God, I'm sooo sorry for that mess with the first try of posting this chapter. I have no idea what the hell happened, it seemed to go all fine up, but in my defense I wasn't working on my laptop (I have absolutely no idea how to use a Macbook, call me a noob, but I like more the Windows ones.) I"ll make up for this mess, I promise!:)

Anyway, without further babble and excuses, here you are, part II of Phobia.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, blah, blah, blah.

Please enjoy and review!

Emily POV

Even I didn't know what I wanted to carry out when I sprinted to the already doomed building, but when it collapsed I instinctively knew what I should do. A huge rock hit Tron, knocking him down and I rezzed a barrier to shield us from getting squashed by the rest of the debris before collapsing to my knees as the ground shook under my feet.

The falling block smashed on the barrier with a tremendous roar but it held up, forming a pocket large enough for me to stand up. The only light came from the circuits on our armors, and I crawled to where Tron was. The Monitor's limp body was trapped under the rubble and a large piece was covering his legs. When I tried to lift it wouldn't budge so I took Tron's left arm and, after what felt like hours of struggle, I managed to pull him from under the boulder and lay him down on a clean place to inspect his wounds. The Monitor only had scrapes and a few shallow cuts, but I suspected that he hit his head hard when he fell since he was still unconscious. His mask was still on and I remembered that mine had a manual switch on the nape of my neck. I gently searched for the switch and finally my fingers met a bump in his neck armor which I pressed, derezzing the mask. He was ghostly pale, with the scar standing out on his white skin, and a trickle of blood streaked his forehead. When I looked at my hand my fingers were wet and glistening red and a small pool of blood was forming on the ground, meaning that he was seriously wounded.

I lifted Tron so I could access his Disks and began frantically working on the damaged code, aware that I had to do it quickly or the Monitor would derezz from the blood loss. I docked his Disks and after another long moment in which I bit my nails to the flesh praying that I didn't mess something up Tron flinched, his eyes fluttering open and he got up, wobbling on his feet. I tackled the confused Monitor, squeezing him in a desperate embrace and making him moan with pain.

"I thought I lost you," I half sobbed with relief, clawing at his back to make sure he's alive. "I should have listened to you..."

"You should have," he retorted, "but you never do. Where are we?"

"Under the fallen block," I replied, still holding him in a tight embrace.

A strangled groan escaped the Monitor's throat and he staggered, making me release my grip and shoot him a questioning look.

"I don't like this," he moaned, turning even paler, "can't we get out?"

"There's a huge pile of rubble above us, and the only thing that keeps us alive is the barrier I put up," I explained.

Immediately I realized that wasn't the smartest thing that got out of my mouth when Tron simply slumped to the ground, huddling into a corner and holding his head.

"Are you... okay, Tron?," I asked, beginning to get more and more concerned.

"I hate small spaces," he wheezed, dropping his head on his knees so his next words came out muffled, "Clu used to keep me locked in a... I guess you can call it a box of some sorts when I misbehaved."

"Only now he tells me," I groaned.

As if to scare the Monitor more, the barrier suddenly shrank and I had to bend my back so I wouldn't hit my head on the top of it. Tron whimpered pitifully, holding his knees to his chest and I crawled to his side, putting a comforting arm over his shoulder before rezzing a map of what was underneath us.

"Please tell me we can get out of here," Tron hissed, shaking badly and burying his face in my hair.

I could feel his short gasping breaths on my neck as I searched for a way to get out. The barrier shrank even more and the Monitor twitched.

"Hurry, Emily," he moaned desperately, huddling closer to me.

I finally found a sewage pipe right underneath us, but I doubted that it was large enough in diameter for us to stand up, especially since Tron was quite tall. Most likely we would have to crawl to get to the mains.

"I found a way out," I soothed, squeezing his shoulder, "there's a sewer underneath us."

"Good," Tron wheezed.

"It's quite narrow," I warned, "We'll have to crawl. Can you make it?"

"It can't be worse than this place," he retorted, and I outstretched my hand, rezzing a descending tunnel underneath my palm.

