Chapter Seven

A burst of violet light followed by the sound of a body crashing on the floor. Zero groaned and rolled off her friend's motionless form, hissing curses underneath her breath. With a gesture of her hand, the blank empty space was replaced with furniture. She grunted and dragged her friend into a white polyester couch. "Wake up, Robin."

"Don't want to," replied the half-asleep AI, trying to shove Zero's hands away. "Pain…"

"Your Expendable is going to die if you don't wake up at this instant," Zero spoke as calmly as she could. Robin nodded and continued pushing her hands away, murmuring incomprehensible words. The PS3 let out an impatient sigh and stabbed her index finger at one of Robin's tickle spots.

"Daahh!" Robin jumped and clung to Zero's neck like a cat which had just been splashed with water, her legs wrapped around the woman's body.

"Geroff me," Zero grumbled through a mouthful of Robin's hair. "Rebecca's in danger."

"Oh." Robin gently unlatched herself off her friend's torso, straightening the woman's collar and smoothing her crumpled blouse with careful shaking fingers. "Sorry," she said, coughing embarrassedly. "Forget…what I just did."

"Gladly," Zero said without a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She grabbed Robin's hand and sighed, "Really now, Robin; we have more important things to do than you feeling sorry about doing certain…comical acts. As I've said, Rebecca is in danger of being attacked by fiends. She's outside of Dali village without weapon or energy to fight any creature that comes her way."

"I know," Robin ran her fingers through her snowy white hair, her blue eyes frantic. "I had…the misfortune of experiencing it with her. Did you see the size of that dragon?"

"I did. I wonder who could have sent that when Rebecca hasn't even met any other Expendables as of yet." Zero spoke thoughtfully. Rubbing the bridge of her nose, she shook her head and said, "Anyway, that's not important right now. We have to go there and save her, Robin."

The Playstation shook her head and cracked her knuckles. "We don't need a direct intervention here, Zero. There's a much more efficient and energy-saving way." She offered her hand. "Control Steiner."

"Excuse me?" Zero looked slightly flustered. "And how do you suppose I do that?"

"I ultimately run the game, Zero," Robin spoke, her eyes unusually serene. "Therefore, the Core Data is within me. I can't control the PPCs myself because of this…but you can."

"What do I have to do?"

"Hold my hand…and trust me."

Steiner's eyes snapped open. He slipped off the lumpy bed which was a bit too small for him and grabbed his Rubber Helmet which he put on before examining his surroundings. He was a bit surprised to be the first to wake up but immediately reasoned that the monkey was probably too lazy for his own good and that the princess and Master Vivi were probably too tired from the journey still. His eyebrows met in dazed confusion as he looked around once more. Where was Miss Rebecca? Surely the girl had gone to sleep by now; they had a tiring day after all.

Silently making his way to the front of the room, he took a peek back in case he had missed anything before trotting to the outside of the inn. Something inside him told him that he had to go to the fringe of the village. He did not have to walk far before he realized something. A battle of sorts had taken place outside the village. How no one had managed to notice was a mystery to him. Then again, perhaps the villagers were so used to having fiends ramble around their parts that such things were deemed normal.

He examined the flattened grass and sniffed the air, his nose picking up the scent of ash and fire and smoke. His eyes darted across the green field, surveying the damage of the monster that had ravaged the place. From the looks of it, the beast carried the element fire in its veins and was large to have caused such destruction. Scorch marks caught his eye, bringing him farther away from the village. He bent down, touched the burnt grass and knew that whatever had transpired in this place had happened not too long ago; it was still feeling slightly warm. If his predictions were correct, a dragon had been here. It was quite logical after all; a dragon had an element of fire—they can possess other elements as well although this is rare—and had just the right size for this kind of damage.

With that in mind, the battle would have probably happened at least two to three hours ago as the warmth of dragonfire lingered longer than the normal kind. Who the dragon battled with remained a question for the observant captain. The answer presented itself in the form of a curled up teenager in the field of Steiner's vision. He jogged across and almost stumbled on something. Picking himself up, his eyes fell on an all too familiar dagger. It was the one Zidane had first used against him…it was also the one which Zidane had given to Rebecca. Wrapped around its plain hilt was a wooden bracelet which had but two beads that were different from the others. After further inspection, Steiner could not help but gasp. Two crystallized dragon's eyes stared back at him, its yellow irises clear against the reddish-orange stone. He shivered. These stones were capable of massive damage when used correctly. He had heard of tales spoken by bards when he chanced a visit at one of the taverns in Alexandria and knew enough not to underestimate them.

