Chapter Ten

Greece

A delicate, pearly white hand slowly turned the large diamond over, examining its beauty from each angle and seeing Her reflection in each of its sparkling sides. It was lovely, one of Her favorite jewels, and She had often taken much pleasure in playing with it. Today, however, She realized that She did not deserve such a wondrous trinket just as She did not deserve most of the rest of what had been left here for Her. With a sob clutching at Her breast but not escaping Her mouth, She turned in a swirl of pink and threw the diamond against a statue.

She felt the tiny explosion in Her heart, and the sob broke free. Grabbing up another diamond, She threw it as well. She ripped feathers into shreds and tore luxurious silks in halves and then again in halves. She let them rain to the floor before grabbing up a vase and slamming it against the wall.

Her tears had started again now, and as She yelled at Herself for being so stupid and weak and at Him for being so bloody persuading and sexy, She hurled more objects. She crunched smaller diamonds under her feet and hurled the larger ones at the statue in the middle of the room. She kicked vases, breaking them and pouring their contents onto the floor. She let a scream of frustrated rage escape Her as She hurled a small, golden statue at the large one.

A tall, muscular blonde appeared before the statue just then. His hand snaked out and grasped the statue before it could hit the larger one and shatter. "Mother," He questioned, His wings shifting and ruffling on His back, "just what are You doing?" He had never seen Her like this before, and She certainly didn't want Him to now.

She turned Her back to Him. Sniffling, She tried unsuccessfully to rein in Her tears, but though She was unsuccessful in that, She did manage to bark at Him. "Don't be stupid, Cupid! What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Having a fit," were the first words out of His mouth. The look the Goddess of Love shot Him over Her thinly-clad shoulder had Him rethinking His response immediately. He slowly took another step forward, His hand reaching for Her shoulder. "What on Olympus," He asked, careful to keep His voice smooth and calm, "could cause the most beautiful Goddess on Mount Olympus to ransack Her own temple?"

She shrugged His hand off. "Ask Your Father."

"Dad?" Cupid repeated in surprise. "What's He got to do with this?"

She stepped away from Him as He stepped nearer. "Everything." Her answer was ground out.

"Okay," Cupid carefully responded. "I can tell You don't want to talk, Mom, so I will. I'll ask Him, but let Me just ask You one more thing before I go." Her frustrated bite of a sigh was answer enough. "Why ransack Your own temple instead of the temple of the One who made You so angry?"

Aphrodite paused at Cupid's suggestion. Ares wasn't the One who had made Her so angry, but He certainly was the cause of Her predicament. The corners of Her lips began to turn up in the midst of Her tears. "You're exactly right, Cupid!" She shot Him a smile, rewarding Her son for His efforts or so She thought.

He could see past her facade and knew that She was still crying when She would not look Him in the eye. "Mother," He started.

"Not now, Cupid," Aphrodite commanded and flickered out.

Cupid sighed as His eyes scanned the destruction all around Him. His wings fluttered with His own worried emotions. This had been one of His Mother's favorite temples, and She had single-handedly destroyed it. The mortals thought that Aphrodite was a happy, go-lucky Goddess, but what most of them did not realize was that, when She was riled, She was as a great a force to be reckoned with as any of the leading Goddesses on Mount Olympus, if not greater.

Indeed, as He surveyed all the shattered and completely destroyed items that littered every inch of the temple and His eyes finally fell upon the statue of Aphrodite Herself that had once stood proudly in the middle of the room but was now standing amidst the chaos with a great tear running down its golden length, Cupid was reminded of His Mother's watery birth for it looked as though one of Poseidon's own hurricanes had struck the temple. He would return later, Cupid vowed, and do what He could to fix things, but first, He had to get to the bottom of the situation and find out just why His Mother was so deeply upset. With a sigh, the God of Love flickered out.

Mainframe

Shaggy, dark green bangs fell in his eyes as he stared at the one woman who meant everything to him. They had been best friends since they were young Sprites. Indeed, she'd left her whole world for a chance of friendship with him when they were too little to understand the implications of her stepping out of the game. All they'd known was that it wasn't supposed to be possible but that she had found a way and neither of them would ever have to be alone again. She had stuck as close to his side as she could get ever since, and he had always been eternally grateful for her friendship, her partnership, and her love.

