Expectations: All Our Lives Part 4 of 4
Title: Expectations
Adventure Five: All Our Lives Part 4 of 4
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae, KyuWook
Rating: R
Beta: motty123
Genre: Crossover, Science Fiction, Angst, death
A/N: If you don’t read the genre warnings…then you can’t complain. Okay, the commenters can...because I love all my comments. But you silent readers aren’t allowed to think bad things at me. lol
Summary: Yunho and Jaejoong are taken on a most unusual journey.
Prior Adventures
A gentle breeze aroused Yunho from a restless sleep.
His eyes fluttered open and he found himself sitting up in a chair. The chair was against an open window. The sight and sounds from outside the window brought a small smile to Yunho’s face. It was like a scene from ancient earth’s Wild West. People rode upon horses, women were wearing long dresses, and horse-pulled buggies filled the dirt road.
As a young boy, Yunho had thought that if he couldn’t be a Starship Captain, his first and greatest dream, then to be a real cowboy would have been his second choice. But of course cowboys didn’t exist in his time. To ride upon a good horse, and to fight for truth and justice…this Yunho would have loved.
Yunho’s back ached, so he sat up straighter. He looked at his hands and found them to be much older than his own hands. This version of Yunho was not a young man, but still he was eager to explore this reality. Yunho was about to stand up when the realization of what the other Yunho had been doing hit him like a ton of bricks. Yunho in his cowboy boots and clothes from another era was sitting at another’s bedside.
Yunho’s mouth went dry at the sight in front of him. Resting on the bed was a middle-aged man, whose skin was a deathly yellow color, and whose stomach stuck out like a pregnant woman’s. The man’s breathing was irregular and his eyes were closed shut. Even though he was nothing like his bondmate Yunho knew instinctively that this was the Jaejoong of this reality.
Yunho reached for the other man’s hand and grasped it tightly. “What happened…why are you like this?” Yunho asked, unable to comprehend the vision before him.
“Do you really not know?” a feminine voice asked from the other side of the room.
Yunho jerked his head around to find an attractive middle-aged woman standing in the corner of the room in a long black dress. “No,” Yunho answered her.
The woman gave him a sad look and walked closer to the bed, and looked down at Jaejoong sadly. “I often wondered if you knew…if you ever suspected, but I never had the nerve to ask.”
Yunho looked away from her and back to Jaejoong, who was dying in front of him. Jaejoong wasn’t supposed to die like this. Jaejoong was supposed to be forever beautiful, not this…never this.
“But of course you didn’t know. There is no room in your world of honor, justice, duty, and brotherhood for thoughts like the ones that tormented him.”
“Can’t he be helped?” Yunho couldn’t help but ask of her. Yunho was unable to take his eyes off of Jaejoong. The long pauses between breaths unnerved Yunho…he was fearful each one would be the last.
The woman shook her head. “You know there isn’t anything that can be done for him. It’s too late for him…much too late.”
“What caused this?” Yunho asked, knowing the words she spoke were the truth. Jaejoong was beyond the help of medicine in this time. How Yunho wished Ryeowook would show up in this reality…his version of Ryeowook.
The woman smiled sadly down at him and answered, “A life time of denying…denying his true feelings.”
Yunho’s eyes flew up from Jaejoong to meet her gaze. “His true feelings?”
“He was in love with you….for longer than I have even known you. Probably since you two were just boys. He loved you completely…I have never known anybody who was loved as much as he loved you. I’ve always been in love with you too, so it was easy for me to recognize the signs. What you and others saw as a deep friendship…was something else entirely.”
“In love with me,” Yunho repeated softly, looking down at the man whose eyes remained shut.
“Yes and all the alcohol in the world couldn’t erase that feeling for him. God, I used to hate,” the woman stopped as sobs escaped her. “I use to hate him so much. He was always at your side…you two were always riding off for some great adventure, but later I came to pity him so much. I got to be your wife, share your bed, have your children, and I’ll get to grow old with you…and he just got your everlasting friendship.”
Yunho felt tears in his eyes, and knew she spoke the truth. “And he drank because of that.”
The woman, who was still sobbing, nodded her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you. It was cruel of me to tell you. I’m sure he never wanted you to know.”
“No, it’s okay,” Yunho insisted and squeezed Jaejoong’s hand tighter. The Yunho of this reality had been blind to Jaejoong’s love, and in his misery Jaejoong had drunk himself into an early grave. Yunho remembered this era in history, and he suspected his counterpart had been oblivious to the other man’s feelings.
“I’m sure he never wanted you to know. I mean…I know he didn’t. He wouldn’t want you to feel uncomfortable around him. He would have wanted to protect your friendship…he treasured it so much. It was all he had of you. He wouldn’t have wanted you to think less of him,” the woman that was Yunho’s wife explained, with sadness coating her every word. “Please don’t think less of him.”
“I don’t think less of him,” Yunho insisted firmly.
The woman smiled down at her husband as tears covered her face. “You are a good man. You might have only had friendship to offer him, but you loved him the best you could. There was a reason he loved you so much, and you were worthy of that love.”
Yunho swallowed. “I don’t know about that. I just-” Jaejoong’s respirations had grown fewer, and Yunho saw a tear glide down the other man’s cheek. “Can you leave us alone?” Yunho asked the woman, sensing that Jaejoong was aware of his surroundings.
“Yes, of course…I will be right outside with the doctor,” the woman told him, and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
As soon as the woman was gone, Yunho brought Jaejoong’s hand up to his mouth and pressed it against his cheek. Jaejoong’s eyes opened slowly to stare up at him. Yunho fought with himself to resist flinching at the sight of Jaejoong’s eyes. The white of Jaejoong’s eyes was completely yellow.
Jaejoong was unable to say anything in return; the only sound coming from the man was the death rattle that came from the back of his throat, as his respirations grew farther and farther apart. Yunho watched as Jaejoong fought to keep looking at him.
Yunho smiled down at this version of Jaejoong, wanting nothing more than to give him hope…in this hopeless situation. Yunho felt the overwhelming sadness that unrequited love had cost the other man. How cruel this Jaejoong must have found his life…how trapped. By being born in this age…with so much prejudice…how hopeless and afraid…he must have always felt alone. “There is so many miracles and marvels in this universe…you can’t even imagine. They are limitless. I know this life was not all you wanted it to be, but I promise you there is a time and place for us.”
The last spark of life glistened in Jaejoong’s eyes for just a brief moment, showing his faith in Yunho’s words. Relief flooded Yunho as hope was restored to this reality’s Jaejoong as his life ended, and the Guardian swept Yunho far away.
*************
“You lie all the time.”
Jaejoong opened his eyes and found himself in a new reality. Jaejoong was relieved to find that his head was not threatening to split in half. Jaejoong was in a cramped room with a very intoxicated Yunho, who was trying his best to look sober.
“It’s not because you are a bad person...because you’re not. You are a good person. When you lie it’s like you get swept away in a feeling or something,” Yunho explained as he slumped back against the wall as he attempted to explain why Jaejoong lied. “You believe your lies when you are telling them…..because…well it’s a nice thing to say. It’s what people want you to say. You always want to make people happy. You believe your lies…till you don’t anymore.”
