Unlock Arc II - Chapter Five
Title: Unlock Arc II
Authors:
renichifreak and
yeonah
Chapter: 5/?
Fandom: SS501, cameos by KARA, U-KISS, Super Junior and BEAST
Pairings: KyuSaeng, HyunMin (may be other pairings in the future)
Rating: PG-16
Warning: Angst, AU, Fluff
Summary: Not everything is as it seems, and for those who are as far from normal as you can get, life is a bleak existence. The only ones who can truly understand what these individuals go through are those...just like them.
A/N: YoungSaeng and HyunJoong are played by
renichifreak and KyuJong and JungMin are played by me. Updates every Monday.
"Okay guys. Wookie is waiting in the park with the circle ready to be activated fully when SooHyun arrives, and HyungJoon's with him," HyunJoong began as they closed in on the former hospital. "Xander and Nicole, we're counting on you two for a distraction."
HyunJoong could feel his heart racing now that they were there. Closing his eyes and calming himself, he turned to the others to see how they were fairing.
KyuJong was making sure they all had each other's numbers on speed dial just in case, looking just as nervous as HyunJoong. Sleep hadn't come easy, his mind going at a hundred miles per hour. It was finally happening.
"Everyone's ready?" Nicole asked quietly, smiling tensely at them as she moved beside Xander. HaRa was giving everyone hugs for good luck, hugging KyuJong and HyunJoong tightly before letting them go.
JongWoon drew in a slow breath, nodding. "Ready."
Giving everyone one last smile before parting, the two groups split up. They had just reached the side door when HyunJoong felt Xander and Nicole let go, doing their part and wreaking havoc.
Waiting for a few minutes, HyunJoong slowly snuck in, motioning for the others to follow. "Seung, were you able to-"
"All the cameras are on a continuous loop," the blond confirmed. An added part of the plan was to use HyunSeung's advanced knowledge of computers to give them an advantage.
KyuJong looked around at the plain, white walls and tried not to gag on the overpowering smell of disinfectant. This place was a death trap. "We need to split up, we'll find the rooms faster," he said quietly. They couldn't waste any time.
"You, JongWoon and SooHyun take this floor, HyunSeung, HyunJoong and I will take the second?" HaRa suggested, seeing a staircase.
"Sounds like a plan," SooHyun nodded. "If we find anyone, I'll start teleporting people and I'll contact you. Just let me know where you are so I can get to you guys."
"Got it. Be careful, all of you," HyunJoong murmured. He didn't want to separate at all in this place, but knew they had no choice but to do so.
"You too, good luck," KyuJong smiled at the older man before starting down the hallway carefully, checking each room they passed for any sign of patients. JongWoon hurried along beside him, doing the other side of the hall.
SooHyun followed behind them both, keeping an eye out for anyone coming as well as watching where they were going in case of a quick getaway. It was easier for him to teleport if he had seen the place before.
"Any luck?" KyuJong asked quietly after they'd moved from one corridor to another.
"No," JongWoon winced. "They look like...check-up rooms or something?" This was like a horror movie, complete with flickering lights overhead.
"Maybe the patients are on another floor...” KyuJong trailed off as he stopped at one door, peering into the tiny, cell-like window.
There was someone curled up in a corner of the room, face buried against her knees.
Turning toward KyuJong when he trailed off, SooHyun walked over to KyuJong's side and peered in, seeing the girl in the room. Tapping on the window to get her attention, SooHyun grinned calmly and held his finger to his lips before disappearing and reappearing in the room.
"Hey, I'm SooHyun. What's your name?"
The girl looked up, startled when the boy about her age was suddenly in his room. "I, um, I'm Yuri," she stammered.
"Well, Yuri yah, I'm here to get you out. Do you know if anyone else is on this floor?"
"I-I think so," she said shakily. "I hear them sometimes...you said we're getting out?"
KyuJong smiled widely through the window before turning to JongWoon. "Check the other doors on this corridor, there might be more." Filled with hope, he started to do the same.
Smiling, SooHyun nodded. "Can you hold onto me? I'm a teleporter, so I'm gonna get us out of the room and when I have a few more out, I'm going to bring you guys to my friend who's a healer, okay?"
Nodding her head, Yuri took hold of his hands. Smiling, SooHyun teleported them out of the room and they caught up with KyuJong and JongWoon.
"There's more people in these rooms," KyuJong said, looking back at SooHyun with bright eyes. "I'm going to freeze the hallway in time so JongWoon hyung can break the locks without noise escaping."
Drawing a deep breath, KyuJong concentrated until the entire hallway was enveloped in a time bubble. It came easier now than before. "Okay, go," he nodded, opening his eyes to look at JongWoon.
JongWoon grinned nervously as tiny white orbs formed on his fingertips, and he went down the hallway inserting them into the doorknobs. "You guys might want to, uh, move back a bit."
Doing as they were told, they watched as JongWoon detonated the small orbs, destroying the locks and luckily causing no other damage. SooHyun grinned while KyuJong got them all out of the rooms. "I'm telling HyunJoong how good that was," he complimented as he began herding the scared teenagers together.
JongWoon beamed at the compliment before going to help, KyuJong releasing time to conserve his energy. "Will you be able to bring them to RyeoWook, SooHyun hyung?" KyuJong asked, leaning over to see the corridor down. Still clear...and more doors. YoungSaeng wasn't among those they'd just found. How many people were in this building? "JongWoon hyung and I will move on to the next corridor," he motioned to the other corridor.
Nodding his head, SooHyun smiled. "I got this, KyuJong ah," he responded before directing everyone to take hands. Smiling, they all vanished.
***********************
HyunJoong sighed for the nth time. They'd been walking down the corridor for what felt like hours, yet haven't seen a single soul the entire time. While part of him was relieved, there was something else that worried him, though he had no idea what.
“It’s too quiet,” HaRa said softly, peering into every room they went by and shivering at all the equipment. “What is this floor for?” The lights continued to flicker above them, casting shadows.
Looking around, HyunSeung had to suppress the shiver he felt as well. "As much as I don't want to think about it, all this equipment can really only be used for one thing."
"Experiments," HyunJoong murmured.
HaRa swallowed, eyes wide. “Do you think we’re doing to find anyone here?” she whispered. She really hoped they wouldn’t find any Gifted up here with all the equipment, being experimented on.
"I really don't know about you, but this is the last place that I would want to leave someone," HyunJoong said. "I say we keep looking."
Nodding, HaRa went on to the next room, trying to see inside. The door was unlocked so she crept inside, shivering at the sight of needles and clamps. There was no one in this room so she hurried back out.
Wrapping an arm around HaRa in reassurance, HyunJoong tightened the hold slightly before moving on to the next door. The leader turned white at the scent of blood before slamming the door in front of him.
HyunSeung took a deep breath as he came to the next door before slowly opening it and peeking his head inside. Eyes widening at the sight of the young man strapped to the table, he ran inside, dragging the other two with him.
Upon closer look, the boy's chest was moving regularly, signaling that he was at least alive, probably sedated.
HaRa’s eyes widened in shock, looking at the needles and tubes connecting the boy to the machines. “This is…we can’t remove him from any of these until we know what they are…” She looked around, and spotted what looked like a clipboard with notes.
Picking it up, she flipped through the pages, paling more with each word. “H-he’s sedated…and they’re administering some sort of experimental drugs and monitoring his reactions.” HaRa had to put the notes down as soon as she knew what was being done, skin ashen. “We have to stop the drugs first.”
Nodding his head at HaRa's instruction, HyunJoong followed the wires and disconnected them as carefully as he could, stopping them from circulating.
"Now what? You're the expert here."
“We should keep the monitors in until last,” HaRa said, finding those lines and separating them from the rest so they knew which was which. “If his heart rate drops, I need to know. Start taking him off the sedatives next, and everything else.”
As HaRa did her thing, HyunJoong and HyunSeung did as they were told. HyunJoong went to work on slowly stopping the sedatives, and when he was done, HyunSeung did the same for the other things.
HyunJoong ran a hand through his hair and watched the boy - maybe a year or two older than himself - to see if he had any adverse reactions, but he saw none, instead deferring to HaRa, who knew much more medically than he did.
HaRa monitored his heart rate and brain activity carefully, listening to his breathing. There was a moment where his heart rate slowed a little, and she held her breath, but then it stabilized again.
