Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A boy sat on the floor by the foot of his bed, staring aimlessly at the wall opposite. 

His hair was dark and long, reaching half-way down his neck. His face was pale, making his dark eyes even more striking. A small cut was on his forehead, and a dirt smudge was on his left cheek. His hands were bloodied and bruised, his bare feet also being in the same condition. 

However, his uniform was spotlessly clean. They had changed out his clothes before putting him back in his room. 

The boy ignored the gnawing feeling of hunger. He couldn't remember when he was last given anything through the IV drips.

He was tired. He wanted to sleep. However, it was forbidden to go to sleep until permission was given to do so. 

“Hush little baby, don't say a word. Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird,” The boy mumbled under his breath. 

The dim, haunting voice from a memory continues the lullaby for him.

The boy picks at the skin around his fingernails, drawing blood a couple of times. The Facility was the only home he's ever known, however his brain provides him with a memory of a voice. A voice that was sometimes very beautiful and calming, other times it was haunting and eerie. It was always the same song, the same lullaby. 

A grumbling sound filled the air. His hand flew to his stomach. 

Hungry. 

It had been a couple of days since he last got an IV drip. He had accidentally flared during a medical checkup and had destroyed some pretty expensive equipment, and his punishment was that he was denied 'food' for a few days. 

Looking around his room, he sighed. Apart from a metal frame bed that held a thin mattress, and a small, basic bedside table, the room was very bare. A small, barred window was at the top of the wall above his bed. There was no clock, no calendar for him to keep track of the days and hours, the light coming through the tiny window was the only way he could tell whether it was night or day.

Suddenly he snapped his head towards the metal door. 

The faint sound of running could be heard. The sound of an explosion. Yelling. More running. 

“Stop them!”

“Don’t kill them! They’re valuable.”

“Stun them!”

“Alert the General!”

As curious as he was to what was going on, the boy refrained from getting up and peering through the small glass opening in the door. In this Facility, curiosity leads to punishment. And if it was serious enough, severe punishment.

He began singing the lullaby in his head again, the tempo getting slower and slower till it stopped sounding like a lullaby.

Suddenly, the metal door was blown off its hinges. The boy scrambled as far away as he could, shielding his face. 

However, to his surprise, it wasn't a guard here to take him away for punishment, or a doctor to take him away for more testing. Or the scientists to take him away for observation.

Instead, it was another boy who looked about four years older than him. 

“W-who are you?” The boy asked the stranger, surprised. In the 10 years that he had been at the Facility, he had never set eyes on another kid like him. 

“Soldier 3, Test Subject N127-3,” The older boy replied, “Although my real name is Kim Doyoung.” Turning his head he yelled. “Taeyong! There’s a boy in here!”

A second boy appeared. “That makes four of us then. All the other rooms are empty.” He said. Slowly, he approached the young boy who was curled up on the furthest corner away from them. 

Crouching down, the boy, Taeyong, smiled gently. “What's your name?” He asked. 

“S-soldier 7, Test Subject N127-7,” The young boy whispered. 

Doyoung disappeared back out into the hall, his bare-foot barely making a sound on the tiles as he left. He soon returned with an ipad in hand, most likely stolen from a doctor. “Hyung, we need to go. Quickly, before reinforcements come.” He said. “Jaehyun and I won’t be able to hold them off for long.”

Taeyong held out his hand to the young boy in front of him. “Come on,” He offered, “Let’s get out of here.” 

Soldier 7 looked down at the hand and then back up to the older boy’s face. Slowly he lifted his own hand and placed it into Taeyong's. He didn't know why, but he felt like he could trust this complete stranger. 

“What's your real name?” Doyoung asked, as the two approached him. “Now that you're out, you don't have to go by your soldier number anymore.”

Soldier 7 hesitated. 

"I can say it instead if you want?" Doyoung offered. "It'll be a bit weird at first to be using your real name after so long."

Soldier 7 nodded. 

Doyoung smiled and flipped the ipad round for the two to see. 

“Your name is Mark Lee.”

Chapter Text

Bright white lights shone down upon him, nearly blinding him, while the strong smell of disinfectant assaulted his nose. The faint hum of machines running in the background filled the air. 

