AN/ This chapter only happened because Alpha was being talkative lol

Chapter 78: Things Better Left Untouched

Alpha watched Riku and Namine go, and then returned his attention to the computer; he still hadn't finished removing all of Riku's memories from the Database. He had been distracted. However, there were only a few memories left…

"What the-" he gasped, noticing something. He frowned and squinted at the screen. T

All memories in the Database were typically flagged depending on the strongest thoughts and emotions that were portrayed in them, so as to make finding usable Data easier. Most had only one or two emotions flagged to them, occasionally more, but rarely ever any more than five.

But this memory was flagged with practically every negative emotion that they had a flag for:

Anger.

Hate.

Sorrow.

Loneliness.

Shock.

Fear.

Hurt.

Confusion.

And yet… most surprisingly, especially with all that negativity, it was flagged with one other emotion:

Love.

Curious, Alpha clicked on the flag, seeing if whoever had flagged it had left a comment. A window popped up, slowly listing all the emotions the memory had been flagged with all over again. Alpha sighed and drummed his fingers on the desk, waiting-

The list continued to add more and more emotions, surpassing the amount that had been listed previously. After love it added:

Happiness.

Excitement.

Contentment.

Compassion.

Protectiveness.

Passion.

Jealousy.

Disbelief.

The list continued, causing Alpha to frown. He didn't recall the Database actually having a flag for some of these emotions. And, sure enough, about as soon as he thought that, the list of emotions went blank, and then flashed red.

"SYNTAX ERROR"

Alpha's eyes narrowed in confusion. He closed out of the window and then clicked on the memory itself so that he could view it. A message box popped up:

"THIS PIECE OF DATA IS UNSTABLE AND MAY CONTAIN CONTENT THAT COULD HARM THE DATABASE! DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?"

Alpha rolled his eyes at the message and simply hit "YES".

He kept his eye on the bottom left hand corner of the screen where a small box was. The box would keep track of the emotions, which were really what he was here to find out about. He actually made a point not to focus on the memory itself; it was Riku's after all, and the information could have been private.

Anger.

"Looks like I win," Riku laughed.

Alpha glanced up at the scene. Sora, or a version of him, was on the ground, Riku looking down on him. Sora merely looked up at Riku, as if he did not have the will to return to his feet. However, his face was distorted slightly, as if Riku hadn't been paying much attention.

Hate.

"Stupid Sora…" Riku thought. "Always getting in the way! Why can't you just leave me alone! All I want is… is to be with Namine… but you-"

Love.

Hurt.

"Riku! Stop!" someone shouted. Alpha frowned. The voice sounded like Namine's…

And, sure enough, Riku reacted as if it were her. The image shifted slightly, as if he turned away for a second.

"Stop, eh? She's telling me to… stop… I should… stop, then- but-"

Jealousy.

"She doesn't care about me. She cares about him! She always has… I just- I don't want to believe that-"

Anger.

"If Sora weren't here… then… then maybe I could be with her. Then maybe-"

He raised his blade, slowly.

"You are through!" he shouted.

He brought his blade crashing down-

"I SAID STOP!" Namine screamed.

The Emotion Box went crazy. It filled up with emotion after emotion, went blank, filled up again. The image went completely black. There was a fragmented scrap of audio here and there, but it was all distorted and hard to make sense off.

Alpha paused the memory and then glanced over his shoulder at Vexen and 7.

"Hey!" he snapped. "Be quiet for a second! This is important!"

Both of them stopped. Vexen frowned.

"What is it?" he demanded.

"A memory of Riku's," Alpha replied. "There's something off about-"

He never finished his sentence. Vexen shoved him aside and started the memory over, watching it intently. Alpha groaned, but said nothing. Maybe Vexen could make sense of it…

So they watched the memory again.

Alpha grimaced as the context of the memory started to dawn on him. Riku and Sora, from the parallel universe, most likely, had fought. Riku had beaten Sora and was prepared to kill him.

All because of Namine.

Parallel Namine it may be, he still had strong feelings towards her.

"She doesn't care about me."

Even if the feelings may not have been mutual.

Alpha winced, now, when she screamed at Riku. And, as he watched, he noticed something. As the Emotion Box filled and emptied itself, one emotion kept repeating over and over and over again.

Hurt.

Everything went blank.

The computer beeped.

"SYNTAX ERROR!"

Alpha quickly shoved Vexen out of the way and entered a few quick commands. The window containing the memory closed. Before the computer could complain anymore, Alpha hit "DELETE".

