9

“For now, I’m going to shut you down, let your power cells recharge. There’s a chance you’ll regain some movement from that alone and you need some rest. This repair is going to take some time, there’s no need to rush.”

As taehyung fiddled with his controls Jeongguk felt uneasy, but he also felt—calm. He felt he wanted this. Which didn’t make any sense. He was afraid, he was scared, those were feelings he was accustomed to. Taehyung —Taehyung made him feel things he never thought he could feel. Not that he could, that was something he was told he could never do.

            “He won’t feel a thing.”

He

didn’t

know

how

to

feel.

“Goodnight, little songbird.”

            Shutdown initiated…

Goodnight Taehyung.

            Shutting down…

            Shutting down…

            Shutting down…

            Shutdown successful…

            Powering down…

            Recharging power cells…

            Goodnight Jeong-Guk.

While Jeongguk slept, his mind didn’t rest. Dreams, or visions, flooded his subconscious whether he wanted them to or not, the same dreams he had seen over a hundred times before. For some reason they all involved the little boy, but always from a distance. Jeongguk watched him ride his bright red bike for the first time, watched him fly that butterfly kite his got for his birthday, each moment he watched him he felt his heart swell. He saw the little boy grow day by day caring about nothing apart from seeing him smile, because that smile made everything worthwhile.

There was only one moment that Jeongguk dreaded, one that he could never escape from. One he could recall with utmost clarity. A city going up in smoke, a utopian society falling to its knees, a dynasty coming to an end. The cries of civilization being strangled by the corruption of progress. But Jeongguk didn’t care about any of that, he didn’t care that Hell had opened up to drag him into the fiery pit, the only thing that mattered to him was the little boy screaming in terror.

              “I promise you’ll be safe.”

It began with Jeongguk running up a set of seemingly endless stairs to save the one person worth saving. Each second dragged into the next, each step was a mile further than the one before it, smoke filled his lungs and fatigue coursed through his bones. The boy’s terrified screams were the only thing spurring him forward, the only thing keeping him from losing what little control he had.

As he came to the last step he didn’t stop, he barrelled into the wall and didn’t care how his shoulder screamed in pain. Stumbling over his feet he charged down the hallway, his heart breaking at the sound of the little boy’s cries. What a cruel world he was born into, one that would see children orphaned and loved ones widowed, one that valued progress over life, one that never cared about him in the first place.

              “He won’t feel a thing.”

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