E̴͏r͢r̴͜o̵r
Rated: T Warning(s): Major Character Death
Description: Wonshik becomes a cyborg to bring back his dead lover Taekwoon, focusing only on him even as their friends succumb to the same illness that took Taekwoon's life. He has become a cold machine, focusing on only Taekwoon and feeling only for Taekwoon. It's all for him, it always was.
(Read on Ao3)
Wonshik’s circuits whir to life in the brightly lit laboratory, his eyes blinking on as his body warms up. He sluggishly gets up and lifts his head, his eyes landing on the skeletal robot body in front of him.
Taekwoon is still as beautiful as the day Wonshik first laid eyes on him, even though his blue glass robotic eyes no longer carry the light that once illuminated his life and his cold metal face remains blank and expressionless, even more than it was when he was alive. Before, Wonshik was still able to tell what was on Taekwoon’s mind by reading the subtle signals of his face: A twitch of his jaw here, a slight eye-roll there. Now there was no expression to read, just a lifeless, mechanical husk.
It's been three months since the incident. Wonshik had returned home to find Taekwoon lying motionless and deathly cold on their shared bed, claimed by the sickness that had swept the nation. Since then, Wonshik had fully dedicated himself to bringing his lover back to life. His transformation from flesh to metal had been excruciating, having his organs and limbs slowly replaced with cold steel and wires until his body became a cold, almost completely unfeeling machine. The only thing he focused on after was bringing Taekwoon back. It was all for him. Even as Hakyeon, Jaehwan, Sanghyuk, and finally Hongbin had been taken by the sickness, Wonshik only set up empty frames for them. He would fix the others later. The only one who currently mattered was Taekwoon. He never became tired, only stopping to fix one of his own limbs or let himself recharge. Nothing else mattered. It was for Taekwoon. Just Taekwoon. Only for Taekwoon.
It would be another six months until Wonshik completed his work. Taekwoon’s eyes blinked to life, a soft hum emitting from his circuits as his systems booted up. But something was wrong.
“Hyung.” Wonshik murmurs, gently bringing a hand up to caress Taekwoon’s face. Taekwoon only follows Wonshik’s movements with his eyes, meeting his gaze with a blank expression. “Taekwoon-ah. Do you remember anything?” Wonshik continues, tucking Taekwoon’s unruly bangs out of his face. Taekwoon responds with silence, a shadow of confusion flicking through his eyes for a second. Before Wonshik can say anything, an ‘Error’ message appears on the computer that Taekwoon is connected to. Wonshik goes to check, his eyes not leaving Taekwoon, who doesn’t leave the platform and just watches Wonshik.
“I need memories.” Wonshik murmurs to himself, realizing his mistake. Taekwoon remains unresponsive because there are no memories for his AI to go off of. Wonshik curses himself for making such a foolish mistake. He had been able to function just fine because he had made his transition while he was alive, and he could remember everything just fine. But there is no way to retrieve memories from a dead man, and even if there were, Taekwoon had been dead for far too long to attempt anything like that. There was another option, although it should only be a last resort as it would surely mean the authorities would come crashing through the door. That option would be for Wonshik to implant his own memories of Taekwoon into him and leave the AI to sort out the rest. Wonshik grapples with the idea for a moment as he holds Taekwoon’s body in his arms, a body that is now alive but not alive. All he wants is to have his Taekwoon back, and for that, he’d do anything.
He makes up his mind as he releases Taekwoon and walks over the computer, which still has his memories implanted in it from before he became robotic. He pulls up the tab and types in the command to insert the memories, guiding Taekwoon to sit down in front of the device that would give him the memories needed to be truly alive again. The machine beeps to signal that it is ready for the memory implant. Wonshik pulls the machine over Taekwoon’s head and presses the button, waiting with bated breath that he doesn't need as the images flash in front of Taekwoon’s eyes.
Wonshik cautiously lifts up the machine when it beeps again, nervous energy making his hands shake slightly as he puts it down. His electronic heart leaps in his chest when Taekwoon looks up to meet his gaze. His eyes are now filled with the light that Wonshik loves so much, and his heart soars in relief when Taekwoon all but leaps out of the chair to hug him.
“Taekwoon… You're back…” Wonshik murmurs, forgetting about honorifics in his ecstatic relief. He holds Taekwoon tight as if he might lose him again. He fears he might, as the authorities are connected to his computer and can tell when he's used his own memories more than once. He gazes at the door, all sorts of horrible scenarios paying out in his mind.
“Wonshik. Relax.” Taekwoon’s soft voice cuts through Wonshik’s thoughts, bringing his attention back to reality. “Even after we've come back from the dead, I can still tell if something’s on your mind.” Wonshik smiles at those words. Taekwoon had always been able to read him so easily.
“You’re right. You’re back, and that’s all that matters.” Wonshik replies, pulling back from the hug to hold Taekwoon’s face and pull him into a tender kiss. Taekwoon’s lips move against his own in a way that he sorely missed, reigniting feelings that Wonshik thought had been long buried. He breaks the kiss after a long moment, resting his head against Taekwoon’s. “I missed you.” He whispers, gazing into Taekwoon’s enchanting ice blue eyes. Taekwoon holds his gaze with a soft smile until his eyes flick over to the four empty frames hanging against the far wall.
