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

A/N I also do not claim to own Super Mario Brothers.

"Game over."

From the ascending Game Cube, two preteen Sprites and their dog entered the new system and casually looked around. A fairly average-looking system, perhaps on the same level of advancement as their system of origin. After a quick scan with his broken key tool, the young boy determined that this system was exactly the same as the past hundred or so systems they'd visited: no ports to the 'Net. He had expected this much, but never ceased to be disappointed. The girl placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly. The boy shrugged off her hand and began to walk to walk in the direction that seemed to hold the most interest.

Suddenly, a ring of sparkling light surrounded the boy, beginning at his toes and going right up to his head, where it disappeared in a flash. When it was gone, the boy shook his head free from the dizziness and spun around to face the girl.

"Oh, another upgrade!" the girl exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "And you are as tall as me now!"

The boy smirked and examined his body, stretching out his arms and legs. "Am I? Finally! It's way too hard for me to protect you when you've got two pixels on me!"

This was Enzo's third upgrade since he and AndrAIa had been stolen by the games. AndrAIa had received only two, but she usually got them a minute or so after Enzo. Up until this point, AndrAIa's upgrades resulted in her becoming taller, while Enzo stayed at the same height. This was his first upgrade which had resulted in a growth, which was obviously good news for him. Taller meant it he could be slightly more intimidating in Games and had a better edge on his enemies. He double-clicked his icon to download the new clothes he'd picked up from an ally a few systems back, having hoped he might need them for his next upgrade. His torn Guardian uniform was replaced with a black short-sleeved shirt, jeans and a sturdy pair of black boots. He noticed his now broader shoulders and slightly muscled arms, and disproportionately larger feet. He was a tad awkward-looking, yes, but overall, he was not displeased with the change.

"Yes, I was getting rather tired of taking care of you," she joked.

He rolled his eyes. "Well sorry for not being in control of my own growth!" He huffed and stomped off in a random direction.

Frisket whimpered and looked up at AndrAIa, who responded with a small pat on his head. "Do not worry, boy. He will be back before the next Game." He always was. No matter how many times he'd thrown a fit and walked away from her, he always came back before it was time to leave.

AndrAIa had begun to worry about Enzo's mood swings, which had started after he'd failed to defend her from some street thugs and began to criticize his own abilities. He became fixated on his own physical prowess. At the drop of a file, he could go from excited to depressed to downright furious. It was true, after so many systems, hope now seemed like a thing of the past. Even now that he'd finally received an upgrade with a result he'd normally be thrilled with, she had naturally assumed it would improve his mood a little. But no, Enzo stayed his moody self. She didn't dare speak back, for fear that he might leave her alone in an unknown system. But the very concept that he was unhappy with her was completely devastating. She knew it wasn't always her fault; naturally any young Sprite put into such a situation would be upset. But it had been so very long now and she couldn't help but think that her companionship wasn't enough to keep his spirits up. She'd thought that perhaps he might cheer up every so often. Or at least... smile for a little longer. Then maybe they could pretend that there was something normal about their lives.

"Come on, Frisket. Let's go find something to eat." AndrAIa walked in the opposite direction from which Enzo had, in hopes of finding a place where she might be able to find food for herself and the dog without breaking their already slim budget.

Enzo grumbled incoherently, his eyes fixed squarely on the ground, as he pushed by dozens of binomes. He wasn't really mad at AndrAIa, more at himself for reacting in such an extreme manner to what was probably a joke. He knew his moods were getting worse, and always felt terrible after having a tantrum at her because it was never her fault. All she ever did was smile and bear his attitudes, no matter what he said to her. She'd put up with a lot from him, and all he ever did was continue to be borderline abusive. Sighing outwardly, he resolved to make it up to her and to perhaps even purchase some new clothes to surprise her with.

At this point, however, he had no idea where he was going. If he did, he probably wouldn't be going there, or might have at least paid attention to the fact that there was no one else around. He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Assuming it was AndrAIa, he turned around and began to apologize.

"I'm so-" Wait, that's not AndrAIa. "Who are you?"

Enzo blinked and took a step backwards. There was a stout red mass of a robotic demi-virus standing before him, looking considerably angry. Everything about it reminded him of a small Megabyte.

"Greetings, little Sprite. Lovely second, isn't it?" It said with fake familiarity.