We both dragged ourselves to the opening, beginning our descent right when the barrier caved in, sending tons of rubble down. I closed the tunnel entrance and continued to go down until we reached the pipe. It was indeed narrow but other than another groan Tron said nothing, crawling behind me silently.

"How much longer do we have?," the Monitor finally asked with a tense voice.

"About a mile to the mains, and then another to the closest exit," I replied after a quick query to the code.

"I don't think I can do it," he groaned, "it's too long, and it's so narrow..."

"Yes, you can," I cut him out.

"But..."

"If I survived the gridbugs, you can make it through this," I deadpanned, "We have a city to save, remember? You're not a normal Program, you're a System Monitor, and your task is defending the Grid if I remember correctly. You can't give up now, when everything is about to fall apart."

"You're right," he finally sighed after a moment of silence, "but let's hurry."

"Just follow me," I reassured him.

After what felt like an eternity in the cramped pipe I could see a faint light ahead. All my muscles were protesting from the unnatural position, but it was soon washed away by a strange feeling of numbness that smothered me. Through the fog of exhaustion that clouded my brain I remembered the gash I got while fighting Cyrus but it felt so far away it didn't even hurt anymore.

Suddenly I felt nothing but air under my hands and stumbled out of the pipe, barely managing to extend my arms before crashing face down on the floor with a weak moan. I laid there, unable to move as I heard Tron get out too. After another long moment strong but gentle hands rolled me facing up and I stared blankly in the Monitor's steel blue eyes. I saw his lips moving and his panicked words finally cut through the haze in my mind.

"...Talk to me, Emily," he begged, "please, say something..."

Tron's voice sounded like it came from a broken radio and I realized he must have talked to me for some time before I could hear him.

"Cyrus," I croaked, "cut... me... had to... get out..."

The Monitor checked the wound and his eyes widened when be saw the damage. I supposed it was really bad, but weirdly enough it didn't hurt at all.

"Oh, Users, it doesn't even bleed anymore," he gasped, his hands ghosting over the gash.

When his fingers touched its edge it flared with such incredible pain I gave a hoarse scream and my vision darkened. The agony quickly subsided to the numbness, and I felt like I was floating. I was dying, I realized, and I didn't care as long as it didn't hurt anymore.

"...don't derezz, User, not you too, please, not like Yori did..."

The voice was begging and broken, pulling me out of the darkness that engulfed me and back to the agony of life. Something tugged and pulled at my being and I cried until my throat was raw, but I didn't give in to the appealing void of death. Now that I was so close to the edge it scared me, making me cling to life with all my strength. I still had things to do here, things I wanted, people I cared for...

After another eternity the searing pain stopped and my vision cleared a bit. Tron had just docked my Disks back, and I could see tears glistening on his grim face as he put me back down. I weakly put a hand over his, squeezing his fingers reassuringly, unable to do any more than that. I was so tired I closed my eyes, and the last thing I remembered was the feeling of being carried and four white pixels on a black armored chest.

I woke up on a soft surface which I identified as a bed in a dark room I coudn't recognize, and ran a scan on my body. Someone had expertly healed the slash made by Cyrus' Disk and all the other cuts and smaller wounds, and I winced remembering how close I had been to dying. If it wasn't for the Monitor, I wouldn't have breathed anymore. And speaking of Tron, he was slumped beside the bed, sleeping with his arms under his head on the mattress as if he had watched over me but was too tired to stay awake, which was probably the case after all we've been through. He stirred in his sleep, mumbling something and I sat up, taking the Monitor's arm and carefully pulling him into the bed. He didn't even wake up, so with a small rub on his back I got out, smiling as the sleeping Program began to purr.

I found my way to what had been a basement someday, but now it looked like a mix of a kitchen, living room, command center and med bay. I found Zorn among the other Programs, working on someone's Disk and went to him, ignoring the expressions of awe that surrounded me.

"Where are we," I demanded, "What's this place?"

"This is one of the old hideouts since Clu's reign," Zorn answered, still focusing on healing the Program, "these tunnels go all the way to Argon, Arija and the other cities on the Grid."

He put off the code, sighing sadly.

