love you too! Damn it! Matrix!" She screamed starting to run after him. He put one foot into the portal and turned to look at her, his face full of despair.
"Matrix no! Please…" AndrAia sobbed. He turned slowly and stepped into the portal. And it closed completely behind him. He was gone from Mainframe. She collapsed in a heap and sobbed her heart away. "But my place was with you…I love you."
A lady with bright orange hair and a southern bell accent was walking down the docks that morning when she saw AndrAia laying at its end, sobbing relentlessly. The lady ran towards her and then picked up her head and cradled it and AndrAia's broken spirit in her lap. "Oh sugah… it's alright… he'll be back… He made u a promise."