I was floating, wafting through the air with him. His energy guided me more than his hands; his kisses spoke louder than his voice. I listened to every word, every whisper. Sighs that said I love you, kisses that screamed don't let go. Together, we were detached from the pain of our reality, and allowed our bodies to sink into memories we created for each other.

I was wrong to think we'd wasted time in this digital world. But how could I have known that it was what we'd needed in the end? Roger may have taught me to jump, to run, to shoot... but he also taught me to open my heart and let the words sink in. Our training wasn't for the war outside; it was for the war inside ourselves.

As our fourth night drifted into the next morning, I wanted Roger to pull back time. Laid out on the bed with him, I gripped the sheets and pleaded that he'd turn back the clock, at least another hour, but that was well out of his control. He could change the weather, the environment, and craft rooms just for us. Yet, in the end, time slipped away from our fingers.

And I refused to move.

"We've got to get up," Roger whispered as the digital sun bled in through our window's curtain.

"Do we?" I pressed my cheek against his bare chest and took in his scent. It was sweet, like the blankets we laid in. "Can't we just lay here and wait it out?"

"No," Roger chuckled, "I agreed to do something while in here."

"You did," I said, pulling him back down as he tried to sit up. "I can run, jump—"

He pressed a finger to my lip. "Don't say shoot." He grinned. "You're not there yet..."

I wasn't, but I didn't care to be. Douglas had said I wasn't going to be on the front lines; I wouldn't be the one wielding a gun. This training, this unnecessary bootcamp, was just in case. And after what just happened, what we'd just spent the night saying to each other, I only had one ending in order—us and the rest of the world. No bloodshed. No violence.

Roger moved his finger from my bottom lip and leaned down to kiss me. He lingered there, breath brushing against mine as we both exhaled. When he moved to climb out of the bed, I grabbed his hand. "I think you agreed to do other things in here, too..."

He stopped and turned back to look at me.

"Matthews knew how you felt, too, right? Everyone did." I glanced around the room. "This was your one chance."

The corner of his lip twitched up. "Do you think I'd convinced everyone to give you basic training so I could tell you how I feel?"

"I mean...." I squeezed his hand.

"No, Clara." He came back beside me, legs pulling at the blankets. I was left in just my tank and shorts, cold, but when his body pressed against my side, I was warm again. "I didn't choose this. If it were up to me, I'd never agreed to put you in here."

I searched his eyes as the sun changed position in the sky, basking light on the side of his face. "But you..."

"No." He shook his head and pulled me close, silencing me. "I've told you before, this is bigger than just you and me. I did as I was told, for the sake of everyone out there."

Roger's hand held mine and our fingers pressed between each other's. Pulling my wrist up to his face, he kissed the inside of my arm softly—one, two, three—and let the trail of kisses continue until my arm was around his neck, his nose brushing against mine.

"I never said a word to anyone," he said and closed his eyes. "I guess my actions spoke louder."

"But, Xerses said—"

"Xerses listened." Roger opened his eyes again. "I didn't mean him to, but he did it. He heard me. Saw me. And maybe that's why I hung around and made sure he was okay; I was more than just a machine to him. But you..." He pressed his forehead against mine. "I was all right before this. How could I tell you how I felt if I knew I was going to die? I was a man inside a screen. I couldn't have you then, and even after coming to, I couldn't see this.

"But the more I looked at you, grabbed you; the more you let me in... I heard you even when you weren't talking, Clara. I've heard you for a long time. Do you think I could just sit back after all of it? Just watch you like I'd done this whole time?"

I was speechless. Had it really been that way? All of my confused feelings, all of my thoughts—he heard every single one? Inside, I knew I was an emotional whirlpool, but the fact that he saw through each and every crack of my soul made me happy.

To think, he fought to keep me safe, to love me from afar. Now, I fought to push forward and let him love me from within. I had to give him that chance.

"Come on, Doll." Roger pulled away from me but tugged my hand, so I'd follow him out of the bed. We stood next to the window, hands between us. Our noses touched when I stepped up on the tips of my toes. "We're going to finish this last day."

I reluctantly followed as he opened the bedroom door. The hall outside didn't welcome me. It reminded me of the world I didn't want to see. "But I don't want to," I whispered as I stopped in the doorway. "I want to stay in here, with you."

Even with Roger a foot in front of me, he kept my hand in his. He looked back, smiling big. "I do, too," he said, giving me another pull, "but I also want to do this out there, too. In reality."

