ROUND 13: Cycle 8 (Team AU)
Title: Cycle 8
Team: Team AU
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 6,557
Fandom: DBSK
Pairing: Yunho-centric, Gen - DSBK
Summary: Yunho's resolved to survive this Cycle that is predicted to hit Korea and wipe out the country's inhabitants
Author's Note: Thanks to anyone that helped out in the planning of the fic and for holding my hand through this :)
The news reporters and media outlets take to calling it The Cycle, a series of events that occur every four years in an almost identical manner, forming a pattern of plague, war, poverty and death. The first year or Cycle 1 as the historians like to call it, is 1986, the year it all started. A plague, much like the bubonic in the fourteenth century that had wiped out nearly a quarter of a million people, came back that year and claimed the lives of thousands before it finally burned out.
Yunho was just a baby when it first started, born on a quiet February morning to a hardworking Korean family. He loses his mother to Cycle 3's civil war when he was just eight years old and his father to the following one, leaving behind a teen boy, barely tall enough to reach the top kitchen shelf, alone with a younger sister to take care of.
He becomes obsessed with them, these so-called Cycles, and devotes his entire elementary and higher education to learning more about them and to preparing their nation for future Cycles. There's a room in the apartment, the leftmost one at the end of the hallway, that Yunho keeps under lock and key, a secretive room filled with information on the Cycles. Each of the four walls that make up his personal study are divided into two, Cycles 1-8 written neatly at the very top with permanent makers, each header a different color and underlined for organization. And tacked beneath are details about the Cycles that even the most intelligent of Cyclists, as the elite group of researchers are known as, might not be aware of. For better or worse, Yunho's life is tied with the Cycles and his only goal is to ensure that his sister, Jihye, does not become yet another number out of the thousands killed every quarter decade and that unlike their parents, she lives to die of old age.
- - -
For his twenty-eighth birthday, Yunho's given a shiny new survival kit and a medical bracelet, standard issue from the government in preparation for what is to be the eighth Cycle. Two weeks ago, he received a postcard in the mail asking for his preferred colors when it came to the plastic cover of his flashlight and bracelet. Considering that it's already February though, Yunho had other things on his mind besides whether his pocket knife was going to be cerulean blue or orange orange. His next door neighbor and begrudging, his best friend, intercepted the postcard on its way to the trash can and sent it back on Yunho's behalf. In order of desired to least desired, Heechul listed : school bus yellow, grassy green and barney purple.
Survival kits and medical bracelets are just about the most that the government can do for them, after all as a board of elected officials, they hardly known more than the regular civilian does. Classified information, such as the fact that the deadly illnesses always start in early spring when they spread the easiest, are privy only to a select few so unless there's a public announcement of some sort, millions of people will remain in the dark and never know of their impending deaths. It's better this way though, even Yunho thinks so, there's no need to further excite a nation that's already on pins and needles about the impending Cycle.
The reason why the government is so much more aware of the eighth Cycle than they had been for the seventh and sixth probably has to do with the fact that Cyclists around the world have predicted in the year 2014, the continent to be wiped out and annihilated will be Asia and that the target country is to be Korea.
There are five basic facts about the Cycles that everyone, regardless of age and sex, know of. Repeated at least once month on TV and printed across every billboard in the world, these are the only information that all Cyclists have agreed on to be true and are labelled as the Five Commandments of the Cycles : (1) Cycles occur once every four years regardless of leap year and the like, (2) Cycles strictly follow the pattern of plague, war, poverty and then death, (3) Cycles will target only one continent and one country in a year, (4) Regardless of whether the Cycle finishes in its entirety from plague to death, it will end at exactly midnight on December 31st of the Cycle year, and (5) the Cycles are closely modeled off of the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, and of the Christian apocalyptic vision of the Four Horsemen.
In some ways, they're right and in others, they're not.
- - -
Just two weeks after his birthday, Yunho returns home from work to find a moving truck parked in front of his apartment complex. The door to the left of his home is ajar and he hears four distinct voices coming from the once empty apartment next to his.
