Tears of the Poor 16/?
Title: Tears of the Poor 16/?
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong/Junsu, Siwon/Hangeng/Heechul, Yoochun/Nichkhun/Chansung,
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They are not mine to run through space, sabotage governments and overthrow evil politicians with.
Summary: With his life threatened on ShinKi, Yunho heads to Doushite, the underdeveloped planet Jaejoong and Changmin are from. The atmosphere is tense, at best. ShinKi is destroying the Doushiten way of life just because of the deep veins of gold running through the picturesque mountains. They don't know who they can trust when it comes to trying to free Doushite from the clutches of a greedy empire.
This is a sequel to the fic: Pleasures of the Mighty.
The pleasures of the mighty, are the tears of the poor. A song will outlive the sermons in the memory. = Kim Jaejoong's tattoos
Poster credit goes to 0xkaiia0x
Part 16: The Torture
A/N: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VIOLENCE AND SOME GORE AND TORTURE! PLEASE BE FOREWARNED. I ACTUALLY COULDN'T BE AS DETAILED AS I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE, BECAUSE IT MADE ME UNCOMFORTABLE WRITING IT!!! I WILL MARK WHERE IT STARTS AND ENDS SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT, YOU DON'T HAVE TO!
Still on hiatus, but I am caught up on homework enough that I do not feel guilty for writing this while I was still in the mood to write it. :)
Yunho did not wake up tied to the bed with his cock in Junsu’s ass. He woke up to Junsu moaning in his ear with the blankets yanked up over their heads to block out the early morning light.
Jaejoong chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of Junsu’s head. “How are you feeling?” he asked Yunho.
“Okay, I guess.”
“Do you want to come down to the dungeons with me?”
Yunho looked at him in confusion for a moment, and then remembered that someone tried to kill Jaejoong. Again.
He sat up gingerly.
Junsu whimpered, but Jaejoong leaned down and whispered a few things to him and he settled down. Yunho also kissed the top of his head, where his hair stuck up and around.
“We’ll be back,” Jaejoong whispered, “and we’ll all take a bath together, okay?”
Junsu grunted.
With a grin, Yunho moved to the edge of the bed. He stretched out his aching muscles and was grateful that he didn’t want to throw up. Jaejoong handed him a pair of underclothes and he slipped them on before standing up. Jaejoong was already dressed, as always in black. But he was wearing his white boots.
“Those really are sexy,” Yunho said and pointed to them.
“You practically naked is sexier.”
Yunho nodded. “Too true.”
With a laugh, Jaejoong handed him the rest of his clothes. Yunho pulled on a pair of dark brown pants and then the red tunic that he wore more often than not. He liked the implication that Jaejoong was his master. He liked the reality of it, too.
As soon as he was dressed, Jaejoong pulled him close enough to kiss. “I love you.”
Yunho grinned and pecked his lips. “I love you, too.”
“Promise that won’t change?”
Yunho’s face showed his confusion.
“Promise?”
“Of course it wouldn’t, JaeJae.”
Jaejoong sighed. “Okay. I’ll hold you to that.” He turned away and headed to the door. Yunho caught up with him in the hall and took his hand.
“I will never stop loving you,” Yunho said a few staircases later.
“I know, but ... well, you’ll see.”
Yunho was confused, but he didn’t question Jaejoong further. They went to the kitchens and headed to the table where Changmin, Yoona, Jonghun and Jaejin sat.
After joining them, Jaejoong smiled and reached across the table. He tilted Changmin’s head to the side. “What is that, Legs?” he asked in Doushiten and Shinki for Yoona’s benefit.
Jonghun and Jaejin laughed.
Changmin yanked his head out of Jaejoong’s grasp. “Fuck you.”
“It’s a hicky,” Yoona said helpfully.
“So I see. Do you know who gave him that hicky?” Jaejoong asked, leaning his chin on a hand.
Yoona smiled and said, “Our wife” in Doushiten.
Jaejoong burst out laughing, Yunho chuckled and Changmin glared at her. She smiled innocently up at him until he looked away and rolled his eyes. Yoona smirked in victory and leaned against his shoulder. She didn’t see his small smile. But Yunho did.
“And that was ...” Jonghun asked.
Jaejoong grinned, and Changmin said something about the fucked up marriage customs on Shinki. Jonghun pondered Yunho for a moment, and then shrugged. Carefully, he said something that Yunho didn’t understand.
Jaejoong said, “He just said that this,” he gestured at Changmin and Yoona, “is a strange way of showing you care about someone.”
Yunho smiled at Jonghun and shrugged. “I don’t love her. Someone should.”
“Someone does,” Jaejoong added.
Changmin said nothing, but his face flushed, and he cleared his throat. Yoona smiled and turned her head enough to hide her own flushed cheeks against Changmin’s shoulder.
Meena brought over two heaping bowls of porridge and a loaf of warm bread. “Hello, my King. Hello, Yunho.”
“Good morning, Meena,” Jaejoong said.
Yunho echoed him and added in Doushiten, “Thank you for the food.”
Meena smiled at him and actually ruffled his hair.
Changmin chuckled. “You’re one of us, now. That hair ruffle means it’s official.”
Yunho smiled. “I don’t mind at all.”
They ate their breakfast (though Changmin stole half their loaf of bread). The conversaion was light until Jaejoong asked “How are your Shinki bastard prisoners?” but only in Shinki. He sipped on a cup of coffee.
“I don’t know,” Changmin said. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Jaejoong nodded. “Okay.”
