CyberAttack 3

5. ᴅᴇꜱᴘᴀɪʀ

(Third Person POV)
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_nala's apartment
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Everything was dead silent today. Everything except _nala's keyboard, which repeatedly clicked as he pressed on the keys. Normally, the silence was comforting to him, but now, it was unnerving. Unnerving as ever. And aggravating as he accidentally misspelled a word or two, making the command inoperable, and in turn, making him irritable. The data for the injection he had planned had been corrupted because of the sudden rush, so he had to redo it. But every time, he couldn't quite get it right.

Error after error, repeatedly. He started to think his own computer was just doing this to upset him. By god did it work.

Chosen had stayed in his room for quite a while after hearing from _nala  that he would do all the work himself. His heart picked up a beat every time he heard _nala slam the desk or mutter to himself in frustration. At times he'd even start to cry a little, wiping away tears and trying to keep his stern expression intact. It was obvious he was struggling, but Chosen couldn't bring himself to go outside and try and comfort him. The last time that happened.. he just couldn't.

Soon enough, _nala noticed his behavior and pinned the blame on himself, which just made him more upset. Nothing felt right. Nothing felt ok.

He felt like they needed to talk, but the courage it took to utter his name was so much that nothing but air came out. Eventually, though, at his lowest, he finally muttered.

"..Chosen?"

Slowly, Chosen stepped out from his room and looked at _nala. He had stopped typing at this point.

"Um.. y-yeah?"

"Could you.. sit out here for a second?"

Hesitantly, Chosen stepped out and sat down on the desktop floor.

"I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to.. get so.." _nala hesitated, he couldn't find the words he needed.

"..aggressive?" Chosen finished his sentence.

"Yeah, aggressive. This is just.. the most trouble I've gotten into since.. well, years.. And.. uh.." He wasn't good with apologies, nor managing his feelings. Chosen seemed to get the message.

He put a hand on the screen, and _nala placed a finger over it as he always did during these times. "I know. I just got.. scared."

"I don't blame you. I would be too.. I just don't want to hurt you."

They sat in silence for a long time, reflecting. Everything they had done, the people who were hurt or killed, everything and everyone that had led up to this moment seemed to come back to them, along with all the feelings. Regret, guilt on many levels, rage, sadness, stress. It was all welled up in both their hearts. Echoes of voices of their past actions still rang in their ears, but those actions were already done. They only had right now. Back at the start, or at least what felt like it.

_nala looked at his papers scattered on his desk, then the empty mugs, then back to Chosen. He felt heavy again. Most likely, his body was crashing from all the caffeine. Running on only 3 or 4 hours of sleep, he slumped down onto his desk, his hand sliding down with it. His eyelids tugged themselves to close.

"Nal..?" Chosen called to him.

"Hm..?" _nala responded, half asleep.  

"Do you want to do anything else today?"

"Um.. just uh.." He stuttered out words. "Send, uh.. 5 out tomorrow and schedule.. it.."

"Alright." Chosen lowered his voice to a whisper and tip toed off as _nala completely crashed, falling peacefully unconscious.