I don't own aything, it's not mine....
"Sis? Sis. Are you ok?" Dot groaned, what time was it anyway?
"I'm fine Enzo, I'll be up in a nano...."
"But, sis, there are energy stains on your blanket, are you sure your alright?"
"Yes, they must be old stains, sorry to disappoint you." Dot groaned as she got up, Enzo left with one more worried glance back at his sister. She smiled weakly at him. In truth, she felt awful, but she couldn't afford to take a second off. She booted into her 'war' uniform, although there was no need for it, she felt somehow safe in it. As if Megabyte had never....she shook her head, she didn't even want to think about that! Everyone had forgiven her, yet, she just couldn't forgive herself. She rubbed her arm under her glover, it really hurt , but there was nothing she could really do about it she had to keep this up, there was no other way. Suddenly, she heard a vid window pop into existence in the main room, and Enzo talking.
"I'm serious Bob, I think something's wrong with her! She won't talk to me about anything! And there are energy stains." Dot almost laughed, it was nice that they cared, but it was annoying, and she couldn't take the chance that they might find out. She stepped into view.
"I'm fine, Enzo, you needn't have worried Bob." She smiled at the vid window, where Bob looked out at her, a little suspicious. Bob knew Enzo wouldn't contact him on something without a lot of proof. He'd have to investigate this one a little.
At work, Dot looked over all the files she was supposed to be organizing. It was too much work! She sighed and rubbed her temples, then her arm again.
'You can't win, it's hopeless'
'No! I can.....I....'
'You see, even you realize, it's over, you end can it all.'
Dot jerked upright, it was happening again, she was hearing him again. After all that had happened, she still wasn't totally rid of him! She knew only one way to get rid of the menacing voice. She locked her door, and pulled a knife from her desk drawer and pulled down her glove. Her arm was covered in scars, and now she added two more. She nearly screamed, the energy pouring from the two fresh cuts stung, but at least she didn't have to listen to that voice anymore. Truth be told, he did wish she could end it all, be delete and never have to feel pain again. But, she knew it would cause too much pain to the sprites she loved. She bound the new cuts and put her glove back on. Many people joked about only having one glove, and she went along with it. She didn't want anyone to guess her secret, she didn't want to cause them any more pain. It wasn't right to burden them with all of her problems. When the bleeding slowed, she unlocked her doors, and pretended to have been working.
"Hey shugah, whatch ya up ta?" Mouse said as she casually sauntered through the doors. Dot smiled the best she could.
"Hi Mouse, I was just on the accounts for the Mitchell's..." She looked down and realized that she was holding a spreadsheet of Mainframe's taxes. "I mean...the taxes." Mouse looked at her strangely, but shrugged it off.
"Well, ah just came in ta tell ya that there's a meetin' at 10:00 for all the 'Senoir Staff' that includes us honey." Dot sighed, she'd have to face Bob. He was the almost the only one who noticed that something was up. As nice as it was that he cared, she didn't want to hurt him. It was better no-one knew.
"Right Mouse, I'll be there."
"'K honey, see ya there!" Mouse winked and left. The doors closed again behind her. Dot put her head down on her desk. All she really wanted to do was sleep, but she was afraid of what her dreams would be. A tear slipped down her check, she brushed it away impatiently.
"This will do me no good, I have to get back to work!" She picked up the right file this time, and started working but, no matter how hard she concentrated, her processor just didn't seem to want to work. She put her head down on her desk again, maybe a little nap wouldn't hurt.....
"Where is she? It's not like her to be late!"
"Ah'm sure she's just finishin' up somethin', ya know how she is. She'll be along any nano." Mouse was leaning against the wall, sharpening her katana, Matrix was pacing with AndrAIa trying to calm him down, Bob was sitting down in a chair next to Pong. They were all waiting for Dot to show up so they could start the meeting, but, so far, they had been waiting fifteen micros, but still no Dot.
