“What did you say?”, Ten asked, incredulous.

“Are you ing deaf?!”, Taeyong screamed, while bawling his eyes out. He motioned the fire around him. “I’m a mutant!”. It hurt to say it out loud, especially in front of the man that he made feel like . 

Ten couldn’t believe it. How was the man that killing his entire species.... part of the same species? How could he kill his own? 

He couldn’t even begin to process it.

“How..? How are you killing my- our species, because of something you did?”

“I’m not the only one that has killed someone close to them. We need to be kept in line, Ten. Otherwise we’ll kill everyone.”

“So your plan for us not to kill anyone is to kill us?” 

“I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s for the better.” 

Ten sighed. He was tired, truly so tired. He didn’t have the energy to continue arguing. He kept at it though. Before continuing, he brought enough water from his water room and put the fire out. He couldn’t keep arguing with that scorching heat hitting his face. 

He ran a hand through his hair. He was so ing exhausted.

“Is Doyoung a mutant?”

“No,” Taeyong shook his head, “he’s just in it because he’s my friend.”

“Your friend is forcing us to torture people to get information out of them. He’s sick.”

Taeyong sighed. “Just because I ask him to.” He had stopped crying, now he was just sniffing and wiping his tears away. 

“What else Taeyong? What else have you been hiding?” 

“Why do you care?” Taeyong said with such venom, he actually regretted it.

“Because I want to help the man I love!” 

Taeyong sobbed, tears cascading down his eyes. “Stop saying that you love me! You know nothing about me!” He wailed.

“Then let me know you...” he said calmly, too calmly. “Let me help you, hyung, please..” 

He hugged him, arms tight around him. Taeyong was shocked. How could he hug him after all of this? How could he still be able to touch him or even look him in the eye?

“What you did was wrong, hyung, no one can deny that. Live up to that mistake, make it right.”

Taeyong buried his face in Ten’s shoulder. He couldn’t see him, but he knew Taeyong was using all of his power to not cry again. 

“How? I already killed so many, I can’t bring them back to life. How can I make this right, Ten?” 

“You’ll have to find that out yourself, hyung.”

“Taeyong.”

“Huh?”, Ten said, confused.

“No more hyung , just call me Taeyong from here on out.”

Ten smiled, and hugged him tighter. “Alright, Taeyong.”

They had broke apart, and were now sitting in this uncomfortable silence, staring at the burnt floor. Ten wondered why he always snapped when he said the word ‘love’, and why on Earth did he kill his sister? Questions flooded his mind, he couldn’t think straight. 

Taeyong. Taeyong. Taeyong. All of his thoughts were related to him. So many thoughts, it was overwhelming.

“You’re wondering, aren’t you?” He chuckled.

“How did yo-“

“It’s practically written on your face,” he brought his hand to his temple, and covered his eyes, was he crying again? “I guess you deserve to know.”

“I was only 5 years old when my powers started to surface. My sister was so happy for me, I had developed fire powers like our mother.

“I never met them, my parents, it was always my sister and I. She used to tell me stories of how brave they were. Mom was a mutant, and dad was a human. My sister never told me how they died, she always brushed the question away. I later learned they were burned alive, my mother for being a mutant, and my father for loving her.

“We lived alone, somewhere in the country. She cooked for me, she raised me, she taught me. She taught me how to be good. You know, she was human, like our dad.

“I remember the day I killed her, I still dream about it. I was just 13 years old. We were having dinner, and I asked if I could live on my own. I was stupid, a stupid kid who didn’t know better. She obviously said no. It turned into a heated argument. Our first, and our last. I yelled at her that I hated her. That humans are the worst and mutants are better. I screamed saying she’s the worst. Next thing I knew, she was on the floor, with burns from my fire.

“She screamed in pain and agony, but she kept smiling. She told me that it was okay, that she knew I didn’t mean it. I held her between my arms as she died. Her last words were ‘I will always love you.’” 

He brushed away his tears, and looked down. “I killed the only person who was my family. I killed her because of my mistakes and selfishness. I became obsessed to find a way to prevent this from happening. It wasn’t long until I turned megalomaniac. 

“Doyoung. At first, he didn’t want to, he said it wasn’t right. I told him that if he truly cared for me, he would help me. He did. I filled him with toxicity, and turned him into the man he is today. His husband, Jaehyun, he hates me, tells me Doyoung suffers from nightmares, that I’m taking his humanity away.” He sighed brokenly, “I don’t know why I did it. How could I kill my own. My goal was to exterminate at least 50% of Korea’s mutant population. I achieved more than that, Ten. I reduced it to only 20%. I’m a murderer. I’m a monster.”

Ten wanted so desperately to deny those words. To tell him he wasn’t a monster, that he wasn’t a murderer. He couldn’t, because it was true. Taeyong is a monster and a murderer. He took his hand, and traced his veins. 

“Tell me this, Taeyong. Do you regret killing your sister?” He said softly, almost motherly like.

“Deeply.” He choked out.

“What do you want to do to make it right?”

“I don’t know... , I don’t know. I killed and killed until it numbed me. I never thought... of an alternative.”

“What is the main thing that is killing mutants?”

“NCT, my company. My mutants.”

Ten looked at him in the eye, waiting for him to solve his questions. He couldn’t do this for him. He would help this man till’ the ends of the world, but this, this he needed to do himself.

“I need to dissolve NCT.” He finally said. Ten smiled.

A knock. Two knocks. Ten stood in front of N.000’s door. Taeyong had decided that Ten needed to go back there, not for testing, but to live. Taeyong said he felt like he owned Ten, like if he were part of his collection. He needed to see his friends. 

“It’s not time for our testi- Ten!” Sicheng threw himself at him, wrapping his arms around him. 

“Oh how I missed you!”, he cried and laughed. “Yuta! Ten’s back!”.

Yuta was curled up in a corner, his face filled with burns and cuts. He looked terrified. 

“Ten...?”, the name seemed foreign in his lips. It had been too long since they last saw each other.

He sobbed, as he ran to him and hugged him tightly. “You’re back! We thought you dead!”.

Ten smiled, “I missed you guys too. I’m here to stay.” 

They laughed and cried together. 

They talked about things that had happened, Ten filled them in, on the knew information he acquired. Yuta seemed alive, Sicheng seemed happy, they were alive.

“We’ll be free soon.”