She had been there for him when no one else had. She had been with him through everything, and he had seen her grow from a gawky, perhaps too eager child to the gorgeous, well-rounded woman she now was and who was both experienced in and capable of kicking any one's asskey and handing it back to them in fragmented pixels, any one including his own. She had had patience with him when he had deserved none; had been his rock when he thought his world, and even his life, was over; had loved him even when he'd been a big, tough asskey using his gun for his CPU.

She had been there with him through everything, and he loved her more than he'd even thought it possible to love some one. Their love had seen them through all sorts of Hellish adventures, but that wasn't to say they hadn't had fights. Oh, yes, they had fought, all too often at times, but their fights had never lasted as long as Bob and Dot's. No, their fights were usually short-lived and culminated in him doing what his pride would allow him to to apologize for being such a bitmap. AndrAla had put up with him and loved him when no else would have, and now . . .

Now all he wanted was for his beautiful, strong, fiercely free-spirited and free-willed life partner to open her blue eyes, look up at him, call him the nickname he'd despised for so long, and tell him everything was going to be okay. His heart was caught in his chest to where he could barely breathe, and still his faith in the man healing his sweetheart reminded him that, if there was any way for AndrAla to be saved, Bob would heal her. He would bring her back to him just as he'd done once before when Enzo had stood on the brink of losing her and, in so doing, his entire reason for keeping the fight to survive going for so long.

He recalled that night now, when Bob had calmed the rising tensions between those on the Saucy Mare and the Web Riders, came forward, and healed AndrAla. He remembered being miffed when Glitch had unexplainably jumped from him to the stranger and then worried when the stranger had simply continued past him, and Ray who had also been startled out of his wits, to sit beside AndrAla and begin the healing process. Where he had barely been able to keep AndrAla processing before, Bob had saved her life through use of the same keytool he was using now. Matrix held his breath and waited . . . and waited, praying for a sign that AndrAla would be all right to the User he had not prayed to in so long . . .

Mouse knew she had heard Frisket barking. There was no doubt in her mind of that, but as she clutched Ray to her chest and continued talking to him and running toward the sound of the few barks she'd heard, she began to wonder if she would ever reach there in time. Tears stung her heart, but she kept them from creeping back into her eyes, knowing that if they should fall, they would do no good but only mar her vision. She was having a hard enough time running in the thick, gray mist as it was and kept feeling that her feet were going to go out from under her at any time now. Should that happen, there would be no way to get Ray healed in time. She would fail him . . . She wouldn't allow that to happen, Mouse thought determinedly, and the hacker increased her speed yet again.

Mount Olympus

Cupid entered the dark, dank forge with extreme caution. Even His wings, which usually moved with every flicker of His emotions, were unusually still and silent on His back. His every muscle tensed as He proceeded into the darkness, His footsteps falling silently against the stony floor as He followed the sound of banging. "Dad?" He called nervously to the pitch blackness of the cave.

A grunt was His initial answer, but when He called again, the banging stopped just long enough for a gruff and angry voice to demand, "What do You want?"

"Mom's angry," He told Him, trying to catch sight of Him in the darkness. "She told Me I should ask You why She's so upset."

The banging paused again, and the figure of a big man turned toward Him. Still, He could not see His face but only part of His body -- His wide, muscular torso. "What did She say?"

"That I should ask My Father . . . "

Hephaestus interrupted Him before He could finish. "Then what are You doing here?" He demanded. The echo of his rough voice sounded like a cracking whip.

"You are My . . . "

"CUPID, DON'T BE STUPID!" the older God roared at Him. "HOW CAN I BE YOUR FATHER! I'M LAME!" Cupid ducked as something went whistling over His head. He looked over His shoulder at the battleaxe that had barely missed Him. Touching a hand to His wing, He realized it had not entirely missed Him as a couple of feathers drifted off at His slight touch. He started to turn back around, but Hephaestus' angry shout stopped him still in His tracks. "GET OUT OF HERE, AND GO ASK ARES!"

