Defying the Darkness
Chapter Three

"I just don't know, Dot," Mouse shook her head. "We...Ray and I, before we started talking about what we really wanted - before we started questioning what we had - we were just fine..." The Hacker hung her head. "...but now..."

The tilted her own head to the side, looking over Mouse's distraught face. She didn't know what to say to make her feel any better, but she didn't feel like she could sit silently either.

"Mouse..." Dot bit her lower lip. "You need to do what's best for you,"

"But what about Ray?" The purple sprite looked sincerely sad about the situation. "He never would have stayed if it hadn't been for me."

Dot patted her on the knee, and replied with, "I don't know any better than you do, Mouse." She laughed softly. "Look at who you're talking to, after all...the sprite that almost married a Virus."

The Hacker grinned, despite how sincerely unhappy she was.

"Yeah, I sure know how to pick friends," She responded.

The pair then sat back in silence for a while, mulling over the dilemma of what to do about the relationship, when Enzo crept from his room.

"Dot?"

She instantly snapped to attention.

"Yes?"

"I think I'd like to go on that picnic now..." The boy spoke meekly, but with an expression gleaming with hope.

The two women exchanged glances, and then the started a slow nod.

"Alright," Dot agreed, giving him a sweet smile. "You don't mind if Mouse joins us, do you?"

---

AndrAIa had been sitting in the Diner all second. Ray had left micros ago, but she remained, thinking about everything she'd seen and experienced, and always coming back to Matrix. She missed him; she loved him; she wanted to see him now. Her mood was more contemplative than sad, but all the same, something didn't feel right.

Cecil had been surprisingly tolerant of her - unlike his ususal unrelenting insistence that those who are not buying should not be loitering, he simply let her sit and mope, occasionally checking to see if she wanted anything. Even she was beginning to notice this, and eventually, she dared to enquire.

"Cecil?" The GameSprite called to him as he buzzed past.

"Just a moment!" He was busy serving another table, but was back to hers in a few nanos. "Yes?"

"Are you...alright this second?"

"Of course! Why do you ask?" He clasped his hands in front himself.

"You've just been..." She paused, narrowing her eyes. "Nice...too nice."

The bot instantly became defensive. He had his reputation to uphold!

"I don't know what you're talking about!" He exclaimed as a suspicious grin began to grow on AndrAIa's face.

"You were being nice!" She exclaimed, truly amused suddenly by this odd little occurrence that had drawn her from her deep and steady pondering and made her eager to pursue the maintenance of a goofy little spurt that had given her a smile.

"I was not, Madame!"

"You were! Admit it! You actually care!" The sprite chuckled softly while the bot crossed his arms, frowning. "Tell me, when did they reprogram you?"

"Alright, enough of this foolishness!" He exclaimed, his accent thick with his growing impatience. "Out, out!" He waved his hands at her, motioning towards the door. "I have no time for silliness!"

The GameSprite headed on her way, childishly turning on her heel to stick her tongue out as she threw the doors open and dashed out backwards, a towel flying out after her.

Cecil, secretly pleased with himself for improving the sprite's day, went about his normal routine of muttering and being bitter, finding himself a new towel in the process. It wasn't very often he bothered, but he had to do something to break up the monotony every now and again, and as long as the system was safe, he figured he'd investigate the concept of 'being nice'.

AndrAIa's little burst, however, was as short-lived and artificial as the games from which she had come. It had been a fleeting moment at best, and while she had savoured the flash of happiness she had gained, it also made her realize how her happiness had been flickering and threatening to falter in the more recent seconds that had passed.

---

Matrix was lying on his bunk - the top bunk - in his dorm room, considering his situation. He could go home, he could stay here...he could go somewhere else entirely, if he didn't want to face his family again. His room mate clamoured into the small space with two or three other sprites, all making a racket and instantly cramping Matrix' style.

"Hey! Do you mind?" The Renegade sourly said over the noise.

"Oh, sorry man...didn't even know you were here." The sprites echoed each other in response to him, so Matrix just waved it off as if to tell them it wasn't a big deal. He had always wanted to be at the Academy, and granted, he wasn't there under normal circumstances, but he was there; he actually kind of enjoyed having to put up with a noisy room mate, and since only a handful of people knew why he was really there, he could settle in and not get treated like a freak.

Matrix really didn't know whether or not he was going back to the sprites he loved. He missed them, but feared that things would never be normal again. He wanted to talk more with Turbo, but suspected that he was probably sick of seeing him, so he decided to leave it alone - forget it - for the present, and go get a mid-second drink. He hadn't had any I/O in a few cycles, and he figured he'd probably enjoy one anyway (if nothing else he always thought more clearly over a good drink), so, feeling abnormally social, he invited the whole group along for a round on him. Needless to say they didn't refuse, but they were almost suspicious of his kindness, as well as the micro at which he proposed the idea. That was all settled though, when he offered to go all out and buy them some lunch so they wouldn't be drinking on empty stomachs. He neglected to remember that he had an appointment with Dr. Watson later that second, or if he remembered, he didn't care. He simply wanted to cut loose and be a little reckless; he needed an escape, and one missed appointment wasn't the end of the Motherboard anyway...