He nodded cautiously, keeping his eyes on it. "Why yes, it is."

"I couldn't help but noticed you've entered my domain." The virus grinned, tilting its head.

Enzo swallowed with fake nervousness, but was really quite prepared to deal with the situation. This act of superiority and class seemed to be a constant amongst viruses everywhere. "My apologies, I'm not from this system."

"Oh, too bad," the virus mused. "One little mistake is going to cost you so much..."

"Sorry, I don't have any money on me. I guess I'll just be on my way." Enzo turned and made as if to walk away from the virus.

"Ah ha ha. Very clever, little boy. I don't think you'll be going anywhere." The virus jumped over Enzo's head and hit the ground with tremendous force. "I wasn't talking about money..." It raised its hand as long, yellow claws grew from its fingers.

In a split-nanosecond reaction, Enzo's hand went for his key tool. "Glitch, energy beam!" Glitch fizzled and beeped. "Ah, cursors..."

The virus chuckled. "Oh no, another fake Guardian."

He narrowed his eyes, a red glow emitting from the right as his prosthetic locked on the virus. Again, with the accusations, he'd heard all too much of this in his travels. Enzo had taken it upon himself to redeem the names of Guardians, even if he didn't know what he was defending. Swiftly, he raised his leg and kicked the virus in the midsection, effectively knocking it down. He grinned triumphantly, the martial arts program he'd downloaded was paying off. AndrAIa didn't think he'd need it, but she wasn't here to see this.

It was a short-lived victory. The virus leaped back to its feet and made a swipe for Enzo's face. He stumbled backwards before making another charge for the red mass that was the virus's body. A hit to the chest area successfully knocked it down again. This time, the virus couldn't get up so easily. Before it could push itself back into a sitting position, Enzo planted a boot on its neck, forcing back to the ground. He held his arm straight out, aiming at the virus's face.

"Glitch, charge." Slowly, his key tool began to glow.

"Forgive me Guardian, I didn't know..." the virus cried weakly as the key tool reached critical power.

"Forget it, virus. I don't show mercy to scum." Glitch beeped indicating full charge. "Glitch, energy beam!"

A stream of white light shot from Enzo's forearm into the virus's screaming face. Almost immediately, the virus disintegrated in a flash of black light. He smirked and walked away from the scene of the deletion. He had been acting as a freelance virus hunter for about five cycles now as a means of income, and had managed to keep it a secret from AndrAIa. She didn't ask where the money was coming from, and he wasn't about to tell her, either. He was doing his best to keep them all living comfortably until they reached home, and it was also good for his strength-building exercises. Once or twice, the thought of what Bob might think occurred to him, but it usually passed as soon as he got paid.

He never looked back. Viruses were the lowest of the low res. Some times he would do it without even asking to be paid, he just liked the strength that deleting viruses made him feel. One by one, he was doing his best to save the good name of the Guardian Collective.

But then there was Glitch. Just now had been a prime example of why he needed to stop relying on the key tool and find a new weapon. For the past several systems, he'd visited market places and bazaars in search of something a little more reliable. Every time he found something he liked, AndrAIa would disapprove. She kept insisting that Enzo didn't need anything more than Glitch, faulty as it might be. But she wasn't around now, and he was feeling that rush, so he decided to go shopping.

Marketplaces were generally easy to find, just follow the masses of binomes and noise. He assumed AndrAIa was probably somewhere in the same general area, probably buying clothes to fit her next upgrade. If she kept growing at the rate she was, she'd be towering over him again in no time, and that actually made him a little angry. He wished that he was growing as fast as she was, at least to make him feel a bit better about himself. He made his way past the food vendors and into the arms vendors. Today was the day he picked his new toy.

He walked by dozens upon dozens of binomes selling projectiles, swords, and all sorts of things that just did not appeal to him. He wanted to take advantage of his prosthetic eye's full potential, one of the special features being syncing up to automatic weapons. He just couldn't see a sword as being something he could get the full use from. He definitely wanted something in the gun range of things, but none that he'd seen really appealed in the way he'd hoped. Eyeing each weapon critically, he walked through the row of shops.

"Enzo!"

He glanced up and saw AndrAIa walking towards him with Frisket by her side. She didn't look pleased.

"What are you doing? You don't need another weapon!" She placed her hands on her hips and stared disapprovingly at him.