"He's going to be under for a while, but the sedatives were a mercy in this case," she said softly, finally removing the monitors and undoing the clasps on his ankles, waist and wrists. "If we get SooHyun oppa to bring him to RyeoWook, RyeoWook should be able to wake him up."
Once he was sure that the boy was stable, HyunJoong nodded his head and called SooHyun. After a moment of conversation, he hung up and turned to the other two. "He's dropping off a group that Kyu's team found," he explained, slipping his phone into his pocket again.
"They found some people?" HaRa brightened at that. "That's good news at least. He'll be here once he's done?" She brushed the boy's hair out of his eyes, checking the injection sites again and looking for something to clean them with. Finding antiseptic wipes, she dabbed the holes lightly.
SooHyun appeared in the hallway a couple minutes later, walking into the room. His eyes grew as he saw what was going on. "He's okay to travel, right?" the teleporter asked, looking to HaRa for confirmation.
HaRa nodded, finishing cleaning the young man's other arm. "He was kept under with sedatives, let RyeoWook know and he should be able to wake him up with the circle." Finishing, she stepped back away from the bed. "We're hoping to not find anyone else like this, but we might," she said softly.
Nodding his head, SooHyun gently placed his hands on the other's shoulders before teleporting out.
Once he was gone, HyunSeung looked at the other two. "We should keep checking this corridor."
"If we found one, we might find another," HyunJoong agreed before pausing. "HaRa yah, what were they doing to him? Medical charts are like Greek to me."
HaRa looked at him nervously. "Do you really want to know?" Seeing the look on his face, she swallowed. "From what I saw, it looked like...they were testing different drugs and vaccines to see what affect they had...poisoning and curing him over and over. I'll need to take a better look at him once we're all out, just to make sure it's all out of his system." Her eyes were pained.
What color was left drained from HyunSeung's face as he listened to the girl explain to HyunJoong. Swallowing deeply, he reached out and tugged on HyunJoong's shirt. "We should probably move."
Nodding at the blond, HyunJoong picked up the chart and returned it to HaRa's hands. "Hold onto this just in case, okay?"
Nodding her head, she clutched the file against her chest and carefully followed the two boys out of the room.
***********************
A few rooms in the second corridor held patients as well, KyuJong and JongWoon repeating the same procedure to open the doors and get them out. They huddled together in the middle of the hallway, waiting for SooHyun to return. One or two of them had to be supported by the others, too badly injured to stand on their own. KyuJong's jaw clenched as he saw bruise marks along one of the girls' arms and legs, distinctly from beatings.
The worst though were the rooms where there used to be someone, and he could see the used bed sheets bundled up at the edge of the beds, but there wasn't anymore...the overwhelming smell of cleaners in those rooms making him choke before he backed out.
"How many corridors like this are there?" JongWoon asked him with a pained expression, looking at how many people there already were. KyuJong poked his head into the next one; more rooms.
"Bring them with us, we need to stay together until SooHyun gets back," KyuJong motioned JongWoon to follow him.
He went and peered into the first room, and blanched, quickly looking away.
"Someone there?" JongWoon asked nervously.
KyuJong shook his head hard, the image of tiny red splashes burned into the back of his eyes. "N-not anymore." He went to look in the next room, more cautiously this time.
SooHyun reappeared beside KyuJong a minute later, relieved that the people they had found had been warned that he would do that. A few appeared to be far too weak to handle such a shock. "I would have been back sooner, but HyunJoong's team found someone who seemed to be undergoing experiments," he explained quietly.
KyuJong's eyes widened. "...Experiments?" He murmured, before drawing in a shaky breath. "We have another group here to be taken to RyeoWook. How are you holding up?" he asked SooHyun; they were going to need a lot of trips to get all these people back to the clearing.
"I have enough energy to get everyone out," SooHyun assured KyuJong. "I'll probably crash once we get home, but there's no need to worry."
Nodding with a small smile, KyuJong drew in a breath. "Okay, are there any people in these rooms, JongWoon hyung?" he asked.
JongWoon looked back at him, pale. "Not as many as the last hallway, only three or four," he said quietly. "If you stick around for a second, SooHyun ah, can you bring them with the rest?"
SooHyun nodded his head. "I think I can do that," he agreed. Three or four people would bring it up to a dozen people. Taking stock of his energy, he should be able to handle it in three trips to be safe.
Smiling a little, KyuJong looked at his watch. They were running out of time. "Let's go on to the next hallway then," he said to JongWoon, the older man nodding before following after him.
The next hallway was even worse. Every room KyuJong looked into was either empty, or empty and stained with red. These patients hadn't made it. He swallowed thickly, looking at JongWoon who was doing the other side of the hallway. "Any luck?"
JongWoon shook his head at him.
They were almost back where they'd started by now, the next corridor the last. KyuJong felt his stomach twisting into knots. Had they been too late? Had the last three days been too many? Every door he passed led to an empty room.
"Kyu, there's two over here!"
KyuJong turned to JongWoon's half of the hallway, and nodded. "Okay, get the doors," he said, freezing time again. Even with the unlock, he was feeling his energy begin to sap.
JongWoon had the doors blasted open within seconds, KyuJong releasing time as the noise faded. "You get this one, I'll get the other," he said, heading to the door at the end that had been opened. JongWoon nodded and disappeared into the other room.
Pulling open the door, the doorknob destroyed and falling apart in his hands, KyuJong stepped inside the room...and froze.
"YoungSaeng..."
The sounds of the explosions drew his attention, but failed to hold it for long. After all, powers backfired here almost daily. Not even having the energy to move his head when he heard the door open, YoungSaeng just sighed and closed his eyes. It was the same old thing day in and day out. He stopped fighting it a long time ago.
What stole his breath, however, was the heartbreakingly familiar voice whispering his name. It was a voice that rang in his ears every second of the day; a voice that he gave up hope of ever hearing again.
Opening his eyes slowly, he carefully rolled over, biting back the pained whimper that fought to come out, the sound of the manacles on his wrists clanking quietly.
Blinking once, twice, then a slow third time, YoungSaeng's black eyes closed again. Now he knew that he had completely lost it if he was seeing KyuJong's spirit.
"YoungSaeng!" KyuJong snapped out of the stunned state he'd been in and hurried into the room, everything going on outside it forgotten for the moment. YoungSaeng was here, he'd found him, he was going to get his boyfriend out.
The state the other boy was in tore at his heart, the sight of the manacles holding him down making KyuJong want to beat up every person who worked in this death trap.
The way YoungSaeng blinked at him before closing his eyes worried him; was he sedated?
"Saengie," he whispered as he crouched beside the bed, gentle fingers brushing locks of hair out of YoungSaeng's eyes. "Can you open your eyes?"
YoungSaeng didn't respond to the voice, but the touch was new. He had never hallucinated KyuJong's touch to such an extent. It had only been phantom brushes in the beginning.
Deciding to humor the figment of his imagination - after all, he was already crazy enough to see him - YoungSaeng slowly opened his eyes, looking back with dull black eyes.
KyuJong smiled hopefully when YoungSaeng opened his eyes, cupping and stroking the other boy's cheek slowly. "We're here Saeng, we're going to get you out, okay?" he whispered softly. "A friend will be here in a few seconds, he can break these chains. I'm so sorry for making you wait, you're going to be okay." He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to YoungSaeng's forehead.
Feeling himself relax under the gentleness, YoungSaeng stopped. This was all a trick. Another attempt to get him to submit more than he already had. Sighing softly, he began whispering to himself, voice almost completely inaudible. "...not real."
Hearing the bare whisper, KyuJong blinked, pulling back slightly to look in YoungSaeng's black eyes, worried. "What, Saeng?" And why was his power activated? Were there spirits around him right now?
Looking at KyuJong, YoungSaeng smiled sadly, expression nearly heartbreaking. "You aren't really here," he whispered again. "No matter how much I wish it, you're just not real."
KyuJong's heart broke at those quiet words. "Saeng, I am here," he whispered softly in return, stroking his cheek. "I'm real. We're all here...Hyun, HaRa, Nicole, Joonie, we're here, with others." He searched YoungSaeng's expression worriedly.
"I want to believe you, but I stopped believing a long time ago," YoungSaeng murmured, allowing his eyes to close again. He couldn't bear to see his lover knowing that he wasn't real. He wasn't sure he could go through the pain again.
Tears appeared in KyuJong's eyes. "Saengie...please..." he whispered. He swallowed, looking down and spotting the hint of a silver chain under YoungSaeng's collar. Biting his lip, he reached out and carefully eased the necklace out from underneath the patient gown, seeing the half-heart on the other end.