"This is everything I can do," he said, "He will have to live without a hand."

"Give me his Disk," I said, "I can fix him."

Zorn raised an eyebrow but handed me the Disk, and I quickly and expertly removed the damaged code and mended the main one.

"Here, try it now."

I docked and synchronized the Disk and Zorn looked in awe at the growing limb. He suddenly yanked me up and dragged me to a silent corner of a hallway where no one could hear us.

"When I found Tron - yes, I know who he is - carrying your unconscious body and brought you both here, I healed what your friend couldn't," he explained, "but it took me a while because your code is enormously complex. And that thing over there, only an User has such knowledge of encoding in order to heal a severed hand. What are you, Enyo?"

"This can wait, Zorn," I snapped, "what about Cyrus?"

"He took control of the city," the Program sighed, "but the Programs aren't at all happy about it. I think we need only to openly challenge Cyrus and they'll rebell easily enough."

"How long has it been since the collapsed building?"

"Two milicycles, out of which you were out cold for one and a half."

"I'll have to let Tron rest too," I said, "he's in no condition to fight right now, after all that..."

A blood-freezing howl interrupted me and both Zorn and I sprinted to the room where I woke up. I didn't let the Program get in, though, raising a hand to bar his way.

"Let me, I know what happened," I told him and he complied, heading back to the living room as I opened the door.

Tron was thrashing wildly in his sleep, his features contorted into a mask of grief and anger as he growled something I couldn't understand.

"Hey, wake up," I started, bending over to see if he's okay, "it's just a dream..."

"NOOOO!," he cried and his eyes snapped open, his circuits flashing amber as he sent a punch crashing towards my face.

I dodged the hit and grabbed his flailing wrists, pinning them on either side of his head. The crazed Monitor growled, rolling out of my grip and sent us both tumbling to the floor. I finally managed to restrain him, having to use all my strength to keep him down.

"Cut it out, Tron," I ordered in my best drill sergeant voice, but he didn't stop thrashing, "ow, that friggin' hurt, moron!"

The Monitor managed to elbow me in the cheek, right under my left eye, getting me to back off a little. That would bruise later and it hurt but with a snarl matching his I lunged, pinning Tron's arms on the ground and knocking out the air in his lungs.

"Gotcha," I growled, pressing my weight on top of his body, "now stay still, damn it!"

The circuits on his armor flickered orange for another second before they faded to their usual light blue and Tron finally stopped struggling to get me off. I managed to hold him tightly, straddling his chest so he couldn't budge and he blinked confusedly as if he had just snapped out of the nightmare.

"What happened?," he asked in a scared voice.

"I heard you shouting and when I tried to wake you up you attacked me," I explained as his eyes widened. "My guess is that Rinzler made a guest appearance."

"I-I don't know," he stuttered, "I'm sorry I hit you."

"It's fine," I dismissed, as someone knocked on the door.

"Is everything okay there?," Zorn asked.

"Yeah," I shouted, "I got this."

I let the shaken Monitor get up and watched him stumble and collapse on the bed, holding his head.

"What was it?," I asked quietly, "The nightmare I mean."

He didn't answer, his shoulders trembling with silent sobs and I sat beside him.

"It's okay," I soothed, "you can tell me."

He looked at me with tears in his eyes and I rubbed his back gently.

"I was the Rinzler again," he said, "and I was chasing Yori in Gallium city. I caught her and while she was begging me to spare her life I derezzed her. Then she turned into you, and... I watched myself take the final blow, unable to stop myself... I killed you both."

Tron dropped his head into his hands and I honestly had no idea what to say to that.

"Do you have this kind of... nightmares often?

"Yes," he replied, "usually they're flashbacks of the time under Clu's repurposing, but after what happened earlier it turned to this."

The Monitor sighed, looking at the ceiling in an attempt to calm down.

