fic: The Long Exile {Chapter 9/?}
Title: The Long Exile
Length: Chaptered, Chapter 9/?
Author: M_K Yujji
Rating: PG-13, likely to go up eventually
Genre: Drama/Angst/Fantasy
Disclaimer: Though real people are used as characters, this fic bears no resemblance to Real Life and these people are not owned by me.
Notes: Inspired by the Tri-Angle PV. Though there will be a loose resemblance to various mythical/religious figures and places, it's not really intentional.
As always, the 'ie' is a cutsey shortening, not an intended honorific, though I suppose it fits as either here. The only real purpose for using any honorifics at all in this fic is to separate the AU side of the story from the more reality-based side. Also, to separate the paralleling differences between the characters.
Previous
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8
Summary:When the line between reality and dreaming begins to blur...
~*~*~*~
“Will you stop fussing,” Jaejoong growled, wincing as Yunho let go of the shoe suddenly and it popped him in the face.
Yunho looked absolutely horrified and his hands fluttered over Jaejoong’s face, apologies spilling from his lips. “Oh, god, Joongie. I’m so sorry!”
Waving off another smothering bout of care, Jaejoong sighed and rolled his eyes. “It’s my own fault, but please. Just.. I’m a grown man. I can put my own damned shoes on.”
Cowed for the moment, Yunho stuck his hands in his back pockets and watched him helplessly. It was a strain for him to just sit back and let Jaejoong move under his own steam and everyone knew it.
Well, Jaejoong thought with another sigh. He remembered what it was like being on that end of things and, as he recalled, Yunho had been a lot more gracious and obliging to their need to practically smother him once he’d been in that in between state - no longer hanging at deaths door, but not exactly well either. He remembered the particular hell of having watched Yunho almost killed and being helpless to do anything about it.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re just... trying to help.”
Hesitant, Yunho eased close again. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay to leave, boo? A few more days to recover won’t hurt anything...”
Jaejoong made a face and shook his head. “I’m fine. Honestly, I feel better than I usually do.” He tried to smile at his worried friend and band leader. “I’ve practically done nothing but sleep for a week. I need to get out of here.”
“Joongie....” Yunho bit his lip for a moment before pulling something out of his back pocket and extending it towards Jaejoong.
The pretty, intricately designed charm dangled in front of a stunned Jaejoong for a moment before he managed to force words out past the lump in his throat. “Yunho....”
Yunho moved closer still, putting the necklace around Jaejoong’s neck before the older man could even consider protesting. “You could have died, Joongie...”
One unsteady hand fluttered up to trace the small charm. “So this-“
“This is a protective rune. It will protect you against anyone who means you harm. The anti-fans can just target someone else from now on.”
As touched as he was by Yunho’s obvious concern and need to keep him safe, Jaejoong couldn’t help the flare of disappointment that spread through his chest. They hadn’t talked about their relationship at all in the months since he’d confessed his dreams to Yunho and things had stuttered to a complete standstill in the middle of work and the craziness that was their life.
If anything good could come from his brush with death, forward movement would have been the one thing Jaejoong would have wanted.
Instead he had a paranoid maybe-friend-maybe-more in overprotective band Appa mode and Jaejoong couldn’t even be upset about it.
According to Changmin, Yunho had been more desperate than he’d ever seen him before. His memory of that entire day was more or less gone, but he figured it was probably better that way.
The attack, the rush to the hospital... He didn’t want to remember those things.
He fingered the charm, pulling at it slightly so he could see it better. The delicate metal seemed warm under his fingers and he wondered how long Yunho had been carrying it around in his pockets. It was a beautiful piece, artistic and expensive looking..
“Yunho... You can’t tell me you got this with autographed cds.”
Yunho blushed slightly and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”
“But Yunnie-“
A warm, gentle hand covered his mouth, cutting off his protest. “If it keeps you safe, then it’s money well spent.”