Wait…if this was one of Zidane's old daggers…

"Rebecca!" The man shouted in alarm, making a run, once more, for the unconscious teenager. He went down on his feet and grabbed the young woman's shoulder, the dagger he carried momentarily forgotten. "Wake up!"

Disorientation. It was the first thing that came into my mind as I struggled into awareness. I guess it was my way of trying to describe what it felt like to wake up with a massive headache and dizziness with a scale factor of eleven over ten. I blame it on the earthquake.

…earthquake?! Oh crap.

I pushed away from whatever force was holding me and clutched my head, hoping like hell that no debris would fall on my head. By then, the earthquake had stopped but I remembered hearing about aftershocks from my teacher so I remained where I was, my eyes half-closed.

"Miss Rebecca."

Shut it, will ya?

"Miss Rebecca."

There's an earthquake, you bloody ass. Bother me when it's over.

"Miss Rebecca, are you alright?"

I looked up in annoyance and found Steiner staring down at me with a worried look on his face. I blinked and squinted. The light from the sun made things hard for me to see. Of course, seeing as I am a logical creature, I had already realized something important. I was hungry.

…and there probably was no earthquake in the first place. Probably.

"I'm fine," would have been what I said, honestly, but what came out of my mouth was this instead, "Blech." Ok. So I can't really remember what it is that I said since I was mostly busy vomiting on Steiner's steel-toed boots. Yes. Me. And Vomit. In the same sentence. That scares me a lot…you know that?

I heard a sigh come from the burly man and felt strong arms drag me to my feet. Still dazed, I could not focus my attention on where we were going; I was too busy trying to ignore the heavy feeling which pervaded through my body and acted like a parasite that ate my energy away. I shivered as my body slumped against a rough wall, wincing as my back stung with pain. I sensed something being laid down besides me but could not force my head to move and see what it was. I contented myself instead by watch Steiner as he tried to wipe off the…little present I had given him and walk through the grasslands as if searching for something.

As you've noticed, my humor completely fails me when I am this tired. I can barely think of a joke and I have no plans of doing such thinking because if I laugh…if I laugh, there's going to be a lot of hurt involved.

With time on my hands, I sink into a contemplative state, reflecting, once and for all, everything that had happened so far. Normal people would have freaked out at being sent into another world, especially without warning. Normal people would have panicked at the thought of having to fight other people who are probably a lot more versed at the art of fighting than I am. Normal people would have not get mauled on by monsters twice their size because they'd actually be paying attention to their surroundings. Normal people I am not, sadly enough.

I think it's because I'm good at lying to myself. I can warp my mind into thinking certain things and right now, I'm thinking that this is all just a big joke my head's decided to drop on me and at any moment I would wake up and everything would just be a big weird dream. I know it's wrong, the pain itself is evidence enough that everything I've gone through is real…but the subconscious mind is such a powerful influence on me. So long as I continue to believe that this is unreal, I can continue to live through this game without worrying about all those stupid things people usually worry about.

Did I mention I miss my computer? The songs in my MP3? My family? The kind of civilization I grew up in? The voices of my friends as they laugh at my silly jokes? No…wait…that last one doesn't really count because my brain is capable of mimicking their voices. Whether this is a good thing or not is still questionable.

Of course it's questionable. It's you we're talking about after all.

And shut it, Ellie. I don't need your opinion right now.

Where was I? Oh right. I miss a lot of things. But that isn't the point. The thing is, I…I go with the flow. Every action I've made hardly makes sense. I don't know why I can't treat Zidane and Dagger properly. I can understand why I'm being nice to Steiner though but the thing is, I am still so messed up. I am a walking contradiction.

Admitting that sounds weird. I let out a bitter laugh and coughed hard, my back arching with agony. My vision blurred even more, making it harder to see. My left arm curled around my waist while my right hand reached for the grass on my side in the hopes of clinging to something solid, something real. Instead, I felt something else. It was solid alright…but it wasn't part of the ground. I lifted it slowly, and saw the dagger Zidane had given me. A spasm of guilt jerked the knife off my hand. I breathed hard and fell to my side, my eyelids threatening to close. I gasped and let out a scream. Shit. Why did this have to happen again?

