Happy Holidays vicshi! Exchange fic: "약속했던 그때에 (Always There)"
Title: 약속했던 그때에 (Always There)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, Angst, Romance
Warning: Lots of AU
Summary: "There will be today, there will be tomorrow, there will be always, and there was yesterday, and there was the day before..." - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
Inspired by the song 'In the Year 2525' by Zagar and Evans
2879 wc w/o lyrics
A/N: For vicshi who requested to see angst, real-life/AU, fluff and romance! I tried to pull a bit of everything (though it might be a little heavy on the angst) and hopefully you'll enjoy it! Although I must confess, this might be one of the strangest things I've ever written.
They say the candle that burns the brightest burns half as long, and Jaejoong had always been blinding.
Yunho was still in the military the day he learned that Jaejoong died. Vehicle accident. Died on impact. The other driver had been drunk.
Appropriately, it had been the highest recorded summer day in Seoul.
He doesn't remember much of that year. He knows that it was sometime that year he meets Yoochun and Junsu again. They don't smile at him, but then again, everyone had been crying.
The sky was still blue and the world was still full of color. Jaejoong's death had been another crack in the path called life. A large crevice like a canyon, but his legs stepped over it nonetheless.
Fifty years later, Jung Yunho closes his eyes to the world. His physical body finally followed his heart in death.
In the year 2525,
If man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find
--Jaejoong.
He almost says it outloud when he first meets the man, but he manages to stop himself.
It was Kim Jaejoong but not. The man was blonde with large eyes of some light blue. He had some Asian blood in him but he explains that now a days, everyone was mixed with a bit of everything and shrugs.
(woah, you're like a unicorn. you're full korean? that's pretty weird at this day and age. what is that? inbreeding?)
But he knows its Jaejoong because the way the man laughs and the way he loves is the same. Yunho knows because no one forgets a lover like Jaejoong.
Technically, in 2525, Yunho is no longer 'Jung Yunho'; but in all honesty, just like Jaejoong was still Jaejoong, Yunho was still Yunho.
So Yunho still loves Jaejoong, but Jaejoong doesn't love Yunho.
(oh yeah, i'm getting married tomorrow. i know this sounds cheesy but she's the love of my life.)
They only meet once that lifetime, but that was enough. It was enough that Jaejoong was happy.
(it was nice talking to you. what's your name? Yun…Yunho? ah, that's a nice name. easy to pronounce, haha. i'm David. David O'Conner.)
In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie
Everything you think, do and say
Is in the pill you took today
D pills.
It was an ongoing fad amongst the public and he hated it.
Technology was already at a point that people no longer needed to weigh out choices. Instead, these pills send instructions to a large complex algorithm to one's brain.
The whole day, all the decisions are made with an algorithm. It's basically autopilot for humans.
D pills were programmed by certified doctors to obey certain laws, abide to certain morals, perform certain actions, and all of this could be programmed into a pill to signals to the brain.
Yunho wonders where humanity is going. He questions whether being Dr. Lee-Smith meant anything. And of course, Jaejoong saves him.
(then don't take them, hell, I don't. it's like giving your life to someone else to control, isn't that scary?)
The first words out of his mouth in response were from the algorithm. He knows it and so does Jaejoong.
(forget this, here…here's my number, don't take the pill tomorrow and call me. we'll go get coffee or something)
And so the next morning, Dr. Jonathan Lee-Smith doesn't take the D pill for the first time in months. He calls the number next to a hastily scribbled name and it goes straight to voicemail.
For the next month or so, the number never goes through. Finally, someone picked up but it wasn't Jaejoong.
(Nurse Land, do you still remember a patient called Gabriella Drapeza?)
(Oh, Doctor, you didn't hear? Poor girl, her parents forced her to take the D pill but apparently she's allergic to something in the pill. Brain dead. A week ago, her family finally decided to pull the plug.)
(Oh.)
And the next day, Yunho began taking them again.