His heart seemed to stutter at the look in Yunho’s eyes, but all he could get out was a faint ‘okay’.
~*~*~
The silence stretched on as Jaejoong stared at the blank scroll.
“Difficulties, Youngwoong?”
Jaejoong flushed deeply and wiggled uncomfortably as his tutor’s attention focused on him. “Uh... No?”
“And yet your scroll is still blank.”
“Umm... yeah.... I’m.... thinking?”
The dragonborn looked skeptical, but moved away from his desk back to where he was writing out a future lesson on their small blackboard.
“Psst.”
A quick glance up at Choikang, then Jaejoong looked over at Yunho. His friend was making strange hand gestures. Jaejoong was sure it was somehow meant to give him the answers that were eluding him, but he just couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The prince rolled his eyes at Jaejoong’s continued lack of understanding and edged his own scroll over so that Jaejoong could see what was written there if he strained forwards slightly.
“While your loyalty and concern are a credit to you, your highness, providing shortcuts will only prevent Youngwoong from reaching his own true potential.”
Both boys flushed and jerked around to the front where their tutor was watching them with amused eyes.
“I know you wish to protect him from all things, but you cannot always be there to give him the answers or save him. The best way you can help him, is to help him learn to stand on his own two feet and come up with his own answers. Only then will you truly be protecting him.”
Yunho seemed to consider that for a moment before shaking his head firmly. “You’re right that he should learn to do things on his own, Master Choikang. For himself and his own sense of self-worth, but you’re also wrong.” He looked fierce and Jaejoong couldn’t help but smile at his friend. “I will protect him. Always.”
~*~*~*~
Jaejoong sighed and rolled his shoulders as he headed towards the kitchen. His appetite was slowly returning, though he doubted he’d ever want ice cream again for the rest of his life. He didn’t remember the actual poisoning, but the very thought gave him shivers. He hadn’t really needed to understand Yunho’s point of view to sympathize with the obsessive checking and re-checking of their drinks while they were working, but he certainly understood more than he wanted to now.
A snort of amusement settled into a fond smile. Yunho had taken to following him around more often than not, his bag filled with small snacks and bottles of water ‘just in case’.
It was sweet, really, even though it could sometimes be annoying. A few of their staff members had started betting on how long the fussy, over-protectiveness would last. Jaejoong could have told them that it would probably never go away fully. It just wasn’t in Yunho’s nature not to worry - especially about anyone he cared for.
His fingers ventured up to touch the necklace he’d promised to never take off. He liked to think he was near the top of that particular list of people.
Muffled noises and the dim flashing of lights underneath the door of their computer slash work room caught his attention and he sighed before rolling his eyes and heading towards it.
Whether it was Junsu chatting with his brother, Changmin up surfing his porn sites or Yoochun lost in his composing again, they needed sleep.
He cracked the door open and stuck his head inside to find the baby of the band with his nose buried in the internet. “Changminnie, you should have been in bed hours ago....”
Changmin glanced back and shrugged with a grimace. “I know, hyung. I’ll go soon, I promise.”
Jaejoong hesitated for a moment, but his stomach chose that moment to make itself known again and he decided to take the younger man at his word.
Twenty minutes later, all tummy grumbling dealt with, Jaejoong rolled his eyes as he passed by the room again and noticed that the lights were still flickering under the door.
“Minnie...” He stopped short and blinked slightly at the sight of Changmin’s computer screen. “Is that-“
“Mm... The footage from ... yeah.” Changmin cleared his throat and glanced back at Jaejoong guiltily.
Sighing, Jaejoong moved closer. “Does anyone know you have that?”
As far as he’d been told, all of the photos and videos from the day had been confiscated while the police sorted through it all.
“Just Junsu and Yoochun, since they helped me steal it.”
“....” Jaejoong could feel a headache forming between his eyes. “Do I even want to know how?”