“Are you coming with us?” Changmin asked Yunho. And then repeated it to Jonghun.
“Where are we going?” Jonghun asked.
“Prisoners.”
“Oh, right.”
Yunho turned to Yoona. “Will you take something up for Junsu to eat? He’s a bit hungover this morning.”
Yoona looked between them and sighed. “Which means I’m not coming with you wherever you are going.”
Changmin winced and shook his head. “It’s the nasty dirty dungeon. Definitely not a place for a lady. I’m surprised Jaejoong is going down there.”
Jaejoong punched his shoulder.
Yoona smiled, and Jonghun laughed when Changmin translated.
Changmin took her hand. “Trust me. You don’t want to come with us, okay? Go up with Junsu and we’ll be there soon.”
“Okay. I trust you. Even though you’re an arrogant brat.”
Changmin looked like he was going to protest, and then nodded. “I am.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He stood up and helped her to her feet. Jaejoong downed his coffee, and Yunho followed suit, both of them rising.
“Ah, you two are so cute,” Jaejoong said.
Yoona flipped his off.
Jaejoong laughed and hooked his arm around Yunho’s shoulders and headed toward the main hall. “I like your wife.”
“You mean our wife.”
Jaejoong nodded. “Yes. Our wife.”
Yoona laughed.
Jaejoong waved away Jonghun’s question and motioned for them to go ahead. He stopped for a moment and looked around the room.
“Himchan!” he shouted, and then jerked his head for the young man to follow. Himchan nodded, shoved one more piece of fruit in his mouth and stood up.
Changmin looked about ready to protest.
“He needs to learn,” Jaejoong said and led the way. Yunho put his arm around Jaejoong’s waist and their heads leaned together for a moment. Just a moment later, Changmin was there beside them. Jaejoong held out his hand. Changmin looked at it for a moment and then took it, giving Jaejoong a look.
“You or me?” Changmin asked in Shinki.
“It’s your castle.”
“You’re older.”
Jaejoong made a face.
Changmin stopped at a large, wooden door. There was a metal bar over it, and a lock connecting that bar to the stone wall. He removed a large key from his belt and unlocked the heavy door. It opened onto a stone staircase. Yunho immediately felt the chill coming from below. A single torch was lit, and Changmin removed it from its sconce and led the way down the stairs.
Jonghun said something to Jaejin, who nodded and stayed at the top of the stairs. Jaejoong saw Yunho’s questioning look and said, “Jaejin will let us out when we’re done.”
The heavy door shut behind them, and Yunho shivered, being thrown back to the days of darkness in the cave. He was very glad that Junsu was not with them.
Jaejoong tightened his hold on Yunho’s hand. The stairs spiraled down, stealing the heat with each step. Yunho wasn’t sure how far down they went, but at a landing, Changmin turned and entered a long hallway. The stairwell continued down. The hallway was lined with cells that all looked the same. The faint light flickered over caked metal bars. The air was dank and musty. Everything smell heavily of moss and water and mold. Yunho was glad that the cells were empty, but each held a rusting metal bucket and threads of rat-eaten burlap.
After a few more steps, Yunho heard whimpering, and then someone screamed. Yunho jumped.
None of the Doushitens flinched though Himchan swallowed nervously.
Changmin stopped suddenly in front of a cell near the back.
“Ugh, you really had to put them all the way down the hall,” Jaejoong said, looking at his white boots covered in dirt.
Changmin smirked. “It was the closest cell that would open.”
Jonghun moved around Jaejoong and yanked open the rusty, barred door.
The whimpering increased.
***************torture starts
There was no light in the cell outside of the glow of Changmin’s torch. He moved into the room, revealing the two men laying flat on their backs. They were both naked, legs and arms spread wide, wrists and ankles secured with a heavy chains that connected to the stone walls. The one man’s arm was swollen and purple. Probably where he broke it. At this point, Yunho figured it’d be lucky if he didn’t have to have it removed completely.
Changmin put the torch in bracket, casting a low glow through the cell.
Yunho heard Himchan physically swallow.
Changmin stepped on the man’s broken arm and he screamed.
Yunho opened his mouth to protest and Jaejoong’s hand was over his mouth in a second muffling it. Yunho glared at him, but Jaejoong’s attention was on Changmin.
Changmin brought his boot back and kicked the broken arm.
The other man was gagged, but started struggling.
Jonghun picked up something from the floor, and Yunho caught sight of a rusty broken end of metal before it was pressed right against the man’s dick. The man stilled and then shook his head frantically. Jonghun was pushing down.
The other man stopped screaming, breath gasping in the silence.
“Care to explain?” Changmin asked in Shinki.
“F-fu-fuck-you,” the man managed, and Changmin kicked his arm again.
“Changmin,” Yunho finally said, thankful that his voice didn’t break.
But Changmin glared at him. A warning.
Yunho took a deep breath. This was not okay. It wasn’t!
Changmin kicked the man again, but in the side, pulling a painful grunt out of him.
Yunho pulled away from Jaejoong, ignored the looks from the two kings and kneeled next to the man’s head. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that Changmin was a slave on Shinki for a while. You have a lot of information about that, but did you know that he was Park Yoochun’s slave.” He heard Jaejoong quietly translating for Jonghun and Himchan.
The man’s eyes flickered with something, and Yunho nodded at the involuntary information the man just gave him. And now to press more.
“Yeah, and Jaejoong belonged to Rain for a little while, and they want revenge for that, and I won’t let him hurt Yoochun just yet. So you two will do. I don’t know why you’re refusing to talk to him,” Yunho continued. “You’re going to die. How long that takes is up to how much helpful information you give us.”
