two
error [vixx short fic]a/n: not proof read. sorry for the errors :(
iris identification complete. permission granted.
Hyuk sighed for the fourth time, after the fourth security check. He understood that it would probably be the institute’s security memorandum, but it seemed so unreasonable, especially when you needed to search for things in a given time limit.
When the metal vault opened, his eyes scanned through the laboratory keys, some are already covered with rust and has not been yet disposed or replaced, and the others were in good condition. He breathed heavily, his pants trailed with nervousness, droplets of sweat staining his collar. Hyuk clenched his fists before entering the vault, and the keys were just hanging there like picture frames, staying in their compartments motionless.
The vault was a room with thick metal-like walls, hooks screwed into them and labels on top of each key. Somehow the lining of the dividers make the vault quiet, and all he could barely hear is his deep breaths and the silent stomps of his feet, and the cold hitting his skin like the sharp breeze of winter. But still, his sweat continued to drop all the way from his forehead, wiping it eventually with his sleeve.
He turned his head slowly from the left, going to the right, squinting his eyes at the little carved iron one by one. Hyuk saw no missing keys at all, but when he was about to turn his back, something caught his attention. He bit his lip to prevent it from quivering, not even wanting to confirm things but his N hyung told him to do this, maybe for the sake of Ken and the institute, and for the reason that N has the power to make him do these kind of errands.
The familiar key compartment near the vault door was empty. He walked towards the blank space, eyeing the name written on it. Hyuk shook his head in dismay before taking long strides of walk towards the exit. He can’t believe this would happen all along.
The phone rang through Hyuk’s wireless earphone, then a familiar voice echoed on his ear.
[Are there any?]
“He got Hongbin hyung’s key.” He spoke.
The three-day exhaustion was killing him slowly, his eyes too droopy to even see clearly the codes, and he’s starting to lose control. This could be the result of loss of practice for almost two years, and Ken does not even bother to eat or stop for a while because he had this impractical determination of bringing his lover back to life.
Not in fresh flesh but it newly assembled metals and cluster of wires.
rendering… 97% complete
He felt so overwhelmed, he thought things are worth doing when you have the guts to do it in a matter of moments. He just slammed his fingers, not even looking at the screen whether he’s typing the codes right or wrong. All that Ken wanted is to complete his life with the robot girl in front of him.
But it was the loss of power in the laboratory that made Ken hysterical at that very moment.
The faulty wire sparked for a matter of seconds, before the whole place gained back the electricity, and Ken wished everything he just made was saved and nothing was wasted. He opened up the encoder, and a light smile formed on his face.
rendering… 100% complete
With all his remaining strength, he went to the assembling machine just before he felt his knees trembling, and his vision becomes blurry. He let himself fall and two arms caught him, hearing again that familiar pitch of voice he longed for years.
“Are you okay?”
The he drifted off.
“Why did you let him get it?!” Leo shouted in wrath.
Ravi was sitting on a wooden chair, hands and upper body tied in the back rest and everyone inside the small room was looking at him. He can’t look directly at his friends whom he felt was already angry with him. He can’t take it inside his thoughts and he wanted to reason out that he’s so close with Ken and he just wanted to help their other friend.
“You are fracking lucky because we took you here in my own house to talk about this, and you don’t need to face the institute board. Yet.” N emphasized the last word, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I know.” He replied.
“Then if you wanted to make things right, answer my ing question!” Leo hit the table again with his fists. “Why did you do it?!”
“I-I don’t know okay?!” Ravi shouted back.
“What the freaking---“
“Hyung!” Hyuk interjected, now pulling his older friend back. “Let him speak.”
Ravi breathed heavily, looking at Leo who was shooting fiery glares at him, before the latter took his seat across him. “He asked me to let him in.” He started, batting his eyelashes to stop the beads of sweat from dropping on his eyes. “I denied his request but he pointed a gun on me and he started hacking the system. I was not able to recover the security mode until he got back. I-I’m sorry.”
