*looks at the reviews for Chapter 20

Aww, you guys care, you really do :D

Well, I've started college again, but I think I'm in a good frame of mind for making updates, so we'll see how long it takes me to write out this story.

This is a very character-central chapter, no action to speak of, but sometimes you need to reflect on the past, present and future, no? And while there have been losses, the Codebusters will always be there to uphold their vows and fix a game in need.

As for the consequences of the last chapter...make of them what you will

Disclaimer: I don't own Square Enix (Sora), Atari (Leia), Mojang (Bob) or Namco-Bandai (Galaga)

Bob's POV

Life continued in a sort in the aftermath of the original Red Core of Codebusters's deaths.

Bob didn't notice they were gone until the mystery plug had already been pulled. The sudden static blasting in his mind from his Action Replay got his attention; Sora hit the ground, Leia screamed, and they were painfully aware that the latent connection to the other three cheat cartridges had been cut off. The Surge Protector put a lock down on everything to keep other programs from being absconded, but the damage had been done.

Witnesses from around the arcade saw Miyoko remove the mystery game—one of those mobile devices that games were often ported onto—and leave with Toby Litwak. Emi identified it as an iTouch, dashing hope for a 3G Internet escape, and while some held out hope that they would miraculously return, Bob and the technologically knowledgeable knew better. In the computer room he'd seen enough iPhones and Androids to know how kids use them. Turn them off to "study", reset them to fix a glitch app, run out the battery...and then Aimee from the local Farmville saw Toby Litwak update his Facebook status to "Finally got Misha to turn off her iTouch after tickling her lol".

Sora cried the first hour after they were confirmed dead. Him and C. Sonic and the rest of Sugar Rush, and Bob would bet a diamond sword that the rest of the arcade was in total shock. There one minute, gone the next—the kind of madness that tried turning Bob into one of those sentimental fools, creeping through the power strips and watching games flicker with use as the human gamers went on with their lives.

That was the best part about being him, anyway; thanks to his limited role in the game he could wander the arcade, simply wondering. Did Skrillex keep the group together, finally assuming leadership as a Codebuster? Did Honey hold onto them until the end, knowing about the loved ones she was leaving behind? Did Choko, Princess of Heart for a good reason, cry?

He hoped she didn't, that Miyoko turned off her phone before they knew that they were dead in the pixels without a save file. Time passed with the terrifying wailing in darker corners of games and while his opinion on other things changed—they were Codebusters darn it all, they would've done anything they could to cheat death, they never would've shown fear—that remained constant.

And Bob's life had a constant in the glowing little cartridge suspended in his inventory. The blue...the only core of Codebusters were keeping the arcade running by themselves. Glitching games didn't care if Bob was reeling over losing three people that really understood the responsibilities in his code; griefing errors and bugs were apathetic to anything past giving the Codebusters a purpose. Putting their Action Replays to great use, upholding their vows to always help someone in need...

Funny thing, that vow. It certainly helped the arcade, it certainly gave him a new purpose that was irreplaceable as his intended function, but there wasn't a Herobrine-damned thing he could do to to help the three friends that lead him to being a Codebuster, or the people they left behind.

He was in the habit of people watching now. Their reactions up to the top followed the same pattern; acquaintances of the lost three were shocked and quick to diffuse that shock through their real friendships and directive. Tapper was in the business of making a certain multi-grain root beer for cheap now, and Bob watched his mates in Minecraft treat the pigs with much more respect than before.

Further up Bob saw Calhoun staring distantly towards the DJ Hero 2, talking to Felix about how she never got to know "Mozart" well enough to properly thank him and the others for her wedding. Nicelanders pitying the death of children—because that's what they were, Skrillex no older than a twentysomething—and little Kokiri from Ocarina of Time missing the older kids who showed them that being old doesn't mean losing their spirit.