"We've got new neighbors!" Heechul tells him from the doorway of his own place directly across from Yunho's, "they're all pretty cute. I call dibs on the tall one."
Yunho's too busy listening to his new neighbors arguing about which box belongs to whom to reply to Heechul and while eavesdropping, accidentally trips over the corner of a duffel bag and winds up falling face first. He cringes immediately when all he hears now is a cackle from Heechul and complete silence from 9D.
There's the obvious sounds of a group of people running and then Yunho hears voices from behind him conversing with one another.
"I told you not to leave your crap lying around, now look what you did, Junsu," comes the mildly amused and somewhat annoyed voice of someone standing to his left.
"Isn't that your bag though, Changmin?" someone else.
Another one of them snickers, "Looks like it. Doesn't that tag say 'property of Shim Changmin' on it?"
Yunho's aware that there's a group of men standing behind him, Heechul included, and yet out of the five there, not one attempts to ask if he's alright and no one bothers to offer him a helping hand either. Muttering under his breath, Yunho rises slowly, hand gripping onto the door knob so tightly that he nearly breaks it, "You okay there?" someone finally questions and with a nod, Yunho turns. Tall and pretty cute indeed. Heechul's winking at him, an eyebrow arched and cocked, the corners of his lips tugged up into a smug smile, "Don't mind him, he's accident prone."
"I'm Yunho and I guess I'm your next door neighbor, welcome to the complex," he says instead, face more than a little red from embarrassment.
"Jaejoong," says the man that reaches out to shake his hand and Yunho recognizes him as the one that had snickered, "sorry for the mess, we're still trying to organize things. It's kind of messy with the four of us."
Heechul leans closer to them, a foot propped up against the wall and offers his help although no one has asked for it yet, "We're available to help out if you need it. An extra set of hands, or this case two, can be useful." When it comes to men, hot and young ones at that, Heechul never could resist and with a sigh, Yunho finds himself being dragged into a cluttered apartment full of half-opened boxes lying every which way. Yunho starts to pick up random things off the floor, helping to de-clutter the messy apartment as best as he can. As he's being asked to fix the toilet lights or mop the kitchen floor, Yunho finds out a little more about his four new neighbors, starting with their names and ages of course.
Jaejoong's the oldest at 28 and technically Yunho's hyung by a couple of days. He's also the one that Heechul latches onto. Yunho picks up on tidbits of their conversation, something about pink being in or how ripped jeans may look good but are unflattering on most body types. There's also talk about whether white is actually a color or not and once they get to discussing all things taupe, Yunho tunes them out and turns to the others, hoping their conversations are at least understandable.
He finds Yoochun in the kitchen with Changmin, the younger of the two digging through the mostly empty fridge for something to eat while Yoochun's smoking a cigarette. It surprises Yunho because anything containing nicotine hasn't been in production since a decade after the Cycles started but there's always contraband for sale somewhere. Probably about a year after Cycle 3, the government decided to ration goods, not knowing when disaster would strike and hoarded all sorts of things including cigarettes and beer. Yunho figures that there's probably nothing useful in the food sheds except a few bags of rice but the price for that goes up and down so often that every household has at least three bags secretly stashed somewhere.
Changmin's the one who catches him staring but he doesn't say anything directly to him, digging a plastic bag full of cup noodles out from somewhere and boiling a pot of water for what is probably their dinner tonight. At least Yunho'll get fed for all his manual labor. Junsu wanders in sometime after Changmin gets the first cup noodle going, pouring in so much water that he burns his left hand. As red as it is though, Changmin doesn't even notice it until Yunho points it out, asking in a mix of horror and surprise if Changmin's in need of any first aid, not that Yunho knows any.
Yoochun explains to him that Changmin's got a high tolerance for pain but that it's equaled out by the younger man's low, low, very low tolerance for bullshit. Changmin's got a temper and he's a moody one, something that Yunho realizes on his own at a later time. He also finds out that Changmin's his dongsaeng, younger by two years while Yoochun's the same age as Junsu and just one year younger than him.