“Soldier 6, Test Subject NDm-6,” A voice spoke, rattling off the usual reports from a chart. “Name is Park Jisung. 18 years old.”

A sharp pain in his arm told him that a needle had just been inserted. It was probably the IV drip. Or they were taking his blood again for testing. They were always drawing his blood for tests.

They were also injecting a lot of things into him, as well as getting him to swallow pills that did heaven knows what. 

Park Jisung tried not to fidget or resist. If he did, it would mean consequences. But he hated the needles, he hated them poking and prodding at him and he hated the stench of disinfectant. 

But if he so much as even flinched, they would lock him up in a dark room for goodness knows how long. They’ve done it before. 

“It’s ready sir.” Someone spoke up. 

“Attach them to him then,” The doctor said, “Everyone clear the room!” He ordered, “Bring in the test subject.

Jisung tensed as he felt them attach another machine onto him. Please, he thought, not this again. Anything but this…

He heard the sound of the door opening again, but instead of the clicks of shoes against the tiles, it sounded like someone was being dragged in. The sound of a struggle. Protests, pleading and begging filled the air. 

Jisung sent a silent apology over to the man, knowing exactly what was about to happen. This happened every day and today there was no exception. He felt sorry for the poor man who was being dragged into something he couldn’t understand. 

“Can all personnel please leave the testing area,” A voice spoke through the speakers in the room. 

Jisung took in a shaky breath, preparing himself. He knew what he was being asked to do.

The sound of a machine starting up made him jump slightly before his body began to jerk about, looking as if he was seizing. 

The man in the room with him began to scream.

Jisung curled in on himself as he lay on his bed. He had woken up in his bed again after the testing session. They always dumped him back in his room, not even bothering to send him to the medical room to get checked up on. The doctor there had protested that they couldn’t test him everyday without getting his physicals checked up on. However, his protests were ignored, and they only sent him to the medical room when it was time for the weekly evaluations. 

His fingers twitched uncontrollably, a side effect from being electrocuted. If it had been a normal human being that was in his shoes, they would have long been dead. 

However, Jisung wasn’t normal. 

No normal human being could survive the daily torture of being electrocuted, drowned or burned. No normal human being could survive all the tests and experiments that the doctors and scientists did on him. And there was definitely no normal human being that could project pain, or his own pain onto another person. 

That was his curse. Pain Infliction. The ability to inflict pain or his own pain onto someone else. 

He called it his curse because it was a horrible ability to possess. It was one of the dangerous ones, and it was definitely the most feared one. 

When he was a lot younger, the guards would sneer at him and beat him up a little bit, calling him a monster. They said that his parents hated him the moment his powers manifested and they had been more than happy to get rid of him. 

It had hurt, for a long time, knowing that his own parents hadn’t wanted him. He had come to the realisation that if his own parents didn’t want him, then no one else was going to want him. Ever. 

His whole left arm spasmed. 

Jisung hated his life. But it was the only one he knew. It was a routine that he was used to. He didn’t know of anything else outside of the life he knew. 

There was shuffling outside his door. A heated argument going on, voices rising with each sentence. 

“I don’t care, you need to let me check on him if you want to continue with this!” Someone snapped. 

“Sir, with all due respect, we have orders not to allow anyone into his room.” That was the guard. 

There was a sound of a slap. “You listen here. He needs to get checked up on and looked over if you want him to continue being sane. He may be a Gifted, but even Gifteds have limits on how much you can put them through,” The guy shouted, “If you don’t want him to die, you are going to let me into that room. Do you understand?”

There was shuffling again, the sound of the door being rattled before finally, it swung open. 

The doctor from the Medical Room entered, his kit bag in hand. 

Jisung liked him. This doctor was the only one who worked here at the Facility that he liked. He was gentle and kind and wasn’t scary or horrible like the others. The doctor, whose name tag read ‘Dr. Kim’, always made sure that Jisung was doing okay. He treated all his injuries, no matter how small it was. 

“Hey, Jisung, how are you doing?” Dr. Kim asked softly.

And Dr. Kim was the only person to ever address him by his real name. Not his soldier number, not his test subject code, but his real name. 

In response to the question, all Jisung could do was whimper in pain. Curling in on himself even more. Everything hurt, he wanted to say. Make it stop, he wanted to beg. 

