TW: ANGST

~Chapter One: Delusion

"We may die, Zoey..."

The sweet sunlight filtered through the blinds and woke me from my slumber. It was my alarm every morning. Rolling over, I draped my arm over on the other side of the bed to find it was empty. Most mornings, I was the first to wake and would always be the alarm clock for everyone else but that wasn't the case today it seems. "He's already up?"

I sat up and stretched before stepping down and making my way to the kitchen. I expected it to be empty but sitting at the table, messing around with his bow was Teep. He looked to me and nodded in greeting. "Good morning," I greeted back. "You're also up early, huh?"

He nodded and went back to messing with his bow.

"Do you know where Rythian has gone?"

Without stopping what he was doing, he gestured towards the door, implying he had left the house without me. I pouted a bit. "That jerk. He said we would go together." Quickly, I got dressed and headed outside. I expected that I would have to chase him down but I was surprised to see him waiting for me.

"Good morning, Sunshine," He greeted me calmly as he stepped off the wall he was leaning on. "Took your time, huh?"

I glared at him but I was happy he was still here. "Don't tease me. I'm usually the first one awake and you know it."

"I guess that's true," He smiled, holding out his hand. "But I win this time. I was so excited to go today that I didn't sleep much, so shall we go?"

It was cute how he was so truthful about his excitement. I was also excited for today. I took his hand. "Sure."

---

"Nonsense. You two are strong. I'll wait here for you."

We held hands as we strolled across the landscape. It was a beautiful day and everything was in full bloom. The delightful smell of flowers wafted through the air and the sky was a soft shade of blue. A smile stayed easily on my face. "We picked a great day to do this."

He nodded, but shrugged, "That's true, even though it is always beautiful. I can't even recall a bad day, can you?"

Slowly, I shook my head. "No... Never... Do you think that's weird?" I looked up at him nervously.

There was a small pause as he looked around at everything before answering. "No... I don't guess so. Having a good day everyday is great, I suppose." He held my hand tighter. "Too bad we are the only people around to enjoy it, though. It's always been just you, me, and Teep."

"Yeah..." I half agreed, "But we don't need a bunch of people bothering us. We only need each other."

"Of course, Zoey. I'm happy with how things are." The way he agreed was forced, but I let it slide because it was a safe enough answer to receive.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. A small volcano that sat all by itself. "Baby Jim!" I exclaimed, releasing his hand.

Rythian showed excitement too but on the inside he wasn't so dishonest. I could tell he found the baby thing weird. Of course, I knew it was to be expected. That's how I wanted it to be. That was how he should be. "It's good to see our baby again."

I reached into my inventory and threw some meat into the lava. "There you go, Baby Jim. I bet you were hungry." With that, I sat down to rest. Rythian joined me.

He laid back and sighed happily. "It really is a nice day..."

Laying beside him, I nodded. "Yep..." Watching him drift off a bit, I fought the urge to drift off as well. It wasn't time for me to sleep yet. I wanted to stay a part of this beauty for a little longer.

---

"They haven't returned..."

We said our goodbye's to Baby Jim before heading back home. The sun was already beginning to set. We had spent a whole day together and our hands were intertwined as we walked back the same way we came. Still, I wasn't as happy as I was on the way there.

"You always hate when bedtime rolls around, don't you?" He asked, looking at the sky which was fading to dark.

"Yeah, I do..." I answered, looking up with him.

"Why?" he questioned me further as the dark moved in more. "Do you have nightmares?"

I never wanted to talk about it and he never asked me before. Something was changing and I didn't like it. "Something like that..."

It was clear that my answer didn't suffice, but he respected it. "I see... Sorry, I wasn't trying to pry into your privacy. It's just... I've noticed your sleeping patterns recently. You're last to go to sleep and first to wake like the very idea of closing your eyes scares you."

He was noticing a lot of things recently. It made me uneasy and made things harder than they should be. Gripping his hand a bit tighter, I turned and smiled at him. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

The house was dark as we walked in. Teep had already headed to bed and Rythian was on his way to ours. I wasn't tired, but tonight I needed to go to bed early for many reasons. Though staying awake sounded much more pleasant, I let sleep take me and my eyes shut as I drifted away.

---

"I'm all alone now..."

Darkness met me as my eyes opened. My body ached and my stomach growled from hunger. The program was collapsing in on itself and unraveling. I had to shut it down and be dragged back into my own reality.

"Zoey, it has been three days since you initiated the program. I highly recommend-"

"Shut it." I ordered as I sat up and removed the headset and wires from my body. Fatigue plagued me from malnourishment. I had indeed been living within the program for three days which was pushing it but I was fine. I knew what I was doing.

