💜 YOUR FATE IS WHAT WE MAKE 💜 (18+) TAEKOOK {complete}

Chapter 20

"Yes! Thought so!" He shouts. Jungkook jumps awake by the bed where he dozed off while Dr Cheng was working tirelessly, through all hours of the night. Immediately, he checks on Taehyung only to find no change. He allows himself a gentle caress over a soft cheek before giving all his attention to Dr Cheng.

"Right! This is all pretty theoretical at this point; I have to inspect your chip to see if what I have in mind might work. I will also not do anything unless one of the new chips will be suitable for you. I won't risk you both." Even in his upset, Jungkook can see that Dr Cheng will not change his mind on this point.

"...I also need you to take a moment to understand something very important, Jungkook... If everything goes ahead and I will be able to transfer your chip to Taehyung, you will lose all of your memories, permanently. There will be no recovery, no echoes of the past, nothing. You will start from a clean slate as if you never even existed until the chip was inserted into your brain. You will have no past... but because your chip will be inserted into Taehyung, he will have all of your memories. Not just from when you were upgraded but every single one since the day you were born. Is this something you can live with?"

"It doesn't matter. None of it matters Dr Cheng. If Taehyung's not here, none of it means a thing."

The panic inside Jungkook is deep and dark, it tightens his guts into a tight ball, it makes every word weigh like lead dripping off his tongue. He doesn't even care if it makes sense anymore, he doesn't care how well he knows or doesn't know or has known Taehyung because all he cares about is seeing those soft, loving, chocolate eyes on his, the tender hands caressing his cheek and his warm, soft body and his face nuzzling into the crook of his neck. He can still hear Taehyung's voice, the sweet, soft, deep tone of his words and how softly they fall on his skin. He cannot lose that.

Dr Cheng straps Jungkook into the medical chair in silence before he says. "Now I'm going to do exactly the same thing I did with Taehyung before you left. I'm going to open you up briefly and take a moment to inspect your chip as well as I can while it's still in active use."

"OK, Dr Cheng." It only takes a moment.

"As I thought, yours is the same kind, definitely. I've never seen anything like them before, I really should have noticed before..." He mutters, looking a bit sheepish.

"Let's do it then, now." Jungkook speaks with urgency.

"Hang on, hang on, I know you're keen and yes, we are very much strapped for time but this is important Jungkook. Just bear with me. I want him well just as much as you do." Dr Cheng pushes Jungkook on the chest to keep him in the chair when he tries to get up.

"You need to do a renewal now and while you do that, I'll explain what I'm going to try and do... I want to start by saying that this has never been done before and that I cannot guarantee it will work. In fact, the operation is risky. You may both die."

Jungkook wants to nod but the collar stops him. "I understand, Dr Cheng. I know you will do your best and that you can only do what you can do. If something goes wrong, no one will blame you."

"Since we can't replace the original faulty chip, what I want to do instead is replace the second chip and create a bridge between the two chips that will help stabilise the original chip. The fact that the chip is yours will give us much better odds."

"Why?"

"Because you have been together for a long time, you share many memories. If I programme the chips slightly differently -which I should be able to do using the machine you brought back from Arasaka- I will be able to link the joint memories between the two chips and this will hopefully create a permanent bond between the chips that will in turn stop the malfunctioning and excessive cascading. Does that make sense?"