Obligatory Disclaimer
Hack is red
Slash is blue
I don't own ReBoot
So please don't sue

Enzo never really slept anymore, he would more or less just lie there staring up at the ceiling with the images of his defeat reeling through his head. Every so often, he might succumb to a fitful, nightmare-plagued sleep, before waking up drenched with sweat. To put it bluntly, he hadn't rested properly since that Game. He was exhausted, and it was taking its toll on his system. His reactions weren't as sharp, he was running much more slowly, and he was finding it impossible to concentrate on his objectives. More than once, they had nearly lost a game because Enzo simply couldn't maintain the structure to fight. He wasn't worried about his own safety, though. He was petrified that he might lose AndrAIa if he didn't get his act together, and yet the harder he tried to sleep, the less sleep he actually got.

Especially this last game, what in the 'Net was that? A typical strategic war game, and he choked. He'd played through dozens of these with Bob and won with ease each time, but for some reason, he just couldn't maintain his composure. He nearly dozed off while holding a live grenade. If Frisket hadn't taken it out of his hand and tossed it out of their trench, they would be nullified right now. He simply could not believe that his recklessness had endangered them. He tugged at his hair and gritted his teeth as the thought of his dog saving them all from his own basic nature.

AndrAIa had forgiven him quickly enough, but he didn't believe her. He felt like less of a protector every time he had to rely on her to win games. He promised her that he'd take care of her, make sure that she'd never be in danger as long as he had something to say about it. Apparently not, it would seem. This wasn't the first time his exhaustion had caused their very codes to be at risk, but this was definitely the closest call. There had been that time he'd dropped his sword into a bog, but luckily AndrAIa had her bow and arrows, or that time he'd forgotten to restock his ammo, but again AndrAIa had been able to share hers. He felt more like she was protecting him, instead of the other way around. That feeling was extremely crushing to his Guardian code; to 'mend and defend', not to 'duck and cover'.

He groaned, clutched his pillow to his chest and turned on his side. On the opposite bed, he saw AndrAIa, curled up in a ball, sleeping soundly. She didn't seem to care that she was keeping Enzo from deleting them both, it was just another day. And that frightened him to no end. No one he'd sworn to protect should be used to the concept of fighting to keeping them both alive on her own.

There was no way he was getting to sleep tonight. He sighed and sat up, swinging his legs out front. In an unconscious reaction, AndrAIa's arm moved from behind her head and flopped off the side of the bed towards him. He looked at her hand and wondered if it was her way of being supportive without waking up. Whenever either of them, but most of the time it was Enzo, were having some sort of emotional crisis, the first thing they would do is take the other's hand. That alone served as an anchor and kept them both sane during their hardships. He slid off his bed onto the floor and grabbed AndrAIa's hand. Something about the feeling of his warm little hand in his always grounded him. In their near-black room, he swore he could see the edges of her mouth turn up into a smile.

Morning came quickly enough, and Enzo almost thought he might have dozed off for a few nanosconds. He was still on the floor, leaning against his own bed, holding AndrAIa's hand tightly in his. When the light started to leak in through their window across her face, she squeezed her eyes shut, and began to stretch out her limbs. Her hand broke free from Enzo's, and he frowned at the loss. After a wake-up sigh she opened her eyes and saw him sitting on the floor.

"Good morning, Guardian."

Guardian. She always called him Guardian, in any situation that required him to stand up and be a hero, or just when she wanted him to feel better. Now it seemed to be a pet name more than anything. She knew for a fact that he wasn't, Bob was. Enzo was a cadet, and only since Bob's sudden departure into the Web. But that didn't seem to matter. It never failed to cheer him up or give him the extra boost to finish a Game. And even though she had been calling him that for cycles now, it never seemed to lose its effect.

"Good morning, AndrAIa."

She knew that he wasn't sleeping right. She'd mentioned it once or twice, but he'd responded with enough hostility to keep her from ever asking again. As a precaution, she kept a very close watch on him during Games, but tried to do so without him noticing. She watched his back more than her own, carried extra items and took the initiative to lead their group. Luckily, he was so exhausted that she could do anything without being the slightest bit discreet. She could have used all of their small amount of money to buy a bucket-o-nothing, and Enzo would just nod and continue to stare blankly into the sky.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked, knowing he didn't.