"You still have it...Saengie, look," he pleaded quietly, kissing YoungSaeng's forehead again before pulling out his own half to the necklace, holding the two halves together, a perfect whole.
Feeling a hand touch the only thing he had left, YoungSaeng's eyes flew open. Before he had a chance to do or say anything, he heard a quiet metallic clink. Blinking, he looked down slightly to see the full necklace. He just watched for a moment before looking up slightly, meeting KyuJong's eyes with his own blank gaze. "...Kyu...?" he asked hesitantly, daring to hope for the possibility of this being real and not another false hope.
KyuJong smiled at him, praying that YoungSaeng would come back to him. "It's me, Saeng," he whispered, caressing his boyfriend's cheek. "I gave you that necklace for our 6 month anniversary. You like white roses, not red, and you were worried I was angry at you, because we hadn't seen each other all day."
As much as YoungSaeng didn't want to get his hopes up, it was so hard not to believe every word KyuJong was saying. He was, however, unable to stop the burning in his eyes as a few tears slid down his cheek.
The time traveler smiled sadly, gently brushing away the tears and kissing the damp cheek. "I'm asking you to trust me Saeng, trust me just one more time," he whispered. "I promise, I'm going to take you far away from here and you'll never have to come back. Can you trust me?"
He saw someone come into the room out of the corner of his vision, probably JongWoon with the other patient. But when he turned around, it wasn't JongWoon he saw.
KyuJong's eyes widened in shock and anger as he stood quickly, turning around and shielding YoungSaeng on the bed from MyungDae. "What are you doing here?!"
Looking over at the door, YoungSaeng froze, the first real show of emotion flooding his eyes. Fear ran through him as he tried to move as far away as he could.
MyungDae couldn't hide the shock on his face at the sight of the time traveler, but quickly hid it behind a casual smirk. "Well well. I was told that you kicked the bucket a couple years ago."
Walking right up to KyuJong, he smiled wickedly before grabbing him by the collar and shoving him to the ground. He then took a seat on the bed and ran a hand through YoungSaeng's hair, drawing out a frightened sound. "You were gone for so long that someone had to keep this pretty thing company."
Pushing himself off the ground with a wince, KyuJong's eyes widened at those words, and the frightened noise that escaped YoungSaeng.
"Get away from him!" Anger had KyuJong up in an instant, tackling MyungDae off the edge of the bed and onto the floor, trying to pin the older man down. "What the hell have you done to him?!"
Taken by surprise, MyungDae found himself on the floor, pinned down by KyuJong. Clearly angered, the man easily managed to overpower KyuJong, slamming him against the wall and holding him there. Leaning close, he grinned darkly.
"I've done whatever I wanted to him. Over, and over, and over again."
The meaning of that sunk in, and KyuJong couldn't even focus on the fact that he was pinned against the wall, the dizziness from the impact fading as his ears roared. "Y-you..."
Something snapped inside him and KyuJong kicked out, landing a hard enough hit to wretch his hands away from MyungDae's hold. His fingers found their way around the older man's throat as he threw the clock in his head into an endless fast-forward.
MyungDae didn't even have the time to look surprised before his body was maturing, then aging, skin shriveling up and eyes sinking in. Years, decades passed by, then centuries, bones breaking and crumbling as his whole body collapsed into itself, disintegrating into bone and rotting flesh. More centuries, a millenia, until all that was left of MyungDae was a pile of dust on the floor at KyuJong's feet.
YoungSaeng watched in shock as the man who had tortured him for so long was reduced to ashes. Not understanding what had just happened, YoungSaeng looked up at KyuJong.
SooHyun had just returned from his second trip when he heard the commotion in the room KyuJong had gone into. Running over, he witnessed what KyuJong had done. "KyuJong, what'd you just do...?" he asked, voice quiet and glad the others weren't there to see it.
Inhaling and exhaling slowly, KyuJong's clenched hands shook in anger, looking down at the ashes. Dizziness hit and he had to lean back against the wall, swallowing thickly. He knew what he'd done, as much as SooHyun knew; he'd killed MyungDae.
That would haunt him later, but this wasn't over yet, YoungSaeng wasn't out. He drew in a breath and pushed away from the wall. "Get JongWoon, we need him to break these chains," he said to SooHyun, going back to the bed and YoungSaeng's side.
Looking between KyuJong and the pile on the ground, YoungSaeng felt tears fall all over again, though this time, they were of relief. He no longer had to live in fear. "K-Kyu..." he whimpered softly, still barely audible.
KyuJong sat down on the edge of the bed, swallowing thickly before reaching out to gently brush the fresh tears away. He ran his fingers slowly through YoungSaeng's hair, tucking the long strands behind his ear. "I'm here, Saeng," he whispered. "We're going to get you out, okay?" SooHyun had returned with JongWoon and a teenage boy, shivering with wide eyes beside him.
"Can you trust me, Saengie?"
It took everything he had not to flinch from the touch, but looking up into the eyes he had longed to see for what felt like forever, YoungSaeng felt himself nod slightly. He just prayed that he wasn't dreaming for once.
Smiling a little, KyuJong looked over to the others. "JongWoon hyung, we need these chains broken...carefully."
"Got it," JongWoon smiled at him as he walked over, looking at the chains. "They're pretty short...I'll have to break the far end, and we'll take them off completely when we get back. Uh...YoungSaeng sshi, yes? Can you move as far from the base of the chains as you can?" He climbed up onto the bed so he could reach the other end of the chain attached to the wall, tiny white orbs barely the size of a bead on the tips of his fingers.
Listening and moving away from the unknown person, YoungSaeng did as he was told, shimmying down the bed. He instinctively moved closer to KyuJong, burying his face in the other's side. The scent was so familiar and calming.
KyuJong wrapped his arms around YoungSaeng's frame; it was different now, YoungSaeng was older, his shoulders were broader and fit differently in his arms, but if possible his boyfriend was even skinnier than when they'd first met. Swallowing thickly, KyuJong made sure YoungSaeng's face was hidden in case JongWoon's power backfired.
JongWoon gripped the chains carefully and slid the orbs inside the metal. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face before the orbs detonated and the chains shattered in his hands, KyuJong protecting YoungSaeng from the small pieces that flew.
Task done, JongWoon slumped against the wall, breathing heavily and sweating.
SooHyun was the first to respond, wrapping his arms around JongWoon to make sure he was okay. "You did good, Woonie Hyung," he murmured with a grin.
When his hands were free, YoungSaeng tried to move them, but the pain that came halted his actions. Taking a breath, he slowly brought them down to wrap loosely around the waist of the boy holding him so carefully.
"...Is it really you?" he murmured, exhaustion catching up to him as it often did far too quickly.
Hearing the soft murmur, KyuJong smiled gently down at YoungSaeng and ran his hand along his back soothingly. "It is," he whispered. "Ready to go home, Saengie yah?"
"Home..." YoungSaeng parroted, voice beginning to slur slightly. "Home is where KyuJong is..."
The tears KyuJong had been holding back finally fell at those soft words, rolling down his cheeks as he kissed YoungSaeng's forehead, lips quivering slightly. He drew in a slow breath, cradling YoungSaeng in his arms as he looked up at SooHyun with a teary smile. "Can we go to where RyeoWook is? There's no one else on this floor."
Smiling softly at the pair, SooHyun nodded his head. Helping JongWoon and the other boy over to the bed, he had everyone take hands. "When we get there, I'm going to go and join Hyung's team, okay? HyungJoon should be there as well, so he can start bringing people back in the van."
Closing his eyes, SooHyun focused and when he opened his eyes again, they were all sitting in the center of the park.
RyeoWook was sitting a few paces away, eyes closed and not moving. There was a gentle touch in the air, KyuJong already feeling it start to ease away his headache. Many of the patients in the circle were sobbing in relief, clinging to each other as they realized they were finally getting out of that hell.
"YoungSaeng hyung!" The second HyungJoon saw them, he ran over, dropping down beside them with bright eyes that dimmed when he saw the condition the older man was in. But then he smiled widely again, one hand on YoungSaeng's shoulder. "Hyung, welcome back."
Feeling the hand on his shoulder, YoungSaeng's breath caught and he pressed even more against KyuJong in an attempt to get away from the touch.