Barely managing to, I got up and dragged myself to the kitchen. Not even using bowls or a cup, I poured milk and cereal into my mouth. The voice followed me. "You wouldn't be so hungry if you didn't spend so much time in the program. It's not healthy."

I wiped my mouth and put everything back where it was. "It's better than being stuck in the real world, Computer. You wouldn't know about that, though."

"I may have no understanding of either world you inhabit, but you created me to keep you from becoming like this because you understood long ago it would happen when you tried to play god and bring them back from the de-"

"Don't say it!" I screamed. "I don't want to hear it! Don't ever remind me of that! I'm fine. Everything is fine. Rythian and Teep are still alive."

"In your program maybe..." It said, looking down on me. "If your program is even working properly."

"It's working fine," I argued. "A.I Rythian is just becoming a bit too aware of himself and his surroundings. I'll just patch it and everything will be fine." Back in the lab, I sat down at the computer and began working on just that.

Again, the voice followed me. "And then what, Zoey? Will you continue to live inside a lie? What about the offer that Xephos and Honeydew gave you? They invited you to work at the Jaffa Factory. Why won't you take it?"

"Because there's nothing there for me,"I answered, as my fingers typed quickly and accurately. "What I want can only be found in the virtual world I have created. Simple as that."

The voice seemed to vanish until it spoke up again, "I wish it was really that simple... It's not my place to judge you, though. Like I said, I'm here to keep you alive, and keep you alive, I shall."

The patch uploaded and I stood up from where I sat. "That's right. You're nothing more than a lifeline. If I wanted, I could make you obsolete so watch who you are talking to." I picked the headset up again and laid down. "I'm going back in."

"Understood. I'm ready to initiate the program."

I put the headset on and closed my eyes. It was time to go back into the beautiful dream that had no nightmares. Reality was the nightmare that I desperately needed to escape.

"Rythian and Teep have been killed. I can't live like this. I can't live in this nightmare! I'll- I'll create a world where they are still alive and hide there! I don't care if it's a lie! It's my last resort!"

~Chapter Two: Her Reality

The castle was falling apart, and even though I was fully prepared to see it, I was still shocked at the sight. It had gotten much worse since last I saw it. All of it wasting away with her at the center.

I let myself in, well, stepped through the hole that used to have a door for protection. Something or someone had gotten rid of it long ago. It was still dangerous on the outside, but the occupant on the inside didn't seem to mind. She knew no one would try and hurt her anymore, and even if they did, she would hurt them right back.

I wasn't here to hurt her. Quite the opposite, actually. It had been weeks since Honeydew and I proposed that she come work with us. We had seen the extent of her sorrow and we wanted to take her from it; to make her understand that what she was doing was wrong, but she never answered. She stayed here, letting the walls crumble around her as the dream grew out of control... and the delusion was left to swallow her.

Beneath the castle, I walked passed the deteriorating crown that once belonged to the king of mushrooms, and down the back where a secret door opened. She was in here, I knew that, but I afraid to see her after so long. She was in bad shape then, and it could have only gotten worse.

"Zoey..."

I walked down the short hall where her forgotten experiments lined the walls behind glass and caution tape. Again, this place showed how gone it was. These things used to have purpose, but not anymore.

Finally, I reached the end of the hall and pushed the dodgy button to enter the lab. The true lab where screens lined the walls; all mostly broken. The first time I saw it, I was afraid of the amount of intel that had been gathered about everyone. She knew our weaknesses, where we were, and everything else that mattered. This place was a point of bad feeling, and yet, it didn't carry weight anymore; Not for me anyway.

After taking a absentminded look at my screen, which annoyingly still had "Weakness: Torches" barely flashing across it, I made my way to the center of the room where one trap door was closed tightly. This was where she had ended up after so long, and I knew that I probably wouldn't like what I saw, but I went down there anyway against my better judgement. And nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

Rythians screen was still working after all this time and I was taken aback as I saw the madness of it. The purple light glowed creepily as I read out the words:

Missing: Rythian

Missing: Rythian

Missing: Rythian

Missing: Rythian

Dead: Rythian

Notes: All alone. All alone. All alone. All alone.... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry...

"Oh, Notch," I said, feeling my stomach churn. "This is..."

"She's only gotten worse since you left, Xephos." A voice said to me from out of nowhere.

I recognized it and responded, "Computer? You're still functional?"

"I am. Just barely." It answered.

"Is Zoey still-"

"Yes. She is still alive as well."

