The Sound of Flight - Part V ; OT5

[thevignette]

I surprised myself by finishing this part so quickly :D

Title: The Sound of Flight - Part V
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Dong Bang Shin Ki
Pairing(s): OT5
Disclaimer: The boys do not belong to me. This is also nothing but pure fiction.

All parts: Part I | Part II | Part III | Interlude | Part IV
Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII (final)


The Sound of Flight
Part V

When Junsu wakes up in the morning, after-images from his dream are still fresh in his mind. He feels too ill to get out of bed. He wraps the blanket around his body and just sits there. He thinks, maybe he should mourn or cry, but for some strange reason, his eyes remain dry.

He curls up in bed until there is a knock on the door, and a voice telling him that it is already past noon and if he doesn't check out now, he will have to pay for another day's stay. He gets out of bed, shuffles to the door, and tells the man standing there to extend his stay.

The man nods politely and leaves. Junsu shuts the door and finds himself sinking onto the floor, his knees losing strength. When was the last time he ate?

He tries to recall how long it has been, but the more he thinks, the hungrier he gets. He never knew that hunger was a kind of pain, sharp white-hot flashes of pain. He lies there on the ground, unable to move, and somehow, he slips back into sleep.

"Where could he have gone?" Yunho asks, whirling around to face Yoochun. Jaejoong has gone downstairs to extend their stay, and now there's only the two of them left in the room.

"We can't leave," Jaejoong insisted when Yunho and Yoochun suggested leaving to look for Changmin. "We can't. What if he suddenly decides to come back and we're not here?"

"Where could he have gone?" Yunho repeats the question.

"I don't know," Yoochun says.

Yunho grabs Yoochun's hand. "We'll find him," he says firmly.

Yoochun looks up, startled by Yunho's sudden conviction. Their eyes meet and then Yoochun smiles. "Of course we will," Yoochun says, and then he sits a little straighter and stares into Yunho's face. "Yunho," he says slowly.

"What?" Yunho says warily, his eyes searching Yoochun's face. "Yoochun. What?"

"When you and Changmin found us two days back, how did you know we were here?" Yoochun asks.

Yunho blinks at Yoochun. "I don't exactly how I knew, but I just knew," he says carefully. "Somehow, I just kept walking and when I found this place, I just knew. It's as though something was calling me here, and all I had to do was concentrate, and I will be led to the three of you."

"If you found the three of us," Yoochun says. "Then we can find Changmin."

Changmin was running away - he heard Jaejoong behind him but he didn't want to look behind in case he slowed down and let Jaejoong catch up. He turned the corner, and then he was grabbed and pulled into a car.

The last thing he remembers seeing the interior of a car, and his vision blurring as he blacked out.

They brought him here. Not the Academy - somewhere else. He regained consciousness just as the car pulled to a stop, and he was escorted into a grey building by four men in business suits. They put him in this room and he has been here ever since.

Changmin sits on the bed, and closes his eyes. Sooner or later, he thinks, someone will come in and tell him what this is all about. Right on cue, the door swings open.

"You mean a lot to him, don't you?"

Changmin opens his eyes.

A woman, probably in her early thirties, standing in front of him. She spoke with an accent, as though the words don't belong in her mouth. Probably not a native Korean.

"A lot to who?" Changmin asks.

The woman smiles, and lifts up a photograph. "Kim Junsu," she supplies, walking forward and dropping it into Changmin's lap. She sits down next to him on the bed and watches as Changmin picks up the photograph.

Changmin's heart swoops downwards dangerously, and he feels a little sick. It's a photograph of Junsu, taken from outside a hotel room window. Junsu is lying on the floor, asleep or unconscious?

Changmin turns around, holding on so tightly to the photograph that it crumples at the sides. "Is he okay?"

"Depends on what you think okay means," she says, still smiling. "He's alive," she shrugs.

"We've been followed all this while," Changmin says.

Her smile grows wider. "They were right. You are the smart one."

"Who are you?" Changmin asks. "Do you work for the Academy?"

She starts to laugh and it makes Changmin cringe. "Work for the Academy? Of course not," she says, a hint of scorn in her voice. "Surely you don't think the Academy has the means to produce such photographs?" she reaches inside the coat she's wearing and takes out a brown envelope. Turning it upside, dozens of photographs tumble onto the bed.

Photographs of the five of them, since they escaped from the Academy. Them, in their car. Walking on the streets. In rooms. Their heads bent intimately together. Kissing.