He was sick of her nagging. She had no idea what he was putting himself through to keep her safe and well-fed, and she wasn't about to, either. "Fine..." he grumbled.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the market. "Honestly, Enzo, I don't know why you keep doing this. Every time we find a commerce system, I swear..."

He kept his mouth shut, he wasn't about to start another fight about his desire to have another means of protection.

She kept talking on and on about his uncharacteristically violent new nature and how it was just making her upset. He admitted that the last thing he wanted was to make her unhappy, and she smiled and laced her fingers together with his. They eventually passed by a restaurant, and the smell of food wafting by made Enzo's stomach growl fiercely.

"Aw, is it lunch time?" she asked teasingly.

He stuck out his tongue. "Some of us do more than shop."

She rolled her eyes, opened the door to the restaurant and stepped inside. "Stay, Frisket," she said to their dog, who then wandered into a nearby alley.

It was kind of crowded, probably because it was mid-second, and noisy with all kinds of chatter. AndrAIa positively loved places that were alive with people, and couldn't wait to converse with the locals about the possible interests of this new system. Enzo, on the other hand, was dreading having to feign interest. He'd already done the most interesting thing.

"Welcome, welcome!" said an overly-enthusiastic '1' binome. "Table for two, is it?"

AndrAIa nodded. "Yes, please."

"Wonderful! This way, please!" The maître d' walked them to a small table and handed them menus. "I'll be back to take your orders shortly!"

When the binome was gone, Enzo glanced at AndrAIa. "Well, he was certainly in a good mode."

"You should try it some time," she retorted.

"Hmph." He looked down and pretended to read his menu.

Without warning, the door of the establishment slammed open and a panting binome burst in. "Everyone! Did you hear? Abraxas has been deleted! By a Guardian!"

A hush fell over the restaurant as Enzo slid down his chair and hid his face with the menu. AndrAIa stared at him and twisted her lips in quiet accusation. After a moment of silence, the cheering started started. Binomes stood on their tables and celebrated the death of their tormentor. With a sigh of relief, Enzo sat back up and grinned proudly to himself.

"Shakes on the house!" shouted the cheerful waiter, resulting in another round of cheering.

AndrAIa leaned across the table. "It was you, wasn't it?" she whispered.

He shrugged and smirked defiantly. "Of course not, I have a broken key tool."

She frowned and slouched back in her chair, crossing her arms. There had been times when she'd suspected Enzo had been deleting viruses in the systems they visited, but she would never accuse him of it. The last thing their strained relationship needed was more fighting. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if what Bob had been trying to teach them about benign viruses had simply gone one ear and out the other. He seemed to have an obsessive hate of viruses, and reacted with anger when the topic of conversation was moved to viral activities.

They ordered their food and ate in relative silence. She more or less pushed the food around her plate and nibbled, while Enzo managed to eat all of his and then finish hers. It was kind of refreshing to see he'd gotten his appetite back after all those minutes of self-destruction wherein he would refuse to eat and rest. He seemed to go in and out of periods of not wanting to go on, resulting in his already-prominent lethargy and a reckless attitude.

As he polished off the last of her food, she grabbed his hand and and pulled him closer. "Tell me the truth."

He pulled his hand back and tilted his head so he was looking down at her. "Guardian, remember?"

She hated that condescending tone he picked up when he was trying to justify his actions. It was becoming more and more apparent that he wasn't the same boy she'd followed out of that Game Cube.

"Was that a confession?"

"Was that an argument?"

Such an uncaring tone and it hurt her. He'd been hardened into some kind of warrior whose only thoughts were that of fighting and survival, especially when they were around others. Only in private would any kind of vulnerable emotion become evident. Still though, she'd stay up all night holding his hand and hugging him as he cried about their predicament, about how much he missed Bob and Dot, then pretend he'd never shed a tear. He did a mighty fine job of keeping his emotions zipped in public.

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"It's none of your business."

AndrAIa stood up and banged her little fist on the table. "You are my business, Enzo! Whether you like it or not, everything about you is my business!"

Everyone in the restaurant stopped celebrating, turned and stared at the tiny Game Sprite making such a big commotion.

"Sit down, you're making a null of yourself." Enzo grabbed her hand and pulled her down.

After looking around, she realized the raucous she'd caused and made no hesitation in sitting down. She rested her elbows on the table and hid her face in her hands. "You drive me crazy some times."