Changmin seemed to consider the rhetorical question seriously for a moment before shaking his head. “No. What you don’t know can’t accidently be used against us later.”
“Gee, thanks,” Jaejoong muttered, curious in spite of himself. He knew the basic story, of course, as it had been told to him by Changmin, management, and the police who had questioned him.
An anti-fan had attempted to poison him with an ice cream cone. Yunho, Changmin, and their cameraman had happened on the scene about the same time as his own cameraman and security guard had arrived. The girl had run off, security guard in pursuit while the others had run to him. His attacker had been hit by a car before she’d gotten very far and the ambulance had arrived in time to save him.
And if parts of it sounded a bit stilted to him, well... He hadn’t bothered to ask for more specific details.
It hadn’t even occurred to him that either of the cameramen might have gotten any decent footage of the incident. He winced slightly at the sight of himself in convulsions, very glad he didn’t have to remember what that had felt like.
“That’s both cameras?”
Changmin nodded and moved slightly to the side so that Jaejoong could get a better view. He pointed to one of the two windows that was up. “Your cameraman dropped his camera once he reached you so it’s a little sideways, but it catches all of us pretty well.” He pointed to the other. “Ours kept filming, though. He tried to zoom in and get a good look at the girl running away.”
A few clicks of the keyboard and Changmin sped the footage to a certain point, then dropped it to slow motion. “Watch this, hyung...”
The fleeing girl only made it halfway down the block before something - a garbage can or some kind of cart maybe? He couldn’t really tell from the distance and quality of the film - appeared from the side and sent her flying into the street.
Bile welled up in his throat and Jaejoong’s hand covered his mouth for a moment. It was one thing to know his attacker had died. It was something else entirely to see it in slow motion played out in front of him.
He was going to be having nightmares about that for the rest of his life, he imagined. “You are seriously very morbid and fucked up in the head, Shim Changmin.”
The look Changmin shot him clearly said that he thought Jaejoong was a particularly special brand of slow and stupid. Then he sighed and rolled his eyes. “Something’s been bothering me and I wanted to see if I could figure out what it was.”
“You mean besides the fact that one person could have died and another did.”
“Yes. You should have died, but that’s beside the point. See, watch this again, only this time-“
“Wait a minute, wait a minute. I should have died? What the hell is your problem tonight?”
Another look. “Hyung. I’ve seen the toxicology report. The amount of strychnine that was left in that cone would have killed a horse. Quickly. And the story about how lucky you were that the poison had all settled in the bottom is complete bullshit. It doesn’t work that way. It’s mixed in a frozen treat. Frozen as in does not move or separate. As much as you ate, you should have dropped dead where you were standing.”
All Jaejoong could do was gape at him, which gave Changmin plenty of time to go back to his other topic. “Watch both videos side by side, playing together.”
Not particular keen to see the girl die again, Jaejoong focused more on the video with his friends. Even seeing himself seize and convulse was less repulsive. The stark terror on everyone’s faces was a torture to watch, though. He was sorry that the others had been forced to go through it.
“You’re not paying attention, hyung. Watch it again.” The scene was pulled backwards again, though thankfully only a little ways and when Changmin pushed play again, this time he put both videos into slow motion. “There.”
Both videos paused.
In one, the unidentifable object was just entering the shot, about the slam into the girl.
In the other, Jaejoong himself was mid-twitch and jerk, drool and a thin white foam coming out of the side of his mouth as his friends fought to keep him with them long enough for the ambulance to arrive. He didn’t see anything to be bothered by except the obvious, although.... He leaned a little closer, trying to get a better look.
“Do you see it, hyung?”
Jaejoong shivered and pulled back. “I’m sure it’s just our imagination.”
The brooding look never left Changmin’s eyes as he stared at the screen. “Maybe, maybe not. Sure is an odd coincidence that he just happens to be glaring at her with possibly glowing eyes when she gets smashed to bits, though, don’t you think?”