Changmin tears his eyes away from the photographs. "Who are you?" he repeats.

"Who I am isn't important," she says, brushing Changmin's question aside. "All you need to know is that I'm not from the Academy. And I'm not the one in charge here either. I'm only," she pauses, looking a word. "A messenger?" she suggests.

Changmin regards her quietly. "And what message are you supposed to pass to me?"

She ignores his question again. She picks up all the photographs on the bed, slotting them back into the envelope. She holds one up, looks at it, smiling. "You get to keep this one," she says, holding it out.

Changmin takes it.

"Do you think," she says, standing up. "They will come for you?"

Changmin stares up at her. "I don't know," he says, and once she disappears out the door, locking it behind her, he looks down at the photograph he has in his hands.

The five of them, sitting in a circle, having dinner. Matching smiles on their faces. Like there's nowhere else they would rather be.

Junsu drifts in and out of consciousness. Sometimes, he hears voices. Far away, too distant for him to make out what they're saying. Are the voices even real? He may be hallucinating. He fights his way back to consciousness, sometimes succeeding enough to open his eyes and see the surroundings of hotel room he's in, and then he loses it again. He sleeps, wakes, sleeps, wakes, gradually losing track of time.

During one of the gaps of consciousness, Junsu summons all the willpower and strength he has left, Junsu opens his eyes and forces himself to sit up. Every muscle in his body protests, screaming in pain. He grabs hold on the doorknob, dragging himself to his feet. He makes his way across the room where his bag is lying. He vaguely recalls putting some food and water in there.

He finds the bottle of water and bread, forcing both down his throat. The clock tells him he has been lying on the floor, in and out of consciousness for slightly more than fifteen hours. It is now half past five in the morning.

He stares into his bag, at his clothes, at the bundle of cash he brought along. "What are you doing?" he says out loud. He runs a hand through his hair, frustrated and at a loss. He walks into the shower with all his clothes still on and turns on the water, shockingly cold.

He holds his breath and stands under the icy water until something in his brain clicks back into place.

"Shit," he swears, stumbling out of the shower, dripping wet. He tears off the wet clothes, throwing them onto the floor, and pulling clean ones on. He slings the bag across his shoulder, grabs the room key and dashes down to the counter.

He throws the room key and money onto the counter, and runs out of the front door. He hails a cab, and sitting in the car, he tries to figure out why it feels like there is a gaping hole somewhere inside him.

The sun is rising just as the car pulls up in front of the hotel that he prays the rest of them are still staying at. He finds the right room and bangs on the door.

It takes half a minute before anyone comes to the door, and when it finally opens, it is Jaejoong, puffy-eyed and looking hopeful. A strangled expression comes onto Jaejoong's face when he sees Junsu.

"Junsu?" he says quietly.

Something is wrong, Junsu thinks.

"Changmin is gone," Jaejoong says, letting Junsu in and shutting the door.

She brings him breakfast. Changmin is starving, and takes the food from her gratefully.

Instead of sitting on the bed, she drags a chair over and sits opposite him instead. "Where do you suppose your friends think you are now?" she asks conversationally, watching him eat.

Changmin swallows the mouthful of bread. "I don't know," he says. "Where are you going to let them think I am?"

Her mouth twitches into a smile but she ignores his question once again. "Do you think you know your friends well?"

Changmin pauses with the bread halfway to his mouth. "Well enough," he answers carefully.

"If they know that you're right here," she says. "Which one of them will want to come for you, and which one of them wouldn't want to?"

"I don't want any of them to come for me," Changmin says.

She crosses her arms. "And why is that?"

Changmin drops the half eaten piece of bread back onto the plate and pushes it aside. "Because if they come, they're just going to be caught - which is what you guys want."

"But that's not my question," she says. "I'm not asking whether you want them to come. I'm asking you who will come and who wouldn't."

"I don't want to answer that question," Changmin says.

"Then I'll just have to try it out myself to find out," she sighs, standing up.

Changmin jerks his head up. "You're going to tell them where I am," he says.

"I'm not going to tell them," she says, shaking her head and smiling. "You are," and then she snaps her fingers in front of his face. "Goodnight, Changmin," she says gently as Changmin collapses backwards in a dead faint.

"What do you mean Changmin is gone?" Junsu shouts. "How is he gone? What do you mean gone?"