Jaejoong frowned at Yunho. Trying to read the mind of an intoxicated man was not easy. The only thoughts he could gather from this drunken Yunho was that they were in a bathroom, his counterpart in this reality was a liar, and Yunho found him attractive. “You think I’m attractive?” Jaejoong repeated for some odd reason. Was he intoxicated too, he wondered. He felt so heavy. He had escaped the pain of the previous reality, to just find heaviness in this new one.
“Yes,” Yunho answered without hesitation, and then pointed his finger at Jaejoong’s head to emphasize his point. “But you are still a liar, but a very attractive one…I really like your hair. You don’t look so much like a girl now.”
Jaejoong’s hands immediately flew up to feel his hair that was shorter than he normally liked. He then walked over to the wall that had mirrors all across it to look at his hair. “It does look nice,” Jaejoong had to admit of the hair, but it was his face that stole his attention away. Make-up was plastered to his face, but it didn’t hide the dark circles that surrounded his eyes. This Jaejoong was very tired, and he knew this must be where the heaviness came from. This version of him looked as if he had been tired for years. It was almost as if sleep was an enemy of this version of himself, and that he desperately avoided it at all cost.
“You shouldn’t have dragged me in here.”
Jaejoong turned around to face this reality’s version of Yunho. “No?”
“No, we are not friends anymore. We both chose different paths, and they are not friendly paths that merge in the middle. You got what you wanted. I got what I chose. And our friendship…well it was the price of it all,” Yunho explained while waving his hands to emphasize his points.
Friendship? Jaejoong wondered if that was all that they had been to each other. This Yunho was intoxicated, and almost impossible to make any sense of. Jaejoong also feared that his counterpart was also more than a little inebriated, which did not help to simplify matters. “Friendship? Was that all we were…we weren’t more?”
A blush slowly spread out across Yunho’s cheeks as he sank down to the floor, while still leaning against the wall for support. “We were just…young and stupid…it didn’t mean anything. We were just-” Yunho stopped when Jaejoong’s eyes flared.
“Didn’t mean anything?” Jaejoong accused, repeating Yunho’s words. Was Yunho an idiot in every reality?
“You said so!” Yunho quickly replied with panic all over his face. “You said it was because we were always together. You said it didn’t mean anything when it was the two of us. You said it didn’t count…that we were just special friends.”
“I did.”
Yunho nodded his head, looking really uncomfortable. “Why are we talking about this now? Why did you bring it up? It’s history…old history from another time.”
“I don’t know,” Jaejoong answered honestly as he looked down at the man. He wondered what kind of relationship these men had really had. Apparently more than friendship, but that wasn’t something that either of them was proud of. “Just special friends…” Jaejoong whispered, trailing off.
Yunho’s blush faded and he looked up at Jaejoong, baffled by the other man’s behavior. “That was years ago, we aren’t anything anymore.”
“That just seems wrong,” Jaejoong couldn’t help but let slip out. Was the lost of that special friendship the reason for all the heaviness that weighed this body down? To have a soul mate and to not be with him…what did that do to a person?
Yunho continued to stare at Jaejoong, confused, but now there was also compassion in his eyes. “Maybe someday…when we are old, and retired, we can be friends again. The company won’t care then, and maybe all the hurt will be lessened.”
“You think so?”
“I hope so and maybe all the lies will be over then. There have been too many lies.”
Jaejoong felt a flash of guilt trickle across Yunho’s mind and he latched on to it. “You lie too.”
There was a loud banging on the door, and Yunho climbed clumsily to his feet. Yunho swallowed and looked at Jaejoong sadly. “Yeah, but I had to. I try not to even say anything anymore. I don’t like talking about you guys anymore. I don’t want to lie. I don’t like it when I have to lie. I hate lying about you.”
“Nobody can make you lie,” Jaejoong told him with a touch of harshness, because it was the truth. People always had a choice. Maybe they didn’t have the best options, but there was always a choice.
Yunho, who was now standing in front of Jaejoong, closed his eyes, and Jaejoong felt his drunken regret. Yunho had his own heaviness about him too, weighing him down. “We never said we would leave. We wanted it to be better too, but we never said we would leave…not for certain. You three kept pushing…you were the angriest. You had your reasons, and I understood them. I hate how it ended…you have no idea how much I hate it. I wish I could have been stronger. I wish we all could have been better friends to each other, but we never said we would leave.”
Now there was somebody yelling for Yunho and threatening to break down the door if he didn’t open it. “I better go,” Yunho told Jaejoong as he reached out and squeezed the shorter man’s arm.
Jaejoong flung himself at Yunho and hugged him tightly. Jaejoong’s actions even shocked him, and he wondered if the other Jaejoong’s alcohol consumption was to blame. This Yunho wasn’t bad. This reality’s version of Jaejoong wasn’t bad either. Yunho had called him a liar, but not with malice, but with understanding. They were both liars. They were liars who were foolishly living lives apart…when they were supposed to be together. “When we are old…we will be friends. Promise me,” Jaejoong mumbled, full of melancholy into the other man’s shirt where his mouth was pressed up against the taller man. He felt so bad for this man, and this version of himself. He could feel tears in his eyes, because it was such a terrible waste.
Jaejoong felt Yunho hug him back, and before the Guardian pulled him away he heard Yunho promise, “When we are older.”
***************
Yunho felt himself spiraling through the endless depths of the Guardian, and then suddenly to his astonishment he found himself standing before the Guardian on the Planet Eternity. Yunho’s first thought was of Jaejoong. Was their journey over? Before Yunho had time to ask the Guardian, he was overcome by the intoxicating power of the bond he shared with Jaejoong, alerting him of his lover’s presence.
Yunho started to turn to look for his Jaejoong, when he suddenly found his arms full of his lover, who had just dived into his arms.
“Yunho, my Yunho,” Jaejoong cried out in relief. Jaejoong wrapped his arms around Yunho’s neck and clung to him.
“My Jaejoong,” Yunho whispered thankfully, saying his lover’s full name as he embraced the man in return. “My beautiful, healthy Jaejoong,” Yunho added as the vision of the dying man still lingered in his mind, haunting him.
“Yunho, it was so awful at times and yet so wonderful. To know we are meant for each other, over and over again.”
Yunho inhaled the scent of his lover and continued to embrace him. “Sometimes I thought my heart would break,” Yunho told Jaejoong, unconsciously tightening his hold on the man he loved.
“Yes,” Jaejoong agreed, but something in Yunho’s voice had him curious.
Yunho pushed Jaejoong away to face the Guardian of Time. He felt his anger flare as he looked at the ancient portal. Why had it felt the need to show them such things? “It tortured the people of this world to show us that. Why did the Guar-”
“Stop,” Jaejoong ordered, placing his hand over the mouth of his mate. “You must not question its reasons.”
“How can I not question them?”
“We have been presented with a great gift.”
“You call that a gift…that was more like torture.”
“Was it all so bad?”
“That’s not the point, Jae.”
“It is not our place to question the Guardian’s motives.”
“Really, I am pretty sure I heard you questioning it early.”