With His heart still hammering rapidly from the near-miss of the battleaxe, Cupid decided to do as Hephaestus demanded. After all, He'd rather take His chances with the God of War than with this angry, lame God who refused to be His Father and thundered and threw weapons at Him from the darkness of His secluded cave. Cupid flicked out before Hephaestus could throw anything else, and a deep sigh echoed in the cave before the rough voice made a demand of an absent God. "Ares, fix your own mess!"

Mainframe

Bob was getting tired, so he sat on the ground beside AndrAla, watching for any sign of her responding to him. He heard, with part of his CPU, Frisket barking and the sounds of some one approaching them, but he could not tear his concentration away from AndrAla. He prayed to the User that her eyes would open soon.

Matrix's memories were shattered by Frisket's loud mouth. His one good eye flicked questioningly to his canine companion. "What is it, boy?" he asked, seeing that Frisket had his concentration pinned on one particular direction, his tail was stiff, his ears perked, and he was still barking at that one direction. "Is it trouble?" He reached instinctively for his gun but realized it was gone.

Just as Matrix was beginning to get to his feet, he heard AndrAla whisper his name. "Enzo?"

He fell immediately back to his knees beside her. "I'm right here, love." He reached out, hoping not to interfere with Bob's healing but unable to resist touching her any longer, and gently squeezed her hand.

As the healing process finished, Bob got to his feet. "Frisket and I will go check out what's coming. Give you two some time alone." He grinned at the pair and then turned to follow Frisket who raced forward.

Enzo looked up at Bob and would have been glad that his friend had already turned away from them had he realized that there were tears in his eye. "Thank you, Bob." His voice sounded funny, and AndrAla knew that he was fighting tears.

Bob's voice drifted back to him. "You're welcome. Any time." He continued on his way, wondering who could be out here, needing his help. He was surprised to see Mouse carrying what appeared to be a crumpled mess but turned out to be Ray heading in his direction as fast as her legs could carry them. He ran forward to meet them.

Once reaching her, he took Ray and laid him on the ground. "What happened?" he asked. The life spark was very low in Ray, and using the keytool, Bob began to heal him. It would go a lot faster if he knew what was wrong.

Mouse's voice shook as she answered Bob from where she knelt beside him and Ray, and her Southern drawl was even thicker. "Ah . . . Ah don' know, Bob. Ah . . . Ah was lookin- fer Ray after wakin' up thar in that hole, an' Ah . . . Ah knew he was gonna be pissed. Figured he might . . . he might even hate me -- he knows -- but Ah . . . Ah was lookin' for him, an' when Ah found him, he was like this. Said he thought his processor was malfunctionin'."

"Something must've fell on him," Bob told her. He had never seen Mouse so scared, and his heart ached for his friend. "We'll work on that first and then check for any other damages."

Ares' Throne/Temple

Ares lounged back on His throne, thinking over the night that had just passed. It had been glorious, being allowed to touch Aphrodite once again. It had been far too long since the last time. He longed to be with Her all the time, just as He longed to not be the God of War.

Why, did He ask Himself for the millionth time, had His Father gave Him the "honor" of being the God of War? And for the millionth time, He answered Himself, He couldn't stick it on anybody else. The Others had all been older and wiser than Him and had found a way out of it. He had searched but had been unable to find a way out.

It was then that a chill ran through His body, and He jerked. Somebody was ransacking His temple, and with each thing that shattered, He felt as though it had cut His own skin. He flickered and reappeared in His favorite temple. "WHAT IN THE HADES ARE YOU DOING, DITEY!" He yelled at Her, looking around at the mass destruction that awaited His eyes. "Was I that bad?" In fact, He thought it had been the best He had ever had! He stood with His hands clenched and gazed at the Goddess that occupied so much of His thoughts.

"YES!" Aphrodite turned toward Him with a pout on Her lips and another blood red ruby the size of Ares' fist held in Her raised hand. She knew that simple answer would hit Him below the belt. With that answer, She promptly threw the ruby straight at Him.

