Curse the Mainframe! 99 Rebirth

Alec woke up in bits and pieces – at times, he felt like he wasn't quite there, and yet, his consciousness still hovered, oddly blank, like magnets of the same polarity being forced together.

His thoughts were distinctly disjointed and didn't make any sense, and there was a looping sensation of something fractured being rebuilt – it was a vicious, all encompassing cycle that threatened to devour him whole.

Something prodded at him – screaming at him to wake up – wake the fuck up.

Alec bolted upright, but not a sound left his lips, like he'd trained himself to do. It was good to know that one part of himself that he'd tirelessly worked on still functioned as it should be, despite the startling emptiness in his thoughts.

The room came into startling clarity and quality, like paint being splashed onto a black and white canvas, even clearer than they had been after Awakening them.

What just–?

His thoughts weren't quite connecting as they should well be – they each felt separate and shallow. He should have been able to piece together what happened to him already, and yet they just weren't working!

There was a building sense of frustration welled up in him as he absently took in his surroundings.

He was contained on a single bed within a room that had softly painted purple walls. They were meant to induce a calming effect rather than white walls that would have radiated sterility.

The air that he breathed was clearly filtered, and Alec realized that he was in what probably constituted as the sect's recovery room.

There was a man with black leaning against the wall, his back so straight that Alec's spine hurt just looking at him – that was his master. His eyes were closed, but there was a faint crease between his eyebrows that made it look like he wasn't having a good sleep.

The thought linked back all of his floating, errant stray thoughts, his brain throbbing briefly before it died down.

Alec thought back – the day's events filtering into his mind.

He remembered landing in the Heavenly Ascension Sect's grounds.

Melanie – and Hayden.

The elder, Gracen, addressing them.

Then, the intent array that had so captured his fascination.

His master –

What happened!

Alec must have made a sound, because his master's eyes snapped open, locking onto him with startling intensity.

The man stood up and walked to his side, pressing a cool hand onto his forehead.

Alec was so stunned that he accepted the touch with barely any reservation. The man's hand felt familiar – just how many times had he done this while he was unconscious, so much so that his body was reacting (or rather, not reacting)?

"No fever."

Alec blinked.

"Hm," his master said, studying him. His face was set in impassivity, but his eyes held a distinct look of relief.

Nathan made to pick him up, but the boy weakly fought off his hands. The man let out a huff, eyeing his disciple with dissatisfaction and slight chastisement.

Alec's smile took on a slightly sheepish edge – which mollified Nathan. This time, when his master tried to pick him up again, he didn't fight him, but really!

Was he still going to carry him like a sack of rice! Should it not have been obvious that this was *not* the way to carry a supposedly 'sick' person?

There was the click of the door as Gracen entered. She snorted, seeing the scene.

"Put him down, you heathen! I can't believe you were going to spirit him away without a single word – and carrying him like that too!"

Nathan paused, slowly putting Alec back down on the bed. What was wrong with the way he was carrying him? His disciple didn't say a word of protest!

Gracen sighed in a long-suffering manner that indicated how lowly she thought of his decision-making skills.

"You can't carry a sick person like that!"

Nathan frowned slightly. "You said he wasn't sick?"

Gracen groaned. "I said we don't know what's wrong with him, not that he wasn't sick!"

"So, he is sick?" Nathan said, clearly focusing on the wrong part of what she'd said.

Gracen gave up. "What happened to you?" she directed towards Alec instead.
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Alec shook his head, regretting it when his brain swum alarmingly. He hadn't figured it out himself. The last thing he'd heard was the Mainframe's distinctly overlapping and staticky voice – it had been unpleasant, to say the least.

Nathan's hand moved slightly, like he was itching to pick up his disciple again.

Gracen whacked him lightly on the hand. "Bad. Stop."

Then she wavered at the wounded expression that Nathan was making with his eyes, making her feel like she'd kicked a large dog. "Agh, fine," she said, annoyed. "But carry him properly!"

"Properly how?"

The look he received would have cowed lesser men. "Piggyback? Bridal style? Not by how you were picking him up earlier!"

Alec felt faintly alarmed at the thought of the indignity that would have accompanied being carried bridal style by his master – he didn't know if he would be able to look the man in the face again after that – but luckily, he was placed on the man's back instead.

The man touched him so lightly, as if he was afraid that he would shatter into a million pieces if he was mishandled even the slightest amount.

Before Gracen could change her mind, Nathan slipped out of the recovery hall with his disciple.

He moved quickly partly because he preferred to get the boy into his own quarters, and partly because of the feeling he was getting from the boy's glances – like he'd never live down being caught in such a vulnerable state.

Alec only didn't fight the man off because of the way his mind still swum lightly at the thought of movement. He very consciously didn't press his face into the man's neck, already feeling disgruntled at his show of vulnerability.

"Thank you," Alec said calmly. He knew where to give his thanks.

"Mn."

Alec was deposited into his new room, which was right beside his master's – no doubt arranged by the man himself – and given orders to knock on Nathan's door tomorrow morning after he woke.

His master gave him one last glance before deciding that he seemed fine – and disappeared – clearly having expended most of his social interactions for the day.

Alec closed the door, relishing in the privacy after having been caught horribly off guard with both Gracen and Nathan's presence when his consciousness returned.

His thoughts were still slightly fuzzy, but not so bad that he would lapse off into unconsciousness just yet.

There had been something terribly wrong with the way the Mainframe's voice had echoed in his ears just before he passed out from the sharp lance of pain that had wedged its way into his mind without any warning.

Alec frowned, safe in the privacy of his room.

"Mainframe," Alec called out, the taste of the word like ash on his tongue – bitter and burnt.

But there was no response.

Alec's mind paged through the Mainframe's Rule Book but could not find an instance where this manner of sequences was induced.

Was he now disconnected from the Mainframe altogether?

At once, the thought gave him both a feeling of vindication as well as unsettlement. He'd been part of the Mainframe's circuits for so long that it felt strange to even entertain the thought that he was no longer connected.

"Just what the fuck happened?" Alec mused aloud.

Chapter end

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