Chapter Text
I stare at the phone, rereading the messages over and over. In part due to my half-asleep mind, I can't seem to fully comprehend the meaning of Four's texts. Her disregard for proper punctuation does nothing to make it easier.
Her messages are concerning, but I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. Four is probably messing with me. Yes, that's it. Four does enjoy joking around, even if she's not usually bold enough to do so this late at night.
Upon coming to this conclusion, I hastily type a message back to her.
Eight - 11:06 PM
How are you texting me?
Last I'd checked, the Memverse didn't allow for communication with the real world. It wasn't a feature we had found ourselves needing. Maybe Marina had added it in for Four's sake? It seems like a lot of work to spare her from one night without texting, but then again, this is Marina. It's not too unlikely.
I wait, drumming my fingers on the edge of the phone in time with the three little dots that bounce across the bottom of the screen.
Four - 11:07 PM
With my phone? How do you normally text people Eight
I stare again at the new message, growing frustrated at Four. I'm not in the mood for her teasing this late at night, and she should know me well enough to know that.
Eight - 11:08 PM
Did Marina give you a phone? I am not joking
Four - 11:10 PM
Are you having a stroke? Is that what this is? Do I need to call an ambulance?
Eight - 11:11 PM
I am not having a stroke. This is not funny Four. It is very late and I want to go to bed.
Four - 11:13 PM
Girl you're the one sending me complete nonsense texts, you can't blame me for questioning you.
Ever more irritated, I let out a slow breath through gritted teeth. I doubt I'll be able to get to sleep before I get this settled. Four doesn't understand the implications of her supposed confusion at my texts, but knowing that does little to ease my annoyance at her.
Eight - 11:15 PM
Four, I am not in the mood for pranks right now. Can you please tell me that you are joking so I can go to sleep?
Four - 11:17 PM
I'm not joking! I swear I'm being completely honest when I say I have absolutely no idea what in the world you're going on about. I might be crazy, but not crazy enough to try and prank you at 11 pm. I don't have a death wish.
Eight - 11:18 PM
You are lying.
Four - 11:19 PM
I'm not lying!!!! Now if you don't explain yourself I'm going to assume there is something seriously wrong with you and call 911!
I feel a chill creeping up my body. I sit upright, dropping the phone onto my bed and running my hands across my face. Even Four wouldn't take a joke this far, she's not cruel. I can tell she's being honest, but... This can't be right. It can't be.
I don't want to know the truth. I'm scared to. But I can't just ignore this.
I pick up the phone again.
Eight - 11:23 PM
I will explain if you answer some questions first.
Four - 11:24 PM
Fine
Eight - 11:25 PM
Where are you right now?
Four - 11:26 PM
My apartment in Splatsville
Eight - 11:27 PM
What did you do today?
Four - 11:29 PM
Not much, I got some groceries and worked a few shifts at Grizzco. How is this related?
Eight - 11:30 PM
When was the last time we saw each other?
Four - 11:32 PM
A little over 11 months, way too long if you ask me. Speaking of which, are you coming over tomorrow? Usually we coordinate these things a few weeks in advance but I'll be happy to clear my schedule if we need to meet up
I exhale a shaky breath, turning off my phone and tilting my head up to stare at the ceiling. I don't want to believe it, but now there's no denying the truth.
She's a fake.
The Four I had spent the entire day with, who I had rescued from the storage floor, who I had shared my feelings with, who I had trusted despite my instincts, a fake. Over and over I had told myself that she was the real Four, that she was not a Parallel Canon despite the way she looked. I had convinced the others of it, too. And it turns out the voices whispering in the back of my mind, the voices I had tried so hard to ignore, were right all along. She is a Parallel Canon.
At this, I'm overwhelmed by a rush of emotions, hitting me all at once with a force I can almost feel physically. Confusion. Fear. Disappointment. Betrayal. Anger.
Anger at her. How dare the Parallel Canon imitate Four. How dare she trick me into trusting her? How dare she pretend to be my friend, all for whatever plan I had now helped her in accomplishing.
But more than that, there was anger at myself for believing her lies. How had I been so easily duped? I claimed that Four was my best friend, yet I obviously didn't know her well enough to distinguish her from a digital copy. I should have ended that false Four when I had the chance. I should have taken more precautions, at the very least. She may have been a liar, but I'm the one responsible for believing her lies.
My phone vibrates again, tugging me out of my mind. I lift the phone in a trembling hand, every fiber of my being set on edge. As I suspected, it was from Four, a message of just one word.
Four - 11:37 PM
Eight?
Relying on autocorrect to fix the errors of my shaking fingers, I slowly write a reply. I'm as awake as I can be, but my mind is nowhere near feeling clear. The tiredness has only been replaced by the muddling effects of fury and panic.
Eight - 11:39 PM
I am sorry. I need to go.
Four - 11:40 PM
Woah woah woah, you promised me an explanation
Eight - 11:42 PM
I will come tomorrow by noon. Meet you outside of Grizzco. I will explain then. There is something I need to do now.
With that, I turn off the phone and set it face down on my nightstand. It vibrates as if in protest, but this time I ignore it. Some part of me knows that my feelings are clouding my judgment, but for once, I don't care. I hand over control of my body, moving with barely a thought, fuelled by the sheer force of my emotions. One moment I'm throwing off my covers, and in the next I'm in my dark living room, lifting the Memverse headset from the couch where I'd left it.
Time to do what I should have done the first time.