As soon as Changmin gets all the cup noodles cooked, he does something Yunho's not expecting. The younger man grabs a pot, washes it thoroughly and proceeds to dump the contents of seven (because Changmin needs two) cup noodles into it, stirring it all around before adding some more boiled water and then dumping in a few cans of pre-cooked sausages.
"They're the good kind too," Heechul says through a bite of food, sharing the lid with Jaejoong, "not the government branded ones. You guys must be rich or related to some city council member."
Junsu laughs at the comment but he's the only one who does so, Changmin clearing his throat and silencing his companion with a flick of his eyes. Jaejoong nearly upsets the lid that he's got balanced between his arm and Heechul's, Yoochun accidentally kicking Yunho when he's aiming for Junsu.
"Thanks for the food," Yunho says, Heechul wisely picking up on the mood at the dinner table with ease and directing the conversation back to taupe and maroon.
There's not much cleaning to be done since dinner is basically fast food but Yunho volunteers anyway and he's left with Junsu who had lost the rock paper scissors match. Yunho dries while Junsu washes the pot and chopsticks, smiling and joking with Yunho the entire time, teasing him easily despite only having just met him. Junsu's got a penchant for jokes, the practical kind that aren't really funny from the victim's point of view, but the jokes are never made with any ill humor and besides the fact that Changmin hadn't talked to Junsu for a week after one joke, for the most part Junsu's mostly harmless. For the most part.
Over the course of a few months, Yunho gets to know the four next door fairly well. Heechul often invites himself over to explore Jaejoong's spacious and packed closet and as a result, Yunho's taken along as an excuse. Heechul obtains a key somehow, probably through smooth talking or maybe he'd just confessed to Jaejoong that he lusted after the other man's clothes because one week, instead of asking Yunho to appear as if he was robbed, Heechul just lets them in with a key from his tiny loop. No one's home of course, it's the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday morning and if it weren't for the fact that he's feeling sick, Yunho would be in the laboratory researching future details in preparation for Cycle 8.
Cyclists have been predicting when it'll happen, "it" being the very first signs of the Cycle, the plague. Maybe this year it'll be a new strain of the chicken pox or maybe it'll be some type of influenza that the scientists haven't developed a vaccine for yet. They mark D-day as the tenth of March but when that comes and goes, they re-declare it to be the twenty-third. That passes too and by Apirl fifth, many are thinking that perhaps Korea isn't the target after all, maybe it's Shanghai or Indonesia. But it's not. They're only lulled into a false sense of security and when the first signs of illness strike, many are unprepared. Yunho isn't one of them.
The second he hears news of a cough being spread around, he sends Jihye off to seclusion in the spare bedroom. He keeps it stocked with food and there's enough to last her for a year if she rations it properly. There's face masks and antibacterial gels, plenty of alcohol wipes and while there's a window, it's bolted from the inside and out, no way for any pores carrying the sickness to reach her. Instead, to provide her with fresh air, Yunho's got tanks of oxygen and an air purifier. No one knows if these gadgets will actually work but it has for the past three Cycles and Yunho can only pray it works for this one as well.
He's running out to the market to buy some coffee beans when he literally runs into Junsu, the younger man donning a pair of white rimmed sunglasses and looking entirely different from the Junsu that Yunho had played Mario Kart with just a week ago. Junsu apologizes and looks away when Yunho tries to help him up, avoiding the touch and standing up by himself. "See you later, Hyung," is all Junsu had said before the younger man walked away from him.
The next day, the death toll in the city of Seoul rises to one thousand and sixteen. At the rate in which people are falling sick and dying, Yunho predicts that by the end of the month, everyone in the city will have succumbed to this mystery virus that works much like the common cold does. The doctor on the nightly news at six tells them that wearing face masks won't be of any help, that the pores in the air are actually so small that no matter what, as long as a breath of air is taken, the risk of catching the new virus is there. As with all the previous plagues that came with the Cycles, there's no cure. Scientists spend all the time they have between Cycles trying out antidotes, inventing new vaccines and shots they claim will fight whatever virus the Cycle throws their way but in the end, they fail. There's always a new strain or an abnormal formation that the scientists haven't prepared for. Always.
