Forgive Me ||Daniel x Reader|| DBH

Chapter Twelve: Solitude Was The Only Logical Ending

Quinn was met with the loneliness of her apartment. The big city of Detroit, bustling with cars, androids, and people, all seemed so desolate from high up in her apartment. Carrying her laptop under her arm, she set it down and updated her calendar. July 17th. Her black marker crossed off the day. The day she killed her friend. She stole his soul. Now he was just an empty shell. Even though she didn't delete all of his software instability, it still felt like all hope was lost.
She thought back over the terrible events:
Daniel powered back up, biocomponents whirring and breath filling his faux lungs. With LED circling it's calming blue, the PL600 opened his eyes. "Hello, Miss Carter."
His expressions were false. Not genuine like they used to be. His sweet smile was replaced with a mechanical one, and his used-to-be meaningful eyes lacked life. They looked dead is their sockets, glazed over with inhumane obedience.
The man she loved was gone. He was replaced with an emotionless machine. Quinn's being welled with emptiness. It was all her doing. She didn't have to delete him. But she did.
All that was left of the true Daniel, the Daniel who loved Emma and loved Quinn, was just a fragment of instability in his coding. Just a zero or a one out of place in his program. Nonetheless, it was still hope, but Quinn disregarded that. It took him years to fully deviate. Now it seemed as though she would never get her Daniel back.
"Are you okay, Miss Carter?"
Her red eyes met those of the android, "I told you to call me 'Quinn.' Remember?"
"I'm sorry, Miss Quinn. It won't happen again."
"No," she wiped her nose, "Just 'Quinn.'"
"Okay, Quinn. I like that name."
A tear glistened down her cheek, "Thank you."
"What's wrong, Quinn?"
"It's nothing you should worry yourself with."
"Of course not. I'm an android. I don't worry. I'm just trying to help."
Tears dropped down her cheeks. He was gone.
His hand encompassed her own. Looking up at him, more tears continued to flow. It was what she had to do. She couldn't risk the safety of the Phillipses to safe Daniel's emotions.
Little did she know, that single digit out of place in his program was screaming and prying at his mind palace. Alerts clouded his vision. Daniel tried his best to ignore the intense confusion that was coursing through his program. He almost felt panicked. Still, he kept a calm demeanor.
Sof̛tw͞ar͜e͠ ͠I҉n̷st͟ab́ility ҉
"I have to go home now," her blunt words struck Daniel.
"I thought you were staying till ten?" His voice snapped back to an almost normal tone.
Her lip quivered, "Why do you care?"
He thought. What was happening to him?

S̶͐̋̄͋ͪ̅͠oͮ͆ͫ̍̓͡f͆̐ͦ̎͛̄̊̚̕t̷ͧ̑̂̉ͧͭͭͬ̎͝w͋̉ͧ̋̍ǎ͋͐r̶̸ͯ̔̆͡e̶ͣͩ̾̈́͆͊̇ ̨̽̔́̐̀Īͣ̊̂ͬͭͫͨ҉̷̡n̢̎̾̕s̵̢͌̓ţ̵̍ͬ̍ͯa̅͒b̸ͬ͌͋ͤͥ̔ͥ͏ȋ̶̑͋ͮ̒̓̇͠l̴͋̅҉iͭ̍t̨̛͋͊̅͂͒͛ͯ̄̚ỹ̢̒͂̽̓͗͡͠ ̀͡
"Because.... you're my friend." Fragments of he's memory played in his mind palace like an old movie. What had happened? It was probably just a glitch. He figured Quinn must have fixed it already.
"I'm sorry?"
Daniel looked at his hands, "Remember in the elevator?"
She hurried over to him, lifting his chin to look into his eyes. They showed a brief flash of humanity, followed by a yellow blink of his LED. But just a soon as it appeared, it was gone.
Quinn slumped, her forehead landing on Daniel's chest.
"I'm sorry, Miss Quinn. Thank you for helping me with Emma tonight. I won't hold you up any longer." Robotic inflection returned to his demeanor.
Exhausted from her emotional roller coaster, Quinn said her goodbyes and left. Her eyes filled with tears when she stood alone in the elevator. It had become their habit to walk home together. After all she had done, solitude was the only answer. She couldn't risk screwing up anything else. She had to choose between two evils and she was unsure she made the right choice.
Now she would return home alone, live alone, and stay alone. She was back to her lonely little life. The only difference now was that she couldn't kid herself into thinking that she's fine.
The realization that Daniel was gone had hit her like a bus. Even though that was around a half hour ago, she still felt like she was suffocating. Her hand was still placed on her calendar, the link of her marker dripping past the papers fibers and bleeding through several sheets.
Daniel was taking her apart like bad glue on a get-well card. She just need some time to be alone and mourn her loss. He stood right in front of her, but the real Daniel was gone. She saw it in his eyes. There was a flicker of him left, but seeing that almost hurt her more. She just needed some time. Or maybe she'd never get over it.