Connor's LED was now glowing blue again, flickering as he watched the trees blur by. The thirium flowing from his wounds had slowed to a near stop, and his mind was a bit clearer now, but he still felt...off. Confused... Lost. He still wondered why he had been shot if the deviant had ment no harm. He still questioned his lack of control over his own body. He still couldn't understand why he was so...-afraid?-of returning to CyberLife, even only for repairs. He contemplated having things to contemplate about... things used to be easier...

His thoughts, however, were interrupted by an unbearable sensation in his head that he failed to identify. His LED raged red, flicking like fire. His hand rushed to his head, holding the feeling, trying desperately to figure out what was happening.

It wasn't hot, nor cold, but almost both and neither at the same time. It wasn't fear, or sadness, or happiness-it wasn't an emotion. Was it blood loss? Head damage? Something was clearly wrong, as this was in no way pleasant.

Nothing had ever felt so wrong in his life.

It almost felt like a ringing, so loud that he couldn't force himself to do anything but hold his head, he couldn't think about anything other than how to stop it. He couldn't think, he couldn't hear, he couldn't speak-

He was immobilized.

He was scared and the not-noise-noise was taking control of him, he couldn't stop it, he couldn't-he couldn't-

"CONNOR!"

And the sensation was gone.

Connor gasped, as though he had been pulled out of terrible waters that had been pulling him down and suffocating him. His arms flailed, searching for the voice that had pulled him out of it. They found their target-Hank-who pulled him closer for a moment before pushing him back to look at him.

"Connor, are you okay? What happened?"

Instead of admitting that he didn't have an answer, Connor looked around, took in his location.

Hank had pulled over on the side of the road and gotten out, and was now squatting down next to him outside of the car. And far behind him was a forest...with trees...and birds...

"Connor!"

Connor snapped back into reality. "I...I don't know..."

"Well you didn't curl into a ball and start crying for nothing, Connor." Hank's tone was pressing.

Connor blinked. "I was crying?" He touched his cheek, discovering that not only had he been crying, the tears were still flowing. "I was crying..."

"What happened? Are you hurt...more?" Hank shook his head a bit, maintaining eye contact with his son, holding his head in his hands.

"...hurt...?" Connor blinked, perplexed. Had the "noise" been...pain? It would make sense... He looked at the grass, taking this in. He, an android, had felt pain? What kind of system malfunction was this?

"Connor? Are you hurt?" Came Hank's worried voice.

Connor nodded slowly, looking back up at Hank. "I...I think I felt...pain..."

Hank looked confused. "Pain? I thought you couldn't..." he sighed. "Well, I guess I'm not to surprised. You developed emotions, why not pain?"

Connor shook his head. "That's...different. There's a reason for emotions, but this pain...I don't understand why I felt it, Hank. Nothing happened, it just...it just hurt."

"Huh," Hank grunted and started standing up. "Well, I gotta make sure you're okay, so we're gonna go to-"

"No!" Connor protested. "Please, Hank-"

"No, Connor!" Hank shouted, exasperated. "You've gotta get fixed up, there's something wrong with you and you know it. You said it yourself."

Connor took a deep breath, although his voice still came out shaky. "Listen, CyberLife won't help me, they'll only shu-shut me down," he choked. "I'm sure they've already replaced me."

Hank sighed, bending back down. "Look, Connor, I know you're scared, and you have a point, but you can't live with bullet holes and migraines for the rest of your life."

"Hank, I'll be okay," Connor looked Hank in the eye. "Just take me home, and I promise, the next thing that goes wrong you can take me to get fixed."

Hank sighed. "Fine. One more chance," he said holding up one finger, "only because I don't want you having another panic attack." Connor nodded as Hank walked to the other side of the car, got in, and drove home.

A/N: Thank you to fandombloggingaddict for their kind review and motivated me to continue! I was going to start something new as well, whcih I still will, but after I finish this :) Thank you to all readers!