Hiro sat there on the landing, to the closed front door. All he had to do, was step outside and he would have his cure. He thought back to Billy... that kid, did he know how lucky he was? Hiro had to endure most of the inadequacies of his transformation alone. His parents... meant well, but... that was it. They couldn't help him. Getting a digital fairy to try and fix things, netted him more trouble then it was worth...
...Though it brought Riko. His own digital fairy... which had become his friend and companion. Hiro never really had someone like that. He felt ashamed now, that he thought of them as tools to be used... to offer his bandwidth in return for their continued existence. He tried to disguise it as simply business, but there was no way he could deny, he had tried to dominate them.
Sure... he defended it. It was because he needed them. He thought they would help his processing ability, and be a bit more of an equal in an internet dominated by artificial life. Hiro was a hybrid of artificial and biological life... looked down upon for it. He could see it every time they teased him when they found out about his nature in the chat rooms.
... he didn't belong in either world. Repulsed by the real world, and mocked at by the internet... just how was he better off? In his mind he keyed the advantages and disadvantages of his current state, into a small text file. He looked over it sadly...
There were certainly a lot of advantages to his form. He was stronger, faster, smarter, able to alter his very memory and state of thinking... absolute emotional control (which he never did any more- but the option was there)... and of course, interacting with the internet in a way only artificial life generally could...
... but he only had to look into a mirror, to see why he hated himself. Max was even afraid of him, at first... until he tried to talk to her. The idea that she might even could share a kiss, with something so horrible to look at... crossed his mind. Would he ever have any friends again? Looking like a mesh of machine and man? It didn't look good at all... it was ugly.
Hiro knew how long he was motionless. Exactly one hour, and thirty two point 3 seconds. His machine parts augmented the flesh, due to the inactivity as he devoted so much of his processing power, at the dilemma he faced.
... but for all the advantages his form offered.. he was not strong enough to accept being this as the price. He felt so alone- so out of touch from the rest of the world... where how he looked would define everything. Could he even get a job looking like this, let alone a girl who could love him? As much as he... liked Max, the girl could- and probably would, leave him for someone far better looking.
It would play out that way... every single time, wouldn't it? Hiro hoped he could have a girlfriend at some point in his life... and he knew, he had zero chance looking like this. For all his power... for all it offered, he lost one thing he actually hoped in his life to really have.
"Riko?" He asked quietly, as his processors came back online.
"Yes?"
"...I... I'm afraid I got to un-host you." He explained a little shakily, as his voice synthesiser kicked in putting an odd vibration.
Riko gave a sad smile. "You... going to be okay?" she asked.
"Y-yeah. Just.. a bit nervous. This is... it you know? S-should I activate the protocol... or do you want to..."
Riko looked up sadly. "I'll... do it Hiro. Initiating unhost protocol..." Riko glowed subtly, as she felt herself removed from the cyborgs processor. She connected quickly to the shared bandwidth systems, to keep herself going there. It was a little bumpy, and she was a little distorted from the lag... but she was now on the shared system.
"...Goodbye, Riko. Thanks for everything." Hiro turned away to the door.
"Hiro?" called RIko a moment.
"Yeah?"
"...EOL."
Hiro smirked just a bit and nodded. He de powered his cybernetic systems completely, feeling their sudden weight. He wanted to face the sunlight with as much of his normal body as possible...
He opened the door, and moved as quickly as he could... but without his cybernetic systems, he felt himself trip on the ground. he lurched staring at the ground...
... and waited.
Melanie stared at Jenny. Their twin natures were as night and day... the black haired girl facing the twined dark hair.
"You... you ended them! You ended us!" Melanie wailed. She collapsed into a haze of tears, even as Jenny tried to hold her.
"Please Melanie... I had no choice. They were gonna unmake the world! Everything!"
Melanie looked up shakily. "They... they were me. They were part of me. They existed in all places, and now we- they are all gone! Every single one is gone! I hate you I hate you I hate you!" The insect girl ran to her room crying.
Jenny looked upset to see Melanie like this. She didn't know what to say... she felt tears well herself. Essentially, Jenny had just killed her family... is that how it translated to her? Is that why she was so upset? But they abandoned her! They hurt her... they were going to harm everyone! What choice did she have?
Muriel stepped in, hearing this. "Let me talk to her," she said.. "You go rest dear... you've earned it."
"Y-yes mummy," she said wiping her eyes.. She didn't know what to think of that...