Then Bob watched people they'd helped and made friends with flirting near the edge of despair. Bob heard the punks from Guitar Hero making ballads, the cast of Tekken Tag 2 fighting poorly even during game play, and the devastated mess around The Power Battle. He didn't know how many friends Choko had at her sleepovers until the night after their deaths were made official rolled around; that game was overrun with crying little girls from Angel Kids to Mario Party 8, Mee Mee and Roll at the center and inconsolable to their depressed older brother figures. Roll in particular had to be shut down from all the stress her crying did; Bob had forgotten that she was even a robot.

Sugar Rush was special in that Choko wasn't just a friend to them, she helped their queen reset their game. So to find that her code had simply disappeared from their game, leaving behind a lifeless track and skipped over boss battle, had been too much to bear for the already emotionally sensitive racers. Bob saw them exactly twice; to see them wailing after inspecting Sugar Rush's code, and to see the former recolors and mis-textured racers slouched over in Tappers. Not a word was said, not a tear was spent, so the raw heartbreak in their tiny faces was all the more painful for Bob to see.

So at the very peak of what Bob coined Grief Mountain were the best friends, the companions that made life in arcade worth it. Queen Vanellope was still the Codebuster's commander, giving them jobs from clients and mitigating emergencies, and she was doing a fantastic job of keeping a steady face. But Bob was a master of expression for all his limited programming, and he saw the slight redness rimming her eyes, the way she always wore gloves now to hide knuckles covered with bite marks when the urge to cry got too much. Choko once said that she was Vanellope's dear friend, a "great honor to be so close to Vanellope-heika", and Bob was just glad that the kid's affections were mutual.

If Queen Vanellope was holding it in, then Skrillex's fellow DJs had no qualms about letting it out. The girls and some of the guys wailed and their collective opinions shifted from "Never ever play anything made by him again" to "It's the Skrillex Memorial Hour", and Bob noticed how they all wore something black. Black pants, black shirts, black wristbands, black dyed hair...Suri was working a defiant undercut, and Bob saw three red lines added to deadmau5's signature mouse heads. And if Bob wasn't mistaken, there was that telltale pale-face-pink-eyes in their faces, if only for the first day. Skrillex probably would've laughed at their actions, but Bob always knew that they cared.

At least they weren't in crisis mode. It was an open secret how...unstable C. Sonic could be at his lowest, even before Honey was frozen 11 years ago. Bob heard the horror stories whispered from veterans, how years ago he would have to be watched by his roster mates in case he made a dash for a shoot 'em up and joined his lost friends in the After Void; now the poor child lost his best friend and soul mate, and the whispers were starting up again about how C. Sonic suffered another mental breakdown. Bob could see the blank-eyed, pale-faced hedgehog staring down ports to Hero's Duty and Primal Rage, and a new kind of fear was stirring in Bob's chest like rustles of dead leaves.

He kept an extra eye out on the kid—it was the least he could do in Honey's memory—and to his relief M. Sonic was permanently locked in big brother mode. He and the two Tails were like an honor guard around C. Sonic, herding him away from suicidal impulses, and his roster mates were super protective; Bob bet they couldn't handle losing another one of their group. So even if the kid was completely broken, functioning only because his remaining friends begged him not to get himself killed and bring down Sonic the Fighters with him, at least there wasn't any more death to stain the arcade's memory.

And they all cried, they all screamed outrage, and Bob was with them because it hurt and they were so young and they were just gone and it wasn't fair how after so much accomplished, his friends died out of the blue and what was he supposed to do now other than self-destruct over and over?

But as it always does, life continued.

Ralph was keeping Vanellope strong, stopping her from lashing out and becoming a candy-coated despot. The Chokos from the Sugar Rush sequels were tagging into the arcade game to fill in the missing slot in Sugar Rush and keep the gamers happy. The grieving children of the arcade were taken under wings by older siblings, parents, mysterious mentors, and Roll cracked a tiny smile at Mr. and Mrs. Pacman arguing about dish duty in GCS.