Gabriella Drapeza's death became the spark for overturning the D pill regiments and Dr. Jonathan Lee-Smith's death became the landmark to demolish the public usage of D pills.
His algorithm led him to the conclusion of suicide.
In the year 4545
You ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to chew
Nobody's gonna look at you
Liquidated food was cheap and nutritious. There was no point in wasting time cutting vegetables and stewing meat and chewing food. Life was too fast paced for that.
There was no time to worry about indigestion or well-balanced meals. Everything Calvin Shah ever needed for a whole day's worth of energy was in a twelve-ounce bottle--eighteen ounce if he needed to stay up for several days.
Calvin sometimes wondered whether he was the same type of human he had been as Jung Yunho, but then work and time swept him into the globalized world called VR--virtual reality.
Working became a systematic logging on and off of his VR device. From Paris, he travels to Brasilia in a second and then he's in Shanghai and then he's in Seoul. It was so simple to travel. Instead of physically being there, now a few plug-ins connecting straight to the brain materialized any space right inside the mind.
There was almost no point in logging off, but for Yunho, there was. Just one reason, about half an inch thick and four hundred pages. The Friend.
It was a book written by some anonymous author. A book published when no one read books anymore, but the character--the Friend--was someone Yunho knew well. There were no illustrations or even physical descriptions throughout the book but there was no mistaking the words and the thoughts. Every time Calvin logs off and flips through the pages--not needing to read it, he's memorized everything by now--he almost feels like Yunho again.
Calvin's been searching for years for the author but even though he could reach every nook and cranny of the world, he couldn't find whoever it had been.
Just as he was about to give up, one message popped up in his inbox.
I wrote The Friend. I'm sorry but the character is not based on anyone in real life. Just a dream I had. - AL
Calvin Shah and Adrian Lin became best friends and together they co-authored one more book: The Soulmate.
After this lifetime, Yunho never meets Yoochun again.
In the year 5555
Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin' to do
Some machine's doin' that for you
Zackary Ren was a strange child. He liked to move. He liked to move with his own muscles. He didn't like Movement Machines.
Maybe it was because Zackary could remember when he was Uknow, an idol who prided himself in dancing. Maybe it was because Yunho could remember those riverside walks with Jaejoong. Maybe it was because Yunho could remember when he used his own hand to slip on the ring and the joy on the Jaejoong's face.
Or maybe he was just ADHD--action dependent hyperactivity disorder.
(But I like dancing.) Zackary would say.
(Honey, you don't even know what dancing is.)
(Yes I do.) Yunho wanted to answer but didn't. He was Zackary Ren and Zack really shouldn't know.
So he tries to conform. He really does. Yunho tries to let go of his legs, arms, body and surrender to a machine suit that would do everything for him. But it's hard. People called him a freak, his parents called him strange but his teacher called him normal.
(I like sports. Sports without mechanical enhancements.) His teacher said. Thirty-four and physically fit in Jung Yunho's standards, Junsu turned his life right side up again.
(Am I strange?) Zack asked.
(Am I a dolphin?) Mr. Whitesnake asked.
(Yes.) Yunho wanted to answer and Zack did. Junsu laughed.
Zackary Ren becomes a physical therapist, helping people regain basic movement after accidents without their mechanical suits. One day, Jaejoong comes in--too scared to put on the suit again but unable to move otherwise.
By the fifth week, Galen Camargo could walk on his own. By the tenth week, they walked side by side down the riverbank. By the sixteenth week, Galen used his own hands to slip on the ring and Yunho wasn't sure whether he should bring out the ring he bought as well.
But somehow Jaejoong guessed it.
This had been the first life they spent together till death.
In the year 6565
You won't need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube
Franklin Santos is surprised when he meets Junsu again. The happy nurse walked them through the various machines and the prices and the guarantees and the absolute best service they'll ever receive.
Jaejoong doesn't recognize Nurse Loi but they hit off almost instantly. Immediately, they began talking about children and school and other things.
