It is highly recommended that everyone reading this story has read the first two parts of this series, Mirror, Mirror and I Am Me, or else almost none of this will make sense! While in theory it is possible to read this story in isolation, so much of the narrative of this tale is a direct result of the events of the previous two parts. As such, it is recommended to read the rest of the series before starting Ghost In The Machine.

Holy fucking shit, it's finally here!

Yikes, I am so sorry that this took so long to come out, but I had a lot of issues with publishing this part. The major one was the change in Jack's personal circumstances: I have too much respect for that man to just go on and ignore such a huge change, but I was also having major issues with how to circumvent that problem in my timeline. It meant I had to do some major reworking to one of the central issues of this story.

And as much as I hate to admit it, my solution is not an elegant one. I'm essentially just writing Signe out completely, and I'm deliberately not offering up a reason why in the narrative. I don't want to speculate on what happened – it's their business, and theirs alone.

Then the second problem: I kinda burnt myself out on this series a little. I Am Me was an intense write, and I think I needed the extra break just to get myself fired back up. I am now, and I can't wait to get my teeth stuck in. Ghost In The Machine is going to be the wildest ride of all three parts, so get ready!

Special thanks to some of my long-term supporters: Subtle Shenanigans, sarahlucylu, Tatsuki74, Tifflinck and glixbitch. You are all amazing for listening to all my issues and being there when I'm struggling.

Thank you guys so much for being there throughout this epic, and I hope you're all still with me; and that extends to all those who have followed me during this journey. We're already over 150,000 words into the Dreamscape saga, and we've still got the conclusion to go!

Okay, that was a lot of yabbering. Enough of that, here's what you're all looking for.

Apologies for leaving you on that dreadful cliffhanger for so long. Here we go!

Chapter 1: Lost

Eyes burning from artificial light, head pounding from the vicious combination of minimal sleep, caffeine and staring at a computer screen for hours on end. A twitch in his right hand from endless typing and clicking, while his left wrist continued to cramp from the amount of times he'd clenched his fist in frustration. Leg bouncing deep in single-minded concentration as another flash across Mark's head caused the focus to break for a moment. He leaned back and growled under his breath, letting out an angry snarl before ploughing back into the lines of code before him.

Tired irises scanned the screen in front of him, re-reading line after line. He checked, double checked, then checked again, looking for even the tiniest mistake. Everything had to be perfect. The slightest error would mean all their efforts would be in vain and he wouldn't let that happen. It couldn't happen. Not after all this. Invariably, his eyes drifted down to the clock in the corner and they narrowed at seeing the date. It had been 32 days.

32 days since they'd lost Jack.

Thoughts of his missing friend caused Mark's anger to rise to a head and he had to stand, move away from the computer before he broke something. He'd done it before and the last thing they needed was for his temper to undo the work of that day. Matt was already stressed enough with their latest efforts, adding another few hundred lines of code to be re-written would not help matters. They were getting close now. So close to finally being able to attempt to reconnect to the Dreamscape, a month of agony slowly coming to a close.

It had taken several hours for Mark and Matt to realise what had, at first, happened, and even then, it was only the surface of the truth. In covering Mark's escape from Mesmeria, Jack had fallen prey to Anti's final roll of the dice: collapsing the simulation and ensnaring Jack in the digital world before he could escape. The glitch had brought the whole world crashing down and the strain had damaged the overlying systems of the Dreamscape.

Circuits, capacitors and motherboards had all overloaded, several system drives had become corrupted from the collision of data and the link between the Dreamscape and reality had been warped beyond recognition.

Acknowledging the severity of their situation had brought with it a new and foreboding problem: how did they go about saving Jack? And how could they do it with just the two of them?

The simple answer was they couldn't – so they'd had to come clean with those nearest and dearest to them.

Explaining the truth to the girls had been the hardest of all, but their arrival at Digitalia had made it all the more apparent that it wasn't some elaborate tale. It didn't take too long for them to be convinced of the horrifying truth which Mark, Jack and Matt had been unintentionally sucked into over a year ago.

Revealing Damien and Anti's existence was somewhat of a nightmare, but Matt and Mark were relieved that their sanity wasn't questioned. The brief spell in which Damien had possessed Matt had raised plenty of alarm bells. In fact, Luna's reaction to seeing her daddy again, now free of Damien's deadly influence, had alerted them to the fact there was so much more going on than they had dared think.