"You have no idea."

She glanced up and saw him sitting there with his arms crossed and smirking. Oh, how furious he made her sometimes!

"I... I'm tired." She changed the topic. There was no getting around his ignorance today, and it would be best if they just had some downtime.

"I understand." Enzo waved their waiter over and paid the tab. He understood exactly what 'tired' meant in that context and just didn't want to fight with her anymore.

There wasn't another word exchanged between that point and their arrival at what Enzo decided was where they were sleeping that night cycle. Like always, he managed to find the most over-priced accommodations in town.

"It's too expensive!" she pleaded. "We need to conserve our funds!"

He shook his head. "We'll be fine. Trust me."

"Even if you are erasing viruses-" she checked herself. "-even if you are, the money won't last forever! What if the next dozen systems are clean? Then where you get the money from?"

Gritting his teeth, he swallowed his urge to yell. "Just... just trust me. Okay? Just leave this to me, and we'll be fine."

She couldn't help but worry as she watched the transaction. Why did he always insist on spending so much? Why couldn't he make compromises? There was no way this act was going to last forever. Another period of silence followed as she followed a good ten paces behind him to their room, which he didn't even mind.

In the seconds that followed, there wasn't a whole lot of communication between the two. Enzo woke up early and was usually gone before AndrAIa even woke up, which usually resulted in her spending the day alone. In retaliation, she started staying out later and later, just mingling with the locals. He was extremely uncomfortable with this and stayed up until she got back, but never said a word about it. There was no logic in giving her a reason to defend her stance by complaining about his.

Finally, one night cycle, as they both lay side-by-side in their respective beds, he spoke.

"You know... we should really stick together."

"Of course."

"Because, well, if we don't have each other, who do we have?"

"Precisely."

"So... I don't think we should keep secrets anymore. We should trust one another."

"I am glad to hear you say that."

The next daybreak, they awoke at the same time and resolved to spend the day together. He agreed to keep a positive attitude if she agreed to not question how much money he was spending. It was working splendidly, neither one raised their voice or gave the other a dirty look. For a nanosecond, Enzo could swear he was happy.

"Warning: incoming game."

With nothing more than a glance, Enzo and AndrAIa both ran madly in the direction of the rapidly descending Game Cube. The crowd was thick with binomes evacuating the area, so they agreed to split up. He continued straight while she turned at the first left and took the long way around the streets. Enzo weaved around binomes, Sprites and all other obstacles without looking twice. Frisket headed the way for AndrAIa, clearing her path whether it was living or not.

Their eyes met from either side of a quickly evacuating market, unable to get any closer to one another because of all the binomes pushing their way out of the street where the Game Cube was about to drop. The crowd finally seemed to dissipate, and they ran for one another. Not soon enough, it seemed, as the Game Cube dropped with each one on opposing end. The Sprites were effectively separated once the game loaded. Enzo was at the beginning of the Game, and AndrAIa was at the end.

AndrAIa looked around and found herself in what appeared to be a dungeon. She was surrounded by spikes, chains and lava, it was very dark and there didn't seem to be a way out. She closed her eyes and listened for an indication of what she was supposed to do. There were absolutely no Users or no Game Sprites anywhere around her. She was alone, on the very last level, she determined. All she could do was wait for Enzo and the User to arrive so she could play her part. She whistled for Frisket to come over, then rebooted both herself and the dog, ending up in what had to be the absolute pinkest and frilliest dress she'd ever worn, game or not. Frisket turned into a dinosaur of some kind and was quickly teleported away. AndrAIa wondered how she was going to fight the User in a get-up like this, and scratched her head in confusion. Her hand touched something hard on her head and she removed it for examining. It was a crown. Her role in the game was then clear: she was the goal.

Enzo stood up and found himself in a field, surrounded by pipes, turtles and the most annoyingly repetitive music he'd ever heard. AndrAIa was nowhere in sight, but he'd already assumed that due to their distance from each other, that they'd end up apart at the beginning. Wanting to do away with this brightly-coloured annoyance as soon as he could, he referred to Glitch.

"Glitch, Game stats."

Glitch told Enzo that he was on a multi-level adventure game, the goal of which was to navigate through several fields before the User could and rescue a princess from a... large spiked turtle? Enzo laughed; there was no way this game would last! Such a ridiculous concept would never catch on! Still snickering, Enzo rebooted, which only made him laugh harder. Overalls and a mustache, really? Oh well, on to business!