Franklin plays with the ring on his ring finger and tries to keep the smile off his face. Yunho had been lucky. He found Jaejoong almost immediately. They were educated in the same institution--same sector, same unit. And for Franklin, Wilson had been love at first sight--and thankfully, it had been the same for Wilson.
Now, they were 'husbands' in the archaic term. An archaic term that was coming back.
These were the early years of the Regression. Times when people believed that they should go back to having sex to reproduce and devote ones' self to one partner in some kind of official union.
It worked well in Yunho's book. He hadn't been too thrilled to learn that he might need to create his child on his own with a test tube and genetic coder. But with the Regression, people were taking steps back.
Franklin had painstakingly convinced Wilson they should get married.
(While you know that I'm only devoted to you, it might be nice to have a celebration for it right?)
(…Married. It does have a nice sound to it, but I'm not doing that whole sex for reproduction thing.) Jaejoong negotiated.
While it was possible for men to have children, Yunho agreed. It was slightly strange for him, especially when he still remembered fanfiction from when male pregnancies were not possible.
(Can we at least do randomized genetic coding?) Franklin haggled.
(If the child turns out ugly, I'll tell it to blame you.) Wilson teases and that's how they were here.
This would be the first time Yunho and Jaejoong will have a child to call their own. Adopting was just not the same. And Yunho should have known that God had a sense of humor--either that or read fanfiction.
(Changmin? Are you sure you want to call him 'Changmin'?) Wilson asked wrinkling his nose.
(You don't like it?) Franklin asked.
(Well, it sounds so…anachronistic, so Oriental.) Wilson responded, touching the glass tube which held the new life. But then Jaejoong smiled. (I kind of like it though. Chang-Min.)
Years later, Changmin Santos took on the nickname Max because his actual name was just too weird.
In the year 7510
If God's a-coming, He oughta make it by then
Maybe He'll look around Himself and say
"Guess it's time for the Judgement Day"
Yunho's not sure why he still remember his past lifetimes. He's pretty sure that he's lived lives before being DBSK's U-Know Yunho, but he only remember whatever came after that. There were times that remembering was just too painful. He could remember Jaejoong's death, Gabriella's misfortune, the Friend's fictions, and all the tragedies that highlighted some lifetimes. Ones that were too difficult to think about.
But in the year 7510, Jennifer Garden found refuge in those memories.
They called it Judgement Day. Yunho wants to say it was karma. Just like those movies during Jung Yunho's time, a super virus has run rampant all over the world. She was the only one alive in all of London. There were no zombies, no mutilated humans, just silence and dead bodies.
And that was scarier than a zombie apocalypse. There was just no one.
Yunho's not sure whether it was fortunate or not to have an unusual resistance against this particular virus. At first, Jennifer thought it was great because she could help others. Now Yunho thinks this is a curse.
There were many instances when Jennifer climbed to the top of the Big Ben and wondered whether she could just jump. The several times demolished and reconstructed clock tower gave her no answer.
But then the memories of Jaejoong and Galen and Gabriella and Wilson and Christian and Ben--and she couldn't step off.
All alone and living in a dream, Yunho survived. Survived until a team of survivors came searching.
(You did well these past ten years.) a rescuer said gently.
(I--but Jaejoong and Galen and Wilson--I can't leave--they're--) Jennifer screeched.
(Look at me.) the rescuer said, forcing Yunho to look into such familiar eyes. (I know it must have been hard. Losing your friends and family must have been hard, but they would want you to go forward. And we will. Together.)
No wonder he's always been Yunho's rock. Jennifer nods and Jaejoong smiles.
In the year 8510
God is gonna shake His mighty head
He'll either say, "I'm pleased where man has been"
Or tear it down, and start again
They held each other’s hand as a mechanical voice blared out the launch time. Only five minutes more and they were leaving. They were leaving the planet that nurtured the human race for so many centuries, but it was too expensive to leave on Earth anymore.
