Chapter 4

Barely half an hour after Yaito and Glyde left, Roll was sleeping peacefully.

"Shouldn't she be dreaming already?" Rockman asked.

Yuuichiro shook his head, "It takes at least an hour to enter the stage of sleep that produces dreams, so we've got quite a wait ahead of us."

"Anything weird yet?" Netto leaned over his father's shoulder to examine the screen.

"Nothing, she appears to be sleeping normally."

There was silence for several moments, then Maylu spoke up. "What's that?" She pointed to the layout of Roll's programs, where a slender thread of data was trailing from one program into another.

Yuuichiro's eyes widened. "That's her memory bank! Something's feeding into her mind!"

His fingers tapped frantically on the keyboard, bringing up the schematics of

Roll's memory bank. The program seemed to be going haywire, it looked like it was trying to access a file that didn't exist.

Roll's brow furrowed, and her hands curled into fists.

"Dr. Hikari, I think she's starting to dream!" Maylu yelped, as Roll's back arched and she let out a keening wail.

"It's not a dream!" Yuuichiro said, hands still flying over the keys. "It's a memory! We've got all we need, Rockman, wake her up!"

Rockman leaned over Roll, lightly tapping one slender shoulder. "Roll, wake up!"

Roll jerked as though trying to move away from him, whimpering low in her throat.

"Roll!" he yelled, "Roll, wake up!"

The pink navi gave a sudden, spasmodic thrash, then bolted upright with a deafening scream. Her eyes were wild, and the utter terror in their depths tore at Rockman's heart.

Roll seemed to become aware of her surroundings, and as she did so, her eyes flooded with tears. She hurled herself at Rockman, catching him around the neck and sending them both reeling to the floor. He landed on his back with Roll on top of him, her arms holding him so tightly he was glad he didn't need to breathe. Her face was hidden in his neck, and he could feel her body trembling with the force of her sobs.

"It's okay," he whispered, his arms coming up to hold her while she cried against him. "It's okay, Roll, it's okay."

"I saw…I s-saw him…" she choked out.

"Who, Roll?" Rockman asked urgently. "Who did you see?"

The pink navi bit her lip, tears running over her cheeks. "It was…it was…"

"It's alright, Roll," Meiru tried to reassure her.

Roll shuddered in Rockman's arms, just once.

"It was…Dark Rockman," she whispered, as though afraid just saying his name would bring him down on them.

Like the bogeyman.

oooooooo

"It's a memory?" Roll gasped, as Yuuichiro explained what had happened.

"In essence, yes, but it's not that simple. As far as your memory banks are concerned, these memories don't exist. But you can access them in your unconscious state, which seems to suggest one thing...partial deletion."

"Come again?" Meiru blinked.

"For some reason, someone tried to delete Roll's memories of these events. But they were only partially successful. It worked for a time, but your memories began to filter back to you in the only they could – through your dreams."

"So that...actually happened?" Roll squeaked, ruthlessly squashing the urge to throw up. What would she bring up anyway? Chunks of data?

"So the question is; what do you want to do about it?" Yuuichiro asked. "I could probably restore the memories...but do you want me to?"

Roll thought for several long moments. Did she really have any choice? Did she want to spend the rest of her life having half-formed, utterly terrifying nightmares?

She bit her lip, and nodded slowly.

oooooooo

"So...what does this do again?" Rockman asked, watching Yuuichiro tapping away at the keyboard.

"When you delete a file from a computer, it still leaves an impression. And if you know your way around the system, you can recall it. So with a bit of fiddling, I can recall Roll's memory of what...of what Dark Rockman did to her."

Roll didn't respond, trying to adjust to the feeling of her data and programs being examined. No matter how many times she went through this, it still felt just plain strange.

For several seconds, the only sound was the hum and whir of the computers. Everyone was trying to digest what had just been learned.

It was obvious Dark Rockman had tortured Roll...but to what ends? What could he have hoped to gain by such cruelty? And what had happened to erase her memory of it?

Yuuichiro located the file's 'echo', and with several swift programmed commands, he restored it.