"Yes," he lied.

She pushed herself into a sitting position and scooted to the edge of her bed. Leaning forward, she reached her hand out and touched Enzo's head, playfully messing his hair around. He grinned bashfully under her touch, shrugging his shoulders. She giggled and wrinkled her nose.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, knowing he was.

"Yes," he laughed.

They checked out of their inn, and found Frisket waiting patiently for them outside. He wagged his tail and ran up to Enzo, licking his face while AndrAIa watched and laughed. Anyone who saw them now would never guess that Enzo hadn't slept for three cycles. They just looked like two normal kids and their dog, not two tragic Sprites who were forcibly stolen from their home. They had been barely scraping by on the few credits he'd been saving up to buy her a birthday gift. Not that Game Sprites had birthdays or anything, it was for the anniversary of the day she'd piggy-backed her data back-up onto his icon. Now that their small amount of funds had nearly been depleted, they needed to find a new source of income and fast.

The first item on their agenda was to find an eatery that was inexpensive enough for them to afford, which is much trickier than it sounds. In some of the systems, AndrAIa had managed to get food and accommodation for either free or extremely discounted, just by batting her big blue eyes and telling them the tragic story of the two little Sprites lost in the Games. Some people, it seemed, were far more susceptible to her cartoonishly over-sized tears than others, but this system didn't seem to have many of these people. They'd waited five seconds for a Game Cube to drop and take them to another system, but from what they'd been told, Game Cubes were fairly scarce here. During that time, they'd spent a ludicrous amount of credits on their inn and food, because this system was positively money-driven. Enzo couldn't believe that he actually wanted to go into another game.

Another problem this system had was viruses. It seemed to be teeming with with dozens upon dozens of viruses, and no one seemed to care. Enzo had offered his assistance as a Guardian the residents with their problem, but they'd scoffed at him, calling him a liar and an extortionist, and calling his key tool a fake. He heard whispers about the Guardian Collective turning viral, but could never find the source. He couldn't understand why the whole of cyberspace had seemed to suddenly turn on Guardians. He'd always trusted Bob, why couldn't he convince a single person here to trust him?

He'd become self-conscious about his prosthetic eye. He wondered if people had issues with him because it was so very... dangerous-looking. He didn't want to be dangerous, he wanted to be regarded as someone people could trust. Most people were friendly enough to ignore it, but when it came up, he was always hesitant to tell the story of how it happened; that was AndrAIa's job. He wasn't looking for their pity, just acceptance.

But then there was the subject of racism. Some people would downright refuse to service or even acknowledge AndrAIa because she was a Game Sprite, and this system was full of them. It turned out that Mainframe was a fairly open system as far as equality went. Upon the discovery of her artificial intelligence, her very code came into question. How could you trust something programmed by the User, they would ask, don't you know she'd kill you if she ever got the chance? Enzo would argue until he was out of breath for her honour, until someone would finally accept her as a legitimate Sprite. How dare they question the integrity of his best friend? It was enough to make him want to delete someone.

But still... he thought. How do I know I can always trust her artificial intelligence? What if she goes back to her nature in a Game?

AndrAIa saw that disheartened look in his eye all too often now. It hadn't been too long since they got lost, and how many systems could there be? She figured that it couldn't be too much longer until they either found themselves back in Mainframe, or a system with the capacity to get them there.

She decided to try distracting him. "Enzo, when do you think another Game will drop?"

"I don't know, but I really hope it's soon," he said, slouching a little. "We can't afford to keep living in this system."

"Oh..." She placed a gentle hand on his back. "We will find a way..."

Something about her chronically positive attitude was starting to annoy him. No matter what their odds seemed like, she always kept a smile on her face, and no matter how hard Enzo tried, he just couldn't maintain the same disposition. Another fault of her artificial intelligence, he supposed, was that her moods revolved around his. Maybe she wasn't capable of displaying emotions that weren't supportive of his.

"And how do you know that?" he asked, angry. "How do you know we won't be stuck here for the next fifty cycles?"

