The lines stretched on for miles, a strange sort of tribute to the late Leader. Everybody was waiting, silent, standing for hours. Benches stood on either side, waiting for aching feet to take a quick rest, and then move on.

“Wouldn’t you get so bored, just waiting in line?” Kyungsoo asked, realizing how stupid that question was almost immediately after. “Sorry, I -”

“Boredom is not one of the programmed emotions,” interrupted Kai, “nor is impatience. They could wait there forever.”

“Forever?” said Kyungsoo, horrified at the thought.

“Until something interrupted them and forced them to leave, yes. They have only one objective right now: to get inside the amusement park.”

“So if we want to get in too, then we have to wait in that enormous line?” Kyungsoo could already feel the crowd pressing in on him, suffocating him.

“Yes. There is no other entrance to the amusement park. The government doesn’t want people breaking in and stealing the formula.” Kai stated matter-of-factly.

“Which is what we’re doing.”

“Yes.”

Kyungsoo sighed, and turned back to the lines in front of them.

Sometimes it was good to have someone around – someone like Kai – who could see the plain facts laid out in front of him. If he had been alone, Kyungsoo wouldn’t have been able to think properly. He was overwhelmed with a jumble of emotions: fear, worry, hope, need, and a dreary resignation.

Sometimes it creeped him out. The blank stare on Kai’s face, the complete lack of emotional response, this inability to feel anything. At times like these, he wished he had never left home. There, everybody had emotions. There, he was safe, comfortable, and happy.

Except he hadn’t really been satisfied with his life back at home. It was almost too safe. His parents had been trying to create a perfect, invisible paradise in the middle of a broken world. Of course, he’d learned about the world outside – about the emotional blocks in people’s mind, about the evil government who’d put them there – but he had never been allowed to visit it, or even see it from afar. His parents had been so very careful not to let him out of their little enclosure.

Thinking back, Kyungsoo realized that this was probably what made him run away in the first place. He hadn’t wanted to lead such a lonely, naive life forever. So he’d escaped.

He’d escaped only to find himself in a lonelier world. Here, he was an outcast, practically an alien species. He rarely stayed in one place for more than a week, remembering his parents’ warning about what the government would do to anyone who was caught with emotions. A couple of times, he’d had to run from people who showed up to question him. It seemed that suspicion was one of the few emotions that people were allowed to have.

And so time went on and he travelled around like that, farther and farther from everything he ever knew. He learned to do many things he’d never done before, like how to spend money wisely, how to steal things, and, most importantly, how to hide his emotions around people.

But all that had changed when he met Kai.

Kai didn’t belong either. Yes, he had an emotional block like everybody else, but he knew that he had one, and he didn’t want it to be there. Kai was the first person since his parents that he could show emotion to. Sometimes, Kyungsoo even forgot that Kai was as much of a programmed robot as everybody else, but he never forgot for long.

Which was why he was here, trying to break into a high-security amusement park.

“Kai, the lines aren’t getting any shorter,” Kyungsoo said. “If we’re going to risk our lives to steal that formula, we might as well do it now.”

“I’m making a plan. Don’t disturb me.”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, exasperated.

“Stop it!”

“Stop what?” Kyungsoo retorted.

“Stop thinking. It’s distracting.”

If they hadn’t been doing this for Kai in the first place, Kyungsoo would have strangled him then and there.

After what seemed to be forever, Kai’s head snapped up. “I have it. We’ll go into the amusement park like normal people,” Kyungsoo nodded, he’d assumed as much, “but when it comes time to go into the booths, we both go into the same one. Then we knock out the staff, get the formula, and I’ll drink it. Then we just need to get out without attracting suspicion.”

“Drink it?” Kyungsoo asked, uncertain. “It might be poisonous. Why can’t we just dump it on your head or something?”

“In the amusement parks, that’s what they do. They put it on your head so it soaks through your skin. This way, the emotional block will only be removed temporarily. Before they were murdered, my parents told me that the emotional blocks were created by something the hospitals gave you at birth. Something to eat. So it only makes sense that to remove the block entirely, you’d have to eat this formula as well.”

Kyungsoo cringed at the detached way Kai spoke about his parents’ murder, and his resolve hardened. Kai would feel emotions. He’d make sure of it.

“Or drink it, rather,” Kai continued. “Does that make sense?”

“Yes, but… what if we just carry it out of there, instead of drinking it. Kai, we don’t know if it’s safe! But once we have the formula, my family can help you remove the block with it. Probably. Ok?”

“Ok,” said Kai, turning. “Let’s go. And remember, Kyungsoo, act emotionless. If anyone sees you with emotions, we’ll be caught immediately. If we get caught, we get killed.”

Kyungsoo swallowed nervously and followed Kai to the back of the line.

Many hours later, as Kyungsoo was nearly falling asleep on his feet, Kai elbowed him in the ribs.

“Ow!” he yelped.

“Shut up,” Kai hissed. “We’re at the entrance.”

