When Ami finally had enough courage to open her eyes again, she saw something familiar. She was on the ground again, but from underneath her armpit, she saw the fragile flickering glow of the interior tree trunk she had spent that long night inside of only a few days before. There was a slight rustling around her and she knew she was not alone.

She lifted her head, only a little, and felt the familiar weight of Charlie's coat on her shoulders. He had brought her here - somewhere safe. Ami finally tilted her head up to meet the familiar honey eyes of the melancholy Hologuard.

He sat cross-legged in front of her, barely fitting in the perimeter of the huge holographic tree trunk with his long legs. His hands twisted around each other with anxiety and Ami watched silently as he avoided her gaze.

"Why are you so nice to me?" Ami heard herself ask, but she was surprised at the words as they left her mouth.

"Huh?" Charlie asked with a quiet start. He then shook his head, confused.

Ami paused in consideration.

"You're a Hologuard. You shouldn't even be talking to me to begin with," she bit her lip, "Yet here you are, giving me tea, putting your coat on my shoulders, giving me a lens."

Charlie's brows furrowed, then he shook his head slowly. He raised his arm up, gently pushing her light hairs away from her face. Ami felt herself cringe away from his touch, but only from surprise. She relaxed again though as he pulled his hand away, revealing the lens that had been secure in her right ear.

There was a soft beep as Charlie turned the device off in his palm.

"It's... It's not safe to talk with it on," He said in a hushed voice.

Ami felt her fists begin to clench. "And why is that, Charlie?"

Ami watched him flinch at his own name.

"They... They told me to give it to you."

"Who? Who told you?" Ami said, feeling her voice raise far past the digital tree trunk. A small virtual bird flew from above her head in surprise.

Charlie's palm shot to her mouth, covering it. His eyes were wide with fear.

"Please. Please be quiet," he pleaded. His hands slowly dropped to his lap as Ami relaxed. As angry, as frustrated as she was, she needed an explanation.

"Then talk," she spat.

"I... I don't know where to start," Charlie shook his head, then turned his face upwards, looking to the tangle of delicate digital branches above. "You may have not noticed me, but I've been watching you for a while - no... That came out wrong."

Ami watched as he flicked his fingers through the digital grass at their feet, trying to find the words to continue.

"Ami. You may not know this, but you have this aura about you. It's hard to explain. It's like you're not from this world."

Ami suppressed the chuckle in her throat with an awkward cough.

"I'm serious," Charlie urged in a whisper, "I just... couldn't keep my eyes off of you. I wanted to talk to you. Get to know you. Even if you hated me. Even if you thought I was annoying. I just wanted to... I don't know... be in your life," He cringed at his own words as they left his mouth. "That... That came out even more embarrassing than I had wanted it to."

Ami watched as he held his hands to his face, hiding himself.

"I just - I just never got the courage. So when they came to me, with a special assignment - to get to know more about you... I took it... I took it. It was my chance to finally talk to the mysterious girl who sat on my park bench every day. This girl with glittering white hair and clear blue eyes who had never once even looked in my direction... I... I am so sorry Ami," he spoke through his fingers.

"Who... Who gave you this assignment? The people who hired you as a Hologuard?"

"I... I don't know. They were higher up. We don't get names. Just assignments." He shook his head.

"So what do you know?"

Ami watched as Charlie sat quietly for a long moment, still anxiously twisting his fingers in his hands.

"They told me to watch you, to talk to you. Then came the day I saw you hiding in the park - when you got locked out of your flat... I had watched you come in and hide in the tree - this tree. I... I told them what had happened - through my lens.

"When you first fell asleep, they told me I had to... I had to..." he trailed off.

"You had to what?" Ami breathed.

It was all coming back to her - waking up to that white room, not a muscle moved in the night.

Charlie was hiding again, behind his hands.

"They... they had me drug you."

Ami wanted to scream, to cry out, but she didn't. She couldn't.

"I didn't want to do it - but they gave me no choice - It was either sedate you with the needle as you fell asleep or they would take you away to the tower. They said you were dangerous... "

"I am dangerous."

It was starting to make sense now. The pieces were coming together.

Optica employed the Hologuards - all of them in the city. They were one in the same. They would want Ami to think she had slept through the night - not a muscle moved. They would want her to get comfortable with the idea that maybe she shouldn't lock her door at night. They wanted to have the monster roam the streets at night - but why?

"I... I don't understand," Charlie stuttered.

So then Ami told him everything, or at least everything she knew. She told him about that night in her childhood - the blood on the floor, and seeing the night sky for the last time. She told him about the years - decades - trapped inside the pods with the other children. She told him about the Optica soldiers "rescuing" her.

Ami felt her throat get tight as she told him about walking again - and how they electrocuted her whenever she tried to use the bar for support. They brought her into the city, gave her a place to live, gave her credits to feed herself though the chip they implanted in her wrist. Then silence.

Charlie watched, eyes intense, as Ami told him about the bruises on her legs, and the bizarre nights. She told him about waking up in the middle of the city some mornings and finding blood on her hands.

She told him about installing the cameras, and what they showed happened at night. She paused, waiting for some sort of reaction from Charlie, but he only silently nodded.

"... Crazy, right?" she whispered in the silence.

"Ami..." Charlie breathed.

Ami watched as Charlie took Ami's hands, which had been unconsciously balled into tight fists as she told her story. He took her hands, curling her nails away from her palms, and placed them between his own.

Charlie's hands were a warm contrast to her clammy ones. She wasn't brave enough to meet him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry," he spoke softly, "I... I'm sorry for lying to you. It's the last thing you needed."

There was another moment, another pause, for Ami to consider his words. As much as she wanted to be mad at Charlie, she couldn't. He was just a piece in their game.

So was she.

A flock of virtual birds broke the moment as they flew through the branches above. Ami's head jerked up in surprise. The sky was turning the familiar orange hue from the usual bright blue as the clouds rolled above.

Charlie seemed to notice her distraction.

"Let me walk you back home. It's gotten dangerous out there," he paused, "Please."

Ami nodded in response as she stood for the first time in what was probably hours. Her knees clicked in protest as she stretched her arms over her shoulders.

Time to be brave again.