She wouldn’t let them shackle Jaejoong up or throw him into an interrogation. Yuri knew that Jaejoong had no relations with who the intruder was. Those bastards were hard of hearing. Even with Yuri’s body latched firmly onto Jaejoong’s unconscious trunk the young soldier continued to pull Jaejoong to a secluded location. With Jaejoong out for the count, it was Yuri’s job to make sure they both got out safely. Protectively, behind a restaurant with oriental spices wafting out of the molding ventilation, Yuri hovered over her Jaejoongie’s limp mass. The pink haired soldier coldly glared, trying to pierce through her motherly shield.

“What are you monsters doing?” Without the backup of his fellow soldiers, L.Joe acted more cautiously than normal. Yuri’s impulse to bare her teeth was all too inviting, even if she was a woman he would not hesitate to pin her down. Besides, women wanted to be treated the same as the clearly superior men. L.Joe towered over the two, ready to completely rid the woman from the arrest, but the devoting Love that Yuri demonstrated prevented him.

He had seen the same look many years earlier, before he was even in the military academy, back when he and Taemin had been normal friends in the neighborhood. It had been one of those boring summer days when he and Taemin had the brilliant idea of playing with the sphere camera’s Jonghyun used to observe the crime in the back streets. The two boys tossed the camera back and forth, finally having a productive form of entertainment.

Then Taemin’s father saw their game and stopped them with his vicious voice.

L.Joe immediately sheltered in Taemin’s small room. The room was just down the hall in the two room apartment, but any distance between he and the ogre put L.Joe’s mind into a false state of peace. The rampage from the monster began, and L.Joe’s tears welted up in his eyes even if he was not the one being yelled at. The bellowing was too much; L.Joe buried his head into Taemin’s musty pillow.

An eerie silence followed and L.Joe swore he could hear Taemin’s tears dropping. Carefully, L.Joe opened the bedroom door and peeked out. His friend was nowhere in sight, but he assumed Taemin was taking refuge in the bathroom. What idiot would stay for a scolding when there were places to hide? The barmy father was huffing up hot smoke on the sunken couch, muttering insults under his breath, but not directly calling out Taemin except for the occasional “idiot” and curses spoken too loudly.

In the cramped kitchen, Taemin’s mother watched with annoyance. She had witnessed this routine so many times that it grew old on her. Seeing L.Joe, she weakly smiled, but no one could see any genuine joy in her face.

Another of that beast’s random outburst came out. “Taemin, get your out and come here!” His voice was louder than the thunder after lightning striking within burning range. Pure anger, no logic, controlled his tone. Rage in every word he spoke, the father growled at the bathroom door.

During most of the verbal attacks Taemin would simply stay hidden, but he recognized through the breaking of his father’s voice that he had to reveal himself. That yell so deep that the house shook and surely the neighbors heard it through the shoddy thin walls. Taemin quietly cracked the paint peeling door open enough for his small frame to squeeze through. An equal anger danced on his face. He wanted to say something back, but who knew what his father would say in return. No, Taemin it up and held his breath through all the torturous slashes.

The new attacks were the last straw. Taemin’s mother, having started on dinner, slammed a rusted frying pan onto the greasy countertop and let out her female screech. “Goddamn! This is going to stop right now! He apologized! Let the boy go!” The defensiveness, though not with pure intent, had saved Taemin from another menacing glare down and tedious rant. L.Joe could see from the mother’s previous actions that she was only stopping what she couldn’t take any longer, but the outcome was all that mattered. She had protected Taemin like a mother should. Those instincts, while very weak, let a light shine in L.Joe’s eyes.

The sight of one protecting another was simply beautiful.

L.Joe never really saw those raw actions that often. Whenever he did, he was mesmerized and couldn’t help but admire the gentleness and strength before him. Yuri, a woman, dared to go against him, nearly a full grown young man, and protected someone that she could easily give up on.

Oh Lord Bling Bling, she was precious.

Being the sensible young adult he was, one to stick to his own principals and ideals first before others, L.Joe glanced back out into the crowd to see if Chansung or Seungri were anywhere close by. Only the normal carefree celebrators could be seen. Then he stole a look at Yuri and her husband and slowly backed into the crowd. Silently, without any words or advice, he left them alone. There were not any promises of head starts or even that they would not be followed, only that here and now he was not going to fight them. The last shimmer in L.Joe’s eyes said it all.