“I did that for the people of Eternity. Yunho, I promise the Guardian had its reasons for taking us on that journey.”
Yunho turned his glare away from the Guardian, and really looked at the man standing bedside him. “Jae, it was just hard. Some of it was just so hard.”
“I know, for me too,” Jaejoong told him. “But it wasn’t all horrible. Not at all, and it allowed us to have amazing insight to the path our souls have taken…so that we can be here right now.”
“It was pretty horrible,” Yunho insisted refusing to give in, although he understood the truth of Jaejoong’s words. Yunho was thinking back over his trips to the other realities, wondering what great insights he had been rewarded when he felt the familiar feel of Jaejoong entering his mind. “Stop it.”
“It’s my life too! I just want to know…what you went through.”
Yunho folded his arms. “When I want you to read my mind I will tell you.”
“You never want me to read your mind!”
“That’s right! Not without my permission!”
“You are so stubborn! Just so you know, you were a total dumbass in every reality I visited!” Jaejoong threw back at Yunho in his irritation.
“Was I?”
“Yes, you were! You were always denying our love! I have suffered so much throughout time because of you and your stubbornness!” Jaejoong accused, but the wave of hurt that radiated off of Yunho, after hearing Jaejoong’s words, filled Jaejoong with worry.
Yunho pulled Jaejoong back into his arms. “I know, and I am sorry. So sorry for everything I have ever done to you.”
Jaejoong let Yunho cling to him as he considered Yunho’s words. Had they only seen depressing visions of their past, but no that wasn’t right? Jaejoong remembered the bright, shiny happiness of the vision with the children…although the version of Yunho in that reality had dated a woman. “Did you see nothing of happiness?”
Yunho considered Jaejoong’s words as he ran his hands up and down Jaejoong’s back, taking comfort in the other man’s nearness. “I suppose it wasn’t all horrible…although I didn’t really know what was going on most of the time…but we seemed to be together for most of my visits,” Yunho answered. They had some kind of connection in the reality with the unicorn, it had been obvious that they had been lovers in the reality with Changmin, Junsu, and Yoochun, and in the reality with the tiger….Yunho stopped that line of thought immediately.
Jaejoong felt Yunho’s embarrassment and he couldn’t resist. “Oh, please tell me more about the tiger,” Jaejoong asked full of mischievous glee, refusing to abide by Yunho’s wishes just this once as he entered his lover’s mind.
Yunho let go of Jaejoong, totally red-faced now. “I am warning you.”
“You will just have to punish me later,” Jaejoong quickly replied as his face lit up in obvious enjoyment. “My Yunho, how dainty you were! I didn’t know you had a thing for masculine men. Should I work out and develop some muscles?”
Yunho glared back at his lover. “No!”
“Oh, what about this body paint? Oh, and it was in such an interesting area!” Jaejoong teased as he snatched more and more information from Yunho’s mind! “I didn’t know you were so open to me taking the-”
“I am not open to it!” Yunho exclaimed, interrupting his lover, who was now completely enjoying himself.
“You were.”
“Was not!”
“Baby,” Jaejoong said, repeating the endearment that the masculine Jaejoong had used, “I am a telepath, you can’t lie to me. The only reason you stopped it was because it wasn’t me. When you thought it was me, you were more than willing,” Jaejoong pointed out, deliberately annoying Yunho.
Yunho growled and tapped Jaejoong’s chest. “Well, use your telepathic powers to read my mind, right now!”
“Ouch!” Jaejoong proclaimed, leaning away from Yunho.
Yunho turned to the Guardian, and quickly asked. “Guardian, is there any way I can block him from reading my thoughts?”
“Yunho!” Jaejoong yelped, latching on to Yunho’s arm! “Don’t ask it that!”
“Why not? You’d never tell me if there was a way, and it seems to know everything!”
Jaejoong could have sworn the Guardian sounded amused when it answered, “Jung Yunho, in time a great many secrets will be reveled to you and your thoughts will not always be open to Jaejoong of the Royal House of Joong.”
“Thank you, Guardian. I shall wait for that day with bated breath,” Yunho replied, finding his dislike of the Guardian slightly diminished. He loved Jaejoong, but dammit, he yearned for the day when his mind would be his own again.
Yunho stepped away from the Guardian, ignoring the pissed off look Jaejoong was giving both him and the Guardian. The Guardian’s answer had annoyed and scared Jaejoong. Had the Guardian given him some kind of veiled threat? What did it mean by secrets being revealed in time?
Jaejoong, who was still holding Yunho’s arm, pushed those thoughts aside and focused on his mate. “Yunho, I was just teasing.”
“I don’t like it,” Yunho said, casting a disapproving look down at Jaejoong. “You have a clear advantage over me and it isn’t fair.”
Jaejoong was so tempted to tell the man he had only been distracting him from the sadness of the reality he had last visited, but that would not have been entirely true. “I don’t know why you are so angry. I’m not the one that was practically having sex with someone else.”
“What! He forced me!” Yunho shouted, shocked at Jaejoong’s words.
Jaejoong tried his best to sneer and look cross at his lover. When Jaejoong was sure he had hidden his amusement he said in cold voice, “Whatever, he was about to go where no man has gone before.”
“Ah..wha..no uhg,” Yunho sputtered, at a complete loss.
Jaejoong tilted his head up giving Yunho his best snotty look. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand the language of a cheater.”
“Cheater? I didn’t cheat!”
Jaejoong bit the inside of his cheeks for a moment to keep from laughing and replied, “Don’t forget you kissed the other one also……the fiery one with the soft lips.”
“There is a difference between being kissed by somebody, and you kissing them. I didn’t initiate any of it!”
“Nice try, but you’re still a cheater.”
Yunho stared at Jaejoong suspiciously and asked, “And you didn’t kiss anybody?”
Jaejoong, who had not let go of Yunho’s arm, allowed for a small smile to curl on his lips. “Well I did kiss the most dashing man on the hand.”
Yunho’s eyes darkened. “You kissed...as in you kissed somebody.”
Waves of jealously emanated off of Yunho and pelted Jaejoong. “On the hand,”
Jaejoong quickly spit out. Surely Yunho wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t exactly the jealous type.
“You initiated it though, didn’t you?” Yunho accused. “You wanted to kiss him.”
“It was on the hand! The hand!”
“Hmmmf, so how dashing was this man?’ Yunho asked, not even bothering to suppress his jealousy.
Jaejoong stared up and Yunho flabbergasted by the man’s jealousy, and flattered at the same time. “Very.”
“Jae-”
Jaejoong quickly interrupted, “But sadly he was what you refer to as a homophobe.”
“Well thank God for small wonders,” Yunho replied, trying to break free of Jaejoong’s hold on him.
Jaejoong refused to relinquish his hold on him. “Yes, like I said all your other versions were dumbasses. I mean how could anybody resist me? I really feel sorry for my alternate in that timeline too. I can’t imagine being stuck with such a handsome version of you…and yet never to know your touch.”
Yunho’s anger decreased slightly. “So he was another version of me?”
