Oneshot for a competition. My assigned theme was envy. Enjoy.
A.I. sat in the corner, glowing brightly, a beacon of light in a sea of terrible black. Dark shadows warped the room, twisting the world out of shape. That was how he felt now...twisted.
Wrong.
Raising a thin hand, he looked at it with narrowed eyes, before clenching it. He couldn't feel anything. No touch, no taste; no way to live...because he was not alive. Not alive...
What would have been his stomach churned violently, and a strange fury overcame him. Fire burned in the depths of his light reaching out to consume him, drag him down to the corrupted pit of his soul. It wasn't fair. Why was he the way he was, born of torture and hatred and sorrow? Why could he not feel anything other than envy to everything he encountered? When it was broken, he was harvested, the fragment of envy and jealousy. Condemned to exist caught between two worlds, he forever looked on to the land of the living, walking amongst them like a ghost.
Condemned to hate them simply because he was not what they were.
The A.I. stood, unable to contain himself any longer. His host, a calm, quiet female, lay not far from him. She was asleep on a sofa, her arm hanging down so that her hand just touched the grimy carpet. The A.I. flickered across the room, his deep green glow highlighting her slumbering form.
She was beautiful, and he worshipped the ground she walked on. Her hair, mahogany brown fell in soft waves around her heart shaped face. Bruises were dotted across her creamy skin like purple blossom petals where she had fought earlier that day. He had saved her life, keeping her updated on enemy positions...but not once had she thanked him. She took him for granted.
The A.I. moved away from her, his glow staining her perfect body green. He felt like he was sharing his conflicting emotions and did not want to corrupt her with it. It was his burden to bear, for how could she understand? She was human.
"Human," he murmured, his colour flickering through different shades as his mood changed. Love changed to resentment as he watched her with envious eyes. If only he could have one day to trade places with her...
But perhaps...
No one had ever said an A.I. could not learn to touch.
He changed his shape, growing until he was the same size as her, dimming his light so he would not wake her, and then knelt down beside her, pausing. Then he reached out to stroke her face.
Maybe it was hope on his part, but for the briefest of moments, he thought he could feel something. Not that he knew what feeling felt like, but if that was it then he had indeed touched her. Staring at her pink, full lips, the A.I. realised this would be the only chance he had – the only time he would dare to do it. Leaning slowly towards his host, he pressed his holographic lips against hers.
The sensation was astounding, although he couldn't be sure if it was merely his imagination. Whatever it was, though, it was the most exhilarating experience of his existence.
The Freelancer stirred beneath her, and he panicked, pulling away from her and quickly returning to the A.I. slot in her armour. The sensation was gone, never to return again. He felt a fresh wave of fury and disgust wash over him, watching her and hating her for everything she had. If only, if only, if onl—
"Beta?"
Beta stared as his Freelancer sat up, dazed.
"I'm here, Kansas," he said soothingly, the anger and self-loathing within him dying down immediately. "What's wrong?"
"I thought I..." she began, before shaking her head. "Nothing."
There was a long pause as the Freelancer tried to collect her thoughts.
"Beta," she said finally.
"Yes?"
"I never thanked you for today. I don't know what I'd do without you. You're so important to me. So...thank you. For everything."
Beta smiled sadly.
"Go back to sleep."