“I know, I know,” Dr. Kim sounded pained, brushing a gentle hand through the young boy’s hair. “Let’s see what they’ve done to you today.” And he got to work checking the boy over, being careful not to hurt him or startle him. 

Jisung always questioned how someone as kind and gentle as Dr. Kim could be working for something like the Facility. He had a heart of gold that was too good to be working for a place like this. 

The doctor tried to keep the young boy as conscious as possible with some small chit-chat. Even though information about other test subjects wasn’t allowed to be talked about to anyone else, Dr. Kim didn’t care and would tell the young boy about how the others were doing. Apart from Jisung, there were three other boys in the facility. All three of whom were younger than he was. However, Dr. Kim never disclosed the boys' names, only referring to them by their soldier numbers. 

“Soldier 20 sprained his wrist yesterday during the testing,” Dr. Kim was saying, “Soldier 21 froze a guard’s feet to the floor.”

Jisung hissed when the doctor applied pressure against his temple. 

Dr. Kim immediately retracted his hands, as if burned. “Hey, hey, I’m sorry,” He mumbled, soothingly, “I’ll just give you some pain killers, and your headache should go away.”

Jisung struggled to pull himself up into a sitting position in order to take the pain killers. 

“I tried to request your observation to be pushed back till tomorrow, you know, with the state that you’re in,” Dr. Kim said, supporting the boy as he swallowed the pill with some water, “But they wouldn’t listen, I’m afraid. I’m sorry I couldn’t persuade them.”

Jisung shook his head a little, his hand shaking as he passed the bottle of water back. “Y-you don’t have to keep protecting me, s-sir,” He whispered, “You’ll get into trouble.”

Dr. Kim sighed. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted when the door flew open once again. 

“I have orders to take the test subject to the observation room,” The guard said gruffly. 

Dr. Kim was about to protest when he felt a light touch on his arm. Looking down, he saw Jisung shaking his head, telling him not to say anything. 

“Hurry up! We haven’t got all day!” The guard snapped. 

Sluggishly, Jisung pulled himself out of the bed, stumbling as he stood. Two guards immediately grabbed him and dragged him out, leaving Dr. Kim alone in the room. 

“Soldier 6, Test Subject NDm-6,” A voice spoke through the speakers, “You know what to do. Do not hold back. I will know if you do.”

Jisung was in a giant room. One whole wall was a special kind of glass, designed to be unbreakable when testing a person’s abilities. On the other side of that glass, scientists sat or stood at desks and monitors that would should all his stats and data. 

The guards began to drag eighteen humans into the room. 

Jisung stiffened. Eighteen - 

“Why are there eighteen of them?” He turned to address the scientists through the window. “I’ve never used my abilities on more than nine at a time.” 

“Well, we h ave to add numbers at some point,” A scientist replied, not really caring, “Four the first five, I want you to inflict pain through touch. The next five you’re to inflict pain from a distance. For the remaining ones, experiment on how to inflict the pain, and what kind of pain you want them to feel.” He paused and then rolled his eyes. “Think of this as a birthday present three days late.”

Jisung froze. He was exhausted today. He couldn’t - he wouldn’t be able to concentrate well in order to get through all eighteen of them. 

And had it really been his birthday three days ago? 

“Begin.”

Jisung hand shook as he hesitantly approached the first four that would become a victim to his abilities. As he stood in front of the first one, he tried to convey an apology through his eyes to her. It was a young woman, around mid-forties. She was crying, which made Jisung’s stomach twist. 

The speakers crackled to life. “Begin, Soldier 6, and do not move on to the next one until we say so.”

Jisung took in a deep breath before lifting his hand and wrapping it around her wrist. 

She began to scream. 

And scream.

And scream. 

It felt like hours before they told him to move on to the next one. And the whole cycle just repeated over, and over, and over again. By the time he was halfway through the line, Jisung’s concentration was waning. His vision was blurring, the throbbing in his head had intensified, and he could feel his body threatening to give out. 

“I-I need to stop,” Jisung mumbled, “I can’t g-go on.”

But he was ignored.

He stumbled over to the next person, a boy around his age. He reached for the boy’s hand, and as soon as his fingers came into contact with skin, the boy in front of him made a choking noise before the blood seemed to drain out of his face. 

The boy fell to the ground with a sickening thud. 