Changmin kicked his arm again.
The man screamed, and so did the other one.
Yunho suddenly smelled blood. The bar in Jonghun’s hand was imbedded in the man’s crotch. Yunho swallowed back bile and felt his breakfast coming up. He stood up abruptly and turned away from them. Himchan’s face looked just as pale as Yunho’s felt. It took a moment for him to control himself enough to turn back around.
“We want to know your plan,” Changmin said. “We want to know who told you to try to kill us. And we want to know who else is going to threaten us.” He pulled a knife from his belt. The same knife that had been pinning his hand to a piece of wood the day before.
The man swallowed but said nothing.
Changmin dropped the knife, and Yunho watched in surprised slow motion as it dropped and landed in the man’s stomach, gravity pulling it to the hilt.
“There you go,” Jaejoong said as soon as the man stopped screaming. “Now you can bleed to death, though that will take a long time. That knife across your throat will speed up the process, but that is up to you.” He bent down and moved the knife, and again, Yunho had to shut his eyes.
Unfortunately the man saw him. And he said, “Y-yunho pl-please, make them stop.”
“Stop?” Changmin said. “We haven’t even started yet.”
Jaejoong turned around and looked at Yunho. His face looked so very cold, but Yunho could see the concern flickering with the shadows.
“Yunho, please.”
Yunho shut his eyes.
“He’s your lover. He’ll listen to you.”
“Lover?’ Yunho said. “I thought he was my slave and my whore according to Shinki.”
“Not to you though.”
Yunho took a deep breath. This man did know him. Or his reputation. His distaste for the way that Shinki handled things. He knew of his distaste of the slave system and the abuse and the cruelty. He knew that torture went on behind the scenes on Shinki.
And it went on in the open, in the form of how owners treated their slaves.
And he saw all the official documents and recordings of Jaejoong’s sisters being raped and killed.
Vindication.
Yunho did not have the right to keep Jaejoong nor Changmin from this small bit of revenge.
Finally, Yunho said, “I have no power here, and I don’t know you. You may know my name, and who I am, but you don’t know me. You are nothing to me but someone who tried to kill my lover. They can do to you what they want.”
The man whimpered, and Jaejoong gave him a small smile.
But when Jonghun pulled the rusted bar from the other man and brought it to this one, Yunho knew he couldn’t watch without throwing up. Jonghun brought the bar down, and Yunho turned quickly and faced the darkness. The man screamed, but Yunho still heard the bar tear through squishy insides. He took a few steps out of the cell and stopped. He could see nothing.
***************torture ends
A hand touched his arm and Yunho jumped.
Jaejoong’s concerned face swam dimly in front of his.
“I can’t watch you do this,” Yunho whispered. “I can’t.”
Jaejoong nodded. “I know, but I have to.”
“No, you don’t.”
“To get information, to protect my people, yes I do. They won’t talk without incentive.”
Yunho swallowed and nodded.
“I’ll take you back up. Do you trust me?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Shut your eyes. Let me lead you. It’s dark, but I know where I’m going.”
Yunho nodded. Jaejoong tugged on his arm and with his eyes shut, he blindly followed after his lover. The walk in the dark felt shorter than it had before. Yunho wasn’t certain if that was because Jaejoong lead or he knew where he was going this time. He did not open his eyes until they arrived at the steps. It didn’t matter too much; he could barely see. He kept his eyes down, and followed the brighter indication of Jaejoong’s white boots.
Jaejoong did not release his hand until they stopped, he knocked on the door, and it opened. He said something to Jaejin in Doushiten that Yunho did not listen to.
Yunho stepped into the light, intent to ignore Jaejoong for a moment, and walked away.
“You promised,” Jaejoong said behind him.
Yunho stopped, thought about that, and nodded once. He did promise. He walked away, flinching when the heavy door shut.
He tried to steady his breathing as he walked through the halls and up the staircases to their room. He wondered if this castle, this place, was his new permanent home. Would he ever see his mother again? Would his business shrivel and die? What would his employees do for work? They had already been gone long enough that he was sure his father (under Bi’s influence) had liquidated his company, dissolved it and fired everyone.
And what of Yoona, and his future children? Where would they be? Did he want his children to live here, in this place, where they princes could be so cruel? But was this place any different than Shinki?
The torture on Shinki was worse than Doushite. Torture of slaves who were once people and who onced lived in a world of their own, with their own customs. Versus the torture of criminals and someone who tried to hurt someone you loved. There was definitely a difference.
But which was better? Could hurting someone be rationalized and put into such categories?
Yunho could not deny Jaejoong his revenge. He could not blame him for his actions.
They needed information.
And Shinki were weak when they were not hiding behind their technology.
But did that make it right?
Yunho arrived at their bedroom door and leaned against the cool wood for a moment. He took a deep breath, tried to clear the anguish on his face and knew that it was impossible. The image of that bar and that knife just inside that man would haunt him. He’d seen worse (like when Angel blew off a guy’s head right in front of him), but this was different, since it’d been done under the direction of someone that Yunho had never thought would be so cruel.
What was Jaejoong doing to that man now?
Yunho swallowed bile, and desperately needed a hug. He opened the door, smiling slightly when he heard Junsu and Yoona’s laughter.
“Yunho!” Junsu said and bounced up on the bed, kneeling in the middle. He’d thrown on pants, but no shirt, and the scars on his shoulders and stomach stood out.