Pulling his hand away quickly, HyungJoon looked up at KyuJong, worried eyes questioning.
Gaze sad, KyuJong gave HyungJoon a pained smile and mouthed 'later', hugging YoungSaeng to his chest. "We should start bringing everyone back," he said to the younger man, and HyungJoon nodded. "How's RyeoWook holding up?"
"He's getting tired, but he said he should be able to keep up the circle until everyone's back home," HyungJoon replied, before standing and starting to gather people to bring back. KyuJong rested his head against YoungSaeng's, rocking him back and forth slowly.
"Um..." HyungJoon looked behind him to see a young man standing there; one of the first brought back. "I can help a little. I boost powers, so maybe I can help RyeoWook sshi."
SooHyun lifted a brow. "Are you sure that you're okay to do that? We don't want anyone overworking themselves."
The boy nodded his head. "I feel a lot better after being here, and after getting us all out of there, it's the least I can do."
They all looked at each other before nodding. "Thank you..." HyungJoon trailed off.
"JunHyung," he introduced.
HyungJoon smiled and glanced at RyeoWook to make sure he knew, seeing the boy's eyes cracked open a little to look at them with glazed-over eyes. "You going to be okay here, Wookie?" he asked.
The younger boy nodded slightly before closing his eyes again, all his attention on the circle.
Drawing in a breath, HyungJoon smiled a little at the others. "See you all soon then." He left the circle with a group of people, bringing them to the van.
HyunJoong was mere moments away from calling Xander to burn the place to the ground, or at least the wing they had been searching. So far, three more had been found, all in various levels of experimentation. Sadly, only two had survived being removed from the equipment and they just awaited SooHyun's return to get them out.
He didn't need to wait long before the blond popped back with a wide grin. "The other team's out, though I'm not expecting Kyu hyung to let go of one person any time soon."
At that, HyunJoong's eyes grew and he smiled, leaning back against the wall happily.
HaRa's eyes crinkled in relief at that. So they had YoungSaeng. "We should finish looking here," she said quietly, looking at them all. "There's a few rooms left, and we're running out of time." Nicole and Xander could only hold the staff's attention for so long, and it had been a while all ready. She ran one hand through the hair of the young girl they'd just disconnected from all the equipment, making sure that she was stable enough to be moved. Tears still rolled down HaRa's cheeks from losing that boy in the room before.
"How is he, SooHyun?" HyunJoong asked as they continued on. He made sure to keep an eye on HaRa, knowing that the loss of the boy had been hard on the kind-hearted girl.
The teleporter sighed. "He doesn't look good, hyung, especially mentally. And Kyu hyung isn't much better." At the mention of KyuJong, he sobered. "He found another facet of his power, hyung...he turned a man to dust."
HaRa's eyes widened slightly, looking over at him. "KyuJong oppa did that?" KyuJong wasn't the sort to get so riled up, much less kill someone.
"If it had to do with YoungSaeng sshi, I can see it," HyunSeung remarked quietly. "Even the most peaceful person would do horrible things to protect a loved one."
"Do you know the man's name?" HyunJoong asked, not exactly expecting an answer.
"Um, I think it was something, Dae..." he replied.
"...Dae?" HaRa's eyes widened as that brought something up in her memory and she looked up at HyunJoong in shock. "MyungDae?"
The one person who would anger KyuJong that much...and his father worked at this hospital.
Eyes narrowing in anger, HyunJoong muttered a good riddance before continuing on. He was definitely going to burn the place to the ground.
He had only just rounded the corner when a familiar power poked at his senses making him nearly stagger. It was so faint, though, that he almost doubted having felt anything at all, but that didn't stop him from taking off, following the mental string that was pulling him.
"Oppa?!" HaRa ran after HyunJoong down the hallway the second he started running, SooHyun and HyunSeung following quickly. They were passing rooms by, but HyunJoong didn't seem concerned with stopping, all his attention focused on something.
HyunJoong didn't stop running until he was sure that he found what he was looking for. Realizing that the door was locked, he began searching frantically for a way to open the door. Finally finding something that he could use to pick the lock, HyunJoong dropped to his knees and with shaking hands, began working the locking mechanism, praying for the door to open.
"Hyung, what's going on?" HyunSeung panted once they caught up with him, but the elder didn't respond, too focused on the door.
Watching him, HaRa's eyes widened once she realized what must be on the other side of that door. But on this floor of the hospital...
The door unlocked with a loud click that echoed down the corridor, and was swung open.
It was the same scene as the other rooms; large, imposing machines surrounding a single bed, the only sound the soft hum of the machines and a slow beeping. These machines were connected to the wall as well, long wires stretched across the room, some of them different than the other rooms.
Laying on the bed, silent and unmoving with closed eyes, was JungMin. A breathing mask was fitted over his mouth and nose, needles and wires connecting him to the machines around him.
HyunJoong stopped breathing when the door opened and he saw the still form on the bed. He knew that red hair anywhere. Scrambling to his feet, he moved to the bed, staring down with wide eyes at the prone form of JungMin. His chest rose and fell slowly - too slow and he looked over at HaRa, unable to speak.
SooHyun and HyunSeung approached slowly when they witnessed the scene before them.
HaRa was too stunned for a moment to do anything, but she forced herself out of it, looking around the room. She'd already gone through everything the medical charts from the first room contained, and knew there was nothing on JungMin in them.
She spotted the notes on a table in the corner, and picked them up with shaking hands, flipping through. What she saw made the tears come back faster.
"Th-those machines...there...” she pointed at the strange looking machines connected to the walls, hand shaking. "They're energy transformers...l-like transformers outside houses to lower voltage...Those ones..." she pointed at a group of machines that was similar to those in the other rooms. "Monitors."
"And these..." she pointed to the last two, swallowing. "...Life support."
HyunJoong paled drastically as HaRa spoke. Life support. "Wh-what are they doing to him...?" he asked quietly, carefully reaching out and hesitating before touching his cheek lightly, startled by the lack of shock. "God, they're draining him dry, aren't they?" he realized before the girl could speak.
"More than just dry," she said quietly, looking through the notes before returning her gaze to HyunJoong, eyes glassy. "The electricity is connected to his energy, we knew that...but they're taking everything, his body can't even support itself even more. I-if we take him off the machines..."
The way HaRa left the sentence hanging caused his heart to practically stop beating. After two long years of not knowing whether or not JungMin was alive, he was being told that he could die if they take him off the machines. Thinking back to the boy from earlier, HyunJoong squeezed his eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. "There has to be something we can do. I can't leave here without him, HaRa...I can't."
Holding on to the clipboard tightly, HaRa bit on the inside of her cheek as she looked at the machines.
"...We'll have to do this carefully," she drew in a slow breath. "I'll take him off the transformers first. Once he's off those, you need to lock his powers to make sure no more energy escapes, he'll need every drop. I'll do an energy transfer, give him as much as I can. Then we'll take him off the life support." She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again, looking up at HyunJoong. "It's not the best plan, but it's the only one. You should...prepare yourself, just in case," she whispered.
The chance that JungMin would leave this room alive was slim.
"Give him mine. I don't care if you have to take it all, but if it'll help him, please," HyunJoong murmured, hand resting against JungMin's cheek as he waited to lock JungMin's power.
He refused to 'prepare' himself. JungMin would be fine.
HaRa squeezed his shoulder lightly before taking in a deep breath and placing the clipboard down so she had both hands free. She moved towards the transformers and, carefully, began to turn them off one by one. Her attention constantly went to the monitors, making sure JungMin's condition didn't destabilize any more, his heart beating dangerously slow.
Once they were all off, she disconnected them from JungMin, undoing the clamps and easing needles out of his skin before cleaning the holes left. "Okay," she said after a moment, looking up at HyunJoong.
With a nod, HyunJoong focused on locking JungMin's power. It was something that could normally be done without a second thought, but with how frenzied his mind was, he needed to focus.
Once HyunJoong gave her the okay, HaRa pressed her hands lightly against JungMin's chest, drawing in a breath and closing her eyes. Her hands glowed as she transferred as much energy as she was able into JungMin's body, willing his weakened heart and lungs to work on their own. After a moment she reached out and took HyunJoong's free hand, using some of the man's energy when she saw what she could offer wouldn't be enough.
Finally she pulled her hand back from JungMin's chest and looked at the monitor. His heart was beating a little stronger than before. "Okay, I'm disconnecting him from life support now," she said softly, voice echoing in the silent room before she reached out and stopped the machines.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep...