Jisung just stood looking down in horror. That reaction was entirely new. In his eighteen years, nobody had ever reacted to his abilities like that. 

Suddenly, the door swung open and two guards came to grab him. But as soon as their hands touched Jisung’s bare arms, they dropped to the ground as well. 

Dead. Jisung realised. They were dead . 

More guards suddenly burst into the room and made an attempt to grab at him but Jisung just backed himself away into the furthest corner, his hands outstretched in front of him. 

“S-stay back! Don’t touch me,” He choked out a sob, “D-don’t touch me.”

However they didn’t listen. And three more guards met the same fate as their comrades. 

The remaining humans had been cleared out of the room, two guards dragging away the boy’s corpse. 

By this point, Jisung was full on sobbing, clutching his knees towards him as he pleaded for them not to come near him. He was confused and scared. He had no idea what was happening. This had never happened before. But as more guards attempted to grab hold of him, he came to a realisation. 

He was a monster. 

Chapter Text

Soon after the First World War, Gifteds began to appear and or be born. Nobody knew where it all began, or who was the first person to be a ‘Gifted’. Nobody knew that it was supernatural abilities that were causing accidents and disasters, everyone thought it was just a freak of nature.

Gifteds were so named because you didn't have to be born from parents who had powers, or even be a descendant of a Gifted. You were simply just ‘gifted’ an ability. 

Most babies manifested their powers at the age of one, and on rare occasions, younger than that. 

When Gifteds first appeared, they were a fascination, a marvel. They became almost like an attraction. There were sickening stories of how mothers back in the day would charge people to come to their house to watch their kid use their abilities. Exploiting their own children as a way to earn extra money. 

And then one day, a mother had thrown a party to show off her five year old son's abilities. She had invited family, friends, neighbours and co workers to come and watch. It had been a huge event. Rumours had it that she had ordered an expensive gown just for the occasion. 

Later that evening, the emergency services were called. Someone had been walking by the house and had heard screaming. When the police had finally arrived and entered the house, everyone was dead, everyone except for the young boy who sat crying in the corner of the living room. 

It was revealed later that the boy had the ability to control air. Allegedly, his mother has asked him to show off more of his powers, and in a tantrum, he had unknowingly sucked the air out of everyone around him.

Ever since then, people’s fear of Gifteds grew with each passing day. If any disaster happened, if any deaths were recorded, it was all blamed on the Gifted. 

The government began to build facilities all around the country, claiming that they were going to ‘teach’ kids how to control their powers and to make sure that an incident like that would never happen again. 

Families got ripped apart as Gifteds were taken away, though so many parents willingly offered up their children to be taken, some of them stating that they didn’t want anything to do with them. 

A Gifted child was an Unwanted Child.

Chapter Text

Jisung shook as he sobbed, clutching his knees tightly to his chest as he pressed himself as far back into the corner as possible. 

He was a monster.

A freak.

An abomination. 

He always knew. He knew that his powers were unlike anything the Facility had seen in years. As far as he knew, he was the only child to ever manifest with the power to inflict pain. But now he had a new label attached to him. 

He was also a killer.

He had just killed a boy and 15 soldiers before they managed to drug him, allowing them to grab him.

He had been thrown back into his room and had been left alone ever since. 

Jisung was scared. Scared and alone. His abilities had never done that before. His abilities were pain infliction, not killing people the moment he touched them. Nothing was making any sense. He had never heard of anyone manifesting more than one ability, and besides, who even wanted the abilities that he had? He was cursed. He was sure of it now. The gods were probably punishing him for some evil deed that he had done in a past life. That or the gods had turned against him and were showering him with bad luck. 

Jisung's fingers tightened their grasp on his navy blue uniform. He knew this new death touch of his wouldn't work on himself. He had already tried when the drug they injected him with had worn off. Since then, he had punched the small mirror above the sink, grabbed at the broken shards and cut himself, once on each arm, but he had broken down instead, unable to continue. 

I deserve to die, Jisung thought, I deserve to die after what I've done. He had the faint hope that the Facility would punish him severely. Before he would hate the punishments. Now, he wanted them. 

Jisung was so lost in his thoughts of self destruction, that he hadn't noticed that the door had been opened. 

