"Lost Within the Void"
Chapter Three
Disclaimer: I do not own ReBoot, or any of it's characters; they are property of Mainframe Entertainment.
"Bob! Bob, please open the door!" Matrix pleaded, pressing his forehead against the door casing. "I need someone to talk to...please..."
Eventually, the entrance was opened for him, and he was first met by his sister.
"Dot-" The hand immediately slapped across his cheek before the woman removed herself from his presence. Despite Matrix' visible shock and hurt as he reached up to feel the burning spot, Bob was not quick to welcome him in.
"Matrix, do you know how upset she is?" The Guardian asked from across the room, his expression stern and drawn.
"Bob, please..not now. I really need you as a friend, and if you abandon me, I just don't know what I'll do." The Renegade made little effort to keep up his tough reputation, but instead put his efforts to suppressing the tears that threatened to be his undoing.
Tossing his shoulders, Bob gestured for him to enter.
"I know you're mad at me Bob - everyone is - but please, just let me talk." The green sprite appealed, not waiting for an invite to be seated.
"I'm all ears." Guardian 452 dryly.
"I..." Matrix began to shake his head. "Bob, I almost hit AndrAIa."
"What?" This had been the last thing the blue sprite expected. "What, how?"
"I almost...I almost punched her." His left cheek became a highway of tear-stains. "We just got into this huge fight, and...and..." He looked at Bob in sheer desperation. "What's wrong with me?"
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AndrAIa sat on the floor, arms wrapped around her knees. What had just happened? She loved Matrix unconditionally, but this...this was a whole new realm of trouble. Even the games could not compare to this. She was heartbroken and afraid, and she needed someone so desperately.
Barely holding together, she pulled up a vidwin to hail a friend.
"Mouse, can you stop by?"
"Oh, of course Sugar..." The very sight of AndrAIa in this state made her stomach twist. "What's wrong?"
"Just get here as fast as you can." The Gamesprite replied, closing the vidwin and collapsing into her own sobs.
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"This isn't who I am..." Matrix was on his feet now, pacing the floor. "What's happening?" He quite visibly didn't know what to so with himself; he was fidgeting, seeking some way to stand or place his hands...just something that would feel right.
"Enzo," Bob had to seek out the right reply. "You...you need help. I think," He managed to stop the Renegade's wandering and meet his eyes. "I think that everything you've suffered has finally caught up to you..."
"No," The green sprite shook his head violently. "This isn't me..." Matrix' sanity was hanging by a frayed thread, and complete defeat was crushing down on him. "What if it's an infection? That's...possible, right?" He pushed the heels of his palms into his forehead and dropped back into a chair.
Guardian 452 swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.
"Matrix...this isn't an infection," The blue sprite stated miserably. "This is an illness, but I promise you that I will find you the help you need."
The suggestion shattered a wall in some remote region of the Renegade, and he let out a fierce yell directed at nothing and no-one, but instead serviced as a release.
The image this moment provided would be carved into Bob's memory forever: This great hulk of a sprite slumped forward in a chair, with his arms resting limp on his lap, and while staring blankly at his own upturned palms, the child that had been locked away inside of him screamed for either salvation or death.
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"Well you're not gonna' let him back in here, are you?" Mouse stood with her hands on her hips, looking down at AndrAIa with skepticism.
"I don't know!" The GameSprite had gotten up and was staring at her distorted reflection in the Hacker's armour. "I just don't know..."
"Honey," The purple sprite opened her arms to a hug. "You can't live each second wondering what he'll do next." She continued softly. "I know Matrix has a good heart, but something's different in him...I look at what he did to Ray and I wonder where things went wrong..."
AndrAIa didn't know that the Surfr had joined Mouse on this visit, or that he stood outside to guard the apartment from the raging Renegade, but she wished he was there to commiserate, even if his angry complaints weren't what she wanted to hear. Mouse was trying, but she just couldn't understand - she'd never had a run-in with Matrix, she couldn't identify in the same way...
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Bob was alone in the adjacent room - he didn't know what to do. He'd set things up with Turbo so that Matrix would be in the care of the Academy's psychiatric ward, but there was still tonight to weather. This was hard to do alone, and with a grown man. Enzo Matrix was his son as far as he was concerned - he had ended up playing the father role after the Twin Cities explosion - but things hadn't gone as planned. Enzo ended up with no one to guide him, to keep him from ever getting lost in the games to begin with. He'd had plenty of strong women to protect him and raise him, but he'd lost two influential males, the men who were supposed to show him what being a man meant.
The Guardian shook his head; it was all true, but what good was it doing him? He had to be there for Enzo now. He didn't want to ask for Dot's help - he knew that if it was given, it would be begrudgingly, and that was the last thing he needed now.
The green sprite was lying down now - he'd actually pushed himself to a point of exhaustion and just fallen asleep. Too much pressure, too much upset for Matrix to handle...it was hard to believe that such a limit even existed for this sprite. Bob mused on this for a moment before bringing a blanket to toss over the giant. The Guardian knew he wasn't going to get any sleep for himself, so he settled into the nearby chair with a readme and settled in for a long night. There was a lot more to be done - things to pack, explanations to be given - but it could wait until the next second.