When Yunho turns on the news the next night, the doctor is no longer on the program and there's a new one in his place. His name is now listed along with the two thousand others names of the deceased and for his efforts for once being the most trusted doctor in Korea, he gets a line at the bottom of the screen announcing his death. Victim number two thousand and ten. That's the number that'll be listed next to his name in the official records once the first phase of the Cycle is over with.
In the end, Influenza Z or H1N13 as it's known as scientifically, claims the lives of nearly five thousand Korean men and women. Every plague is different in both its manner of killing, this particular one causing a slow but rather painless death, and in its target audience. Surprisingly, H1N13's victims are all in their thirties and mostly healthy, and unlike other plagues before it, none of the elderly or young were infected. Upon closer examination though, Yunho discovers that the bulk of the dead have had criminal records, some having stole or held up a grocery store, others having killed or beaten a spouse. A plague with morals, that's certainly a first.
- - -
Yunho's moved into Heechul's for the time being, not wanting to risk spreading anything to Jihye by accident and while it's a trying experience, having to live with his best friend, it's not without its fun moments. Every Friday night, Heechul invites the others from across the hall into his home for a slumber party of sorts but instead of sleeping and doing each other's makeup, they spend the time drinking homemade beer and eating chips with dip.
For the most part, those that live on the same floor as them shy away from get-togethers like these, it's a surefire way for diseases and germs to spread so they decline and Heechul never asks them again. He's friendly enough but he's not patient and he's knows when to quit. So it winds up that every week, the only ones gathered in Heechul's apartment are Yunho, Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun, Changmin occasionally making an appearance if he feels like it. The younger man isn't antisocial, he just prefers to spend his time alone doing other things, like watching porn, or so Yoochun tells them.
Yunho never notices how Junsu pales when the plague is mentioned or how his demeanor changes from smiling and joking freely to becoming more solemn and quiet. For the entirety of the three months in which the plague hit them, Junsu had worn those white sunglasses the entire time. Heechul, being the fashion-oriented man that he is, often stole it to play with, modeling it on himself and taking pictures when Junsu wasn't around to see. Junsu will share pretty much everything, his half of a burger or his bed during sleepovers but whenever Heechul mentions those gorgeous frames, Junsu immediately says no. They're his and Heechul can't take them.
A week after H1N13 officially stops spreading, the last recorded case of it being the fifteenth of July, Yunho receives word that Junsu's passed away. The always happy and sweet younger man that greeted him with a smile every time they met, passed away a few days ago.
"It was the flu," Yoochun explains quietly, head bowed as he delivers the news. Changmin's standing stoically by his side but Jaejoong's nowhere to be found. The fact that the older man isn't there surprises Yunho, Jaejoong was always the caretaker of the group, the one that had made sure the other three were fed and clean, often kicking their asses to the shower when he deemed them too smelly.
"Is Jaejoong-hyung alright?" he asks, peering out of Heechul's apartment to see if Jaejoong's standing in the hallway somewhere.
Changmin stiffens up next to Yoochun and nods before his hyung can answer, "He's fine. He's taking care of other things, calling Junsu's parents and the crematory."
Nowadays, the deceased aren't buried, there's simply no more earth to dig up and the coffin makers find it impossible to keep up with the demand as well. Anyone that's been inflicted with the flu are cremated, their ashes given back to the family members in a plain ceramic jar with their name written in black marker on the top. It's informal and rude but in times like these, no one can bother to make a fancy plaque and engrave it with hangul.
"If there's anything I can do..." Yunho trails off, wishing he could offer something more than his condolences.
Changmin nods and bows to Yunho, placing his hand on Yoochun's hip before he turns and leaves. Yoochun smiles faintly at Yunho when he asks if everything is really okay but the younger man doesn't answer, following Changmin's footsteps as they go back into their apartment.
It's another few days after that when Yunho hears news of war breaking out between North and South Korea. This is something that people have worried over for decades and it's something their country always prepared for but never really expected to happen. And so begins part two of Cycle 8.