Earth became the residence of the rich. Only the richest and most powerful people could live on Earth and enjoy the dying yet alive resources that humans had for thousands of years.
9095-33-6201 squeezed Yunho's hand tightly and released a shuddering breath.
(I wish we could have stayed.) Jaejoong says.
(I know, but it was just getting too costly.) 6891-05-6020 responded. (We were lucky to have been allowed to stay that long.)
(Now we have to get used to a new gravity and a new life style and a new school system--)
(A new planet.) Yunho summarized dryly. He knows that 9095-33-6201--or 9095 for short--had a fondness for the planet Earth that most people didn't. At this point, most people jumped planets like how their ancestors jumped countries.
But not 9095, he was in love with the seas and the land and the skies of Earth. There was no other planet with the same blue shade of sky. There was no other planet with land so textured and alive.
(It's not just that…we met on Earth.) 9095 said sadly. (We walked together and worked together and played together and made so many memories together. But now, we can never visit those places again.)
Yunho knew the feeling. Some lifetimes when he never met Jaejoong, he would search for past landmarks. Places they had fun together, Seoul, Tokyo, Prague, Bora Bora, Paris--places that were named and renamed and then renamed again.
While Yunho would miss Earth and all the memories it held, 6891 was just glad he had 9095 there to make new memories with.
6891 squeezed 9095's hand and brought up their interlocked fingers to kiss the back of the other's hand. 9095 smiled.
They launched.
It wasn't until they were halfway to their new home that the news came. Earth had been destroyed. An asteroid that seemingly came out of nowhere collided with the planet.
In the year 9595
I'm kinda wonderin' if man is gonna be alive
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothing
Jaejoong dies on the hottest day in the summer and went out with a bang, explosion and fire and twisted metal.
It had been a vehicle accident. The other driver had been drunk. Jaejoong died on impact.
And sitting in the passenger seat had been Yunho. They tried to save him but he doesn't make it to the hospital.
(Yunho-yah, it's over isn't it?)
(Yes, we're dead.)
Now it's been ten thousand years, man has cried a billion tears
For what, he never knew, now man's reign is through
But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight
So very far away, maybe it's only yesterday
"--Dong Bang Shin Ki!"
Uknow Yunho pats Changmin's shoulder as they walked to stage. They're pace was fast, trying to make up for the three empty spaces they needed to compensate. It's been years since the three have left, but old habits were hard to break.
"So how are you two feeling about this new album?" the female MC asks enthusiastically.
"Eh, we are very grateful to have this chance to work with them and this will be interesting considering our styles," Changmin answers as rehearsed.
"Do you think you're styles conflict?" the other MC picks up.
"I was afraid it would, but I was pleasantly surprised," Yunho laughs as rehearsed.
"Now you've never collaborated on albums with artist's outside of SM, what spurred this sudden decision?" the female MC continues. The questions had been decided and prepped for quite a while ago, so neither current DBSK member was really paying attention.
"Well the company thought it might be a good thing to bring together some of the most popular Kpop acts especially since Korean music is finally getting onto the global stage," Yunho answers, tone and delivery flawless. "Our collaborators are definitely known on a global stage and we found it to be a perfect project for both of our groups."
"Were they preferred over other groups?" the male MC asked, unscripted.
Yunho laughed and Changmin smiled.
"I can't say they weren't seeing as how we've worked together before," Yunho answered, unscripted. "After all, six years of previous collaboration is hard to beat."
"I'm starting to feel like you're trying to get us to introduce them," Changmin interjected. "You're the MC. I'm not being paid that much."
"Of course not!" the male MC conceded as the crowd dissolved into laughter. They motioned for the crowd to quiet, but the expectant audience could not, knowing who stood backstage.
"Now let's welcome J-Y-J!"
But Yunho's not listening to the introduction or even the crowd's cheers. He could only see one man walking towards him and as their eyes locked, there was nothing else but Yunho and Jaejoong.