The first several levels were laughably easy, Enzo could have done them when he was 01 with his eyes closed, backwards and upside down, but even so, he was neck and neck with the User. He knew that he'd have to get his act together if he wanted to reach the goal in time. He assumed that AndrAIa was waiting for him on higher level, and was waiting their to tag him off or something. At the end of about four levels, Enzo found himself at the entrance to a castle. He sighed with relief, that was enough. He entered, only to find a mushroom of some variety.

"Your princess is in another castle," it said.

Enzo glared at the thing, hoping this was a joke.

The User was already on the second level of the next 'world' so Enzo high-tailed it out of the castle and onto the next level. And the next. And the next. And the next. This wasn't cute anymore, he just wanted to find AndrAIa and Frisket and move on. This was taking what seemed like minutes. Without even paying attention, Enzo ran into an egg, and out came a very Jurassic-looking Frisket... who eats apples, apparently. Enzo climbed onto dino-Frisket's back and was able to get through the levels in half the time. He even managed to pass the User, who seemed to be chasing his own dinosaur vehicle thing around. He laughed with triumph as he entered the fifth castle. By all means, there couldn't be more than five of these things...

"Your princess is in another castle."

Enzo's eye twitched and he punted the thing across the room.

By the time he had defeated the seventh castle, Enzo was exhausted, frustrated and bored with this whole Game. It was getting exponentially harder by the level, and he was finding himself in more and more danger at every time. He was convinced that there were ghosts following him and that flowers were trying to eat him, which is never a healthy kind of paranoia. What's more, he still hadn't found AndrAIa. Had she even made it in? He wasn't about to win this Game and leave this system without her. Even if he had to stay out of Game Sprite mode and in this system for another cycle, he wasn't leaving without her. Filled with uncertainty, Enzo entered the eighth castle, just ahead of the User.

AndrAIa's head perked up. She heard fighting outside of her prison, and hoped that it was Enzo coming to rescue her. She stood up and brushed herself off, straightening her hair and her dress for what she hoped was her saviour. She folded her hands and waited for whatever might come bursting through that door. Her heart was in her throat as the large, heavy dungeon doors swung open, and...

"Enzo!" AndrAIa shouted and waved from her lava-surrounded island. "I am over here!"

Enzo touched his forehead and sighed with relief. "You stay right there, AndrAIa, I'm coming to get you!"

She smiled and moved away from the edge so he could get to her platform, tapping her icon to change its mode.

But just as Enzo began to run towards his goal, a giant spiked turtle fell from the ceiling and sort of shuffled towards him. With a roll of his eyes, Enzo began to attack the turtle with the same method he'd been using on every Game Sprite: he jumped on it. A bad idea, it would seem, as the turtle dodged him and Enzo nearly landed in the lava pit.

AndrAIa reached out a hand, but couldn't seem to leave her platform. "Enzo!" she called.

He pulled himself up from the ledge and charged for the turtle again, this time leaping in the air with the purpose of landing on it. A direct hit... but not enough. Enzo repeated his technique until he was fed up enough to throw himself into the lava and just end this game. Luckily, that was the last hit. Fireballs and other not-so-pleasant things flew around the room as the giant spikey turtle sunk into the lava.

Enzo barely had time to change his and Frisket's icons into Game Sprite mode before the User burst into the room. The final boss was already defeated, so there was nothing to stop him from getting to the Princess. The red-suited User hopped across the room and onto AndrAIa's platform, where she did her best to stay out of his clutches.

"Enzo!" she yelled. "Hurry up!"

He wasted no time in getting across the lava and jumping on the User, effectively stunning him. AndrAIa ran into Enzo's arms and they embraced for a few milliseconds.

"Umm..." said Enzo. "Not that this isn't nice and everything, but why hasn't the Game ended?"

"I do not know..." AndrAIa pondered. "What was the objective?"

"To rescue the princess." Enzo grabbed Glitch and checked the Game stats again. "Oh."

AndrAIa saw his face flush and his eyes widen with his last word. "What is it?"

"AndrAIa, could you... close your eyes, please?"

"But why?" She asked, blinking innocently.

