Afire Love- Paladin Danse x Reader (COMPLETE)

blind betrayal, part 3

"Stand down!" Maxson boomed at the knights, who had readied their weapons. "How dare you betray the Brotherhood!" he snarled at you.
You were ready to storm right up to him and slug him across the face, and you almost did, but Danse put an arm in front of you. "It's my fault. Not hers."
You opened your mouth to protest, but Maxson spoke first. "I'll deal with you in a moment, synth. Knight, I gave you an order. Why hasn't this thing been terminated?"
"Because you're wrong!" you fired back. The vertibird's headlights shined into your eyes, the wind from its propellers brushing your hair back. "Danse is a synth, but he's more human than you'll ever be, you goddamn sociopath!" You pushed Danse's arm down and approached Maxson, looking him dead in the eye. No going back.
"That thing was programmed to be human. It was made in the cold confines of a laboratory! Machine is machine. Flesh is flesh. They were never made to intertwine! These synths have taken the sanctity of human life and corrupted it beyond control! Can't you see that?" He towered over you, yelling directly into your face, but you stood your ground. No. Going. Back.
"How could you say that about me?"Danse interrupted. His voice had taken on a deeper pitch than usual. "After everything I've done for the Brotherhood. All the blood I've spilled for you. I trusted you with my future, and this is what you give me?"
"What you spilled was a mystery chemical, not blood. Look around you. At the scorched earth and shattered bones you're walking on. Our whole world demolished, because science outpaced man's restraint. Can't you see? It's happening again! You're a single bomb in an arsenal of thousands, preparing to destroy the world for a second time."
"Are you blind?" you cried at him. "All Danse wants to do is rebuild society. I've watched him gladly put down his own kind without a second thought. He wants to free the Commonwealth. That's why he devoted his life to that cause."
"You are as delusional as you are insubordinate," he hissed, pushing you out of his face. "He has had his mind erased, his memories programmed into his head, and his very soul manufactured! How can you trust that... machine?"
"That's true. I was built in the confines of a laboratory. Some of my memories aren't even my own. But when I saw my brothers and sisters dying at my feet, I felt remorse. When we raised the signal interceptor to infiltrate the Institute, I felt pride. And when I met Knight Y/N... I felt a lot of things. I was human, Arthur. I felt human emotion. And I've never done anything to betray you. I never will," Danse spoke.
"It's too late." Maxson ignored him. "My orders still stand, Knight. Kill Paladin Danse, or I will myself." He turned to the two other knights and motioned for them to leave.
He pulled a pistol from under his leather coat and loaded it with one bullet.
Danse's eyes locked onto it and he instinctively drew his own pistol, aiming it right back at Maxson.
Maxson was quick the turn his gun back at him.
You pointed your gun at Maxson.
"I'm not going to kill him. And you sure as hell won't, either," you threatened.
He turned and saw your gun pointing at him.
"You wouldn't," he dared you.
"Of course not."
You turned the pistol so the cold metal pressed against your temple. Danse's eyes caught you and panicked, but then he did the unexpected.
He turned his gun on you.
"Synths. You can never trust them," Maxson laughed at the sight.
"Shut it!" you snapped, turning your attention to him. "Now, you have a decision to make." You drew the words out, trying to be persuasive as possible. You needed this to work. "What are you willing to sacrifice? That's the real question."
He lowered his gun slightly. You saw his grip on it relax as he began to think, a show of emotions moving across his face.
"Damn it!" he yelled suddenly. "You're always getting out of things because you know a few fancy words. Not this time."
You tightened the grip on your gun as he raised his, angling it at Danse. You started adding some pressure to the trigger. No going back. No going back. No going-
"I think the machine's served its purpose."

There was a bang.