(But it will never be over.)
(With you, I never want it to.)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, Angst, Romance
Warning: Lots of AU
Summary: "There will be today, there will be tomorrow, there will be always, and there was yesterday, and there was the day before..." - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
Inspired by the song 'In the Year 2525' by Zagar and Evans
2879 wc w/o lyrics
A/N: For vicshi who requested to see angst, real-life/AU, fluff and romance! I tried to pull a bit of everything (though it might be a little heavy on the angst) and hopefully you'll enjoy it! Although I must confess, this might be one of the strangest things I've ever written.
They say the candle that burns the brightest burns half as long, and Jaejoong had always been blinding.
Yunho was still in the military the day he learned that Jaejoong died. Vehicle accident. Died on impact. The other driver had been drunk.
Appropriately, it had been the highest recorded summer day in Seoul.
He doesn't remember much of that year. He knows that it was sometime that year he meets Yoochun and Junsu again. They don't smile at him, but then again, everyone had been crying.
The sky was still blue and the world was still full of color. Jaejoong's death had been another crack in the path called life. A large crevice like a canyon, but his legs stepped over it nonetheless.
Fifty years later, Jung Yunho closes his eyes to the world. His physical body finally followed his heart in death.
In the year 2525,
If man is still alive
If woman can survive, they may find
--Jaejoong.
He almost says it outloud when he first meets the man, but he manages to stop himself.
It was Kim Jaejoong but not. The man was blonde with large eyes of some light blue. He had some Asian blood in him but he explains that now a days, everyone was mixed with a bit of everything and shrugs.
(woah, you're like a unicorn. you're full korean? that's pretty weird at this day and age. what is that? inbreeding?)
But he knows its Jaejoong because the way the man laughs and the way he loves is the same. Yunho knows because no one forgets a lover like Jaejoong.
Technically, in 2525, Yunho is no longer 'Jung Yunho'; but in all honesty, just like Jaejoong was still Jaejoong, Yunho was still Yunho.
So Yunho still loves Jaejoong, but Jaejoong doesn't love Yunho.
(oh yeah, i'm getting married tomorrow. i know this sounds cheesy but she's the love of my life.)
They only meet once that lifetime, but that was enough. It was enough that Jaejoong was happy.
(it was nice talking to you. what's your name? Yun…Yunho? ah, that's a nice name. easy to pronounce, haha. i'm David. David O'Conner.)
In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie
Everything you think, do and say
Is in the pill you took today
D pills.
It was an ongoing fad amongst the public and he hated it.
Technology was already at a point that people no longer needed to weigh out choices. Instead, these pills send instructions to a large complex algorithm to one's brain.
The whole day, all the decisions are made with an algorithm. It's basically autopilot for humans.
D pills were programmed by certified doctors to obey certain laws, abide to certain morals, perform certain actions, and all of this could be programmed into a pill to signals to the brain.
Yunho wonders where humanity is going. He questions whether being Dr. Lee-Smith meant anything. And of course, Jaejoong saves him.
(then don't take them, hell, I don't. it's like giving your life to someone else to control, isn't that scary?)
The first words out of his mouth in response were from the algorithm. He knows it and so does Jaejoong.
(forget this, here…here's my number, don't take the pill tomorrow and call me. we'll go get coffee or something)
And so the next morning, Dr. Jonathan Lee-Smith doesn't take the D pill for the first time in months. He calls the number next to a hastily scribbled name and it goes straight to voicemail.
For the next month or so, the number never goes through. Finally, someone picked up but it wasn't Jaejoong.
(Nurse Land, do you still remember a patient called Gabriella Drapeza?)
(Oh, Doctor, you didn't hear? Poor girl, her parents forced her to take the D pill but apparently she's allergic to something in the pill. Brain dead. A week ago, her family finally decided to pull the plug.)
(Oh.)
And the next day, Yunho began taking them again.