He deftly caught the ruby but turned His back to Her. He wouldn't let Her see the pain Her word had caused Him. Her word had shot like an arrow straight to His heart and made Him know that there was no way in Hades He'd ever win Her. Maybe spend a night or two in Her bed after they'd fought, but He'd never have Her full time.

For some misbegotten reason, She hated Him! She needed Him. She desired Him when She was in the heat of passion, but nnnooo, He wasn't good enough for Her! His anger began to rise as He turned back to face Her. "YOU CARE TO EXPLAIN THAT?" He glared at Her. "YOU CAN'T TELL ME YOU DIDN'T GET OFF MULTIPLE TIMES! SO WHAT IN THE HADES DID I DO WRONG THIS TIME!"

"EVERYTHING!" She shot back. She stepped closer toward Him, Her teary eyes flashing with anger, and snatched up a vase from the floor. She wasn't even looking at what She had grabbed, just reaching for something else to throw. The vase's outside was black, but its inside was painted with a blood red that seemed to pour over the sides of it. On the outside of the vase was drawn many different images of men killing other men and women.

Aphrodite had just begun to approach Ares when somebody appeared in between Them. She recognized the back of Her Son immediately and fell abruptly silent when Cupid, His back still to Her, demanded of Ares, "WHAT THE HADES DID YOU DO TO MOM!"

"WHAT DID I DO TO YOUR MOM! BETTER TO ASK WHAT SHE DID TO ME! LOOK AT THIS MESS!" He screamed in a high-pitched voice. "DID I DESTROY HER TEMPLE? NO! BUT SHE DESTROYED MINE!" His voice now broke. "I never would've harmed hers . . . !"

His cloudy mind was telling Him that before Him stood His Son, Cupid. What the Hell was He doing here? "Why are You here? I didn't invite You! GO AWAY, CUPID! GO AWAY AND PLAY WITH YOUR TOYS!" He glared angrily at Him. How dare He interrupt Ditey and Him! Why, the kid didn't even know that He was His Father! He'd never been allowed to tell Him even though He had wanted to! Who was Cupid to presume that He had the right to tell Him what to do!

Aphrodite's mouth was just a second away from flying open in protest that Cupid not go play with his toys lest he wreck another couple when Cupid spoke. Cupid's eyes bore into Ares with a Look He'd learned from His Mother as His arms folded in front of His chest and His wings fluttered angrily on His back. "Better Your temple," He informed the War God, never realizing that Aphrodite was standing right behind Him, "than Her own."

At the look on Ares, He continued, "Yeah, that's right. She's already destroyed one of Her own!" He took another step toward Him. "And I'm getting sick of this run around! What is going on, and why did Hephaestus tell Me I should ask You when Aphrodite told Me to ask My Father!"

"Ask Your Mother!" Ares retorted. "She's right behind You." He stalked off a little distance away from the two, His mind playing back over the threats that Ditey had made Him if He ever opened His mouth and revealed the true secret of Cupid's birth.

The look on Cupid's face when Ares told Him that Aphrodite was right behind Him was that of a cherub with His hand caught in the cookie jar. He turned slowly around to face Her, His wings fluttering nervously the whole while. "Mom?" His voice came out almost in a croak.

"I . . . I . . . I . . . " For once, Aphrodite was at a loss for words.

Cupid met His Mother's nervous gaze. "Since You told Me to ask My Father, and Hephaestus told Me to ask Ares and informed Me not to be stupid -- I do hate that phrase," he muttered, " -- and reminded Me that He was lame, a God just can't help wondering. Who is My Father!"

Aphrodite stared at Cupid. She had known He would one day get wise and corner Her on the subject of His parentage, but She had never suspected Ares to be in the room with Them when it happened! She was not at all certain what She should tell Him.

"Mom?" Cupid questioned. "Is He . . . Is Ares . . . Is Ares My . . . IsAresMyFather!" He blurted out.

