The gates of the zoo were anything but welcoming. There wasn’t a line of students waiting to enter for a fun fieldtrip, animal mascots crowding around children with balloons, or grandparents there to enjoy the cool sun. It was just Jaejoong standing by the abandoned ticket booth. Jaejoong didn’t even have money to buy a ticket, and he didn’t really think it mattered. He entered the zoo quietly, not sure if he could actually get in trouble for breaking in or not.

There were cages all around and a group of animals in each cage. The creatures didn’t look like anything Jaejoong had ever heard of before. The beasts had strange shapes and unique pelts. Their sizes astounded Jaejoong enough to keep him away from the larger animals. He walked by different sections of the zoo in awe of the creatures. He had never once dreamed that the world could create such amazing beings. Aquatic animals squealed when they saw him and Jaejoong smiled at the splashes they made.

He read a plaque on one of the tanks. “Dolphins, thought to be extinct until the discovery of a small family twenty years back.” Jaejoong pouted at the thought of the creatures having been lost to time. Now that he had seen them he knew of their great uniqueness. Another dolphin screeched, making Jaejoong cover his ears. The dolphin was right next to him and the high pitch was deafening. “Aish, sounds just like that annoying Junsu!”

He continued his adventure with the primates. There were few actual primates, but there were several memorial plaques for the species that were extinct. Jaejoong looked at the graveyard and nearly started crying at the loss. ‘99% of all species is extinct…’ He hurriedly escaped the monuments and rushed into the feline section. “Jiji, pelt- gray, often kept in homes until the cost for caring for them became too high…” Jaejoong stared at the cat, mimicking the way the cat’s eyes were fully open and mesmerizing.

Jiji mewled, warning Jaejoong of someone’s approach, but Jaejoong just lay on his side to match the cat’s position. It was lying comfortably on its stomach enjoying the sun inside of its sweater. The cat’s purple claws scraped on the ground, signaling the figure growing nearer; Jaejoong continued to watch the feline in pleasure, it was so freaking cute! He just wanted to reach through the electric bars and snatch the cat away to pet it behind the ears softly. Sensing his desire to give pleasure, Jiji started purring and its paws over their ears, wanting Jaejoong’s finger’s to rub there. Jaejoong cooed at the cat, in dire need of contact between them.

“I can let you in if you want.” Despite the warning Jiji had given him, Jaejoong stilled jumped in surprise when the man crept up on him.

“Who are you?” He asked wearily, unsure for his safety once again. The man unlocked the cage door and Jiji hopped out into Jaejoong’s lap, rubbing his tail over the man’s cheeks, swiping the gleam on his face while Jaejoong started to caress the cat’s body with affection.

“I’m Eli, The Zookeeper.” Jaejoong continued playing with the cat, sort of ignoring the fact that Eli was even there. “I’m surprised to even see someone visit this place because no one cares about animals anymore.” Jiji purred at every on his fur and leaned up to Jaejoong on the nose.

“Ah, your tongue is rough!” He laughed heartily while rubbing the cat’s stomach, ignoring the scent of rotten flesh emitting from the feline’s mouth. “Your breath stinks, little Jiji.”

Eli cocked an eyebrow, “Yes, because he likes to eat live birds.” Jaejoong airily turned his head in a questioning manner. “I can show you if you would like, and yes, you can take Jiji with you, as long as he doesn’t eat any.” Jaejoong’s eyes lit up and he tucked the feline in his arms and stood, ready to discover something new.

The zookeeper led Jaejoong to a canopy covered forest and let the man explore on his own.

Tweets.
Chirps.
Hoots.
Coos.
Squawking.
Fluttering.
Pecking.
Scratching.
Rustling.

Jaejoong once again lost himself in the sounds and sights, suddenly high in happiness. Jiji leapt out of his arms and pounced in the direction of different flocks, disrupting the peaceful order and creating more alluring chaos. Birds circled above their head so high that Jaejoong couldn’t even see some of them. A few swooped passed him, teasing his senses.

Two landed on his shoulders, digging into Jaejoong’s skin.

“They are called a Dda Dda and La La. These are a friendly type.” Jaejoong just watched in wonder as the birds that Eli named hopped along his shoulders, often flapping their wings to annoy him, or to entice him more.

Jaejoong laughed, enjoying their touch. “I can do that too birdies!” To show what he meant, he moved the wing bones in his back freely, surprising Eli.

The attitude the other had for the animals brought Eli to doubt Jaejoong’s origins. No one born outside the domes ever cared for the creatures, no one even bothered to acknowledge their existence.

If there was anyone to show, it was him.

To not disturb the birds, Eli slowly stepped forward to Jaejoong. The ecstatic one turned to see him coming closer and brushed the birds away, knowing there was something else to see. “Jiji!” The cat slid down a tree and ran into Jaejoong’s embrace, the two ready for whatever Eli was going to do.

Eli led them into another section of the zoo, into a building with oxygen tanks ventilating through. The air was heavy and hard to breathe in, causing Jaejoong and Jiji some difficulty. “This is where we keep the oldest species, the ones that will die out in the next twenty or so years.”

Jaejoong dropped Jiji at the sight of them.

Cages lined up with creatures identical to him, but so different it was frightening. They were short, all in varied colors, and grotesquely primitive. The sign Homo sapiens resting under each cage, male and female, indicating their , as if they weren’t obvious already as they were separated.

“This is?”

