[Fic] Before You Go - Ch 1
Title: Before You GoPairing(s): Jaemin, Yoosu (later),
Length: Chaptered 1/20?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: (gang) violence, language, abduction
Genre: AU, drama, angst
Summary: Jaejoong and his cousin have been swept up into the world of violence and gangs. The struggle and fight for his sanity is complicated greatly by the addition of a certain Shim Changmin into the mix. Will he be able to protect those he loves as well as save himself?
A/N: Jaejoong POV! Sorry it's long, I think I'm long winded D:
Prologue
***
His eyes fluttered open. The light was dim. Or was it that his range of vision had shrunk? He blinked slowly, head groggy as a fog seemed to have settled over his eyes. And something was burning deep within his skull making it almost impossible to think.
Slowly he became aware of his body: face down on his stomach, bruised and aching. He forced another blink, some of the fog clearing away. Now.. What had happened again?
A pair of feet swam into view. Bare feet. Dirty feet.. .they were right in front of his face. Jaejoong groaned faintly, straining to push himself up, only his arms wouldn’t cooperate. They were tied roughly behind his back. Suddenly he became all too aware of the sharp pain this was causing his shoulders and upper arms.
He frowned. What the heck.. His body reacted almost on instinct, snapping to attention. Somehow he pushed himself up to his knees, eyes sweeping around him quickly and just as quickly widening in shock. Forcing down the wave of nausea that inevitably crept up from the pit of his stomach, he quickly took in his location. It was hardly bigger than a closet, empty, dark, dirty and slightly rank.
His eyes stopped on the owner of the dirty feet. A man was sitting, leaning against the wall, knees drawn up to his chest. Head fallen down to his knees, a mop of longish brown hair obscured his face. One arm was fallen limply by his side, and it was bent in the wrong place, the hand a crumpled, bloody mess.
No really, what the fuck was going on? Jaejoong stared at the sill figure. A sudden thought turning his already heaving stomach even more. Was he….? Just then, a faint sigh reached his ears. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, only to have it hitch in his throat again as the head suddenly lifted.
Large, deep brown eyes, slender jaw, smooth cheeks marred by a rough cut that was caked with blood and dirt. Long locks of hair were sticking to the boyish face… just a boy. Jaejoong couldn’t break his gaze from that forlorn face. His eyes traced the dried tear tracks through the grime. The man gave a small sniff, softly biting down on already thoroughly bitten full lips.
Jaejoong realized belatedly that for some reason his heart was pulsing, fluttering, rather fiercely in his chest. Deeply disliking the feeling, he frowned sharply, brows knitting as he slowly let out the breath he was holding, yet again.
The man’s eyes widened slightly at Jaejoong’s expression, and his chin began to tremble. Then as if it was too heavy to hold up, his head promptly dropped back to his knees, his good arm pulling his knees more tightly to himself.
The spell was broken, and Jaejoong’s body slumped… he let out a low moan as his body screamed in protest.
He didn’t know how long he sat there hunched awkwardly as his arms remained resolutely and firmly secured behind his back. The more he shifted the more it strained his arms, which consisted now of a dull ache, the blood long gone from his fingers.
Next to him, the other never stirred from his position, though as long silent minutes stretched on, he heard soft breathing. Measured and even… too even...obviously controlled with an effort as every now and then the sound caught slightly, betraying the fact that he was probably on the edge of a break down.
Great. He was locked in who knows where with a crybaby…well, at least this boy seemed to be too afraid to let it show in front of Jaejoong, sparing him any waterworks. Either way, he found his eyes resting continually on that messy head of hair, the dim light making the edges of everything blend and blur. Or was it due to his now dully pounding head…?
That head was his focus point, keeping him from falling over into even deeper darkness once more…but he’d do better with that pale, innocent looking face, the big dark eyes.
“Yah.”
The soft breathing immediately stopped. Silence filling the room. But the boy didn’t move.
“Yah!” more forcefully, his voice gravely in his abused throat. The sound was almost foreign to his own ears.
The boy’s shoulders looked rigid. Jaejoong sighed, “Hey…” more softly this time. “where are we?”
A few moments passed before he caught a barely noticeable slight shake of the head.
“Don’t know?” Again no response.
Jaejoong sighed again, now slightly in annoyance. He had always been rather impatient, thus his perfect aptitude for starting fights left and right. But in this particular situation it didn't exactly seem to help him.
“Hey,” he started again, for some reason he couldn’t stand to be silent. The dingy, dank space pressed almost suffocatingly around him. “What the hell happened? Where am I?”
The boy remained silent and immobile. Jaejoong now began to feel decidedly annoyed. The kid could at lease have the decency to look at him when he spoke to him. He wanted to reach out and lift that face, hold it steady while he looked his fill. Heck he just wanted some sort of reaction, something to let him know he was still alive in this dream place.
He hated the silence, and grudgingly considered admitting to himself that this was a rather unexpected and far from ideal situation, and if he hadn’t been muddled by pain and his senses somehow muted by the small dark space, he supposed he should probably be worried…if not a little scared.
But here right in front of him was a distraction, and he tried again. “Hey kid…mind untying my hands?”