“No, I just kissed the hands of random guys.” Jaejoong did not fake his sneer now. “Of course he was! Although he was much better dressed than you, I must admit. I was thinking you should totally change the official uniform for the Expectations crew, or maybe just yours. I am thinking of something dark, navy blue with gold trim…with a tad bit of white silk,” Jaejoong replied hopefully, as the thought of his Yunho in such a uniform excited him.
Yunho fought the urge to chuckle at his bondmate. “I don’t think so. We need to tell the Guardian goodbye and get back to the palace.”
“Palace,” Jaejoong replied unhappily.
“Yes, we need to speak with Princess Claudia.”
Jaejoong sneered in dislike. “I don’t know why we have to talk to her.”
“It’s common courtesy,” Yunho explained as turned toward the Guardian. Yunho wasn’t really sure of what he should say. “What should I say? Should I say anything? You are the Joong, maybe you should tell it our goodbyes.”
“Be Gone,” the voice of the Guardian boomed.
Yunho turned to Jaejoong with a shocked expression. Jaejoong just shook his head. “Yunho, it is all-knowing…as in it knows everything.”
“Then I guess we should be going,” Yunho replied, still a little shocked at being dismissed.
“I still don’t know why we have to extend her a courtesy call. We did just save her planet,” Jaejoong grumbled.
Yunho shook his head disapprovingly at Jaejoong, and tapped his insignia. “Commander, the situation here with the Guardian has been resolved. Have Donghae beam us back to the palace.”
“Yes, Sir,” Commander Cho replied.
Jaejoong clung to Yunho tighter. He wouldn’t dare read Yunho’s mind again so soon. But he was very curious as to how exactly Princess Claudia knew Yunho. Jaejoong would spare Yunho from further mindreading, but the young princess, well he would read her like a book. She better not have any romantic notions involving Yunho either. If she did, he would gladly rid her of any such delusions. Yunho was his, and only his.
“Jaejoong, you better be nice,” Yunho said, full of warning, knowing instinctively what his lover was thinking.
“Precious Pet, I’m always nice!” Jaejoong proclaimed evilly. Jaejoong watched in glee as Yunho’s face filled with horror as the Expectation’s transporter beams took them away.
***************
Days later in another region of space, a man knocked on a door that led to the private quarters of a very powerful man.
Only seconds later the door opened, and a feminine, yet male voice could be heard beckoning him inside. “Come.”
The man at the door, who was tall and rigid, stepped into the room. In the middle of the room another man laid upon a lavish bed wearing nothing but a black robe. Intelligent eyes were studying rack after rack of lavish clothing that filled the room. “The servants brought me all these wonderful garments, and yet there isn’t anything that calls to me.”
“My Lord, you would look magnificent in anything.”
“A very smart response, but it’s of no help to me.”
“I apologize, My Lord.”
“Seung-hyun, what brings you to my room? I did not call for you,” the man on the bed asked, casting his eyes upon Seung-hyun for the first time since the other man entered the room.
“I have information regarding the Planet Eternity and the Time Keeper, My Lord.”
“Hmm…so the secret behind the Time Keeper’s tantrum is to be revealed. Please do enlighten me.”
Seung-hyun swallowed nervously, knowing not all of the information he acquired would be welcome. “The Planet Eternity had sent out a distress call, pleading for assistance…they were requesting a Joong.”
“So the Time Keeper was demanding a Joong, and destroying a world in the process,” the man surmised as he traced his bottom lip with one of his fingers. “And was their plea for assistance answered?”
“The same ship that aided the traitorous trader Shindong in escaping us, also answered the Planet Eternity’s distress call.”
Seung-hyun jumped back unable to hide his fear, as the man lurched out of bed, and was suddenly face to face with him. “And please explain how that ship could assist them,” the man whispered in a dangerous voice.
“It appears that Jaejoong has taken up residence on that ship.”
“My Jaejoong?”
“Yes, sir,” Seung-hyun answered, forcing himself to find the courage to continue. “It appears he has taken a mate.”
The man screamed, and pushed Seung-hyun ruthlessly to the floor. The man then turned around, knocking his carefully collected clothing onto the floor and stomping on them. “No! No! No! It can’t be! I refuse to believe it!”
Seung-hyun watched from the floor as the man tore through the room, destroying everything he touched. Seung-hyun dared not say a word, fearful the man’s rage would turn on him.
The man picked up a priceless vase and smashed it to pieces, and screamed out, “Jaejoong hasn’t taken a mate…he can’t have! Why are you saying this?”
“My Lord, his appearance is much changed now. The representative from Eternity, after hours of torture, finally confirmed that Jaejoong had taken the captain of the ship…the ship, Expectations, as his mate.”
Seung-hyun watched as the man crumbled to the floor dramatically, after hearing his last words. “No, not my Jaejoong. He was supposed to my Joong…Mine! He was supposed to be mine. I was too patient with him. I should have never made that promise! He abused my kindness!”
“My Lord, your kindness is limitless.”
“Not anymore,” the man roared as he stood back up with clenched fists. The black robe the man was wearing hung loosely off him, hiding nothing. “Not anymore. Jaejoong will regret ignoring all my advances…he will regret denying me.”
Seung-hyun climbed back to his feet, but said nothing as he watched the man fly to a safe that was embedded inside the wall of the room. The man flung it open and pulled out two necklaces, each made of rare pink crystals. “Do you know what these necklaces are? What they can do?”
“No, My Lord.” Seung-hyun had only seen the necklace upon Jaejoong. Jaejoong had been forced to wear one of them during his entire stay on the ship.
The man stared back at Seung-hyun with eyes so cold that it took all Seung-hyun’s strength to not look away. “With these necklaces, powerful Joongs are made into mere men. It evens the playing field.”
“I see, My Lord.”
The man returned one of the necklaces to the safe, and then he turned toward Seung-hyun. Eyes that had been dark and deadly just a moment before now sparkled with a new light. The man handed the necklace to Seung-hyun. “Assist me,” the man ordered in a seductive tone as he lifted his lustrous, red hair up and away from his neck.
“Yes, My Lord,” Seung-hyun obeyed as he placed the necklace around the man’s neck and fastened it.
The man then walked away from Seung-hyun and toward a mirror. He smiled at his reflection. “Yes, Jaejoong will regret the day he betrayed me.”
“As he should, My Lord.”
“I already know everything I need to know about defeating his captain.”
Seung-hyun flinched, what little they knew about the ship Expectations hinted that the ship was much more advanced than anything they had.
“And do you know what that is, Seung-hyun?”
“No, my Lord.”
“This captain answers calls for help,” the master said laughing. “Jaejoong’s mate is eager to offer a helping hand.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
The man turned back around and let his eyes drift up and down Seung-hyun’s body, before he walked back to him. The man then reached out a hand, and caressed Seung-hyun’s face. “Tempting, but not tempting enough,” the man said, pulling his hand away. “Now go learn everything there is to learn about the Expectations and her crew. Details never hurt, when one is setting a trap.”
“Yes, My Lord,” Seung-hyun answered his master, hiding his relief as he quickly exited the room.
The man watched as his most trusted officer left the room. Then the man let the robe fall off of him, pooling at his feet. The tall, slender man vowed in a voice devoid of kindness, “If I, Lord ZhouMi, can’t have Jaejoong…then no man will.”