Dr. Kim stood in the doorway, carefully  assessing the situation that lay in front of him. He first noticed that the pillow and blanket were ripped off the bed. He then noticed the hundreds of broken shards that were decorating the floor. And the last thing he noticed pulled at his heart strings. 

The young boy was curling in on himself in the corner, sobbing quietly and hugging himself as if that was what was keeping him together. The sleeves of the boy’s uniform were pushed up and his arms were covered in blood. 

Dr. Kim quietly approached him, kneeling down in front of the young boy. 

“Jisung,” Dr. Kim murmured, announcing his presence. 

Jisung’s head jerked up. A look of surprise flickered across his face before it quickly morphed into one of horror.

“S-stay back!” He choked out, “Please, d-don't come near me. You'll die if you do! They all did. They died. I killed them!” And with that the young boy began to sob again. 

“Oh honey, it's not your fault,” Dr. Kim said sadly, “you didn't know that would happen. None of us did.”

Jisung just continued to cry even harder, all the while begging for him not to come any nearer. 

“Jisung, I need to treat your arms,” Dr. Kim said, opening up his medical bag.

This made Jisung panic. “N-no! You can't! You'll die. If you touch me you'll die!” He cried.

“Hey, hey, it's okay,” Dr. Kim whispered, soothingly, “I won't touch you. All you need to do is hold out your arms like this, see?” He held out his arms in demonstration. “And I'll wear these gloves so that your skin won't touch mine. Okay?”

Jisung sniffled. “You promise y-you won't touch me?” He mumbled. 

Dr. Kim smiled. “I promise,” He said. 

Jisung hesitantly uncrossed his arms and held them out, palms up. He tracked the doctor's movements like a hawk, making sure the surgical gloves were on securely. 

As Dr. Kim worked on the two cuts, first by cleaning away the blood before disinfecting it. It stung really badly, but it passed. 

“Why are you so nice to me?” Jisung mumbled. 

Dr. Kim paused and looked up. “Because you’re just a kid,” He explained, “And you don’t deserve anything that is happening to you within these walls.” He finished patching the boy up, making sure that the bandages were secure. 

“I have something for you,” Dr. Kim said. He reached into his bag and pulled out a pair of leather gloves. “Here, wear these. They might make you feel a bit better knowing that as long as you have these on and have your sleeves rolled down, you can’t hurt anyone.”

Jisung just sat there, stunned as he stared down at the gloves. Cautiously, he reached out and touched them. “T-they’re for me?” He whispered, in disbelief. 

Dr. Kim nodded. “Your death touch only works through skin-to-skin contact,” He explained. “I hope the gloves help. Think of them as a late birthday present.”

Jisung didn’t say a word as he carefully tried on the gloves. They fit perfectly. “Thank you,” Jisung breathed out. A present. These gloves were the first thing that anyone has ever given him. 

“What’s going to happen to me now?” The young boy eventually asked. “W-what are they going to do to me? Am I going to die?”

“No! No, you’re not going to die!” Dr. Kim said firmly, shaking his head.“I won’t let that happen. Besides, if anything, you might be more of an asset to them now.”

Jisung soon learned what Dr. Kim meant. Security tightened around him. The guards that escorted him back and forth from each training session had doubled, and he was now put into elite classes and training sessions rather than just the regular ones. 

Everyone had been warned about his new ability, so all the other soldiers stayed clear. The guards uniform had changed, adding gloves and masks to cover every inch of skin. Jisung's other uniforms had also changed. His navy blue stayed the same, but when he was training in fencing and hand to hand combat, they had made sure that his uniforms didn't leave an inch of skin in view. 

Everyone was whispering about him. He knew that. The soldiers that didn't have any abilities drew back from him in fear. 

Jisung had never felt more lonely in his life. Not that it wasn't already, but knowing that everyone now feared you because of your abilities and that they didn’t want anything to do with him made everything so much worse.

He had never met the three other Gifted boys. Ever since an incident that happened several years ago, they clamped down on the rules that Gifteds were no longer able to interact, much less even set eyes on each other. It was forbidden. Their schedules had to be staggered, to avoid them ever meeting. 

Jisung wasn’t really sure what happened, but it was serious.