Scars from Yoochun.
Scars from someone else.
How many scars had Jaejoong left on someone’s body?
“Yunho,” Junsu said again, this time worried.
Yunho shook his head and looked at Yoona. He didn’t want to force her to leave, but he didn’t want anyone but Junsu.
Yoona smiled and nodded as she rolled to the edge of the bed. She was so good at always knowing what he wanted and needed.
“Be ... be there for Changmin, okay?” Yunho managed to say. “I don’t know how long ... but ...”
Yunho could not say it but he held on to the hope that even though the Doushitens were being forceful and hurting those men that they did not like it. And if Changmin did not like it, he would need support from someone afterwards.
Jaejoong had Yunho’s love for support. And Junsu’s. Changmin needed something.
Yoona walked over to him, cupped his cheek and kissed him lightly. “Was it bad?”
Yunho nodded and leaned into the touch. She moved to the side and gave him a push to the bed. Yunho focused on Junsu as he walked closer. His mouth was turned into a frown and his fingers gripped his knees.
Yunho kneeled on the end of the bed and reached for his shoulder, hesitant at first, and then he ran a finger along the thickest scar that went from his collarbone, up his shoulder, and around to his back.
“What did he do to you?”
Junsu swallowed and shook his head.
“I want you to tell me.”
“W-why?”
Yunho thought of his own actions in the dungeon. He was soft. He knew it. His enemies knew it. “I want a reason. I don’t want to hesitate.”
Junsu tilted his head in confusion.
“He hurt you, but I call him my friend. And I don’t want to hesitate if I have to kill him.
“Knowing that he hurt me isn’t enough?” Junsu asked. It wasn’t an accusation, but an honest question.
Yunho thought about it and then touched his cheek, finger running over a faint scar under his eye. “There are different levels of hurt, sarang. Different feelings of pain.”
Junsu looked down and swallowed. “He dug his nail into me right there. Just a fingernail, until I was crying.”
Yunho shut his eyes, leaned forward and kissed the scar lightly. He moved his hand back to the thick scar on his shoulder.
Junsu cleared his throat. “He has a knife. On a wall. It’s his favorite knife to use. And it’s just always there, threatening, and he ... he ties you up, in a way that you can’t move, you can’t close your eyes, and it’s the only thing on the wall you can see. And he leaves you there for hours and then he ... a lot of the scars are from that. And when I wasn’t there, staring at that knife, I was in a box, or a drawer, or a cupboard, tied up and blindfolded, sometimes with needles in my skin, sometimes with clamps, sometimes with rope, and left there, waiting, not knowing when or how long, until he wanted to hurt me.”
Yunho ran his hand down Junsu’s chest. He stopped at a nipple where there was a hole for a piercing and thick series of small scars above it.
“Clamps, left on too long, yanked too hard. He loves the taste and feel of blood.” Junsu’s breath hitched and Yunho knew that he was crying, but didn’t dare look up. He continued down to the empty holes at his navel.
“You stopped wearing piercings,” Yunho whispered.
Junsu turned his head to the side. “He used a Park Family token to pierce it, and that was the main spot his token’s hung. And the nipple too. I don’t like them.”
Yunho nodded and knew that he’d never ask Junsu to wear a piercing ever again. His hand covered a thick scar on Junsu’s hip. It was almost a perfect circle of bulbous skin. Yunho had a suspicion of what it was.
Junsu crossed his arms and turned away. He tried to move away, but Yunho kept ahold of him.
“SuSu?”
Junsu shook his head. “I don’t ... “
“Tell me.” Yunho touched his face with other hand, turning his head back around. Junsu’s eyes were shut, tears streaming down his cheeks. Yunho rubbed them away, leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips.
Junsu gasped in pain and hugged himself tightly. Yunho sighed and pulled him close, arms around his shoulder, fingers easily finding the scars on his back.
“He ... he branded ...”
Yunho shivered and wished he hadn’t guessed that in his mind.
“Two days ... two days after he bought me. He-he said that you had been looking for me. So he-he told you that he found me and bought me, and was willing to sell me to you, and he said that you said that he could have me. You didn’t want me. That I was just a toy, and then he ... he ... you told him that--that--that you didn’t need me, and I was ugly, and st-stupid, and he fucked me and told me all this over and over and you didn’t want me and you hated me and he branded me, but he got caught up in it and left the brand on for too long and ruined it and--”
Yunho hushed him, pulled him into his arms and rocked him slowly. He ran his hands through Junsu’s hair and whispered love at him until his tears calmed.
“Nothing he did ever hurt as much as thinking you hated me,” Junsu whispered.
Yunho cupped his cheeks and met his eyes. “I never, could never, ever hate you. You were my first love, the only one I loved for most of my life. Had I never met Jaejoong, you’d be the only one I could ever love.”
There were more scars on Junsu’s body, but Yunho figured that was enough. All he had to do was think of what Yoochun had told Junsu and he could kill him. Or let Changmin torture him. He had no problem at all with that.
Yunho lowered Junsu to the bed, and instead of talking about each scar, he kissed them, licked them, sucked on them, and did his best to heal the fear in Junsu’s heart.
Part 17: The Traitor
Part 15: The Throne
Part 14: The Thwarted | Part 13: The Threats | Part 12: The Travail | Part 11: The Talk | Part 10: The Table | Part 9: The Treat | Part 8: The Tub | Part 7: The Tribe | Part 6: The Terrain | Part 5: The Trail | Part 4: The Transformation | Part 3: The Tunnels | Part 2: The Trap | Part 1: The Trip
.