‘You, woman, will make it out somehow because it is you.’

No one to interfere, Yuri slowly dragged Jaejoong into the rundown streets. Most of the buildings were empty because of the high attendance at the parade, but a few hostels had the strange old lady and grumpy old man. Ignoring the stares, Yuri continued to heave her beloved, wary of the stray glass shards dispersed randomly. Her darling remained quiet except for his soft huffing and strained breathing. The dear, any pressure put on him and he collapsed so easily.

Wasn’t he trying to be a man? His training hadn’t been good enough? Damn that Changmin for making Jaejoong worse! The strain and overwork are what did it. Too much excitement triggered the meltdown. Still, the trooper lived. He lived through hell, through heaven, through the lies of everyone. Jaejoong, who could he trust?

Only Yuri, his single faithful ally.

“Young lady, I can carry him much faster.” Having emerged from a glass building, a middle aged woman with frizzy white hair scooped Jaejoong away from Yuri and easily carried him on her back. “I can take him farther, too. We go to the field.” Woman’s intuition, but Yuri let the other take her beloved and lead her to a secluded part of the city. Leading past the decaying houses and unpaved paths, the woman brought Yuri and Jaejoong to a small field.

It wasn’t closed and anyone could easily see it, but it also wasn’t completely open. The grassy planes led into climbing hills, on another side there was a deep and dirty river and houses on the last. Past the hills were rows of crops almost ready to be harvested. In the field many trees watched the woman, and the flowers wilted away in her presence. Even the sun feared her, and started to descend into the hills yonder. Not wishing to be put into a state of fear like nature, Yuri thanked the stranger. Her polite and stiff nod meant nothing to the woman.

“Come here child, you have nothing to fear from me. I will help this one, he needs it. Lie hither, next to the unconscious male.” Unsure exactly what the woman meant, Yuri curled up next the Jaejoong and rested her head on his back. Immediately she noticed a difference in the man she once knew so well. The bones weren’t as obvious and the rough underlying to his soft skin disappeared and was replaced with tough muscular molds. Her Jaejoongie had shaped into a man.

“Oh Jae, what has happened to you?” Yuri’s wonder brought out a laugh from the woman.

“What a question dear! Let the witch, Narsha, answer that.” She was clearly referring to herself. Narsha brought out one herb from her pocket before she searched in the field a bit farther out for what she was really looking for. Yuri stayed by her husband’s side, hoping that Narsha was not another crazy person. Jaejoong continually choked on his breath and whimpered often, softly whispering words Yuri couldn’t hear. Too ashamed of her previous lack of concern, Yuri cuddled up and warmed her sick man with her body. There was no way to deny it; Yuri was Jaejoong’s woman.

Narsha returned with a few roots and three different types of leaves. Turning her back to Yuri so as not to alarm her, she ground the plants up and added some acids from a poisonous insect. The poultice was for show, really only to wake the man; her hypnotism would help him more. “Girl, make him drink this.”

The mixture made Yuri cringe, but she wasn’t experienced enough to question the medicine from the outside world. She tilted Jaejoong’s neck back and propped his jaw open; the mixture slid into his throat with difficulty before his esophagus grabbed the poison and let his stomach churn. Within a few minutes Jaejoong was gagging and his eyes shot open.

Screaming, Jaejoong flopped from side to side in dire panic. He felt so hot inside, and his mind was in a complete clog. The rush of his thoughts overcrowded and the millions of thoughts he usually filtered became clear all at once. His head in overdrive, the seeping of the sun put into an intense dawdling setting, his senses awaked more than any other experience. The lightning was hyper speed compared to this time stopping awareness. He processed everything, the words Yuri mumbled, the witch’s cackle, and the putrid smell of death from the leaf Yuri had just force fed him. He couldn’t handle one more distraction. If the witch would just shut it, if Yuri would stop asking him if he was alright, if he could get some damn silence, he would be able to breathe again.

“Jaejoong are –”

“Yuri AH shut the up for a second!” Narsha cracked an evil grin.

“Push him down, straddle him if you have to, he needs to be controlled for a second.” Obeying the only calm person there, Yuri implanted her onto Jaejoong’s stomach and dug her hands into his grungy top. Narsha conjured a simple flask and opened the lid to rid the contents into the air. Flinging the water out, Jaejoong’s eyes absorbed the air eating the droplets with his heightened sight. Slowly, the words Narsha spoke came to him. “Start reliving the past now Jaejoong. Shall we name names? Junsu.”