Another change Jisung found out was the next time they tested out his abilities. He was no longer allowed to inflict through touch. And in a way, he was glad, because he hated having to be so near a person and especially having to hold them while he caused them pain and suffering. 

Jisung kept his gloves on every second of the day. Since the moment that he had first put them on, they hadn’t once come off, even keeping them on for his training. Nobody seemed to have any complaints of him keeping them on. In fact, they seemed relieved that he couldn’t touch them. 

He kept them because he felt safer with them on. And they were a present, a gift from Dr. Kim, he didn't want them to be stolen or taken away from him. 

“Fire!”

At the electronic voice’s command, a burst of guns firing filled the air. Bullets zipped through the air, making their way towards the targets at the other end of the hall. 

Shooting was the only training that Jisung absolutely excelled at. He was pretty decent at fencing, but his hand-to-hand combat training he completely hated. Especially now with his new abilities. 

The shooting range was a place where he didn’t have to cause pain for anybody else, and he could just block everyone out by concentrating. It was just him, the gun and the electronic target at the other end of the hall. 

As Jisung fired shot after shot, a sudden commotion two booths down  got his attention. Turning his head, he saw that a boy, close to his age, was being apprehended. 

Jisung watched with alarm, and then with curiosity. He was certain that this boy was new. He would have remembered the boy’s unique two-toned hair. 

The boy was kicking up quite the fuss, surprisingly able to match the guards’ strength, despite the fact that he wasn’t very tall, roughly five-foot-five or five-foot-six, Jisung estimated. From what he could see, the boy didn’t seem fazed that he was trying to fight off four guards. 

“Soldier 6! Inflict on him!” The guard in charge ordered, his voice crackling through the speakers.

Jisung was startled. 

“Soldier 6, that’s an order!”

Jisung took a deep breath. Inflict . He had never been asked to inflict outside of the testing room before. He looked at the other boy and to his surprise, he was staring right back at him, as if waiting. His mind raced as he made up his mind. He inflicted.

The four guards began to scream, dropping down to the ground. 

The boy was surprised for a moment, eyes flickering down before looking up. They locked eyes. Jisung gave a small nod and he got a smirk in return. All the other soldiers by now had backed away to the far wall in fear, while the other guards were hesitating, unsure whether or not to act. 

“Guards! What are you all waiting for? Get them!” The captain yelled.

The other boy was apprehended a lot quicker than Jisung. Despite all the gear and the layers of clothes, the guards were still a bit hesitant to hold him.

The captain came down from the viewing room. “You will both pay for the disturbance you have caused today. And Soldier 6, the act of defiance you showed will be rewarded with a fit punishment.” The captain snapped, “Take them to the cells.” 

The guards dragged the two boys out of the hall. The other boy didn’t really seem to be bothered, happily allowing the guards to drag him away. Jisung didn’t put up much of a fight either, however, he was less happy about the whole situation. 

They passed Dr Kim, whose eyes widened at the sight of them.

“W-what-” Dr Kim started to speak but a guard cut him off. 

“If you want to check them over or speak to them, do it in the cells,” The guard snarled, brushing past the doctor harshly.

Dr Kim watched them disappear around the corner, a worried look on his face.

Chapter Text

Jisung tried to make himself as comfortable as possible in the cell. Which was very hard, considering that there was no bed and the floor was made of stone slabs. 

The other boy had been thrown into the cell opposite him, and he could see that the other boy was lying happily on the ground, sprawled out as if it was his natural habitat. 

The cells were a complete contrast from the rooms. It was mostly dark, no windows, and the only source of light was small lightbulbs dotted around the place. Instead of bars, the whole wall leading out into the small hallway was entirely made out of glass.

Probably some kind of special glass to ensure the Gifteds weren’t able to use their abilities to get out. However, they weren’t soundproof, as Jisung had just found out. He could hear the other boy humming a tune. It was probably to allow the guards to listen and make sure they weren’t causing any trouble. 

Jisung had nearly nodded off when he suddenly heard a door slam open followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. He turned his head slightly just in time to see Dr Kim come to a stop. 

But it wasn’t Jisung’s cell that he entered. 

It was the cell right opposite. 

Jisung watched in surprise and curiosity as the boy immediately sat up. 

“Renjun!” Dr Kim exclaimed, bending down. He grasped the boy by the shoulders and checked him over, looking for any injuries. “Oh my gosh, are you okay? What were you thinking?” 

