rewrite the stars - jaywon

chapter 31

"What?" Jungwon asked, uncomprehending. Not following. Beomgyu and Sunghoon had wide-eyed looks, as completely and utterly shocked at Taehyun as Jungwon.

"M-move aside, please," Taehyun made shooing motions at Jungwon with his hands. His eyes were darting around, nervously. Jungwon shifted his stance, Jay at his back, but he didn't move.

"Why?"

"Oh, God. Uh, to find out what's wrong with him, I'm gonna need to touch him."

"Why do you need to touch him?" Jungwon thought it sounded suspicious. He glanced over his shoulder, at Jay, at his dull eyes.

"Androids can interface with other androids through physical contact," Taehyun winced, "It's kind of hard to explain."

Jungwon opened his mouth to suggest that maybe Taehyun could explain the interfacing business a bit better if he tried a little harder, but Beomgyu cut him off, "Just trust him, Jungwon. This is already hard enough for him as it is."

Jungwon frowned, but upon seeing the sincere, determined set in Beomgyu's face, he stepped aside. But only just. Taehyun nodded at him, in recognition, then stepped up to Jay.

Jungwon noted, absently, the footfalls of two pairs of shoes as Beomgyu and Sunghoon came near. But he didn't look, he barely heard them, as Taehyun raised both of his hands and placed splayed fingers on the sides of Jay's head.

Nothing happened, for one heartstopping moment.

Then, Jay's eyes started to open wider and wider. They lit up, as though they were filled with all colors of fairy lights, brighter than Jungwon had ever seen them.

Taehyun's eyes were closed, but Jungwon could tell that they were lit up too. The light seeped through the thin skin stretched over his eyes, turning his eyelids a dull red, turning them into dual glowing embers.

Taehyun's mouth, at first a thin line, twisted. His lips parted into a grimace, and his teeth were clenched behind them.

Jungwon watched in creeping horror as Taehyun's knuckles turned white on the side of Jay's head, as his grip tightened.

Beomgyu made a noise and stepped forward, reaching out, stopping short of Taehyun and Jay.

Then, Taehyun gasped, and wrenched his hands away. His eyes flew open, back to normal in the span of a split second. Jay's took moments to dull back to their previous voids of color.

"What did you find?" Beomgyu asked, before Jungwon had the chance to.

"Nothing," Taehyun sounded haunted. He looked at his fingers, then at Jay. Jungwon frowned.

"What? Nothing's wrong with him?"

He couldn't believe that, not when Jay couldn't even remember his own name.

"No..." Taehyun turned wide, wobbly eyes to Jungwon,

"There's nothing there. He's empty."

"That's impossible," Beomgyu said.

His voice sounded far away, as blood rushed to Jungwon's ears.

He looked at Jay, at his slack face and soulless gaze.

Jungwon hadn't thought, ever, that there'd be nothing of Jay left.

He'd thought Jay had just been reset, that something might have gone amiss in the reset process. His breathing came in short, shallow. Jungwon reached up to claw his collar away from his neck but it didn't help him breathe easier at all.

Jay was empty. There was nothing to get back.

"I'm telling you what I saw. It's like there was a gap where his mind should've been, where I should've been able to reach."

"That's... not possible," Beomgyu repeated, but he didn't sound so sure this time around. He looked at Jay, morbidly curious.

"Beomgyu," Sunghoon sounded unsure as he tapped on his brother's shoulder, "you could check it out too. You could see if Taehyun's right, if his mind's gone."

Jungwon was hearing their conversation as if he was miles away. He couldn't move, frozen to his feet.

"I'm only pre-med. I'm hardly qualified to do brain surgery," Beomgyu's brows knitted together, "Jay hasn't got that kind of mind anyway."

Taehyun nodded, his movements mechanical. He still looked to be almost as shaken as Jungwon felt.

Jungwon wondered what exactly he'd seen inside of Jay, to make him that unnerved. That line of thought only made Jungwon feel worse.

"That's right. His mind-- our minds.... they're just chips, really. Just lines of code committed onto a circuit."

An idea came to Jungwon. He should've felt excited, at the prospect of another hope for Jay, but he only felt dismal. The word empty ricocheted around his head.

"Find someone who knows code, then."

All eyes in the room but Jay's turned to him.

Jungwon shrugged, looking helplessly at all of their faces before turning to Jay,

"We need to find someone who can look at his code and tell us if there's really nothing left of him.''

— the end of chapter 31 ♡

tmi: this chapter was so
heartbreaking pls

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