Gabriella Drapeza's death became the spark for overturning the D pill regiments and Dr. Jonathan Lee-Smith's death became the landmark to demolish the public usage of D pills.
His algorithm led him to the conclusion of suicide.
In the year 4545
You ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to chew
Nobody's gonna look at you
Liquidated food was cheap and nutritious. There was no point in wasting time cutting vegetables and stewing meat and chewing food. Life was too fast paced for that.
There was no time to worry about indigestion or well-balanced meals. Everything Calvin Shah ever needed for a whole day's worth of energy was in a twelve-ounce bottle--eighteen ounce if he needed to stay up for several days.
Calvin sometimes wondered whether he was the same type of human he had been as Jung Yunho, but then work and time swept him into the globalized world called VR--virtual reality.
Working became a systematic logging on and off of his VR device. From Paris, he travels to Brasilia in a second and then he's in Shanghai and then he's in Seoul. It was so simple to travel. Instead of physically being there, now a few plug-ins connecting straight to the brain materialized any space right inside the mind.
There was almost no point in logging off, but for Yunho, there was. Just one reason, about half an inch thick and four hundred pages. The Friend.
It was a book written by some anonymous author. A book published when no one read books anymore, but the character--the Friend--was someone Yunho knew well. There were no illustrations or even physical descriptions throughout the book but there was no mistaking the words and the thoughts. Every time Calvin logs off and flips through the pages--not needing to read it, he's memorized everything by now--he almost feels like Yunho again.
Calvin's been searching for years for the author but even though he could reach every nook and cranny of the world, he couldn't find whoever it had been.
Just as he was about to give up, one message popped up in his inbox.
I wrote The Friend. I'm sorry but the character is not based on anyone in real life. Just a dream I had. - AL
Calvin Shah and Adrian Lin became best friends and together they co-authored one more book: The Soulmate.
After this lifetime, Yunho never meets Yoochun again.
In the year 5555
Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin' to do
Some machine's doin' that for you
Zackary Ren was a strange child. He liked to move. He liked to move with his own muscles. He didn't like Movement Machines.
Maybe it was because Zackary could remember when he was Uknow, an idol who prided himself in dancing. Maybe it was because Yunho could remember those riverside walks with Jaejoong. Maybe it was because Yunho could remember when he used his own hand to slip on the ring and the joy on the Jaejoong's face.
Or maybe he was just ADHD--action dependent hyperactivity disorder.
(But I like dancing.) Zackary would say.
(Honey, you don't even know what dancing is.)
(Yes I do.) Yunho wanted to answer but didn't. He was Zackary Ren and Zack really shouldn't know.
So he tries to conform. He really does. Yunho tries to let go of his legs, arms, body and surrender to a machine suit that would do everything for him. But it's hard. People called him a freak, his parents called him strange but his teacher called him normal.
(I like sports. Sports without mechanical enhancements.) His teacher said. Thirty-four and physically fit in Jung Yunho's standards, Junsu turned his life right side up again.
(Am I strange?) Zack asked.
(Am I a dolphin?) Mr. Whitesnake asked.
(Yes.) Yunho wanted to answer and Zack did. Junsu laughed.
Zackary Ren becomes a physical therapist, helping people regain basic movement after accidents without their mechanical suits. One day, Jaejoong comes in--too scared to put on the suit again but unable to move otherwise.
By the fifth week, Galen Camargo could walk on his own. By the tenth week, they walked side by side down the riverbank. By the sixteenth week, Galen used his own hands to slip on the ring and Yunho wasn't sure whether he should bring out the ring he bought as well.
But somehow Jaejoong guessed it.
This had been the first life they spent together till death.
In the year 6565
You won't need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube
Franklin Santos is surprised when he meets Junsu again. The happy nurse walked them through the various machines and the prices and the guarantees and the absolute best service they'll ever receive.
Jaejoong doesn't recognize Nurse Loi but they hit off almost instantly. Immediately, they began talking about children and school and other things.
