[GBtR] Chapter 21
Title: Getting Back to Real
Chapter: (21/25+Epilogue) Triggers
Pairings: YooMin, HoSuJae
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, sci-fi, drama
Summary: After the events in Dreaming Back to This, the five have fled Korea and started to rebuild a new life for themselves far away. The past still haunts them, however, perhaps even more than they first realized.
Notes: Not many notes for this chap. Mostly just the moment a lot of people have been waiting for... ^_~
Previous: Dreaming Back to This, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Interlude, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20
Chapter 21: Triggers
"Um, Jae, I'd love to hear this news and all. Really. But maybe you should let Min go first. I think he's actually turning blue," Yoochun suggests. It's barely an exaggeration. Jaejoong has a tendency to be over-enthusiastic with his hugs, especially when Changmin is involved.
Jaejoong looks down at the boy in question and abruptly releases him with a little "oh" when he realizes Changmin is indeed hardly breathing. He takes a step back to give himself some extra distance from those wide eyes staring up at him. "Right. So. Why don't we sit down then? Hyunae delivered some news that's fairly big-time game-changer stuff, so we should probably get comfortable."
Yoochun and Changmin trade a bewildered look then turn back to Jaejoong. "Jae?" Yoochun says to his painfully oblivious best friend. "In case you haven't noticed, Min and I are already sitting. You're the only one still on your feet."
Jaejoong blinks at him for a second then turns and flops into the plush armchair next to the couch. "You can shut your face, okay? And don't give me that look, either. When I say 'your face', I mean the whole thing," he retorts with a disgruntled scowl. When Changmin giggles, though, the scowl flips into a bright grin.
Yoochun rolls his eyes at his best friend's antics. On one hand, dealing with Jaejoong in a Mood is always... challenging. On the other hand, Yoochun's just happy to see this side of Jaejoong re-emerging; the quirky playfulness and sassy attitude had been replaced by steady seriousness for a bit too long after the Centre. "Alright, well, now that that's settled, can we please hear this 'big news' you claim to have?"
"Hyunae knows what the Centre did and thinks she figured out how Min can get his memories back," Jaejoong unleashes all in one breath, unable to hold back any longer. He practically bounces in his seat, but as the other two stare at him with wide-eyed shock and no response, he slowly starts to wilt. "You guys," he whines out, "this is big news, okay? Some kind of reaction, preferably matching my own personal emotional investment, would be greatly appreciated."
Changmin manages to find his voice first and replies, "You'll have to forgive me. I found out barely 10 minutes ago that I had even lost any memories and am, in fact, actually 18. And before I can get used to that, you barge in here, attempt to affection me to death, and tell me we can now get the memories I just found out I lost back. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment."
"And there's the snarky Min we all know and love," Yoochun laughs. Jaejoong fights off his own laughter in favor of pouting at being the target of even 14-year-old-Min's bullying. "But enough about your bruised ego, Jae," Yoochun continues. "Tell us what Hyunae gave you."
Sliding into his more serious side, Jaejoong gives them a quick summary of Hyunae's intel. "Like she told us once, memories can't be destroyed so this is basically just a more advanced block. They took the memories and locked them behind a barrier that Changmin's mind doesn't recognize as a threat or foreign entity. They haven't figured out how to do this yet without leaving some kind of trace, though, some kind of object or irregularity that wouldn't necessarily stand out unless you were looking for it."
"And since my core locked me in here, I'm guessing it dragged that trigger object along with the rest of me," Changmin theorizes. "So we just need to search the house and find the thing that doesn't belong. Granted, I won't be much help since pretty much the whole house is strange to me right now."
Yoochun stands from the couch, eyes already darting around the room to start the search. "Not to me, though," he states. "I know this house corner to corner and top to bottom. If this trigger thing is here, I'll find it." He starts to walk around the room, one slow step at a time to make sure he doesn't miss anything. Changmin and Jaejoong simply sit and watch to stay out of his way.