And all watching saw Roll go completely rigid, her eyes opening wide, her face twisting in horror as her memory was restored.

oooooooo

Roll wriggled, trying to free herself from the bonds that held her wrists and ankles. With a bit of skillful maneuvering, they slipped from her limbs.

But getting out of the cell was another story. Roll was surprised at that – the digital world was very malleable, and it was almost impossible to imprison a navi somewhere unless they were kept in stasis.

The wall warped, but it was not of her doing. Roll instinctively backed away, her fists clenched. Dark Rockman entered, smiling in a way Roll instantly disliked.

"Hello, my little butterfly."

The nickname sent a shiver through Roll's body. "What do you want?"

He didn't seem to hear her. "My little butterfly...you're so beautiful..."

Roll wondered if it was possible to hyperventilate when you didn't actually breathe. She was pressed against the wall, and trying to control her urge to curl up in a ball.

"I have a proposition for you," Dark Rockman smirked.

"And what's that?" Roll snapped, trying to bolster her courage.

"Join me."

For a moment, Roll was certain she hadn't heard him correctly. "Me? Join you?"

He nodded.

"You're crazy!" she exploded, spitting the words at him like a cobra's venom.

He smiled, but the expression was cruel. "You'll think differently, in time. I can be very...persuasive."

Roll swallowed...hard. "Why me?" It seemed selfish, but she couldn't help asking. What was so special about her. "Why not any of the others?"

"You, my little butterfly, you're special."

Fear rocked her, but she knew she couldn't give in. "Don't call me that. I'm not a butterfly, and I'm certainly not yours!"

"You should be more grateful. I'm offering you a choice, which is more than your friends can say. So, what is your answer?"

"NO!"

Dark Rockman's answer came, but not in words. Lightning snapped from his hands, lancing through her body like a living thing.

Roll screamed. The level of agony the electricity dealt was astounding. She was dimly aware of her knees buckling, her body spasming as she slumped to the floor, but all that really registered was the pain.

Then it was over, as swiftly as it had begun. Roll was left, weak and shaking, on the floor as Dark Rockman opened a door in the wall and stepped through.

"Just a taste of what I can do to you," he told her. "I trust that next time, you'll be more accommodating."

oooooooo

It began from that moment – the hideous ordeal that was to later haunt Roll's dreams. Each time Dark Rockman arrived in her cell, he would demand that she join him. Each time, Roll refused.

And each time, she was punished for it.

She came to herself again, somewhat, on the floor, the haze of pain clouding her vision finally clearing. Dark Rockman was speaking to her, sounding as though he were at some sort of tea party.

"I'd rather not hurt you. And I am sure you do not enjoy this…"

Pain, a hideous, electrifying agony beyond description. She screamed – it was all she could do.

"What will it be, my little butterfly?"

Her mouth worked, and she tried to summon the energy to speak.

"What will it be?"

Her lips began to form the word.

"Yes…or no?"

"...no..." The one word that had become her mantra, her prayer.

His face twisted in rage, and she felt the pain begin again.

oooooooo

Sometimes, she wondered if his torture had permanently damaged her programming. When she wondered at all, that is. Most of the time, she floated in a half-aware haze, not truly registering what was happening to her.

Some things registered, of course.

Dark. Dark and trapped and scared and hurting.

"Come my little butterfly, one word, one simple word…and your pain can end."

"NO!" She wouldn't surrender, she wouldn't. Wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't.

But how it hurt! Like needles of fire ripping at her body, like a bath in electrified acid. He was angry, she knew he was angry. He was talking to her but she was fading. Fading from awareness into either unconsciousness or deletion. So far, it had only been the former, but she knew, if things continued this way, one day it would be the later. One day he would go too far and destroy her.

Strangely, the idea didn't frighten her. If she was deleted, she couldn't submit.

But then sweet oblivion shattered into splinters of agony as she was yanked back to the waking world.

"Don't faint on me yet, this is just the beginning."

She wanted to scream, but she was too weak. She wanted to cry, but she had no tears left. She wanted to rage and bellow and fight, she wanted to inflict on him some small fraction of the pain he had dealt to her.