- - -
They call it a war but nothing really happens. There aren't any bombings or attacks on their country and Yunho still goes about his normal life, buying groceries and going to work at the coffee shop. Any free time that he has is spent in his secret room that Heechul calls his batcave or Yunhostein's laboratory. The grocery stores are packed and the shelves are mostly empty. There's not much to buy anymore and while it's technically only the second phase of the Cycle, people are preparing for the third phase by hoarding as much food as they can for the tough months to come.
Heechul's little parties become less and less frequent, and there's rarely any food served at them anymore. Sometimes Jaejoong will bring over a pot of jjigae he made and they'll eat that but times are getting harder and while the war is just a war in its name, it's still not a joke and people are dying whether it be from robberies or other events. That's actually how Heechul dies.
Walking home one night from work, he's robbed at knifepoint for his wallet, a few hundred won that he hands over immediately, hands pressed against the wall where the robber has cornered him. Instead of just leaving it at that though, the robber had stabbed him. Inexperienced and probably scared out of his wits, the robber had fled the scene, unknowingly having stabbed Heechul in the liver. Heechul dies before the ambulance even gets there.
Yunho doesn't get a phone call telling him that his friend has passed away. Instead he wakes to a note slipped under the door with word of Heechul's death and the time that the older man's ashes will be available for pick-up. Yunho's also forced out of the apartment he had been sharing with Heechul. It's government subsidized so once Heechul's gone, so is the apartment. He packs as much as he can, Yoochun and Changmin both stopping by to help him. Yoochun offers their apartment, knowing that Yunho couldn't go home to his own apartment and while it's apparent that Changmin's not a fan of the arrangement, he's the one that helps Yunho move in.
Jaejoong's missing that night from dinner and while Yunho doesn't ask about him, he is curious as to why the older man isn't present. There's no way Jaejoong's still at work, not when there's been a curfew in effect for the entire capital since January and so unless Jaejoong's really good at sneaking around, he'll be arrested by the police for being out so late at night and taken to the precinct for fingerprinting before being dropped back at home.
Late that night as Yunho's trying to find a comfortable spot on the bed once slept on by Junsu, he hears a loud roar from below his window, sitting up in surprise. That sounds like the roar of a car engine. But that's impossible since cars haven't been in use since the last Cycle. There's no more oil to be drilled or found and so cars had pretty much become extinct, useless sheets of metals that people now used to make badges or shields.
Almost afraid to go and check, Yunho finds that it is indeed a car, a red sports car to be exact and he's even more surprised to find Jaejoong in the driver's seat. There's no one next to Jaejoong but the older man seems to be talking to himself, tapping his fingers on the wheel before he drives off for the garage. There's probably still a few cars in there but Yunho's willing to bet there are none as well-kept and none that are functional like Jaejoong's car is. There also isn't a car as expensive as Jaejoong's red Ferrari.
The next day, Yunho walks the entire way to the crematory, returning late in the afternoon with an urn in hand, a tiny two by five inch jar holding all that remains of Heechul. Jaejoong cooks Heechul's favorites that night, a tableful of delicious food that Yunho hasn't had the pleasure of eating in years. He didn't know it'd be his last full meal for a long while.
- - -
The informal war ends a short month after it starts. It's the shortest war yet for phase two of a Cycle but no one's complaining. The atmosphere in the city is muted these days, everyone glum and in low spirits to have lost their relatives and friends. The famine that follows the war is always the hardest part. People need food to survive and while other countries continue to pledge that they'd fly in some grains and emergency food aid, it almost never reaches the country in need and the people end of dying anyway.
On the fifth day of the famine, the shelves are completely empty and the grocery shops and supermarkets have closed up. The storage shelves are cleaned out and there's nothing left to sell, even the pet food and expired beef jerky having sold out. In desperate times, people will do just about anything and eat all edible things.
While Yunho's not exactly surprised, he does get caught off guard when he finds the room he shares with Jaejoong to be empty, the older man's possessions and everything, gone. All that remains is Yunho's bed and a closet that's half full. Jaejoong's expensive designer bags and boots are gone, the older man's ripped jeans and black leather jackets missing as well.