After a few minutes, Yoochun's satisfied the object isn't hiding right in front of them in this room. Everything looks basically just like it did before Changmin lost his memory. He moves into the connected kitchen and starts to repeat the process, inch by painfully slow inch. Progress is even slower here, though, as he makes sure to open every drawer and cabinet, not leaving any possibility of missing something.
He doesn't like how long it's taking, though. The way to get Changmin back is right at their fingers, but it will take him hours to search their spacious house at this rate. He needs a way to go faster. He needs... "Damn," he curses at himself, frowning in consternation, "I'm so stupid sometimes."
"Agreed," Jaejoong quips without missing a beat, and Changmin snickers. Jaejoong flashes the boy a grin then continues, "But what exactly brought about this particular confession of inadequacy?"
Yoochun scowls but knows he can't fault Jaejoong for taking advantage of the perfect set-up he's been given. Instead, he decides to simply answer the question hidden in the insult. "I didn't think about using my power to help the search. Doing this room by room may take all night, and we still might miss what we're looking for. My power should be able to cover the whole house in a few minutes, though, and pick out any anomalies."
Jaejoong nods at the idea. "Sounds like a plan. Let's do that then, and make it snappy." He pauses and glances over to where Changmin watches them go back and forth with each other. "Okay, maybe not too terribly snappy. I'd like to relish whatever little time left I may have with our Baby-Min here."
Finally getting used to Jaejoong, Changmin simply rolls his eyes and fends off Jaejoong's attempts to cuddle him. "Even if my future self knows you, I do not so I'm going to ask you to kindly cease your assault," he states with a playful smirk.
Jaejoong clutches at his chest as he steps back, faking a wounded gasp. "Chunnie," he whines again, "Baby-Min doesn't love me! I changed my mind; bring my Minnie back to me now."
Grinning at the banter, Yoochun trades a look with Changmin. As happy as he'll be to have their Changmin back, Yoochun will definitely miss seeing this softer, more innocent side of him. "Well," Yoochun starts, turning his attention back to Jaejoong, "if you would stop distracting me with all your noise, this would probably go a lot faster."
Jaejoong makes a big production of zipping his lips (with the "zipper" getting stuck halfway across, him fighting to fix it, finally finishing it, then locking it and tossing the key), and Yoochun closes his eyes to focus on his core. Once he centers himself in it, any irregularities should stand out pretty obviously. He takes a deep breath then another and feels his conscious mind click into place with his core. Just as predicted, the trigger immediately appears as a blood-red glow pulsing angrily. He zeroes in on it then compares the location to the layout of their house. It takes another minute or two, but he finally puts the pieces together. Opening his eyes, he starts to walk from the kitchen. "I think I've got it," he tells Changmin and Jaejoong as they follow him.
"Oh, good," Jaejoong shoots back, "because this would have been really awkward if you just suddenly needed to pee or something."
Yoochun releases a long-suffering sigh as Changmin stifles a giggle, but he chooses not to respond and thus encourage his best friend's behavior. Instead, he leads them down the hall and into his personal study/library. "It's in here," he announces, heading straight for the massive mahogany desk near the wall of windows.
The object stands out to him right away. To anyone else, the star-shaped glass paperweight wouldn't seem too terribly out of place. Yoochun, however, knows differently. He certainly didn't put it there, and even 18-year-old Changmin never altered this room in any way; 14-year-old Changmin probably doesn't even know he could. He picks it up carefully as if expecting it to attack him somehow, but it lies quiet and dormant in his hand.
"Is that it?" Changmin asks, peering at the object over Yoochun's shoulder. He reaches towards it but pauses when images start to play in his mind, little snippets that he doesn't quite recognize yet they feel so familiar. Because they're his memories, he realizes. Memories that have been stolen from him and locked away. He knows he should feel betrayed by this, by the Centre, but something in him is less than surprised. Probably the part that remembers the last four years.
