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| A change in the regularity of the beeps from Dot’s monitor stopped the conversation in its tracks and the five sprites held their breath as Dot’s heart seemed almost to falter before settling down into a noticeably slower rhythm. It would not be long now. The younger of the two Enzos took hold of Dot’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze to let her know that she wasn’t alone. Another thought hit him and he looked around at his friends and family in the room, some part of him really wanted to ask the question but another part didn’t want to hear the answer. Finally his curiosity overcame his fear and taking a deep breath he asked his query in a trembling voice. “What do you think happens after you delete?” At this Mouse stood up from her seat and hurried over to give him a gentle hug. They all knew Dot would never see the light of the next cycle but it was still hard to accept. Letting go of Dot’s hand Enzo buried his head in Mouse’s shoulder and let his tears fall, Mouse just held him tightly until his outburst had died down and he was calm again. Stroking his hair back off his forehead she looked down into his eyes and smiled. “Deletion is only the next stage, Sugah. We all have to go through it eventually. My mother used to tell me a story about the afterlife of sprites. She used to say that no sprite could truly be deleted. Somewhere beyond the systems they still exist, not governed by the rules we live by.. Dot will be ok, and we’ll see her again when our own time comes. Until then she’ll live on in our hearts and memories.” This seemed to give Enzo a little hope and he released his grip on Mouse, not needing the comfort of the hug any more. He wiped his eyes in embarrassment, getting rid of the last traces of tears. A small sound from the bed grabbed his attention and hurriedly he turned to stare into Dot’s violet irises. She raised her hand slowly towards him in concern and smiled sadly at him when she saw how upset he was. “Don’t worry Enzo, I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time now.” The others had to strain to hear the words she spoke as they were barely above a whisper. Looking around at the faces of her friends Dot smiled, they had come to see her off on her journey. Enzo had grabbed hold of her hand and was holding it tightly, as if he was trying to hold her here with them. Matrix and AndrAIa were sitting close together, fingers entwined tightly. Matrix seemed to be attempting an encouraging smile despite the tears falling down his face. Mouse was refusing to cry but Dot knew that she was already feeling the loss of her friend. Ray had his arm over her shoulder in a vain attempt at comfort. Something about the situation struck Dot as highly amusing and she managed a very weak laugh surprising the others. “You all look as though you’ve seen a ghost.” She grinned at them, “What have you been talking about this time?” Matrix cleared his throat a little at Dot’s weak attempt at lightening the mood. He decided to play along, if only to make Dot happy. “Guess.” Dot had allowed her head to slip sideways on the pillow, almost as though it was too much effort for her to keep it straight. She took a deep, shuddering breath before answering, “Bob?” Ray looked at her in astonishment, “How in the net did you guess that?” Dot didn’t reply for a while, she seemed to be off in a little world of her own a tired but happy smile on her face. Finally though she spoke again, in the same small whisper as before. “Thanks for coming.” Mouse blinked back the tears “You know we wouldn’t have missed it for anything Hon.” Dot smiled, “I know, I love you too.” At this Mouse couldn’t prevent the tears any longer and buried her face in Ray’s shoulder as he squeezed her comfortingly. For a short time there was a period of silence during which Dot continued to stare steadily at the doorway, the smile never leaving her face. Matrix shifted in his seat uncomfortably, they really weren’t made for someone of his stature. The resulting noise seemed to wake Dot from her trance and she brought her gaze back to her friends. She gave Enzo’s hand a weak squeeze and smiled at them sadly with an expression which seemed to say goodbye. Raising her left hand from the covers Dot reached out with her fingers towards the air. The beeps from the monitor were steadily slowing down now, as she appeared to nod slightly and grinned. “I’m ready.” With that the beeps from the monitor stopped entirely and Dot’s body flickered once before fading out of existence leaving nothing but her icon behind. ****** Bob stood outside the room for a long time. Now that he had reached his destination the nervousness had returned. What if Dot wasn’t happy to see him? When he’d heard she was dying he had had to come and see her but now doubts were beginning to plague him. How had she fared after the war? Had she married? Did she have children? Would she even remember who he was? After all, it *had* been a long time since they had last seen each other. A thorough examination of the room from his position at the doorway had been enough to satisfy him. There were no pictures of husbands or children on the clinical looking side cupboard in the room. The only visitors were Dot’s brothers, Mouse, and Ray, Phong having passed away some hours ago now. Bob had no doubts that Dot had remained single after he had left. Surely she would have had her husband or children around her now otherwise. A missed beat on the monitor caught his attention and he waited as the beeps grew constant again, noting how they had slowed down quite a bit. It would only be a few nanos now before Dot deleted and yet something was still stopping him from entering the room. Listening to the faint strains of the conversation Bob smiled to himself. Mouse certainly had an interesting view on sprite afterlife. Bob had to wonder just how much of it she believed and how much she was saying in order to comfort Enzo. Suddenly a new voice entered the conversation and Bob froze in shock. He had waited to hear this voice again for so long, it hadn’t changed at all and he found himself wondering if her singing was still as good as it used to be.. As soon as Dot’s voice entered the conversation in the room he could feel the barriers preventing him from going in