The last thing Wade sees is Sorrento's angry blue eyes before she blacks out. The first thing Wade sees are familiar blue eyes that are looking at her in concern.

Wade is feeling hysterical, but a vague part of her is thinking this Sorrento is nice. He's dorky as hell and he's like an eager puppy. She likes how he makes her coffee. It's sweet and light, and he drinks it the same way. (She wonders if the Sorrento she knows drinks his black and bitter.)

Nolan is nothing like Sorrento. He brags adorably about his geeky knowledge, shows off his collections to her, and shyly talks about his family, especially his sister Charlie. Sorrento is a despicable, heartless human being. He doesn't gunt himself, he's selfish and cruel, and she swears he has no family.

Nolan and she has the same idol. They geek out together, gush over Halliday , and spend all the time together in the OASIS. They challenge each other over every game and dress up their avatars for fun. They seem to always be together when he's not at work…So she's with him when he finds out his sister overdosed.

Charlotte Sorrento is beautiful, even in death, with dark shadows under her eyes, her skin a sickly paleness. She lays like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty in her haptic feedback unit, and Wade grabs hold onto Nolan because he's not her prince, he's no one's prince. (She wondered what made sweet Nolan become cruel Sorrento. She doesn't wonder now.)

Nolan quits his job. He grieves in his home and she doesn't leave his side. He screams and curses towards the sky, and she holds him close. He lays limp and teary-eyed on his bed, and she kisses his forehead, kisses his cheeks, kisses his nose, and kisses his tears away. She pulls away, but he pulls her back. He kisses her then.

The next morning, she didn't know he'd end up finding her gone. (It isn't her fault.)

She fell asleep to warm, adoring blue eyes. She wakes to bitter, hateful eyes that look at her in confusion before utter betrayal paints his face. "You abandoned me!" She can't get the words out of her mouth. (Before, she thought it was Charlie's death that changed him, but now she realizes she was the one who'd pushed him over the edge.)

She is the one who'd made him into a monster.