The two arrived at N’s place an hour later. Ken was sitting in the living room alone with his head in his hands. Hyuk rushed over to him with Ravi tailing close behind.

“What happened?” he asked once he reached Ken. “Where’s N?

“And Hongbin?” Ravi chimed in.

Ken looked up from his hands with a blank face. He pointed towards N room, “They’re in there.”

Ravi began to head towards the room but then Ken grabbed him by the arm.

“They’re fine,” he said. “I need to talk to you two first then we all can go in there.”

Ken let go of Ravi’s arm and motioned for the two of them to take a seat. After both Ravi and Hyuk were seated he began to speak.

“N and I had a bit of an argument earlier today; he hasn’t left his room since then.” He then turned to face Ravi. “How come you guys didn’t tell me about the ban N has on the use of our powers?”

Ravi lowered his head as he heard what Ken had asked. Hyuk looked at Ken with furrowed brows. “You didn’t know?” 

Ken shook his head, “I didn’t.”

Ravi looked up at him and apologized for not warning him.

“It’s ok,” Ken said as he laid a hand on Ravi’s shoulder. “The problem is not that you guys didn’t warn me but that you guy’s allowed this ban to happen.”

“What are you saying?” Hyuk asked.

“It’s not right what N is doing. Our powers are a part of who we are, it’s a gift not a curse and they are not the blame for what happened that night.”  Jaehwan explained.

Hyuk looked away as his eyes began to swell.

“Suho…” Ken began, “Suho wouldn’t want this and I’m sure you guys don’t either.”

“How do you know what he would want?” a voice said from behind.

The three of them turned to see a red eyed N standing behind them with a scowl. Hongbin stood close behind with a sad expression.

“You have no idea what he would want. He’s dead.” N said his voice colder than ever.

The room went silent no one dared to speak. Even though they all knew Suho was gone and even saw him put to rest, no one ever said out loud that he was dead. This coming from N himself just made it even more heart wrenching.

Ken cleared his throat breaking the silence. He stood up and faced N who was on the brim of tears. “Look,” He began, “Regardless of who feels what we have a right to use our powers.”

“The same powers that lead to the death of our best friend?” N questioned.

Ken sighed heavily, “You know that isn’t true. Suho died because he was killed, if anything he died because we failed to use our powers to their full potential.”

“Ken…” Ravi began, “Just stop.”

“No!” Ken yelled. “This is why we are in this situation now. You guys just bow down to the will of Hakyeon even when he’s wrong!”

N scoffed. “I’m wrong? Do you actually believe if we hadn’t used our powers that night to fight, Suho would still be dead? It’s because of our powers that we were there. It’s because of our powers that he is dead.”

Ken looked around at the others baffled that no one came to his side. No one would even make eye contact with him.

“Fine,” he said. “Continue to live like this, if you guys are comfortable with living a lie then so be it.”