Franklin plays with the ring on his ring finger and tries to keep the smile off his face. Yunho had been lucky. He found Jaejoong almost immediately. They were educated in the same institution--same sector, same unit. And for Franklin, Wilson had been love at first sight--and thankfully, it had been the same for Wilson.
Now, they were 'husbands' in the archaic term. An archaic term that was coming back.
These were the early years of the Regression. Times when people believed that they should go back to having sex to reproduce and devote ones' self to one partner in some kind of official union.
It worked well in Yunho's book. He hadn't been too thrilled to learn that he might need to create his child on his own with a test tube and genetic coder. But with the Regression, people were taking steps back.
Franklin had painstakingly convinced Wilson they should get married.
(While you know that I'm only devoted to you, it might be nice to have a celebration for it right?)
(…Married. It does have a nice sound to it, but I'm not doing that whole sex for reproduction thing.) Jaejoong negotiated.
While it was possible for men to have children, Yunho agreed. It was slightly strange for him, especially when he still remembered fanfiction from when male pregnancies were not possible.
(Can we at least do randomized genetic coding?) Franklin haggled.
(If the child turns out ugly, I'll tell it to blame you.) Wilson teases and that's how they were here.
This would be the first time Yunho and Jaejoong will have a child to call their own. Adopting was just not the same. And Yunho should have known that God had a sense of humor--either that or read fanfiction.
(Changmin? Are you sure you want to call him 'Changmin'?) Wilson asked wrinkling his nose.
(You don't like it?) Franklin asked.
(Well, it sounds so…anachronistic, so Oriental.) Wilson responded, touching the glass tube which held the new life. But then Jaejoong smiled. (I kind of like it though. Chang-Min.)
Years later, Changmin Santos took on the nickname Max because his actual name was just too weird.
In the year 7510
If God's a-coming, He oughta make it by then
Maybe He'll look around Himself and say
"Guess it's time for the Judgement Day"
Yunho's not sure why he still remember his past lifetimes. He's pretty sure that he's lived lives before being DBSK's U-Know Yunho, but he only remember whatever came after that. There were times that remembering was just too painful. He could remember Jaejoong's death, Gabriella's misfortune, the Friend's fictions, and all the tragedies that highlighted some lifetimes. Ones that were too difficult to think about.
But in the year 7510, Jennifer Garden found refuge in those memories.
They called it Judgement Day. Yunho wants to say it was karma. Just like those movies during Jung Yunho's time, a super virus has run rampant all over the world. She was the only one alive in all of London. There were no zombies, no mutilated humans, just silence and dead bodies.
And that was scarier than a zombie apocalypse. There was just no one.
Yunho's not sure whether it was fortunate or not to have an unusual resistance against this particular virus. At first, Jennifer thought it was great because she could help others. Now Yunho thinks this is a curse.
There were many instances when Jennifer climbed to the top of the Big Ben and wondered whether she could just jump. The several times demolished and reconstructed clock tower gave her no answer.
But then the memories of Jaejoong and Galen and Gabriella and Wilson and Christian and Ben--and she couldn't step off.
All alone and living in a dream, Yunho survived. Survived until a team of survivors came searching.
(You did well these past ten years.) a rescuer said gently.
(I--but Jaejoong and Galen and Wilson--I can't leave--they're--) Jennifer screeched.
(Look at me.) the rescuer said, forcing Yunho to look into such familiar eyes. (I know it must have been hard. Losing your friends and family must have been hard, but they would want you to go forward. And we will. Together.)
No wonder he's always been Yunho's rock. Jennifer nods and Jaejoong smiles.
In the year 8510
God is gonna shake His mighty head
He'll either say, "I'm pleased where man has been"
Or tear it down, and start again
They held each other’s hand as a mechanical voice blared out the launch time. Only five minutes more and they were leaving. They were leaving the planet that nurtured the human race for so many centuries, but it was too expensive to leave on Earth anymore.