Authors:
renichifreak and
yeonah
Chapter: 5/?
Fandom: SS501, cameos by KARA, U-KISS, Super Junior and BEAST
Pairings: KyuSaeng, HyunMin (may be other pairings in the future)
Rating: PG-16
Warning: Angst, AU, Fluff
Summary: Not everything is as it seems, and for those who are as far from normal as you can get, life is a bleak existence. The only ones who can truly understand what these individuals go through are those...just like them.
A/N: YoungSaeng and HyunJoong are played by
renichifreak and KyuJong and JungMin are played by me. Updates every Monday.
"Okay guys. Wookie is waiting in the park with the circle ready to be activated fully when SooHyun arrives, and HyungJoon's with him," HyunJoong began as they closed in on the former hospital. "Xander and Nicole, we're counting on you two for a distraction."
HyunJoong could feel his heart racing now that they were there. Closing his eyes and calming himself, he turned to the others to see how they were fairing.
KyuJong was making sure they all had each other's numbers on speed dial just in case, looking just as nervous as HyunJoong. Sleep hadn't come easy, his mind going at a hundred miles per hour. It was finally happening.
"Everyone's ready?" Nicole asked quietly, smiling tensely at them as she moved beside Xander. HaRa was giving everyone hugs for good luck, hugging KyuJong and HyunJoong tightly before letting them go.
JongWoon drew in a slow breath, nodding. "Ready."
Giving everyone one last smile before parting, the two groups split up. They had just reached the side door when HyunJoong felt Xander and Nicole let go, doing their part and wreaking havoc.
Waiting for a few minutes, HyunJoong slowly snuck in, motioning for the others to follow. "Seung, were you able to-"
"All the cameras are on a continuous loop," the blond confirmed. An added part of the plan was to use HyunSeung's advanced knowledge of computers to give them an advantage.
KyuJong looked around at the plain, white walls and tried not to gag on the overpowering smell of disinfectant. This place was a death trap. "We need to split up, we'll find the rooms faster," he said quietly. They couldn't waste any time.
"You, JongWoon and SooHyun take this floor, HyunSeung, HyunJoong and I will take the second?" HaRa suggested, seeing a staircase.
"Sounds like a plan," SooHyun nodded. "If we find anyone, I'll start teleporting people and I'll contact you. Just let me know where you are so I can get to you guys."
"Got it. Be careful, all of you," HyunJoong murmured. He didn't want to separate at all in this place, but knew they had no choice but to do so.
"You too, good luck," KyuJong smiled at the older man before starting down the hallway carefully, checking each room they passed for any sign of patients. JongWoon hurried along beside him, doing the other side of the hall.
SooHyun followed behind them both, keeping an eye out for anyone coming as well as watching where they were going in case of a quick getaway. It was easier for him to teleport if he had seen the place before.
"Any luck?" KyuJong asked quietly after they'd moved from one corridor to another.
"No," JongWoon winced. "They look like...check-up rooms or something?" This was like a horror movie, complete with flickering lights overhead.
"Maybe the patients are on another floor...” KyuJong trailed off as he stopped at one door, peering into the tiny, cell-like window.
There was someone curled up in a corner of the room, face buried against her knees.
Turning toward KyuJong when he trailed off, SooHyun walked over to KyuJong's side and peered in, seeing the girl in the room. Tapping on the window to get her attention, SooHyun grinned calmly and held his finger to his lips before disappearing and reappearing in the room.
"Hey, I'm SooHyun. What's your name?"
The girl looked up, startled when the boy about her age was suddenly in his room. "I, um, I'm Yuri," she stammered.
"Well, Yuri yah, I'm here to get you out. Do you know if anyone else is on this floor?"
"I-I think so," she said shakily. "I hear them sometimes...you said we're getting out?"
KyuJong smiled widely through the window before turning to JongWoon. "Check the other doors on this corridor, there might be more." Filled with hope, he started to do the same.
Smiling, SooHyun nodded. "Can you hold onto me? I'm a teleporter, so I'm gonna get us out of the room and when I have a few more out, I'm going to bring you guys to my friend who's a healer, okay?"
Nodding her head, Yuri took hold of his hands. Smiling, SooHyun teleported them out of the room and they caught up with KyuJong and JongWoon.
"There's more people in these rooms," KyuJong said, looking back at SooHyun with bright eyes. "I'm going to freeze the hallway in time so JongWoon hyung can break the locks without noise escaping."
Drawing a deep breath, KyuJong concentrated until the entire hallway was enveloped in a time bubble. It came easier now than before. "Okay, go," he nodded, opening his eyes to look at JongWoon.
JongWoon grinned nervously as tiny white orbs formed on his fingertips, and he went down the hallway inserting them into the doorknobs. "You guys might want to, uh, move back a bit."
Doing as they were told, they watched as JongWoon detonated the small orbs, destroying the locks and luckily causing no other damage. SooHyun grinned while KyuJong got them all out of the rooms. "I'm telling HyunJoong how good that was," he complimented as he began herding the scared teenagers together.
JongWoon beamed at the compliment before going to help, KyuJong releasing time to conserve his energy. "Will you be able to bring them to RyeoWook, SooHyun hyung?" KyuJong asked, leaning over to see the corridor down. Still clear...and more doors. YoungSaeng wasn't among those they'd just found. How many people were in this building? "JongWoon hyung and I will move on to the next corridor," he motioned to the other corridor.
Nodding his head, SooHyun smiled. "I got this, KyuJong ah," he responded before directing everyone to take hands. Smiling, they all vanished.
***********************
HyunJoong sighed for the nth time. They'd been walking down the corridor for what felt like hours, yet haven't seen a single soul the entire time. While part of him was relieved, there was something else that worried him, though he had no idea what.
“It’s too quiet,” HaRa said softly, peering into every room they went by and shivering at all the equipment. “What is this floor for?” The lights continued to flicker above them, casting shadows.
Looking around, HyunSeung had to suppress the shiver he felt as well. "As much as I don't want to think about it, all this equipment can really only be used for one thing."
"Experiments," HyunJoong murmured.
HaRa swallowed, eyes wide. “Do you think we’re doing to find anyone here?” she whispered. She really hoped they wouldn’t find any Gifted up here with all the equipment, being experimented on.
"I really don't know about you, but this is the last place that I would want to leave someone," HyunJoong said. "I say we keep looking."
Nodding, HaRa went on to the next room, trying to see inside. The door was unlocked so she crept inside, shivering at the sight of needles and clamps. There was no one in this room so she hurried back out.
Wrapping an arm around HaRa in reassurance, HyunJoong tightened the hold slightly before moving on to the next door. The leader turned white at the scent of blood before slamming the door in front of him.
HyunSeung took a deep breath as he came to the next door before slowly opening it and peeking his head inside. Eyes widening at the sight of the young man strapped to the table, he ran inside, dragging the other two with him.
Upon closer look, the boy's chest was moving regularly, signaling that he was at least alive, probably sedated.
HaRa’s eyes widened in shock, looking at the needles and tubes connecting the boy to the machines. “This is…we can’t remove him from any of these until we know what they are…” She looked around, and spotted what looked like a clipboard with notes.
Picking it up, she flipped through the pages, paling more with each word. “H-he’s sedated…and they’re administering some sort of experimental drugs and monitoring his reactions.” HaRa had to put the notes down as soon as she knew what was being done, skin ashen. “We have to stop the drugs first.”
Nodding his head at HaRa's instruction, HyunJoong followed the wires and disconnected them as carefully as he could, stopping them from circulating.
"Now what? You're the expert here."
“We should keep the monitors in until last,” HaRa said, finding those lines and separating them from the rest so they knew which was which. “If his heart rate drops, I need to know. Start taking him off the sedatives next, and everything else.”
As HaRa did her thing, HyunJoong and HyunSeung did as they were told. HyunJoong went to work on slowly stopping the sedatives, and when he was done, HyunSeung did the same for the other things.
HyunJoong ran a hand through his hair and watched the boy - maybe a year or two older than himself - to see if he had any adverse reactions, but he saw none, instead deferring to HaRa, who knew much more medically than he did.
HaRa monitored his heart rate and brain activity carefully, listening to his breathing. There was a moment where his heart rate slowed a little, and she held her breath, but then it stabilized again.