~*~*~
On to: Chapter 10
Length: Chaptered, Chapter 9/?
Author: M_K Yujji
Rating: PG-13, likely to go up eventually
Genre: Drama/Angst/Fantasy
Disclaimer: Though real people are used as characters, this fic bears no resemblance to Real Life and these people are not owned by me.
Notes: Inspired by the Tri-Angle PV. Though there will be a loose resemblance to various mythical/religious figures and places, it's not really intentional.
As always, the 'ie' is a cutsey shortening, not an intended honorific, though I suppose it fits as either here. The only real purpose for using any honorifics at all in this fic is to separate the AU side of the story from the more reality-based side. Also, to separate the paralleling differences between the characters.
Previous
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8
Summary:When the line between reality and dreaming begins to blur...
~*~*~*~
“Will you stop fussing,” Jaejoong growled, wincing as Yunho let go of the shoe suddenly and it popped him in the face.
Yunho looked absolutely horrified and his hands fluttered over Jaejoong’s face, apologies spilling from his lips. “Oh, god, Joongie. I’m so sorry!”
Waving off another smothering bout of care, Jaejoong sighed and rolled his eyes. “It’s my own fault, but please. Just.. I’m a grown man. I can put my own damned shoes on.”
Cowed for the moment, Yunho stuck his hands in his back pockets and watched him helplessly. It was a strain for him to just sit back and let Jaejoong move under his own steam and everyone knew it.
Well, Jaejoong thought with another sigh. He remembered what it was like being on that end of things and, as he recalled, Yunho had been a lot more gracious and obliging to their need to practically smother him once he’d been in that in between state - no longer hanging at deaths door, but not exactly well either. He remembered the particular hell of having watched Yunho almost killed and being helpless to do anything about it.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re just... trying to help.”
Hesitant, Yunho eased close again. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay to leave, boo? A few more days to recover won’t hurt anything...”
Jaejoong made a face and shook his head. “I’m fine. Honestly, I feel better than I usually do.” He tried to smile at his worried friend and band leader. “I’ve practically done nothing but sleep for a week. I need to get out of here.”
“Joongie....” Yunho bit his lip for a moment before pulling something out of his back pocket and extending it towards Jaejoong.
The pretty, intricately designed charm dangled in front of a stunned Jaejoong for a moment before he managed to force words out past the lump in his throat. “Yunho....”
Yunho moved closer still, putting the necklace around Jaejoong’s neck before the older man could even consider protesting. “You could have died, Joongie...”
One unsteady hand fluttered up to trace the small charm. “So this-“
“This is a protective rune. It will protect you against anyone who means you harm. The anti-fans can just target someone else from now on.”
As touched as he was by Yunho’s obvious concern and need to keep him safe, Jaejoong couldn’t help the flare of disappointment that spread through his chest. They hadn’t talked about their relationship at all in the months since he’d confessed his dreams to Yunho and things had stuttered to a complete standstill in the middle of work and the craziness that was their life.
If anything good could come from his brush with death, forward movement would have been the one thing Jaejoong would have wanted.
Instead he had a paranoid maybe-friend-maybe-more in overprotective band Appa mode and Jaejoong couldn’t even be upset about it.
According to Changmin, Yunho had been more desperate than he’d ever seen him before. His memory of that entire day was more or less gone, but he figured it was probably better that way.
The attack, the rush to the hospital... He didn’t want to remember those things.
He fingered the charm, pulling at it slightly so he could see it better. The delicate metal seemed warm under his fingers and he wondered how long Yunho had been carrying it around in his pockets. It was a beautiful piece, artistic and expensive looking..
“Yunho... You can’t tell me you got this with autographed cds.”
Yunho blushed slightly and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”
“But Yunnie-“
A warm, gentle hand covered his mouth, cutting off his protest. “If it keeps you safe, then it’s money well spent.”