"Junsu, calm down," Yunho says, grabbing Junsu's arm. Junsu tries to shake him off, but fails. Yunho forces him onto the sofa. "Yesterday, he took off. Jaejoong tried to stop him, but he wouldn't give in. He wanted to look for you."

Junsu feels guilt trickle down his back like cold slime. He feels sick to his stomach.

"Jaejoong and I, we chased after him. He rounded a corner, and I swear, I got there only a few seconds after, but he was already gone. Disappeared," Yunho says, and Junsu knows Yunho is telling the truth. Why would he lie?

Junsu buries his head in his hands. "Damn it," he says through clenches teeth.

Yoochun's hand comes to rest on his back. "Junsu, if we try, we can find out where he is," he says, and it doesn't sound like just reassuring words to Junsu. There is quiet confidence in Yoochun's voice and Junsu lifts his head up.

"How?" Junsu asks.

Yoochun smiles, takes Junsu's hand and presses it firmly to where his heart beats in his ribcage. "Heart to heart connection," he says softly.

Behind Yoochun, Yunho and Jaejoong break into smiles.

It is not a dream. Changmin isn't asleep, so he isn't dreaming; but he knows that this isn't the real world. This is not reality - this is some other world that only exists in his mind.

When Changmin moves, the world shifts beneath his feet, frighteningly fragile. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Yoochun appears a few steps away from him. His eyes light up when he spots Changmin, and Changmin's first reaction is to run.

He runs as fast as his legs carry him, ignoring the way the ground sways dangerously.

Yoochun is calling his name. Changmin knows that he cannot stop, he cannot turn back, he cannot let Yoochun catch up with him.

He keeps on running, and Yoochun keeps on chasing.

"Stop it," Changmin screams. "Yoochun, go back."

"I'm not going back," Yoochun shouts back, and he sounds even closer than he was before. A dry sob rips its way out of Changmin's chest as Changmin tries to go faster.

"Changmin, please stop," Yoochun pleads. "Changmin," he shouts, and suddenly his voice changes, and it is not Yoochun's voice any more. The voice calling his name is Junsu's.

It feels as though someone has reached into his chest and squeezed his heart tightly. Distracted, Changmin trips and falls, and before he can pick himself up, Junsu is by his side.

"I got you," Junsu says, and his eyes are sparkling. His features rearrange themselves into Jaejoong's smiling face, and then Jaejoong turns into Yunho, saying joyously, Changmin, we found you.

Changmin is folded into Yunho's arms, like a kite, reeled back to where he belongs.

Changmin wakes up on a bed, and the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is her face. Upside down. She stares down at him, smiling serenely. He tries to sit up, but some invisible force holds him in place.

"What're you doing?" he says, struggling, but not able to move even an inch.

She straightens, moving out of his line of sight, and suddenly, Changmin finds that he can move again. Sitting up, he looks around him - he is in another room. One even more empty than the one he is kept prisoner in. The only piece of furniture in the room is the bed he is sitting on. Despite this, the room is huge. When they speak, their voices echo.

The bed starts to move and Changmin has to grab the sides to keep from falling off. He turns around to see her wheeling the bed forward and out the door. "Where're we going?" Changmin says. "I can walk, you know."

She ignores him, wheeling the bed into another room. Luxuriously furnished and tastefully decorated, the room is completely different from anything Changmin has seen in this building. She lets go off the bed and Changmin gets to his feet immediately. He stands for a fraction of a second, and then he collapses onto the floor. There is no strength in his legs at all.

He breaks out into cold sweat. "What did you do to me?"

"It's a side effect," she says. "Don't worry. It will go away in a few minutes." She grabs him by the arm and pulls him upwards, a shocking amount of strength for a woman. She drags him over, and pushes him into an armchair. "Sit," she says, as though speaking to a pet.

"Are you the only other person in this building?" he asks.

"Of course not," she says, amused. "Don't you remember the men who brought you here?"

Changmin narrows his eyes. "I haven't seen any one of them since."

"They are somewhere else in the building," she says, smiling. "Have you gotten sick of me already?"

Ignoring the question, Changmin tries to move his legs, and is relieved when he finds that he has regained enough strength to straighten them.

"Even if I am the only other person in this building," she continues. "You won't be able to escape." She sits down across from him. "So don't even think about it."