"I'll go check in her office, see how much longer she's going to be." Bob said, and went out the door. He wanted to talk to Dot anyway, he had thought something was up, Enzo had confirmed it. He walked to her office and opened the doors. Dot was at her desk, but, she had her head down. Bob was worried for a few nanos, but then realized she was asleep. He smiled, she must be exhausted. That was probably the problem, she was working too much, like usual. He hated to wake her up, but, the meeting had to start soon. He crossed the room to wake her, when she screamed. Bob jumped, then ran the last couple steps to where was now awake, and trying to catch her breath. "Dot! Are you alright?" She looked at him in fear, then surprise.
"Bob? What are you doing in here?"
"I uh...came to get you, the meeting was supposed to start nearly 20 micros ago." Dot's eyes widened
"Oh! Sorry...I don't know what happened...we'd better get going then." She closed her organizer and stood up, rubbing her head and arm a little. And started out. Bob shook his head, she was so determined to put work over health. They entered the meeting room, and Dot apologized, saying she was finishing up work, Bob just rolled his eyes, he should have known she wouldn't admit to have fallen asleep. The meeting went by slowly, discussing what was to happen to sector G-Prime and Lost Angles. They finally decided to try and renovate Lost Angles and see if they could make a sort of park out of it, in memory of everyone in both the Web wars and Daemon, it didn't seem fitting to do anything else with it now that Hex was gone.. G-Prime would be made into a residential section. Just as they were wrapping up with loose ends, he, the voice, came back to Dot.
'Pity, isn't it? Not one of them cares for you.'
'That's not true!....Is it?'
'Of course it is, just look at them, they're more concerned with some peices of land then you, they would never notice if you disappeared.'
'No! I...I can't believe that! They are better friends then that, they are!'
'Believe what you want, but you'll see, your wrong, very wrong. Besides, isn't that what you wanted, no-one to notice, no-one to care? Hmmm? Thnk about that one.'
Unfortunately, everyone did notice that Dot was not answering to them, and had a far off look in her eyes.
"Dot, Dot ya ok honey?" Dot seemed to wake up, she blinked a few times, with a look of partially surprise and partially fear on her face.
"Yeah...yes, I'm fine. Sorry, I must have zoned out there for a nano."
"Are you sure your alright sis? You look a little weird." Matrix looked critically at his sister.
"Yeah, just a headache. Listen, I think I'm going to go back to my office, can you continue without me?" Dot asked as she moved to get up.
"Of course my child. If I may suggest something, maybe you would consider going home, you need rest."
"It's alright Phong, I just need some java and I'll be fine, really." She got up and walked out of the room, trying to maintain composure. Inside her head, all she could hear was 'No one cares for you, and it's all your fault.'
Bob watched Dot go, suspicious, something was defiantly wrong, everyone could see it. After that, they finished up quickly, no-one's mind seemed to be on the meeting anymore. The dispersed, going their different directions. AndrAIa and Matrix back home, Phong to his study, and Mouse pulled Bob into a room to talk.
"Alright shugah, what's up with her?" Mouse asked, worried about her friend
"You noticed it too Mouse?" Although Bob knew he shouldn't be surprised, he was at the bond the two women shared.
"Listen, ah've been workin' here for what? Couple o' hours? An' not once has Dot admitted to being at all ill or tired! Even druin' the war, when she'd lost both you and her brother! Somethin's up with that gal. She needs ya Bob. Go to her." She almost laughed at the deja vu feeling of the situation.
"Your right Mouse, I'll talk to her. Maybe she'll tell something, even not the whole thing." Privately he felt it would probably be a waste of time, Dot would not talk to him just because he asked politely, but, he had to try. For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was more then just a mood, it was something serious. He headed towards Dot's office.
Dot was sitting in her office, crying and trying to get rid of the voice, of her enemy.
'It's all your fault...you chose the wrong one, you caused him pain, you gave up on him, again, you turned your back on Bob when he needed you. Just like you let your brother down when he needed you, you turned him into this monster.'