I gave in and stood beside him, squeezing his hands harder than I should've. I knew he was right, I just... I didn't want there to be another reality.

♦

"Just keep the gun pointed straight."

Roger had taken me back out to the gun range, for our one last attempt at me getting this right. I thought I was fine, but you know, I wasn't up to Roger standards.

"Remember..." Roger came behind me, whispering instructions in my ear. "Keep both eyes open."

In the beginning, I tried to showboat like you'd see people do in movies. But he reminded me that you can't shoot an enemy if you could only half see him.

Touché.

Yet, with him so close, one hand on my hip, I found it hard to keep them open. I almost leaned back into his shoulder and let him take control of the gun to shoot. But his chuckle reminded me that this was my task, my training, and I could do it if I just put my mind to it.

Just shoot the dummies dead ahead, and we'll have lunch—that's what he promised me.

"I can't," I said through a giggle.

"Why?" he turned his head slightly to look down at me. "Giving into pressure? Intimidating?"

"No." The dummies weren't far away, just a good ten yards ahead of us, but they were made of clay and not intimidating at all. What made it hard was him, and his hands; one may have held my wrist stay upright to point my gun, but the other, the one sat on my hip, tickled and pulled my concentration.

"Then what is it?" He kissed the side of my ear. "Tell me."

"You." I pulled my gaze away from his baby blues. "I can't shoot with you so close."

Roger's laugh was deep, husky, and I didn't expect him to tug at my pants. But he did—a good pull back—and I squealed in response. "Think of it as a distraction," he said. "You need to be ready for any distractions."

Oh, right, because this is a normal distraction...

"Okay." My finger hovered over the trigger. "I'll prepare myself in case any Host wants to grope me up, and—" I turned my gun at him, a devilish smirk on my face. "—I'll shoot them in the face."

"Woah, woah, woah." Roger laughed nervously, hands raised, as he took three steps back from me. "Don't shoot teacher."

"I'd never," I said, turning back.

And just like he'd taught me, I fired the gun three times—bang, bang, bang. Two of the bullets that left my gun hit the shoulders of the armless 'men,' and the last went through the cheek of one, out the back, and into the forehead of the shorter dummy behind it.

Damn.

I almost squealed in delight, but instead, composed myself and held up my gun—you know, like the badass I was.

"Now, that's perfection. To think, you were dead set on not trying again." Roger wrapped his arms tightly around me, and my hands found his. Our fingers linked quickly, my chest to his back.

With us so close, I tried to focus on the dummies I'd shot, but I couldn't help but think of the negative, like their flat death. "Do you think we could still do this..." I chewed on my lip. "You know, out there?"

Roger rested his chin on the top of my head. "You say that like I'm an alien."

"Yeah, but...." My voice trailed off as I shut my eyes. I squeezed his hands, afraid to let go. The way he shifted closer to me, the quiet echo of his sigh, I knew he felt what I was going to say.

In here, just us two, everything was normal, but out there? Physically, he appeared human. Internally was the problem. With his body composed of tiny little machines, he wasn't human at all...

Could we still...

I shook my head and closed my eyes as I shook away the thoughts. No—no more negatives, Clara. "I'm just overthinking it, right, Roger?"

I turned my head to look at him, but parts of his face blurred out of focus when I blinked. Confused, I stepped away from him. "Roger?" I reached out to touch him, but I thought my hand went through him. "What's... going on?"

A force pulled at my chest. Air pushed out of me. In seconds, my legs gave out. I crashed down to my knees, then my chest met the pavement, like I'd lost the fight with gravity.

"Clara!"

Roger's image swirled above me, so distorted, it made me sick. I squeezed my eyes shut rather than look at him; I held my breath to keep calm. But the fact that he cursed under his breath and pressed his hands to my back, I couldn't; I panicked.

"Roger," I groaned and felt tears slip out from my eyes. My hands slid up over the gravel. I tried to find him, any part of him, but my fingers came back empty.

"Shit!" When I opened my eyes, Roger stood, like a shadow shifting through darkness; like a ghost between dimensions. The gun range we'd stood in was gone; the sky was white, blank, and endless. The breath I tried to take in left my lungs with the driest of heaves, because there was no oxygen. There was no ground. I was neither floating nor falling; I was nothing.

"Clara, hold on." I heard Roger speak. The echo of my cry followed.

"Just hold on!" he shouted this time, louder, more frantic. But his voice phased out, drifting away with a wind that swooped in cold, just like when we'd first arrived. And when I tried to focus my eyes, I saw...

Nothing.