AndrAIa was taken aback by his sudden outburst. "I, um... I do not know, I just-"

"That's it! You don't know! Neither of us do!" He gritted his teeth. "You're a Game Sprite, you don't know anything I haven't taught you!"

She stared at him for a couple of nanoseconds, not knowing what to say. Not since their first meeting had he taken her race into question, and now he was accusing her of things she hoped he didn't think we true.

"Even now!" he continued before she could speak again. "Your so-called 'artificial intelligence' doesn't even know how to cope with this!"

There was silence, consisting of Enzo seething in anger, and AndrAIa shaking in disbelief as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"H-how could you be so cruel!" She ran down the street, crying. Frisket looked up at Enzo and whimpered before running after AndrAIa.

He crossed his arms and glared after them, ignoring the voice in the back of his head to follow them.

Once she was sure that Enzo couldn't see her anymore, she ran into an alley and slumped against a wall. Frisket propped his head against her thigh and stared up at her, trying to offer comfort in his own canine way.

"Oh Frisket..." she sobbed, patting him on the head. "You would never doubt me, would you?"

The dog didn't respond, but that's probably because he was a dog and can't speak. But if he could, he'd probably tell AndrAIa that he liked her and she smelled nice. That's just the kind of thing dogs might tell people.

She sniffled and stared down at her feet. She wondered what would possess Enzo to say such awful things to her, they were best friends, co-dependants. She wouldn't have this life if not for him, and he would still be a lonely young Sprite in a system without friends. He had never once questioned her ability to form thoughts and opinions, why now? Why not all those cycles ago, before she'd risked her code just to keep him company?

Would he even come looking for her? Would he just hop into the next Game Cube and leave without her? No, he would never abandon Frisket and, as far a she knew, herself.

A tear rolled down her cheek and hit the ground. She heard footsteps coming up from the left, so she glanced over to see two very large, very intimidating adolescent Sprites, chuckling to one another and snapping their knuckles. AndrAIa didn't need artificial intelligence to know what was coming next.

"Aw, look Chip, it's a lil' girl, and she's all alone in our sector," laughed the tall one.

"Huh huh, you're right, Bit. That's not very wise..." smirked the fat one.

Frisket stood between AndrAIa and the strangers and growled.

"Ooooh, what a scary dog!" Bit rolled his eyes. "Let's see how tough you are after this.

With minimal effort, the fat Sprite drew back his leg and kicked Frisket across the alley.

"Frisket!" AndrAIa called, beginning to run to her dog.

"Ah-ah, I don't think so," said Chip, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "You can go see that mutt once you pay your admission fee."

"What?" She furrowed her brows and narrowed her eyes.

"You know," said Bit. "Your admission fee. For coming into our sector."

"I-" She knew that Enzo carried all of their money, she didn't keep a single credit on her because he had Glitch and was more capable of protecting it.

Bit leaned in close to her face. "You... what?"

"I..." Very slowly, she drew her fingernails out. With one swift movement, she jabbed her right hand into the tall Sprite's leg, who yelped with pain before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell unconscious to the ground.

Chip's jaw dropped. "You little sea witch... you're a goddamn Game Sprite!"

AndrAIa giggled mischievously and dashed further into the alley to tend to Frisket. When she got to him, he was awake, but unable to stand sue to an obvious injury on his left hind leg. "Poor boy..." she cooed and reached out for him.

Frisket whimpered and stared behind her. AndrAIa turned around to find a faceful of Chip's large fist. She was knocked back with such a force that she didn't even remember hitting the ground. She groaned and she looked up, attempting to focus on what appeared to be three Chips. She was vaguely aware of a coppery taste in her mouth.

"Now, you wicked little Gamer, I'll take your credits..." The fat Sprite leaned over and began to look for her purse, which she of course didn't carry.

"Enzo..." she whispered. "Enzo..."

"Where in the 'Net is your money?!" Chip glared down at her nearly-unconscious body and kicked her in the gut.

She coughed once before blacking out. It seemed like she had been asleep for a long time before she felt a wetness on her face. She reached out to touch it and found fur.

