The smell of the hospital brought Yuri back to life, and it was just another morning serving the sick to her as she weaved through emotionless doctors in the vast hallway labyrinth. She had to ask herself, why Jaejoong? Of all the men that had appeared during the outside world’s existence, why Jaejoong? Of all the men out during the day, all the men working towards this attack, of all the men that had ever tried to live, why Jaejoong?

Changmin, Taemin, and Leeteuk were already in Jaejoong’s hospital room, discussing the condition of his deteriorating body. Just hours earlier, Jaejoong and Taemin were out for a friendly jog, as friendly as training with Taemin could get, when the preparations for war took another casualty in an explosive accident. Nuclear physicist fled their work site covered in soot and shrapnel, one with melted metal lodged into their arm. The blast destroyed buildings and burned down trees and blooming weeds. “Attempting fusion,” they claimed, and when the entire town was closed down due to breathing problems and charred forts, Jonghyun declared their weapons of mass destruction too dangerous for work that close to home.

“Who were injured?” Was asked, and long lines of greedy attention lined up outside the hospital. Everyone had excessive levels of radiation on them and they were each given a bottle of medicine for that. “Please report any difficulties with breathing, abnormalities in urine, birth defects in children, and cancerous symptoms. You will be admitted for further check-up.”

Nobody really cared, just wanted to be part of the supposed tragedy of that day. Only a few screamed when Jaejoong fainted on a bench, blood dripping from his ears like his eardrums self destructed. “Can you hear me, sir?” No answer and shallow breathing, they rushed him into the hospital.

“What is wrong with him?” Just another reaction to everything wrong in their air. Jaejoong woke within the hour with bloodshot eyes and a dazed gaze. The left arm refused to move, the right arm refused to move. Both legs refused to move. “Is he dying?”

“Will he be able to invade in ten days?” Changmin asked, and this time he sounded like he cared. Leeteuk shook his head and mumbled words about unresponsive senses. With the path of the air silently grieving no, Changmin knew the answer. He grabbed Taemin from the waiting area and shoved him up and against the bare white walls. “What did I say? ‘Don’t train him so hard, he is a valuable asset!’ What is that? You broke him!”

Taemin said nothing as his superior took out his rage on his shoulders. Instead, he let his eyes spew out the racism he felt inside, how such a person like Jaejoong isn’t even a real person, he wasn’t even one of them. Jaejoong didn’t respect Jonghyun like those that had lived outside the domes did, Jaejoong would never be accepted, why did he have to care? Changmin’s hypersensitivity couldn’t pick up Taemin’s blown pupils as his subordinate resisted like the teen he was, futilely.

The blind man pulled the young soldier back and once more slammed him into the hallway wall. “Don’t be a brat, you overworked him! He is the only one we have here that actually ever made contact with the rebel forces. Heechul disappeared, Jaejoong is the only one that can vouch our worth for us.”

Taemin bit his lip until blood started to flow, then he couldn’t tolerate it any longer. “Yeah, because that explosion had nothing to do with his fainting spell! Other people passed out too! Someone from the domes shouldn’t get priority over our own people!”

“They aren’t Jaejoong! And just so you stop your backwards thinking, Jaejoong is from 7453, your family originated from 15,238, a sector even we consider poor and filthy.” Despites his vision impairment, Changmin overpowered the soldier and kept him in his place. He was just about to let loose another nagging rant about the hindrance of Jonghyun and his cause when the patient recovered his senses and let out a morbid scream.

“Yuri!” His wife appeared from the bowels of the hospital and entered the room before anyone could enter, locking the door behind to keep unwanted guests out.

One look at her husband and the tormenting atmosphere died. Jaejoong’s eyes were still bloodshot, but the fear in his voice didn’t show on his body; instead, he remained relaxed in the hospital bed. “What’s wrong?” Yuri asked quietly, not allowing Changmin the luxury of listening in on their private conversation.

Jaejoong ushered her closer and spread his arms in a welcoming gesture, and when she reached his bed, he pulled her down and embraced her from the hips. “I can hear them again,” and he nuzzled his face in her shoulders. “They’re plotting.”

Yuri didn’t ask questions. The supposed voices her lover heard didn’t matter when he was awake and well.

“How many times do I need to go through this? Collapsing on the side of the road from sickness or from blasts, you always end up here in a hospital, as happy as ever.”

His b smile hid behind the tufts of her hair, “Because I know you’ll be there when I call for you. You’re the only one I can trust.”

“And you the only one I can trust.”

The stayed wrapped together if only to drag time out. Within this new world of strangers, they couldn’t tell the difference between their allies and enemies. Their lies wove so deep, it took both of them to untangle themselves and find their way back to where they began. As if a million hands were reaching out to them at once, they latched onto the only familiar person.

“How long was I out for?” Jaejoong asked his wife’s arm.

