First of all, I'm soooo sorry I didn't post the last two Sundays T-T . Life has been crazy so I had to put the story on the back burner.... I did my best to write two chapters to catch up but unfortunately this is all I had time for. I'm sorry you had to wait so long but I am constantly thinking about getting it posted for all you to read and enjoy. I ask that you keep waiting for it will come!!
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Sunny stood in front of Boa’s desk, a clipboard held tightly to the girl’s chest. Sunny forced herself to remain calm and kept her back straight as Boa chewed on the end of her pen, staring coldly at the paper in front of her.
“So we’ve captured Subject 004,” Boa muttered as if Sunny wasn’t there. “I was hoping for Subject 001 but I guess this is the best lure we have.”
“May I ask why ma’am?”
Sunny was pleased with herself; her voice was stronger and less shaky than she had thought. Boa glanced up at her as if she noticed the girl standing there for the first time.
“He’s the weak link in the group,” she said smoothly, letting the paper fall to the desk, “I’ve seen them all cater to him as if he were a child. Subject 001 especially. So if we have not found the location of the other three they will come swarming towards him like a moth to a flame. Ah, yes I remember why I’ve called you. For now you will oversee Heechul’s progress. His fear of water is a serious hindrance if we plan to use him to get the escapees back here.”
Sunny’s head snapped up and her eyes widened. She had been hoping to meet with Heechul for a long time now. The girl wasn’t very cut out to be part of the harsh experimentation of E-Tox but she was unable to leave without putting her family and her own life in danger. She hated seeing all the people brought in, treated like they were tools. When the four test subjects escaped she had been there and witnessed everything.
The other experiments in the facility rioted and the four escaped, causing a huge fire and the loss of many experiments and scientists alike. Among the experiments, only one didn’t have the intense bloodthirsty reaction. That was Heechul. Heechul had only been a small child at that point, and since had grown far more quickly than the average human. But the child had stood among the riot his eyes wide and curious, not uttering a sound. His tail flicked this way and that and he clutched a teddy bear he managed to get his hands on.
There had been times when Sunny had seen the four test subjects. There was one, with fiery eyes who kept the group afloat. He always pumped them with words of encouragement even though he suffered the same. He always put his brothers before his own safety, and when they had escaped he turned back to look at the little Heechul standing there watching them with curious eyes. Sunny stood there, among the chaos, watching as the young man tore his eyes away from the child and ran to freedom, but Heechul never moved. Nevertheless the desire to take the boy with them was there, and since then Sunny began to doubt what her job was really supposed to mean. She wanted to talk to Heechul, but had always put on other duties. Until now. Now she was going to face him and then she decided she would help the young man with red eyes.
“Also ask Dr. Jung to gather information on the young man Subject 001 was with earlier,” Boa said, startling Sunny out of her thoughts, “if he knows too much we’ll have to dispose of him as well.”
“Yes ma’am,” Sunny stammered, her determination wavering a little. She hurried out of the office and slumped against the wall.
As she was gathering her breath the door at the end of the hall opened and a couple, burly men sauntered through, carrying someone between them. His curly red hair lay limply over his beautiful, boyish shaped face. His striking green eyes were flat and glossed over; his body slumped over in a defeated sort of way. The men brushed past Sunny as she pressed herself closer to the wall. As they past, the boy looked up and his eyes were pleading but he remained silent. Sunny’s heart ached as she watched them walk down to the door opposite of Boa’s office. She knew exactly where they were going and she hurried away before her thoughts were bombarded with what would happen to the young man.
~*~*~
Key was standing next to the window watching the rain come down, while Jinki remained on the bed, looking worriedly up at the other young man.
“First of all I think you should understand just how important this world is to us,” Key began in a soft voice, “how important we are to this world. If there is no world, no life we don’t exist and vice versa. We’ve been alive since the beginning of time, we’ve seen the creation of humans and other life. We created the waters, the air, the wildlife, the heat and warmth. Everything we touch becomes life. It’s difficult to say who created us but the point is we need to survive to have this planet survive.
“When humans first acknowledged us, we were gods. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, we revered and loved. As it became obvious that we didn’t age like those who worshipped us, we moved on. We did this for centuries but the world around was evolving. Soon the power and existence of the four elements became legend and then myths. I really don’t think people even know the four elements exist in human form in today’s world. So we started lying low. We didn’t use our abilities as often as before, only to maintain the planet. Still we wanted to travel and see the world. The whole world was ours, in a literal sense, so why not explore it and see what it all held. There were mountains, caves, waterfalls, primitive villages on islands society had no idea existed. There were so many things to see and experience, and we had forever to do it. Or so it felt like.
