//

It was the day Director Bang called Taehyung into his office and the day Taehyung changed his and Jungkook's plans to stay in his dormitory room instead of going out.

//

"What did you want to talk about?" Jungkook asked before he drank from his cup.

"Let's start with the man I was going to marry. Jungkook, are you okay?"

Jungkook was coughing, the water going down the wrong pipe and Taehyung was hitting his back to help him feel better.

"W-who? What?" Jungkook had no idea he was crushing on an engaged man. And where had Taehyung's fiancé been all this while?

"You recall I joined Galactica when I was very young?"

Jungkook nods, he heard that Taehyung joined when he was seven.

"I was the youngest Extraordinary in Galactica. The hyungs doted on me. Yoongi hyung, Jin hyung, and... Seojoon hyung. He was older, stronger, protective, warm, handsome, and was my first crush. He was my best friend and I told him I was going to marry him after I graduated from agent training and complete enough missions to match up to him," Taehyung smiled at the memory. It will always be precious to him. He was fifteen.

"I'm gonna marry you when I'm older, hyungie!"

Seojoon laughs, then asks, "why me, Taebear?"

"Because hyungie is a hero! The best in Galactica!"

"This is my past, Jungkook, and I'm finally ready to tell you about it today. Do you still want to know?"

Of course he does! Jungkook had been waiting for this moment and he had been keeping himself in line, never wanting to come off as being nosy when he was in actual fact dying to know what happened. Jungkook gulped. Now that Taehyung brought it up himself, does this mean he finally trusts Jungkook?

The thought had Jungkook absolutely dizzy with joy and he tried to control his expression, but Taehyung saw it anyway and giggled at Jungkook's failed efforts in suppressing his grin.

"I guess the answer is yes," then Taehyung's smile dropped, "it is not a pretty story."

Jungkook immediately clasped Taehyung's hands in his in support. Feeling something is missing, he lets go, then opened his arms, inviting Taehyung to sit in his lap like how they sometimes do when watching an emotional movie.

Taehyung sighed. He really needed that. Facing Jungkook, he climbed onto Jungkook's lap and put his head on Jungkook's shoulder, his hands playing with the hem of Jungkook's shirt.

He started his story, his voice soft beside Jungkook's ear.

"I was almost done with training. I had my powers under control and after one last test, I can be an agent and officially go out on field and Seojoon hyung would be my partner for my first mission. I was ecstatic. I was waiting for Seojoon hyung to return from his mission and share with him the news.

He was supposed to be on a simple extraction mission. Go into the location, extract the hostages, capture the preparators, and get out.

It was supposed to be a piece of cake for Seojoon hyung who was ranked number nine before you. He was an indigo telekinetic user and he had complete mastery over his powers, and he was as much a mentor as a friend to me. He was invincible," Taehyung's tone turned sombre, "or so I thought."

Taehyung continued, "everything was going smoothly. He knocked out the guards to the lab and went inside to rescue the Extraordinary children who were kidnapped.

He cleaned out every room on the first floor and the first level basement before he arrived at the second level basement. It was heavily guarded and there were supposed to be three children kept there. The valued and promising experiments."

Taehyung exhaled shakily and Jungkook rubbed comforting circles on his back.

"Seojoon hyung's secondary power was to create mindlinks. His were so powerful, he could connect to my mind even if we were lightyears apart. I could see everything he was seeing through his eyes, giving me some last minute pointers before my test, and we communicated in his mind.

Like always, we were fooling around. I bet that he couldn't finish the mission in two hours and if he proved me wrong, I'll be on laundry duty for a month. Our bets were always so silly.

Little did we know that it was our last bet.

After searching the left wing and knocking out all the guards, he was unable to find the children. So he headed over to the right wing.

Then the mindlink s-started to f-fall apart."

Taehyung sobbed, shaking from the memory and Jungkook's heart broke when he saw his tears.

"Don't cry, please," Jungkook begged and he wiped Taehyung's tears with his thumbs, trying to catch all of them but not being able to.

Taehyung sniffled, "I f-felt it in my mind. It was p-peeling away, like a rope unravelling until only a f-few s-strands were left to hold itself together."