When even this, in his opinion, incredibly polite request, again produced no sort of response, he was admittedly unsurprised. But he was now seriously becoming worried about the state of his arms. He couldn’t afford for them to become useless…
He slowly rose up on his knees, shifting the space of about a foot that separated him from the silent boy. He moved closer, turning sideways slightly, nudging the head with the side of his elbow. Just as it sent waves of pain coursing up through his arm, it elicited such a quick reaction that Jaejoong almost toppled over in surprise as the other recoiled as if burned, his eyes now large, terrified, and trained on Jaejoong.
That face…Jaejoong’s heart stuttered again, and he momentarily forgot what he was even doing. Somehow recovering, he forced out a lame, “Help me out?”
He was reluctant to take his eyes off the boy, but he resolutely turned his body more to expose his most likely blue and purple arms. He waited ‘patiently’, surprised that he felt surprised when the boy remained frozen behind him. What was wrong with the guy? Well then again this whole scenario was rather surreal, and he supposed he must probably look quite the sight as he surely felt as if his body parts had been ripped off and jammed back together again.
He finally turned away from the sill figure completely, leaving his back and bound arms directly exposed in front of the other. Ah this was killing him, and he now felt the boy needed a good shake…though he doubted that would even do the trick.
Jaejoong started as suddenly a light warmth fluttered against his arms. Unable to feel much besides the pain, he hadn’t at first identified that the boy had finally obliged. Jaejoong chanced a small glance over his shoulder, the kid was leaning forward, left hand now fumbling rather painfully against his hands. The kid’s right arm still hung mangled and useless by his side.
Jaejoong hadn’t really thought about what he saw before… it must be broken. And here he was asking for a hand. His eyes strained to catch sight of the face. He was so close, long dark lashes hooding his eyes as he bent closer still. Jaejoong wanted to turn and take a better look, there was just something that drew his gaze, made his mind blank, made his heart flutter. ..those eyes flickered up to see him watching and the fumbling stopped.
Jaejoong reluctantly forced himself back around, wincing as the boy tugged at whatever was holding his arms back. Trust him to want to hit on a random kid in a situation like this. He should be focusing on finding out where he was and how the hell he was going to get out.
He hissed through his teeth as a rather sharp stab went through his arm and up to his shoulder, it drew a mumbled muffled noise from the boy’s throat, and the corner of Jaejoong’s mouth twitched up despite himself…only to turn into a grimace as his arms were now screaming in earnest.
He wondered that it now felt somehow tighter than before, and was barely able to bite back a sharp remark telling the kid to be more careful. Jaejoong sighed lightly, aching to relax his strained body, as the boy determinedly continued tugging on the ropes.
It could have been hours, no, more like days as Jaejoong suddenly roused from his daze as he realized his arms were flopping in front of him, lumpy pieces of flesh, and he turned around in surprise.
The other was staring at him, fingers brought to his chapped mouth. Jaejoong found his eyes following their every movement…he couldn't for the life of him understand why he felt he wanted to catch that hand, drag it away from the bruised face. It wasn't even a conscious thought.
But, he couldn’t move. He looked down at his arms in confusion.
They hung before him, lifeless. He saw now they were littered with cuts and bruises, some of which looked as if they ran quite deep, but he was more concerned with the fact that he couldn’t feel a thing. Nor was he able to move a single finger. The color seemed dark and mottled, though he couldn’t really tell in the light.
“Shit.” This definitely wasn’t good. He sank back to rest against the wall opposite the boy, struggling to move something.
He glanced up, pausing as he found those eyes still on him. So large and unfathomable. Although the kid in front of him was so unlike anyone he'd ever seen before, and Jaejoong didn't even know what to do with him, he hadn’t given up trying. He had to give him that. The least he could do was…
“Thanks.”
He was met with a big blinking stare. The boy seemed to be looking him over, almost staring right through him. Judging him warily, just as Jaejoong was currently doing.
And now Jaejoong really couldn’t help but stare. He wasn’t sure which word he would choose, “beautiful” and “adorable” fighting for dominance in his foggy brain. He hadn't the slightest idea how to figure out what that expression meant, but he’d never been one to read emotions well. The only thing he could tell was that the boy was battered and from the barely contained panic on the tear stained face, he must be in shock.
He couldn’t help but wonder what an innocent-looking kid like this was doing here anyway. He could hardly belong to one of the gangs could he? One of Jung's men? But, no, it was most doubtful. Although Jaejoong wouldn't put it past them to lock up one of their own, for some reason he was already crossing out the passing thoughts.
Suddenly an exceptionally sharp stab lanced through his arms, all the way into his chest. He twitched, body twisting roughly which caused him to cough deeply. Realizing then his mouth tasted metallic, Jaejoong licked his lips experimentally. They were split and obviously hideous with dried blood.
He couldn’t even tell the extent of the damage, he just knew he’d never been beaten up this badly before…should he be ashamed? No, the odds had been against him. He guessed he should be glad he was left alive, though for how long and through what torture he'd most likely have to suffer through was another thing.
“Fuck.“ He cursed fiercely, as pain ripped through him. It was as if consciously becoming aware of his body caused the pain to return, injuries flaring up instantly.
His whole body was shaking as he coughed again, a string of muttered curses leaving his mouth. Why wake up from unconsciousness if it was only to writhe in pain? He hardly realized as he slumped to the damp floor, and far from fighting the black gulf waiting just beyond his senses, he reached for it greedily. Everything else could be dealt with later.
He let himself slip away, a small whimpering plea falling on his unconscious ears. “Please stay with me…”
****
Chapter 2
ahh...
duno about this chapter, but I promise it will get better! T^T