Don't Say Goodbye

As the lights went out, the crowd went wild.

Never before had the Seoul Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium of South Korea seen such an immediate and vehement reaction. The cameras made their way through a crowd of cheering fangirls and sobbing middle-aged women, who partially were also clutching onto their equally distraught daughters. Those with good eyes could spot a few rather helpless boyfriends and some really rare fanboys among them. All eyes were glued to the big screen in the middle of the great stage while red light sticks were tirelessly waved back and forth. The fanchants grew impossibly louder, the tension in the air was almost unbearable now as the screens went completely dark.

The most anticipated reunion and comeback of the century was only a few seconds away...

~~~ ::: ~~~

The fans cheered, screamed and roared when the big monitor finally came back to life after being shut down to increase the tension and anticipation.

Just a few letters were enough to drive the fans over the edge. While most of the screens were kept black, these same letters were slowly typed in the middle of the main display in bold white letters:

THE WAIT IS OVER

A strong male voice was heard over the more than one hundred speakers, which were distributed throughout the stadium to make this an unforgettable event even for those who had only gotten tickets for the upper ranges.

The first fans broke out into sobs of joy and happiness when the voice began reciting the intro:

“Attention! I give you: DONG BANG SHIN KI!”

Accompanied by heavy and powerful bass rhythms, the fans were met by dozens and dozens of album covers which flew by in a timelapse as every single, single album and studio album of the five boys, who were now men, was briefly shown on the monitor, underlaid with drums and a rhythm that got faster and fiercer by the second when the slide show finally reached its peak, showing the cover of their latest ninths Korean studio album.

Now it was time for the stewards and bodyguards to help the first unlucky fans to get out of the crowds as they started hyperventilating or even breaking down. One girl was especially unlucky when she was smashed in the eye by a light stick. Another girl had to be literally fished out of her section after her neighbours registered by chance that she wasn't speaking any more – she was too hoarse to scream another word.

~~~ ::: ~~~

The mood visibly changed from heated to completely fired up when the first beats of “Hey (Don't Bring Me Down)” started to play. The journey through the history of Dong Bang Shin Ki had ended and was now making space for the introduction of the five men every living soul in this stadium was waiting for.

At the beginning there were only flashes, glimpses, tiny pieces of shadowy figures to drive the fans mad with desire and hope, while the male voice from before finally spelled the names of the five Rising Gods of the East and the directors eventually had mercy by showing their faces.

Yunho

Jaejoong

Junsu

Changmin

Yoochun

The individual posters quickly faded again after successfully imprinting the five names in everyone's mind -although they had never left their place there-. The second part of the concert opening ended with the first group photo in eight years, showing the rotating and glowing concert poster.

~~~ ::: ~~~

The audience soon found themselves at the mercy of the directors again when the lights were dimmed a second time this evening. Light reflexes danced across the floor, finding each other at the main stage to form a sea of shining stars.

The camera men and women turned another round through the crowd, trying to somehow capture the great amount of emotions and tears that were felt and cried in these historical moments.

After the blinking stars had slowly faded out and devolved into shooting stars, which vanished under the great roof of the Seoul Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium, the music changed to a slower instrumental piece until it too disappeared slowly and the concert hall went completely silent for the first time this evening.

Even the loudest and most agitated fans knew that now was the time to shut up and listen.

~~~ ::: ~~~

Only a few dimmed, white and red spotlights were left to illuminate the stage while the rest of the hall was engulfed by complete darkness – the light sticks shining through it like a fleet of pearl red boats in an endless sea.

And into the darkness spoke a voice.

A voice they all had heard for the first time singing “Hug” at the age of fifteen.

A voice which had accompanied most of them for the last fifteen years.

A voice which could produce the loudest and longest screams in K-Pop.

That voice belonged to no other than Shim Changmin, the maknae of DBSK.

“Eight years have passed. We were separated a long time ago but now we are here. Together.

Our hearts leap.”

Individual sniffs and sobs could be heard reverberating through the concert hall when the singer paused – a few very bold fans screaming the man's name into the silence.

“There's no doubt that we all have been waiting for this moment...

Who knew that we would make it in the end...*laughs shyly* You. The fans.

Our hearts leap.”

Changmin's speech was the fluent introduction to another video, as the surface of the monitors became milky white, before devolving into the outlines of a fancy studio with wooden walls.

An instrumental version of “Kiss The Baby Sky” started playing, the refrain of the song being on repeat just like back in Japan in 2009. The camera made its way further into the room.

A voice took up on the melody and began singing the first lines of the song. It was mellow and calm, but so strong.

And it made 14.500 people so insanely happy that they impulsively started hugging their neighbours or the person standing in front of them – drying each others tears or just searching for a shoulder to lean on.

The singing of Kim Jaejoong slowly faded into the background, giving Changmin the chance to speak again.

“Jaejoongie-hyung....*pauses*....ah, he really did have a hard time, didn't he? He lost so much weight in the beginning....you're such a good cook, why didn't you gain weight? *chuckles lightly* Hyung, really tries his best wherever he is or whatever he's doing....Jaejoongie-hyung always thinks about us, no matter how long we are apart.”

As Changmin stopped again, the video ran on, past the now shyly smiling lead-singer of DBSK.

