#corrupt!data

Withdrawing his hand, the journal-embodiment looked at the electricity encircling his fingers and palm, his grin only broadening. As he watched, his from became solid again, the glitching subsiding as his coding stabilized. After destroying the Datascape, this was the only way he could maintain his form, by leaching energy from electrical devices, or if times were desperate, from living things. The rush of energy was like a high, and his grin turned into a twisted smile. He clenched his fist, the electricity crackling around it, reflecting in his eyes.

This power was what he existed for. His original purpose had been to protect and maintain the hidden memories of Jiminy's Journal, little more than a vessel to hold the hurt and suffering of those tied to them. Being a host to those painful memories, however, eventually broke the Guardian, driving him to insanity. In that weakened state he couldn't resist a second Blox infection, and had succumbed to it. He destroyed the Datascape with his bare hands, murdering everyone inside of it, before he escaped into the Real World. The infection allowed him to exist outside of the Datascape indefinitely, by providing him the ability to feed off of the energy around him.

His new purpose was to spread the infection, and to hunt down those in the memories and kill them. With them gone, the memories would fade, and he would be free from this endless torment. Maybe once their hurt was over forever, he could finally escape the pain of the infection and fade away peacefully; his existence was nothing but suffering and torment. Every waking moment was filled with hurt, the Guardian's fractured mind controlled by the Bug Blox which infested his body; little more than a slave to their whims.

Data's thoughts were broken by the sound of footsteps near him, a human obviously intrigued by his presence. Another grin appeared on his face. Perfect. He absorbed the rest of the electricity into his body, his arm falling limp to his side. Turning his head, his gleaming eyes soon spotted the human. He was in his late teens or early twenties, with black hair and violet eyes, mostly unaware of him; an easy target. The Guardian chuckled to himself, summoning Soul Eater in a flash of red binary.

The human didn't have a chance to react. It was as if Data had vanished and reappeared in front of him; all the human saw before the attack was the Guardian's twisted smile and glowing eyes. With an unearthly grace, Data had pinned the human to the wall of a nearby building with Soul Eater, the weapon driven right through the human's shoulder. His scream of pain was cut off as Data's free hand wrapped around the man's throat, choking him. The human's panicked eyes met the Guardian's; there was no remorse, only a sadistic sort of pleasure and a shadow of pain playing through the journal embodiment's featureless eyes.

A dark laugh built in Data's throat, tightening his grip on the human's neck. A whimper of pain escaped the man, his body shaking from a combination of fear and shock. Knowing the other residents of the town had likely heard the man's first scream, Data decided to end this quickly. The crackle of electricity filled the air, tendrils of white and red lightning encircling his hands as the Dark Thundaga spell gathered strength. The human seemed to sense that he was about to die, and in a moment of desperation had pulled a knife from his pocket, slashing it across Data's chest.

Normally Data was immune to pain, but by blind luck the human's blade had contacted the Blox imbedded into his chest. The Guardian's garbled scream of pain was drowned out by the buzz of his body as his form flickered; his human form vanished for a brief moment, replaced by a shadowy mass streaked with glowing red lines surrounded by red and blue binary. Originally-featureless eyes now appeared human, filled with panic and pain, as the Guardian's true personality shown through for the briefest of moments.

"R-run!" he hissed out through the pain, pulling Soul Eater from the human's shoulder and staggering backwards. Desperately, he tried to fight off the infection, his form sputtering and shifting between binary, the infection and his human form. He could feel the infection's grasp tightening on his mind and heart again, screaming from the pain before it gained control again.

The human hesitated a moment before he bolted, leaving the Guardian's sight right as his eyes returned to the unfeeling orbs they had been previously. An inhuman growl escaped him, the infection angry that Data was still trying to resist. Glowing eyes traveled down to the blade clutched in his hand, watching the crimson blood drip from the tip down to the dust. With a halfhearted motion, he spun the blade in his hand, removing most of the blood from the blade. The crooked grin returned, Soul Eater dissipating into red binary, before he continued down the path he had been walking.

In this living prison, the Guardian could only watch as his body and mind were warped and controlled by the Blox, leaving his heart a captive in his own body. The only reason his heart hadn't been consumed by the infection was because the Blox was aware that he needed a heart to exist in the real world, and that the moment another way was discovered, his heart would be destroyed, erasing the last trace of his original personality.