"I . . . Hum . . . Well, I . . . I . . . " Aphrodite's gaze darted continuously between Cupid and Ares as She fumbled for words. "If You can call Him that, then I suppose He is!"

"What do You mean if I can call him that, You 'suppose' He is?" Cupid queried, taking a step closer to Aphrodite, who backed up. In the hurried motion, She let go of the vase She'd forgotten She was holding, and it flew across the room to crash against a wall.

Aphrodite winced at the sound and looked at the vase before looking back at Cupid. "It's not as if He was ever around!"

Cupid's mouth fell open.

Mainframe

Ray was lost in a world all by himself, and he could find no one although he called for Mouse rather loudly. Strange objects kept bouncing up and making grinning faces at him, and he could not find his sword or his board anywhere. They were like everything else he knew and recognized -- gone. Then he saw an ugly face he remembered -- Hexadecimal.

Before she could do anything to damage him, however, he felt himself being pulled back from the brink, and his eyes flickered open. First, he saw Bob, and looking past him, he saw Mouse. A more beautiful sight he had never seen. "Mouse?" he managed to gasp out even as he felt the healing process working on him.

"Ah'm here, shugah," Mouse answered immediately, her voice shaking, as she wiped away her tears before Bob could notice them. One hand remained busily wiping away her tears, but the other hand very gently touched Ray on the head, avoiding the area where Bob and Glitch were working. Her purple fingers curled into his blonde hair. "Ah'm right here."

"Be careful. Hexadecimal's around here somewhere," he warned her.

Mouse's glistening eyes glanced at the mist before looking back down at Ray. "Don't y'all worry about her. She ain't gonna be hurtin' anybody any more, dahlin'. Least not here in Mainframe."

"Is this Mainframe?" Ray asked as he looked around at the swirling mists. "It doesn't look right. Where is every one?"

"Bob, Frisket, an' I're here, hon. Bob's the one healin' ya. Ah don't know about AndrAla and Enzo." She would not tell him that they might not have made it. "As fer the othahs . . . Well . . . They're gone." She wondered if Bob had realized what had happened to Dot yet.

Bob looked at Mouse. "AndrAla and Enzo are not too far from here. They're both okay. But we haven't found any one else yet. Not sure what happened, but this used to be Mainframe. Never seen anything like this before." He looked questioningly at Mouse, realizing that she knew something that he didn't know and hoping that she'd tell him.

Mouse did not realize that tears still glistened in her eyes when she met Bob's gaze for she never would have looked up had she known. "Soon," she mouthed to him and left it at that.

Bob returned his attention to healing Ray, knowing that they would soon need all of their strengths to go against whatever enemy lay unbeknownst in the mist.

Ares' Temple

Ares could not believe Ditey was putting Him down yet again, in front of Their kid. He stepped forward. "It wasn't as though You'd let Me be around!" He told Her. "I wanted to be, but You warned Me against that!"

"Ares, don't You dare," Aphrodite exclaimed, whirling on Him, "put this on Me! You told Me Yourself that You . . . That You didn't want to be a Father, let alone the Father of a rat with wings! Those were Your words!" She nearly cried, pointing a shaking finger at Ares.

"I NEVER SAID THAT!" He bellowed. "I WANTED TO BE HIS FATHER! I WOULD HAVE GIVEN ANYTHING IF YOU'D EVER LET ME GET THAT CLOSE! BUT YOU TOLD ME -- I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU TOLD ME!" He moved His hand around in the air and created a moving picture.

In the picture, a much younger Aphrodite was facing a much younger Ares and pointing a finger at His chest. She kept poking Him and telling Him that if He ever came near Cupid, She would get Hind's blood and use it on Him. "You must never, ever tell Him that You're His Father, because if You do, You won't live to gloat over it!" The young Ares kept protesting that all He wanted to do was to be a Father. He didn't think He'd be very good at it but He wanted a chance, but there was no reasoning with Her and She flickered out.