And with their support, Mark and Matt brought in many more of their friends to help.

They'd reached out to those closest to them, those they trusted to keep the more sinister nature of their plight secret, in the need for help to save Jack. Matt had brought in several of his closest and most trusted employees from Hi5 Studios, while Mark pulled together as many of his contacts as he possibly could. They didn't reveal the full extent of the truth, stating only that they had been experimenting with an immersive VR technology which had gone badly wrong, and that they needed help in bringing Jack back. There was no merit in informing more people about the full extent of the truth – not unless they absolutely had to.

Soon, there were almost thirty people working together to try and repair the Dreamscape, from all corners of the world. Very few of them were on the Digitalia site, but code could be amended anywhere. Only the hardware repairs required anyone to be at Digitalia, and they really couldn't afford to wait for everyone to come together. Time was not something which they had on their side.

After all, this wasn't the first time someone had been trapped inside the virtual world.

Mark refused to think it would end the same way: he was not going to let Jack follow in Alix's tragic footsteps.

As it was, Damien's twisted method of killing her had given them a better chance of keeping Jack alive. The original Digitalia team had kept detailed records of what happened to Alix, including all the changes her body went through as they tried to retrieve her mind. After taking her to a hospital and explaining the situation, it was deemed that no medical intervention would have any effects on her: they had no idea how to rouse her body from the artificial hibernation the supersonics had placed her in. With that knowledge, they had dedicated all they could to retrieving her.

She'd simply run out of time; no doubt due to Damien's meddling to make sure she remained trapped.

The notes compiled on her condition, however, had given them a rough timescale to follow Jack's decline. Human bodies were not meant to be kept in such a state over a long period of time. While some basic functions had been suspended, Jack was now hooked up to a drip permanently, and he had lost some weight. His body didn't need the same nutrients, but it was still consuming some. Following the discoveries of the original team, they had realised that extra oxygen would stop any potential degradation of his brain due to minimal activity: a nasal cannula was their inelegant solution.

While taking Jack to a hospital may have bought them more time, the risk was simply too great. There was no way they could come up with a suitable explanation of his condition, and there would have been no feasible way to get him back out again for when they needed to. That left them pulling a lot of strings to get all the medical equipment required. Attaining it all without arousing suspicion had been difficult, but none of the whole situation had been easy.

After all, the trio of Mark, Jack and Matt had all but vanished from the world.

Coming up with a cover story had been incredibly difficult as they had no idea how long Jack would be gone; or even if he could come back. His absence wouldn't go unnoticed for long, however, not with the size of his fanbase. The same would be said for Mark and Matt. In the end, they had settled for being as truthful as possible: that Jack had been involved in a serious accident, and the mental strain of that situation meant Mark and Matt were absent from all social media for a time, until Jack's fate was known.

The outpouring of support had been overwhelming, but trying to keep the situation under control was a headache and distraction they couldn't afford to deal with. Not when they needed all their efforts dedicated to repairing the Dreamscape. Amanda and Amy had stepped in seamlessly to handle it as best they could, leaving Mark and Matt to manage all those who were working to bring Jack home.

Now, 32 days later, the strain could be seen with just a glance at Mark.

He hadn't left Digitalia once since the day they had lost Jack, his guilt over losing one of his closest friends combined with his compulsion to bring him home all but consuming him. Hours on end were spent working in front of a computer or helping repair the massively complex framework of the Dreamscape itself. Were it not for a few brave souls willing to risk his ire in pulling him away for short spells of the day to make sure Mark didn't work himself into the ground in his mission, the man would be in an even worse state.

The opening of the door behind Mark heralded one of those few entering the room.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Mark turned his head slightly to remove it from his hands, staring over at it. Recognising it well, Mark went back to cradling his throbbing head. "I'm fine, Wade. Quit mothering me," Mark grumbled towards his best friend.

Wade and Bob were the only two of Mark's friends that had been told the full truth, and had rapidly flown in for emotional support after hearing how broken Mark was in confessing everything. They're hadn't left the area since, taking advantage of the setups that the other three had made in Digitalia to keep up a basic pretence of working while helping keep Mark sane. Or whatever semblance of it was left.

