TW: None

Title: ~Virus~

“R-rythian- Th-this way!”

“You’re glitching, Zoey.”

“Y-Yeah, we are t-too f-far a-part.”

“Alright, I’m coming.”

Rythian had followed the Technomage into the system of her computer. It was dangerous and stupid, but he wouldn’t allow her to go alone. It’s not like she needed his help but you never know what could be lurking between the lines of data.

“Here, take my hand.” She said, as he made his way to her side.

“Uh, Sh-should I?” He stuttered, embarrassed to do such a thing with her so quickly.

“Yes,” She took his hand. “Our connection is unstable. You were glitching just now.”

That wasn’t a glitch but he would take that excuse. “Okay...”

She pulled him through the along the infinite matrix of numbers. Little creatures of data floated and zoomed all around them. He was intrigued but she had seen it all before.

“Are these things harmless?” He asked, watching some land on her shoulders.

“Yep, completely. They sort out the data and are decent at keeping things running smoothly.”

“I see.” He looked away from them and looked around the space. “It’s pretty peaceful. Why are we here again?”

“I already told you. There is a virus.” She explained to him, again. “The only thing is we have to go a bit deeper into the program.”

As she said that, the space became darker. The little creatures would not venture into this part and where the numbers shifted before there were rips in the seams. Rythian reached out to touch them but she pulled him away. “What?”

“You’ll be corrupted if you touch those.” She warned. “The virus has corroded the program. We have to destroy it.”

He continued to be pulled by her and the farther they walked, the more corroded the place became. His eyes fell to their hands that shifted and glitched. He grasped tighter, uneasy that something very bad could happen. “Hey, Zoey... What happens if we can’t destroy the virus?”

She continued going further, but answered him, “We’ll be trapped in here and we’ll probably be corrupted, too.”

“Seriously?” He stopped suddenly, losing the grip on her hand as she wasn’t ready for the sudden stop. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

She turned around to him, giving a smirk. “Well, yeah. That’s why I told you I’d take care of it alone. I’ve done it before.” She reached into her pocket and took out a small chip. “All I have to do is use this.”

“It’s still dangerous, though...”

She laughed, “Well, you can leave if you are so scared. I didn't ask you to come, silly.”

Her teasing made his face turn red. “I’m not scared!”

“Then stop whining.” She teased further, putting the chip back into her pocket, “If we don’t hurry it-”

“Zoey!” He exclaimed. Suddenly, half of her face began to crack and fall away, revealing the coding inside of her cyber body.

She felt it too and covered it up with her palm. “No worries.” Small pieces slipped through her fingers as she assured him. “It happens. Your face is doing the same thing.”

“Ah!” He held his face at that realization. “How can you be so calm about this?!”

She rolled her eyes. “Just come on. If more things fall off you, that is normal.”

Reluctantly, he continued to follow her. How much further, he wondered. How long have they even been inside of this place. He could almost scream until the space around them opened up. All around them it was white and in the middle was a huge tower that reached up forever, at least it seemed to.

“We’ve made it to the center of my system. The virus will be hiding around here somewhere...” She moved forward slowly and he went to follow her, but as he did, a wall appeared between them. Not only that. He was now in a completely different place. A familiar place. Blackrock Castle.

He was confused and was a bit scared now. “This doesn’t make sense...”

“Rythian!” Zoey came running around the corner and grabbed his hand. “Hurry! Get out of here!” Unable to react fast enough, she dragged him out the front door and didn’t stop pulling until they came to the small swamp. 

Catching his breath, he looked up at her. “Zoey, what is-”

The sound of an explosion cut him off, and he looked back to see the castle go up in flames. She breathed in and out trying to catch her breath. “That was close... I shouldn’t have let go of your hand.”

“What just happened?” He asked, trying to shake off his worry.

“The virus is trying to separate us... Oh, and kill us.”

“Well, great.” He said sarcastically as he stood up. “This is just wonderful.”

“It’s alright.” She offered him her hand. “We’ll be okay.”