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong/Junsu, Siwon/Hangeng/Heechul, Yoochun/Nichkhun/Chansung,
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They are not mine to run through space, sabotage governments and overthrow evil politicians with.
Summary: With his life threatened on ShinKi, Yunho heads to Doushite, the underdeveloped planet Jaejoong and Changmin are from. The atmosphere is tense, at best. ShinKi is destroying the Doushiten way of life just because of the deep veins of gold running through the picturesque mountains. They don't know who they can trust when it comes to trying to free Doushite from the clutches of a greedy empire.
This is a sequel to the fic: Pleasures of the Mighty.
The pleasures of the mighty, are the tears of the poor. A song will outlive the sermons in the memory. = Kim Jaejoong's tattoos
Poster credit goes to 0xkaiia0x
Part 16: The Torture
A/N: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VIOLENCE AND SOME GORE AND TORTURE! PLEASE BE FOREWARNED. I ACTUALLY COULDN'T BE AS DETAILED AS I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE, BECAUSE IT MADE ME UNCOMFORTABLE WRITING IT!!! I WILL MARK WHERE IT STARTS AND ENDS SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT, YOU DON'T HAVE TO!
Still on hiatus, but I am caught up on homework enough that I do not feel guilty for writing this while I was still in the mood to write it. :)
Yunho did not wake up tied to the bed with his cock in Junsu’s ass. He woke up to Junsu moaning in his ear with the blankets yanked up over their heads to block out the early morning light.
Jaejoong chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of Junsu’s head. “How are you feeling?” he asked Yunho.
“Okay, I guess.”
“Do you want to come down to the dungeons with me?”
Yunho looked at him in confusion for a moment, and then remembered that someone tried to kill Jaejoong. Again.
He sat up gingerly.
Junsu whimpered, but Jaejoong leaned down and whispered a few things to him and he settled down. Yunho also kissed the top of his head, where his hair stuck up and around.
“We’ll be back,” Jaejoong whispered, “and we’ll all take a bath together, okay?”
Junsu grunted.
With a grin, Yunho moved to the edge of the bed. He stretched out his aching muscles and was grateful that he didn’t want to throw up. Jaejoong handed him a pair of underclothes and he slipped them on before standing up. Jaejoong was already dressed, as always in black. But he was wearing his white boots.
“Those really are sexy,” Yunho said and pointed to them.
“You practically naked is sexier.”
Yunho nodded. “Too true.”
With a laugh, Jaejoong handed him the rest of his clothes. Yunho pulled on a pair of dark brown pants and then the red tunic that he wore more often than not. He liked the implication that Jaejoong was his master. He liked the reality of it, too.
As soon as he was dressed, Jaejoong pulled him close enough to kiss. “I love you.”
Yunho grinned and pecked his lips. “I love you, too.”
“Promise that won’t change?”
Yunho’s face showed his confusion.
“Promise?”
“Of course it wouldn’t, JaeJae.”
Jaejoong sighed. “Okay. I’ll hold you to that.” He turned away and headed to the door. Yunho caught up with him in the hall and took his hand.
“I will never stop loving you,” Yunho said a few staircases later.
“I know, but ... well, you’ll see.”
Yunho was confused, but he didn’t question Jaejoong further. They went to the kitchens and headed to the table where Changmin, Yoona, Jonghun and Jaejin sat.
After joining them, Jaejoong smiled and reached across the table. He tilted Changmin’s head to the side. “What is that, Legs?” he asked in Doushiten and Shinki for Yoona’s benefit.
Jonghun and Jaejin laughed.
Changmin yanked his head out of Jaejoong’s grasp. “Fuck you.”
“It’s a hicky,” Yoona said helpfully.
“So I see. Do you know who gave him that hicky?” Jaejoong asked, leaning his chin on a hand.
Yoona smiled and said, “Our wife” in Doushiten.
Jaejoong burst out laughing, Yunho chuckled and Changmin glared at her. She smiled innocently up at him until he looked away and rolled his eyes. Yoona smirked in victory and leaned against his shoulder. She didn’t see his small smile. But Yunho did.
“And that was ...” Jonghun asked.
Jaejoong grinned, and Changmin said something about the fucked up marriage customs on Shinki. Jonghun pondered Yunho for a moment, and then shrugged. Carefully, he said something that Yunho didn’t understand.
Jaejoong said, “He just said that this,” he gestured at Changmin and Yoona, “is a strange way of showing you care about someone.”
Yunho smiled at Jonghun and shrugged. “I don’t love her. Someone should.”
“Someone does,” Jaejoong added.
Changmin said nothing, but his face flushed, and he cleared his throat. Yoona smiled and turned her head enough to hide her own flushed cheeks against Changmin’s shoulder.
Meena brought over two heaping bowls of porridge and a loaf of warm bread. “Hello, my King. Hello, Yunho.”
“Good morning, Meena,” Jaejoong said.
Yunho echoed him and added in Doushiten, “Thank you for the food.”
Meena smiled at him and actually ruffled his hair.
Changmin chuckled. “You’re one of us, now. That hair ruffle means it’s official.”
Yunho smiled. “I don’t mind at all.”
They ate their breakfast (though Changmin stole half their loaf of bread). The conversaion was light until Jaejoong asked “How are your Shinki bastard prisoners?” but only in Shinki. He sipped on a cup of coffee.
“I don’t know,” Changmin said. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Jaejoong nodded. “Okay.”
“Are you coming with us?” Changmin asked Yunho. And then repeated it to Jonghun.