But if she had one wish, only one, it would be to escape. In either freedom or deletion, she wished to escape from him.

But she knew she did not have the strength.

She gazed malicious pools the colour of dried blood. Her eyes closed, not wanting to look at him, not wanting to acknowledge his existence.

A voice drifted to her ears. Not Dark Rockman's, someone was speaking to her tormentor.

"If Rockman ever finds out what you're doing to her, you'll be lucky if he deletes you quickly."

"He won't find out."

"Oh really?"

And then the world dissolved.

oooooooo

Roll sensed the presence of another in her cell. She knew who it was, so didn't bother to even turn towards Dark Rockman. He actually seemed strangely agitated, and she felt a burst of satisfaction that this time, he was the one suffering.

"...don't have much time..." he muttered.

He turned her over, and she didn't fight. She didn't know if she could fight, in the state she was in. She felt like there was a layer of cotton wool wrapped around her mind, and everything was filtering to her too slowly to process.

"...if he finds out...no matter, he won't find out...have to erase it...rush job...will it work properly? Have to risk it..."

Roll had no idea what he was babbling about. And when she felt him probing at her memories, blanking out the long era of horror, she actually felt relieved.

oooooooo

"He tortured me," Roll whispered, her voice dull. "He kept asking me to join him, and every time I said 'no', he just..."

She broke off. Meiru looked like she was about to throw up, and even Netto and his father looked a little paler than usual. And Roll couldn't look at Rockman.

The blue navi beside her was reeling. He'd suspected something bad, but nothing like this. What could Dark Rockman have possibly wanted with Roll?

Unless...a sneaking, horrible suspicion bloomed in Rockman's mind. He knew that several aspects of his personality had transferred to Dark Rockman, even though his duplicate seemed to hate and scorn them...was it possible that his love for Roll had transferred to Dark Rockman too?

And the psyche of Dark Rockman had no room for love. Within his shadowed mind, had love twisted into dark obsession?

"He was scared of you," Roll said suddenly. Her eyes were still averted, but it was easy to tell she was addressing Rockman.

"He was?" Rockman repeated blankly, yanked out of his thoughts.

Roll nodded. "That's why he tried to delete my memories...it was a rush job...he'd heard you were coming...and I remember someone telling him that...that if you ever found out what he'd done to me...he'd be lucky if you deleted him quickly."

Surprisingly, Rockman hadn't actually considered that. What he'd do if Dark Rockman was still around, what he would have done if he'd known of Roll's torture when he faced him...

Navis were not meant to growl – at least, not humanoid ones – but growl Rockman did. Like a feral animal. The NetOps blinked, and Roll actually jumped in shock.

"Rockman...?" Netto asked, his voice wary.

"I'm fine," Rockman said, making a conscious effort to unclench his fists.

"Can...uh..." Roll sounded timid, which in itself was unusual – it wasn't like Roll to be timid. "Can we go home now, Meiru?"

"Sure," the redhead nodded, "I think you've earned some rest."

Roll jacked out of the main computer, and Meiru left quietly. Netto opened his mouth, seemingly about to say something...but then he closed it, and simply watched them leave.

"Are you okay?" Yuuichiro asked Rockman, who was still scowling.

"Why ask me? I'm not the one he terrorised!" Rockman snapped, then instantly regretted being so harsh. "Sorry...it's just..."

"A lot to take in," Netto muttered, looking at the door through which Roll and Meiru had left. "I mean, I knew Dark Rockman was bad, but I never thought..."

"He'd go this far," Rockman finished.

They both looked at Netto's father when he snorted.

"What?"

"Finishing each other's sentences?" Yuuichiro chuckled. "Sometimes the connection between you two borders on creepy."

Rockman snorted as well, but the worry didn't leave his eyes. "Will Roll be okay?"

"She'll be fine," Netto said confidently. "She's tough."

Yuuichiro was more temperate in his answer. "I think she'll pull through. One of the most traumatizing factors about her nightmares was that they were just impressions – images and feelings that never coalesced into a recognisable image. Now that she knows what happened...it will help."

"How will it help?"

"Now she knows what she's fighting."