He took it and sighed. “Okay... but, what do we do now?”

She pointed beyond the crumbled ruins of the castle. “We head for the tallest building we can. Even if this is a fake world, the tower you saw before is here in some form.”

He looked and understood what she meant. “You mean the eyesore of a Skyscraper on the Sipsco Compound, don’t you?”

She nodded.

.~'~.~'

“Honeydew Inc... So, you’ve decided to work on my data have you? Sneaky little virus. You’ve never tried this before... “

“Zoey! There you are!” Rythian appeared out of nowhere and came towards her. “I thought I lost you!”

Laughing, she side stepped him, tripping him up as well. He fell to the ground loudly. “You’re clearly not Rythian. Jeez, you didn’t even try.”

His face was planted in the ground, but she could hear him giggling.

“What’s so funny?” She asked, smiling.

He turned to her and shaped shift into it’s real form. Now, it looked just like a human shaped void with eyes. “You’re funny. Well, fun too.”

She smiled. “It’s always a pleasure, except now. Where’s the real Rythian?”

Jumping up, it danced and skipped around her. “He’s with you... well, he thinks he’s with you. That boy is quite fun to play with. I can see why you like him.”

“I see...” She glanced at the fountain and huge sculptures on the roofs of the buildings. “You’ve done a good job remaking everything in this space, but I can see the virtual aspects of it.”

“Of course.” It disappeared and reappeared on the To Do List. “This world isn’t for you...”

She walked to her and read the board with all the things they never managed to do. “So, it’s for Rythian then? That’s cool, but he’s not gonna be swayed either.”

It jumped down and took her hands in its. “Wrong again. I just wanted to be in this world with him like you’ve been for so long.”

Zoey smirked. “So, you are jealous of me?”

It clutched her hands a bit tighter. “... I’m curious about the man who I’ve heard so much about.”

She clutched it’s hand in response. “I’ll never give him to you...” Her voice was still sweet but the undertone was harsh and foreboding.

“Well, of course.” It said happily, pretending not to notice the subtle glare that enveloped it. “I wouldn’t do that to you. We are such good friends. You always come to play with me.”

Grinning brightly, Zoey lit up. “Only when I have to. I just can’t seem to get rid of you.”

It pulled away and cupped it’s hands. “Why would you want to?” Out of nowhere, mushrooms appeared in it’s hands. “Look, I can make these for you! You love these things, right?”

“I do!” She answered with delight.

“Thought so, I’ll give them to you if you trade me something for them.” It offered.

“Trade you what? I don’t have anything.”

It’s eyes lowered to her pocket, gripping the mushroom absent mindly. “I’ll trade you if you give me the chip you have...”

“Oh!” she exclaimed, acting surprised. “You want the thing that I brought to destroy you with?”

“Yes...”

She stroked her chin, pretending to think about it. “You know, I would love to, but that would make it so you could live longer and I just couldn’t have that. Sorry.”

It let the mushrooms disappear before speaking in the same way. “Well, darn. It was worth a shot.”

“It was,” She laid her hand on its shoulder. “You’ll just have to try again like always. Anyway, I’ve let you keep me busy long enough. Now I’ve got to... destroy you!”

As she brought the chip out in a swift motion and went to shove it into its chest, it quickly shifted out of the way and disappeared from sight. Zoey looked around frantically, but it was nowhere to be seen. Still, it’s voice remained. “Whoo, you almost got me. Too bad I’ve learned how you do things after all these encounters.”

“Come and fight me for real!” She exclaimed.

A giggle echoed around her. “But Zoey, You know I don’t like to make things easy.”

She stopped looking and nodded. “You’re right... I do know...That’s why I have to break everything you create!” She drew a circle in thin air and stepped through. By touching the virus, she knew vaguely where he was and she would be taking a quick shortcut.

.~'~.~'

Fake Zoey cuddled up to Rythian as they made their way to Sipsco and he noticed too much. It was weird but he had no complaints. He edged closer too, unaware of who he was actually with.