Bob watched his team slowly adjust from being code masters to being the only code masters. Sora, fiercely optimistic even in his grief, got a hold of his tear ducts, and Leia the Stoic never cried to begin with; they would get over it but not right now, not when they were forced to be all smiles and IC for Mr. Litwak's happy clientele, and that was ok.

Yet Bob sat at his computer's terminal, squashing irrational hope that the dead would come walking in and tell a tale about how they cheated death and went on a grand adventure through the Internet back home. Skrillex knew their IP address, Honey had the moxie to take on any malware, and Choko would just be thrilled at having a new story to tell...

Well, he could always dream, anyway. Stupid little petty hopeless dreams, but Bob was a Codebuster tired of looking at the harsh truth; he could indulge in cheating reality for just a little while.

Leia's POV

"We've got reports of enemy AI glitches in Majora's Mask, texture errors in The Sims 3 and freezing in Galaga." Leia and the rest of the Codebusters were standing before Queen Vanellope, and she held her head high in the overly pink throne room. "Take your pick, none of them are serious as of yet."

Leia looked to her sides; Sora looked ready for anything to keep him upbeat and Bob was blank faced. She was their leader after all, the head Codebuster now, and she knew she needed to take charge. "Might as well start with Galaga, since we're already in the arcade game room. Is that all, Queen Vanellope?"

"Well if you see Princess Peach on the way, send her over; she and Princess Toadstool are being catty, so as Queen I feel obligated to keep the peace." Leia and Vanellope shared a smirk; it was interesting to be part of the arcade's royal circle, to say the least. Then Vanellope's smirk faded down and Leia's gut spasmed because it had only been three days. "So yeah...go get them, Codebusters, I'm gettin' old here."

They saluted and Leia led them out of the sugar dusted castle, steadfast in the face of the new pocky zen garden that made Sora trip up. She felt bad for him; Kairi told her how things got bad the first night, lots of smashing and lighting storms and agony that Leia hoped was starting to phase itself out. There wasn't time for them to fall apart, not when they had so much to do and so much to live up to.

It didn't help that Luke and Darth Vader were on her case, how she needed to have a breakdown like poor C. Sonic in order to heal. No offense to those still crying—she understood what they were going through, why didn't anyone see that she missed her friends so much—but she had a job to do, and Galaga wasn't going to fix itself.

Leia saw various little racers on their way out, half of them trying to smile and the half failing miserably. It was almost funny in its depression; since when did these impossible kids, after a madman, his virus and a total game crash/reboot , ever stay down long enough for others to notice? Bubblebetty was pathetic in her attempt to smile and wave, positively chunky in her blueberry pie binge, and Leia couldn't keep her gaze; Choko would've known what to say.

Clenching her fists, Leia marched out of Sugar Rush and hid a grin when Bob had to clamor into her cart. Something about not having arms was very inconvenient with driving, and Sora joked as they sped down the cord, "How do you expect to go dancing with all those pretty girls you picked up from Vocaloid if you can't swing them around?"

"Unlike the resident Disney prince in the room, I do not waltz like an old grandpa. I'm hip, I'm fresh, I'm explosive, and I do the box step." Leia smiled to herself as Sora guffawed, he and Bob getting into a loud argument on whether or not it was fair that Bob got all the ladies while still being a creeper. It was nice hearing them play-fight, they hadn't really done that ever since...

Well, Ever Since.

Galaga was on the far end of the power strip, twinned up with a double headed extension cord with Joust. Leia remembered Joust fondly; it was one of their first real missions, reprogramming hit detection that rendered the game's platforms useless. Bob nearly died when the glitching error tried sucking him into the ground, it took much abuse of Sora's Majestic Thunder to save him. All in all it was one of the best days in Leia's life, which said something about the world she lived in.