"Just... just, please. Do me this favour." Enzo was bright red from the request and he wasn't about to elaborate any time soon.

"Okay, whatever you say, Guardian."

AndrAIa put her hands behind her back and closed her eyes. Extremely hesitantly, Enzo leaned forward, towards her face and closed his own eyes. She felt the warmth of his breath on her nose as he painstakingly moved closer and closer. She blushed and puckered her lips, slowly leaning towards him as well. Finally, he planted a very small, very light kiss on her cheek.

"Game over."

After winning the game a second time, which was much quicker, as the User took the liberty of getting himself eaten by a giant bomb on a leash (which, if nothing else, was pure hilarity to watch), Enzo and AndrAIa entered yet another new system. As usual, Enzo scanned for ports to the 'Net, and, as usual, there were none. He rolled his eyes at the utter predictability of it and turned to AndrAIa, who was smiling.

"What're you so happy about?" Enzo asked.

AndrAIa had her hands behind her back and was spinning gently. "You, Enzo."

"Oh yeah? What did I do?" Unsure, he raised an eyebrow and grinned.

She giggled and kicked at the dirt around her feet. "Nothing..."

He didn't buy that for a nanosecond. She was being incredibly coy about something, and he would bet what few credits he had on what it was. "If this is about that little kiss..."

"Yes?" Her eyes lit up at the mere mention of it.

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, see, you're embarrassed about it, too! I'm sorry!"

AndrAIa's face fell. "You... oh. Of course. I'm sorry, too."

Crisis averted. Wiping the imaginary sweat from his brow, he moved on to the next item of business. "It's getting dark... we should probably try to find a place to stay."

And so an rather lengthy discussion ensued regarding the best place for them to sleep. Enzo insisted they do something extravagant, while AndrAIa maintained sensibility. Finally, Frisket barked, indicating the discussion was over and to just go somewhere.

They found themselves sitting across from one another on side-by-side single beds in a small, nearby inn. They talked on and on about how silly their most recent game was.

"Did you see yourself?" Enzo laughed. "You looked like a pink nightmare!" He hoped and prayed that she hadn't seen the movie file where he found himself in a similar situation. The damsel-in-distress look was not very becoming on him.

AndrAIa wrinkled her nose. "Oh yeah? At least I wasn't wearing overalls and a false mustache!"

He laid back and choked on a laugh. "That mustache... was so stupid."

"And it tickled," AndrAIa added, giggling.

"Heh, yeah, it-" Enzo sat up and looked at her curiously. "Tickled?"

"When you kissed me, it tickled..." she said softly.

He found himself looking at her face, she was smiling very softly and her eyes looked a little hazy, very relaxed. Something about that expression made him tremble somewhere deep within his circuits. He found his eyes drifting down her neck, where her hair was tapering into an angled bob, and her pink seashell earrings, which he'd bought for her as a birthday gift. She was kneeling with her feet behind her and her hands were folded in her lap. Enzo noticed then, for the first time, that AndrAIa was beautiful. She was beautiful, and she wanted to kiss him.

"I, uh..." He glanced downwards in thought, blushing intensely. "I could make it not tickle."

She tried to nod evenly, but ended up shivering her way through it. "Could you..."

Defying every single logical command in his body, Enzo slid forward off his bed and stood in front of AndrAIa. Unable to keep his his hands still, he placed his them on her shoulders, doing his best to look her in the eye without feeling ill. She glanced down at his hands before raising her eye line to Enzo's again. Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned down towards her face, his eyes slowly slipping shut. She tilted her head back and closed her own eyes in anticipation.

They held their faces so close together for what seemed like forever, each one waiting for the other to finish the move. In an act of perfect copy-and-paste, Enzo moved his face down at the moment AndrAIa moved hers up. Suddenly, before he knew it, but after she did, their lips touched in a very gentle first kiss. It was gentle, sweet, perfect, everything she had ever wanted from her first kiss with him. Enzo's head swam with the concept of what was happening in that instant, while AndrAIa's simply floated. He could easily say that this topped a game any second.

After an uncertain amount of time, he realized that he'd stopped breathing and pulled back to catch his breath. He took a few deep breaths as he watched her lower her head and look at him with an air of elation. He grinned bashfully, training to contain his ecstatic laughter.

"Enzo..." she said blissfully.

"Y-yeah?" he breathed.

"Your princess is in another castle."