His heart seemed to stutter at the look in Yunho’s eyes, but all he could get out was a faint ‘okay’.
~*~*~
The silence stretched on as Jaejoong stared at the blank scroll.
“Difficulties, Youngwoong?”
Jaejoong flushed deeply and wiggled uncomfortably as his tutor’s attention focused on him. “Uh... No?”
“And yet your scroll is still blank.”
“Umm... yeah.... I’m.... thinking?”
The dragonborn looked skeptical, but moved away from his desk back to where he was writing out a future lesson on their small blackboard.
“Psst.”
A quick glance up at Choikang, then Jaejoong looked over at Yunho. His friend was making strange hand gestures. Jaejoong was sure it was somehow meant to give him the answers that were eluding him, but he just couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The prince rolled his eyes at Jaejoong’s continued lack of understanding and edged his own scroll over so that Jaejoong could see what was written there if he strained forwards slightly.
“While your loyalty and concern are a credit to you, your highness, providing shortcuts will only prevent Youngwoong from reaching his own true potential.”
Both boys flushed and jerked around to the front where their tutor was watching them with amused eyes.
“I know you wish to protect him from all things, but you cannot always be there to give him the answers or save him. The best way you can help him, is to help him learn to stand on his own two feet and come up with his own answers. Only then will you truly be protecting him.”
Yunho seemed to consider that for a moment before shaking his head firmly. “You’re right that he should learn to do things on his own, Master Choikang. For himself and his own sense of self-worth, but you’re also wrong.” He looked fierce and Jaejoong couldn’t help but smile at his friend. “I will protect him. Always.”
~*~*~*~
Jaejoong sighed and rolled his shoulders as he headed towards the kitchen. His appetite was slowly returning, though he doubted he’d ever want ice cream again for the rest of his life. He didn’t remember the actual poisoning, but the very thought gave him shivers. He hadn’t really needed to understand Yunho’s point of view to sympathize with the obsessive checking and re-checking of their drinks while they were working, but he certainly understood more than he wanted to now.
A snort of amusement settled into a fond smile. Yunho had taken to following him around more often than not, his bag filled with small snacks and bottles of water ‘just in case’.
It was sweet, really, even though it could sometimes be annoying. A few of their staff members had started betting on how long the fussy, over-protectiveness would last. Jaejoong could have told them that it would probably never go away fully. It just wasn’t in Yunho’s nature not to worry - especially about anyone he cared for.
His fingers ventured up to touch the necklace he’d promised to never take off. He liked to think he was near the top of that particular list of people.
Muffled noises and the dim flashing of lights underneath the door of their computer slash work room caught his attention and he sighed before rolling his eyes and heading towards it.
Whether it was Junsu chatting with his brother, Changmin up surfing his porn sites or Yoochun lost in his composing again, they needed sleep.
He cracked the door open and stuck his head inside to find the baby of the band with his nose buried in the internet. “Changminnie, you should have been in bed hours ago....”
Changmin glanced back and shrugged with a grimace. “I know, hyung. I’ll go soon, I promise.”
Jaejoong hesitated for a moment, but his stomach chose that moment to make itself known again and he decided to take the younger man at his word.
Twenty minutes later, all tummy grumbling dealt with, Jaejoong rolled his eyes as he passed by the room again and noticed that the lights were still flickering under the door.
“Minnie...” He stopped short and blinked slightly at the sight of Changmin’s computer screen. “Is that-“
“Mm... The footage from ... yeah.” Changmin cleared his throat and glanced back at Jaejoong guiltily.
Sighing, Jaejoong moved closer. “Does anyone know you have that?”
As far as he’d been told, all of the photos and videos from the day had been confiscated while the police sorted through it all.
“Just Junsu and Yoochun, since they helped me steal it.”
“....” Jaejoong could feel a headache forming between his eyes. “Do I even want to know how?”
Changmin seemed to consider the rhetorical question seriously for a moment before shaking his head. “No. What you don’t know can’t accidently be used against us later.”