'He's not a monster, he's just had a hard childhood.'
'And that's your fault, all your fault.'
Dot sat there crying, finally, she reached for the knife again. The voices were getting more persistent, the were barely letting her alone, but, it helped a little. She pulled down her glove and cut two straight lines down her arm. But, because her vision was blurred, the lines were longer and deeper then she had meant them to be. Then, she heard someone approaching the door. She quickly pulled her glove up, so hastily she forgot to bind the cuts. The error that would cost her most though, was that she forgot to hide the knife, still wet with her energy. She tried to erase all signs of crying, and have a report of activities ready when the door swung open to reveal Bob. He had kept his promise, and he wanted to find out what was wrong.
"Hey Dot, what's processing?" She looked up, and tried to smile, she really did, but it just wouldn't come, she noticed a strange wetness beneath her glove, and realized her mistake, that would, in the end, be fatal unless someone noticed. She decided this was her time. No one was going to notice, she wanted to leave this place. Then she smiled sadly at Bob, she'd miss him, and Enzo, both of them, but, it was for them best.
"Not much, just...just checking activity reports." Bob had noticed she looked so....so pained and sad he wished she'd let him comfort her, but didn't want to over step his boundaries.
"Dot..." he started, but he didn't want to sound as if he was trying to pry into her business, he had to word this carefully. "Maybe you should go home of you don't feel well."
"Thank you for your concern, but, I think I'll cope." She was starting to feel faint, she wanted him out of here, and her plan was to do by being cool towards him. Not because she didn't care, but because she wanted it to end peacefully, alone. She looked around the room, trying to find something that would get him out of the room. That was when her eyes fell on the knife. She gasped sharply, it was in plain sight on her desk, it was only luck that Bob hadn't noticed it yet. Bob looked at her when she gasped, and saw an odd mix of fear, and a strange, peaceful finality in her eyes. He followed her gaze, and saw a knife on her desk. The knife had a layering of blue energy, and it was fresh, extremely fresh.
"Dot," he said trying to stay calm, there had to be perfectly logical explanation to this. "What's that there for?" Dot searched around frantically for an excuse, any excuse, but her brain was just too fuzzy from loss of energy, she simply shrugged, and went back to work. Hoping against hope that he would forget about it, and go away. Bob didn't "Dot, I'd like an answer, why do you have a knife on your desk?" things started fitting together in Bob's head, everything fitted into place, there was only one possible explanation for this. But, he didn't want to accept that Dot was trying to delete herself, she just...couldn't be! It just wasn't possible. Suddenly, he focused back on reality for the reason that Dot was slumped on her desk. "Dot! Dot! Are you ok? Dot, wake up!" She lifted her head groggily.
"I'm... I'm sorry Bob, I'm fine, just please, go..."
"You are far from fine Dot, please, talk to me, what's wrong?" Dot couldn't hold it in any longer, her tears spilled over.
"N...nothing...I...I'm fine...." Bob came around to her side of the desk, and knelt beside her. He out his arms around her, to hug her. Instead, he jerked from the wet underside of her glove. He reached up, and Dot puled her arm away from him. "No.. .please, jus...just leave."
"No, I'm not leaving Dot, not until I see what in the net is going on!!" He had to see if his fears were confirmed, he didn't seem to notice he sluggish movement, and somewhat slurred speech. He reached for her gloved arm again. This time, she didn't pull away fast enough, he caught her lower arm, and pulled her glove down. Dot tried to shrink back, as Bob started at her arms. They were blue with energy that were pulsing from two long and deep cuts, but, it was painfully obvious that there were many others underneath it. Her glove was also saturated with energy. "Dot.....damnit, why?" he looked up for the answer, to see she had fainted from loss of energy, and the horror of having him, her best friend and love, finding out her darkest secret. "DOT!" he yelled. But, she didn't answer. Nor did she hear.