GCS was markedly less crowded than usual for a Wednesday night. There was no new drama other than Judy Nails and Johnny Whathisface breaking up again, but Leia caught the the stolen whispers and frightened looks bystanders would give that one empty port by Frogger. As if some mysterious force would suck them to their doom...Leia fought down the manic urge to giggle. Honestly, Luke's paranoia about her state of mind was making its own problems.

Sora waved hello to his "younger sis" Namine and her friends Tetra and Roll, the three blondes skipping off to Burger Time. It was good to see Roll functioning again, after her meltdown the night before, and Leia sighed softly. Next on the list was getting her and half the arcade to smile again. Hopefully Sora the sunshine brat was up to the task.

Speaking of overly peppy Disney brats, Sora ran into Luke's new girlfriend Pixie from DJ Hero 2, and Leia exchanged a smirk with Bob. She knew enough about the rave crazy girl that anything that started with D and ended with Isney started a massive wave of fangirly sparkles; it meshed well with Luke's secret obsession with Pixar, who from what Leia saw in Up and Toy Story, was funded purely on tears. It was a little odd, getting so caught up to modern era pop culture, and Honey...well, Leia was working on getting caught up. So far her thoughts kept jumping from place to place, trying to find purchase on anything permanent, so she wasn't doing very well.

The train ride up the extension cord and the transfer to Galaga was filled with review. Their combat training with the Mortal Kombat fighters saved their butts when another heartless swarm spilled into GTA Vice City, Sora and King Mickey were making good headway into researching the Majestic Thunders' true capabilities, and while they still had a long way to go, people were building up trust in the Codebusters.

Leia looked down at the blue C on her breast and was aware of the larger one on her back. Blue was in now, blue like her brother's eyes, like her Action Replay, like that stupid song stuck in her head after fixing a lag issue in Stepmania and she imagined drowning in blue and forced herself the breathe normally. Sora laid his head down in her lap and she saw more blue in the dim light of the cord. "Can I help you?"

"Just wanted to say hello." Sora smiled so easily even during these days, Leia secretly adored him for that. "You seem a little more irritated than usual; was Han bothering you again?"

"Ugh!" Leia scowled at the mental image of that reckless, overblown, stubborn idiot who dared to try and call her an ice princess! "That scruffy-looking nerfherder needs to keep his noise out of my business, and out of my way!" Bob was insufferably smirking and Sora was giving her a Look and Leia bit her bottom lip so she wouldn't either burst into hysteria or start screaming at them all.

"It's prolly because he likes you..." Bob's snide comment set Sora off and Leia was suddenly forced to defend her honor and standards. Like Han Solo, the kriffin' jerk who told her that her personality must still be dummied out? Who got sweet, innocent Luke incoherently drunk right before opening hours and brought the wrath of Darth Vader on everyone in the Alliance? Who was tall and irritatingly charming and Leia swore that at his best he could be somewhat of a trustworthyish friend to her brother and maybe... "You adore, him, don't you?"

Leia Force-knocked Bob onto his back and watching him flail about like an upended turtle. Sora was laughing, Galaga was ahead, and Leia let herself giggle because this was as normal as it got anymore.

The fighters in Galaga greeted them with the usual enthusiasm that a Codebuster got, yet Leia clenched her fists in her jumpsuit's pocket. She saw their eyes rake over their blue coded uniforms, and knew that they found them lacking. Holding her head high, she marched into the frozen game like she owned it, and refused to look at the glances Bob and Sora were giving each other.

Just as Queen Vanellope said, the game was hopelessly frozen. Forcing herself to stay mobile in the locking game environment, Leia asked Sora, "Are your keybaldes picking up anything?"

His Majestic Thunder were vibrating in his hands, low electronic humming bleeding out into space. "It's funny...like they're overloading in response to this game's data."

Leia bit her bottom lip as Sora and Bob talked code. Everything was overloading lately, overfilling and spilling out to make things a complicated mess. But she forced down the irrational urge to scream, clenching onto her jumpsuit's belt. Peace, serenity, all those Jedi things that Darth Vader was trying to teach Skrillex and—

"Aha!" Sora grinned widely with eyes glowing in the stifling darkness. "It's like what we were told about old 8 bit games! The game went past level 255, so we just gotta trigger the watchdog!"