“Where are we going?” Jonghun asked.
“Prisoners.”
“Oh, right.”
Yunho turned to Yoona. “Will you take something up for Junsu to eat? He’s a bit hungover this morning.”
Yoona looked between them and sighed. “Which means I’m not coming with you wherever you are going.”
Changmin winced and shook his head. “It’s the nasty dirty dungeon. Definitely not a place for a lady. I’m surprised Jaejoong is going down there.”
Jaejoong punched his shoulder.
Yoona smiled, and Jonghun laughed when Changmin translated.
Changmin took her hand. “Trust me. You don’t want to come with us, okay? Go up with Junsu and we’ll be there soon.”
“Okay. I trust you. Even though you’re an arrogant brat.”
Changmin looked like he was going to protest, and then nodded. “I am.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He stood up and helped her to her feet. Jaejoong downed his coffee, and Yunho followed suit, both of them rising.
“Ah, you two are so cute,” Jaejoong said.
Yoona flipped his off.
Jaejoong laughed and hooked his arm around Yunho’s shoulders and headed toward the main hall. “I like your wife.”
“You mean our wife.”
Jaejoong nodded. “Yes. Our wife.”
Yoona laughed.
Jaejoong waved away Jonghun’s question and motioned for them to go ahead. He stopped for a moment and looked around the room.
“Himchan!” he shouted, and then jerked his head for the young man to follow. Himchan nodded, shoved one more piece of fruit in his mouth and stood up.
Changmin looked about ready to protest.
“He needs to learn,” Jaejoong said and led the way. Yunho put his arm around Jaejoong’s waist and their heads leaned together for a moment. Just a moment later, Changmin was there beside them. Jaejoong held out his hand. Changmin looked at it for a moment and then took it, giving Jaejoong a look.
“You or me?” Changmin asked in Shinki.
“It’s your castle.”
“You’re older.”
Jaejoong made a face.
Changmin stopped at a large, wooden door. There was a metal bar over it, and a lock connecting that bar to the stone wall. He removed a large key from his belt and unlocked the heavy door. It opened onto a stone staircase. Yunho immediately felt the chill coming from below. A single torch was lit, and Changmin removed it from its sconce and led the way down the stairs.
Jonghun said something to Jaejin, who nodded and stayed at the top of the stairs. Jaejoong saw Yunho’s questioning look and said, “Jaejin will let us out when we’re done.”
The heavy door shut behind them, and Yunho shivered, being thrown back to the days of darkness in the cave. He was very glad that Junsu was not with them.
Jaejoong tightened his hold on Yunho’s hand. The stairs spiraled down, stealing the heat with each step. Yunho wasn’t sure how far down they went, but at a landing, Changmin turned and entered a long hallway. The stairwell continued down. The hallway was lined with cells that all looked the same. The faint light flickered over caked metal bars. The air was dank and musty. Everything smell heavily of moss and water and mold. Yunho was glad that the cells were empty, but each held a rusting metal bucket and threads of rat-eaten burlap.
After a few more steps, Yunho heard whimpering, and then someone screamed. Yunho jumped.
None of the Doushitens flinched though Himchan swallowed nervously.
Changmin stopped suddenly in front of a cell near the back.
“Ugh, you really had to put them all the way down the hall,” Jaejoong said, looking at his white boots covered in dirt.
Changmin smirked. “It was the closest cell that would open.”
Jonghun moved around Jaejoong and yanked open the rusty, barred door.
The whimpering increased.
***************torture starts
There was no light in the cell outside of the glow of Changmin’s torch. He moved into the room, revealing the two men laying flat on their backs. They were both naked, legs and arms spread wide, wrists and ankles secured with a heavy chains that connected to the stone walls. The one man’s arm was swollen and purple. Probably where he broke it. At this point, Yunho figured it’d be lucky if he didn’t have to have it removed completely.
Changmin put the torch in bracket, casting a low glow through the cell.
Yunho heard Himchan physically swallow.
Changmin stepped on the man’s broken arm and he screamed.
Yunho opened his mouth to protest and Jaejoong’s hand was over his mouth in a second muffling it. Yunho glared at him, but Jaejoong’s attention was on Changmin.
Changmin brought his boot back and kicked the broken arm.
The other man was gagged, but started struggling.
Jonghun picked up something from the floor, and Yunho caught sight of a rusty broken end of metal before it was pressed right against the man’s dick. The man stilled and then shook his head frantically. Jonghun was pushing down.
The other man stopped screaming, breath gasping in the silence.
“Care to explain?” Changmin asked in Shinki.
“F-fu-fuck-you,” the man managed, and Changmin kicked his arm again.
“Changmin,” Yunho finally said, thankful that his voice didn’t break.
But Changmin glared at him. A warning.
Yunho took a deep breath. This was not okay. It wasn’t!
Changmin kicked the man again, but in the side, pulling a painful grunt out of him.
Yunho pulled away from Jaejoong, ignored the looks from the two kings and kneeled next to the man’s head. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that Changmin was a slave on Shinki for a while. You have a lot of information about that, but did you know that he was Park Yoochun’s slave.” He heard Jaejoong quietly translating for Jonghun and Himchan.
The man’s eyes flickered with something, and Yunho nodded at the involuntary information the man just gave him. And now to press more.
“Yeah, and Jaejoong belonged to Rain for a little while, and they want revenge for that, and I won’t let him hurt Yoochun just yet. So you two will do. I don’t know why you’re refusing to talk to him,” Yunho continued. “You’re going to die. How long that takes is up to how much helpful information you give us.”