At once, Jaejoong’s head bobbed and his eyes dilated enough to alarm Yuri. There Junsu stood, not scowling but welcoming the couple with arms open for acceptance.

His poor Yuri, she was actually sick. Jaejoong’s memory was not wrong, Yuri was never sick so her illness could mean only one thing. Holding up his wife’s hair as she vomited into the dirt outside their hut, Jaejoong pet Yuri’s back. There was finally hope! His precious Yuri was without a doubt with morning sickness! In the next few months his lovely would have a burgeoning stomach and be the most beautiful creature around! Key had blessed them with the joys of parenthood, thank the Lord Almighty.

“How long has it been since the last?” Yuri hacked up again then sheepishly turned her pale face to her loving husband. With lips covered in her excretions, she held up two nimble fingers. “So are you really…?” His pride nodded her head, matted hair slipping through Jaejoong’s fingers.

The moment couldn’t have been better for the teen. He was worried at first when he and Yuri married and they didn’t have a child immediately. Junsu had been angry, almost furious at their disappointing marriage. He assigned the two jobs until they could ‘produce’ satisfactory results. The following year held the toughest jobs, from Yuri running back and forth between the greenhouse and delivering to the hospital the best plants for the medicines, and Jaejoong constructing circuit boards from scratch, the two suffered greatly.

Pressure to fulfill their task lingered in their heads, and twice a week they tried to accomplish their one task. Their intimacy the one thing they were proud to tell the world off, Yuri strutted around with love marks on her limbs and neck. Finally, after a year of routine loving and hard work, the couple was rewarded.

“Have you told your parents?” Yuri’s nod to Jaejoong’s question was accompanied by another lurch forward to rid her body of the waste. “Have you informed Junsu?” This time Yuri shook her head, the deed not completed.

“No, boo, when I knew for sure I was too sick to travel.” How convenient it was for them to not have any form of communication other than by word of mouth. No matter, this gave Jaejoong the opportunity to see the man personally. He would beg for fair treatment and forgiveness for their late process and late entering into the adult world. If they could earn the favor of their leader, son of their almighty Key, life would certainly begin smooth sailing.

“Then sleep my dear, protect our future.” Jaejoong led Yuri back into the house and stayed by her side until she was settled comfortably enough for Jaejoong to leave. Outside, people greeted him warmly and offered him some bread. Now feeling successful, pride swelled in Jaejoong as he declined even some water from a past classmate. Their little miracle had solved all their problems, and Jaejoong was absorbed in the happiness Yuri’s pregnancy brought.

His child, Jaejoong’s creation with Yuri, their child.

Jaejoong came upon Junsu’s accommodation, the intimidating presence of prosperity looming over him, the richness he could earn flaunted elegantly for everyone to relish awe for. He paced for a moment, unsure of his wording. If he came across to excited would Junsu be insulted from his rudeness? Holding back on excitement would definitely seem like he was not completely overjoyed to be serving their almighty lord. Was there any proper way to tell Junsu the good news?

Contemplating for a few more paces, Jaejoong halted in his tracks and moved aside for a craft to draw near. Jaejoong slapped himself; he had been such a fool! Junsu hadn’t even been home! Of course the working man had been out doing important business, there was no way he would be there to meet with a common poor servant in his sector. The craft stopped beside Jaejoong and a beaming Junsu hobbled out, a clothed basket in his hands and a grin present.

The smile was unusual, foreign to Jaejoong, and authority commanded that he back away from the governor. Then Junsu let out a reverberating laugh and grasped onto Jaejoong thin shoulders with his rough hands. “Take these to your wife; the rare fruits will be good for her.”

Too shocked to understand what was really happening, Jaejoong accepted the gift but kept his dumb look on. It wasn’t really a question of how the governor knew that his dear was expecting before the father knew himself because he could have made speculations from Yuri’s past sickness in the hospital, but Jaejoong needed to know if they could get benefits right then. “How soon?” Junsu’s powerful body stiffened, having trouble breaking the news to the excited father.

“When the child is born you will be welcomed properly.” That was enough for Jaejoong. The next coming months would be hard on the two, but he was certain the rewards for their perseverance served as a good reminder to stick things through.