"Sis? Sis. Are you ok?" Dot groaned, what time was it anyway?
"I'm fine Enzo, I'll be up in a nano...."
"But, sis, there are energy stains on your blanket, are you sure your alright?"
"Yes, they must be old stains, sorry to disappoint you." Dot groaned as she got up, Enzo left with one more worried glance back at his sister. She smiled weakly at him. In truth, she felt awful, but she couldn't afford to take a second off. She booted into her 'war' uniform, although there was no need for it, she felt somehow safe in it. As if Megabyte had never....she shook her head, she didn't even want to think about that! Everyone had forgiven her, yet, she just couldn't forgive herself. She rubbed her arm under her glover, it really hurt , but there was nothing she could really do about it she had to keep this up, there was no other way. Suddenly, she heard a vid window pop into existence in the main room, and Enzo talking.
"I'm serious Bob, I think something's wrong with her! She won't talk to me about anything! And there are energy stains." Dot almost laughed, it was nice that they cared, but it was annoying, and she couldn't take the chance that they might find out. She stepped into view.
"I'm fine, Enzo, you needn't have worried Bob." She smiled at the vid window, where Bob looked out at her, a little suspicious. Bob knew Enzo wouldn't contact him on something without a lot of proof. He'd have to investigate this one a little.
At work, Dot looked over all the files she was supposed to be organizing. It was too much work! She sighed and rubbed her temples, then her arm again.
'You can't win, it's hopeless'
'No! I can.....I....'
'You see, even you realize, it's over, you end can it all.'
Dot jerked upright, it was happening again, she was hearing him again. After all that had happened, she still wasn't totally rid of him! She knew only one way to get rid of the menacing voice. She locked her door, and pulled a knife from her desk drawer and pulled down her glove. Her arm was covered in scars, and now she added two more. She nearly screamed, the energy pouring from the two fresh cuts stung, but at least she didn't have to listen to that voice anymore. Truth be told, he did wish she could end it all, be delete and never have to feel pain again. But, she knew it would cause too much pain to the sprites she loved. She bound the new cuts and put her glove back on. Many people joked about only having one glove, and she went along with it. She didn't want anyone to guess her secret, she didn't want to cause them any more pain. It wasn't right to burden them with all of her problems. When the bleeding slowed, she unlocked her doors, and pretended to have been working.
"Hey shugah, whatch ya up ta?" Mouse said as she casually sauntered through the doors. Dot smiled the best she could.
"Hi Mouse, I was just on the accounts for the Mitchell's..." She looked down and realized that she was holding a spreadsheet of Mainframe's taxes. "I mean...the taxes." Mouse looked at her strangely, but shrugged it off.
"Well, ah just came in ta tell ya that there's a meetin' at 10:00 for all the 'Senoir Staff' that includes us honey." Dot sighed, she'd have to face Bob. He was the almost the only one who noticed that something was up. As nice as it was that he cared, she didn't want to hurt him. It was better no-one knew.
"Right Mouse, I'll be there."
"'K honey, see ya there!" Mouse winked and left. The doors closed again behind her. Dot put her head down on her desk. All she really wanted to do was sleep, but she was afraid of what her dreams would be. A tear slipped down her check, she brushed it away impatiently.
"This will do me no good, I have to get back to work!" She picked up the right file this time, and started working but, no matter how hard she concentrated, her processor just didn't seem to want to work. She put her head down on her desk again, maybe a little nap wouldn't hurt.....
"Where is she? It's not like her to be late!"
"Ah'm sure she's just finishin' up somethin', ya know how she is. She'll be along any nano." Mouse was leaning against the wall, sharpening her katana, Matrix was pacing with AndrAIa trying to calm him down, Bob was sitting down in a chair next to Pong. They were all waiting for Dot to show up so they could start the meeting, but, so far, they had been waiting fifteen micros, but still no Dot.
