Kris articulates the words of a knife snapping through bone, and Tao's greatest nightmares he pretends he doesn't have and Tao learns he doesn't have what it needs to kill. 

Kris smiled- a weird half smile- almost a smirk as he unties Tao soon after Tao's relevation. Tao stares back into Kris's dark eyes, frowning at the way he had acted. He is dazed and almost afraid to move. Who is this person Kris, really? Hiding behind the layers of skin that Tao cannot peel off. Why is he doing this? And then- Who is himself, really? Why did he trust Kris? What was he doing? 

Tao felt frustrated and played. He stands up, and gives Kris a punch on the face that he deserved. Kris hadn't expected it, and he falls onto the floor with a heavy thud. Tao feels embarrasing tears trail down his cheeks as he glares at Kris, and he conveyes everything he feels into that single look of hatred, despair. Finish what you started, Tao.

Tao pounces on Kris, his fingers wrapping around Kris's neck swiftly in practiced motions. His heart was pounding in his chest- and the only words that echoed again and again in his mind were to kill. kill or be killed and Tao just- 

"You wouldn't dare, Tao." Kris says, his voice still annoyingly calm. "I will, I will." Tao whispers, hands shaking slightly. "I have to," 

Tao feels his fingers start to tighten over Kris's throat. Kris closes his eyes, and Tao hears him whisper. "There's only breathing, Tao." 

"Your fingers start to push back into his larnyx, and his fingers leave a deep imprint on your skin as he struggles. Every struggle is making your heart break, but you don't let go. You watch as he flails around, and then you make the mistake of looking into his eyes. His desperate and pleading eyes, filling with tears. He garbles that he has a family, and please, with his dying breath. And then he slides to the ground." 

Tao catches a breath, his heart pounding and his face whitening. "No. Don't say it."

Kris pretends to not have heard, and lands his final blow. "You wake up screaming."

"NO!" Tao yells, and flops right into Kris's heaving chest, trembling and crying. Tao was sobbing. He was reliving his nightmare. 

Kris sighs, and lifts a hand to pat Tao gently on his back. There's an unreadable expression of regret on his face. 

"Listen to your heart, Tao." 

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

"That's the reason why you're alive," 

"And that's the reason why you don't have what it takes to kill."