The couple passed two months easily on the supply of fruit and powdered milk provided in the gift basket, and then living became impossible. Jaejoong barely made enough money to buy water, Yuri’s job paid for most of their food expenses if they couldn’t get gifts from their kind neighbors. In order to keep up her health, Yuri had not returned to hospital as a worker but as another hopeful mother. Their lack of food drove Jaejoong to an extreme he wasn’t sure he wanted to buy into. He was going to beg from the criminals.

Jaejoong had been warned many times before about the evils of the neighboring rebel district. The sector filled with men whom disrespected their Lord and treated women worse than normal. But they willingly gave out food no matter what situation you were in. He had to break his morals and go against their savior. Jaejoong was sure that Key would have provided them with everything they needed once their precious child was born, but right then Jaejoong needed to help get the child into the world.

Yoochun was selling bread close to the tunnel leading into his sham sector.

Terrified, Jaejoong started the transaction between the two. Yoochun, or one of his followers like the young Sungmin, would deliver the food that Yuri and he would share for the week. For their rations, Yoochun added them to the list of followers. While Jaejoong and Yuri never really pledged their allegiance to the blasphemous cause, Yoochun felt that just saying they had more willing rule breakers that his sector would rile up more with war fever.

The tension was rising, their sea of animosity grew stronger, and each passing day the rebellion wave crashed stronger on the shore Junsu protected. More secret servicemen went out each night to give to the needy and neglected. The effects were clearly seen but not entirely bad. The women grew plumper and the pregnancy rate was growing, maybe due to their fertility or to the men’s added energy to please them both. The rich, already living in leisure, decided to spoil themselves even more. Money usually spent on delicacies was spent on unnecessary items like foreign juices or the strange meat that was pure legend to those that couldn’t afford it.

There were also more people sleeping around left and right. The chastity that the citizens had upheld started to fade. Desperation grew stronger. Everyone liked their increased health and tried to test their fates. A child spawned from evil was still a child that could earn them many rewards. The reaction to the rebel supplies disgusted Jaejoong, even if he was hypocritically using them as well.

The father only wanted his wife to live so their child could be born.

Eighteen and a half years old, only a few months from greeting his first offspring, Jaejoong welcomed Sungmin one morning. He brought two loaves of staling bread and six liters of partly filtered water. The novice food runner also brought unwanted company. Seeing the five men carrying Sungmin by his collar, Jaejoong almost bolted.

Yuri was still inside the hut, guarding their child with caring hands.

“Run away baby!” Yuri’s bulging bump held her down and she wasn’t even able to leave her seat before the attack started. In a systematic militarized unison, the dark cloaked soldiers to the Almighty Lord began their cleansing to eradicate them of their painful sins.

Their hut burned down.

Sungmin remained unconscious and never woke up again.

Yuri was bleeding between her legs, her stomach in torturous pain.

Jaejoong’s skin was starting to peel, burned to harshly.

His child, their child. Their way of living, the one that would bring them miracles. Killed. Junsu had allowed the attack, demanded it almost. That man had killed their one hope, and in the process destroyed all faith they had with that damn Key and his stupid Junsu!

Their child.

Just thinking of the life that could have been reaching his seventh birthday soon, Jaejoong trembled. Yuri held him tightly, trying to urge the pain out of his heart. Jaejoong’s growing muscular body curled up into a submissive ball and he ebbed his way into Yuri’s soft embrace, drawing warmth from her. Brushing their limbs over one another, they huddled up closer, not letting the faint wind or annoying crickets interrupt them. Not even Narsha’s sneezing from the budding vegetation disturbed Yuri’s soothing on Jaejoong’s back.

Drawing from the jugular, Yuri drew her hands down around his shoulders and calmly traced the sharpening wing bones her husband was forming, more prominent than ever. She sighed, her darling was such a strong and tough man, but he faced crisis like a child who had never faced pain before. Her child.

Around them, the stars molded together with the translucent fireflies, dazzling the sky with diamond shines. He snuggled into her chest, ignoring the beauty around him. She stared at the sea of lights and tried to find the one formation she knew. The image of the simple constellation brought up in her mind. The easy shape, she searched, careful no to overlook it.

She smiled, Cassiopeia.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

New Characters- Sungmin of Super Junior. Dead. Narsha of Brown Eyed Girls.

Comments are motivation~♥