"It's done," whispered Zero as she let go of Robin's hand. They turned their heads in time to see dual screens pop out of nowhere. For a while they watched in silence, a certain black-haired girl the objection of their attention. Needless to say, there was a bit of affection in there too, but neither would readily admit to it.

When the ear-splitting scream came, it brought worry in the form of matching frowns onto the two AIs. They had not anticipated such a reaction from their Expendable.

"What's happening, Robin?" Zero demanded, her red eyes furiously seeking answers from her stocky friend. "I controlled Steiner for a while so I know enough that she doesn't have any serious wounds on her body to cause—"

"That's because it isn't a physical wound," Robin replied through gritted teeth. Her eyes narrowed into mere slits while her hands curled into fists that shook. "Damn that insufferable conscience of hers! It's fucking her up badly."

"What do you mean?"

Robin took a deep breath and sank into the couch Zero had summoned for her. Her hands clenched and unclenched as she tried to calm herself. "It's my fault," the AI whispered softly. "I chose her because she…was different. Have you seen the other Expendables, Zero?" The other woman shook her head. "Most of them were chosen for their shitty pasts. About ninety-five percent of this year's Expendables have gone through something massive before entering their respective game-worlds. You know why? It's because these people are angsty as hell and you know how the Creators are. They love the emo brats. They'd even applaud you if you manage to bring a human who has some sort of unexplainable disability.

"There's also the state of their mindsets to think about. With so much hate and anger being harbored by these humans, they don't really care about the people they are endangering. They kill to become better; they kill to become more powerful. Of course, there's always the handful who eventually change to become better nicer individuals but even they are getting pretty rare nowadays."

"That doesn't really explain what's happening to her," Zero spoke, her eyes flickering every few seconds to look at the pained teenager. "How is she different?"

"She cares about everything. Unlike the others, I've specifically chosen her because of her bright attitude. There's nothing wrong about her past…and she's generally a good kid. I just…I guess I was feeling kind of vindictive after watching so many Games. Understand, Zero, that Rebecca is unique. She doesn't have some sort of training that would give her an advantage but she has the heart and determination to—"

"Get herself killed," Zero cut in blankly. "You chose her because of her ability to love indefinitely…and her ability to get along with almost everyone. You chose her because you wanted to be different. You chose her because you wanted to prove to the whole damn virtual world that even the really nice kids get to have their moments. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe all along it's always been you that you've cared about?"

"Mother, Zero! You think I don't know that? The first time you've confronted me was enough. I know I'm selfish for doing this but…I wanted to see if there was a kind enough soul out there who can play through this Game without avoiding a massacre. There has been too much blood-letting lately, you know that, and now…" Robin stopped in mid-rant and waved her arms furiously as if trying to say something.

Zero, seeing that her friend would speak no further of the subject, picked up where Robin had stopped. "Those new rules Mother has set. It's going to make the casualty rate double, is that what you're implying?"

"Yes."

Zero sighed and sat beside her friend, wrapping her arms around Robin's drooping shoulders. "You're hurting too, aren't you?"

"We're connected, Zero. Whenever she goes through an extreme emotion, I feel it too."

The crimson-eyed AI pulled away to bring her friend under careful scrutiny. "I didn't know such a relationship existed between the PS and his or her Expendable."

Robin shook her head and pushed back the hair that had covered some part of her face. "What I'm feeling right is basically my end of the bargain of having to give her such an SA. You know how it functions right?"

Zero nodded. "It does make sense. What I'm still wondering about though is what causes her to act this way."

"Ever heard of the placebo effect? That is what's happening to her…except it affects her negatively."

The AI gulped and found her mouth uncharacteristically dry. "She believes that she has to suffer and because her subconscious mind believes it as well…she's suffering because of her imagination?"

"She's suffering because she wants to," sighed Robin. "There's nothing I can do, Zero. Besides, now that I've had time to think about it…the pain might actually be of some use to her."

"In what way?!" Zero hissed, tightening her hold on Robin.

"It just might be her incentive to actually work hard. Think of it this way, Zero. I've hurt others. I've hurt them real bad and I don't want that to happen again. If I could somehow become stronger…maybe I can prevent such a thing from happening again. Maybe I can avoid another death."

"And by thinking like that…she does specifically what you wanted her to do in the first place. She does what you chose her initially for. Do you think she can do it?"

"Why do you think I gave her that SA in the first place?" Robin laughed bitterly and stood up, shrugging away the hold Zero had on her. "Admittedly, I was quite surprised that even such an SA actually exists. It was like…the SA was especially made for her."