"Frisket..." she mumbled. Slowly, her eyes opened to find she was still lying crumpled in that alleyway. The two-man teenage gang was gone, and she had a pounding headache. She touched her nose and found it had been bloodied pretty badly, her left eye was swollen nearly shut and there were several bruises across her cheek.

Pushing herself into a sitting position, AndrAIa hugged her knees and began to cry. The tears stung what she then determined was an open wound down her right cheek. This never would have happened if she hadn't run away from Enzo... but she never would have run away if he hadn't said those terrible things to her. Why did he have to be so cold, she was only trying to make him feel better. He was right in thinking her emotions were tied to his, but it wasn't the way he thought. She cared for him so deeply, that the only way she could be happy is if he was. Enzo was her entire reason for being.

"Enzo..." she wept. "Why weren't you here..."

In reality, Enzo was only one sector away, sitting in a restaurant and brooding. He regretted the things he'd said to AndrAIa, but still doubted her intelligence was her own. He tapped his boot on the floor and drew circles on the table with a finger. He grumbled nonsense to himself and debated whether or not to go looking for his partner and his dog.

"Huh huh, you should have seen her, Bit, all weak and stuff..." Enzo heard a thick voice behind him as the door swung open.

"Thank for that, man. If she hadn't pulled that poison crap, I would've off-lined her myself."

He perked up. Poison?

"No kiddin', right? As if we'd tolerate her kind in our sector."

Enzo bit his lip in worry of what might be said next.

"Yeah... those no-good, dirty, User-programmed Game Sprites."

He felt sick. AndrAIa had been injured by these thugs, all because he couldn't keep his temper. He stood up quickly and turned around to face the degenerates bragging about beating up a little girl.

"You... sick bastards..." Enzo's prosthetic eye glowed with fury.

The pair scowled at the young Sprite.

"And who're you?" sneered the tall one. "Another viral Guardian?"

He glanced down at his torn uniform, vaguely ashamed, but uncaring. "Never mind who I am," he said. "I want to know who you basic losers think you are!"

"Us?" yelled the fat one. "We're the toughest gang you ever bothered to mess with!"

"Glitch, bind!" Enzo pointed his arm at the pair and hoped against the odds that it would work. It did. Sort of. A glowing rope was shot in the direction of the fat one, successfully wrapped around him and pinning his arms.

The tall one stepped on in front of his incapacitated cohort. "You damn pest! I'll delete you so hard, your whole family will feel it!"

"I don't think so," said the young Guardian coolly. He raised his arms and clenched his hands into fists. "Let's go."

The tall Sprite smirked and raised his own hands. The fight was clearly in his favour, he had at least a dozen pixels on Enzo and twice his mass. He didn't doubt for a nanosecond that he could take this kid on.

The first punch was thrown by Enzo, which was easily dodged by the gangster. The reply came in the form of a rough punch to his jaw, causing Enzo to clenched his teeth and stumble back a little. The young Sprite made a move for the tall Sprite's midsection, which was blocked and returned as a knee to the stomach. Enzo doubled over and received another knee to the eye. He fell back and found himself looking up the nose of the tall Sprite.

"Don't mess with us, kid," he said, looming over Enzo. "Ain't nobody messes with us."

Enzo growled in his throat but said nothing, only glared as his prosthetic glowed brighter.

"Oh, fraggin' scary." The thug rolled his eyes. "Get lost."

With a quick huff, Enzo recalled Glitch, stood up and ran out of the restaurant, trying to ignore the wicked laughter behind him. Tears ran down his face; even after all those terrible things he'd said to AndrAIa, he couldn't redeem himself by make her tormentors suffer. He kept running and running until he didn't recognize the neighbourhood. He needed to find her. He needed to apologize.

As he ran, he thought about how weak he was. He couldn't even take on two street thugs who were bigger in talk than in strength. How could he ever hope to protect anyone if he stayed as weak as he was? He needed to make himself bigger, stronger if he ever planned on making it back to Mainframe and take down Megabyte. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, vowing to become strong enough to accomplish everything he needed to. He would train hard between his upgrades, forcing them to produce more and more power. He'd already received one, remaining practically identical to his 1.0 self. If he wanted these upgrades to really be impacting, he'd have to work much harder.

