T-7 cycles to migration.
"Clu? You there? We need to talk," she absently rubs her arm and tries to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. She didn't want to see the files she's carrying right now. But find them she did, and she's got to hear it from him. All she can think about is the dream she had of him falling into the black depths.
No answer, so she pushes through the door anyway and locks it behind her.
Head in his hands, he's hunched over the table, muttering, "Where are they?" Then he erupts shoving everything on his desk to the floor, "WHERE ARE THEY?!"
When she steps next to the wall into the corner of his vision, he slams his fists down and demands, "Leave me!" before he slides his hand over his face. She doesn't budge, and he roars, "I said, LEAVE ME ALONE!"
She bites her lip and chills go right through her. "I have them," she tosses the files in front of him. Tears start to fall, and she wipes them away with her sleeve.
His head falls to his chest, and the silence is deafening.
Through her sniffles, she breaks the silence, "I...I need to know. Why?"
Leaning on his elbows, he laces his fingers and rests his forehead on them while he responds, "I was told to make the perfect system..."
"But..."
"A few cycles ago when we talked about perfection, I thought you understood. Chaos and order do not mix. Perfection only lasts when there isn't a spark, and it still has to be controlled to be maintained."
"But to wipe out all the ISOs? To betray your maker?...And ME? YOU CAN'T BE CONSIDERING THIS!" her fists ball up in indoctrination as her protest rises to a scream.
He rushes the wall behind her and slams his hands next to her face, pinning her there but careful to not lay a hand on her. She turns her head from him as he seethes, "I have no love for the ISOs. BUT DO YOU THINK IT'S WHAT I REALLY WANT?! TO STRIP AWAY EVERYTHING GOOD IN MYSELF?! TO BECOME A MONSTER?!" He confesses hoarsely, "All I wanted is to be with you." His palm slaps the wall. "But I can't. My User, in his infinite wisdom, gave me an impossible command at the instant of my creation, and I have to follow it even if I derezz trying." The haunted look in his eyes is worse than anything he could say.
"Clu..." She puts her shaking hand up toward his face, but stops short. "What if we talk to Flynn? Surely, he can't know what he's asked?"
Taking a hand from the wall, he pulls hers to his cheek and nuzzles it as he revels in the bittersweet of finally letting her reach out to him. "Your hope and spark, there's nothing more intoxicating...But I know him. If I ask if I'm still supposed to create the perfect system, he'll say 'Yeah...' and be confused why I'm asking."
"And you've been trying to find a way around it for a long time, haven't you?" she finally sees why he's always been so moody and aloof, resentful toward Users.
Resting his head on her shoulder, he indicates that she hit the mark.
She wraps her free arm around him and entwines her fingers in his hair, "We can still get him to cancel the command. We just have to get it through his thick skull. Before you told me this, my idea of perfection was very nebulous and inconsistent. But I understand what you're saying now, and I think he can too. Please, let me help you, Clu."
His throat is so constricted, he can only manage a nod. But she hugs him tighter in response.
A couple of loud thuds interrupt the tranquility. The door bursts open, and admits Tron and his battalion, who swarm into the room with disks raised and activated. Seeing her tears, Tron is ready to strike. He points his disk at Clu and warily asks, "Is...everything ok?"
The couple turns as one as she maneuvers herself protectively between him and the others, "It will be."
Shaddox stows his disk and moves his fingers past each other a few times indicating a contradiction, "Yo. This does NOT match with what's in the system log..." causing Dyson to punch him in the arm for the absolute lack of tact.
"Can we have some privacy? PLEASE." Her last word isn't a request.
"You heard the User. Out! On the double!" Tron barks.
After the last under his command has left the room, Tron addresses his old friend. "Clu, we had no idea of the burden you carried. You don't have to carry it alone. We're a team. Remember that." Turning to leave the room, he raises and circles his index finger - indicating for things to continue, "Now get on with your making up and stuff. I can only keep my crew from the system log for so long. They don't need a live play by play."
Not even waiting for the door to shut, Clu pulls her up into a kiss and swings her around, until they're both too dizzy to stand and they giddily crash to the wall laughing with hope, and love, and the knowledge that they're in this together.
Chapter End of Line