Changmin kicked his arm again.
The man screamed, and so did the other one.
Yunho suddenly smelled blood. The bar in Jonghun’s hand was imbedded in the man’s crotch. Yunho swallowed back bile and felt his breakfast coming up. He stood up abruptly and turned away from them. Himchan’s face looked just as pale as Yunho’s felt. It took a moment for him to control himself enough to turn back around.
“We want to know your plan,” Changmin said. “We want to know who told you to try to kill us. And we want to know who else is going to threaten us.” He pulled a knife from his belt. The same knife that had been pinning his hand to a piece of wood the day before.
The man swallowed but said nothing.
Changmin dropped the knife, and Yunho watched in surprised slow motion as it dropped and landed in the man’s stomach, gravity pulling it to the hilt.
“There you go,” Jaejoong said as soon as the man stopped screaming. “Now you can bleed to death, though that will take a long time. That knife across your throat will speed up the process, but that is up to you.” He bent down and moved the knife, and again, Yunho had to shut his eyes.
Unfortunately the man saw him. And he said, “Y-yunho pl-please, make them stop.”
“Stop?” Changmin said. “We haven’t even started yet.”
Jaejoong turned around and looked at Yunho. His face looked so very cold, but Yunho could see the concern flickering with the shadows.
“Yunho, please.”
Yunho shut his eyes.
“He’s your lover. He’ll listen to you.”
“Lover?’ Yunho said. “I thought he was my slave and my whore according to Shinki.”
“Not to you though.”
Yunho took a deep breath. This man did know him. Or his reputation. His distaste for the way that Shinki handled things. He knew of his distaste of the slave system and the abuse and the cruelty. He knew that torture went on behind the scenes on Shinki.
And it went on in the open, in the form of how owners treated their slaves.
And he saw all the official documents and recordings of Jaejoong’s sisters being raped and killed.
Vindication.
Yunho did not have the right to keep Jaejoong nor Changmin from this small bit of revenge.
Finally, Yunho said, “I have no power here, and I don’t know you. You may know my name, and who I am, but you don’t know me. You are nothing to me but someone who tried to kill my lover. They can do to you what they want.”
The man whimpered, and Jaejoong gave him a small smile.
But when Jonghun pulled the rusted bar from the other man and brought it to this one, Yunho knew he couldn’t watch without throwing up. Jonghun brought the bar down, and Yunho turned quickly and faced the darkness. The man screamed, but Yunho still heard the bar tear through squishy insides. He took a few steps out of the cell and stopped. He could see nothing.
***************torture ends
A hand touched his arm and Yunho jumped.
Jaejoong’s concerned face swam dimly in front of his.
“I can’t watch you do this,” Yunho whispered. “I can’t.”
Jaejoong nodded. “I know, but I have to.”
“No, you don’t.”
“To get information, to protect my people, yes I do. They won’t talk without incentive.”
Yunho swallowed and nodded.
“I’ll take you back up. Do you trust me?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Shut your eyes. Let me lead you. It’s dark, but I know where I’m going.”
Yunho nodded. Jaejoong tugged on his arm and with his eyes shut, he blindly followed after his lover. The walk in the dark felt shorter than it had before. Yunho wasn’t certain if that was because Jaejoong lead or he knew where he was going this time. He did not open his eyes until they arrived at the steps. It didn’t matter too much; he could barely see. He kept his eyes down, and followed the brighter indication of Jaejoong’s white boots.
Jaejoong did not release his hand until they stopped, he knocked on the door, and it opened. He said something to Jaejin in Doushiten that Yunho did not listen to.
Yunho stepped into the light, intent to ignore Jaejoong for a moment, and walked away.
“You promised,” Jaejoong said behind him.
Yunho stopped, thought about that, and nodded once. He did promise. He walked away, flinching when the heavy door shut.
He tried to steady his breathing as he walked through the halls and up the staircases to their room. He wondered if this castle, this place, was his new permanent home. Would he ever see his mother again? Would his business shrivel and die? What would his employees do for work? They had already been gone long enough that he was sure his father (under Bi’s influence) had liquidated his company, dissolved it and fired everyone.
And what of Yoona, and his future children? Where would they be? Did he want his children to live here, in this place, where they princes could be so cruel? But was this place any different than Shinki?
The torture on Shinki was worse than Doushite. Torture of slaves who were once people and who onced lived in a world of their own, with their own customs. Versus the torture of criminals and someone who tried to hurt someone you loved. There was definitely a difference.
But which was better? Could hurting someone be rationalized and put into such categories?
Yunho could not deny Jaejoong his revenge. He could not blame him for his actions.
They needed information.
And Shinki were weak when they were not hiding behind their technology.
But did that make it right?
Yunho arrived at their bedroom door and leaned against the cool wood for a moment. He took a deep breath, tried to clear the anguish on his face and knew that it was impossible. The image of that bar and that knife just inside that man would haunt him. He’d seen worse (like when Angel blew off a guy’s head right in front of him), but this was different, since it’d been done under the direction of someone that Yunho had never thought would be so cruel.
What was Jaejoong doing to that man now?
Yunho swallowed bile, and desperately needed a hug. He opened the door, smiling slightly when he heard Junsu and Yoona’s laughter.
“Yunho!” Junsu said and bounced up on the bed, kneeling in the middle. He’d thrown on pants, but no shirt, and the scars on his shoulders and stomach stood out.
Scars from Yoochun.
Scars from someone else.