Adventure Five: All Our Lives Part 4 of 4
Author: Aquariuslover
Pairings: Yunjae, KyuWook
Rating: R
Beta: motty123
Genre: Crossover, Science Fiction, Angst, death
A/N: If you don’t read the genre warnings…then you can’t complain. Okay, the commenters can...because I love all my comments. But you silent readers aren’t allowed to think bad things at me. lol
Summary: Yunho and Jaejoong are taken on a most unusual journey.
Prior Adventures
A gentle breeze aroused Yunho from a restless sleep.
His eyes fluttered open and he found himself sitting up in a chair. The chair was against an open window. The sight and sounds from outside the window brought a small smile to Yunho’s face. It was like a scene from ancient earth’s Wild West. People rode upon horses, women were wearing long dresses, and horse-pulled buggies filled the dirt road.
As a young boy, Yunho had thought that if he couldn’t be a Starship Captain, his first and greatest dream, then to be a real cowboy would have been his second choice. But of course cowboys didn’t exist in his time. To ride upon a good horse, and to fight for truth and justice…this Yunho would have loved.
Yunho’s back ached, so he sat up straighter. He looked at his hands and found them to be much older than his own hands. This version of Yunho was not a young man, but still he was eager to explore this reality. Yunho was about to stand up when the realization of what the other Yunho had been doing hit him like a ton of bricks. Yunho in his cowboy boots and clothes from another era was sitting at another’s bedside.
Yunho’s mouth went dry at the sight in front of him. Resting on the bed was a middle-aged man, whose skin was a deathly yellow color, and whose stomach stuck out like a pregnant woman’s. The man’s breathing was irregular and his eyes were closed shut. Even though he was nothing like his bondmate Yunho knew instinctively that this was the Jaejoong of this reality.
Yunho reached for the other man’s hand and grasped it tightly. “What happened…why are you like this?” Yunho asked, unable to comprehend the vision before him.
“Do you really not know?” a feminine voice asked from the other side of the room.
Yunho jerked his head around to find an attractive middle-aged woman standing in the corner of the room in a long black dress. “No,” Yunho answered her.
The woman gave him a sad look and walked closer to the bed, and looked down at Jaejoong sadly. “I often wondered if you knew…if you ever suspected, but I never had the nerve to ask.”
Yunho looked away from her and back to Jaejoong, who was dying in front of him. Jaejoong wasn’t supposed to die like this. Jaejoong was supposed to be forever beautiful, not this…never this.
“But of course you didn’t know. There is no room in your world of honor, justice, duty, and brotherhood for thoughts like the ones that tormented him.”
“Can’t he be helped?” Yunho couldn’t help but ask of her. Yunho was unable to take his eyes off of Jaejoong. The long pauses between breaths unnerved Yunho…he was fearful each one would be the last.
The woman shook her head. “You know there isn’t anything that can be done for him. It’s too late for him…much too late.”
“What caused this?” Yunho asked, knowing the words she spoke were the truth. Jaejoong was beyond the help of medicine in this time. How Yunho wished Ryeowook would show up in this reality…his version of Ryeowook.
The woman smiled sadly down at him and answered, “A life time of denying…denying his true feelings.”
Yunho’s eyes flew up from Jaejoong to meet her gaze. “His true feelings?”
“He was in love with you….for longer than I have even known you. Probably since you two were just boys. He loved you completely…I have never known anybody who was loved as much as he loved you. I’ve always been in love with you too, so it was easy for me to recognize the signs. What you and others saw as a deep friendship…was something else entirely.”
“In love with me,” Yunho repeated softly, looking down at the man whose eyes remained shut.
“Yes and all the alcohol in the world couldn’t erase that feeling for him. God, I used to hate,” the woman stopped as sobs escaped her. “I use to hate him so much. He was always at your side…you two were always riding off for some great adventure, but later I came to pity him so much. I got to be your wife, share your bed, have your children, and I’ll get to grow old with you…and he just got your everlasting friendship.”
Yunho felt tears in his eyes, and knew she spoke the truth. “And he drank because of that.”
The woman, who was still sobbing, nodded her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you. It was cruel of me to tell you. I’m sure he never wanted you to know.”
“No, it’s okay,” Yunho insisted and squeezed Jaejoong’s hand tighter. The Yunho of this reality had been blind to Jaejoong’s love, and in his misery Jaejoong had drunk himself into an early grave. Yunho remembered this era in history, and he suspected his counterpart had been oblivious to the other man’s feelings.
“I’m sure he never wanted you to know. I mean…I know he didn’t. He wouldn’t want you to feel uncomfortable around him. He would have wanted to protect your friendship…he treasured it so much. It was all he had of you. He wouldn’t have wanted you to think less of him,” the woman that was Yunho’s wife explained, with sadness coating her every word. “Please don’t think less of him.”
“I don’t think less of him,” Yunho insisted firmly.
The woman smiled down at her husband as tears covered her face. “You are a good man. You might have only had friendship to offer him, but you loved him the best you could. There was a reason he loved you so much, and you were worthy of that love.”
Yunho swallowed. “I don’t know about that. I just-” Jaejoong’s respirations had grown fewer, and Yunho saw a tear glide down the other man’s cheek. “Can you leave us alone?” Yunho asked the woman, sensing that Jaejoong was aware of his surroundings.
“Yes, of course…I will be right outside with the doctor,” the woman told him, and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
As soon as the woman was gone, Yunho brought Jaejoong’s hand up to his mouth and pressed it against his cheek. Jaejoong’s eyes opened slowly to stare up at him. Yunho fought with himself to resist flinching at the sight of Jaejoong’s eyes. The white of Jaejoong’s eyes was completely yellow.
Jaejoong was unable to say anything in return; the only sound coming from the man was the death rattle that came from the back of his throat, as his respirations grew farther and farther apart. Yunho watched as Jaejoong fought to keep looking at him.
Yunho smiled down at this version of Jaejoong, wanting nothing more than to give him hope…in this hopeless situation. Yunho felt the overwhelming sadness that unrequited love had cost the other man. How cruel this Jaejoong must have found his life…how trapped. By being born in this age…with so much prejudice…how hopeless and afraid…he must have always felt alone. “There is so many miracles and marvels in this universe…you can’t even imagine. They are limitless. I know this life was not all you wanted it to be, but I promise you there is a time and place for us.”
The last spark of life glistened in Jaejoong’s eyes for just a brief moment, showing his faith in Yunho’s words. Relief flooded Yunho as hope was restored to this reality’s Jaejoong as his life ended, and the Guardian swept Yunho far away.
*************
“You lie all the time.”
Jaejoong opened his eyes and found himself in a new reality. Jaejoong was relieved to find that his head was not threatening to split in half. Jaejoong was in a cramped room with a very intoxicated Yunho, who was trying his best to look sober.
“It’s not because you are a bad person...because you’re not. You are a good person. When you lie it’s like you get swept away in a feeling or something,” Yunho explained as he slumped back against the wall as he attempted to explain why Jaejoong lied. “You believe your lies when you are telling them…..because…well it’s a nice thing to say. It’s what people want you to say. You always want to make people happy. You believe your lies…till you don’t anymore.”