“Hyung, hyung I’m okay, really,” The boy, Renjun, said. He brushed a strand of hair out of his face. “Not even a single bruise on me. I promise.” He rolled up his sleeves to prove his point. 

Dr Kim sighed. “Oh thank goodness,” He murmured, “What are you doing here?” He suddenly asked, frowning. “What are you doing back in a place like this? Don’t tell me they caught you.” 

Jisung frowned. Back in a place like this? Caught? What did he mean?

“Relax, hyung, don’t worry. I’m here on my own accord,” Renjun paused, “Well, technically I didn’t really have a choice. Taeyong-hyung sent me here. Said he wanted me to catch his attention so that we can fully analyse him.”

“Taeyong - what?” Dr Kim’s eyes widened. 

Renjun shrugged. “Said he wanted a full report and what the boy is like so he can start making arrangements,” He explained, “I believe he’s going to place him in Dream.” He paused. “D-did hyung not contact you to tell you I was coming?”

Dr Kim slowly shook his head. “No, he didn’t. But it would make sense for him to send someone,” He mused. “I’m still going to whack his head for not giving me a warning.” He took a glance towards Jisung’s cell, who quickly pretended he was zoned out, staring down at a spot on the floor. 

Jisung was terribly confused. Who was this Taeyong? And who was this boy that they wanted? And arrangements for what? And how did he know Dr Kim?

“Hyung, did something happen?” Renjun murmured, “He… those guards were afraid to go near him. They hesitated. Facility Guards never hesitate.”

Dr Kim went still. “There has been… a very recent development. He’s just gained another ability,” He sighed, “I was going to contact Taeyong-hyung about it today, but he apparently had other ideas in mind.” 

Jisung’s heart stopped, before starting back up again at a faster tempo. Were… were they talking about him?

“What is it?” Renjun asked.

Dr Kim shook his head. “Not here, Injunnie,” He said gently, “All I can say is, we need to get him out. It is dangerous for him, and millions of innocent people, to stay here. The government will use him for evil purposes. They’ll use him, test him, and torture him. Our top priority is to get him out.”

“I thought he was already top priority?” Renjun lowered his voice, “You reported that they were already using him to torture people.”

“Renjun, his new ability,” Dr Kim shook his head. “It’s new. I don’t mean that as in, new for him. I mean that it’s the first time this ability has ever been seen. The government…” He breathed in sharply. “They’re going to use him and use him until there is nothing left. He’s already broken. And they’re going to keep breaking him. I have a suspicion that they broke him so much already and that is the cause of this new ability.”

Renjun was silent as he processed this new information. 

“Contact Taeyong-hyung,” He finally said. “Tell him to move up his plans. The longer we’re here the more likely we’ll be compromised. Especially since it’s two of us here now.”

Dr Kim nodded. “I will. There are others here to, but they are less in danger than him. I'll tell Taeyong he needs to make a plan to get you and him out of here. I'll stay behind and figure out a way to get the others out.” He stood up, “Now let me go check on Jisung.” 

Jisung pretended that he hadn’t been paying any attention to what had happened in the cell opposite. He was pretty good at zoning out, a coping mechanism he had picked up, and he used that to his advantage now.

“Hey, Jisung,” Dr Kim had already entered his cell, approaching the young boy cautiously, being careful not to startle him. 

Jisung gave a small shudder and glanced towards the doctor. He was good at pretending, the boy decided. 

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Dr Kim asked, crouching down next to him.

Jisung shook his head. He continued to stare at the ground. 

“I heard what happened at the shooting range,” Dr Kim continued.

Jisung’s head shot up. “I’m sorry,” He blurted out.

“Sorry for what?” Dr Kim asked, confused. 

Jisung ducked his head again, chin pressing down to his chest. “I… I used my abilities. I’m a monster, I shouldn’t have used them, not outside the testing room. B-but they ordered me to use it and -”

“And you protected someone else,” Dr Kim cut him off gently.

Jisung’s brain short-circuited. “W-what?” He asked. 

Dr Kim just smiled at him. “They asked you to inflict on Renjun,” He looked over to the boy in the other cell who was watching their interaction. “But you didn’t. You chose to inflict on the guards who were trying to harm him. You decided to protect someone you didn’t even know, against people who wanted to hurt him. And that is something that not many people in your situation would do.”