The board member inflated his cheeks with air before exhaling, shaking his head in dismay. He placed his hands on his waist. “I didn’t expect that he would end up being a monster.”
“Yeah.” Ravi managed to say between his nervous breathing. “He could have killed me if it were not for our friendship that holds him back.”
“You should have killed him instead.” Leo spat out, the words constrained in his tongue escaped uncontrollably, sounding like he did it on purpose.
“Shut up Leo.” N interrupted, walking towards Ravi. “You knew the board will find out the glitch soon, right?”
Ravi nodded slowly, biting his lip.
“And you’re responsible for that.”
“Yes.” The other whispered, sighing heavily.
“Will you just let me speak, Hakyeon?” Leo grunted, a hint of disappointment and frustration painted on his face. “I do also have a say in here.”
“Not until you restrain your ing rage inside you.” The older shot a glare towards him. He turned his head and looked at Hyuk, who was standing on Leo’s other side. “Are you not going to say anything?” He asked.
Hyuk leaned his back on the wall. “Hyung, it’s not his own responsibility.” He said. “We’ve been friends for years and we could have done something for Ken hyung too.”
“We did, Hyuk. I did.” Leo blurted out his thoughts. “I tried to stop him, remember?”
“I-It’s not that.” The youngest shook his head. “I was pointing out if we can try to make him realize that he’s not the friend we knew anymore.” Hyuk sighed, the memories flashing back on his mind. “He changed.”
“I bet that he doesn’t know who he is these days.” Ravi agreed. “He even pointed a gun on me.”
The boys in the room had the same expression painted on their faces, agreeing to the idea. N bit his lip, his arms crossed over his chest, taking a deep breath. “Do you think he’s still in the lab?”
“No.” Leo replied. “He could have done the robot by this time.”
Hyuk creased his brows in confusion. “But how? It mostly take a week.”
Leo turned his head to look at Hyuk, shaking his head. “He can. If he’ll be doing it in a week then the institute will easily trace him if he stays longer in the lab. Three sleepless days would be enough.”
“You tried?” Ravi questioned.
Leo shook his head once again. “Nu-uh. I’m not going to drain myself, unless I’m that dumb friend who can’t just get over with things.”
“Can someone untangle this rope for me? I’m not running away.” Ravi innocently said, his wrist marked with rope burns. Hyuk went near to him and started to remove the tie.
Silence filled the room as N closed his eyes, dealing with the thoughts he had inside his mind. The others were looking at each other, and Leo rested his head on his interlocked fingers, bumping his forehead into it lightly.
“So…” Ravi broke in. “What are we going to do?”
N’s vision was getting blurry for some reason that he doesn’t know. He imagined Ken was just like the autumn breeze, the wind gets unkinder to the skin, and as how the other treated his friends after his insanity took control of his consciousness, typically making him unconscious in the world of reality. He wanted to create another world where Yoojin was still alive, unfortunately the mathematics of parallel dimensions do no good for his weird endeavor, breaking into the constraining laws and even trying to let his friends die in his own hands.
Hakyeon took some time to register everything. As much as he wanted to get his friends away from the mess, he can’t deny that Hyuk was right; they should do something because all this time, since the day when they became friends, there would always be that sense of responsibility for each other. N slightly opened his eyes, the sight getting clearer as air escaped from his lips. “We should destroy Yoojin.” He breathed. “There’s no other way to snap him out of his state.”
“But what if it doesn’t work? Ken-hyung might have done something that makes it hard to destruct.” Hyuk asked, his eyes scanning at each faces for an answer.
Leo thought about a terrible alternative tactic, but somehow it took him time to think about saying things like that. It would not be helpful for their emotional state but it would be the best way to prepare themselves for what could happen next. He turned his head at N, trying to relay the message he had in his mind. It was like magic that N got the idea, the shock showing on his face after realizing what Leo meant with his eye contact. “Leo…” he whispered, trailing off.