“This is us long before we were ever who we are today. These are humans, our ancestors.” Jaejoong stared in awe at the creatures several feet shorter than him, without anything significant about them other than their unusually dark skin. Jaejoong felt like paper compared to them.

“How did they come to be so?”

“The domes… those inside adapted, some left, but the mutation was set… we are not human.”

“Who did this?”

“You know the answer to this.”

Jaejoong looked down at his feet; Jiji curled up on his new shoes, and sighed. “Kim Kibum.”

And later, after Jaejoong had left the zoo properly fascinated to create that perfect song with G-Dragon, Eli contacted Changmin to inform him of the progress.

“He hates Key, things the man is the worst thing to happen to this planet… He will be ready soon, but he needs for training.”

*********************

Yuri kept her head down as she flipped through pages of different anatomy books. Suddenly the entire concept of nursing became so complicated that it overwhelmed her. She wanted to learn, she really did, but there was too much to take in and she was only suffering from the education.

“Yuri, sweetie, God will forgive your adultery if you repent.”

“Shove it Siwon.” Yuri threw a small paperback at him.

“God will forgive you for your old methods of reading and for wasting the precious trees to use as paper for these sinful books.”

“Siwon, your bible must be made of the Devil’s skin then!” From this the preacher heartily laughed, enjoying the irony.

“Indeed, my bible is carved from the Devil’s own flesh. Any words that I said are strictly because of the Devil Key forcing them out of my sinful mouth. Forgive me my Lord. The truth that I believe has been passed down to me by my father and his father, the story of a man so great. I have my heart committed to memory.”

This made Yuri laugh as well. “Then your good faith is what allowed God to let live, I suppose. It had nothing to do with the fact that Jolokia doesn’t actually kill. Thank the Lord that Yesung found you and brought you to Changmin. Don’t praise man for that, it was all God’s doing of course!”

Her tone brought a frown to Siwon. “You can still be saved, Yuri.” Siwon stood from his seat across from her and left her to her mindless studying.

Yuri stared at the page in front of her for several more minutes until she uttered under her breath, “but God is not the one I want to save me.”

There are some things that should never be let go of. Feelings are one of the things that should never die, and love should never be forgotten –lovers never missed.

************************

Liquid dripped down into the dried fields, nurturing the dead land. Tears can bring the land back to life, and tears are what they were.

Yoochun grumbled as he picked up the vase of flowers that had been knocked over on his father’s tomb marker. This man had filled him with the passion to fully reject their ways. The ways of the Lord, the almighty powerful lord, Key. He had also killed the previous leader of sector 7453, and Yoochun had successfully followed in his father’s steps, and he made it out alive.

His father died in an uprising between the two sectors. It had taken a small gang to kill the governor of sector 7453, and his father had been the one to lead it. The small adventure had cost him his life.

The young governor reflected on his success and relished on the fact that he had lived, gotten rid of his mother and wife, and eliminated the enemy. Even better, the chances of Key being overthrown were even higher now that an entire dome had been destroyed. His father would have been proud, and Key had no power over him. Key could only appoint governors to sectors that didn’t have an heir to inherit the title. Yoochun had taken his position from his deceased father, but Junsu, the Key loving fool, had been granted the place for his good love for the Lord.

If Key had really cared enough about Junsu, he would have given him a rich sector to rule over. Yoochun smirked at how fate work worked against him and screwed the boy over. Key didn’t care; he was just using the man.

Feed him scraps and let the dog be grateful.

“Only stupid men would love Key,” Yoochun grunted.

“Then I must have been stupid until my darling found me.” Yoochun spun on the spot to face his good friend. Yunho was with his beloved C0-PAN10N, arms draped over her synthetic shoulders. “She helped me realize how stupid Key’s arranged marriages are.”

Yoochun sighed, feeling sympathetic for his strange companion. The man loved a cyborg, sad little friend. His affections were a great step in his revolution though. Yunho’s power among the common folk from his sector helped entice the sudden willingness for change. The storm that had attacked Junsu was mostly organized by Yunho.

“Ah yes, the stupid need of women.” Yoochun shuffled to another grave and stared at the name without any emotions slipping out. No remorse or mourning, no desire for the person to come back, no pity. “My wife never understood that too well.” Contempt latched onto every word, and both men, even the robot, loved the sound of it. The use of women only served until they ran out. Did their ally Jaejoong know of this, or was he still finding reasons to cling to Yuri?

Yuri had no purpose, she needed to go.

She would only distract Jaejoong from the big picture and spoil everything.

“Is Heechul making another trip soon?”

“Within the next three rises of the sundial,” Yoochun answered Yunho.

“I believe that the preacher, Siwon, is still alive. They better not meet.” Yoochun then questioned his good friend, but he knew what the man meant.

“My bet would be on Siwon.”

“Me too. If they meet, only Siwon will make it out alive. That’s no so good, Heechul is our best spy.” The C0-PAN10N nodded along with everything Yunho whispered.

“Indeed. After Heechul returns from this venture he is to go to the capital.” Yoochun dusted off his father’s grave and stood, facing his amigo once again. “If news is good on both sides we can expect the sea to rise and the storm to be dangerous.”

Yunho quirked an eyebrow. “Will this storm be too violent for any dolphins to swim through? Is the sea going to punish any dolphins for his past?” Yoochun nodded.

“The sea will be extremely hateful and ready to kill.”

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Comments are motivation but it doesn't matter I might not write at all because nobody honestly cares...~♥?