"I'll go check in her office, see how much longer she's going to be." Bob said, and went out the door. He wanted to talk to Dot anyway, he had thought something was up, Enzo had confirmed it. He walked to her office and opened the doors. Dot was at her desk, but, she had her head down. Bob was worried for a few nanos, but then realized she was asleep. He smiled, she must be exhausted. That was probably the problem, she was working too much, like usual. He hated to wake her up, but, the meeting had to start soon. He crossed the room to wake her, when she screamed. Bob jumped, then ran the last couple steps to where was now awake, and trying to catch her breath. "Dot! Are you alright?" She looked at him in fear, then surprise.
"Bob? What are you doing in here?"
"I uh...came to get you, the meeting was supposed to start nearly 20 micros ago." Dot's eyes widened
"Oh! Sorry...I don't know what happened...we'd better get going then." She closed her organizer and stood up, rubbing her head and arm a little. And started out. Bob shook his head, she was so determined to put work over health. They entered the meeting room, and Dot apologized, saying she was finishing up work, Bob just rolled his eyes, he should have known she wouldn't admit to have fallen asleep. The meeting went by slowly, discussing what was to happen to sector G-Prime and Lost Angles. They finally decided to try and renovate Lost Angles and see if they could make a sort of park out of it, in memory of everyone in both the Web wars and Daemon, it didn't seem fitting to do anything else with it now that Hex was gone.. G-Prime would be made into a residential section. Just as they were wrapping up with loose ends, he, the voice, came back to Dot.
'Pity, isn't it? Not one of them cares for you.'
'That's not true!....Is it?'
'Of course it is, just look at them, they're more concerned with some peices of land then you, they would never notice if you disappeared.'
'No! I...I can't believe that! They are better friends then that, they are!'
'Believe what you want, but you'll see, your wrong, very wrong. Besides, isn't that what you wanted, no-one to notice, no-one to care? Hmmm? Thnk about that one.'
Unfortunately, everyone did notice that Dot was not answering to them, and had a far off look in her eyes.
"Dot, Dot ya ok honey?" Dot seemed to wake up, she blinked a few times, with a look of partially surprise and partially fear on her face.
"Yeah...yes, I'm fine. Sorry, I must have zoned out there for a nano."
"Are you sure your alright sis? You look a little weird." Matrix looked critically at his sister.
"Yeah, just a headache. Listen, I think I'm going to go back to my office, can you continue without me?" Dot asked as she moved to get up.
"Of course my child. If I may suggest something, maybe you would consider going home, you need rest."
"It's alright Phong, I just need some java and I'll be fine, really." She got up and walked out of the room, trying to maintain composure. Inside her head, all she could hear was 'No one cares for you, and it's all your fault.'
Bob watched Dot go, suspicious, something was defiantly wrong, everyone could see it. After that, they finished up quickly, no-one's mind seemed to be on the meeting anymore. The dispersed, going their different directions. AndrAIa and Matrix back home, Phong to his study, and Mouse pulled Bob into a room to talk.
"Alright shugah, what's up with her?" Mouse asked, worried about her friend
"You noticed it too Mouse?" Although Bob knew he shouldn't be surprised, he was at the bond the two women shared.
"Listen, ah've been workin' here for what? Couple o' hours? An' not once has Dot admitted to being at all ill or tired! Even druin' the war, when she'd lost both you and her brother! Somethin's up with that gal. She needs ya Bob. Go to her." She almost laughed at the deja vu feeling of the situation.
"Your right Mouse, I'll talk to her. Maybe she'll tell something, even not the whole thing." Privately he felt it would probably be a waste of time, Dot would not talk to him just because he asked politely, but, he had to try. For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was more then just a mood, it was something serious. He headed towards Dot's office.
Dot was sitting in her office, crying and trying to get rid of the voice, of her enemy.
'It's all your fault...you chose the wrong one, you caused him pain, you gave up on him, again, you turned your back on Bob when he needed you. Just like you let your brother down when he needed you, you turned him into this monster.'