---

Ray walked quietly through Floating Point, his Baud tucked under his arm and his mood poor. He didn't really have any close friends here - AndrAIa and Bob were the closest, but they weren't really what tied him to this system...not like Mouse. At least that had been his way of thinking before the fighting started. He wasn't a sprite that liked to argue and be confrontational, and always being on the defensive lately was wearing him out. Furthermore, he didn't feel like he had a purpose in Mainframe - his purpose was to surf the Web and really help people by giving them safe passage into closed systems. That was what had landed him in this system in the first place. Strange how surfing, how performing his natural function, could leave him feeling trapped.

While thinking on this, he thought he heard the Hacker's laughter, and automatically smiled, until he realized that he had almost disastrously walked into a picnic where she, Dot, and Enzo were enjoying a snack. Freezing sheer feet from their ground, he caught Dot's eye; thankfully Enzo and Mouse had their backs to him. The green woman nodded discreetly to him, quickly looking back to the two sprites before her on the checkered blanket so as not to be obviously distracted.

Creeping backward quietly, the Surfr gasped in relief to be out of earshot again, turning around and nearly colliding with the resident Guardian.

"Holy!" Ray clapped his hand to his chest as if to stop from being startled. "User, mate...you scared the bits out of me..."

Bob ignored his statement.

"You alright, Ray?" He asked, seeming to see the unintentional slouch of the Surfr's posture and the stress on his face.

"Long as I don't have to put up with Mouse, I'm fine." He replied peevishly, trying to hide his overall state of discontent. The Guardian knew better than to press him.

"Cool," He said, unsuccessfully trying to pass himself off for someone who believed the other sprite's statement. "In that case, wanna' drop by Al's with me for a while? I used to go with Matrix every now and again, but since he's not around..."

"Sure," Was all the Surfr replied with, taking to his Baud as did Bob his zip board.

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Dr. Watson, with golden-yellow hands folded behind his back, paced the floor and looked to the clock. Cadet Matrix was late, and after all the progress he'd made, the old sprite couldn't see why. It was because of this that he was hesitant to call on the Prime and inform him of the young man's absence - he didn't want him to be locked into an extra two or three cycles of treatment for one missed session. Then, just when he was about to pull up a VidWin, Turbo himself came in with the absentee in hand.

"Prime-"

"Doctor, he's your problem this second; I can yell at him later." Prime Guardian Turbo was boiling with anger, but kept himself impeccably calm...until Matrix tried to speak up in defense of himself.

"Look, Turbo,"

"You pull something like this again, and you're out on your ASCII, kid." He growled, getting in Matrix' face and curling his lip at the faint smell of the alcohol. "And what exactly were you thinking, anyway?" His voice grew as his cheeks reddened. "It's not like we can't track you down - you have a PID, Son! It took me all of two nanos to find out where you were! Is there any sense in that head of yours?"

"Look, Turbo, I'm sorry!" He spoke to the Prime as he would his own father. "I don't know what I was thinking!"

"You weren't thinking! That's the problem!" Turbo closed his eyes, and then opened them to a glare. "In one second you've shown me that you can be both an upstanding citizen and an irresponsible idiot! I think I may have jumped the gun when I said I thought you'd be able to go home earl-"

"Prime." Dr. Watson interjected very pointedly. "The final choice is not yours, Sir, it is mine." This brought things to an abrupt halt, and gave Watson a chance to be the Renegade's advocate. "He has made phenomenal progress, Prime, and I won't have you under-minding me because you're angry with him. He made a mistake...like every other young sprite at this Academy - you and I both know that young sprites have judgement issues. One mistake. Let it drop, because I can assure you it will not happen again." Turbo had nothing to say, so he nodded and strode from the room, still fuming. Matrix, however, was eager to offer thanks, which were also very quickly halted. "Now, Cadet, I just put my reputation on the line for you," Old Watson said, staring up at his much taller patient. "Don't disappoint me, because I won't be so forgiving a second time."

Before they headed into another session of unmasking and dethroning Matrix' demons, the Renegade quietly stated, "I just needed an escape from it all...even if only for a mirco."

Watson shook his head. He had seen that so many times with sprites throughout his career, and it was a rare occasion when it did not lead to their downfall. He was certain this was something that had been clearly etched into Turbo's database as well...

For a nano he marvelled that his career stretched back to Turbo's youth, and then shrugged it off. Matrix was the patient at hand now, all these years later, and he was a lucky patient to have the Prime keeping such close tabs on him lest his own near-sighted judgement reverse everything that had been accomplished. If he stayed on track, he'd be home by the end of the cycle...maybe even the end of the session.

With that final thought, that final objective, Dr. Watson began his business as usual with the Renegade, and proceeded as though nothing of great significance had transpired. The moment of indiscretion had earned itself a few moments of discussion, but was tossed very quickly in the interest of pursuing more important issues.

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