Earth became the residence of the rich. Only the richest and most powerful people could live on Earth and enjoy the dying yet alive resources that humans had for thousands of years.
9095-33-6201 squeezed Yunho's hand tightly and released a shuddering breath.
(I wish we could have stayed.) Jaejoong says.
(I know, but it was just getting too costly.) 6891-05-6020 responded. (We were lucky to have been allowed to stay that long.)
(Now we have to get used to a new gravity and a new life style and a new school system--)
(A new planet.) Yunho summarized dryly. He knows that 9095-33-6201--or 9095 for short--had a fondness for the planet Earth that most people didn't. At this point, most people jumped planets like how their ancestors jumped countries.
But not 9095, he was in love with the seas and the land and the skies of Earth. There was no other planet with the same blue shade of sky. There was no other planet with land so textured and alive.
(It's not just that…we met on Earth.) 9095 said sadly. (We walked together and worked together and played together and made so many memories together. But now, we can never visit those places again.)
Yunho knew the feeling. Some lifetimes when he never met Jaejoong, he would search for past landmarks. Places they had fun together, Seoul, Tokyo, Prague, Bora Bora, Paris--places that were named and renamed and then renamed again.
While Yunho would miss Earth and all the memories it held, 6891 was just glad he had 9095 there to make new memories with.
6891 squeezed 9095's hand and brought up their interlocked fingers to kiss the back of the other's hand. 9095 smiled.
They launched.
It wasn't until they were halfway to their new home that the news came. Earth had been destroyed. An asteroid that seemingly came out of nowhere collided with the planet.
In the year 9595
I'm kinda wonderin' if man is gonna be alive
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothing
Jaejoong dies on the hottest day in the summer and went out with a bang, explosion and fire and twisted metal.
It had been a vehicle accident. The other driver had been drunk. Jaejoong died on impact.
And sitting in the passenger seat had been Yunho. They tried to save him but he doesn't make it to the hospital.
(Yunho-yah, it's over isn't it?)
(Yes, we're dead.)
Now it's been ten thousand years, man has cried a billion tears
For what, he never knew, now man's reign is through
But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight
So very far away, maybe it's only yesterday
"--Dong Bang Shin Ki!"
Uknow Yunho pats Changmin's shoulder as they walked to stage. They're pace was fast, trying to make up for the three empty spaces they needed to compensate. It's been years since the three have left, but old habits were hard to break.
"So how are you two feeling about this new album?" the female MC asks enthusiastically.
"Eh, we are very grateful to have this chance to work with them and this will be interesting considering our styles," Changmin answers as rehearsed.
"Do you think you're styles conflict?" the other MC picks up.
"I was afraid it would, but I was pleasantly surprised," Yunho laughs as rehearsed.
"Now you've never collaborated on albums with artist's outside of SM, what spurred this sudden decision?" the female MC continues. The questions had been decided and prepped for quite a while ago, so neither current DBSK member was really paying attention.
"Well the company thought it might be a good thing to bring together some of the most popular Kpop acts especially since Korean music is finally getting onto the global stage," Yunho answers, tone and delivery flawless. "Our collaborators are definitely known on a global stage and we found it to be a perfect project for both of our groups."
"Were they preferred over other groups?" the male MC asked, unscripted.
Yunho laughed and Changmin smiled.
"I can't say they weren't seeing as how we've worked together before," Yunho answered, unscripted. "After all, six years of previous collaboration is hard to beat."
"I'm starting to feel like you're trying to get us to introduce them," Changmin interjected. "You're the MC. I'm not being paid that much."
"Of course not!" the male MC conceded as the crowd dissolved into laughter. They motioned for the crowd to quiet, but the expectant audience could not, knowing who stood backstage.
"Now let's welcome J-Y-J!"
But Yunho's not listening to the introduction or even the crowd's cheers. He could only see one man walking towards him and as their eyes locked, there was nothing else but Yunho and Jaejoong.
(But it will never be over.)
(With you, I never want it to.)