Fallen Leaves, Chapter 7 - Original Ending
-Fallen Leaves-
-Chapter 7 (Original Ending)-Author: DaraDaraDara12
Pairing: JaeMin
Genre: Horror, Romance, AU
Length: Chaptered
Rating: P-13
Warnings: Character death, gore, violence
Summary:
A disease has spread worldwide and the world plunges into darkness. Changmin struggles for his life, constantly running around to stay alive. Can Jaejoong save him and make him live for real again? Or will they both be swept away, left to die like fallen leaves by a harsh winter?
It was like my world had stopped spinning, like all sounds had been muted to a dull buzzing far away as I stared at the man who had once been my friend. I could not explain why I had pushed away Jaejoong’s gun. I knew that, logically, my friend was not in front of me, that it was only his body possessed by a morbid disease, but I still had to make sure. I looked in Yunho’s eyes. They were dull and lifeless. I asked louder, voice filled with hope
-Yunho? Yunho are you there? Can you hear me? It’s Min!
-Changmin, what the fuck?, screamed Jaejoong.
All of a sudden, Yunho stopped coming forward. Had he heard? Was it only possible? His eyes were as dead as before, as unfocused. I was afraid and my vision was now blurred by tears. We had to kill it, but what if there was still a part of Yunho inside? Yunho who had held me tight when I could not sleep at night, Yunho who had took my father’s role until he was bitten and couldn’t anymore, Yunho who was always smiling so bright he could make almost any situation better simply by lifting the corners of his mouth… Ever so slowly, Yunho lifted his hand, showing it to me palm up. By my side, Jaejoong had his gun pointed on him again, but he didn’t shoot, too unsure to make a move.
-It’s… It’s impossible… They don’t…, he stuttered.
I don’t know what took me. I extended my only hand and put it in Yunho’s waiting palm. My eyes never left his, trying to see some sort of flicker in them, a trace of my friend in the hollowness of his expression. Suddenly, Yunho’s hand clasped mine in a vice-tight grip as he lowered his head, showing its teeth and ready to bite. I screamed and lowered myself to the ground, giving Jaejoong the opportunity to shoot. He didn’t miss and the heavy body fell on top of me, hand releasing mine. Jaejoong quickly got me out from under the body. Yunho’s eyes were still wide open, fixing the white ceiling as blood ran down its forehead. I let Jaejoong take me in his arms, muttering a quick thank you. After a moment, I took out my hand and caressed my friend’s head, sobbing:
-I’m so sorry, I said. Yunho, I’m sorry for not killing you earlier, and I’m sorry for allowing you to become like this.
I slowly closed his eyes. If not for the blood, he would have looked like he was merely sleeping.
-Changmin, let’s go, said Jaejoong in a soothing voice.
I nodded and got up, using my T-shirt sleeve to wipe my tears.
***
We first went to Teamin and Yoochun’s room. The door was open and it was empty, except for a small form on Teamin’s bed. The smell should have alarmed me; I should have gone away. On the bed rested a mess of bones and eaten flesh, with blood dripping down on the floor and soaking the sheets in crimson red. Jaejoong let out an unarticulated scream of Teamin’s name, alerting some of them that came to the room in their slow pace. I pointed them to Jaejoong, unable to talk. My throat was so constricted I could barely breathe. He promptly shot them in the head and we ran out the room. Jaejoong was crying too, now. We ran to try and find the others, but we mostly saw bodies, guts and blood. Jaejoong was shooting every one of them that came across, attracted by our still beating hearts. We were slowly running out of ammo. Getting near the staircase, we saw the barricades. They were left untouched. I didn’t think, didn’t wonder how they had managed to reach the second floor. At that moment, my mind was set on survival, escaping them and not leaving Jaejoong. We decided to go upstairs and made our way to the elevators, since all stairs were inaccessible even to us due to the barricades. Something clicked in my mind: the elevators!
-Jae! The elevators! That’s how they got to us so quickly; they learned how to use the elevators! That means they can reach every level of the building in less than a minute! What do we do? We can’t go down, it’s gonna take like forever to get past the barricades!
-Rooftop, he replied. The elevators don’t go there, so we have to use small stairs from the last floor.
-Ok!
We took the elevators to the last floor, luckily not encountering any of them inside, and took the smaller stairs to finally reach the rooftop. We pushed to door and the outside breeze met with our skin. The air was cool and fresh on our faces, gently blowing away the tears. The morning was coming. We could see a faint orange light on the horizon of the small town. We both sat down on the edge, letting our feet dangle in the emptiness below. We were silent, simply cuddling, trying to fill our mind with the other, trying to forget the horror downstairs. After a long moment, Jaejoong spoke up, still looking at the skyline. His voice was almost a whisper:
-I wish we could stay like this forever, just you and me on this rooftop. Nothing else matters…
I didn’t reply, but kissed his hair instead. He kept on going:
-I’m sorry. I promised you’d be there to see the spring, to see then end of all this shit. Now we’re here waiting for our deaths to come and get us, and I can’t keep that promise… I’m sorry, Changmin…
I gripped Jaejoong closer to me and turned his chin towards me, giving him a light kiss.
-Jaejoong, you listen to me carefully. Our friends are all probably dead, and it’s only a matter of time before they find us, but I don’t regret any of this. I got to know you, I got to know love. You promised me the spring, and you’ve kept that promise. Jaejoong, you’ve been my spring all along. Heck, you’ve been my summer! You made me live again, when I was lost in shadows. Kim Jaejoong, I love you.
I kissed him again, whispering I love you again and again against his lips, letting the butterflies in my stomach fill my whole mind.
-I love you, too, Changmin, he responded. With you, I feel complete. I feel loved and accepted for who I am. So many people judge me and fall in love with me just for my looks, but you were different from the start. You were attracted to me, but you cared enough to look inside and love who I am on the inside too.
-You’re worth it. I told you, I don’t regret any of this. I just wanna spend this precious time with you.
-What about your friends, Junsu and Yunho?, asked Jaejoong.
-I know they have forgiven me already.
***
When the morning sun reaches the streets, it finds two bodies’ blood mingled together on the ground near the hospital. The men’s hands are linked with the other, even while their bodies are shattered and torn apart. The dead couple almost seem to have a smile on their frozen lips. They lie there, broken by the fall and ripped by hungry creatures, now long gone. In the silent streets, the trees are slowly wilting. The leaves are turning shades of yellow, gold and red, their color like an unending fire burning with the first rays of the sun. The leaves will fall, turning to dirt under the white glistening snow. However, the trees never die. Their roots are too profound, anchored in the soil to be reborn again when the cold of the winter is gone. (Their love is too profound, anchored in the hearts to be reborn again when the cold of the passing is gone.)
AN: This is the end already! I know some of you probably wanted a happy ending, but I guess this is a Zombie Apocalypse fiction, so… Sorry guys… However, I’m writing another ending (a happier one this time) that I’ll be posting when it’s done. This is why this chapter is titled ‘Chapter 7 - Original ending’. The other will be ‘Chapter 7 - Alternate ending’. Thank you all for your comments, they really help me build the story and they keep me motivated to write! Love you all!