She had been ignoring the constant warnings from her other half that the real Zoey was coming for them. Talking and talking, she was wrapped up in Rythian. Quickly, the half who taunted Zoey returned to the love struck side only to be slightly too late.

Out of nowhere, the real Zoey appeared and kicked the fake as hard as she could, sending it flying away. Needless to say, Rythian was a bit confused.

“W-What?”

Zoey took his hand. “Oh my goodness! I’m glad you are okay!”

“Z-zoey?! B-but, you are-” He looked between them trying to wrap his mind around the scene. “Uhh...”

“You were fraternizing with a virus, Idiot.” Zoey tsked.

His face was a picture perfect one of shock. “Oh, Notch. I had no idea!”

“Don’t listen to it, Rythian!” They both looked to see she had recovered from the kick. “She’s the virus! She’s lying to you!”

Zoey was appalled. “Am not!”

“Are to!”

“Be quiet!” She turned back to him. “I’m the real one, Rythian! She’s the liar!”

“Rythian! She’s lying!”

“Rythian!”

“Rythian, please!”

He threw his hands up. “Just stop! I can’t! I can’t deal with this!” They went quiet and let him soak everything in. Today, he had willingly come into a computer, almost gotten corrupted, and may have cozied up to a virus. This was too much for him. He just wanted to go home to the real world and there to be only one Zoey. He breathed out. This needed to be resolved no matter what he wanted. “Okay... You, Zoey who kicked the other Zoey, Prove to me you are the real one.”

“I-”

“She’s the virus! She’ll just lie!”

“I said, Shut up!” Zoey screamed at her. She was also tired of this virtual charade. This had gone on too long. Looking into Rythian’s eyes, she wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m the real one because... Because I remember the happiness when we reunited again. You were sad but your smile came back when I did. We both had nightmares after that, but we comforted each other. Duncan wasn’t going to hurt either of us anymore, and neither was Sjin. I promised you I would never leave you again, and I haven’t. I’m still right here. I’m still right beside you. The real Zoey is me because I remember... I remember us...”

Tears threatened to fall as she recalled all this. It was bittersweet but real. Rythian looked at her and swiftly embraced her. “There’s no mistaking it. You are the real one...”

“I feel like I need to apologize for something. I just can’t figure out what... I’m sorry, Rythian.”

“Don’t be...”

The fake lifted itself from the ground and receded back into it’s true form. It was hurt to see them 

so close. It had lost and it knew it and yet, it didn't want to give in. “R-rythian... please... she’s the virus...”

He moved away from Zoey and walked over to it. He stopped before it. The look in it’s eyes was hopeful. “I believe you... really... come here...”

It happily embraced him, but it felt a sharp pain in it’s chest almost immediately. Looking down, he had shoved the chip into its chest. Looking back up, it looked into Rythians eyes. “You didn’t believe me...You just wanted to end me...” It looked at Zoey who turned her gaze. “Zoey... Tell me... Who is truly the liar here?...”

In his arms, It cracked and fell to pieces. An unexpected silence followed. They were mourning but relieved. They could go home. The illusion fell around them and they stood in the white room again. The tall tower in the center.

.~'~.~'

The program stable again, they sat looking up at the tower holding hands. Zoey drifted in and out of sleep while he wondered about something. “Hey Zoey...”

“Yeah?...”

“When I thought the virus was you, it told me we needed to come to this tower... Why would we need to do that?”

Another silence stood as she pondered it. “She most likely wanted to push you into the data stream... Inside of that tower is all raw data... If you were to mix with it, you would have ceased to be real... You’d be a program like she is... well, used to be.”

“I see... When I believed you were leading me, I didn't even question it... I’m glad we never made it here...”

“Me too...” She snuggled up close, laying her head on his shoulder.

“Shouldn't we get out, Zoey?” He said softly.

“Soon... right now... I just want to stay here...”

He laid his head on hers. He wasn’t going to argue. The system was safe. They could rest.