dissolving. Unable to shake the feeling that he was in a dream Bob stepped silently into the room unnoticed by his friends. Dot had begun to talk again and had cracked a very weak joke. Despite the situation Bob couldn’t stop from smiling. Without a sound he approached the bed slowly. Suddenly Dot turned her head on the pillow catching sight of the movement from the corner of her eye. The conversation around her seemed to fade into the background immediately as she looked into the eyes of the sprite who held her heart. He hadn’t changed at all from the last time she had seen him. His hair had the same beautiful tones of burnt silver and shone as it caught the reflections from the strip lighting above. His skin was the same shade of blue she remembered so vividly. For a nano she wondered why he hadn’t aged like the rest of them, before mentally kicking herself. He was only a figment of her imagination; after all she had seen him everywhere in the first few hours after Daemon’s defeat. Taking a deep breath she spoke her first words to him in forty hours. “Bob?” Bob grinned, he had waited so long to hear her voice again, and to hear her speak his name made him feel complete again. He heard the questioning tone in her voice and hastened to reassure her. “Yep I’m back, did’ya miss me?” His voice cracked and he took a moment to get his emotions under control. Glancing at Dot he noticed the wry smile on her face and it seemed to help him. Taking a deep breath he let out a soft laugh. “Sorry, I can’t help it, it’s a compulsion. It’s been a long time..” There was no reply. Bob ran a hand through his hair once more nervously, mussing it up even more than usual. He had intended to pour his heart out to her and yet it seemed to be turning into a casual conversation between friends. Looking once more into Dot’s eyes he realised she understood how he felt, she even felt the same herself. After collecting his thoughts he tried once more. “I thought I’d come and see you.” Dot’s smile broadened at this and the small lines around her eyes crinkled in response. She had let him suffer enough. Now it was time to talk back. “Thanks for coming.” Bob smiled back and he took a few steps closer to the bed. Their eyes were locked in an intense gaze and he could see the hurt and pain she had felt when he left her in her dark, emotional eyes. All of his nervousness left him in that moment and suddenly he felt as if he could finally say the words he had longed to say all these hours. “I’m sorry I broke my promise.” As the words left his lips he felt free, freer then he’d been in a very long time. “I love you Dot, I never stopped loving you, you know.” His eyes looked into hers asking a silent question. Dot felt her heart swelling with joy, Bob was back with her again, everything was going to be alright now. Taking a deep breath she spoke again, wiping away any traces of doubt Bob was feeling. She smiled, “I know, I love you too.” They continued to look at each other for a while, neither one seemed to want to break the eye contact. Suddenly a loud creaking noise from Matrix’s chair brought Bob back to his senses. He grinned, “It’s time to say goodbye Dot.” She smiled at him and tore her gaze away from his hazel eyes with difficulty. Looking around at her friends surrounding her bed she found it hard to form the words. Instead she simply squeezed Enzo’s hand tenderly and said goodbye through her smile. They seemed to understand what she was saying. The world seemed to be fading away around her now as she felt some last vestige of strength returning. Once more she focussed her gaze on Bob and graced him with a smile. Bob found himself saying a silent farewell to his friends too, it was something he’d never had the chance to do before and he was seizing the opportunity with both hands. The beeps on the heart monitor were steadily slowing down now; it was time. He reached out his hand towards Dot and gave her the look, which had always made her heart melt. “Are you ready to go?” Dot nodded weakly and reached out her hand to his, rejoicing in the feeling of his fingers entwined with hers. “I’m ready.” There was a blinding flash and then everything went black. ****** The next thing she was aware of was standing by her bedside looking down at the empty space she had occupied only a few nanos before. Her friends were still there and seemed to be in shock, staring down at the crumpled sheets still warm from her body. She watched as Matrix reached out with a trembling hand and lifted her icon from the bed tenderly. Suddenly she became aware of the feeling that someone was looking at her, turning she found herself staring into the warm, gentle eyes of the guardian she had given her heart to so long ago. Blushing a little at the intensity of his gaze she allowed her eyes to drop down to her hand, noticing that her fingers were still tightly clutching his. Noticing something else about the hand she reached up to her face and touched her cheek softly, pulling back her fingers in shock when she realised her skin was as youthful as Bob’s appeared. Noticing her shock Bob gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and grinned at her tenderly. Wordlessly they turned back to have one last look at their friends, still huddled around her bed in mourning. She turned back to Bob, “Will they be alright?” He nodded, “They’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Looking into her eyes he found he could wait no longer and pulled her towards him, she moved willingly and they lost themselves in their first kiss since Bob had left. With the beginning of the kiss Dot felt the pain and loneliness she had suffered all these hours disappearing. Everything was right again, nothing could ever come between them now. Pulling away after the kiss she took a nano to catch her breath and grinned up at him. “I missed you.” “I know”. Holding hands they turned and walked away, away from their friends, away from the hospital. As they passed the memorial once more a shaft of light from one of the street lamps seemed to illuminate the outline of one of the names carved into the shiny surface of the plaque, the name of a sprite who had lost his life saving his friends, the same name Bob had touched regretfully a few minutes earlier, his name…Guardian 452. THE END. |
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