"That explains so much…" Vexen whispered. He had buried his face in his hands.

"Care to enlighten us?" 7 asked. "I'm confused!"

"As am I…" Alpha muttered, though he was nearly positive that he and 7 were confused about different things.

Slowly, Vexen glanced up.

"Memory witch," he stated simply. "That Namine was, and probably still is, a memory witch. She had, and probably still has, control over the memories of Sora and anyone connected to him. The Riku Replica, this Riku, was among those people. She filled his heart with false memories, memories that confused him as time wore on, memories that-"

"Drove him to madness…" Alpha finished quietly. He swallowed. "And then she… shattered him…"

7 cringed. "No Replica should have been able to survive that…"

"This is Riku we're talking about," Vexen laughed.

Alpha quickly deleted what was left of Riku's memories from the Database, focusing probably more intently on the task than he needed to. He was shaking, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He felt as if, somehow, he had managed to get more from that memory than should have been possible.

He hurt.

He hurt as if he had been in Riku's place.

"He was talking about her before, wasn't he?" he whispered after a moment.

"Hmm?" 7 asked.

"Riku," Alpha clarified, though his voice didn't get much louder. "When he was ranting about L, and listing off things that he didn't care that she knew about, he… he choked at the mention of 'her'. He was… referring to this Namine, wasn't he? The Namine who-"

"Yes," Vexen said before Alpha could finish.

Alpha was secretly grateful for that; he felt as if his heart would break if he kept talking. He took his glasses off and wiped his eyes.

I feel awful… he thought slowly.

Is this how Namine feels during meltdowns?

And- why are Riku's emotions strong enough that I started feeling them, too?

He paused, something occurring to him. Something that he had seen in the memory, an emotion that had come up even more than 'hurt' had. Love. When the Emotion Box had gone crazy at the moment of the shattering, the last time it had filled up, it had been repeating that same emotion.

Love.

"He loved her…" he breathed.

"He may not have realized it was love, though," Vexen said.

Slowly, Alpha turned to him. "You sure?"

Vexen shrugged. "His memories and his entire heart were a wreck, then…" he explained slowly. "I'm sure he felt something towards her, but I doubt he recognized it as love."

"Right," Alpha said, his voice catching slightly.

And yet… I have a hard time believing him…

xxx

Reports of Zexion Alpha: 288, What was that?

Things have gone back to normal. I finished deleting all of Riku's memories from the Database, moved all the rest of the Data onto an external, and made sure that not too much damage was done during this raid. Whatever that was back in the Computer Room has passed. My heart still aches a bit though, and I still feel shaken.

I think I learned more about Riku from that memory than I would ever want to know about him.

Besides, that was private.

I shouldn't have even seen it…

But that's not just it.

I hurt as if it had been me in that moment…

But why?

I did nothing more than watch it. And, sure, it was a pretty awful thing to see, but that doesn't explain why I felt the way I did back there, nor the lingering pain that is still with me right now.

Unless, somehow, all that emotion in that memory just needed to be released somehow.

All Data has its quirks, even my own Data. I suppose a small Data transfer could have taken place then, dispelling some of the built up emotions into me. I'm sure if they were too much for the Computer to handle, which they certainly seemed to be, it would have sought a way to get rid of them. I was the closest thing…

I wonder…

What if that is what's causing Namine's meltdowns?

All the built up emotion that Riku's holding inside of him, not wanting anyone to see… And all that emotion, without a proper outlet, has to go somewhere. So it goes to Namine, whose data is similar enough to Riku's to take the emotion. And the emotion triggers memories, causing the meltdowns…

It would make sense.

Especially if what I felt back there was something similar to a meltdown. Of course, I'm sure it wasn't anywhere close to what they actually feel like, but I do not have Riku's memories inside of me.

But then why did the Computer expel the emotion to me? I wouldn't have been able to take-

Oh.

All Data in the Database is compatible with every Replica, of course.

The only difference between what just happened and my theory about Namine's meltdowns is that Riku would be the source, not the Computer.

And, as I've said, Namine's Data is similar to Riku's, which is why she would be the only one who's picking up the emotion from him…

Another thought, though…

Could we have used Namine's Data to fix Riku's hand?

The Computer didn't seem to want to recognize his Data so that the Repair Program would work, however… if we were to go through and actually-

Oh wait…

We can't edit his Data ourselves.

Saix has locked the Program.