“Only a few hours. It’s night right now. They had you in and out of the emergency room quickly. Blood pressure was fine; you showed no signs of abnormalities. ‘Stress,’ Leeteuk called it.” Yuri turned her head and gave a quick peck to Jaejoong’s forehead, noticing the ease it brought to his tense expression. “Jae, baby, what did you mean earlier, ‘they’re plotting’?”

With his face still buried on her limb, he mumbled words of repeal. “Not plotting, I guess, but coming alive. The minds of all those we left behind are opening up, and I can hear them now. Before, Leeteuk said there was a chip in my head, but it had been fried upon contact with the outside world.

Yuri nodded, keeping up with the direction of the conversation. She often had to listen to Jaejoong’s sudden explanations when she had no idea where he was heading. Just as if Jaejoong had finished another book on how the universe worked with it’s complex laws and theories, he had a strange excitement of renewal. Life flooded to his shock struck face, and even though he looked on the brink of death physically, there was life in his now whitening eyes.

“That second blast stirred the chip up; it’s buzzing nosily in my head. Millions of voices screaming at me now, waking up all at once in a single movement. Their senses are stirring. When I was unconscious, I heard mundane thoughts of and apathy. ‘I feel something, must have . I want something, must have .’ I didn’t understand these thoughts at all.”

“Can you explain it a little more? How are they waking?” Yuri rolled over Jaejoong and shifted under a sheet, keeping his body close. Jaejoong smelled like turmeric powder and fabric softener. At least he didn’t smell like death.

“It was the shift change. All the night worker retired and the day workers woke up. I could feel it, the dimming of the menial thoughts the workers had as they took their nightly sips of whatever alcohol and shot their arms up with the latest addiction. Those that were sleeping fluttered out of their daze and shook of the last of their highs, whether from morphine or .” He took a deep breath, the exhilaration overcoming him.

“And?” She pet her husband’s hair to calm him down. Each little touch left Jaejoong fluttery inside and his mind left the voices behind to return to her. When did her skin get so soft? When did the fireflies outside shine so bright? When have things ever been so bright for them? He brushed his hand over her cheek, feeling the warm blush rise.

“And the others, the one that had families and didn’t work, they all felt the same thing. Yuri, they felt something! Then men stopped on their wife’s face for one second to let her breathe. They took that breath together, and –Oh Yuri, I felt something from them!”

Jaejoong flashed Yuri the most genuine smile she had ever seen. Changmin’s smile was fake, Jonghyun’s smile was fake, Kyuhyun’s smile was fake, Yunho’s smile was fake, and Yoochun’s smile was fake.

“They thought the same things! ‘If only there was a way to help them. If only they could feel like I do. But what do I feel? I only want to feel satisfied. I don’t want to feel at all. But I want to feel…’ And they all had the same realization, the same concept in their mind, dissatisfaction with the world around them. They all had the same answer, ‘Key took this away from me.’”

The husband wiped away the tears the wife didn’t even know she was crying. “What else happened?” She murmured.

Jaejoong sighed, a new disappointment coming back. “Nothing, the men went back to their wife’s face while the women thought of the married man next door they wanted to hard. The children continued listening from the other side of the wall, a hidden desire to test out the pleasure with the neighbor’s kid in every single on of them. A few starved remained hungry; a few fat remained hungry, too. Business as usual.”

Night fell outside, and Changmin finally entered when he felt no more secrets. Leeteuk checked on Jaejoong’s condition, and by then the ‘angel’ effect had long worn off. Yesung stayed stationed out the door instead of rallying up more strays. Taemin had been sent out instead, much to his protests. Jaejoong didn’t dare tell Yuri anything else the people in the dome would feel, instead, he asked for a recorder, one of the weird gadgets that only the outside world had. He wanted to record the cluster of words just mingling with the voices of the caged apathetic mass.

“They put them in me, I remember now. On the day I fainted I was in the hospital and two of Yunho’s henchmen kidnapped me. That fat bloke Shindong, the one with the beard, and the man with a shaved head, Kangin. They took me to a doctor in some weird room, a basement of some sort, and there I met the other three. The brain surgeon, Kevin, young and blonde, the computer expert, Kiseop, also blonde, and their adolescent assistant, Dongho. He is around Taemin’s age, maybe younger.”

“I remember too, that was when the captured me. That was when Junsu said his last insults about that time.” And Yuri was crying again, her motherly instinct to hold someone and love them keeping her in a locked depression. “I actually punched him; he kicked me in the chest while I was down.”

When one held the other, they didn’t know who was comforting whom, but their burdens felt lighter and they held them together.

“I’m sorry,” Jaejoong said as he kissed her cheek. “Whenever you want, we can have another child.” But his wife whimpered back, afraid to show her face. Her words muffled into the fold of his hospital gown.