"He's going to be under for a while, but the sedatives were a mercy in this case," she said softly, finally removing the monitors and undoing the clasps on his ankles, waist and wrists. "If we get SooHyun oppa to bring him to RyeoWook, RyeoWook should be able to wake him up."
Once he was sure that the boy was stable, HyunJoong nodded his head and called SooHyun. After a moment of conversation, he hung up and turned to the other two. "He's dropping off a group that Kyu's team found," he explained, slipping his phone into his pocket again.
"They found some people?" HaRa brightened at that. "That's good news at least. He'll be here once he's done?" She brushed the boy's hair out of his eyes, checking the injection sites again and looking for something to clean them with. Finding antiseptic wipes, she dabbed the holes lightly.
SooHyun appeared in the hallway a couple minutes later, walking into the room. His eyes grew as he saw what was going on. "He's okay to travel, right?" the teleporter asked, looking to HaRa for confirmation.
HaRa nodded, finishing cleaning the young man's other arm. "He was kept under with sedatives, let RyeoWook know and he should be able to wake him up with the circle." Finishing, she stepped back away from the bed. "We're hoping to not find anyone else like this, but we might," she said softly.
Nodding his head, SooHyun gently placed his hands on the other's shoulders before teleporting out.
Once he was gone, HyunSeung looked at the other two. "We should keep checking this corridor."
"If we found one, we might find another," HyunJoong agreed before pausing. "HaRa yah, what were they doing to him? Medical charts are like Greek to me."
HaRa looked at him nervously. "Do you really want to know?" Seeing the look on his face, she swallowed. "From what I saw, it looked like...they were testing different drugs and vaccines to see what affect they had...poisoning and curing him over and over. I'll need to take a better look at him once we're all out, just to make sure it's all out of his system." Her eyes were pained.
What color was left drained from HyunSeung's face as he listened to the girl explain to HyunJoong. Swallowing deeply, he reached out and tugged on HyunJoong's shirt. "We should probably move."
Nodding at the blond, HyunJoong picked up the chart and returned it to HaRa's hands. "Hold onto this just in case, okay?"
Nodding her head, she clutched the file against her chest and carefully followed the two boys out of the room.
***********************
A few rooms in the second corridor held patients as well, KyuJong and JongWoon repeating the same procedure to open the doors and get them out. They huddled together in the middle of the hallway, waiting for SooHyun to return. One or two of them had to be supported by the others, too badly injured to stand on their own. KyuJong's jaw clenched as he saw bruise marks along one of the girls' arms and legs, distinctly from beatings.
The worst though were the rooms where there used to be someone, and he could see the used bed sheets bundled up at the edge of the beds, but there wasn't anymore...the overwhelming smell of cleaners in those rooms making him choke before he backed out.
"How many corridors like this are there?" JongWoon asked him with a pained expression, looking at how many people there already were. KyuJong poked his head into the next one; more rooms.
"Bring them with us, we need to stay together until SooHyun gets back," KyuJong motioned JongWoon to follow him.
He went and peered into the first room, and blanched, quickly looking away.
"Someone there?" JongWoon asked nervously.
KyuJong shook his head hard, the image of tiny red splashes burned into the back of his eyes. "N-not anymore." He went to look in the next room, more cautiously this time.
SooHyun reappeared beside KyuJong a minute later, relieved that the people they had found had been warned that he would do that. A few appeared to be far too weak to handle such a shock. "I would have been back sooner, but HyunJoong's team found someone who seemed to be undergoing experiments," he explained quietly.
KyuJong's eyes widened. "...Experiments?" He murmured, before drawing in a shaky breath. "We have another group here to be taken to RyeoWook. How are you holding up?" he asked SooHyun; they were going to need a lot of trips to get all these people back to the clearing.
"I have enough energy to get everyone out," SooHyun assured KyuJong. "I'll probably crash once we get home, but there's no need to worry."
Nodding with a small smile, KyuJong drew in a breath. "Okay, are there any people in these rooms, JongWoon hyung?" he asked.
JongWoon looked back at him, pale. "Not as many as the last hallway, only three or four," he said quietly. "If you stick around for a second, SooHyun ah, can you bring them with the rest?"
SooHyun nodded his head. "I think I can do that," he agreed. Three or four people would bring it up to a dozen people. Taking stock of his energy, he should be able to handle it in three trips to be safe.
Smiling a little, KyuJong looked at his watch. They were running out of time. "Let's go on to the next hallway then," he said to JongWoon, the older man nodding before following after him.
The next hallway was even worse. Every room KyuJong looked into was either empty, or empty and stained with red. These patients hadn't made it. He swallowed thickly, looking at JongWoon who was doing the other side of the hallway. "Any luck?"
JongWoon shook his head at him.
They were almost back where they'd started by now, the next corridor the last. KyuJong felt his stomach twisting into knots. Had they been too late? Had the last three days been too many? Every door he passed led to an empty room.
"Kyu, there's two over here!"
KyuJong turned to JongWoon's half of the hallway, and nodded. "Okay, get the doors," he said, freezing time again. Even with the unlock, he was feeling his energy begin to sap.
JongWoon had the doors blasted open within seconds, KyuJong releasing time as the noise faded. "You get this one, I'll get the other," he said, heading to the door at the end that had been opened. JongWoon nodded and disappeared into the other room.
Pulling open the door, the doorknob destroyed and falling apart in his hands, KyuJong stepped inside the room...and froze.
"YoungSaeng..."
The sounds of the explosions drew his attention, but failed to hold it for long. After all, powers backfired here almost daily. Not even having the energy to move his head when he heard the door open, YoungSaeng just sighed and closed his eyes. It was the same old thing day in and day out. He stopped fighting it a long time ago.
What stole his breath, however, was the heartbreakingly familiar voice whispering his name. It was a voice that rang in his ears every second of the day; a voice that he gave up hope of ever hearing again.
Opening his eyes slowly, he carefully rolled over, biting back the pained whimper that fought to come out, the sound of the manacles on his wrists clanking quietly.
Blinking once, twice, then a slow third time, YoungSaeng's black eyes closed again. Now he knew that he had completely lost it if he was seeing KyuJong's spirit.
"YoungSaeng!" KyuJong snapped out of the stunned state he'd been in and hurried into the room, everything going on outside it forgotten for the moment. YoungSaeng was here, he'd found him, he was going to get his boyfriend out.
The state the other boy was in tore at his heart, the sight of the manacles holding him down making KyuJong want to beat up every person who worked in this death trap.
The way YoungSaeng blinked at him before closing his eyes worried him; was he sedated?
"Saengie," he whispered as he crouched beside the bed, gentle fingers brushing locks of hair out of YoungSaeng's eyes. "Can you open your eyes?"
YoungSaeng didn't respond to the voice, but the touch was new. He had never hallucinated KyuJong's touch to such an extent. It had only been phantom brushes in the beginning.
Deciding to humor the figment of his imagination - after all, he was already crazy enough to see him - YoungSaeng slowly opened his eyes, looking back with dull black eyes.
KyuJong smiled hopefully when YoungSaeng opened his eyes, cupping and stroking the other boy's cheek slowly. "We're here Saeng, we're going to get you out, okay?" he whispered softly. "A friend will be here in a few seconds, he can break these chains. I'm so sorry for making you wait, you're going to be okay." He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to YoungSaeng's forehead.
Feeling himself relax under the gentleness, YoungSaeng stopped. This was all a trick. Another attempt to get him to submit more than he already had. Sighing softly, he began whispering to himself, voice almost completely inaudible. "...not real."
Hearing the bare whisper, KyuJong blinked, pulling back slightly to look in YoungSaeng's black eyes, worried. "What, Saeng?" And why was his power activated? Were there spirits around him right now?
Looking at KyuJong, YoungSaeng smiled sadly, expression nearly heartbreaking. "You aren't really here," he whispered again. "No matter how much I wish it, you're just not real."
KyuJong's heart broke at those quiet words. "Saeng, I am here," he whispered softly in return, stroking his cheek. "I'm real. We're all here...Hyun, HaRa, Nicole, Joonie, we're here, with others." He searched YoungSaeng's expression worriedly.
"I want to believe you, but I stopped believing a long time ago," YoungSaeng murmured, allowing his eyes to close again. He couldn't bear to see his lover knowing that he wasn't real. He wasn't sure he could go through the pain again.
Tears appeared in KyuJong's eyes. "Saengie...please..." he whispered. He swallowed, looking down and spotting the hint of a silver chain under YoungSaeng's collar. Biting his lip, he reached out and carefully eased the necklace out from underneath the patient gown, seeing the half-heart on the other end.
