~Y/N's POV~

Walking inside the room, you feel a shiver run down your spine. You're finally here. It'll only be a matter of time before you either get awful news or your Squip back. "Kon'nichiwa. Anata wa eigo o hanasemasu ka? Watashi no musume wa watashitachi ga nani ni tsuite hanashite iru no ka shiritai to omoudeshou." your mom says to the Japanese man inside.

"Yes," he says in response, "I can do that." His accent is strong but you can still make out what he's saying.

"What did you say to him?" you ask your mom. She turns to you and responds.

"A perfect translation of what I said was: 'Hello. Can you speak English? My daughter would most likely want to know what we're talking about.' "

"Oh, okay, thanks!" Your mom continues.

"Is this the hub of the Squips?"

"Yes," the man replies.

"Okay, well, my daughter used to have one. She accidentally drank Mountain Dew Red, and now her Squip's gone. She doesn't just want another Squip, she wants that same... person back."

"That will be tricky, that personality could be deleted already. We do have a period before they're deleted in case their user comes back for them."

You jump into the conversation. "Well, I can hope. Please?"

"Yes, of course. As you have had a Squip and your mother has one right now, money isn't an issue. Take this Squip, and from there I can switch that personality out with yours. I can't promise his memory is intact."

He hands you a pill that looks exactly the same as the one you took months ago and a bottle of Mountain Dew Green. You take the Squip, and then a few steps back to not whack anyone while your head explodes. Now, for better or for worse, you'll get to find out whether or not he's still alive.

~Squip's POV~

Everything stops. Even the pain, even the deleting process. He hopes, but he doesn't know why. It paused right before his entire memory was deleted. He can only access little snippets of memory; A cold stare from a male teen at a party, razor blades shattering in a road, a sense of knowing what was right in the end. Even though he was so wrong. But he doesn't know; lucky that his emotions hadn't been destroyed yet.

He doesn't know what to hope for, yet he's hopeful. He's longing for something-- someone?-- but he doesn't know what. He doesn't know what's happening, so he just waits for what's coming. Nothing else to do right now.

~Y/N's POV~

The pain subsides, and she is met with an unfamiliar Squip. Not hers.

"Y/N L/N, welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. Your Squip."

"But you're not my Squip."

"I am aware. For this moment, I will be until we can find yours." You stand back up, look down, and wait.

"I have found your Squip. Model #278394652."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Begin transfer." He started disappearing just like your Squip had but without the tinge of red. Soon, he was gone. And you could feel his presence in your mind.

Come on out, please, you thought to him. I want to see you!

A form appeared in front of you, looking exactly like he had the night he died. He doesn't say anything or do anything, he just stands there looking at you.

"Do you--"

"Refrain from speaking for a moment, please. It is quite difficult to attempt to remember while speaking to you." He continues looking you up and down. "You-- were my previous user?"

"That's all you can remember? But yes, I was."

"I can remember little bits of events; someone is glaring at you. A... popular guy... at a party?"

"Jake. I wanted to date him, but you prevented that from happening."

"Why?"

"Because he cheats on everyone and you didn't want my heart to break. I was really angry at you..."

"I'm assuming this was what caused you to drink the Mountain Dew Red?"

"Yeah... I'm really sorry."

"Don't be. You have me back, don't you?"

"You can't even remember me..."

"It will only be a matter of time, I can already start to remember you."

"What do you remember...?" Instead of saying anything, he just smiles at you and steps forward, and in a swift motion, he pulls you close and hugs you. In response, you bring your arms up and around his neck until you're sharing a comfortable embrace.

"I missed you so much... I didn't even think you would be able to make it here..." he says, breaking the silence.

"Lucky thing my mom decided to get one too."

"Your mom has a Squip?"

"Yeah."

"I've missed a lot..."

"Yeah." He lets go and grins at you.

"But I'm back!" In all the excitement, you forgot that this is a miracle that he can even remember you. But does he have emotion? "That wasn't deleted at all, so I definitely have my emotion."

