"Yori, you have to let them out."

Beck's words are gentle, but he can't quite keep the frantic edge from his voice. Yori glares down at the panel in front of her instead of meeting his eyes.

Once, a long, long time ago, Yori thought that Flynn died to save her and Tron. He'd risked his life to distract the MCP- to save his friends, and the system they fought for.

Now Flynn is running away. She's received a ping from his disc; Flynn is at the portal, and he wants off the Grid. He's going to escape and leave the rest of them behind to fend for themselves- like he's already done for nearly 1000 cycles.

If she lets him.

Yori can't say any of that to Beck, though, so she lists another grievance- one that's much more important.

"They didn't save Tron."

After what she and Beck had seen in the games earlier that cycle, Yori had hoped they wouldn't need the help of the Users to save Tron. They'd returned to the portal tower after Sam was rescued from the games (it happened so quickly there wasn't much else they could do, and he was obviously being taken to the outlands, to Flynn), so she could let the Users out.

But then they saw the light-jet battle.

They watched from the tower window as Clu and the users raced towards the portal. Clu's pursuit was relentless, until one of his soldiers turned on him mid-fight- knocked him out of the sky. Tron. For a nano they had cheered, half hysterical with shock and glee (Tron was back!), but their joy was instantly replaced by fear when his jet was derezzed along with Clu's. The two of them fought as they fell, but Clu came back up, and Tron didn't.

Flynn watched Tron fall to the sea and did nothing. There might not even be a Tron to save anymore.

"I think they did."

Yori looks up at the determination in Beck's voice. Somehow he is the picture of calm. His eyes are clear; hopeful. He's picked an interesting time to become an optimist.

"Seeing Flynn… it seemed like it broke Tron's reprogramming. We didn't see him derez. We can go find him. We can help him. But only if Clu doesn't get Flynn's disc." Beck places a hand on Yori's arm, and pings [please]. "Tron wanted them to be safe, Yori. He wanted them to escape from Clu."

He's right, of course. Tron had broken his reprogramming— risked and maybe given his life to protect the users. Like he always did.

She only lets them out because it may have been his final wish.

Yori finally gives in to her directives. She activates the portal, and within nanos two users and an ISO are gone from the system. She's well-aware that they might never return; that she may have doomed this system for a second time.

Beck doesn't allow her to continue that line of thought.

"C'mon," he takes her hand and pulls her to her feet. "If we hurry-"

He's interrupted when an alarm sounds on the panel in front of her.

Something is wrong. There's been a massive power surge near the portal. It doesn't look like there's any damage, but it's dangerous for the rest of the Grid. Something in Yori's core lurches. Did the portal cause this? Did she cause this?

"Users," Beck breathes, "What is that?!"

Yori follows his gaze to the window, and sees a wave of white light rushing toward them, destroying everything in its path. No— destroying isn't the right word, because there's no wreckage- no destruction. Just emptiness where there once were streets and buildings, and programs.

She can't move, but somehow she speaks.

"It almost looks like- a reset."

And then it clicks. This is reintegration. She didn't cause this. Flynn did.

Yori looks back down at the control-panel and notices what she didn't before; it's only Flynn's disc that left the system. She was wrong. He didn't abandon them. Flynn must have stayed behind so that Sam could escape. He's trapped himself on the Grid, and he's finally getting rid of Clu. He's sacrificing himself and the rest of the Grid to do it.

But the portal is still standing.

"It's only erasing what Flynn created," she says. And that's still most of the Grid, but it isn't everything. She tries to sound calm for Beck's sake. "Flynn didn't code this tower, or me. We'll be—"

Yori turns to face Beck, and when she meets his eyes she wants to derez.

Beck is a beta, one of the last programs Flynn coded.

"No."

Now it registers that the whole world is ending. Her world has already ended once or twice, she'd rather not go for a third time.

"Yori," he reaches towards her but she takes a step back.

"No!" This is not happening; she won't let it. "You'll be safe here. The tower will—"

"Yori," Beck takes her by the arms, pings [urgent/ listen]. "Flynn didn't code Tron. You have to find him. You have to save him."

She pulls him into a hug, like she might be able to shield him. He feels her sob more than he hears it.

"Beck!"

"Hey," his voice wavers but he smiles as he returns her too-tight embrace. "It'll be okay. I promise."

Beck sends her one last ping [comfort/ safe/ thank you], and says the best and worst thing he possibly could before the world turns white.

"Tron lives."

Yori wakes up on the floor, and Beck is gone. There aren't even voxels or a disc to cry over; there's no sign that he was ever there at all.

Somehow, she thinks, that's worse.

Yori isn't sure how much time passes before she pulls herself to her feet.

Her steps are less steady than she'd like, but she walks to the window and takes in the emptiness of the Grid with a fresh wave of grief.

She remembers when the system was blank like this before. Flynn brought her and Tron to a brand new world, filled with promise and potential. The stillness was a little unnerving then, too, but her excitement had outweighed her nerves. She always felt safe with Tron.

Now the darkness is much more oppressive. Flynn and Tron aren't with her, and everything they worked so hard to build and protect has been reduced to nothing.

Every light on the Grid has gone out except for one.

Out beyond the sea there is a flickering glint of blue. Tron is alive (thank Alan-One), but he's damaged- inoperative. Yori tries to reach him through their comm link, but he doesn't respond. She can tell from here that he isn't moving. And so she has a choice to make.

Flynn had explained the time difference between the Analog world and the Grid on more than one occasion. (This was why he was gone so often, although it wasn't an excuse as to why he would allow no one else to help him. Other users could be here when he wasn't, but he waved the suggestion away. The system wasn't ready yet. He didn't understand that that was the point.) Yori knows that it will be a long time before the users return- if they return at all. If she stays here and waits for them, Tron may very well derez out there, all alone. Yori wants to return to him more than anything, and she is so very tired of waiting around for users to fix things, but she also knows that she won't really be able to help Tron. She can repair minor injuries, but she can't undo reprogramming. Tron is going to need the help of a user. And if Yori leaves the tower and they reappear, she won't be able to let them in. She'll be wasting valuable time.

She touches the light on the glass, and speaks to him again though she knows he won't answer. If her voice breaks, he doesn't hear it.

"We can wait together, can't we? We've waited this long."

Please, come back.

"Just hold on."