Author's Note: A hug to everyone who reviewed. Your comments keep me going. From here on in there will be major spoilers for the final volumes of the manga. Since the anime and manga each ended slightly differently I'm trying to keep this story somewhere between the two. Use your own discretion when reading.

Infinity Rerouted

Chapter Four: Hacking

The first hack happened three days later.

One moment he had been sprawled out in a chair, Dita curled in his lap sleeping, the next his body had lurched forward, a small grunt escaping him. He felt funny, his head… He reached up to touch his temple and a lance of pain flashed behind his eyes. He grimaced.

"Well, he's a nasty one."

At the sound of his voice, Dita woke, her gaze immediately flying to his face and sitting up when she saw his expression.

"What is it? Is someone trying to get in?"

Her voice was worried and if he hadn't been so busy trying to shield himself he would have smiled to hear it. "Yes, he's already broken through the first protection level." He laughed painfully. "Rather rough fellow. I think he's in a hurry."

"He knows I'll stop him." Dita pulled out her connector cable, her eyes and face reflecting something he had never seen from her before. Anger. Within seconds she had plugged herself in and there was a rush inside him as he felt her fly through his mind, her attack program racing towards the hacker who had now bypassed the second and third levels. Zima grunted again as the hacker dug deeper, leaving a trail of damage that Dita could have followed without looking. It was a relief when she caught up with him, her program trapping and binding him. Only once did he strike out and Dita jerked in Zima's lap before tightening her hold on the hacker who shattered, his system crashing. When Dita finally unplugged herself there was nothing left of him and all the damage he had done she had repaired.

Giving a little tired sigh, Dita rested her forehead against Zima's collarbone and he held her gently, suddenly feeling a rush of pride for his companion and protector.

"Well done, my dear. Alright?"

She straightened. "Yes. Is Zima?"

He smiled. "Yes. You took care of me."

Her voice was flat when she spoke. "I don't like other people inside of you. They hurt you. That should not happen. They might break you." Her ruby eyes pierced him and he blinked at the tension he felt in her small body. "I don't want you to break."

For a moment he was speechless and that surprised him for he usually always knew just what to say. He had never thought to hear such things from her. She was usually so… neutral when it came to him. Lately she had started telling him a little more of what she was feeling but this…

He pulled her to him quickly, holding her close as he always did, hoping she could feel how full his heart was. "Thank you. You've made me very happy, Dita."

"Zima," she said softly, and though he knew she was confused, she still let him hold her.

And it was enough.

* * * *

The phone rang. Tanaka Shidou reached for it sleepily.

"Hello? Oh, Hibiya, is that you?"

…

"I… what do you mean 'dying'? I don't— "

…

"Yes, I can, but if you're right I don't think— "

…

Tanaka closed her eyes briefly. "Yes, Chitose, I promise. I'll bring them both."

* * * *

Zima stood in the corner of the room, the black trench coat he wore and his dark looks making him blend seamlessly with the shadows. He felt very hollow, standing there, watching the girl on the bed die of a broken heart. In his head he could still feel her but the signal was weak and growing weaker. She would not last long and when she finally stopped functioning her files would be closed, left to collect dusk in the vast reaches of his memory. He didn't want that to happen, but there wasn't anything he could do. Looking at Freya, he understood, as Tanaka had known he would. She had chosen her "Someone Just For Me", a mission parameter set into the prototype Chobits at the moment of their creation. From his data, Zima knew that Dr. Ichiro Mihara had developed Freya out of his love for his wife and that same love had been given to both Freya and Elda. They were loved and so they had been given the capacity to love in return, to choose special people to receive their feelings. Only Freya's "Someone" could never be hers. Zima knew, her blank eyes had told him so. The choice had been made but it didn't matter and now that same choice was destroying Freya.

Turning his head, he looked to Dita, the dim light in the room reflecting off the smooth black leather she wore. She was standing by Freya's bedside, watching the girl steadily. If she felt anything, it did not show on the attack Chobits' face. But then, that was his Dita. Always serious.

Someone Just For Me.

"Dita."

She turned her head to look at him, garnet eyes beautiful in the darkness. The night suited her. He said nothing, simply looked at her but she nodded once as if he had given her an order and pulled out her connection plug. She fit it into Freya's ear socket and sat herself on the edge of Freya's bed, her eyes going vacant.

Zima watched both girls with quiet anxiety. Freya was powerful and though she was fading, she might still be able to hurt Dita despite the fact that Dita was also a Chobits. Fortunately, his fear would be unfounded.