The princess tried to speak but there wasn't any air left in the suspended space. She remembered the story of Mrs. Pac Man well; one of the Codebuster's first games fixed, spreading their reputation far and wide, and the darkness the game produced led Honey to talk about the Void and

And oh god Honey was back in the Void, and she couldn't breathe because there was no air when you're a static block of pixels watching your best friend fall apart, just like how he was since Honey was in the Void but there was no Game Genie to fix her because she was dead and the girl who remade Honey along with her.

Leia was gasping but there was no air, why was there no air when it was just there five seconds ago? The only thing left to do was obviously giggle, and Leia felt her cheeks strain from the manic grin splashed across her face. Laughter whistled through her teeth like air being sucked out of an iTouch as the playing field derezzed, like vectors exploding into bits of decaying light over and over around her yet nobody noticed Leia was even there.

Sora was looking at her with big blue Luke eyes and they were like Action Replay eyes, blue cheat programs and blue code and blue everything because Choko had pink hair and Skrillex had brown eyes and Honey had yellow fur and Leia didn't want to be the Blue Codebuster anymore when red was taken out of the balance.

She fell to her knees and clawed at her shirt, laughing hard enough to rattle her ribs and shock her heart into overdrive. Didn't Sora see the stupidity of it all? There was just too much blue and too many people crying and too many looks sent her way wondering why Ice Princess Leia Organa Skywalker wasn't a sobbing wreck. But she was stronger than that, she was a leader and leaders don't cry even when the world as they knew it came to an end.

And no Sora, she was not ok but she was going to have to be if they wanted to keep going. Half the Codebusters got wiped out Monday morning and it was Wednesday night and they needed to get their kriffin' act together because that's what teams did in these situations. And she refused to cry, shed a single tear because she couldn't afford to be weak when even Queen Vanellope the Sugar Rush Savior needed her shoulder to cry on, and why was he looking at her?! He needed to stop staring at her like she was falling apart because she wasn't, she wasn't C. Sonic or Roll or anyone else in this stupid code-forsaken arcade and she. would. not. cry...

"It's ok, it's ok." Sora wiped her cheek and it was wet. "It's ok to cry, Bob and I won't say a word, and everything's going to be ok."

Leia's face screwed up in agony as days of suppressed emotion tore its way out her throat and eyes. And she screamed.

She screamed and wailed and sobbed into his chest, forcing blue to stain his shirt and make her hair plaster to her face. He held her the entire time, Bob joining once he fixed the game and neither said a word. Neither did the Galaga fighters as Sora carried her out like she was his little sister, and no one in GCS said a word even though she knew Felix was a gossip and M. Sonic a motormouth.

No one said anything, and it made her cry harder because she was a failure of a leader to depend on Sora to keep her from glitching apart.

"That's a lie." She blinked up at him, and they were in Star Wars on her bed, Luke stroking her back and Bob telling Darth Vader what happened and Han guarding the door from snooping stormtroopers. "You're the best leader we have." And he was crying too and it made her heart bleed to see more blue, blue from Sora and Bob and her family and even Han. "And it's ok to cry, because it means you have a heart, and that's what makes a good leader."

Leia cried even harder, and it wasn't until she passed out from the force of grieving over her lost friends that she realized how lucky she was to have the friends guarding over her vulnerable state.

Sora's POV

Sora watched the people filter by from his perch in the computer room, hands in his lap and his Majestic Thunder put away for now. There was no need for charging in guns blazing or whatever other weird sayings Bob made, not today.