Jaejoong frowned at Yunho. Trying to read the mind of an intoxicated man was not easy. The only thoughts he could gather from this drunken Yunho was that they were in a bathroom, his counterpart in this reality was a liar, and Yunho found him attractive. “You think I’m attractive?” Jaejoong repeated for some odd reason. Was he intoxicated too, he wondered. He felt so heavy. He had escaped the pain of the previous reality, to just find heaviness in this new one.
“Yes,” Yunho answered without hesitation, and then pointed his finger at Jaejoong’s head to emphasize his point. “But you are still a liar, but a very attractive one…I really like your hair. You don’t look so much like a girl now.”
Jaejoong’s hands immediately flew up to feel his hair that was shorter than he normally liked. He then walked over to the wall that had mirrors all across it to look at his hair. “It does look nice,” Jaejoong had to admit of the hair, but it was his face that stole his attention away. Make-up was plastered to his face, but it didn’t hide the dark circles that surrounded his eyes. This Jaejoong was very tired, and he knew this must be where the heaviness came from. This version of him looked as if he had been tired for years. It was almost as if sleep was an enemy of this version of himself, and that he desperately avoided it at all cost.
“You shouldn’t have dragged me in here.”
Jaejoong turned around to face this reality’s version of Yunho. “No?”
“No, we are not friends anymore. We both chose different paths, and they are not friendly paths that merge in the middle. You got what you wanted. I got what I chose. And our friendship…well it was the price of it all,” Yunho explained while waving his hands to emphasize his points.
Friendship? Jaejoong wondered if that was all that they had been to each other. This Yunho was intoxicated, and almost impossible to make any sense of. Jaejoong also feared that his counterpart was also more than a little inebriated, which did not help to simplify matters. “Friendship? Was that all we were…we weren’t more?”
A blush slowly spread out across Yunho’s cheeks as he sank down to the floor, while still leaning against the wall for support. “We were just…young and stupid…it didn’t mean anything. We were just-” Yunho stopped when Jaejoong’s eyes flared.
“Didn’t mean anything?” Jaejoong accused, repeating Yunho’s words. Was Yunho an idiot in every reality?
“You said so!” Yunho quickly replied with panic all over his face. “You said it was because we were always together. You said it didn’t mean anything when it was the two of us. You said it didn’t count…that we were just special friends.”
“I did.”
Yunho nodded his head, looking really uncomfortable. “Why are we talking about this now? Why did you bring it up? It’s history…old history from another time.”
“I don’t know,” Jaejoong answered honestly as he looked down at the man. He wondered what kind of relationship these men had really had. Apparently more than friendship, but that wasn’t something that either of them was proud of. “Just special friends…” Jaejoong whispered, trailing off.
Yunho’s blush faded and he looked up at Jaejoong, baffled by the other man’s behavior. “That was years ago, we aren’t anything anymore.”
“That just seems wrong,” Jaejoong couldn’t help but let slip out. Was the lost of that special friendship the reason for all the heaviness that weighed this body down? To have a soul mate and to not be with him…what did that do to a person?
Yunho continued to stare at Jaejoong, confused, but now there was also compassion in his eyes. “Maybe someday…when we are old, and retired, we can be friends again. The company won’t care then, and maybe all the hurt will be lessened.”
“You think so?”
“I hope so and maybe all the lies will be over then. There have been too many lies.”
Jaejoong felt a flash of guilt trickle across Yunho’s mind and he latched on to it. “You lie too.”
There was a loud banging on the door, and Yunho climbed clumsily to his feet. Yunho swallowed and looked at Jaejoong sadly. “Yeah, but I had to. I try not to even say anything anymore. I don’t like talking about you guys anymore. I don’t want to lie. I don’t like it when I have to lie. I hate lying about you.”
“Nobody can make you lie,” Jaejoong told him with a touch of harshness, because it was the truth. People always had a choice. Maybe they didn’t have the best options, but there was always a choice.
Yunho, who was now standing in front of Jaejoong, closed his eyes, and Jaejoong felt his drunken regret. Yunho had his own heaviness about him too, weighing him down. “We never said we would leave. We wanted it to be better too, but we never said we would leave…not for certain. You three kept pushing…you were the angriest. You had your reasons, and I understood them. I hate how it ended…you have no idea how much I hate it. I wish I could have been stronger. I wish we all could have been better friends to each other, but we never said we would leave.”
Now there was somebody yelling for Yunho and threatening to break down the door if he didn’t open it. “I better go,” Yunho told Jaejoong as he reached out and squeezed the shorter man’s arm.
Jaejoong flung himself at Yunho and hugged him tightly. Jaejoong’s actions even shocked him, and he wondered if the other Jaejoong’s alcohol consumption was to blame. This Yunho wasn’t bad. This reality’s version of Jaejoong wasn’t bad either. Yunho had called him a liar, but not with malice, but with understanding. They were both liars. They were liars who were foolishly living lives apart…when they were supposed to be together. “When we are old…we will be friends. Promise me,” Jaejoong mumbled, full of melancholy into the other man’s shirt where his mouth was pressed up against the taller man. He felt so bad for this man, and this version of himself. He could feel tears in his eyes, because it was such a terrible waste.
Jaejoong felt Yunho hug him back, and before the Guardian pulled him away he heard Yunho promise, “When we are older.”
***************
Yunho felt himself spiraling through the endless depths of the Guardian, and then suddenly to his astonishment he found himself standing before the Guardian on the Planet Eternity. Yunho’s first thought was of Jaejoong. Was their journey over? Before Yunho had time to ask the Guardian, he was overcome by the intoxicating power of the bond he shared with Jaejoong, alerting him of his lover’s presence.
Yunho started to turn to look for his Jaejoong, when he suddenly found his arms full of his lover, who had just dived into his arms.
“Yunho, my Yunho,” Jaejoong cried out in relief. Jaejoong wrapped his arms around Yunho’s neck and clung to him.
“My Jaejoong,” Yunho whispered thankfully, saying his lover’s full name as he embraced the man in return. “My beautiful, healthy Jaejoong,” Yunho added as the vision of the dying man still lingered in his mind, haunting him.
“Yunho, it was so awful at times and yet so wonderful. To know we are meant for each other, over and over again.”
Yunho inhaled the scent of his lover and continued to embrace him. “Sometimes I thought my heart would break,” Yunho told Jaejoong, unconsciously tightening his hold on the man he loved.
“Yes,” Jaejoong agreed, but something in Yunho’s voice had him curious.
Yunho pushed Jaejoong away to face the Guardian of Time. He felt his anger flare as he looked at the ancient portal. Why had it felt the need to show them such things? “It tortured the people of this world to show us that. Why did the Guar-”
“Stop,” Jaejoong ordered, placing his hand over the mouth of his mate. “You must not question its reasons.”
“How can I not question them?”
“We have been presented with a great gift.”
“You call that a gift…that was more like torture.”
“Was it all so bad?”
“That’s not the point, Jae.”
“It is not our place to question the Guardian’s motives.”
“Really, I am pretty sure I heard you questioning it early.”
