Series| Steel Wings Over Swords of Ash
To answer all the questions left behind/And you and I are meant to be so even if the world falls down today/You've still got me to hold you up up/And I will never let you down
-The Veronicas, Untouched
There was a storm on the horizon. It seemed to carry a portent of danger with it; a sinister edge roiling in the dark spots of gray that was swallowing the toxic gold of the sunset.
Then again, Yoochun reflected, there were always storms, weren't there?
He sighed from his seat on the grimy window sill running a hand through his messy, long-unkempt hair. Dust-muffled footsteps sounded a prelude to the hand that rested gently on his shoulder, it's owner staring out the window impassively from behind him.
"Another storm, huh?"
Yoochun nodded slowly, "A big one, I expect."
He turns to Changmin who was still staring at the approaching storm, wistful.
"Another one? I don't know how much longer this building's going to shelter us if we keep having these storms..." don't know how much longer we can't stand them "...We've pretty much lost the fourth floor..." don't want to lose you too.
Yoochun sighed and stood, pulling the taller man close to him, swaying him a little.
"I guess... we should lock everything down..."
He sighed into Changmin, resting his forehead against the man's chest before pulling away to secure the building.
Hail denting car tops, breaking windows, breaking skin.
They had said it was going to be a big one.
People rushing, children screaming, everyone pushing, fighting, struggling to get in line, to the safety of the steel awning that had appeared over night and the escape that lay beyond it.
Yoochun wasn't sure where the others were, wasn't sure where the crowd had pushed them to, but he hoped they'd gotten under the awning too.
People had been lost to the storm before.
"Yoochun! Yoochun! Park Yoochun!"
He raised his head over the anxious, desperate faces of the people around him until he saw Changmin yelling for him, the others nearby. He fought against the suffocating press of people to get to them, reaching out for Changmin's hand to pull himself to them.
They looked around, worried, terrified- everyone there was.
Junsu was the first to speak, his voice so small and fragile the Yoochun wanted to shake him to see if he was real, to scare the Junsu he knew out of the man that stood in front of him.
"I... I heard some people saying that they aren't making anymore evacuation trips... that this might be the last one."
Junsu looked around at them as he spoke, his eyes pleading with them to tell him that it isn't true; that they'd all be saved, but everyone was doing the same thing.
No one wanted to play the hero. No one wanted to be the brave one this time around. It was just too big for them to tackle. They would rather be scared; rather look to the others for the reassurance that things will be okay.
It couldn't work out when no one was willing to make the sacrifice.
Jaejoong managed to at least turn some of his fear into anger and it was almost- but only almost- good enough for them.
"So what the fuck are they going to do with us then?! They're just going to leave us because we couldn't get rescued fast enough? Fucking hell! They can't do that! We're people too!"
He bit back a hysterical sob at the end, less for their benefits and more to refuse to admit that any of it was real. It didn't help in the least that they started talking about it; the subject just refused to die once started. Changmin's expression was terribly blank when he spoke his turn; closer to the others to being resigned, but far from giving in entirely.
"They... they say it's because it's gotten to dangerous to fly the evac ships. They don't want to risk it."
Yoochun swore, "If it's too goddamn dangerous for something made of metal and alloys and a shitload of other high tech crap, what's it like for the rest of us who're stuck here on Earth?"
And suddenly the mass of people shifted back a little, tinny voices pouring out of a mostly underground stereo system announcing the departure of the last evacuation ship on the planet. They- the unlucky ones who had the fortune of being abandoned for the sake of the safety of gadgetry- heard their death sentence loud and clear, urging them to stay under the awning until the storm subsided and what was left of the refugee buses could take them back home or to safe houses. Nobody believed it when the recording told them that evacuations would resume soon; they knew they'd been abandoned for good.
Every soul knew what was supposed to happen next- a rush of heat and a spray of water from melted air as the thrusters launched the craft of the ground to the safety of extraplanetary colonies- but something was just wrong. The mass of people panicked, breaking up, shoving people out of the awning into the path of bludgeoning hail. People were screaming, trying to run, being crushed by the press of fear.