After Leia's breakdown in Galaga, they were taking things a bit slower to try and ease her out of the mindset she forced herself into. He thought it was strange, how she thought being completely stoic in the face of their good friends dying made for good leadership; Sora liked the humanity of being vulnerable, since it showed one's inner heart. Luke and Han talked to her afterward, along with Vanellope, the various princesses and especially Bob and him. After making it clear that no, they didn't think anything less of her and yes, she was still their kick ass Jedi princess leader, Leia actually smiled.

She was beautiful when she smiled. Her and Namine and all the girls he'd had the pleasure of meeting, and Sora saw a little Sim girl grin below. Happiness, the pure-hearted not-evil kind that King Mickey vouched for, was the best sort of thing to be spread around the arcade, and Sora pondered why it was so easy for him to find it under the layers of sadness.

Kairi wasn't joking when she said he "had a bad night" when the news came out. There was a reason why he wasn't a Princess of Heart, and there was still darkness clinging to his gut whenever he passed Sugar Rush or heard certain melodies. Choko GP ran through the crowd chasing after her friends, and Sora idly wondered if he ever told his Choko that her nose scrunched up like a bunny whenever he tickled her.

Regrets, should've dones, too much lingering sadness. Game characters adapted quickly to new events—Ralph and Vanellope became best friends after one night, to say nothing of how quickly Sora mastered his Majestic Thunder—yet death was too sudden. Like having someone's heart ripped out in front of you, and they don't regenerate, just leaving you behind...

Sora smiled. Someone was playing Castle in the Sky in the DVD terminal, and he could hear trumpets sounding. Skrillex and Choko adored Miyazaki, and Honey was quick to love his movies too. Maybe Sora was influenced by Disney, but he was in the love camp as well. He wished there was a game based off this movie in particular, so he could just explore Laputa, way above the clouds.

He jumped down from his perch lightly, and smirked when Bob came dragging in Leia. Drag was perhaps too strong a word; she'd never seen anything beyond her own movies, and there was a lightness to her steps now. "Funny finding you two here."

"Let's call it a happy coincidence, since hardly anything else in our lives are so lucky." They exchanged grins, and Sora looked over Leia's face. She wasn't wearing makeup today, so he saw the bags under her eyes she had yet to reset. But the cool ceramic features that'd been her mask all week were gone as well, and she smiled hopefully, "So Bob tells me this movie is nice? I have free time tonight..."

"Then onward!" Sora grabbed onto her delicate arm, marching Leia into the terminal. They quickly found good seats, since people gave them out of respect. It was pretty neat, the kindness that came with their work; Sora bet that they'd get the center six seats if they asked, but their view point was well enough.

Once the theater was filled someone started the DVD, and Sora cried a little during the movie. It was just that awesome ok, these weren't tears of sadness but tears of awestruck wonder-joy! Leia still smirked and Bob was beside his blocky self in making oogaly faces at Sora though. Meanies. But then Laputa came out of the clouds, and Sora bet his Kingdom Key that Leia was moved to emotion as well.

Leia would make a good Sheeta, and Sora bet there was a certain nerf-herder who would gladly volunteer to be Pazu. Leia made the most hilarious face of outrage and slammed her fist into Sora's gut to stop him from laughing; while it hurt like a heartless' mother, it was totally worth the comparison. Then again, maybe Han was too rough to be the male lead; Sora knew of another pair or two that could fit, and it filled him with happiness as much as it did sorrow.

By the time the movie was over they were due back at their games, but Sora didn't mind. It was a good change of pace, to stop being Codebusters for a second and just breathe in simple happiness. Leia was whistling the main theme, Bob was gonna ask his friends to build floating castles, and Sora hung back to watch them smile.

Yeah, they were hurting, and he didn't think that they were going to adapt to that pain just yet. But happiness went on just as life did, and the coming arcade hours were a new day.

Sora was back on his perch, and he couldn't keep a grin off his face.

Today had been a wonderful Saturday, filled with a bunch of kids in the home console room. He got to play in both KH1 and KH2, there were rumors that the arcade was getting a PS4 and KH3 once it was available and Toby Litwak came back, he and Riku got to hang out...life was good.