Primus felt all energy drain from him as he stared at the screen before him. What the girl had done was simply…impossible? Unrealistic? Certainly questionable, in his eyes. Jane, from the looks of it, wasn't even the slightest bit surprised at all. "Miss Jane…"

"That lady sure is lucky," Jane quipped and clapped her hands in delight. "Heck, with the luck she has, she might actually prove herself to be a challenge! Then again, with that PS3 helping, I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. And converting the dragon into a pair of crystallized dragon's eyes? Pure genius! To think that she would even do that…I mean, a dragon is essentially magic and the fact that she thought of concentrating it and turning it into something the girl might use…Zero is truly a worthy rival."

"Miss Jane…"

"Yes, Primus? Is everything alright?" Jane turned to her hulking companion, the sweet innocent smile she so often wore replaced with an even brighter smile, the kind which would make ordinary mortals die from extreme heartache.

The blond man shivered and looked away. "Aren't you…angry that she's managed to destroy the dragon?"

"Angry? Me?" The child giggled and patted Primus's arm like she would a pet dog. "You needn't worry, Primus. It takes more than that to make me angry."

"Which SA do you think she possesses, Miss Jane?" Primus asked hastily, his arm jerking away from Jane's touch. The child was a PS3 and one of the most powerful of her generation. Having so much power in that tiny body of hers made it somewhat difficult for the young girl to control it; often times, a trickle of power would slip from the girl's grasp and the feeling of being touched with her monstrous power left Primus's knees shaking with fear.

"The SA of Emotion, Primus."

Primus's eyes grew distant as information was fed into his memory banks.

Specimen Name: Rebecca Sanders

Basic Information:

Nickname: Rebecca/Becky

Age: 15

Height: 5'8"

Primus blinked and skimmed through the list, ignoring most of the data on Rebecca's Bio. The information was average at best, with no extraordinary features that actually stood out to the silent AI. Finally, he found what he was looking for.

Special Ability:

Name: Emotion

Level: B+

She is able to fend off any kind of attack, physical or otherwise, with this ability. To be able to activate it, she has to be experiencing an extreme emotion. Within this ability, she may also be able to control a certain Element to an extent although this skill is very draining to use and will likely exhaust seventy-five to eighty percent of her energy levels.

Known side effects: She is able to see through other people's memories when they are experiencing an extreme emotion as well.

Physical side-effect: Her eyes will change in color when the ability is activated. The color will depend on the emotion she is feeling at that time.

Notes: The ability would have been rated higher if it were not for the difficulty of usage—not a lot of Expendables can control their emotions, making this ability a risky choice—and the fact that this ability mainly focuses on defense.

"Primus?"

"Hmm?" The AI grunted, turning his gaze towards his Second who tugged on his shirt with a pout.

Jane puffed her face and tried to pull the man towards one of the empty screens. Muttering to herself, she flailed her tiny chubby arms and yanked fruitlessly. "We gotta plan for the next attack. No time to waste. Gotta impress the oldies…"

Primus snorted and shook his head. Jane…the child was a tyrant…that much he knew. When the PS3 had first gone to him with the offer of joining the Game, he knew that her intentions were not simply for pleasure. Nonetheless, he agreed to the arrangement, reasoning that the upgrade would do him good. He initially didn't want to join because he wasn't much of an ideas man but with Jane to do the thinking for him…he was all for it. The childlike innocence she had would fool no one who knew her well but just now…Primus made a face and looked up at the engulfing darkness that was not to be mistaken as a ceiling. Is this part of the act as well? Or is there really a part of her left that's pure kid and nothing else?

A/N: First of all, my late salute to both NewtThatGotBetter and black-red-blue for answering my question from chapter four. I honestly keep forgetting to mention this.

That said, I have a lot of stuff to do this week so I decided to post this now while I still have the time. Next chapter might be a bit late because I promised myself I'd try to update the other fics I'm writing. Don't worry. Summer vacation is only a week away so after this week, I'll be able to focus on my writing once more.

The almighty KVH has created a forum for SI writers. The link is located near the end of my Bio. You guys should definitely check it out. (Especially the girls. Please? I'm the only female there right now!)

Reviews of any kind (except spam because I really don't like eating it) are welcome and very much appreciated! They keep me from getting lonely at night. They are also the ones that keep me from getting hungry…

Yes, I'm a sucker for reviews.

And Steiner rocks! (But Vivi is still the best.)