He's aware of Yoochun and Jaejoong's eyes on him as he moves around Yoochun and takes the object in his hand. The infinity symbol etched into the middle of the star glitters, and the whole shape - inane as it may be - screams malicious intent at him. It's also heavier than it looks like it should be, though Changmin assumes that's due to the weight of the four years worth of memories stored inside.
The anger hits him suddenly from seemingly nowhere. He can't remember ever being so angry in his life, and there's only one obvious target for him to vent his rage - the one currently trickling stray thoughts of his own memories into his brain. It must show on his face, because Yoochun lays a hand on his arm with a soft, "Min..."
Changmin is far past being calmed, being pacified. He's always had a temper, something the doctors had always stressed he learn how to control, and it rages and storms now as he clenches his fist around the innocuous-looking paperweight. Shaking off Yoochun's hand, Changmin hurls the glass at the floor and watches it shatter, practically disintegrate into powder-fine shards, at his feet.
The absolute silence that follows is anti-climactic at best. Changmin had expected an explosion, noise, screaming, howling... anything to indicate what he'd just done had actually had any effect. But there's nothing, just the soft sounds of three people breathing as they stare down at the broken pieces.
Then the pieces start to liquify, turning into little droplets and puddles on the floor, and those little spots of moisture evaporate into a fine mist that twists and curls around Changmin's ankles. The image, the whole moment, is so cliche it's almost painful, but still none of them speak. Jaejoong and Yoochun simply watch as the mist floats up and around, sometimes seeming to actually pass through Changmin.
And they can only continue to watch as Changmin looks up from the smoke engulfing his body to stare at them. Before their eyes, he starts to age - growing and changing as recognition starts to dawn in his eyes. Then, finally he's their Changmin again, and he's looking at them with realization and gratitude and love. Just enough anger, not directed at them but still a strong presence, that shows them he's ready to fight and take down anyone that gets in his way of getting back to them. Before any of them can speak, though, he flickers and disappears.
Chapter: (21/25+Epilogue) Triggers
Pairings: YooMin, HoSuJae
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, sci-fi, drama
Summary: After the events in Dreaming Back to This, the five have fled Korea and started to rebuild a new life for themselves far away. The past still haunts them, however, perhaps even more than they first realized.
Notes: Not many notes for this chap. Mostly just the moment a lot of people have been waiting for... ^_~
Previous: Dreaming Back to This, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Interlude, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20
Chapter 21: Triggers
"Um, Jae, I'd love to hear this news and all. Really. But maybe you should let Min go first. I think he's actually turning blue," Yoochun suggests. It's barely an exaggeration. Jaejoong has a tendency to be over-enthusiastic with his hugs, especially when Changmin is involved.
Jaejoong looks down at the boy in question and abruptly releases him with a little "oh" when he realizes Changmin is indeed hardly breathing. He takes a step back to give himself some extra distance from those wide eyes staring up at him. "Right. So. Why don't we sit down then? Hyunae delivered some news that's fairly big-time game-changer stuff, so we should probably get comfortable."
Yoochun and Changmin trade a bewildered look then turn back to Jaejoong. "Jae?" Yoochun says to his painfully oblivious best friend. "In case you haven't noticed, Min and I are already sitting. You're the only one still on your feet."
Jaejoong blinks at him for a second then turns and flops into the plush armchair next to the couch. "You can shut your face, okay? And don't give me that look, either. When I say 'your face', I mean the whole thing," he retorts with a disgruntled scowl. When Changmin giggles, though, the scowl flips into a bright grin.
Yoochun rolls his eyes at his best friend's antics. On one hand, dealing with Jaejoong in a Mood is always... challenging. On the other hand, Yoochun's just happy to see this side of Jaejoong re-emerging; the quirky playfulness and sassy attitude had been replaced by steady seriousness for a bit too long after the Centre. "Alright, well, now that that's settled, can we please hear this 'big news' you claim to have?"
