001 __ ( THE GRID )

[isomorphology]

The Grid looks the same day after day, cycle after cycle. Sleek black roads and buildings with glowing lines of energy to decorate them. TRON City is at the heart of the Grid. The skyline doesn't quite go on forever, broken up by the mountains of the Outlands. To the far distance is the Portal - the way out of the Grid. Only one person ever used it: Kevin Flynn. The Creator. Then, his son, Sam Flynn.

Quorra is standing in the roads of the city, looking up at the rain that seems to always fall. She's out of the Grid now. Free to explore the User world. In her dreams, she always returns to the city. She can't tell if it's before or after CLU took over, but it's always empty. Alone in a ghost city. Maybe it's because she's the only remaining ISO.

She sighs and leans against one of the railings of the road.

Comments

[waterfell]

"Not if it stays here in your dreams," Mercury agrees. It's an interesting thought of its own: that a program could dream. She's becoming more and more intrigued.

[isomorphology]

She shakes her head. "Not just in my dreams."

[waterfell]

No; the advice had been for all times and places. But in the dream world, it's especially visible, and clear.

"So what will you do next?" You've lost things, Quorra. What now?

[isomorphology]

"I'm moving forward." She speaks softly. "There's something I'm supposed to do... and I'm going to find out what that is. With Sam."

[waterfell]

In a strange way, she can understand that. She has a future. There are people who believe there is something good she can still do.

A part of her wants to find it.

Good luck.

"It's not something someone else can give you," she cautions, thinking of the expectations always put on her: by her mother, by teachers, by the Dark Kingdom, by the hospital. She had to find her own reasons.

[isomorphology]

"He's not giving me anything." Quorra shakes her head, trying to be a bit more specific. "We're working on it together."

[waterfell]

One more warning, because she's never been good at believing in altruism. "You should consider what he wants from it as well."

[isomorphology]

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "We both want to fulfill his father's dream."

[waterfell]

"Parental loyalty? However, he isn't your parent." Ami points this out reasonably. Even parental loyalty... she possesses it, but she'd learned she needed her own reasons, to choose her path for herself, too.

[isomorphology]

"That doesn't matter." Quorra says pointedly. Flynn saved her, protected her, taught her. ISOs didn't have parents, and he was the closest thing she had.

[waterfell]

There's no one who could replace her biological parents, for her. But she's come to truly see Cloud as a brother in her dreams, and she knows in some worlds, Tomoe Hotaru was raised the outer senshi, like a family.

"It's more like an adoptive family," she considers.

[isomorphology]

She nods. "Yes. He found me and took me in... Sam would call it a rescue."

[waterfell]

"You're in his debt." It's for Quorra to decide whether this is a good thing, or better avoided. Kunzite, Mercury knows, would rather die than be indebted to Chiba Mamoru - Endymion.

[isomorphology]

Quorra then shook her head. "No. It's never a debt. He never saw it that way. If anything... he was trying to apologize for what happened, I guess. I never saw it like that."

[waterfell]

The intent doesn't change the situation, though, and it's still an inequality, an obligation Quorra will feel now.

Or at least, Ami, quick to seek out these things, assumes.

"Repayment, then?" she asks.

[isomorphology]

It's an obligation she's gladly taking on. Something to make sure that Flynn's dream didn't die with him. She's the last ISO. There has to be a reason why she's the last.

"No. It's ensuring his dream lives on."

[waterfell]

She can understand that, continuity and loyalty to a benefactor or a parent. A parent figure. Duty.

"It's what you decided for yourself?" she confirms, because while Quorra gives every impression of it being the case, it's important.

[isomorphology]

"Yes." She said softly. She and Sam both agreed, but it was what they both wanted to do.

[waterfell]

"Then good luck to you." It's rare for those words to be devoid of sarcasm like this.

[isomorphology]

She smiles a bit. "Thank you."

[waterfell]

"When you wake up, bring it about." It sounds almost like an order in those words and that tone.

[isomorphology]

"Why are you so concerned about it? Did something happen?"

[waterfell]

"No. There's just no reason for you to let go of it." She'd drive herself to the very ends of the earth to keep what she's won and what she wants for herself.

[isomorphology]

She tilts her head slightly, really wondering what prompted the responses from the other woman. Not that she'd tell her. Quorra wouldn't expect her too. Even if she is curious.

[waterfell]

It's nothing, she'd say. She just prefers strong methods.

"Nothing will be given to you that you don't take for yourself," she says instead.