“The industrial revolution came about and passed, and technology became the fad. Technology evolved and pushed all history and legends out of the way. It also started polluting the planet, as well as us. We can feel it you know; the pollution poisons us as much as it poisons the earth. Oil spills can make me nauseous for weeks afterwards. But we have to survive, because if we don’t your planet will be destroyed.
“Our travels eventually took us to Venice, the beautiful city on water. It was in my territory so naturally I felt the strongest. I loved Venice; it looked so beautiful surrounded by water. It was as if it was made for me, being the Water element. We stayed for long enough not to arouse suspicion about our lack of aging, and on the last night before we left, the city threw a party for us. They thought we were some models or some big time aristocrats because of our wealth so we gained much popularity there. It was during the party that things went so very wrong….”
Key trailed off and Jinki knew better than to say anything. He’d let Key open up on his own.
“The party was going well. But then people got drunk and started a fight. Jonghyun did his best to split it up but a fist was flung at him and his temper broke. I stepped into to stop him from doing anything stupid and he shoved me away telling me to leave him alone. I don’t know what happened, but I think being around so much water grew too much for me to handle. I lost control, and I let a tidal wave of water hit Venice. A couple people died and others were injured. Luckily many of the buildings survived, but our cover was blown. E-Tox got wind of this information and they tracked us down. Area 99 is a place of human and animal testing, and E-Tox is a division for people with special abilities. Or so they think. Some of those experiments in there are just regular humans who can’t even bend a spoon while staring at it.”
“I remember hearing something about that,” Jinki said slowly, “they said it was a rogue tidal wave and there was no explanation for why it happened.”
“E-Tox, no doubt, did their best to cover up the real story,” Key nodded, pushing away from the window. “We were apprehended four years ago. Two years later we escaped and since then we’ve been on the run.”
“It’s not your fault Key,” Jinki said suddenly, seeing the look in Key’s eyes. “No one could have prevented what happened. You’re only human.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Key muttered, “I’m not only human.”
They sat in silence, listening to the rain hitting the window with a tap tap tap. Jinki was glad he was inside; he hated the rain. It was so cold and wet, and he really didn’t like having his clothes feel soggy and heavy.
“What are we going to do?” Jinki asked, “what are your brothers planning to do?”
“You’re not going to do anything,” Key pointed out, “we’re meeting the others back in Seoul tomorrow morning. I want you to think of one safe place that E-Tox might not consider and go there. My brothers and I are going to save Taemin.”
“What do you mean I’m not doing anything?” Jinki demanded, “I have to help you. You said so yourself, I’m not safe unless I’m around you so you’re stuck with me.”
Key looked like he wanted to argue some more, but he clamped his mouth shut and turned to look out the window again. Jinki sighed and pressed his hand to his head, feeling tired and worried.
“You should probably get some rest,” Key said gently, “we leave early tomorrow morning to meet the others.”
Jinki nodded and watched as Key moved towards the adjacent door. “Wait. Key…sleep in here…please?”
Key paused and turned with a curious look on his face. Hurriedly Jinki said, “it’s…not like that or anything! I just thought I’m not comfortable sleeping by myself with all that’s going on and I…I don’t know it might make me feel better and you as well…but it’s okay if you don’t want to I understand. It is a little weird….”
There was a pause while Key considered these words, and then he was on top of Jinki faster than humanly possible. He stared down at a befuddled Jinki-whose face was bright red. Key’s hands pinned Jinki’s wrists to the bed, and Key straddled Jinki’s waist. The sudden change in attitude caught Jinki off guard and he couldn’t speak for several seconds. Key’s hands were damp and clammy, and a drop of water fell from his cheek onto Jinki’s.
“Are you really okay with that?” Key whispered into Jinki’s ear, almost seductively.
“Um…uh, yes?” Jinki stuttered, his voice high and anxious.
Key pulled away just as quickly as he got on top of Jinki, and Jinki sat up dazed.
“I’ll go get my bag then.”
When Key had gone, Jinki pulled out his phone and flipped it open, just to give his mind something else to do besides think about what happened. There were ten messages from Donghae and Junsu, both wondering where the hell he ran off to. Surprisingly there were even a couple from his umma, who was worried sick about where he was. Jinki’s heart pounded painfully when he read those messages; for his umma to text him meant that she was worried. Donghae had always been the one to send messages. The only time umma would call or text him was when she was worried or something serious happened.
“Is everything okay?” came Key’s voice.
Blinking, Jinki realized that his eyes were watery and his throat was thick. “Yeah, yeah I’m okay. Just tired I guess.”
Key nodded, not quite convinced but he let the subject drop anyway. He set his bag down and moved over to the bed where Jinki sat. Then he wrapped his arms around him tightly and kissed his forehead.
“I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” he whispered.
“It’s not your fault,” Jinki replied, pulling away, “you should stop blaming yourself for things you can’t control. It’ll drive you to suicide or something.”
