The Misadventure

Chapter 46

Cavet's POV

I turned just in time to see Evil dissolve into the coding she came from, my finger still pressed so hard into the ENTER button that it was starting to throb. Bella slid to the floor as if boneless, eyes closed, breaths rattling in her chest. I could see the bruises forming around her neck already.

I could finish it.

Her face and arms were bruised as well, and her hair was a tangled mess. A trail of blood was dribbling out of the corner o her mouth, and yet, despite everything, she looked peaceful.

I should finish it.

I sank down to my knees next to her, watching her chest rise and fall.

It was her fault.

Rise. Fall.

It wasn't her fault.

Rise. Fall.

None of this would have happened if it weren't for her.

Rise. Fall.

She couldn't control what was happening.

Rise. Fall.

She ruined you.

Rise. Fall.

You ruined her, too.

Rise. Fall.

With a sigh, I sat back against the console, legs stretching out in front of me and stump tucked up comfortably against my chest. We both stayed still for a long while, just breathing. Sitting. Existing.

When she finally stirred, I tucked my knees up against my chest and leaned against them, watching her. Hazy eyes blinked at me, slowly, in disbelief.

"Cavet?"

I averted my gaze, staring at the wall opposite us. "Bella."

She sat up slowly, rubbing her neck and arms as she did. She took a few deep breaths, then turned to me again.

"You killed Evil."

I nodded.

"You didn't kill me."

I closed my eyes and nodded again, burying my head in my arms as tears burned at my eyes.

"It wasn't your fault," I whispered. "None of it was your fault. It was me who messed up."

"No, Cavet, no! This wasn't- you didn't-" She cut off, searching for the right words. "What happened was neither of our faults."

I didn't respond, but she apparently understood that as an answer, and I felt her slide over to next to me. She leaned against me tentatively, and I brought my head up and leaned against her as well.

"We're alive," I muttered, some time later. I felt her nod.

"For now," she whispered back. "Maniac and Evil might not be gone forever."

We faded off into silence once more.

"They can't ever come back," I said. Bella nodded.

"No, they can't. What are we going to do about?"

I pushed myself to my feet and nodded at one of the other consoles. "Go and shut down that program running, would you?" She got to her feet and walked over to it.

"Do you need this computer for anything after I shut it down?" she asked. I shook my head and bent over the main console. Bella picked up a chair and hurled it into the screen, smashing the entire system and effectively shutting down the program. I looked up in surprise.

She grinned. "I've needed to do that for a while now, I think."

I nodded and waved my good hand at the rest of the computers I wasn't working on. "Well, I need all those shut down as well, so have a field day."

She laughed, honest-to-god laughter, even though she had to bend over and gasp afterwards because it hurt. Then she pulled the chair free from the wreckage and chucked it at another computer. I felt the corner of my mouth raise slightly and turned back to the computer.

She joined me when she was done, leaning over my shoulder to watch what I was doing.

"You're writing new codes into the system?" She asked, surprised. I nodded.

"Destroy all the old coding, you're going to have to add some stuff to replace it. I won't need nearly as much, though. You just destroyed everything that was running the mansion. If you were to step out of that door right now, there'd be nothing. Death, instantaneously."

She glanced at the door. "Nice."

"Thanks."

I worked in silence again, Bella leaning against the console next to me, and for the first time in forever, it was something comfortable. There was no desire to kill each other or the need to run for our lives. Just... existing.

"I think we should do it together," I offered, gesturing at the ENTER button. Bella looked over at me, then to the button.

"What are we doing?"

"Shutting down the mansion. For good."

"I thought I did that with all the computers, already?" She smirked at the chair sticking out of a screen.

"You did. I just wrote a program that can replace the mansion, so that the platform isn't technically gone. People will still be able to enjoy what we had here, just not as a virtual reality experience." I explained. "Instead of stories that you can live in, I changed it so that its just a writing program. "

She tilted her head, then nodded. "I'm down with being an author. Do you want to write a book together? I mean, if we're able to find each other when we're not in here?"

I patted the computer. "We'll find each other, don't worry." I smiled. "And yeah, I think I'd like that."

She grinned back. "Good, because I think I have an idea for our first story together."

With that, both of our fingers came down on the button, and the world snapped out of existence.

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It's been fun, guys. Bloxie, thank you so much. This has been great.