"I HAD NO REASON TO EVER DOUBT YOU, DITEY! I KEPT MY MOUTH SHUT! IF I HAD NOT LOVED YOU, I WOULD HAVE REVEALED THAT SECRET LONG AGO! I WOULD HAVE SHOUTED IT FROM THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN! I AM RATHER PROUD OF OUR SON, WHETHER YOU WANT ME TO BE OR NOT!" He did not take His eyes off of either of Them. "DENY WHAT YOU HAVE JUST SEEN!" He demanded of Her.

Aphrodite had lowered Her face and was looking downwards through the tears that clogged Her vision. She would not meet Ares' gaze nor Cupid's.

Cupid could not believe what He had just seen nor what He had learned. His Father could not be Ares, the God of War! "M-Mom?" His dry voice was near to breaking. That could not have been His Mother threatening to kill! She was not a . . .

Cupid's thoughts broke off as Aphrodite raised Her head, straightened Her shoulders, and lifted Her chin. Her stormy gaze locked with Ares', and the look on Her face was one Cupid had seen before and had always been thankful She'd never turned on Him. Her long legs ate up the distance between Ares and Herself in mere seconds as She thundered at Him. "ARES, YOU SON-OF-HERA!" Her slap rang through the temple and brought shouts from the doorway.

Cupid glanced with one eye to the door where subjects suited in armor were fleeing. He dismissed the mortals and looked back to Aphrodite, His Mother, and Ares . . . His . . . His Father! That just couldn't be!

"YOU CAN PLAY ALL THE TRICKS YOU WANT," Aphrodite exclaimed heatedly, drawing Herself up to Her full height before the War God, "BUT I'M NOT HERCULES AND I'M NOT XENA! I KNOW YOUR TRICKS, AND I WILL NOT BE FOOLED BY THEM! I AM THE GODDESS OF LOVE, AND THE GODDESS OF LOVE DOES NOT KILL!" She spat the word as though it was the foulest word in all of creation.

"TO THIS DAY, I REMEMBER THE DAY I CAME TO YOU AND TOLD YOU THAT I WAS PREGNANT WITH CUPID! I WAS BESIDE MYSELF, NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO EXPLAIN THINGS TO HEPHAESTUS, LET ALONE TO FATHER! AND WHAT DID YOU DO, YOU . . . YOU WAR GOD YOU! YOU TOLD ME I'D DONE THE TIME AND NOW I HAD TO DEAL WITH THE RESULTS! YOU SNEERED AT ME! YOU LAUGHED AT ME! YOU EVEN DEMANDED OF ME WHAT I HAD EXPECTED WHEN I HAD . . . WHEN I HAD DONE THAT WHICH I NEVER SHOULD HAVE DONE AND DARN WELL SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE LAST NIGHT!"

Cupid's mouth fell open again.

"YOU CALLED ME SO MANY NAMES THAT MY EARS STILL BURN AT THE MERE THOUGHT OF IT, AND YET NOW YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO TURN THE TABLES AND MAKE ME OUT TO BE THE BITCH! I CAN BE A BITCH! YES, I CAN, AND I DON'T CARE WHAT THOSE MORTALS THINK! I CAN BE WHEN I NEED TO BE, BUT I WAS NEVER THE BITCH TO YOU UNTIL THAT DAY!"

"THE DAY YOU CAME TO ME AND TOLD ME I WAS GOING TO BE A FATHER WAS ONE OF THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF MY LIFE UNTIL YOU THREATENED ME! ALL I KNOW, DITEY, IS WHAT I'VE ALREADY SHOWN YOU! I WOULDN'T HAVE CARED IF CUPID HAD COME OUT LOOKING LIKE A RAT, IF IT'S WHAT WE CREATED IN LOVE! I'M THANKFUL HE DIDN'T!"

"ALL I HAVE IS MY MEMORIES OF THE TIME BEFORE AND OUR FEW TIMES AFTER! I WOULD NEVER HAVE REFUSED TO BE WITH YOU! IN FACT, I MIGHT HAVE KILLED HEPHAESTUS TO DO JUST THAT UNTIL YOU THREATENED ME! THEN I THOUGHT IT BEST NOT TO BE AROUND CUPID LEST I SLIP UP AND CAUSE MY OWN DEATH!"

