By Day and Night|TK

𝟐𝟕

27| Born to protect

Jeongguk and Taehyung tensed.

RM sighed, walking to them. "You know this would happen, Vante. This is why you wanted to leave so urgently, right?"

Surprised, Jeongguk's eyes wandered to Taehyung, who had a defeated expression settling on his face.

"I agree, people who do bad stuff need to get punished, but you and I know really well that Jeongguk was being controlled by his powers. It wasn't his fault." It was really hard for him to keep his voice calm.

"It was still him who did it. His powers weren't controlling him in the beginning."

"Still..." Taehyung helplessly looked at Jeongguk.

"It's okay.." Jeongguk took a step forward. "I admit, that I did these things on purpose in the beginning and that I lost control by the end... I don't regret anything though, besides the fact that I hurt Taehyung."

RM was definitely stunned by Jeongguk's confession and the way he wasn't thinking about defending himself.

"I thank you. We had discussed about your punishment yesterday and we thought, it would make sense if you never get your powers back."

Jeongguk felt a shiver run through him and Taehyung's eyes widened. "What? You can't do that!"

"He misused them, Vante. And you especially should know that." Taehyung got only more aggravated by the way Namjoon kept his voice calm, speaking as if he has the highest authority in the world.

"HE WAS POSSESSED! You said his powers are only mediums to his actual power, destruction and you told me you would only limit them to fire, so that whatever possessed him can't get to him again. You said that you will give them back to him!"

"I know what I said, but he admitted to not regretting anything he'd done. There's no more suitable punishment for a misuse of one's powers, but to take them. I won't discuss this with you, we already decided this."

Taehyung took a deep breath, clearly angry.
"RM, what do you see when you look at Jeongguk?"

The leader wordlessly looked at Jeongguk.

"C'mon, say it. Bunny, the villain, the person who loves to see people suffer and burns down house after house, who has almost burned down the whole capital of South-Korea." Taehyung spat, feeling Jeongguk tense next to him.

"That's it, right? A confident villain, with only bad agendas, right? Is that what you see?"

"I-"

"Because, when I look at him, I see a 16 years old boy crying himself to sleep alone in his room every night, because his parents mistreated him to the point where he got scared of stepping outside. A boy who tried to keep his best friend safe from his own parents, because he was scared that something would happen to him. A boy that sacrificed his whole childhood to please his parents, not getting appreciated at all for that. And this boy was 19 now, having given up on people after he got hurt one time after the other, over and over again. All this pent up pain had to get out some way! Jeongguk has his reasons and I know it's hard to feel empathy if you don't know what happened. I was there though, saw him cry, saw him distance himself from everything he loved," Taehyung took a deep breath. "And if you decide to never give him his powers back because of that, then take mine too."

Jeongguk's already fast heartbeat escalated hearing that. "What, no!"

"Vante, you're talking nonsense now! I'm not having this discussion with you. You will keep your powers and we will keep Jeongguk's powers. Be happy that we decided against throwing him in prison!"