“But…” Jisung tried to come up with an excuse. He didn’t want to use his abilities. They hurt people. 

“Jisung,” Dr Kim placed a hand on the young boy’s shoulder. “I am forever grateful for what you did today. Renjun might be in a bad state if it weren’t for you. So thank you.”

Jisung was startled. Thank you. No one had ever said those words to him before. 

Dr Kim carefully reached forward and tried to hug the boy, but Jisung panicked.

“No! Don’t, please,” He pleaded, trying to press himself back into the wall. “Please don’t touch me. I-I don’t want to kill you, please.” 

Renjun, who had been watching, raised an eyebrow at this. What had touch got to do with killing? 

Dr Kim slowly nodded. “Okay, okay, I won’t touch you. I promise,” He drew his hands back. He knew that Jisung was still terrified of accidentally killing someone with his new ability. 

Jisung breathed a sigh of relief, allowing his posture to relax.

“Try to get some rest, okay?” Dr Kim suggested as he stood to leave. “I’ll be back soon.”

Jisung didn’t know how long he had been sitting in his cell after Dr Kim left before this Renjun boy decided to speak up.

While Jisung had remained in the same position, Renjun had gotten up, walked about his cell, and did, well, basically everything except sit still. After what felt like hours, he finally sat down, leaning against the wall. 

Jisung didn’t even bother to hide the fact that he was watching the other boy’s every move. And now that they were sitting down facing each other, it resulted in a bit of a staring contest.

“So, your name is Jisung,” Renjun finally broke the silence.

Jisung eyed him cautiously before nodding. If Dr Kim knew him and was close to him, perhaps he was trustworthy. 

“What’s your last name?” Renjun continued.

“P-Park,” Jisung whispered, wrapping his arms tighter around his knees. “B-but, I’m Soldier 6, Test Subject NDm-6.”

Renjun hummed. “Park Jisung, huh? Nice name,” He said, “Don’t worry about your soldier number and all that nonsense. It doesn’t matter to me” He waved his hand in a dismissive manner. He paused. “Though, when I was in a Facility, I was Soldier 1, Test Subject NDm-1.” 

Jisung frowned slightly. Their test subject group code. It was the same. 

“A-and you’re Renjun?” Jisung spoke, timidly. “D-Dr Kim called you that.”

“Yup, that’s me. Huang Renjun,” The other boy nodded. 

They fell into silence again. Jisung looked at his uniform, counting the stitches on the hem of his sleeve. Renjun used this as an opportunity to take a really good look at the young boy. 

He’s thin. Was the first thing Renjun thought of. He wasn’t so surprised about that though. He could remember very clearly back when he was in a facility. They only got nutrients and stuff through IVs. Regular food was… scarce. 

But what Renjun really focused on was how closed off and terrified the boy was. Even those he knew that had been in facilities and had been treated like Jisung had not turned out like this. And a chilling, horrifying thought came to him. A thought that maybe the reports they had gotten weren't complete. 

Renjun gave the younger boy another quick look up and down. And he suddenly noticed what was different about what he was wearing.

“What are the gloves for?” He asked, looking pointedly at the younger boy’s hands which were covered in black leather. 

Jisung froze. “Um, nothing,” He mumbled, “I just have, um, sensory issues.” He blurted out, coming up with a lie. 

Renjun just studied him for a moment before nodding. “Okay,” He nodded. He was doubtful that it was the whole truth, but he’ll respect the young boy’s privacy for now. He looked around his cell for the umpteenth time, bored out of his mind. He would have used his powers if he could, but the cells blocked out their abilities.

“H-how do you know Dr Kim?” Jisung found the courage to ask, his voice barely more than a whisper. 

But somehow, Renjun still heard him. “Dr Kim was the one that helped me get out. Me and two others. We were in a facility, not this one, but a similar one. Dr Kim suddenly appeared, and then we were out. I owe him the life I have now.”

Jisung’s brows scrunched together as he listened. Got out? As in, escaped? 

“If you got out, why are you back here?” Jisung’s curiosity got the better of him. "Why would you come back here?"

Renjun just smiled as he said three words. 

“Because of you.”