"Thank goodness. Can you tell if my mom's Squip has emotion?"

"Hmm... Not as much as me, but enough so that she won't be abused by him."

"Squips can abuse their users?"

"Yes. You know Jeremy Heere?"

"The newly popular kid? Yeah, what about him?"

"His Squip is awful. Worse than we're supposed to be. But I guess he's doing his job, just in a really manipulative way... We'll talk about it later. While I was in the process of waiting to be deleted, I made an oath that I intend to keep."

"Alright...?"

"Now, say that it worked, thank the man behind the counter, and lets get back to the hotel. Got it?"

"Yep."

"I will say that you've been having a verbal conversation with me for most of this time. So lets get back on track with thinking to me, okay?"

Right, you think.

"It definitely worked, thank you so much!" you say to the man.

"Mm hmm."

"Mom, can we go back to the hotel?"

"Of course. Lets go."

On the way back, your Squip takes his time reviewing everything that's happened over the time he was gone. A few minutes after you arrive, he appears again beside you, sitting on the edge of a hotel bed. Your mom has decided to go souvenir shopping.

"Well, Y/N, I must say that I'm very proud of you."

For what?

"I'm sure you already know why." You remember your slight meltdown in the bathroom at home and the only option you could consider, along with the way you refused it and instead listened to Dear Evan Hansen. "Yes, that's it. I cannot express my relief enough with that decision. But anyways, I have something I need to say."

What is it?

"Squips are meant to be something like a virus, taking over all communities. Already a third of the total world population has one; we just never talk about them. They're supposed to be a 'happy drug', making everyone feel better. But this also gets rid of society as we know it. Jeremy's Squip is one of the leaders, and nearly every Squip in society is synced. So anything we say to a synced Squip Jeremy's Squip knows. This also means that if anyone with a synced Squip drinks Mountain Dew Red, then all of the Squips die. They knew that I had emotion, so they refused to sync with me in case I allowed you to drink Mountain Dew Red, which I did. The current situation in your home town is that Michael is most likely going to try and force Jeremy to drink Mountain Dew Red at the play in a few days. You're going home after everything is over with; either there are no more Squips except for me, and everything is resolved, or we're all screwed."

Holy shit...

"Yep."

That's awful!

"I know."

What's the chance that Michael succeeds?

"21.45328 percent."

Oh, I should probably text Michael!

"That you should."

Y/N: Hey. That's actually really good, I'll run it by him. I might be getting him back soon. Like, really soon. I'll let you know if he's back.

"You want to name me?"

Yeah...? Is that okay?

"What did you come up with?"

Eric.

"Sounds good. I'll be known as Eric from now on." You grin.

Awesome!

Michael: Good luck!

Y/N: He's back! XD And he likes the name!

After a moment, he responds.

Michael: Wooo! I'm going to try stuffing Mountain Dew Red down Jeremy's throat.

Y/N: It turns out that when Squips are synced, if one gets killed, they are all killed. So if you stuff Mountain Dew Red down Jeremy's throat, then all of them are going to die, too.

Michael: He told you that?

Y/N: Yep

Michael: Okay, thanks

Y/N: Good luck with that!

Michael: ^_^

"Now, you should get to bed. It's late and you've had a really busy day."

Yeah, you're probably right.

"I'm definitely right," he says, grinning.

Don't get all cocky on me...

"Too late!" You just sigh and roll your eyes, lying down on the hotel bed. A part of you wants him to cuddle you but the other part of you is too embarrassed to ask. Fortunately, he's in your brain and knows, so he spoons you.

"Goodnight, N/N. You don't have anything to worry about. Sleep well." And then you drift into slumber.

A/N: Welp, that was long! That was like the size of an average chapter of mine and a half (1500 words)! But you have your Squip back! There will be an epilogue coming with some more strings tied and a happy ending with the Squip Squad. Enjoy, and thank you for reading this far! -SupernovaTheCat