"Hyunae knows what the Centre did and thinks she figured out how Min can get his memories back," Jaejoong unleashes all in one breath, unable to hold back any longer. He practically bounces in his seat, but as the other two stare at him with wide-eyed shock and no response, he slowly starts to wilt. "You guys," he whines out, "this is big news, okay? Some kind of reaction, preferably matching my own personal emotional investment, would be greatly appreciated."
Changmin manages to find his voice first and replies, "You'll have to forgive me. I found out barely 10 minutes ago that I had even lost any memories and am, in fact, actually 18. And before I can get used to that, you barge in here, attempt to affection me to death, and tell me we can now get the memories I just found out I lost back. I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment."
"And there's the snarky Min we all know and love," Yoochun laughs. Jaejoong fights off his own laughter in favor of pouting at being the target of even 14-year-old-Min's bullying. "But enough about your bruised ego, Jae," Yoochun continues. "Tell us what Hyunae gave you."
Sliding into his more serious side, Jaejoong gives them a quick summary of Hyunae's intel. "Like she told us once, memories can't be destroyed so this is basically just a more advanced block. They took the memories and locked them behind a barrier that Changmin's mind doesn't recognize as a threat or foreign entity. They haven't figured out how to do this yet without leaving some kind of trace, though, some kind of object or irregularity that wouldn't necessarily stand out unless you were looking for it."
"And since my core locked me in here, I'm guessing it dragged that trigger object along with the rest of me," Changmin theorizes. "So we just need to search the house and find the thing that doesn't belong. Granted, I won't be much help since pretty much the whole house is strange to me right now."
Yoochun stands from the couch, eyes already darting around the room to start the search. "Not to me, though," he states. "I know this house corner to corner and top to bottom. If this trigger thing is here, I'll find it." He starts to walk around the room, one slow step at a time to make sure he doesn't miss anything. Changmin and Jaejoong simply sit and watch to stay out of his way.
After a few minutes, Yoochun's satisfied the object isn't hiding right in front of them in this room. Everything looks basically just like it did before Changmin lost his memory. He moves into the connected kitchen and starts to repeat the process, inch by painfully slow inch. Progress is even slower here, though, as he makes sure to open every drawer and cabinet, not leaving any possibility of missing something.
He doesn't like how long it's taking, though. The way to get Changmin back is right at their fingers, but it will take him hours to search their spacious house at this rate. He needs a way to go faster. He needs... "Damn," he curses at himself, frowning in consternation, "I'm so stupid sometimes."
"Agreed," Jaejoong quips without missing a beat, and Changmin snickers. Jaejoong flashes the boy a grin then continues, "But what exactly brought about this particular confession of inadequacy?"
Yoochun scowls but knows he can't fault Jaejoong for taking advantage of the perfect set-up he's been given. Instead, he decides to simply answer the question hidden in the insult. "I didn't think about using my power to help the search. Doing this room by room may take all night, and we still might miss what we're looking for. My power should be able to cover the whole house in a few minutes, though, and pick out any anomalies."
Jaejoong nods at the idea. "Sounds like a plan. Let's do that then, and make it snappy." He pauses and glances over to where Changmin watches them go back and forth with each other. "Okay, maybe not too terribly snappy. I'd like to relish whatever little time left I may have with our Baby-Min here."
Finally getting used to Jaejoong, Changmin simply rolls his eyes and fends off Jaejoong's attempts to cuddle him. "Even if my future self knows you, I do not so I'm going to ask you to kindly cease your assault," he states with a playful smirk.
Jaejoong clutches at his chest as he steps back, faking a wounded gasp. "Chunnie," he whines again, "Baby-Min doesn't love me! I changed my mind; bring my Minnie back to me now."