'He's not a monster, he's just had a hard childhood.'
'And that's your fault, all your fault.'
Dot sat there crying, finally, she reached for the knife again. The voices were getting more persistent, the were barely letting her alone, but, it helped a little. She pulled down her glove and cut two straight lines down her arm. But, because her vision was blurred, the lines were longer and deeper then she had meant them to be. Then, she heard someone approaching the door. She quickly pulled her glove up, so hastily she forgot to bind the cuts. The error that would cost her most though, was that she forgot to hide the knife, still wet with her energy. She tried to erase all signs of crying, and have a report of activities ready when the door swung open to reveal Bob. He had kept his promise, and he wanted to find out what was wrong.
"Hey Dot, what's processing?" She looked up, and tried to smile, she really did, but it just wouldn't come, she noticed a strange wetness beneath her glove, and realized her mistake, that would, in the end, be fatal unless someone noticed. She decided this was her time. No one was going to notice, she wanted to leave this place. Then she smiled sadly at Bob, she'd miss him, and Enzo, both of them, but, it was for them best.
"Not much, just...just checking activity reports." Bob had noticed she looked so....so pained and sad he wished she'd let him comfort her, but didn't want to over step his boundaries.
"Dot..." he started, but he didn't want to sound as if he was trying to pry into her business, he had to word this carefully. "Maybe you should go home of you don't feel well."
"Thank you for your concern, but, I think I'll cope." She was starting to feel faint, she wanted him out of here, and her plan was to do by being cool towards him. Not because she didn't care, but because she wanted it to end peacefully, alone. She looked around the room, trying to find something that would get him out of the room. That was when her eyes fell on the knife. She gasped sharply, it was in plain sight on her desk, it was only luck that Bob hadn't noticed it yet. Bob looked at her when she gasped, and saw an odd mix of fear, and a strange, peaceful finality in her eyes. He followed her gaze, and saw a knife on her desk. The knife had a layering of blue energy, and it was fresh, extremely fresh.
"Dot," he said trying to stay calm, there had to be perfectly logical explanation to this. "What's that there for?" Dot searched around frantically for an excuse, any excuse, but her brain was just too fuzzy from loss of energy, she simply shrugged, and went back to work. Hoping against hope that he would forget about it, and go away. Bob didn't "Dot, I'd like an answer, why do you have a knife on your desk?" things started fitting together in Bob's head, everything fitted into place, there was only one possible explanation for this. But, he didn't want to accept that Dot was trying to delete herself, she just...couldn't be! It just wasn't possible. Suddenly, he focused back on reality for the reason that Dot was slumped on her desk. "Dot! Dot! Are you ok? Dot, wake up!" She lifted her head groggily.
"I'm... I'm sorry Bob, I'm fine, just please, go..."
"You are far from fine Dot, please, talk to me, what's wrong?" Dot couldn't hold it in any longer, her tears spilled over.
"N...nothing...I...I'm fine...." Bob came around to her side of the desk, and knelt beside her. He out his arms around her, to hug her. Instead, he jerked from the wet underside of her glove. He reached up, and Dot puled her arm away from him. "No.. .please, jus...just leave."
"No, I'm not leaving Dot, not until I see what in the net is going on!!" He had to see if his fears were confirmed, he didn't seem to notice he sluggish movement, and somewhat slurred speech. He reached for her gloved arm again. This time, she didn't pull away fast enough, he caught her lower arm, and pulled her glove down. Dot tried to shrink back, as Bob started at her arms. They were blue with energy that were pulsing from two long and deep cuts, but, it was painfully obvious that there were many others underneath it. Her glove was also saturated with energy. "Dot.....damnit, why?" he looked up for the answer, to see she had fainted from loss of energy, and the horror of having him, her best friend and love, finding out her darkest secret. "DOT!" he yelled. But, she didn't answer. Nor did she hear.