Taehyung took a few breaths to calm himself down, "something was horribly wrong. As the mindlink weakened, I could neither hear nor see, as if I was forcefully disconnected. I ran to Director Bang's office but we...we were all too far to do anything."

Jungkook hugged Taehyung close, his heart shattering at his choked sobs and Jungkook rocked them gently, as if comforting a child.

Taehyung's voice cracked, "then, scant images flashed through the mindlink again.

"I saw the backs of two children exiting from another door, one of them dragging along an unconscious boy so thin, it looked like his bones would snap anytime.

Taehyung closed his eyes, tears dripping down his face, "by this time, Seojoon hyung was almost...gone. His thoughts were incoherent and he was apologizing like a madman. He...he was self-destructing.

"He had severed all of his nerves," a fresh bout of tears dripped down Taehyung's face, " I screamed. I screamed for him to stop and to come back.

"I tried to take control over his mind, but  he had destroyed most of it and with the mindlink so fragile, it was impossible. The only thing I managed to salvage was the last memories he was seeing.

Kookie, do you know who was Chaos?"

Jungkook does not know why Taehyung is asking, but he answered, "the notorious criminal who took so many lives that his bounty is still unsurpassable even though he disappeared ten years ago?"

"Yes. Seojoon hyung...was Chaos."

Jungkook could not believe his ears. "How can that be?"

"Only the top management of Galactica knew his true identity.

Seojoon hyung was born and bred in a laboratory before he was used as a killing machine for that particular organisation. He was not taught a sense of morality and he had only one instinct, and that is to survive, which he believed can only be done by adhering to the orders given to him.

Until he met an agent from Galactica who took it upon herself to teach him and guide him. As Seojoon hyung learned, he felt the weight of the lives he had taken on him.

Immense guilt had occupied Seojoon hyung and he swore to save as many lives as he had consumed in his early days.

He worked harder than anyone, rushed into missions, and couldn't sit still if he doesn't have a mission lined up. He was reckless and underneath that was suicidal intent. He had many times thought of giving in to the guilt and to throw away his life in missions.

He always hid that under a happy and confident demeanor and no one noticed.

The Twins had let him live through his deepest fear, that he became a cold-blooded killing machine again, killing all his friends and me, and his darkest desire which was to end his suffering and it was all too much. He finally gave in. He took his own life.

Taehyung looked at Jungkook with tear-filled eyes, "by the time we arrived, Seojoon hyung was gone, the mindlink had broken apart fully, and he was laying in the ground. He looked like he was just asleep.

"Instead of bringing him back, we buried him in the forest. Seojoon hyung's last wish in a moment of lucidity was to never step foot in a lab again.

Taehyung gazed down at his hands, "sometimes I could still feel the soil under my fingernails and the warmth of his skin.

"I decided to be a researcher and evaluator. There are many capable agents in Galactica but who would make them stronger and ensure that they are fit for battle both physically and mentally? I decided that I would.

"Oh, bub," Jungkook cooed sympathetically and embraced Taehyung tighter, trying to squeeze out the pain.

Taehyung concentrates on Jungkook's heartbeat, the steady rhythm giving him something to hang on in the present drawing him out from his grief and found a little more strength to carry on.

"Today Director Bang informed me that the children Seojoon hyung met in the laboratory were the Twins. I had tried to find information on the three children but that organisation was extremely cautious with their data.

Their photos and names were never kept on file and they were only referred to as numbers. It was only in a recent interview that the Twins let slip the laboratory they grew up in and Director Bang matched their age to the time of my mission.

He told me to use my abilities to train the agents for the mission to take down Lexicon and I agreed. Tomorrow he will announce it during the briefing. He also asked me to participate in the attack and I want to.

"We will go through it together. We will stop the Twins from harming even one more person," Jungkook promised, pecking Taehyung's forehead then his eyelids, wanting to stop the tears and to bring comfort to him.

Jungkook moved down and Taehyung's breath hitched, unsure if he would stop him if Jungkook kisses him. Taehyung was both relieved and disappointed when Jungkook stopped after pecking the tip of his nose.

Jungkook really wanted to kiss him. Always had since he started crushing on him, but he held himself back this time. Their first kiss would not be when Taehyung is this vulnerable.

Instead, he hugged Taehyung until they both fell asleep.