A/n: Yeah, so I had this really weird idea. So I wrote it. Which is generally what happens when you get an idea… But yes, this is one of my weirder stories. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Ace Lightning. Duh.
Controlled.
Lightning shot from his wrists again. The Evil in front of him fizzled away in the burst of light. Ace wondered if it felt it. The thought vanished from his mind as his body whipped around, the energy from his cannons destroying another Evil. He hadn't even seen that one.
Ace started running towards the next level of the castle. He took a quick detour to the side to pick up some Doom Dimes. Why was he bothering? He only needed a small fraction of them to get through the gate at the end.
A ball of energy hit him in the side, knocking him to the ground. He looked up to see a tall wizard, cloaked, forming another ball of magic in his hands. A part of him wanted to stay on the ground, just let the energy destroy him. He'd forgotten why he was doing this. A thousand times, and a hundred times again and each time he'd tried seemed to blend into the next until it was just an unending series of blasting and being blasted, killing and being killed.
His body pulled up against his will. Lightning spat from his cannons again, destroying the wizard. It was a bad move, he would never have done it; his energy was too low. Now he didn't have the power to destroy the next wizard as it stood on a stone platform above him. His arms raised themselves up anyway, his muscles shaking. The lightning barely shot past his wrists.
The blast of magic from the second wizard knocked him to the ground again, even as he jerked to the side to avoid it. It hurled him across the stone floor, slamming him into a wall.
He was barely aware that he had gotten up again. He didn't want to, but he had. His body seemed to move of its own accord; acting out what it had done so many times before. And for what? He didn't know. Ace was sick of playing this game.
That's right, it was a game. He remembered now. That thought had gotten lost in the many fractured repeats of the level.
He was running higher up the castle's stairs now; the wizard must have thrown him where it couldn't get him again. But he didn't want to. He didn't want to continue a pointless game.
Ace slowed down. He wasn't going any further. He was being controlled by some higher being that had nothing more in mind than playing a game. But he was still going upwards, even as he fought to pull his muscles to a stop.
"Stop it!" he shouted through the ceiling.
He stopped moving suddenly. It took him a few seconds to realise that the force dragging him upwards had ceased. Too weak to stand, he sat down on the floor. His energy was far too low. He'd have returned to the Thunder Tower to power up a long time ago.
Then the force was back, the presence, pulling his over-strained muscles into action again. Its will was over his. When its hands were on the controls, it was his master. This being controlled him.
Well, it controlled his body. It possibly had some sort of control over his mind. But it couldn't control his heart.
Ace thought about Lady Illusion. A game didn't make room for love. He thought about Sparx. She was doomed to the same fate as him. She too would have to endure repeats of the same level. He thought about Random, twisted by a program that was only there in the interests of a game.
A game wasn't real. But then, neither are we, Ace thought as the feelings failed to help him retake control. How could his emotions for those who had no right to exist help him? And yet human emotions had helped him before. Mark's friendship had given him his powers back.
Maybe that was because Mark was real. And if I can't get out of this loop, I can't protect him from Kilobyte or Lord Fear. I may not be real, but I can at least protect those who are.
The thought might not have given him the strength to resist, but it gave him the will. Ace pulled his body to a halt, feeling it fighting against him to move on. "I'm… not playing… your game…" he gasped out. "Not anymore."
The force lessened for a second, then came back so hard that it knocked him to his knees. His whole body tensed as it tried to pull him up again, his fingers digging into and tearing up the stone floor. He shut his eyes as he grappled for control. He could almost feel his controller behind him. Watching him through the window to his world, safe as it manipulated him to do its will.
Anger and hatred burned inside of him. With the last of his strength he threw his body around to face it. "Leave us alone!" he shouted at the window, a square of light exactly where he'd thought it would be.
The being wasn't as he thought it would be.
"What's wrong with this stupid game? Get up, Ace!" Mark mouthed, though Ace couldn't hear the sound. Mark jerked the control stick in his hand again and Ace felt the force tear through his body. "Get up!"
"Ace, get up!"
Ace sat bolt upright in bed, nearly knocking Sparx to the floor.
"Hey, watch it!" Sparx said as she took a step backwards.
Ace ignored her, trying to stop himself from shaking as his mind stuck between the dream and reality. Was he fighting for someone who had played him for a game? Not even for recognition, as the Master Programmer had, but for fun? Or was that all he was? A game.
"Ace, are you alright?" Sparx asked, disturbed at her friend's empty stare.
Ace blinked and finally looked at her. "I don't know…" he said quietly.
"Don't worry…" she tried. She couldn't stand that look in his eyes. "We can still find Lord Fear and take him out. Maybe even bring Lady Illusion back, if you really wanted. You know she doesn't really bother me that much…"
Ace got up and pushed past her. "What does it matter?"
"It matters to me if you're upset…"
"I'm fine," Ace replied cutting her short. He turned and left the room, but not before muttering under his breath: "Not that it matters…"
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