"I was too focused on getting out of that blasted tunnel," he started in a low voice, "so I forgot about that slash you got earlier. The only thing in my head was putting another step forward. I thought that trek through the pipes was unnerving; however, when I saw you on the ground unmoving and close to derezzing I was downright terrified. It was too much like when Yori died, and again I could do nothing to help. Luckily you Users are a strong lot, a normal Program wouldn't have survived what you've been through. I don't know, Em, if I couldn't save you it meant that I failed my directive again. First Flynn, now another User... What good is a System Monitor who can't protect his Users?"

A faint ripple in the code made us both jump reaching for our Disks and I touched the wall, querying the code to see what caused it.

"Someone's coming through the tunnels," I whispered. "It's Cyrus."

"Is the street entrance safe?"

"Yes, it looks barred from the outside."

Tron got up, ushering me to the door as he rezzed back his mask.

"Go tell Zorn," he ordered, "send them all to the surface exit and encode the door so nobody can follow them."

I sprinted to the main room, leaping over a sleeping Program on the floor.

"We've been discovered," I snarled, "get to the other exit and don't even think about staying behind to help. Move!"

The Programs quickly obeyed my order, hurrying to the exit and after I ushered everyone out I encoded the doorway, making it fade into the wall as if it never existed. Tron joined me and we headed out into the tunnels with our Disks ready.

"Can't wait to get my revenge on that ugly bastard," I hissed.

"Get in line," Tron retorted, "I trained him and he became this. He owes me two almost derezzed apprentices."

And speaking of the wolf, Cyrus appeared in all his circuit-face glory with four Sentinels behind him.

"Well, well, well," he sneered, "my old teacher and the rookie. Isn't this a merry meeting?"

"Yeah," I growled, "let's hug and talk of the good ol' times."

"Shut it, Program," Cyrus snapped, "you are just another Renegade reboot who has no idea what a real fight means."

"That's it, he's cubes," I hissed, beginning to circle the Stranger with graceful steps.

I didn't even manage to land a blow because Tron launched himself at his former apprentice, hacking and slashing ferociously, but every move he made was countered by the Stranger. The Sentinels closed in on us and I derezzed them easily enough. Right when I was removing my Disk from the last one's midsection I heard a groan and a thud and I saw Tron on the ground and Cyrus poised to take the final blow.

"So this is how it ends, Tron," he mused, raising his Disk over his head.

"Oh no, you don't, circuit face," I snarled, launching myself in the air over Cyrus' and kicking the glitch hard before landing in a crouch in front of the fallen Monitor. The former Renegade's Disk slashed the air where I had been but I had already rolled out of the way, and Cyrus began chasing me. I ducked under the Disk, avoided every blow and slash by a narrow chance, but I knew I had to keep him occupied. Tron joined me soon and we began our onslaught anew, but to no result. Cyrus was too strong and fast.

I remembered the other Disk on the Stranger's back, and suddenly I got that kind of idea for which Tron would kick my ass for a long time if I applied it. I left the Monitor to fight Cyrus and I pretended to be hit, collapsing to the floor. Tron let out a desperate roar and charged his former apprentice with ferocity, only to be pushed back and to find himself with Cyrus' Disk at his throat.

"Now be brave, for this might hurt a little," the former Renegade sneered, oblivious to my presence behind him.

I undocked his Disk, holding it between my hands and it disintegrated to red pixels on the floor.

"Dodge this," I growled, leaping on his back.

I grabbed a handful of the Program's hair, yanking his head back and I cut his throat in a swift move. He disintegrated and I hurried to help Tron up.

"Was that a line from that 'Matrix' movie we watched two nights ago?," he frowned as I pulled him to his feet.

"We are in a computer program," I shrugged, "and it worked well with the situation."

"You are insane, Emily," Tron muttered, "but maybe it's a User trait. Let's go announce the others of what happened here or they'll believe we're dead."

I glanced at the clock above the desk after Tron and I de-digitized in my world: 1:46 AM. The Monitor yawned, stretching like a huge cat before crashing on the couch while I sat at the computers, logging the Grid entry and tweaking some parameters for the laser. However, soon enough I was too tired to do anything more and I fell asleep with my head on the desk. I felt someone prying me away from the computers before setting me in my bed, from which I didn't wake up for the next 48 hours. I guess that's what a couple of near-death experiences do to you.