"Jaejoong's died," is what Changmin tells him when Yunho asks. There's no further explanation and Yoochun just flashes him a weak smile, scooping up some rice into his mouth as they eat.
There's a knock on Yunho's bedroom door the next morning and it's Yoochun, the younger man with a black overnight bag slung over his shoulder, a rather large Ferrari crest on the side of it. "Hyung, I'll be out of town for a couple of days, don't worry about Changmin, I swear he's more bark than bite."
Yunho's only just woken up but no matter how he tries to ask where Yoochun's going at a time like this, the younger man won't answer and after another fifteen minutes of chatting about whether he has enough food with him or not, Yoochun leaves. Changmin's already in the kitchen when Yunho walks Yoochun out and he barely says a word to Yoochun, nothing about how his hyung should take care of himself. Instead, Changmin murmurs a "good luck" and a "don't fuck this up" before going to pour himself a new cup of coffee.
- - -
Yunho's slow but he's not stupid. Two days later while looking through Heechul's things, he finds the pictures that the older man had taken with Junsu's sunglasses. At the corners of the frames, right where the sunglasses bend, Yunho finds a familiar logo on them, one that he's seen on both Jaejoong's car and Yoochun's bag, it's another Ferrari brand item. Curious and coincidental, Yunho doesn't think much of it at first but when Yoochun doesn't return home for a week, he starts to worry and then he starts to think.
The four phases of the Cycle are known to correspond directly to the four horsemen of the apocalypse : the white horsemen that brings plague upon the world, the red horsemen that wrecks havoc with war, the black horsemen responsible for causing famine and last of all, the pale horsemen of death.
There's a photograph of a pair of white sunglasses in his hand, Jaejoong's red sports car and Yoochun's black leather overnight bag. Yunho's willing to bet that if he were to walk into Changmin's room, he'd find something yellow with the same brand and dark horse logo on it. The four horsemen of the apocalypse were always regarded as a myth of sorts, after all, it's based on the Bible and many have since lost faith in their Gods since the beginning of such Cycles. But what if it wasn't just a myth and what if it were true? What if there were four horsemen sent every quarter of a decade to earth with the sole purpose of carrying out judgement on humans?
Everything fits into place after that. The disappearances and deaths of Junsu, Jaejoong and now Yoochun, all one after another in correlation to the sequence of plague, war and famine. The fact that the four had moved in just a few days after Yunho's birthday and a few weeks prior to the start of the eighth Cycle. This explains the never ending amount of food in the apartment, the fridge always stocked and the drawers full of food. There's always a cold beer when Yunho wants it and no matter how damp the air may feel outside of the apartment, inside, it's never anything but light and airy.
When Yoochun doesn't return after nearly three weeks, Yunho knows he's on the right track. He's been researching a lot more lately, trying to work out just who and where Changmin and the others are from but he finds that he really has no idea where to even start. Just how is he supposed to research about the four horsemen when they're supposed to be nothing more than a story in a book?
Changmin saves Yunho the trouble of thinking up something witty and covert, telling him one night over dinner that he's going to be going away for a few days as well.
"You're not returning are you?" Yunho asks carefully, placing the chopsticks down on the table as he looks up at Changmin. It's not that he doesn't get along with the younger man because he does but Changmin's always been the most reserved one and in a way, Yunho should've known that while Jaejoong was the oldest, Changmin's the one that gets things done. Changmin's the last of the four phases and the most powerful one of them all.
Changmin looks at his watch and Yunho does too, a beautiful stainless steel watch with a round face. A round, yellow face.
"It's a Ferrari watch," Changmin says casually while continuing to eat, "I've got another one if you'd like it."
It all fits into place. Yunho shakes his head and looks at the clock, it's almost six and that means it's time for the night news. Yunho turns it on a minute before the news starts, watching Changmin out of the corner of his eye, leg shaking a bit from both nerves and as a bad habit.