"You still have it...Saengie, look," he pleaded quietly, kissing YoungSaeng's forehead again before pulling out his own half to the necklace, holding the two halves together, a perfect whole.
Feeling a hand touch the only thing he had left, YoungSaeng's eyes flew open. Before he had a chance to do or say anything, he heard a quiet metallic clink. Blinking, he looked down slightly to see the full necklace. He just watched for a moment before looking up slightly, meeting KyuJong's eyes with his own blank gaze. "...Kyu...?" he asked hesitantly, daring to hope for the possibility of this being real and not another false hope.
KyuJong smiled at him, praying that YoungSaeng would come back to him. "It's me, Saeng," he whispered, caressing his boyfriend's cheek. "I gave you that necklace for our 6 month anniversary. You like white roses, not red, and you were worried I was angry at you, because we hadn't seen each other all day."
As much as YoungSaeng didn't want to get his hopes up, it was so hard not to believe every word KyuJong was saying. He was, however, unable to stop the burning in his eyes as a few tears slid down his cheek.
The time traveler smiled sadly, gently brushing away the tears and kissing the damp cheek. "I'm asking you to trust me Saeng, trust me just one more time," he whispered. "I promise, I'm going to take you far away from here and you'll never have to come back. Can you trust me?"
He saw someone come into the room out of the corner of his vision, probably JongWoon with the other patient. But when he turned around, it wasn't JongWoon he saw.
KyuJong's eyes widened in shock and anger as he stood quickly, turning around and shielding YoungSaeng on the bed from MyungDae. "What are you doing here?!"
Looking over at the door, YoungSaeng froze, the first real show of emotion flooding his eyes. Fear ran through him as he tried to move as far away as he could.
MyungDae couldn't hide the shock on his face at the sight of the time traveler, but quickly hid it behind a casual smirk. "Well well. I was told that you kicked the bucket a couple years ago."
Walking right up to KyuJong, he smiled wickedly before grabbing him by the collar and shoving him to the ground. He then took a seat on the bed and ran a hand through YoungSaeng's hair, drawing out a frightened sound. "You were gone for so long that someone had to keep this pretty thing company."
Pushing himself off the ground with a wince, KyuJong's eyes widened at those words, and the frightened noise that escaped YoungSaeng.
"Get away from him!" Anger had KyuJong up in an instant, tackling MyungDae off the edge of the bed and onto the floor, trying to pin the older man down. "What the hell have you done to him?!"
Taken by surprise, MyungDae found himself on the floor, pinned down by KyuJong. Clearly angered, the man easily managed to overpower KyuJong, slamming him against the wall and holding him there. Leaning close, he grinned darkly.
"I've done whatever I wanted to him. Over, and over, and over again."
The meaning of that sunk in, and KyuJong couldn't even focus on the fact that he was pinned against the wall, the dizziness from the impact fading as his ears roared. "Y-you..."
Something snapped inside him and KyuJong kicked out, landing a hard enough hit to wretch his hands away from MyungDae's hold. His fingers found their way around the older man's throat as he threw the clock in his head into an endless fast-forward.
MyungDae didn't even have the time to look surprised before his body was maturing, then aging, skin shriveling up and eyes sinking in. Years, decades passed by, then centuries, bones breaking and crumbling as his whole body collapsed into itself, disintegrating into bone and rotting flesh. More centuries, a millenia, until all that was left of MyungDae was a pile of dust on the floor at KyuJong's feet.
YoungSaeng watched in shock as the man who had tortured him for so long was reduced to ashes. Not understanding what had just happened, YoungSaeng looked up at KyuJong.
SooHyun had just returned from his second trip when he heard the commotion in the room KyuJong had gone into. Running over, he witnessed what KyuJong had done. "KyuJong, what'd you just do...?" he asked, voice quiet and glad the others weren't there to see it.
Inhaling and exhaling slowly, KyuJong's clenched hands shook in anger, looking down at the ashes. Dizziness hit and he had to lean back against the wall, swallowing thickly. He knew what he'd done, as much as SooHyun knew; he'd killed MyungDae.
That would haunt him later, but this wasn't over yet, YoungSaeng wasn't out. He drew in a breath and pushed away from the wall. "Get JongWoon, we need him to break these chains," he said to SooHyun, going back to the bed and YoungSaeng's side.
Looking between KyuJong and the pile on the ground, YoungSaeng felt tears fall all over again, though this time, they were of relief. He no longer had to live in fear. "K-Kyu..." he whimpered softly, still barely audible.
KyuJong sat down on the edge of the bed, swallowing thickly before reaching out to gently brush the fresh tears away. He ran his fingers slowly through YoungSaeng's hair, tucking the long strands behind his ear. "I'm here, Saeng," he whispered. "We're going to get you out, okay?" SooHyun had returned with JongWoon and a teenage boy, shivering with wide eyes beside him.
"Can you trust me, Saengie?"
It took everything he had not to flinch from the touch, but looking up into the eyes he had longed to see for what felt like forever, YoungSaeng felt himself nod slightly. He just prayed that he wasn't dreaming for once.
Smiling a little, KyuJong looked over to the others. "JongWoon hyung, we need these chains broken...carefully."
"Got it," JongWoon smiled at him as he walked over, looking at the chains. "They're pretty short...I'll have to break the far end, and we'll take them off completely when we get back. Uh...YoungSaeng sshi, yes? Can you move as far from the base of the chains as you can?" He climbed up onto the bed so he could reach the other end of the chain attached to the wall, tiny white orbs barely the size of a bead on the tips of his fingers.
Listening and moving away from the unknown person, YoungSaeng did as he was told, shimmying down the bed. He instinctively moved closer to KyuJong, burying his face in the other's side. The scent was so familiar and calming.
KyuJong wrapped his arms around YoungSaeng's frame; it was different now, YoungSaeng was older, his shoulders were broader and fit differently in his arms, but if possible his boyfriend was even skinnier than when they'd first met. Swallowing thickly, KyuJong made sure YoungSaeng's face was hidden in case JongWoon's power backfired.
JongWoon gripped the chains carefully and slid the orbs inside the metal. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face before the orbs detonated and the chains shattered in his hands, KyuJong protecting YoungSaeng from the small pieces that flew.
Task done, JongWoon slumped against the wall, breathing heavily and sweating.
SooHyun was the first to respond, wrapping his arms around JongWoon to make sure he was okay. "You did good, Woonie Hyung," he murmured with a grin.
When his hands were free, YoungSaeng tried to move them, but the pain that came halted his actions. Taking a breath, he slowly brought them down to wrap loosely around the waist of the boy holding him so carefully.
"...Is it really you?" he murmured, exhaustion catching up to him as it often did far too quickly.
Hearing the soft murmur, KyuJong smiled gently down at YoungSaeng and ran his hand along his back soothingly. "It is," he whispered. "Ready to go home, Saengie yah?"
"Home..." YoungSaeng parroted, voice beginning to slur slightly. "Home is where KyuJong is..."
The tears KyuJong had been holding back finally fell at those soft words, rolling down his cheeks as he kissed YoungSaeng's forehead, lips quivering slightly. He drew in a slow breath, cradling YoungSaeng in his arms as he looked up at SooHyun with a teary smile. "Can we go to where RyeoWook is? There's no one else on this floor."
Smiling softly at the pair, SooHyun nodded his head. Helping JongWoon and the other boy over to the bed, he had everyone take hands. "When we get there, I'm going to go and join Hyung's team, okay? HyungJoon should be there as well, so he can start bringing people back in the van."
Closing his eyes, SooHyun focused and when he opened his eyes again, they were all sitting in the center of the park.
RyeoWook was sitting a few paces away, eyes closed and not moving. There was a gentle touch in the air, KyuJong already feeling it start to ease away his headache. Many of the patients in the circle were sobbing in relief, clinging to each other as they realized they were finally getting out of that hell.
"YoungSaeng hyung!" The second HyungJoon saw them, he ran over, dropping down beside them with bright eyes that dimmed when he saw the condition the older man was in. But then he smiled widely again, one hand on YoungSaeng's shoulder. "Hyung, welcome back."
Feeling the hand on his shoulder, YoungSaeng's breath caught and he pressed even more against KyuJong in an attempt to get away from the touch.
Pulling his hand away quickly, HyungJoon looked up at KyuJong, worried eyes questioning.