Kyungsoo snapped awake and took in his surroundings. Like everywhere else in the line, a grey plain stretched out on either side of them, kept out by a flimsy metal fence. Benches were placed on the inside of it every few feet. Kyungsoo looked at them longingly. Kai had refused to get out of line to rest their feet, simply saying that the sooner they got into the amusement park, the sooner they could get out.

As they approached the entrance, Kyungsoo realized that the benches lining the walkway were slowly being replaced by security guards. He took a deep breath and fought his instinct to run away. Trying to walk calmly, he focused his gaze on the back of Kai’s head. Out of the corners of his eyes he could see the security guards smirking, sometimes whispering to each other. He could’ve sworn that one of them was staring at him the whole time, but when he glanced that way, the guard was busy talking to someone else.

At long last, they made it through the gates. Kyungsoo almost smiled with relief, barely stopping himself in time. He’d grown weak in the past while, spending all his time with Kai, being able to show emotion. He’d have to be more careful.

Kyungsoo trailed after Kai at a distance, not wanting to attract attention. They found a booth without any customers surprisingly quickly, and Kai quickly walked inside. When Kyungsoo followed, he found Kai standing in the middle of the room, beside a chair. Kai looked up at the sound of Kyungsoo’s footsteps.

“Did you get rid of them that fast?” Kyungsoo asked, slightly impressed at Kai’s skill in knocking people unconscious.

“Nobody was here when I came in,” Kai replied.

“Isn’t that a bit odd?”

“A bit,” Kai said, meeting Kyungsoo’s eyes, “but it makes our job easier. Let’s go.”

The intense determination in Kai’s expression was frightening. Even though emotionless Kai was unnerving, Kyungsoo decided that the few flashes of emotion which rarely showed were even scarier.

After a quick search, they found the bottle that contained the formula. Kai stuffed it into his bag, instructing Kyungsoo on the rest of the plan. Kyungsoo was to leave first, walk out the exit, and go to their meeting place. Kai would leave shortly later.

Taking a breath to steady himself, Kyungsoo walked out the door of the booth.

And promptly ran into something large and solid.

Kyungsoo could feel the blood drain out of his face as he recognized the security guard from earlier, the one who he’d thought was watching him.

The guard grinned nastily.

“Excuse me, sir, I wouldn’t show that much emotion if I were you.”

Kyungsoo took a step backwards.

“We have permission to search you for –”

The guard was cut off as Kai appeared in the doorway of the booth.

“I see you have an accomplice,” said the guard, raising an eyebrow.

Kai stared at him impassively, reaching into his bag.

“Well, I’m afraid I’ll have to take you both for questioning. Suspicious behaviour, you know.”

Kai brought out the formula bottle, slowly unscrewing the cap.

“And I’ll be confiscating that –”

Kai raised the bottle to his lips and drank the whole thing in one gulp.

Kyungsoo rushed to him. “Kai! But you promised not to – why would you – what if it kills you?!”

“Then I’ll be dead, and you won’t. And if you don’t want to be then we should run. Now.”

Kyungsoo looked around as the guard came lumbering towards them, an annoyed expression on his face. Running suddenly sounded like an excellent idea. So Kyungsoo ran.

It took him a few seconds to realize that Kai wasn’t with him. He skidded to a stop and looked around frantically.

Why wasn’t Kai moving? He was still standing exactly where he’d been before, the guard almost close enough to touch him. Kyungsoo sprinted back, taking in Kai’s pained expression. What was wrong?

Kai saw Kyungsoo coming, and he waved his arms in Kyungsoo’s direction, shouting something.

“Run!’ Kai shouted. “It’s the formula, I don’t know how – OW!” Kai crumpled to the ground like he had been punched in the stomach. The guard had reached him now, and he was hauling Kai upright.

“Kyungsoo, run! It’s too late, just get out of here! I’ll be fine, I promise, just run!”

Kyungsoo’s feet stopped moving. He wanted to help Kai – he had to help Kai, he knew had to – so why wasn’t his body obeying him? It felt like someone else was controlling his body. Kyungsoo watched, helpless, as another security guard started to run towards him, as his feet turned around, as he ran the other way. The wrong way.

But he kept on running, through the amusement park, out the exit. He didn’t bother to wipe the tears streaming down his face. He didn’t care about the strange looks directed his way. He didn’t listen to the shouts of the security guards. He was already running away from the world, what did a few more people chasing him matter?

He barely noticed when he arrived at their planned rendezvous point, far from the amusement park. He was panting, out of breath, and he collapsed on the ground, wishing that everything would just stop.

He’d betrayed his best friend, his only friend. He’d had one job – to keep Kai alive – and he’d failed. Kai had said it himself: if they were caught, they would be killed. And they had been caught. Kai had been killed. Or would be soon.

Kyungsoo didn’t keep track of how long he lay there, but soon the sun had set. The moon rose, highlighting the sharp, unfriendly features of the landscape.

A shadow walked across the field, approaching Kyungsoo’s figure on the ground.

Kyungsoo’s eyes were closed, tear stains on his cheeks. The shadow slumped to the ground beside him.

It reached out a hand and Kyungsoo’s hair silently, sadly. Kyungsoo’s eyes snapped open at the touch, and the shadow dispersed, leaving him alone once more.