Changmin refuses to respond. Her smile doesn't fade. She keeps on talking, completely unaffected by Changmin's lack of reaction. "I'm sure you wonder what I did to you while you were unconscious, and I'm sure you remember what you saw when you were unconscious - "

Changmin's head snaps up and he stares at her.

"Got your attention now," she says smugly. "While you were unconscious, you gave away your location," she informs him. "Your friends now know exactly where you are."

"Impossible," Changmin answers automatically. "I didn't tell them any address, or give any description of this place."

"You and Yunho found the other three without any address or description," she says and Changmin feels his heart sinking.

"If one party wants to find the other, and the other wants to be found, you establish a connection," she holds up two fingers, and Changmin's eyes widen involuntarily when a blue beam of light extends from one finger to the other.

"A mental connection," she adds. Changmin watches the blue line of light in fascination - it lengthens when she parts her fingers, and moves when she does.

"But you didn't want to be found," she says. "So you closed your mind. With your mind closed," she puts her away one finger, and the beam of light vanished instantly. "No connection can be established, and your friends cannot find you. However," she says, smiling winningly. "While you were unconscious, I opened your mind, and then," she lifts up the finger she put down, and the blue line of light reappears. "Connection established."

"Are they coming?" Changmin says, his heart hammering in his chest. He resists the urge to press his hands to his ribcage in an effort to keep it from tearing its way.

"How would I know?" she says, wide-eyed with mock-innocence.

Changmin stands up so quickly the armchair slides backwards with a noisy screech. "I've seen the photographs. You are keeping tabs on them every second, so don't tell me you don't know. Are they coming?"

She meets his gaze but does not answer his question. "Sit down," she says.

Changmin sinks back down into the chair, resigned and defeated.

"You want to know who I am," she says, a statement, not a question. "I'll tell you," she continues. "Under one condition."

In the car, Yoochun is at the wheel. Next to him, Yunho is leaning forward as though that would make the car go faster.

"Do you think Changmin is okay?" Jaejoong asks. Yoochun doesn't need Changmin's gift to feel the anxiety rippling out of Jaejoong.

"Of course he is," Yunho says reassuringly. "He will be okay."

"We have to get Changmin out, at all costs," Jaejoong says, and there's a fire in his eyes that leaves no room for arguments. "The four of us," he says, quieter now. "We can fight our way out on our own, but Changmin - "

"I know," Junsu says, squeezing Jaejoong's arm. "We know."

Yoochun stares at the road ahead of him, seemingly endless. "Jaejoong," he says. "We'll get him out." He turns around and meets Jaejoong's gaze. "No matter what," he says, startling even himself with the strength of his conviction.

Jaejoong smiles, the first time in a long while. "Okay," he says.

"Condition?" Changmin echoes.

"If I tell you who I am, then you owe me a favour," she says, smiling.

Changmin shakes his head. "I'm not an idiot," he says, scowling. "How do I know what kind of favour you're going to ask of me?"

"I promise that it won't be something awful," she says, his gaze burning into him. "I won't ask you to hurt your friends, I won't ask you do something immoral."

"How will I know you're going to tell me the truth?" he asks, letting his suspicions come through in his voice.

She opens her mouth to answer him, but before she does, she suddenly gets to her feet, tilting her head sideways, as though she heard an alarm that Changmin didn't. "The truth will have to wait," she says quietly. "I have something else to do now."

Changmin stands up.

She glances at him. "Stay here," she says.

Changmin moves forward until he is standing right in front of her, staring into her eyes. "What are you going to do to my friends when they come?"

"Conduct an experiment," she replies, staring back at him. She pushes him out of her way and heads for the door.

When the door clicks shut behind her, Changmin darts forward, twisting the doorknob and finding himself locked in. He tries again and again, until his hand hurts from gripping the knob. Resigned, he lets go off the doorknob. His hand has turned red from trying to turn the doorknob, and Changmin almost misses it - the mark on his palm. Some kind of imprint.

Changmin quickly drops to his knees, looking closer at the door knob. He sees it, the engraving on the side. A small intricate emblem.

Not the emblem of the Academy, to Changmin's relief.

No initials, words, numbers. Just a small engraving of an opened umbrella.

Changmin kneels there, wondering what this umbrella emblem has to do in the grand scheme of things. He looks down at his right hand, at the emblem branded on his palm, and somehow, he knows that the balance is going to shift soon.

Outside the grey building, unbeknownst to Changmin, a car screeches to a stop.

Continue to Part VI
Back to Part IV

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