The news that night is morbid just like it is every night. The country is low on supplies, the food shed that the President claimed was well-stocked turned out to be half-empty already and tonight comes the official announcement that there no longer is an emergency food to be rationed off. The people are on their own. Of course this news leads to more robberies and deaths, many more dying like Heechul had for just a couple won and sometimes for less than that. Just a piece of bread is enough to warrant death these days.
"When is Yoochun getting back?" Yunho asks evenly, looking at the plump piece of chicken in his bowl.
"He's not," Changmin says, clearing his throat, "I'm sorry to say that Yoochun's d-"
"He's dead," Yunho finishes for him, cutting in before Changmin can even say it, "you're sorry that Yoochun's dead and you don't know how he died but you know that he did." It's the same story that Changmin's fed him three separate times now.
In the end there isn't a spectacular showdown between them and Yunho doesn't punch Changmin in hopes of killing the younger man. Changmin's probably older than he is and Yunho knows that it's useless to try and stop whatever Changmin is doing but he does want to know one thing : why?
Changmin doesn't answer at first, he's too busy packing his own overnight bag for wherever it is that he's going but Yunho stays still long enough and while he remains quiet, he makes it known that he's not going to leave without having his questions answered.
"You're death, right?" Yunho asks, the two of them seated on the couch, Changmin staring at him blankly as he just blurts it out there.
"I'm not-"
"Don't give me any of that technical stuff," Yunho says clearly, "cut the bullshit and the scientific crap out, I just want the facts."
And so he's given them. Changmin quietly confirms that he is one of the four horsemen, the last and literally, the deadliest, of them all. The mystery of the Cycles isn't so much of a mystery after Changmin explains everything to him, telling him how every four years, a batch of horsemen are sent down to a corner of the earth, not to judge per se but simply to deliver what humans have long been forewarned about; the apocalypse. Every Cycle is a different group of horsemen, hence the differences each time when it came to the type of plague, the amount of people killed and how.
"So it's a test? A practice run before the real deal?" Yunho asks in frustration and anger, "we're the white rats? He just sends off a batch of horsemen, of killers, when he feels like it?" His mother, his father and probably his sister sacrificed because of a sudden whim.
Changmin shakes his head and then shrugs, "I'm just doing my job," he repeats, "this is what I was sent down to earth to do and it's what everyone horsemen before me was sent down to do. Whether they accomplished it or not, whether it was successful or whether they failed, it was our jobs."
Yunho thinks it's bullshit. He also thinks it's a dream and so he laughs, chuckling hard and then stopping, eyes squinting until he's staring Changmin down. "You're the last phase, you're the one that's going to kill all those who are still alive in Korea." It's a statement, not a question. Yunho's studied the Cycles long enough to know that there are haven't been a single survivor from the previous seven Cycles and that he's probably only hours away from dying himself. "Where are the other three? Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun? What's happened to them?"
"Terminated. Once their jobs were completed, they were terminated." Changmin kicks at his bag until it falls open and Yunho can see the contents. There's nothing in there but a few shirts and some snacks. "Junsu tried to spare you the first time around, he wouldn't let you touch him when you tried to help him because Junsu's entire body is a virus. All it takes is one finger on your skin and you'll have been infected. Jaejoong didn't manage to do much but war wasn't meant to be the highlight of this Cycle. He did what he could and killed those that crossed his path. Heechul was an accident, a casualty of something Jaejoong didn't have control over."
It's the most Changmin's spoken since he moved in nearly a year ago and Yunho's shocked, his brain barely able to comprehend everything Changmin's just told him.
"Just accept it and move on. You can try to understand it but you never will." Changmin addresses Yunho again, picking up his bag from the floor and zipping it close, "Yoochun's got the easiest job out of us all and for the most part, he succeeded. There are supposed to be more deaths by now but it doesn't matter, I'll take care of the rest."
Changmin's almost out the door by the time Yunho's senses kick in again and he grabs hold of the younger man, unafraid of the touch even though he knows he should be, "My sister, I can't- she can't die. Please, my sister." That's all Yunho says, the older man's last plea. There's no reason for Changmin to agree to anything Yunho says and he doesn't, pushing Yunho lightly as he steps out of the apartment.