Scowling down at Mark, Wade pulled on his shoulder sharply, jolting the other man upright. "The hell you are, Mark," Wade snapped. "Come on, get out of this room for at least an hour. Burning out is just going to make things worse."

Mark snarled at him as Wade pulled him to his feet. "Fuck that, Wade! You know we don't have time to be fucking around!"

"This isn't fucking around, Mark! Dude, you are going to break if you keep this up! And then what? What good is it going to be in bringing Jack back if you've lost yourself in the struggle?" Mark continued to glare at him and Wade sighed deeply, changing his tone to something softer. "Just…come through and see everyone, all right? We're all taking a breather; Amy even brought the dogs with her today to pick everyone up, and Amanda's back with Luna. You need to take some time, Mark. At this rate, you'll do more harm than good."

He so desperately wanted to snap back and say something else…but Mark knew deep down that Wade was right. Not even a few minutes ago Mark had been forced to step away to stop his frustration from boiling over and spiralling into something destructive. With a defeated slumping of his shoulders, Mark allowed Wade to pull him away from room which Mark had set up as small space to work. He was so consumed by his guilt and drive to see Jack brought back that Mark was now oblivious to the state of the room around him.

Discarded plastic and Styrofoam cups, plates piled high along with everything from energy drinks and sweet wrappers to cereal bars and remains of various fruits…

Mark was oblivious to how much he was self-destructing out of guilt. Fortunately, those around him weren't going to let that happen.

Wade guided him to the dining area, and everyone's eyes lifted from their conversations when they saw Mark with him. Amanda was sitting with Luna on her lap, arms wrapped around her tightly, as she conversed with Joey and Bryan (the last two people who had been told everything), while Amy was sat with Bob at the other end of the table, the pair speaking quietly before they noticed Mark and Wade appearing. Mark and Amy's dogs, Chica and Henry, had been sitting at Amy's feet, but Chica bounded over to Mark as soon as he came into view.

Despite his frustrated mood, Mark felt the edges of his mouth curl up at seeing his lovable ball of fluff vying for his attention. Henry trotted over not long after, and Mark spent a few minutes with the two dogs, absorbing the love they were both projecting. It helped chase away his crippling thoughts for a while. The others kept a subtle eye on him, but Mark stood up and wandered over to the rest of them after a time. Bob pushed a plate of food over to him, while everyone struck up a conversation together.

He really did appreciate their efforts, even if it still felt like he was letting precious time slip away.

Making the effort for their sakes as much as his own, Mark did stay with them for almost a full hour, just long enough so that he could argue his point of having spent enough time from their work. He didn't fool anyone about his mind having truly switched off, but it hadn't been much different since the whole nightmare started. Some things just couldn't be chased away so easily. Mark had noticed a while ago, however, that someone else was pointedly missing.

Standing with a tight smile, he left their little gathering to go seek out the other person who truly knew the turmoil his mind was in.

As expected, Mark found Matt in the main control room, flitting his attention between two different screens as he tested the thousands of lines of re-written code. Every day they had those working with them sending through more and more completed segments: Matt was in charge of testing it all and sending new pieces away to be fixed. It was incredibly difficult – after all, most of those involved had only limited knowledge of programming, none of them were professionals – and they had taken a lot more steps forward than backwards.

In a really twisted way, it was all down to Damien and Anti's fucked-up-plans involving Matt that they had a chance of saving Jack at all. Had Matt never seen the metadata of the Dreamscape, lived in it for a time while fighting for his life and identity, then they wouldn't have known right from wrong. All of this was way over their heads, but Matt was just trusting his gut. Some vague memories and instincts inside of him were telling him which way to go, and at this point it was all they had.

Time would soon tell if it was going to be enough.

"Hey," Mark called softly, knowing Matt was deep in thought.

It took Matt a couple of seconds to finish typing another set of commands in before he turned to give a faint smile to the other man. Mark gave a ghost of one back. "Hey yourself," Matt greeted with false cheer.

"How come you aren't with your family?" Mark asked, knowing Amanda wouldn't keep Luna here for long. The distance of the trip meant it wasn't often that Matt was getting to see them right now: Matt and Amanda had agreed it wasn't fair for Luna to be in Digitalia and away from her normal life, even if her father wasn't there. It was the lesser of two evils.