“I’m afraid to lose another one. There is less oxygen out here, what if our child never grows up? What if they mutate horribly and sprout wings from their back. What if our child is born retarded with who knows how many other disabilities? I’m afraid I’ll hate or even fear my own child. Jaejoong…”

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

Three days later Jaejoong returned to their apartment. By that time, Taemin had redeemed himself by saving Jonghyun’s life from one of the domers. The man had evidently not been fully convinced by the water he saw pouring lavishly from fountains, nor by the shimmering glass buildings or parading musicians. G-Dragon couldn’t reel the man in, Changmin couldn’t, Eli the Zookeeper couldn’t. It seems like the lies of revenge and prosperity didn’t cut it or one look at Junsu as a footstool drove the man mad. Changmin’s ‘you can actually meet our great Leader here’ propaganda was not effective.

“Inhumane!” He spouted, spitting with every word. “You are no better! Next you’ll have your women in your bed chambers every night and jesters entertain your boredom!” What had originally been a feast for a large group of newcomers, turned into a riot with this single man sparking the light. One too many silver plates tossed and he never spoke another word.

The steady flow of new refugees kept the army full and busy. Those that knew their roles taught those that didn’t. L.Joe took up a role in the military academy teaching strict demanding rules and regulations by the hour. More ended up in the hospital from over training and injuries than from the explosion days earlier. At the same time, their commanding officer, Seungho, dictated the younger troops into communicating between headquarters. Seungri was sent with Jonghyun as the time came to jump towns came. It wasn’t long after the feast attack occurred. With Jonghyun and a smaller portion of their army in a town closer to Sector 1, Narsha ran freely through the crowds.

During any meeting she hid secretly as a man or as a helper woman. Changmin almost caught her himself as he relayed important location messages to Jaejoong and Yuri. They would have told her anyway. The only team she didn’t interact with was her own. Except to pry information from them, she never spoke to her two comrades. Her added mystery led to the couple lying about certain locations and plans. The group of five hundred soldiers set to invade sector 2 turned into a measly two hundred and ten. Instead, they elaborated the number for the Lord’s realm. One thousand suddenly doubled and she had a newfound confidence with her plans for complete annihilation.

“Key will win, he has millions behind him. Just play the dome card and he has them playing warrior again. That’s just more of Jonghyun’s army for them to kill off.” Her bloodlust showed even when she tried to assure that everything was for the bigger cause.

The night before the invasion, Changmin came to their apartment for one last run of plans. “Yuri, you will stay with the nurse’s stations; Jaejoong will be with Seungho and Chansung scouting out the area in sector 1. Make sure none of his soldiers use their probable escape routes.” He drilled their roles in to ensure absolutely no errors, the goal was too extreme for anyone to be confused and jeopardize the entire operation. They had recently heard these plans so many times, they could probably do Changmin’s duty for him.

Just before leaving, Changmin rummaged around their pantry, searching for anything to snack on. “Do you have nothing in here?” They both promptly answered with a firm ‘No!’ All they had were crackers for their early morning breakfast and some powdered milk, and they didn’t want to part with either so quickly. Wars are tiresome and brutal, leaving the weakest to die and the strongest to wither into the new weak. Minds deteriorated just as fast as the body, and spirits vanished like they never existed.

Seconds turned into their last chance to see each other, who knows if he will die or she will die. Hands that had held each other in desperation now only wanted that ultimate touch. As neighbors drifted off to sleep for an eager rise in the morning, these two grasped the final moments they had together. One bed and a world of worries to keep them awake, rocking into each others body as desire mixed with misery, overshadowed by hope. Like tomorrow would never come even when it already had, and they could still waste their energy on the things they had denied for years.

This is a love so pure and broken that not even the harshest of realities and cruelest of wars can break. But in their world, their love is not real, it is a sickness that only obstructs the ambition of their leaders. Love could not take revenge alone, love was not the driving force behind in their world, love did not stop hunger or disease, love did nothing except cloud thoughts and stir emotions that had long been locked away.

In the arms of their lover, they snuggled under their sheets. Jaejoong heard everything in his dreams, the thoughts of the leaders as they discussed who the kill first and who would be a good slave. He heard the thoughts of the ignorant as they continued to live their lavish lives. He heard the transmitted commands of the governors, demanding that the helpless be even more helpless and productively work for a man they had never met or seen with skill they never had. He heard the children whine to their siblings as they acted strong with even the smallest of stomachs.

Fireflies danced outside the window, like they wanted to welcome tomorrow together. For once, Yuri’s slight snores and grunts didn’t keep Jaejoong from drifting off. He took his time memorizing every noise she made so he could play her every sound when he faced the perils of all his enemies. Her melody was his lullaby, and he felt like a husband from a cliché romance novel. But when they woke up, Jaejoong would leave her and fight a battle he might not come back.

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

Fireflies, I remember when I was first thinking of this fic over a year ago, back in September, that was a scene I had imagined. At that time I had not considered any of the ideas I had now. I had planned for only a clan of blind people living outside the domes, and for them to have a bunch of beautiful artwork but not understanding what was around them. I imagined Jaejoong and this random chick to run away from everything, discovering nature and freedom. Instead, I made this. 

And, yes they had . No, she did not get pregnant.

Comments are motivation~♥