Gaze sad, KyuJong gave HyungJoon a pained smile and mouthed 'later', hugging YoungSaeng to his chest. "We should start bringing everyone back," he said to the younger man, and HyungJoon nodded. "How's RyeoWook holding up?"
"He's getting tired, but he said he should be able to keep up the circle until everyone's back home," HyungJoon replied, before standing and starting to gather people to bring back. KyuJong rested his head against YoungSaeng's, rocking him back and forth slowly.
"Um..." HyungJoon looked behind him to see a young man standing there; one of the first brought back. "I can help a little. I boost powers, so maybe I can help RyeoWook sshi."
SooHyun lifted a brow. "Are you sure that you're okay to do that? We don't want anyone overworking themselves."
The boy nodded his head. "I feel a lot better after being here, and after getting us all out of there, it's the least I can do."
They all looked at each other before nodding. "Thank you..." HyungJoon trailed off.
"JunHyung," he introduced.
HyungJoon smiled and glanced at RyeoWook to make sure he knew, seeing the boy's eyes cracked open a little to look at them with glazed-over eyes. "You going to be okay here, Wookie?" he asked.
The younger boy nodded slightly before closing his eyes again, all his attention on the circle.
Drawing in a breath, HyungJoon smiled a little at the others. "See you all soon then." He left the circle with a group of people, bringing them to the van.
HyunJoong was mere moments away from calling Xander to burn the place to the ground, or at least the wing they had been searching. So far, three more had been found, all in various levels of experimentation. Sadly, only two had survived being removed from the equipment and they just awaited SooHyun's return to get them out.
He didn't need to wait long before the blond popped back with a wide grin. "The other team's out, though I'm not expecting Kyu hyung to let go of one person any time soon."
At that, HyunJoong's eyes grew and he smiled, leaning back against the wall happily.
HaRa's eyes crinkled in relief at that. So they had YoungSaeng. "We should finish looking here," she said quietly, looking at them all. "There's a few rooms left, and we're running out of time." Nicole and Xander could only hold the staff's attention for so long, and it had been a while all ready. She ran one hand through the hair of the young girl they'd just disconnected from all the equipment, making sure that she was stable enough to be moved. Tears still rolled down HaRa's cheeks from losing that boy in the room before.
"How is he, SooHyun?" HyunJoong asked as they continued on. He made sure to keep an eye on HaRa, knowing that the loss of the boy had been hard on the kind-hearted girl.
The teleporter sighed. "He doesn't look good, hyung, especially mentally. And Kyu hyung isn't much better." At the mention of KyuJong, he sobered. "He found another facet of his power, hyung...he turned a man to dust."
HaRa's eyes widened slightly, looking over at him. "KyuJong oppa did that?" KyuJong wasn't the sort to get so riled up, much less kill someone.
"If it had to do with YoungSaeng sshi, I can see it," HyunSeung remarked quietly. "Even the most peaceful person would do horrible things to protect a loved one."
"Do you know the man's name?" HyunJoong asked, not exactly expecting an answer.
"Um, I think it was something, Dae..." he replied.
"...Dae?" HaRa's eyes widened as that brought something up in her memory and she looked up at HyunJoong in shock. "MyungDae?"
The one person who would anger KyuJong that much...and his father worked at this hospital.
Eyes narrowing in anger, HyunJoong muttered a good riddance before continuing on. He was definitely going to burn the place to the ground.
He had only just rounded the corner when a familiar power poked at his senses making him nearly stagger. It was so faint, though, that he almost doubted having felt anything at all, but that didn't stop him from taking off, following the mental string that was pulling him.
"Oppa?!" HaRa ran after HyunJoong down the hallway the second he started running, SooHyun and HyunSeung following quickly. They were passing rooms by, but HyunJoong didn't seem concerned with stopping, all his attention focused on something.
HyunJoong didn't stop running until he was sure that he found what he was looking for. Realizing that the door was locked, he began searching frantically for a way to open the door. Finally finding something that he could use to pick the lock, HyunJoong dropped to his knees and with shaking hands, began working the locking mechanism, praying for the door to open.
"Hyung, what's going on?" HyunSeung panted once they caught up with him, but the elder didn't respond, too focused on the door.
Watching him, HaRa's eyes widened once she realized what must be on the other side of that door. But on this floor of the hospital...
The door unlocked with a loud click that echoed down the corridor, and was swung open.
It was the same scene as the other rooms; large, imposing machines surrounding a single bed, the only sound the soft hum of the machines and a slow beeping. These machines were connected to the wall as well, long wires stretched across the room, some of them different than the other rooms.
Laying on the bed, silent and unmoving with closed eyes, was JungMin. A breathing mask was fitted over his mouth and nose, needles and wires connecting him to the machines around him.
HyunJoong stopped breathing when the door opened and he saw the still form on the bed. He knew that red hair anywhere. Scrambling to his feet, he moved to the bed, staring down with wide eyes at the prone form of JungMin. His chest rose and fell slowly - too slow and he looked over at HaRa, unable to speak.
SooHyun and HyunSeung approached slowly when they witnessed the scene before them.
HaRa was too stunned for a moment to do anything, but she forced herself out of it, looking around the room. She'd already gone through everything the medical charts from the first room contained, and knew there was nothing on JungMin in them.
She spotted the notes on a table in the corner, and picked them up with shaking hands, flipping through. What she saw made the tears come back faster.
"Th-those machines...there...” she pointed at the strange looking machines connected to the walls, hand shaking. "They're energy transformers...l-like transformers outside houses to lower voltage...Those ones..." she pointed at a group of machines that was similar to those in the other rooms. "Monitors."
"And these..." she pointed to the last two, swallowing. "...Life support."
HyunJoong paled drastically as HaRa spoke. Life support. "Wh-what are they doing to him...?" he asked quietly, carefully reaching out and hesitating before touching his cheek lightly, startled by the lack of shock. "God, they're draining him dry, aren't they?" he realized before the girl could speak.
"More than just dry," she said quietly, looking through the notes before returning her gaze to HyunJoong, eyes glassy. "The electricity is connected to his energy, we knew that...but they're taking everything, his body can't even support itself even more. I-if we take him off the machines..."
The way HaRa left the sentence hanging caused his heart to practically stop beating. After two long years of not knowing whether or not JungMin was alive, he was being told that he could die if they take him off the machines. Thinking back to the boy from earlier, HyunJoong squeezed his eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. "There has to be something we can do. I can't leave here without him, HaRa...I can't."
Holding on to the clipboard tightly, HaRa bit on the inside of her cheek as she looked at the machines.
"...We'll have to do this carefully," she drew in a slow breath. "I'll take him off the transformers first. Once he's off those, you need to lock his powers to make sure no more energy escapes, he'll need every drop. I'll do an energy transfer, give him as much as I can. Then we'll take him off the life support." She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again, looking up at HyunJoong. "It's not the best plan, but it's the only one. You should...prepare yourself, just in case," she whispered.
The chance that JungMin would leave this room alive was slim.
"Give him mine. I don't care if you have to take it all, but if it'll help him, please," HyunJoong murmured, hand resting against JungMin's cheek as he waited to lock JungMin's power.
He refused to 'prepare' himself. JungMin would be fine.
HaRa squeezed his shoulder lightly before taking in a deep breath and placing the clipboard down so she had both hands free. She moved towards the transformers and, carefully, began to turn them off one by one. Her attention constantly went to the monitors, making sure JungMin's condition didn't destabilize any more, his heart beating dangerously slow.
Once they were all off, she disconnected them from JungMin, undoing the clamps and easing needles out of his skin before cleaning the holes left. "Okay," she said after a moment, looking up at HyunJoong.
With a nod, HyunJoong focused on locking JungMin's power. It was something that could normally be done without a second thought, but with how frenzied his mind was, he needed to focus.
Once HyunJoong gave her the okay, HaRa pressed her hands lightly against JungMin's chest, drawing in a breath and closing her eyes. Her hands glowed as she transferred as much energy as she was able into JungMin's body, willing his weakened heart and lungs to work on their own. After a moment she reached out and took HyunJoong's free hand, using some of the man's energy when she saw what she could offer wouldn't be enough.
Finally she pulled her hand back from JungMin's chest and looked at the monitor. His heart was beating a little stronger than before. "Okay, I'm disconnecting him from life support now," she said softly, voice echoing in the silent room before she reached out and stopped the machines.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep...