Tangible (Yandere Elijah Kamski x Reader)

Six

"All right, what the fuck did you do, you idiot?" Gavin's rough voice was half amused, not fully grasping how distraught his older brother felt. "Gotta say, not the best feeling when you call me out of nowhere and immediately say that you fucked up." He paused. "Mom's okay, right? Everything kosher?"

"Y-yeah. She's... good. She's okay." Laying on his bed, Elijah stared at the ceiling, eyes red.

"Okay, so... what's up? This about your research?"

"No. Not exactly."

"... that doesn't tell me shit. Dude, just say it, c'mon." When he still got no answer, Gavin had to sit down. "How bad is bad?"

"Scale of one to ten? Fifty."

"Ouch."

"Thousand."

"Eli, for fuck's sake, what happened?"

"I got pissed off and snapped at Vi. Chewed her out and hurt her pretty bad. Now... n-now I can't get her to come back...." His voice was thick, trying to speak around the stupid lump forming.

The silence was awful. "...... you goddamn fucking dumbass. Of all people, you snap at her? What the fuck?! What'd you say?!"

"...... I told her to take her concern and shove it up her ass. That she was a machine and couldn't care in the first place. Also threatened to wipe her hard drive entirely."

Sighing heavily, the younger sibling was at least glad he was sitting down. "I'll kill you for her. That's fucking awful, dude, why would you say that shit? You know how much she cares."

"I know, all right?! I'm a bastard, I know that, I'm an arrogant, cocksucking bastard and I don't deserve jack shit!!" Tears flowing down the sides of his head, Eli's mouth worked. "I just... I feel so fucking awful. I'm frustrated with this whole lack of actual progress, and... I took it out on her."

"So this just happened?"

"Y-yeah. She was... trying to convince me to go home, cause it was late... I just..." Squeezing his eyes shut, your creator exhaled with an unsteady breath. "Gav, what do I do?"

"Okay, first of all, you're asking me why? Because you think she'll sabotage all your work?"

"I don't care about my work, for fuck's sake, I just wanna apologize to her."

Though he could not physically see it, he knew his younger brother was grinning. "All right, good. Well, fuck if I know. I don't know shit about fuck with technology, dude, you know that." Elijah's chest heaved as his body tried to succumb to his upset. "Buuuuuut. Considering the shit you said, I suggest you make it up to her as a being and not your assistant."

Making it up to you made all the sense in the world, but... "How am I supposed to make it up to someone that doesn't have a body, Gav?"

"You're the genius. Do something on the computer. Doesn't have to be physical, right? Just something for her. Only her. Otherwise it'll come off as shit. You can't afford to lose her, man."

"I know. Trust me, I know."

[ 01010110 01001001 ]

It wasn't that sleep would not come easily; it simply wasn't coming. Guilt chewed at the edges of his mind every time Elijah closed his eyes, and it was well past four in the morning before he simply gave up and climbed out of bed.

Seated at the kitchen island, piping hot coffee cradled in his hands, the human stared at his open laptop with aching eyes. There were a few more attempts made to get your attention, quietly, but either you ignored them or had tucked yourself away in some forgotten folder to hide.

God, I can't believe I said that shit... no wonder she won't respond. I'd avoid me, too.

"Vi, where are you hiding...?" he mumbled to nobody. Typically, it would be easy to search for you in the system. But your creator hadn't anticipated you purposely hiding from him, and you were just as intelligent.

She has nowhere to go. I'm sure if I poured through every damn file, I'd find her. And that's not sitting right with me.

... she's got no space of her own.

The drained expression lining Eli's young face gradually faded, replaced with a look of unadulterated concentration that only ever showed when he was onto something huge. Taking a long swig of the coffee, he pushed his glasses back up his nose before pulling up his search engine, his thought process speeding like a bullet train: nothing and no one could stop him.

[ 01010110 01001001 ]

"Elijah, did you even go to the lab today?" His mother made her way into the kitchen a few hours later, having gotten some much-needed assistance to get ready with the machinery CyberLife had developed. When she received no answer, not even a glance in her direction, she had to lay a hand on his arm to snap him out of his focus. "Honey. What's wrong?"

"--what? Shit, uh-- oops, sorry, Mom. I... ugh." The glasses were removed so he could rub his early-morning greasy face. "No, I haven't gone to the lab. I probably won't, not today. Haven't slept."

Sleepless nights came occasionally when he could not turn his brain off, but this was different. "What happened, then? Are you and Gavin fighting?"

Shaking his head, Elijah sighed and sat back. "I... did something bad." He paused, body tensing. "Promise not to get mad?"

Smiling, she backed up a little bit and slid herself into the chair beside him. "Talk to me, hon."

"I snapped at Vi, said some sh--... stuff that I shouldn't have, and... now she won't come out."

Arms crossing over her chest, he realized that yes, yes his mother was mad. "I'm assuming you already talked to Gavin about this?" He nodded. "Good." Smacking him upside the head, she added, "That's from him."

"That's fair..." Eli groaned, rubbing his skull.

"Elijah, what on Earth got into you? If she isn't showing up, then there's more to it than you're letting on. Sweetheart, you made someone incredible; you shouldn't take that for granted. And I'm not just talking about her being your assistant." A hand laid over his own, squeezing it. "You said she was the start of this android thing, right?"

"Yeah. Once we figure out a functioning body, I can take her programming to put into the physical form."

Much to his relief, she had a smile on her face. "I hope you realize what you've created, Eli. Because she isn't a computer anymore. Even before you changed her from that boy version, he was showing signs of life, too."

"Connor?"

"Yes. I don't know what kind of algorithms you gave them, but if they're continuously learning and evolving, they'll only get so far before they develop things you never intended."

"... I may have told Vi that she couldn't care because she was just a machine."

God, the glare from his mother was horrifying. "Then you'd better give her the world for that damned mouth of yours, Elijah. That girl has every right to avoid you right now."

[Thank you, Rebekah.]

Your sudden words made your creator flinch, but his mother only smiled before sliding back into her wheelchair. "You're welcome, sweetheart. You let Gavin and I know if you feel like his efforts aren't enough, okay?"

[I will.]