Leo slowly nodded, then waited for another answer.
Hakyeon wanted to tell Leo that it would be better to think twice about it, but he supposed that the other wouldn’t come up with the idea if there are other ways. Possibilities came in like thunderbolts and there’s no other way that he can refute that Leo was actually right. There are no options other than the two. He sighed then gave the permission to reveal the other choice.
If it would be the same fate as Hongbin’s, then there it goes. Leo looked around, studying his friends’ faces, then placed his head on top of his intertwined fingers. “Kill him.” He said firmly. “That’s the other option.”
Yoojin was just sitting on the couch, her eyes starting to scan the place, with those small mechanical sounds made by it. “Am I on the same place again?” She asked Ken who was just looking at her.
“Yeah.” He wrapped his arm around Yoojin’s shoulders, sighing. “A bit just changed. Why?”
“Oh, nothing.” Yoojin gently shook her head, flashing a light smile.
Ken grinned at the view, he definitely made a perfect cyborg without all those metal to metal screeches when Yoojin moves, and the girl looked natural. The brown hair is still in there, those plump lips and slender body he used to hug on those days, was too much to handle. Probably, the only thing that is different is Yoojin’s eyes, which is a combination of blue and black reflections of wires, mechanical lenses and small gears compared to the caramel brown iris the human Yoojin has.
“I love you.” Ken whispered, kissing Yoojin’s forehead and pulling her closer. He felt the coldness on his lips, which is very different from the heat Yoojin had before. But he felt that everything was so surreal, and he doesn’t care.
“I love you too.” Yoojin replied then closed her eyes.
Hyuk’s eyes widened, his fists clenching until it turns white. He tried not to punch his hyung square on the face for such a brutal idea. “Are you nuts? That’s stupid! We could save him, hyung! I can’t bear watching my friend dying anymore!” he half-yelled, pure frustration painted firmly on his words.
“I’m trying not to think about it, okay?!” Leo angrily said, snapping his head to look at Hyuk. “But it’s the other way that I can see!”
“What-“
“Shut it!” N contradicted. He looked at the younger who’s now resentfully glaring at him. “There are no other ways, Hyuk. You thought Yoojin’s indestructible. If she continues to work, then Ken will be more insane as ever. Trust us. We’re trying to save more lives in here.”
Hyuk sighed in frustration, his head low. “You just meant one thing, hyung.” He almost whispered, before eyeing Hakyeon again with anger. “You don’t care about Ken hyung. You don’t care about Hongbin hyung that’s why you let him die like that. You’re ing selfish.” Hyuk was not able to watch his language around his friends because of the emotional rage.
“Hey, watch your words!” Ravi warned.
“I don’t ing care!” He shouted, his vision becoming blurry. Leo attempted to stand up to punch Hyuk but he was suddenly held by N on his arms.
“What did you just say?” Leo gritted his teeth, still struggling to release himself from Hakyeon’s hold.
“Leo!” N scolded. “Hyuk, we talked about this, right? Do you want to die?!”
“Come on, Leo hyung, hit me!” Hyuk was intentionally provoking Leo into something else that he could have thought of beforehand. Just when Leo was about to break from N, Ravi stood up then blocked Hyuk’s view of his furious hyung.
“Stop.” Ravi breathed. “Just go!”
Leo used all of his remaining power to yell. “Stop blocking the way! I’m going to teach that bastard!”
Ravi still stayed, looking at Hyuk with those pleading eyes. “Go, Hyuk. Let’s not make things worse.”
“What the heck-“
“Shut the up and get out of here!” Ravi was unable to control his temper. Hyuk slightly stumbled but was able to regain his balance. N’s grip was loosening, and Leo’s body relaxed a bit, slowly removing his arms from N’s hands, but still raging with ire towards the youngest. With the looks Hyuk gained from his hyungs, he turned away then took long strides towards the door, before slamming it hard, forcing it to close violently.
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