“Can’t kill us that easily,” Key chuckled slightly, “too strong for normal diseases, deaths and all that.”
“Do I have to cut off your head or stab you in the heart with a stake?” Jinki asked, smirking.
Key actually laughed out loud, and it was the most beautiful sound Jinki had ever heard. It sounded like water trickling and hitting the pond below it. It was perfect. “That would kill anyone, even me. So yes that would be the way to do it, but I don’t suck blood so please don’t kill me in my sleep.”
“Until you do turn into a vampire I swear I won’t.”
“Okay…I think we should go to bed though. I’m exhausted and we need our strength if we’re going to go to E-Tox.”
Jinki nodded and they both climbed under the covers and held each other close for comfort. They fell asleep in each other’s arms.
~*~*~
Sunny forced the disgust off her face as she watched one of the doctor’s work with Heechul. Heechul’s fear of water was severe, to the point that he had to be sedated heavily when he needed to be washed and cleaned. Sunny hated seeing him go through the torture the doctor was doing. He was inching a bowl of water towards Heechul, who shied away from it. Already the experiment was dripping from being splashed, and Sunny’s ears were still ringing from the tortured howl that came from Heechul’s lips.
The doctor came in to the little room Sunny was sitting for she was supposed to be taking notes on Heechul’s progress. When the doctor came in Sunny suddenly made up her mind and she stood up.
“Sir, Dr. Kwon would like to see you about how Heechul’s treatments are coming along,” she lied, surprisingly well. “She asked specifically for you.”
The doctor didn’t outright acknowledge her lie, but mumbled something about Boa. Sunny could have sworn she heard something like “stupid bitch”, and “micromanager.” Sunny bit her lip from laughter as the doctor left the room, and then she turned to the window.
She could see Heechul crouching in the corner of the room, but she had been told that the window had been blocked out from the other side. Slowly she moved closer to the window, her eyes transfixed on the cowering figure in the corner.
Suddenly her foot caught around the chair she had been sitting on, and she stumbled. As she straightened up her eyes came up to the window and she let out a yelp and stumbled back into the chair.
Heechul stood in front of the window, his glowing yellow eyes staring through the window, one hand resting on the glass. Sunny stood slowly and moved close to the window, her eyes wide and her breath quick from the scare. Heechul stayed where he was, his eyes boring into her.
“Can you hear me?” she asked in a quivering voice.
It was a stupid thing to ask, considering Heechul had never uttered a word since he arrived at E-Tox. Nevertheless Sunny felt she had to say something to break the ice.
“Of course I can hear you.”
Sunny jumped and spun around expecting to see the doctor standing there. But she saw no one, and then it dawned on her.
“You can talk,” she gasped, eyes wide.
“I could if I want to, but what’s the point if no one hears me,” he said, but his lips weren’t moving.
“I…I don’t believe it. No one thought you were capable of speaking,” Sunny muttered.
“You humans are stupid. I choose not to speak because like I said before, no one listens. Speaking like this tends to get a lot more attention but it’s something I really don’t want anyone finding out about. So this stays between us or I hunt you down and cut your throat.”
The threat worked and Sunny promised to keep her mouth shut. Heechul seemed pleased with this for he continued.
“You’re an E-Tox agent, why should I help you?” he asked, “I hate you all, and your lot hates us. You don’t care what happens to experiments like me. As long as we produce results we’re useful, which is why I do my best to survive.”
“I want to help you,” Sunny blurted, and Heechul raised his eyebrows.
“Help me? How can you help me when you’re stuck in a position where you can’t do anything? You’re just a tool, like the rest of these fools. You don’t care about us, you just want to make yourself feel better for everything that has happened.”
“No, that’s not true,” she argued, “I do want to help. I can help you escape; all of you! Please just help me get the word around to the other experiments and we can start an uprising and escape! Please!”
“I can’t do that. How do I know you’ll help? You could be just trying to get me to confess my deepest desires, so you can find a way to get rid of that too. I’m not dumb Sunny, so I’d appreciate it if you don’t treat me like it.”
“No…I’m serious,” Sunny pleaded, hearing footsteps coming towards the room, “just think about it please? Talk to the others. I can’t stand to see you being treated like this anymore. Let me help.”
Heechul fell silent and in the next second he was standing in a corner on the far side of the room. The doctor opened the door and found Sunny standing with her back to him, looking into the room.
“Is everything alright?”
Sunny jumped and spun around. “Yes, yes everything’s fine! I was just seeing how Heechul was doing.”
The doctor nodded and crossed his arms. “Dr. Kwon did not remember asking for me.”
“Oh…I thought she said your name. I apologize for the confusion,” Sunny said hurriedly, bowing politely, “I won’t let it happen again.”
The doctor moved past her and went back into the room where Heechul stood. Sunny stepped closer to the window and rested her hand against it, her eyes on Heechul.