“I did that for the people of Eternity. Yunho, I promise the Guardian had its reasons for taking us on that journey.”
Yunho turned his glare away from the Guardian, and really looked at the man standing bedside him. “Jae, it was just hard. Some of it was just so hard.”
“I know, for me too,” Jaejoong told him. “But it wasn’t all horrible. Not at all, and it allowed us to have amazing insight to the path our souls have taken…so that we can be here right now.”
“It was pretty horrible,” Yunho insisted refusing to give in, although he understood the truth of Jaejoong’s words. Yunho was thinking back over his trips to the other realities, wondering what great insights he had been rewarded when he felt the familiar feel of Jaejoong entering his mind. “Stop it.”
“It’s my life too! I just want to know…what you went through.”
Yunho folded his arms. “When I want you to read my mind I will tell you.”
“You never want me to read your mind!”
“That’s right! Not without my permission!”
“You are so stubborn! Just so you know, you were a total dumbass in every reality I visited!” Jaejoong threw back at Yunho in his irritation.
“Was I?”
“Yes, you were! You were always denying our love! I have suffered so much throughout time because of you and your stubbornness!” Jaejoong accused, but the wave of hurt that radiated off of Yunho, after hearing Jaejoong’s words, filled Jaejoong with worry.
Yunho pulled Jaejoong back into his arms. “I know, and I am sorry. So sorry for everything I have ever done to you.”
Jaejoong let Yunho cling to him as he considered Yunho’s words. Had they only seen depressing visions of their past, but no that wasn’t right? Jaejoong remembered the bright, shiny happiness of the vision with the children…although the version of Yunho in that reality had dated a woman. “Did you see nothing of happiness?”
Yunho considered Jaejoong’s words as he ran his hands up and down Jaejoong’s back, taking comfort in the other man’s nearness. “I suppose it wasn’t all horrible…although I didn’t really know what was going on most of the time…but we seemed to be together for most of my visits,” Yunho answered. They had some kind of connection in the reality with the unicorn, it had been obvious that they had been lovers in the reality with Changmin, Junsu, and Yoochun, and in the reality with the tiger….Yunho stopped that line of thought immediately.
Jaejoong felt Yunho’s embarrassment and he couldn’t resist. “Oh, please tell me more about the tiger,” Jaejoong asked full of mischievous glee, refusing to abide by Yunho’s wishes just this once as he entered his lover’s mind.
Yunho let go of Jaejoong, totally red-faced now. “I am warning you.”
“You will just have to punish me later,” Jaejoong quickly replied as his face lit up in obvious enjoyment. “My Yunho, how dainty you were! I didn’t know you had a thing for masculine men. Should I work out and develop some muscles?”
Yunho glared back at his lover. “No!”
“Oh, what about this body paint? Oh, and it was in such an interesting area!” Jaejoong teased as he snatched more and more information from Yunho’s mind! “I didn’t know you were so open to me taking the-”
“I am not open to it!” Yunho exclaimed, interrupting his lover, who was now completely enjoying himself.
“You were.”
“Was not!”
“Baby,” Jaejoong said, repeating the endearment that the masculine Jaejoong had used, “I am a telepath, you can’t lie to me. The only reason you stopped it was because it wasn’t me. When you thought it was me, you were more than willing,” Jaejoong pointed out, deliberately annoying Yunho.
Yunho growled and tapped Jaejoong’s chest. “Well, use your telepathic powers to read my mind, right now!”
“Ouch!” Jaejoong proclaimed, leaning away from Yunho.
Yunho turned to the Guardian, and quickly asked. “Guardian, is there any way I can block him from reading my thoughts?”
“Yunho!” Jaejoong yelped, latching on to Yunho’s arm! “Don’t ask it that!”
“Why not? You’d never tell me if there was a way, and it seems to know everything!”
Jaejoong could have sworn the Guardian sounded amused when it answered, “Jung Yunho, in time a great many secrets will be reveled to you and your thoughts will not always be open to Jaejoong of the Royal House of Joong.”
“Thank you, Guardian. I shall wait for that day with bated breath,” Yunho replied, finding his dislike of the Guardian slightly diminished. He loved Jaejoong, but dammit, he yearned for the day when his mind would be his own again.
Yunho stepped away from the Guardian, ignoring the pissed off look Jaejoong was giving both him and the Guardian. The Guardian’s answer had annoyed and scared Jaejoong. Had the Guardian given him some kind of veiled threat? What did it mean by secrets being revealed in time?
Jaejoong, who was still holding Yunho’s arm, pushed those thoughts aside and focused on his mate. “Yunho, I was just teasing.”
“I don’t like it,” Yunho said, casting a disapproving look down at Jaejoong. “You have a clear advantage over me and it isn’t fair.”
Jaejoong was so tempted to tell the man he had only been distracting him from the sadness of the reality he had last visited, but that would not have been entirely true. “I don’t know why you are so angry. I’m not the one that was practically having sex with someone else.”
“What! He forced me!” Yunho shouted, shocked at Jaejoong’s words.
Jaejoong tried his best to sneer and look cross at his lover. When Jaejoong was sure he had hidden his amusement he said in cold voice, “Whatever, he was about to go where no man has gone before.”
“Ah..wha..no uhg,” Yunho sputtered, at a complete loss.
Jaejoong tilted his head up giving Yunho his best snotty look. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand the language of a cheater.”
“Cheater? I didn’t cheat!”
Jaejoong bit the inside of his cheeks for a moment to keep from laughing and replied, “Don’t forget you kissed the other one also……the fiery one with the soft lips.”
“There is a difference between being kissed by somebody, and you kissing them. I didn’t initiate any of it!”
“Nice try, but you’re still a cheater.”
Yunho stared at Jaejoong suspiciously and asked, “And you didn’t kiss anybody?”
Jaejoong, who had not let go of Yunho’s arm, allowed for a small smile to curl on his lips. “Well I did kiss the most dashing man on the hand.”
Yunho’s eyes darkened. “You kissed...as in you kissed somebody.”
Waves of jealously emanated off of Yunho and pelted Jaejoong. “On the hand,”
Jaejoong quickly spit out. Surely Yunho wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t exactly the jealous type.
“You initiated it though, didn’t you?” Yunho accused. “You wanted to kiss him.”
“It was on the hand! The hand!”
“Hmmmf, so how dashing was this man?’ Yunho asked, not even bothering to suppress his jealousy.
Jaejoong stared up and Yunho flabbergasted by the man’s jealousy, and flattered at the same time. “Very.”
“Jae-”
Jaejoong quickly interrupted, “But sadly he was what you refer to as a homophobe.”
“Well thank God for small wonders,” Yunho replied, trying to break free of Jaejoong’s hold on him.
Jaejoong refused to relinquish his hold on him. “Yes, like I said all your other versions were dumbasses. I mean how could anybody resist me? I really feel sorry for my alternate in that timeline too. I can’t imagine being stuck with such a handsome version of you…and yet never to know your touch.”
Yunho’s anger decreased slightly. “So he was another version of me?”