Sighing, but still feeling sick, I turned away from the screen, "I've come to check on her. Is she still-"

"Yes. Like I said, it's getting worse."

"Then show me where she is."

"She hasn't moved."

Hearing that, I moved swiftly towards an opening that she had dug herself. If she hasn't moved then I could already guess the extent of her fall, and yet, I couldn't. "Oh no. Oh no no no."

She laid still, some sort of headset covering her eyes, and so many wires connecting her to whirring machinery. Her body was wasting away while her mind stayed in her other world. It had not been this bad before. I had seen it at the very beginning but she had promised me it was harmless; that she was in control. If I would have known, I wouldn't have left her alone with a simple proposal. No... I would have kept this from happening.

"Why haven't you taken care of her?!" I screamed, looking her over in a panic.

"She told me not to, and it hasn't gotten dire enough for me to actually step in. I'm sorry, Xephos."

I shook my head because I didn't know what else to do, "I-I- What can I do to stop this?" It's silence was unnerving, "Computer!"

"I don't know."

"Gah," I gritted my teeth, looking around to see the wires. "What if I disconnect it?"
"I wouldn't."

"Then what if I shake her?"

"I wouldn't do that either."

"Well, I've got to do something!" I laid my hands on her shoulders and called out her name, "Zoey! Wake up, Zoey!"

"I'm telling you-"

"Shut up!" I screamed, "Zoey! You've got to wake up!"

I don't know how long I sat there just shaking her like that, but there was never any answer. She continued to dream without any interruption, and it frustrated me so much because I couldn't understand. She was literally dying from this, but she didn't care. She accepted it, but I refused to follow suit and accept it as well. There was so much more for her out there. "I won't let this happen."

"Xephos?"

I stopped shaking her, and reached for the closest blunt object. If I couldn't wake her naturally from this, then I would force her awake.

"What are you going to do with that, Xephos?"

Raising the metal bar that had been the only thing close, I set my sights on the machine that was the source of all this trauma.

"W-whoa, You really shouldn't do that."

I didn't listen. I slammed it down over and over; it's voice begging me to stop, but I had already gone this far. Even if I didn't know the outcome, I would save her somehow.

"I'm telling you to stop! You've done enough, Xephos!"

It was right for once. I dropped the bar and breathed out. The machine was in ruins just like the castle I had walked through to get here. It was done, and I felt good about it, though it was incredibly stupid.

"You're a psychopath." The voice said to me after a short pause.

"Yeah, yeah." I looked back at the girl who still didn't move, but as I looked upon her face again, I saw tears sliding down her cheeks from behind her headset. She was undoubtedly awake now, but she wasn't happy about it. Not at all.

"Zoey!"

I didn't realize until I was on my back with her on top of me that she was angry. The tears just kept on coming and she had the bar against my neck. I had never seen her like this. "You killed them! You killed them, Xephos!"

Her stare burned through me, and I was caught off guard. I knew freeing her would not be without pain, but I'll admit I didn't expect her to do this, "Good morning, Zoey."

The bar pressed against my neck, "Do you even understand what you've done to us? What you've done to me? You've killed Rythian and Teep!"

"They were already dead, Zoey."

She tsked, "You're wrong! They were alive until you killed them!"

She was delirious and crazy. In this castle, underneath her ruined home, she fell this far. I had woken her up, but fixing her was going to be much harder, "No, they were not. You've changed, Zoey, and not in a good way."

"You're wrong! Wrong wrong wrong!"

"No, I'm right and you know it!" I screamed, actually causing her to back off me a bit, "You told me you would be alright without us. You said that the program wouldn't hurt you, but it has. Look at yourself! What would Rythian think if he saw you like this?!"

Her eyes widened as she moved herself away, dropping the bar as well, "Stop it... Just stop it, you hear?! I'm alright. I'm okay. Please, just go away."

I sat up, free from her weight on me, as I stood up to her, "No. I'm not going away again... I won't leave you again."

"S-stop-"

I wrapped my arms around her and held her gently, "Come back to reality with me, please. Let Rythian and Teep rest where they should be. This castle, your machine, and this whole delusion has fallen apart. It's done. You've done your best, but now it's time to walk away. Please, Zoey, Let yourself walk away."

She didn't push away from me, but she didn't move any closer either. I had no idea if she was even listening to me anymore, but soon I heard her whimper softly in the silence, "I never wanted things to be like this, I swear..."

"I know..."

"And I was only searching for a simple way out."

"I know that too."

She looked up at me and I looked down at her, "Please help me... I need help, Xephos."

I sighed, and took her hand, "I'll gladly help you. All you had to do was ask for it."

Credit to BlackrockSoldier