"ASK ZEUS! YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME, ASK HIM! HE'S A WITNESS! HE SEES ALL, KNOWS ALL, AND DOES AS HE DAMN WELL PLEASES! I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO SAY!" He declared as He flickered out before He could cry. The God of War does not cry, He reminded Himself, no matter what. No wonder She hates Me!

Could Some One have played Us false? But it smelled like Her, and it damn sure sounded like Her when She's angry! It had to be Her! Didn't it? His memories were not wrong. He knew that. One of the misfortunes of being a God was that You could not forget. Your memories lasted forever, and being the God of War, they were not always good. In fact, the only good ones He had were of the times He had been with Ditey when They were happy together. He hated being the God of War. Why had Zeus cursed Him with it? He hung His head, lost in despair.

Mainframe

Mouse waited until Ray was sitting up and seemed to be coherent again before approaching the subject that she knew had never left Bob's mind. "Bob," she started, looking at the Guardian who had been her best, and at times only, friend for many cycles now. Approaching footsteps caused her to fall silent, and she turned toward them only to see Enzo emerging from the midst and carrying AndrAla, who he, as of yet, refused to put down.

Bob looked questioningly at Mouse. Was she going to tell him without him asking, or would he have to beg her to tell him what was going on? "Yes?" he prodded.

"You can put me down, Sparky."

"I'm not letting you go," Enzo rebutted the idea, gazing down into AndrAla's baby blues.

"You two come sit down here," Mouse called to Enzo and AndrAla.

The couple looked at Mouse. "Why?" Matrix started to ask.

AndrAla, seeing the seriousness in Mouse's eyes, shook her head. "Just do it, Sparky."

"I'm not used to -- "

AndrAla broke him off. "Enzo."

He wasn't going to argue with her so soon after almost losing her, and so Enzo adhered, taking a seat on the gray void next to Ray. He turned, with AndrAla now on his lap, to face Mouse and Bob. "What is it?"

"Ah . . . Ah can tell y'all haven't seen this before," Mouse said, referring to the gray mist, "but Ah have. Ah know what's happened here, an' they . . . If they didn't get out beforehand, which ain't likely, they're gone."

"What caused this?" Bob asked her, feeling in his heart that Dot was gone. In fact, their whole world was gone. He wanted to know what entity had done this so that he could go after them and make it pay. He had feared the worst, and now the worst was here.

Enzo's heart felt dead in his chest as he realized what Mouse was trying to tell them. He took little comfort in the gentle, comforting hand AndrAla laid against his forearm but squeezed her tightly to him as he grieved for his sister. At least AndrAla had not been caught in this mess, and most of his friends had survived because they'd left Mainframe when they had, thanks to Hexadecimal.

He knew, however, that Dot would have never left Mainframe, and now . . . Now she was gone, deleted by . . . By what? What had done this? He let AndrAla look at Mouse for answers, not daring to show his eye to the others for fear there might be tears in it.

"Ah've come across this mist a few times before. In older systems, deleted systems . . . Best any one's been able ta figure out, this's what . . . what happens when the . . . when the User goes nuts."

"What makes the User go nuts," Ray asked, "and what does he do to our world to make it go like this?" He scarcely could believe that all the beings he had known in this world were no longer in this existence, just his friends and his Mouse were left. He knew that he would miss Captain Capacitor and Dot Matrix forever, because they had been very close to him. He knew he'd even miss the Princess. He would revenge their deaths if he could.

"No one really knows why. There's many . . . many theories on it, but . . . "

"What did he do?" Enzo asked quietly as AndrAla rubbed his arm.

"He deleted the system an' . . . an' those in it."

Ray gasped aloud. To be deleted was the most awful thing in the whole Net! It was the end of everything! He'd never pray to the User again for letting this happen! It was his fault, and they could not reach him. If they could, Ray would put the end to the User.

"Is there anything we can do?" AndrAla questioned, her own eyes shining with tears. It was all she could do to keep from crying and to keep her voice from shaking, but she knew that Enzo needed her to be strong for him now more than perhaps ever before.