“No, I just kissed the hands of random guys.” Jaejoong did not fake his sneer now. “Of course he was! Although he was much better dressed than you, I must admit. I was thinking you should totally change the official uniform for the Expectations crew, or maybe just yours. I am thinking of something dark, navy blue with gold trim…with a tad bit of white silk,” Jaejoong replied hopefully, as the thought of his Yunho in such a uniform excited him.
Yunho fought the urge to chuckle at his bondmate. “I don’t think so. We need to tell the Guardian goodbye and get back to the palace.”
“Palace,” Jaejoong replied unhappily.
“Yes, we need to speak with Princess Claudia.”
Jaejoong sneered in dislike. “I don’t know why we have to talk to her.”
“It’s common courtesy,” Yunho explained as turned toward the Guardian. Yunho wasn’t really sure of what he should say. “What should I say? Should I say anything? You are the Joong, maybe you should tell it our goodbyes.”
“Be Gone,” the voice of the Guardian boomed.
Yunho turned to Jaejoong with a shocked expression. Jaejoong just shook his head. “Yunho, it is all-knowing…as in it knows everything.”
“Then I guess we should be going,” Yunho replied, still a little shocked at being dismissed.
“I still don’t know why we have to extend her a courtesy call. We did just save her planet,” Jaejoong grumbled.
Yunho shook his head disapprovingly at Jaejoong, and tapped his insignia. “Commander, the situation here with the Guardian has been resolved. Have Donghae beam us back to the palace.”
“Yes, Sir,” Commander Cho replied.
Jaejoong clung to Yunho tighter. He wouldn’t dare read Yunho’s mind again so soon. But he was very curious as to how exactly Princess Claudia knew Yunho. Jaejoong would spare Yunho from further mindreading, but the young princess, well he would read her like a book. She better not have any romantic notions involving Yunho either. If she did, he would gladly rid her of any such delusions. Yunho was his, and only his.
“Jaejoong, you better be nice,” Yunho said, full of warning, knowing instinctively what his lover was thinking.
“Precious Pet, I’m always nice!” Jaejoong proclaimed evilly. Jaejoong watched in glee as Yunho’s face filled with horror as the Expectation’s transporter beams took them away.
***************
Days later in another region of space, a man knocked on a door that led to the private quarters of a very powerful man.
Only seconds later the door opened, and a feminine, yet male voice could be heard beckoning him inside. “Come.”
The man at the door, who was tall and rigid, stepped into the room. In the middle of the room another man laid upon a lavish bed wearing nothing but a black robe. Intelligent eyes were studying rack after rack of lavish clothing that filled the room. “The servants brought me all these wonderful garments, and yet there isn’t anything that calls to me.”
“My Lord, you would look magnificent in anything.”
“A very smart response, but it’s of no help to me.”
“I apologize, My Lord.”
“Seung-hyun, what brings you to my room? I did not call for you,” the man on the bed asked, casting his eyes upon Seung-hyun for the first time since the other man entered the room.
“I have information regarding the Planet Eternity and the Time Keeper, My Lord.”
“Hmm…so the secret behind the Time Keeper’s tantrum is to be revealed. Please do enlighten me.”
Seung-hyun swallowed nervously, knowing not all of the information he acquired would be welcome. “The Planet Eternity had sent out a distress call, pleading for assistance…they were requesting a Joong.”
“So the Time Keeper was demanding a Joong, and destroying a world in the process,” the man surmised as he traced his bottom lip with one of his fingers. “And was their plea for assistance answered?”
“The same ship that aided the traitorous trader Shindong in escaping us, also answered the Planet Eternity’s distress call.”
Seung-hyun jumped back unable to hide his fear, as the man lurched out of bed, and was suddenly face to face with him. “And please explain how that ship could assist them,” the man whispered in a dangerous voice.
“It appears that Jaejoong has taken up residence on that ship.”
“My Jaejoong?”
“Yes, sir,” Seung-hyun answered, forcing himself to find the courage to continue. “It appears he has taken a mate.”
The man screamed, and pushed Seung-hyun ruthlessly to the floor. The man then turned around, knocking his carefully collected clothing onto the floor and stomping on them. “No! No! No! It can’t be! I refuse to believe it!”
Seung-hyun watched from the floor as the man tore through the room, destroying everything he touched. Seung-hyun dared not say a word, fearful the man’s rage would turn on him.
The man picked up a priceless vase and smashed it to pieces, and screamed out, “Jaejoong hasn’t taken a mate…he can’t have! Why are you saying this?”
“My Lord, his appearance is much changed now. The representative from Eternity, after hours of torture, finally confirmed that Jaejoong had taken the captain of the ship…the ship, Expectations, as his mate.”
Seung-hyun watched as the man crumbled to the floor dramatically, after hearing his last words. “No, not my Jaejoong. He was supposed to my Joong…Mine! He was supposed to be mine. I was too patient with him. I should have never made that promise! He abused my kindness!”
“My Lord, your kindness is limitless.”
“Not anymore,” the man roared as he stood back up with clenched fists. The black robe the man was wearing hung loosely off him, hiding nothing. “Not anymore. Jaejoong will regret ignoring all my advances…he will regret denying me.”
Seung-hyun climbed back to his feet, but said nothing as he watched the man fly to a safe that was embedded inside the wall of the room. The man flung it open and pulled out two necklaces, each made of rare pink crystals. “Do you know what these necklaces are? What they can do?”
“No, My Lord.” Seung-hyun had only seen the necklace upon Jaejoong. Jaejoong had been forced to wear one of them during his entire stay on the ship.
The man stared back at Seung-hyun with eyes so cold that it took all Seung-hyun’s strength to not look away. “With these necklaces, powerful Joongs are made into mere men. It evens the playing field.”
“I see, My Lord.”
The man returned one of the necklaces to the safe, and then he turned toward Seung-hyun. Eyes that had been dark and deadly just a moment before now sparkled with a new light. The man handed the necklace to Seung-hyun. “Assist me,” the man ordered in a seductive tone as he lifted his lustrous, red hair up and away from his neck.
“Yes, My Lord,” Seung-hyun obeyed as he placed the necklace around the man’s neck and fastened it.
The man then walked away from Seung-hyun and toward a mirror. He smiled at his reflection. “Yes, Jaejoong will regret the day he betrayed me.”
“As he should, My Lord.”
“I already know everything I need to know about defeating his captain.”
Seung-hyun flinched, what little they knew about the ship Expectations hinted that the ship was much more advanced than anything they had.
“And do you know what that is, Seung-hyun?”
“No, my Lord.”
“This captain answers calls for help,” the master said laughing. “Jaejoong’s mate is eager to offer a helping hand.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
The man turned back around and let his eyes drift up and down Seung-hyun’s body, before he walked back to him. The man then reached out a hand, and caressed Seung-hyun’s face. “Tempting, but not tempting enough,” the man said, pulling his hand away. “Now go learn everything there is to learn about the Expectations and her crew. Details never hurt, when one is setting a trap.”
“Yes, My Lord,” Seung-hyun answered his master, hiding his relief as he quickly exited the room.
The man watched as his most trusted officer left the room. Then the man let the robe fall off of him, pooling at his feet. The tall, slender man vowed in a voice devoid of kindness, “If I, Lord ZhouMi, can’t have Jaejoong…then no man will.”