"I could ask you the same thing," Matt shot back. His eyes were piercing and Mark squirmed under them. "Amy and the dogs won't be here forever. You should go spend more time with them."

"I…I can't Matt. Not with knowing that-" Mark choked himself off, not having to finish that statement. Matt stared at him in understanding. That same thing had been weighing heavily on his mind too. From the notes they had detailing Alix's condition, they could tell Jack's body was beginning to fail. He didn't have long left. Their best guess was that it was somewhere between five and eight days.

Days until Jack was gone for good.

"Well…I don't know if what I've found is good or bad news. The timing is a little too co-incidental for my liking."

Matt's statement made Mark scowl, and he stared at the older man harshly. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Probably not," Matt agreed, bringing up several screens across the monitors as the back of the room. Mark watched at seeing the various images pop up, detailing lines of code which seemed vaguely familiar. He'd worked on some of this just a few days ago. "You guys have managed to rebuild enough of the Dreamscape's communications array to allow me to reconnect to the network. It took some fiddling, but I have a steady flow of data now. We can finally see what is going on."

Mark was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. "And?"

Sighing long, Matt zoomed in on one screen, pointing Mark to several lines of code. "This is the simulation status screen. I had a suspicion which this has confirmed, but I'm not liking what I see."

$y$T4m $t*#us Un##!*.?

%£*!?l£.) Simulation Running

WARNING

%£*!?l£.) Parameters Corrupted, Fragmentation Detected.

SimulationRestart=FAILURE

%£*!?l£.) Systems Unstable. Simulation Shutdown Estimated In #ERROR###

"There is a simulation running," Mark stated coldly, eyes hardening.

"Yeah, and it's been running for just over 770 hours."

"Let me guess, about 32 days?"

"In one. The fuckers have had this running since the Dreamscape crashed. Looks like you were right, Mark. They locked Jack into another simulation after Mesmeria collapsed, although what the hell that might be is a different question entirely."

Mark stared at him harshly. "There weren't any other ones anywhere near completion, right?"

"Right, they wouldn't even be able to keep a mind stable in there for minutes, let alone over a month."

"That means it has to be Glaysha. They've gone back there."

"Except the Dreamscape isn't recognising it as Glaysha anymore, Mark. You can see it yourself, the parameters are corrupted. And why would they go back? That would give Jack a fighting chance, wouldn't it?"

Mark winced. "Against just Anti, maybe. Against Anti and Damien…Sean can't fight both of them, Matt."

Matt sighed sharply. "And that's why I'm worried." At Mark's imploring stare, Matt brought up the player status screen.

It had Mark's heart clenching tightly.

No Active Players Registered

"It…Mark, I think we have to brace ourselves that-"

"No!" Mark snapped. "Fuck you, Matt! We know it can be worked around, Alix did it herself when we first met her. The system can be cheated, manipulated. You did it in Mesmeria when you managed to loop Damien and give us a chance to get out. We don't know anything. Sean's still in there, Matt. He just-he has to be…"

Matt gave Mark a tight smile. "I know, dude, I genuinely think he is too. But, we have to be prepared for the reality that he might not be. It's been a month, Mark. Even if Jack is in there, he's had to run from Anti that whole time. Who knows what has happened in that intervening period."

Mark's shoulders slumped as he came to stand next to Matt, staring intently at the lines of code. They were getting so close now, they just couldn't fail when it was finally in their reach. Will hardening, he addressed Matt in a steady, low voice. "How long do you reckon it will take before you get the Dreamscape stable enough to send someone back in?"

Sighing reluctantly, Matt took his time in answering. "I've started sending out the rest of the code now. At the rate we are going, two days to get the fixes back and then another two of testing at best…four days, maybe."

The half-Korean glared at Matt. "We can't afford four days, Matt! That leaves us potentially only a day to get Sean out!"

"Then what the fuck do you want me to do, Mark?! None of us can work any damn faster!" Matt snarled back, eyes icy.

"Forget the damn tests, give me those extra two days. You know what you're doing, Matt, the code will be fine."

"Mark, I am not throwing you in there blind! If it crashes with you inside, we could lose both of you!"

"I'm willing to take that chance!"

"I'm not! For fuck's sake Mark, his life isn't the only one on the line here! You're putting me in control of yours too when you jump back in there! I still can't believe you convinced me that this is a good idea!"