A few feet away from the handsome man - who had visibly gained weight since the fans had seen him the last time before he had enlisted into the army – stood another man with a powerful but concurrently soothing voice:

Kim Junsu effortlessly picked up where his hyung had stopped singing, the whole body of the 31-year old singing with him – as always.

And while Junsu was still immersed in the song, his voice also slowly faded into the background and Changmin started speaking again, this time with light mockery in his voice as he said the first words:

“Junsu-ah~~~ He's still getting on my nerves....*laughs* I really missed his laugh though. He lost a lot of weight too - Junsu-hyung, you looked like a zombie during that time! Although you finally managed to really scare me, XIA-Tod! *fakes a gasp* That costume and the make-up were really awesome! .....Always our happy virus, Junsu-hyung”

The majority of the audience was now fully wasted, their emotions getting the better of them and making them a rather helpless and emotionally loaded crowd.

But both the video and Changmin continued as the camera panned away from Junsu, who seemed to laugh at a joke Jaejoong or another occupant of the room had made, after the singer had finished his part of the song.

The instrumental version of “Kiss The Baby Sky” lasted on this time as the camera went into a nearby recording studio, full of expensive looking instruments and equipment.

At one of the desks sat a black haired man, obviously absorbed in the reading of a script. The camera panned sideways again, revealing the face of Park Yoochun, who was studying the sheet music for a song.

Changmin had already began speaking again when the camera had shown the back of Yoochun's head:

“Yoochun-hyung. Ya~~ Yoochun-hyung became a great actor! Always so busy Mr. Park! He probably got the most awards during these 8 years. I'm so proud, Hyung!......But I really missed you as a singer! You seemed rather lazy when it came to singing, didn't you, Micky Yoochun? *laughs* ….Hyung didn't change much, he still cries easily *snickers*"

The singer-turned-actor then lifted his head and cheekily smiled into the camera, which he seemed to only have noticed just then.

The camera resumed its journey, leaving Yoochun to his papers by backing out of the room. The line of sight turned left and then went along a corridor until it stopped in front of a door. “Kiss The Baby Sky” was still being played in the background but the song was again joined by murmuring voices when the door opened by itself to reveal a wide dance studio, the middle of the room occupied by a group of young men.

A murmur of understanding spread among the fans in the concert hall, as they all knew which member of the group was likely going to be introduced next as there was only one who had always been known for his great passion for dancing. They were not disappointed this time either.

The camera focused on one particular man wearing a beanie. Jung Yunho was paying close attention to his surroundings, listening attentively to the dance instructor, with whom the leader had worked out the choreography for their comeback concert.

(Gif not available)

It was Changmin's cue again when the camera stopped moving, leaving the face of the second oldest member as the freeze frame.

“Yunho-hyung...uri leader-nim. He matured so much! Yunho-hyungnim became a man! So cool! So handsome! He thought a lot about our situation while serving in the military. He surprised all of us when he came back and had everything settled for our comeback in just a year. Yunho-hyung jjang! *laughs shyly*"

The leader of DBSK started moving again after the maknae had ended. Now his focus fell onto the camera and he smiled his gummy smile.

With only one member of the group left, the camera slowly retreated from the practice room, making its way back to the previous recording room. However it didn't focus on Yoochun this time, sharply spinning around to show a large couch opposite the singer's desk.

On the couch sat a tall man, his legs crossed to support the weight of the acoustic guitar resting on them. He was gently playing an acoustic version of the song which had accompanied the audience throughout the video.

(Gif not available)

"Changmin...that's me. Well, I became more handsome and am now the best looking Dong Bang Shin Ki member. Don't you agree? *laughs* I definitely improved in dancing and don't you think I look really manly now? *laughs again* Hyungdeul are really jealous! *snickers*....But I know they love me nonetheless."

The Changmin in the video brought “Kiss The Baby Sky” to an end by playing the guitar and humming along to it. But he accidentally slipped at the last note, causing the maknae to crack a tiny smile.

(Gif not available)

~~~ ::: ~~~

And with that, the screens slowly faded to black again, leaving Cassiopeia to their turmoil of emotions.

Two minutes later, the concert hall was a mess of screams and sobbing sounds as the lights had been dimmed again only to reveal the silhouettes of five men standing on the main stage. Together.

“Yeah, TVXQ
My Hero, my Max, my U-Know, my Xiah and Micky
We're the one, eternally~”

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AN/ I DID IT!!! *cries a river* I had planned to finish this much earlier but my muse was a b**** - and I spent at least two days just searching for the perfect gifs and pictures....can you imagine that??!! Still not really satisfied with the outcome btw; but who cares, right?

I changed a lot of things while writing this chapter - the most difficult question to answer was which song I should use as the background melody~~ (I changed it three times~~)

There is so much thinking to do before writing a fanfiction! >//< I thought about how to call the boys for at least one day because I wasn't sure if they were to go back to their stage names would JYJ join HoMin again......that's why they're all called by their real names here :) And I decided not to include all the reunion-talk and how they finally managed to get back together because I have no idea how! They just did, period. There are far too many options as to how they managed to sneak their way away from SM, u know?

(I have so many awesome gifs left which I didn't include in the story~~~ x''D)

As I fear a major rant coming this way, I'm going to stop now.

Thanks for reading!!! <3

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Kim Junsu! :3

NO COPYRIGHT INFRIDGEMENT INTENDED!