The Memverse is dark, the sky having turned a deep blue. It feels unnatural. I'd never before visited the Memverse during the night, at least not since Marina updated it to have one. I'm used to the bright whiteness of the day, but now everything seems gray and shadowed. Not a single AI roams the Square. I had often ignored the things, as they did me, but now I realize how desolate the Order Sector feels without their quiet presence.
At least the Order Sector is still here. Left alone here, who knows what the Parallel Canon could have done. What she could still do. If she accessed Marina's computer, she could destroy everything we worked so hard to build. Thankfully, a thorough search through Marina's office reveals no signs of anyone having set foot here since we left.
I slowly make my way towards the Grizzco building, grip tight on my Order Blaster. Though I'm most practiced with the Order Dualies, the power of a direct hit from a blaster will be far superior when it comes to quickly taking out a sleeping target. Assuming the Parallel Canon is really asleep.
If I'm unable to find the False Four in Grizzco or anywhere else within the Square, I may need to go for help. If I do find her... I'm hoping I can handle this on my own. I don't want the others to know of my mistake.
I move silently up the slope leading to the building and press my body against the front wall. Readying my blaster, I inch my way closer to the door, using one hand to carefully push it open. Thankfully, doors within the Memverse are remarkably quiet, Marina having found the creaking an unnecessary annoyance to have simply for the sake of realism. With the door now open, I lean ever-so-slightly around it, peering inside.
And there she is. Staring directly at me.
I reflexively duck back out of sight, my hearts pounding so hard I worry they're going to burst from my chest. I wait, but I don't hear her voice or a sound of movement. Cautiously, I look around the door again.
On the opposite end of the room, the false Four is lying on her side in the bed Marina created, staring toward the doorway. However, she doesn't react in even the slightest way when I lean into view.
I move to stand directly in the doorway, eyeing the Parallel Canon. Still, she doesn't move. I enter the room, keeping my eyes and blaster trained on her as I begin creeping around its perimeter. Strangely, she continues staring at the entrance even as I leave her line of sight. As I get closer to her bed, I can hear a slow, quiet noise emanating from her, like... Snoring? Or possibly just breathing, the robotic quality to it makes it difficult to tell. Either way, that, combined with the unresponsiveness, is enough to tell me that she's asleep. Asleep with her eyes open. It makes sense with her mask-like face, as I doubt she's able to close her eyes at all, but that doesn't change the fact that it's quite unsettling.
I continue until I'm right beside her bed, standing over her sleeping form. I stay there for a long while, silently waiting, unsure what for. The false Four remains sleeping, the sound of her strange breathing the only thing to break the silence. Finally, I raise my blaster and point it at her head. It's time I get this over with.
And yet... I find myself hesitating.
Though I try to resist it, I begin to recall the moments we had shared throughout the day, from when I had first encountered her to when I had left the Memverse. As I pick through every memory, I'm reminded of all of the reasons I trusted her in the first place.
When we had first met, and I had demanded that she prove she was the real Four, she told me of a memory that only Four would have. There was no other explanation for that other than that she shares Four's memories. That has to mean she remembers me. She remembers every moment Four and I spent together. She must know me as well as the real Four, which, I realize, is something she'd already proven today.
As we walked back to the elevator, she had questioned me about my odd behavior. She would have to know me as few did to tell that I wasn't acting normally. And why would she make me talk to her about it if she didn't care? Yes, it could have only been to keep up her act, but if that was all she wanted, she didn't have to go anywhere near that far to make me trust her.
She had been so awed by everything in the Memverse. She had been so excited to buy things from Cipher's shop. She had confided in me about her missing memories, and she had seemed genuinely distressed over them. She did everything she could to keep us from worrying about her. She had had hundreds of chances to attack or destroy, yet she never so much as tried. She had trusted me wholeheartedly. She had believed I was going to help her. She believed I was her friend.
And now I'm here to murder her.
As the rage fuelling my actions begins to dissipate, I'm left feeling confused and conflicted.
If I kill her now, I can end this whole mess. She's just a Parallel Canon, only a copy of Four. I'll still have the real one. If I let her live, my life is going to become complicated to no end, and the Memverse Restoration Project will have to be put off.
If I kill her now, I'm a monster. She might be an AI, but she's different from the Parallel Canons, that much I have to admit. She clearly possesses thoughts and feelings like a real person, even if she doesn't exist outside of the digital world. There is no way to justify killing her. If I let her live, I'll be able to sleep at night. But what will I do with her?
I look from the blaster in my shaking hand to Parallel Four at the end of it, unsure. There seems to be no good answer. No matter what I do, I’m going to have to face consequences that I’m wholly unprepared for. Let her live, or take her life? I can’t—
Everything comes to a screeching halt. Every train of thought freezes in place while every sense and deep-rooted instinct goes on high alert. A slight change in her breathing pattern, or a subtle tenseness to her body, I'm not sure what it is. But right then, I realize that Four has woken up.
She doesn't move, speak, or try to fight back, she simply lays there, pretending that she's still asleep. She stays perfectly still and quiet, even as I wait and wait and wait for her to act. I would have preferred if she jumped up all of a sudden and attacked me. I wish she would make my decision easier for me, give me a reason to call her my enemy. But she doesn't… She's not.
I lower the blaster. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
I can't do it.
I take a step back, then another. I want to say something, an apology, a demand, a plea, I don't know, but I don't seem to be able to form the words. So instead, I turn and run.
I feel her eyes on me as I go.