A minute later, Dita's eyes cleared and she unplugged herself slowly. "She won't wake up, Zima. She doesn't wish to. I'm not sure she even heard my voice."

"It's alright, Dita," he told her reassuringly, "I didn't think she would, but thank you for trying."

Dita didn't reply and after a moment he went to her, a little concerned at how quiet she was being. Usually, if she felt they were wasting their time, she would tell him outright, always conscious of their true duties. This silence from her was a little unsettling. Her crimson eyes never left Freya's face, even when he laid a hand on her thin shoulder.

"This is what comes from trying to be human." Her low voice vibrated through him, her words catching somewhere near his heart. He closed his eyes against the pain they caused. "We aren't humans, Zima. We're persocons. We aren't meant to be happy."

"Are you sure?" he whispered quietly. She didn't look at him.

"Yes. 'Happiness" is something I don't understand. She did, I think, but it's not for her nor for any of us. Look at what it has done to her."

He regarded his partner solemnly. "Did you see something in her mind?"

"Emptiness."

Carefully, he knelt by the bedside, folding his tall frame so that he could rest his elbows on the mattress. Sweeping aside long strands of blonde hair, he reached over and laid his palm across Freya's forehead, smiling a little for her. She probably couldn't feel him or even know he was there, but it wasn't important. He knew he was there.

"It doesn't matter."

Dita glanced at him quickly. "What?"

"It doesn't matter that her love couldn't be returned. It doesn't even matter if we are persocons or humans. All that matters is that she loved someone. Even if the rest of the world can't understand, she does. If she knows her own heart, it's enough." He drew his hand away from Freya. "It's enough."

Dita was watching him intently and when he finally looked up at her he saw a shadow of understanding cross her small features. "You're sad."

"Yes."

"Why?" She nodded towards Freya. "Because she is going to disappear? She is only a persocon. If she dies, they can always make another."

"That's true, but it won't be Freya."

"And this makes you sad? That she will die without happiness even though she is only a computer?"

"Dita, love, it makes me sad because if she can't have happiness, what hope is there for the rest of us? For Elda?" He looked away. "For me?"

Her answer was a long time coming. "You wanted her to be happy?"

"Yes."

"Then I will try again."

Zima looked up just in time to see Dita lean forward, her connector in hand, a fixed look on her face as she readied herself to hack Freya's OS. His eyes widened and with a surge of speed he leaped up to stop her, his momentum carrying them both forward until Dita had fallen backwards onto the floor, Zima pinning her wrists against the carpets with his hands. Her fingers still clutched her connector.

"Zima!"

She didn't try to escape him and as he looked down at her, holding her against the floor, all his words left him. "Don't," he whispered, "Just don't." She had been ready to enter Freya again, to try and bring a dying girl back simply because he wanted her to live, it would have made him happy. It was amazing and yet, so so simple.

There was a soft zip! as Dita's cable retracted into her ear adapter and he released her wrists only to lie himself down tiredly beside her, one arm and one leg thrown over Dita's body to keep her close to him. He closed his eyes as he pressed his forehead against her shoulder.

"You're still sad," she said quietly and he shifted.

"But for a different reason," he answered.

"It hurts me when you are sad."

His arm tightened over her waist, his fingers finding hers and locking them together. "I know."

* * * *

"I… I don't believe it."

Tanaka Shidou didn't bother to repeat herself to her assistant. Instead she took out a computer disk from the pocket of her lab coat and slipped it into her personal computer's hard drive. Her assistant watched her with wide eyes.

"Surely," he whispered, "Surely we don't have to. We didn't make them for that reason. It's wrong to— "

Tanaka cut him off. "We have our orders, Makoto. The security program will be installed into Dita tonight."

"What about… What about Zima? He'll want to know what we're doing to her."

Tanaka answered impatiently, suddenly angry as she felt her eyes fill with unshed tears. "I don't care what you tell him! We have an obligation to the government, no, to persocon users everywhere to keep this sort of thing from happening ever again. I will not allow a tragedy like this to repeat itself. Do you understand?"

Makoto paled but nodded. "Yes, Doctor."

"Then ready the lab and set the computer parameters for Dita. I must go and give my condolences to Hibiya." She hurried towards the exit, Makoto's voice following her out the doors.

"Tell them I'm sorry about Freya, too."

* * * *

Give me your heart and I will keep you safe.

Stay with me.

To Be Continued…