Grinning at the banter, Yoochun trades a look with Changmin. As happy as he'll be to have their Changmin back, Yoochun will definitely miss seeing this softer, more innocent side of him. "Well," Yoochun starts, turning his attention back to Jaejoong, "if you would stop distracting me with all your noise, this would probably go a lot faster."
Jaejoong makes a big production of zipping his lips (with the "zipper" getting stuck halfway across, him fighting to fix it, finally finishing it, then locking it and tossing the key), and Yoochun closes his eyes to focus on his core. Once he centers himself in it, any irregularities should stand out pretty obviously. He takes a deep breath then another and feels his conscious mind click into place with his core. Just as predicted, the trigger immediately appears as a blood-red glow pulsing angrily. He zeroes in on it then compares the location to the layout of their house. It takes another minute or two, but he finally puts the pieces together. Opening his eyes, he starts to walk from the kitchen. "I think I've got it," he tells Changmin and Jaejoong as they follow him.
"Oh, good," Jaejoong shoots back, "because this would have been really awkward if you just suddenly needed to pee or something."
Yoochun releases a long-suffering sigh as Changmin stifles a giggle, but he chooses not to respond and thus encourage his best friend's behavior. Instead, he leads them down the hall and into his personal study/library. "It's in here," he announces, heading straight for the massive mahogany desk near the wall of windows.
The object stands out to him right away. To anyone else, the star-shaped glass paperweight wouldn't seem too terribly out of place. Yoochun, however, knows differently. He certainly didn't put it there, and even 18-year-old Changmin never altered this room in any way; 14-year-old Changmin probably doesn't even know he could. He picks it up carefully as if expecting it to attack him somehow, but it lies quiet and dormant in his hand.
"Is that it?" Changmin asks, peering at the object over Yoochun's shoulder. He reaches towards it but pauses when images start to play in his mind, little snippets that he doesn't quite recognize yet they feel so familiar. Because they're his memories, he realizes. Memories that have been stolen from him and locked away. He knows he should feel betrayed by this, by the Centre, but something in him is less than surprised. Probably the part that remembers the last four years.
He's aware of Yoochun and Jaejoong's eyes on him as he moves around Yoochun and takes the object in his hand. The infinity symbol etched into the middle of the star glitters, and the whole shape - inane as it may be - screams malicious intent at him. It's also heavier than it looks like it should be, though Changmin assumes that's due to the weight of the four years worth of memories stored inside.
The anger hits him suddenly from seemingly nowhere. He can't remember ever being so angry in his life, and there's only one obvious target for him to vent his rage - the one currently trickling stray thoughts of his own memories into his brain. It must show on his face, because Yoochun lays a hand on his arm with a soft, "Min..."
Changmin is far past being calmed, being pacified. He's always had a temper, something the doctors had always stressed he learn how to control, and it rages and storms now as he clenches his fist around the innocuous-looking paperweight. Shaking off Yoochun's hand, Changmin hurls the glass at the floor and watches it shatter, practically disintegrate into powder-fine shards, at his feet.
The absolute silence that follows is anti-climactic at best. Changmin had expected an explosion, noise, screaming, howling... anything to indicate what he'd just done had actually had any effect. But there's nothing, just the soft sounds of three people breathing as they stare down at the broken pieces.
Then the pieces start to liquify, turning into little droplets and puddles on the floor, and those little spots of moisture evaporate into a fine mist that twists and curls around Changmin's ankles. The image, the whole moment, is so cliche it's almost painful, but still none of them speak. Jaejoong and Yoochun simply watch as the mist floats up and around, sometimes seeming to actually pass through Changmin.
And they can only continue to watch as Changmin looks up from the smoke engulfing his body to stare at them. Before their eyes, he starts to age - growing and changing as recognition starts to dawn in his eyes. Then, finally he's their Changmin again, and he's looking at them with realization and gratitude and love. Just enough anger, not directed at them but still a strong presence, that shows them he's ready to fight and take down anyone that gets in his way of getting back to them. Before any of them can speak, though, he flickers and disappears.