AndrAIa and Frisket were slowly walking down a street, careful not to put stress on the dog's injured leg. She held hand to her left eye, wishing she had something to help with the pain and the bleeding. She had no idea where Enzo might be, but wasn't about to Vid Window him looking like this.

Luckily, she didn't have to look for long. Before she was even halfway back to their inn, she heard boots tapping on the ground behind her. A familiar hand touched her on the shoulder, and she eagerly spun around to face her Enzo.

"AndrAIa... what did they do to you?" Enzo's face fell upon seeing the damage done to his friend. She was covering her eye, but the entire left side of her face was swollen and there was dried blood smeared around her nose and mouth.

"Oh, I am fine Enzo..." she smiled half-heartedly. "Frisket has an injured leg. We must get him a splint." Her eyes widened upon a closer examination of Enzo and his black eye. "Oh no! What happened to you?"

He scratched the back of his head. "I, uh... kinda got in a fight."

"Oh," said AndrAIa. "Me too."

He looked to the side, trying to avoid looking at the damage. "I heard. The two thugs who did this to you... they came into the restaurant I was in bragging about it. I decided to give them a piece of their own anti-viral software."

She nodded. "I believe that. They were incredibly null-headed."

He furrowed his brows and reached for the hand that covered her face. "AndrAIa..."

She pulled back. "No..."

"Let me see, please. I just want to see." His voice was near pleading.

AndrAIa sighed and tilted her head downwards. "It is not as bad as it looks..." She very slowly lowered her hand from her face to show him.

Gasping, Enzo reached out his hands to touch her face. Her eye was practically invisible under all the puffiness, and there was a small red gash running across the bottom of her eye socket. "Oh... I'm so sorry..." he whispered.

"Do not apologize," she said sweetly. "It is not your fault."

He bit back the tears as he tore the remaining sleeve from his Guardian uniform and wrapped it around her eye as a bandage, as she had done for him.

"Oh, Enzo..." she murmured, eyes tearing. "Thank you."

Enzo leaned forward and brushed the tears from her eyes. He realized then that her intelligence was anything but artificial. She had been crying all on her own, and it had nothing to do with him. She was more than able to think for herself, and she clearly did often.

"Enzo, I-" AndrAIa began.

"Sssh," he whispered, putting his forehead against hers. "Let's go to back to the inn."

She nodded deeply and took his hand as they walked towards their inn, Frisket limping behind them.

They sat in silence on her bed, his arms wrapped around her shoulders. She began to cry as Enzo held her tightly, wiping her tears with a nearby blanket. She cried long and hard while he stroked her hair and rubbed her back. When she finally made her last sniffles and lifted her head, he touched her shoulders and looked her in the eye.

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you." He smiled a little. "You deserve all the respect I can offer you, and I had no right questioning your programming. I'm sorry."

She remained silent, but turned her face into his chest and wiped her once-again flowing tears on his uniform. He continued to absent-mindedly massage her back.

Frisket sat on Enzo's bed and stared at them between licking his injured foot. Enzo smiled at the dog, who then groaned and went to sleep.

At some point, the crying finally ceased for real. AndrAIa pulled her face away from his chest and stared up at him with her unbandaged eye. He touched the uninjured side of her face with his fingertips and played with her hair. Judging by the way the swelling was already going down, he knew her face would heal up much more cleanly than his.

"AndrAIa..." he whispered.

She nodded against his touch, encouraging his whole hand onto her cheek.

"I..."

She blinked a couple of times in inquiry. She wasn't ready to speak, but she was ready to listen.

"I l-"

"Warning: incoming game."

Finally, the Game they'd been waiting five seconds for arrived, but at the absolute least opportune moment. Enzo muttered something profane under his breath as he helped AndrAIa to her feet.

"I know you're hurt, but do you think you can manage a Game?" he asked, scanning her face for a reaction.

She smiled genuinely. "For you, Enzo, I can manage anything."

He inwardly hoped that if they didn't land in Mainframe, that they'd land in a system that would tolerate AndrAIa's lineage, and she hoped that Enzo would remember to finish his sentence after the Game.

Really, though, they both had hopes that were just a little too high.