Game Over (Andley)

No One Is Bulletproof

Andy quickly followed out after Deviant, jogging to catch up to him. He chose to remain quiet, as he knew he had irritated Deviant enough already- he wasn't sure how though. It wasn't his choice to be brought into the damn game. Andy kept his gaze at the ground, observing the cracked desert floor. He just wanted to go home...
Suddenly, he stopped and his eyes widened.
"What now?" Deviant groaned.
"What's my mom gonna think when she sees I'm missing?!" He panicked. "Oh.. She's gonna freak! And what happens when my computer dies?! Will I be stuck here f-"
"Shut up!" Deviant cut him off, obviously irritated. "No time is passing in the real world right now, so stop worrying." He mumbled and kept walking. Andy walked with him, quiet again until another thought popped into his head.
"Who's controlling the game right now?" He furrowed his brow. Deviant said nothing and raised his hand, pointing at himself. "You? But.. You're just a game character."
Deviant stopped and slowly looked at him.
"Game characters aren't supposed to... Yknow. Talk, walk or do anything really, without someone playing- right?"
"Are you questioning me, Prophet?" Deviant glared, lips curled into a snarl. Andy paled and stiffened, shaking his head vigorously. Deviant pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. He gestured for Andy to continue following and walked further into the desert.
"Why are we out here? There's like.. Nothing out-" Andy trailed off, watching Deviant place his hand up against an invisible wall and open a.. Door? What? "What the hell is that? Is that part of the game?"
"No." Deviant shrugged and led him through the empty, large corridor. He stopped and looked at him briefly before opening another door. Andys jaw dropped as he slowly stepped into the large room. It looked like a station of some sorts, with large doors with different game titles displayed above each one. Characters and creatures of all kind were rushing around, socializing, or relaxing. His eyes widened. Walking through the crowd of people was a girl, hair cut short and wearing dirty clothes. She looked worn and tired, and she seemed extremely familiar...
"I- I've seen her before! That's the girl from Beyond-"
"Beyond: Two Souls, yes that's Jodie." Deviant rolled his eyes. "C'mon. You can fanboy later." He grumbled and weaved through the crowd of game characters. Andy snapped out of the daze and rushed after him, eventually finding Deviant sitting quietly in an empty section of the station. Andy sat beside him.
"So... Are you gonna explain anything now?" Andy sighed and sat across from him.
Deviant lifted his head and peered at him through the fringe that hung in his eyes. He rolled his tongue against the inside of his cheek and nodded.
"This is Game Central." He gestured a leather clad hand to the portion of the room buzzing with activity. "Where game characters of every kind can take a break from their repetitive lives as a protagonist, antagonist, pawn, you name it- and just... Let go. Some of us like to cool of while our game isn't being played, others just like to explore other game worlds- which is highly frowned upon. But.. I'll admit... I've snuck into a few myself."
"No way..." Andy grinned. "Which ones, dude? Pac-Man? I've always wanted to-"
"Shut it." Deviant glared. "We may be having a conversation, but don't think for a minute we're friends or that you can refer to me as anything other than Deviant."
Andys smile faded. He relaxed back against the wall and nodded, looking at his hands.
"Now. Back to the point." Deviant muttered. "Some of us are special. Some of us have a connection to reality that's tied to our voice actor."
"I don't understand." Andy frowned. "A connection?"
"When a character is designed to look like the voice actor, there's a connection. Take me, for example."
"Woah... You?" Andys jaw dropped. Someone that hot existed? Damn.
"Yes." Deviant cocked a brow. "We can control the game at our will. Like... Let's see- we can rewrite our code to fix something we don't like about our programming, or for any of the characters for that matter. It's very discouraged, though. Because if a game developer involved in the project finds out, the game is taken off the shelves and taken back to development. It's happened before."
Andys frown deepened, eyeing Deviant curiously. Deviant met his gaze and raised an eyebrow in questioning.
"Oh I just- it's just that you're a new game... How do you know all this?" Andy asked slowly, looking around. If F.E.A.R was still an unreleased game, Deviant should still be a bit new to the game thing... Shouldn't he?
"I was made a year or so before the actual game development took place." Deviant eventually sighed. "I've been bumming around here for a bit while my game world was still being made..."
Andy nodded, quiet. He looked up and watched some game characters have a duel in the middle of the room with a circle of viewers.
"Who's that?" He asked in awe, watching the two battle with what looked to be.. Keys?
"Sora and Roxas. Never played Kingdom Hearts, eh?" Deviant scoffed. "Roxas is he blonde and Sora's the one with the crazy brown hair. They do this all the time... Apparently they're part of each other- whatever that means- and constantly have to see who's stronger than who. It's gotten irritating." He rolled his eyes and stood.
Andy watched the two boys while Deviant began to drone about the rules of the game world- something he probably should have been listening to. He must have been watching too long, because Deviant had stopped talking and was staring directly at him.
"Oh- sorry. Um, you were saying?" Andy cringed.
"Forget it." Deviant snorted and looked at the wall.
They sat in silence for a long while. Andy watched another game character pass by, chewing on his lip.
"Can I go talk to them?" He asked.
"Absolutely not." Deviant glared. "You're a human. If someone were to discover you, you'd probably never return home."
"Oh like you care about what happens to me." Andy rolled his eyes.
"And I, and the other three back in the game, would lose all individuality and connection to the real world. Without that, we're emotionless and brainwashed drones, and it's not a pretty sight to watch that go down." He snarled and stood. "We're leaving."
Before Andy could protest, he was seized by the arm and hauled back to the dry and barren desert. He tugged his arm away once the door shut behind him and rubbed his wrist.
"Ow... You have quite a grip." He grumbled and sat down. He laid back and pulled the bandanna around his forehead down to shield his eyes from the glaring sun. Andy folded his arms behind his head.
"What are you doing?" Deviant asked, sounding confused rather than his typical snappy tone. Andy lifted one side of the bandanna, cocking a brow.
"Relaxing." He shrugged.
"Relaxing? No- no we don't do that here. We have to be on constant aler-"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Just try it?" He sighed, pulling the cloth back down over his eyes. Andy half expected to be yanked up or scolded, but instead he heard the shuffling sound of Deviant laying next to him, mimicking his position. "See? It's nice, isn't it."
Deviant bit his lip, a hand finding its way over his heart. This was weird... What was this feeling? Fondness? For the human? If someone were to find out he was having human emotions for an outsider, he would be shut down immediately. Deviant stood and grabbed Andy's hand, pulling him up.
"Camp. Now." He muttered and marched off towards the distant camp. Andy frowned, but followed behind him silently.