Not wanting to fight with Matt, Mark forced himself to take a deep breath. "Matt…you and I both know there's no other way that we know of. We can't extract Sean from the outside, we wouldn't even know where to start. The only way is for someone to go in and get him to an exit portal."

"And it has to be you because…?"

"Because I'm not willing to risk anyone else. I wouldn't put someone else through the nightmare of that place if I have to, I won't leave them at the peril of Damien and Anti. You and I are the only possible two, having survived them before, and you know the Dreamscape better than anyone now. You can guide me from the outside. I'll need someone watching my back." Matt's whole posture crumpled and he leaned over the console, hanging his head as he let out a shuddering breath. Mark placed a hand over his shoulder, gripping tightly.

"Please, Matt. Help me bring him home."

Matt chuckled harshly. "Damn your guilt, Fischbach. I'd tell you yet again to let it go if I wasn't suffering from the exact same thing." Inhaling deeply, Matt raised his head slightly to look at one of the screens. "I think I could cut out some of the code to send to the others and upload it the Dreamscape once you are in there, but I need to make sure that it's safe to mess around with those lines while you're inside the simulation. That would cut a day off each process. Give me two more days, Mark."

The younger man nodded. "Two more days and we can finally try to find him. Thank you, Matt."

He laughed morbidly. "Don't thank me yet, Mark. This could all still fall apart, yet."

"I meant for everything, Matt, not just this. You've been dragged into this nightmare because of me, and I…I really appreciate that you've stood by me for all of this. I wouldn't have blamed you for booking the fuck out after what happened to you with Damien."

Matt smiled nastily. "Well, let's just say I've got a score to settle with that shadow. I'm not about to roll over and let him win, not without one hell of a fight." He turned to look at Mark. "I'm with you until the end, no matter how this goes. Let's show these assholes what they've signed up for when they messed with our lives."

Mark smiled at him gratefully and pulled the other man into a tight hug. Words couldn't express his appreciation to all those who had helped in this past month, but Matt especially. He'd suffered more than anyone, for over a year now, because of Damien and Anti. That he was still ready and willing to stay and help stop them, even now, was true testament to his character.

Pulling back, Mark urged Matt towards the door with a small smile. "Go on, Matt. Go spend some time with your family. We have a plan; let them motivate you for what is coming."

Giving Mark a sceptical look, Matt none the less relented with a nod and left the room. Mark followed him out and watched him go, but remained there until he saw Matt reach his destination.

Mark had somewhere else he needed to be.

Striding down the opposite direction, Mark made a few turns to the living quarters of Digitalia. It was strange that this building had become as much a home as prison in the past month, but he couldn't bear to tear himself away. Not with who lay in the room next to his own.

Entering it with a heavy heart, Mark turned into the bedroom and stared at the prone and lifeless form of his friend laying there. A heartbeat monitor which had been cannibalised from one of the pods for uploading to the Dreamscape was hooked up, along with the nasal cannula and drip. His skin had grown more ashen as the days rolled by, and seeing the slowly weakening vitals on the screen made Mark feel sick. His heartbeat should have been at either 9 or 10 beats per minute, but it had slipped to only 6, and other complications were starting to arise.

Without his mind's subconscious actions, Jack's body was slowly losing the will to live. Mark hated being helpless to stop the decline.

He leaned against the doorway and banged his head against the metal frame once, frustration slipping through once more. "Hang on, Sean," he begged. "We're so close now – we're going to find you and bring you back, I promise."

A shadow flickered at the top corner of the room and Mark glared hatefully at it. It stayed there, hovering. Taunting him. No-one else had seen the shadow lurking around Jack's room, choosing only to reveal itself to Mark.

He'd got the message loud and clear. Jack was the bait, Anti and Damien was waiting for him.

It was time to send a message of his own back.

"Don't worry, you son of a bitch," Mark spat at it, "I'm coming for you. You'll get your showdown soon. This time, one way or another it ends."

Wow, it feels so weird to think that we're finally getting going, but this is it! The start of the conclusion to the Dreamscape saga. I hope a lot of you will follow through to the end of this series despite the break, it means a lot to me as my first proper fanfic.

Let me know what you thought, and I'll be back soon!

*Smooch*