“Where are the others?” Taekwoon asks, pulling back from Wonshik’s embrace to investigate the frames.
“They’re gone… After you died, they all went soon after…” Wonshik says, his gaze dropping to hide his grief. “I promised I would bring them all back too, but I had to get you back first.” He continues, watching Taekwoon’s face change from grief to cautious hope. “I promised I would make it so we’d all be able to see each other again.” Taekwoon smiles at this and gladly accepts Wonshik’s embrace, burying his face in Wonshik’s collar. There is no need for words, as their embrace tells all the words that they need to express.
“I’m home.” “I missed you.” “I’m sorry it took so long.” “I love you.”
Before either of them can do anything else, there is a harsh knocking on the door followed by five agents in black bursting through. Wonshik pulls Taekwoon tight to his chest to protect him, but four of the agents forcefully pull them apart, two restraining each of them while the fifth pulls out a three-inch-long needle connected to a small monitor.
Wonshik watches as the agent drives the needle into the back of Taekwoon’s neck with enough force to disable his movements and cause his entire system to trip for a split second, shown in the rapid flashing of his eyes.
“Stop! Let go of him!” Wonshik shouts, struggling against the agents holding him. He doesn’t dare do anything while the needle is still buried in Taekwoon’s neck lest the agent twist it the wrong way and break anything, but the sight of Taekwoon being held motionless while the monitor scans through his systems is a sight that Wonshik can hardly bear. The agent pulls out the needle after a minute that feels like an eternity, staring at the monitor that blares an angry tone throughout the laboratory. The noise alone is enough to let Wonshik know that his efforts have been for naught, as the agent signals for the two holding Taekwoon to take him away with a disapproving glare sent in Wonshik’s direction.
The agent’s rough handling jolts Taekwoon back to reality, and he looks back at Wonshik in desperation as he is being dragged away, still too weak to fight back. Something snaps inside Wonshik at the sight, and he throws the agents holding him aside with enough force to knock over his desk and one of the empty frames hanging from the wall behind him. He sprints at the remaining agents, tearing them away from Taekwoon and throwing the lead agent into the far wall. He grabs Taekwoon’s wrist and takes off further into the laboratory, hastily punching in a code in a hidden panel in the wall.
“Wonshik, what-” Taekwoon starts, but is cut off by Wonshik.
“I had to bring you back. I used my own memories.” Wonshik admits, refusing to meet Taekwoon’s gaze as he pulls him into the secret passage that opens up next to them. “Come on!”
“Wonshik, that’s-”
“Illegal, I know. It doesn’t matter, it was for you.” Wonshik says, closing the door behind them and guiding Taekwoon to another large machine with six gigantic wires resembling power cords attached to it. “I made a promise. I intend to keep it.”
“You didn’t have to do all that for me… Surely you could have found someone else, right?” Taekwoon asks, his voice barely above a whisper as he sinks to the ground against the machine.
“No, I never could. I only love you.” Wonshik murmurs, rushing to Taekwoon’s side. He caresses Taekwoon’s cheek, guiding him to look up at him. “I did this because I wanted to be with you again. Screw the consequences.” He says, leaning in to kiss Taekwoon when he doesn’t get a response.
“But you’ve been found out. What are we going to do now?” Taekwoon asks, glancing at the door as if the agents would come bursting in any second.
“I promised we would all be able to see each other again, right? I can still keep that promise.” Wonshik replies, picking up one of the wires from the ground and driving the prongs into his neck. The electricity surges through him and causes him to bite back a cry of pain. Taekwoon’s face falls when he realizes the implications of Wonshik’s actions.
“You can’t possibly mean…” He whispers in shock, although he already knows the answer.
“This is our only way now… You still want to see them all again, right?” Wonshik asks, his voice strained as the machine begins to delete the intricate coding and memories from Wonshik’s body.
“I do. You’ll be there too after this.” Taekwoon murmurs after what seems like an eternity, picking up another wire and hesitating for a split second before jamming the prongs into his neck.
“Once it beeps and we pull out the wires, we’ll be able to see them again,” Wonshik says, embracing Taekwoon the best he can with the wires hindering his movement.
“We’ll be free,” Taekwoon adds, pulling Wonshik in for one last kiss before the machine beeps. Wonshik hums in agreement, slowly pulling his arms away from Taekwoon and gripping the wire attached to his neck. Taekwoon does the same, gazing into Wonshik’s eyes with more emotion than words can express.
“I love you.” Those are the last words Wonshik hears from Taekwoon before he tears out the wire, his expression strikingly peaceful as the light dies from his eyes and he collapses to his knees.
“I love you too.” Wonshik chokes out, ripping out his wire not a second later and collapsing beside Taekwoon.
The agents burst in five minutes later, only to find the two lovers facing each other, kneeling lifeless and still reaching towards each other even in death.