His grin softened as he pondered this. "Life was good", even though what happened on Monday? He looked down to see a group of giggling girls being led by Carmen Sandiego; Roll caught his eye and smiled at him, before being pulled along by Mee Mee. Sora's grin returned full force, and he struggled to keep from crying from the sheer relief of it all.

He knew he was a crybaby; Riku and Leia and basically everyone except for the nicer kids and King Mickey told him so. And he did a lot of crying this past week, trying to bleed out the sadness through his eyes. Sometimes he caught himself bursting into tears over little triggers, like the scent of chocolate or red hair ties or black converse shies. Hero's Duty was painful to even think about.

But even when all he wanted to do was scream until his head exploded, something nice happened. A gamer used him expertly during arcade hours, Deadpool came to pull Sora into a merry adventure, background music filtered out of Ocarina of Time just so...the world was beautiful and he adored it even beyond his sorrow.

Sora wasn't sure if that was just built into his programming or the Princesses of Heart were rubbing off on him or what, but when Leia was building herself up to crash and Bob was stuck staring into the faces of grief, Sora cried. He cried and hurt and at the end he looked up and was awestruck at how life continued to amaze.

It was cheesy, just like being a big softie, but it was true. His Majestic Thunder was a weaponized Action Replay for Disney's sakes, that was way beyond is level of understanding! People fell in love and discovered new content, games were being released on newer and better consoles, and gamers came to this little arcade every day without fail to give Sora a reason to exist.

He couldn't make sense of it all, beyond repeating to himself "I'm not that broken anymore" when he was alone. Too many weird feelings of hope, sadness, joy, rage, wonder and pain, all mushed together in the love he had for everything. Maybe King Mickey could help sort out his thoughts, since his standard course of action towards the...the optimism? in his heart was just to cry, and he was moving past that.

Wiping his eyes—darn moisture, making him all weepy—Sora watched people enter and leave terminals. He recognized many, but some were new, from Facebook games and Minecraft and places he's never heard of before. He wanted to see what was beyond the console, touch different game corners and live to tell the tale.

He knew that his friends would've been amazed at the strange reality of the iTouch. He knew that they would've gone into at least one game and tried their hardest not to die and seen the end that Sora could only guess about. Energy thrummed throughout Sora's code, his Majestic Thunder making his eyes glow just a bit, and he smiled. No more grief for them, because it was over.

They were either finally at rest, or somewhere entirely new. And Sora was willing to live up to the legacy they began, and see more of this beautiful world before he was gone and others went through grief cycles over his depixelated data.

He still hoped that they were alive, he still held onto the idea with wide eyed quiet, but Sora exhaled, letting three grateful tears flow; either way the Codebusters would to continue what three little codemasters began.

Children squealed with delight from below, and Sora looked over to watch them with a growing smile as midnight tolled and began a new tomorrow.

Five days earlier, Miyoko yawned as the plane touched down. While DeeDee teased Toby about Katarzyna and Adia finished her whimsy sketch of E-Call, she pulled out her iTouch and turned it on.

So here is where this series splits upon it self.

On the left hand path the Codebusters live on through the Blue core. Reality brings them low but they stand tall, and become better people as the future looks on just as it ever does.

But on the right hand path...reality softens just this once, allowing three little programs to advance beyond the void of death.

Personally, I love the idea of the left. It's like Psycho, building up a protagonist to kill them halfway through. And like real life, these three are people, and sometimes death strikes without warning. It makes them visceral, tragic, and forces those left behind to grow.

But for the purpose of this story and its sequels, I will continue on the right. After all, incredible developments have been made on the brink of death. And we will see what exactly the Red core got up to in those five days.

For information's sake, Galaga froze because it was on level 256. Just like Mrs. Pac Man before, it overflowed and needed assistance.

I hope you guys aren't too mad at me, and I'll see you in the next chapter!