Yoochun grabbed for them, reaching Changmin's hand and holding on tight while the younger man tried hard to reach for the others before they could be ripped away by the crowd. The mob was too reckless, though, and even though the other three are holding on to each other for dear life, Changmin only managed to tap fingertips with Jaejoong before the stream of people pulled them in opposite directions- Yoochun and Changmin towards the back of what should have been a line and Junsu, Yunho, and Jaejoong away.
They yelled wildly at each other, calling names, making demands to let them through, but nothing was working and it seemed like the only ones that could hear them were each other. The people were like a flock of confused sheep, going everywhere and nowhere at the same time and Yoochun and Changmin never stopped yelling for the others even when they seemed to disappear under the waves of desperately wheeling arms and bodies.
There was a crash and then an overwhelming quiet broken by the final creaks of metal and the crackle of fire and destruction.
The people who organized the evacuations were right about one thing- the evacuation missions had become too dangerous.
Dangerous enough to take down it's passengers and half of the refugees that were to be left behind.
Dangerous enough to take the only three refugees that they really cared about.
Yoochun coughed at the dust in his lungs and squeezed Changmin's hand tightly, the younger responding in the like as they stared at the wreckage only yards away from them.
No, there would be no more chances at escape, but it no longer mattered. Jaejoong, Junsu, and Yunho were gone.
Yoochun stapled a heavy piece of polyethylene over a layer of tarp already covering a cracked window. It was really only a quick fix, but they were running out of supplies and time before the storm hit. They could only afford to do the littlest bits; they would have to salvage what they could later.
He could feel a wind pushing at the tarp a little already, and he decided it was better to just abandon his work and head for shelter already. It was better to be cautious than ambitious in this time.
Besides, Changmin had probably headed down already.
Yoochun picked up his tools and headed down to the deep-rooted basement of the building they had taken up residence in, only lighting a lantern when he reached the bottom of the stairs. He knew the paths by heart even in the dark, so it wasn't entirely necessary, but the light comforted him as the building began to groan with the stress of high winds and the abuse of heavy hail.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Changmin curled up on a couch, tense and fatigued. The younger man opened up his arms to let Yoochun settle against him, the lantern going on the table where the single flame could cast dancing shadows around the room. They stayed still for a time, seconds, minutes, hours even, passing in so many breaths.
Yoochun spoke if only to create novelty. There wasn't much to talk about anymore, not when every problem was the same, when each day presented the same challenges with maybe just a touch more difficulty, but they needed it. It was one of the endless list of human comforts that was so precious to them, a thing among the list of treasures in danger of being lost.
"Did you ever imagine the apocalypse would be like this?" he said softly after a time. It was a subject they never really breached. The word of the phenomenon a sort of taboo that they avoided to make it through each day.
Yoochun could feel Changmin swallow dryly, chest rising a little against his back. he gave a little squeak before he managed to get out a tangible sound.
"No. Did you? Hell, I didn't imagine the apocalypse ever really coming in the first place..."
Yoochun nodded slowly, regretting his choice of topic. "Did anyone? Hell, if we'd known..."
He almost said "we could have all gotten out," but the instant pain of those words stops him. They both hear float in the air though, painful, cold and unforgiving. There was no such thing as talking about escape without talking about the others.
The others were taboo even more than the apocalypse.
The hurt lingered in the silence that fell between them, lacing the lack of noise with tension and promises of weakness they couldn't afford. The hurt festered with time until Yoochun could stand it no longer, trying hard to terminate it with anything.
He turned in Changmin's grip and seized his lips in a brutal kiss, holding on to the last thing he had.
The last thing they had.
He broke the kiss after a few minutes, unable to stop the tears flowing down his cheeks.
"Love you, Min. Love you, love you love you..."
He didn't stop saying it- couldn't stop- as the younger man stroked his hair softly, humming a tune that they might have all sung together before, but it was hard to tell when that life seemed- was- ages ago and neither of them wanted the memory.
Changmin's hum subsided into a murmured litany in Yoochun's ear.
"Love you, Chun. Always. Until the end."
~*~
Alright, not a happy thing, but hey, if you like this sort of thing, there's more. It will come eventually.
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