Bob had sat quietly for as long as he could. "HOW DARE THE USER DO THIS TO US!" he railed against the unfairness of it all. If only he could reach the User! He'd use his keytool on him to make him pay for it over and over again! Deletion was the one nightmare that no one had ever found an answer for. Once it was gone, it was gone! His heart fell to his feet as he wept unashamedly for those that were now gone.

When Bob started crying, it was almost the breaking point for AndrAla. She bit her lip to keep from crying, though, as she realized that the sound of his hero weeping had just pushed Enzo over the edge. As her lover buried his face in her long hair, AndrAla did her best to keep Mouse's gaze, hoping to draw strength from the other woman. "Is there . . . ?" she asked again, her voice shaking so badly now that she could barely pronounce the words.

"No," Mouse whispered with a shake of her head. "Ah wish there was," she said, squeezing Ray's hand with one hand and Bob's shoulder with the other, "but there ain't. There's nevah been a cure for deletion. We all know that, an' we can't reach the User."

Enzo murmured something at that, but his words were lost in AndrAla's blue hair. She heard him, but she was used to his language. She hoped no one else did but knew that Mouse had. The hacker's purple skin darkened a little but not that much. Had Dot been there, however, she probably would have flogged the boy.

Frisket whimpered and crept closer to his people. He didn't understand what was wrong, only that Dot was gone and their world was no more. He mourned in his own doggy fashion and was not surprised when his master reached out, wrapped a thick arm around him, and pulled him close, as well.

Ares' Temple

"Mom?" Cupid asked in the quietness that had fallen over the temple after Ares had left. "Is this . . . Is this true?"

Aphrodite slowly turned to look at Her son, and when She did face Him, tears streamed down Her cheeks. "What I tell You, dear Cupid, is the truth. I am . . . I am sorry You had to find out the truth of Your Father, let alone in this manner."

He started to go to Her, embrace Her, and tell Her that His Father didn't matter as long as He had Her, but Aphrodite turned Her back to Him and flickered out. Cupid stood alone, His whirling mind confused and lost.

The Council's Court Room

When the light had first come at them, they had tried to stand and fight, but upon quickly realizing that the light could not be fought, they had turned tail together and ran. Just before the light had hit them, she had turned to him, knocked him to the floor, and used her body to cover and shield his. Now, they lay together, breathing heavily, in a heap of four.

Slowly, at her cat's nudge, the redhead began to look up. She arched upwards like a cat awakening and began to look around. Her hands remained on his thin chest as her emerald eyes looked all around them. The light covered everything, but there were a few people moving about. She raised a hand and turned it over as she examined it in the light, waiting, expectantly, for something in the light to attempt to cause harm to her.

She gave it a few minutes more, and when nothing happened, she stood and reached a hand down to the man still on the floor. She was just beginning to take hold of his hand when she heard a shout. "KYNA!" She turned quickly, her long, fiery red hair whirling around her, and was just in time to see the light lifting her dead friend into the air and carrying her corpse away from her husband. Beyond Kyna, she could see others lifting into the air.

With a shriek of, "DIN'T GET UP! STAY DOWN!", she threw herself back on top of her partner. This time, her hands snaked out, grabbing the tabby cat from her shoulder and the monkey from Ace's neck. She placed the two animals between their bodies, using her arms to block them from squeezing out from between them and her hands pressing down on Ace's shoulders to keep him from trying to get up. Even in such a position, she strained to keep her weight on her booted feet which were planted on the floor on either side of Ace.

"I din't knae what the light is," Kat told her immediate family, "but 'tisn't good. Stay down. Stay out o' it 'til it clears." Her tone left no room for argument, and her paled face told of a fear she'd never admit to.

Ace had never seen Kat so scared. He didn't know what it was, but if it had Kat scared, he knew he was no match for it. He held on tightly to her, helping to create a shield for both Clyde and Captain. He'd never let her know, but he had no more intention of allowing her to rise than she did of letting him get up. He closed his eyes against the brightness and waited for it to all be over . . .

To Be Continued . . .