“Gee, thanks,” Jaejoong muttered, curious in spite of himself. He knew the basic story, of course, as it had been told to him by Changmin, management, and the police who had questioned him.
An anti-fan had attempted to poison him with an ice cream cone. Yunho, Changmin, and their cameraman had happened on the scene about the same time as his own cameraman and security guard had arrived. The girl had run off, security guard in pursuit while the others had run to him. His attacker had been hit by a car before she’d gotten very far and the ambulance had arrived in time to save him.
And if parts of it sounded a bit stilted to him, well... He hadn’t bothered to ask for more specific details.
It hadn’t even occurred to him that either of the cameramen might have gotten any decent footage of the incident. He winced slightly at the sight of himself in convulsions, very glad he didn’t have to remember what that had felt like.
“That’s both cameras?”
Changmin nodded and moved slightly to the side so that Jaejoong could get a better view. He pointed to one of the two windows that was up. “Your cameraman dropped his camera once he reached you so it’s a little sideways, but it catches all of us pretty well.” He pointed to the other. “Ours kept filming, though. He tried to zoom in and get a good look at the girl running away.”
A few clicks of the keyboard and Changmin sped the footage to a certain point, then dropped it to slow motion. “Watch this, hyung...”
The fleeing girl only made it halfway down the block before something - a garbage can or some kind of cart maybe? He couldn’t really tell from the distance and quality of the film - appeared from the side and sent her flying into the street.
Bile welled up in his throat and Jaejoong’s hand covered his mouth for a moment. It was one thing to know his attacker had died. It was something else entirely to see it in slow motion played out in front of him.
He was going to be having nightmares about that for the rest of his life, he imagined. “You are seriously very morbid and fucked up in the head, Shim Changmin.”
The look Changmin shot him clearly said that he thought Jaejoong was a particularly special brand of slow and stupid. Then he sighed and rolled his eyes. “Something’s been bothering me and I wanted to see if I could figure out what it was.”
“You mean besides the fact that one person could have died and another did.”
“Yes. You should have died, but that’s beside the point. See, watch this again, only this time-“
“Wait a minute, wait a minute. I should have died? What the hell is your problem tonight?”
Another look. “Hyung. I’ve seen the toxicology report. The amount of strychnine that was left in that cone would have killed a horse. Quickly. And the story about how lucky you were that the poison had all settled in the bottom is complete bullshit. It doesn’t work that way. It’s mixed in a frozen treat. Frozen as in does not move or separate. As much as you ate, you should have dropped dead where you were standing.”
All Jaejoong could do was gape at him, which gave Changmin plenty of time to go back to his other topic. “Watch both videos side by side, playing together.”
Not particular keen to see the girl die again, Jaejoong focused more on the video with his friends. Even seeing himself seize and convulse was less repulsive. The stark terror on everyone’s faces was a torture to watch, though. He was sorry that the others had been forced to go through it.
“You’re not paying attention, hyung. Watch it again.” The scene was pulled backwards again, though thankfully only a little ways and when Changmin pushed play again, this time he put both videos into slow motion. “There.”
Both videos paused.
In one, the unidentifable object was just entering the shot, about the slam into the girl.
In the other, Jaejoong himself was mid-twitch and jerk, drool and a thin white foam coming out of the side of his mouth as his friends fought to keep him with them long enough for the ambulance to arrive. He didn’t see anything to be bothered by except the obvious, although.... He leaned a little closer, trying to get a better look.
“Do you see it, hyung?”
Jaejoong shivered and pulled back. “I’m sure it’s just our imagination.”
The brooding look never left Changmin’s eyes as he stared at the screen. “Maybe, maybe not. Sure is an odd coincidence that he just happens to be glaring at her with possibly glowing eyes when she gets smashed to bits, though, don’t you think?”
~*~*~
On to: Chapter 10