Biochemical; NCT Dream

✯•Thirty•✯

Donghyuck slips into his cabin, trying to make as little sound as possible as he tiptoes towards his bed, carefully peeling back the bedsheets. He removes his slippers and crawls into the warm bed, releasing a sigh of relief when Mark doesn't wake up.

Obviously he would be wrong to think this.

"Jeno was looking for you" Mark's voice says, not at all raspy with sleep which would indicate he had been waiting for Donghyuck to return to the cabin.

Donghyuck only hums in response, making sure he was facing the opposite way to Mark. Although the cabin was pitch black, the thought of even facing Mark gave him chills. "Yeah, he found me" he mutters, praying that there would be no further questioning from the elder.

There was a brief moment of silence and Donghyuck thought Mark's interrogation was over. But it was far from it.
"Were you with Doyoung?" He asked it as a question but Donghyuck knew he already had the answer, Mark was merely looking for a confirmation of his suspicions.

With a sigh Donghyuck rolls over and switches on the lamp beside his bed, finally able to see Marks face. "What do you want?" He avoided Marks previous question as he saw no need to answer it. Mark already knew.

The elder boy sits up, eyeing Donghyuck a little before a look of desperation floods his irises "I want you to stop" just hearing Mark say this causes the younger to scoff. They'd had this argument already, were they really going to have it again?

"Stop what?" He asks, sitting up and glaring at the boy in the bed opposite "there is a Virus out there that is going wipe out the human species, we have a way to stop it yet no one is willing to fucking listen!"
Since the argument earlier in the evening obviously left Jeno in what appeared to be a more honourable position as he reeled of a list of pros and cons, Donghyuck's frustration and anger had been contained until it could not be contained any longer. Which was now.

Mark massages his temple a little before his piercing blue eyes meet Donghyuck's once again. "That...Virus, it has a mind of its own now, you can't stop it. It's safer just to stay here" he keeps his voice calm, obviously trying to reason with the younger boy rather than cause an argument.

"But we can stop it and that's what I'm trying to tell you! And stop saying we're safer here. Just because we cut out our identification chips and distanced ourselves from a technological society doesn't mean we're safe!" He yells, not caring if his commotion woke the other camp members. All he cared about right now was getting his damn point across. "You know this Mark, so why the hell would you tell me to stop?"

"Because I care about you!" Mark yells back with just as much frustration "I care about you Hyuck, if you try and tamper with the network system you'll be killed" he swallows hard "and you won't be revived".

Donghyuck felt the dull ache in his chest caused by Mark's words. He knew Mark cared about him, he cared about Mark too but that only made him want to put an end to the Virus even more. The Virus could target anyone, of any age. If he lost Mark he didn't know what he would do. But he didn't want to think of a world without Mark, he pushed all of his lingering thoughts to the back of his head, his eyes narrowing as he looked at he older boy.

"I'd rather die trying than do nothing" his tone was as sharp as a blade and he could see Mark visibly cringe at his words. He didn't care what Mark thought of him. He knew he was doing the right thing, which is all that mattered to him. The younger boy switches off the lamp and allows himself to lay back down, staring up at the metallic ceiling of the cabin.

Maybe he was being stubborn, but the rest of the camp was being just as stubborn. Mark, Jeno and everybody else knew for a fact that they could destroy the network system yet still keep the water supplies running on a separate source of energy. A form of energy from the mortal-age. Sure they would loose the defence network, but no country or planet had ever posed a threat to one another since the discovery of revival. The only thing earth needed defence against was humanity.

Donghyuck knew that the main reason they would never be allowed to follow through with the plan was the threat it posed to their lives.
That and if the plan was successful, it posed a threat to Jaemin's life.

Donghyuck remembered the day Jaemin had been brought to the camp. He'd damaged and lost far too much of his body for him to simply be revived. He'd lost an arm, leg, his sense of sight and many of his bones had been shattered beyond repair. Revival would have been a waste of time and would never have been successful. Thankfully, Doyoung had apprenticed under the engineers that designed and built the earliest models of androids. With his limited talent in android development and his medical training he was able to restore Jaemin back to full health, using the most advanced parts he could find.

It's not that Donghyuck didn't think Jaemin deserved to live because he definitely did, he'd already been through so much and with this second chance at life they'd hoped he'd be able to live it to the fullest.

But then the Virus mutated. It was no longer in the governments and scientists control. From the minute word began to spread about the mutation of the Imperium Virus, Doyoung already knew that the only was to stop it would cost Jaemin his life.

The Virus was never given a certified name. People had named it many things, although the most popular name was Imperium, which came from the Latin word meaning 'control', after all, that was the soul purpose of the Virus. To control humanity's ever growing population.

"I'm sorry" Mark's voice says softly "I just don't want to lose you".

Donghyuck feels his eyes brim with tears and he squeezes them closed, rolling onto his side. He didn't answer Mark, he didn't feel the need to. He'd said what he needed to say. There was nothing more he wanted to say.