How many scars had Jaejoong left on someone’s body?
“Yunho,” Junsu said again, this time worried.
Yunho shook his head and looked at Yoona. He didn’t want to force her to leave, but he didn’t want anyone but Junsu.
Yoona smiled and nodded as she rolled to the edge of the bed. She was so good at always knowing what he wanted and needed.
“Be ... be there for Changmin, okay?” Yunho managed to say. “I don’t know how long ... but ...”
Yunho could not say it but he held on to the hope that even though the Doushitens were being forceful and hurting those men that they did not like it. And if Changmin did not like it, he would need support from someone afterwards.
Jaejoong had Yunho’s love for support. And Junsu’s. Changmin needed something.
Yoona walked over to him, cupped his cheek and kissed him lightly. “Was it bad?”
Yunho nodded and leaned into the touch. She moved to the side and gave him a push to the bed. Yunho focused on Junsu as he walked closer. His mouth was turned into a frown and his fingers gripped his knees.
Yunho kneeled on the end of the bed and reached for his shoulder, hesitant at first, and then he ran a finger along the thickest scar that went from his collarbone, up his shoulder, and around to his back.
“What did he do to you?”
Junsu swallowed and shook his head.
“I want you to tell me.”
“W-why?”
Yunho thought of his own actions in the dungeon. He was soft. He knew it. His enemies knew it. “I want a reason. I don’t want to hesitate.”
Junsu tilted his head in confusion.
“He hurt you, but I call him my friend. And I don’t want to hesitate if I have to kill him.
“Knowing that he hurt me isn’t enough?” Junsu asked. It wasn’t an accusation, but an honest question.
Yunho thought about it and then touched his cheek, finger running over a faint scar under his eye. “There are different levels of hurt, sarang. Different feelings of pain.”
Junsu looked down and swallowed. “He dug his nail into me right there. Just a fingernail, until I was crying.”
Yunho shut his eyes, leaned forward and kissed the scar lightly. He moved his hand back to the thick scar on his shoulder.
Junsu cleared his throat. “He has a knife. On a wall. It’s his favorite knife to use. And it’s just always there, threatening, and he ... he ties you up, in a way that you can’t move, you can’t close your eyes, and it’s the only thing on the wall you can see. And he leaves you there for hours and then he ... a lot of the scars are from that. And when I wasn’t there, staring at that knife, I was in a box, or a drawer, or a cupboard, tied up and blindfolded, sometimes with needles in my skin, sometimes with clamps, sometimes with rope, and left there, waiting, not knowing when or how long, until he wanted to hurt me.”
Yunho ran his hand down Junsu’s chest. He stopped at a nipple where there was a hole for a piercing and thick series of small scars above it.
“Clamps, left on too long, yanked too hard. He loves the taste and feel of blood.” Junsu’s breath hitched and Yunho knew that he was crying, but didn’t dare look up. He continued down to the empty holes at his navel.
“You stopped wearing piercings,” Yunho whispered.
Junsu turned his head to the side. “He used a Park Family token to pierce it, and that was the main spot his token’s hung. And the nipple too. I don’t like them.”
Yunho nodded and knew that he’d never ask Junsu to wear a piercing ever again. His hand covered a thick scar on Junsu’s hip. It was almost a perfect circle of bulbous skin. Yunho had a suspicion of what it was.
Junsu crossed his arms and turned away. He tried to move away, but Yunho kept ahold of him.
“SuSu?”
Junsu shook his head. “I don’t ... “
“Tell me.” Yunho touched his face with other hand, turning his head back around. Junsu’s eyes were shut, tears streaming down his cheeks. Yunho rubbed them away, leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips.
Junsu gasped in pain and hugged himself tightly. Yunho sighed and pulled him close, arms around his shoulder, fingers easily finding the scars on his back.
“He ... he branded ...”
Yunho shivered and wished he hadn’t guessed that in his mind.
“Two days ... two days after he bought me. He-he said that you had been looking for me. So he-he told you that he found me and bought me, and was willing to sell me to you, and he said that you said that he could have me. You didn’t want me. That I was just a toy, and then he ... he ... you told him that--that--that you didn’t need me, and I was ugly, and st-stupid, and he fucked me and told me all this over and over and you didn’t want me and you hated me and he branded me, but he got caught up in it and left the brand on for too long and ruined it and--”
Yunho hushed him, pulled him into his arms and rocked him slowly. He ran his hands through Junsu’s hair and whispered love at him until his tears calmed.
“Nothing he did ever hurt as much as thinking you hated me,” Junsu whispered.
Yunho cupped his cheeks and met his eyes. “I never, could never, ever hate you. You were my first love, the only one I loved for most of my life. Had I never met Jaejoong, you’d be the only one I could ever love.”
There were more scars on Junsu’s body, but Yunho figured that was enough. All he had to do was think of what Yoochun had told Junsu and he could kill him. Or let Changmin torture him. He had no problem at all with that.
Yunho lowered Junsu to the bed, and instead of talking about each scar, he kissed them, licked them, sucked on them, and did his best to heal the fear in Junsu’s heart.
Part 17: The Traitor
Part 15: The Throne
Part 14: The Thwarted | Part 13: The Threats | Part 12: The Travail | Part 11: The Talk | Part 10: The Table | Part 9: The Treat | Part 8: The Tub | Part 7: The Tribe | Part 6: The Terrain | Part 5: The Trail | Part 4: The Transformation | Part 3: The Tunnels | Part 2: The Trap | Part 1: The Trip
.