The younger man doesn't return and Yunho watches the news religiously for the next two weeks. He moves back in with Jihye, letting her out of the room and out of confinement, hugging her and telling her everything is going to be okay, lying because he knows they're going to die.
- - -
Fifteen days before the start of 2015, the news stations have long since stopped reporting. There are no longer any news casters or reporters available and those that are still living are much too afraid to come out. Yunho wakes up one morning to a knock on the door. It's not annoyingly loud but it's persistent and when Jihye says she'll get it, Yunho stops her. It's not fair that Yunho can't protect the only family he has left but he has no other choice and when he opens the door to find Changmin standing there with a faint smile on his face, Yunho can't say he didn't know this was going to happen.
- - -
Year 2086 : Cycle 27
Seventy-two years since Cycle 8's attack on South Korea, the world has moved on and Korea's started to rebuild itself. Not everyone died in Seoul that time, about a handful of people made it out alive and although a good portion out of the remaining twenty moved away, Jihye stayed. An empty urn that should contain her brother's ashes sit on a table in what was once Yunho's batcave, a room that Jihye has since lost the key to. Yunho disappeared that day after answering the knock on the door and after waiting for so many years, Jihye's already accepted that he's gone. Maybe death took him.
Jihye lives to die of old age just as Yunho had wished and begged Changmin for and there are granddaughter and great-grandchildren present at her burial and wake. Yunho's there too. He's standing off to the side when her coffin is lowered into the ground and he even gets the opportunity to throw some dirt onto it, standing in line with a white rose that he hands to a woman he knows to be his niece.
Yunho doesn't stick around for whatever happens next, he's got an appointment to keep. Walking out of the cemetery and into the parking lot, Yunho finds his motorcycle parked at the curb. Black and shiny, there's a familiar logo on the side seat of his bike.
It's a white horse.
Team: Team AU
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 6,557
Fandom: DBSK
Pairing: Yunho-centric, Gen - DSBK
Summary: Yunho's resolved to survive this Cycle that is predicted to hit Korea and wipe out the country's inhabitants
Author's Note: Thanks to anyone that helped out in the planning of the fic and for holding my hand through this :)
The news reporters and media outlets take to calling it The Cycle, a series of events that occur every four years in an almost identical manner, forming a pattern of plague, war, poverty and death. The first year or Cycle 1 as the historians like to call it, is 1986, the year it all started. A plague, much like the bubonic in the fourteenth century that had wiped out nearly a quarter of a million people, came back that year and claimed the lives of thousands before it finally burned out.
Yunho was just a baby when it first started, born on a quiet February morning to a hardworking Korean family. He loses his mother to Cycle 3's civil war when he was just eight years old and his father to the following one, leaving behind a teen boy, barely tall enough to reach the top kitchen shelf, alone with a younger sister to take care of.
He becomes obsessed with them, these so-called Cycles, and devotes his entire elementary and higher education to learning more about them and to preparing their nation for future Cycles. There's a room in the apartment, the leftmost one at the end of the hallway, that Yunho keeps under lock and key, a secretive room filled with information on the Cycles. Each of the four walls that make up his personal study are divided into two, Cycles 1-8 written neatly at the very top with permanent makers, each header a different color and underlined for organization. And tacked beneath are details about the Cycles that even the most intelligent of Cyclists, as the elite group of researchers are known as, might not be aware of. For better or worse, Yunho's life is tied with the Cycles and his only goal is to ensure that his sister, Jihye, does not become yet another number out of the thousands killed every quarter decade and that unlike their parents, she lives to die of old age.
- - -
For his twenty-eighth birthday, Yunho's given a shiny new survival kit and a medical bracelet, standard issue from the government in preparation for what is to be the eighth Cycle. Two weeks ago, he received a postcard in the mail asking for his preferred colors when it came to the plastic cover of his flashlight and bracelet. Considering that it's already February though, Yunho had other things on his mind besides whether his pocket knife was going to be cerulean blue or orange orange. His next door neighbor and begrudging, his best friend, intercepted the postcard on its way to the trash can and sent it back on Yunho's behalf. In order of desired to least desired, Heechul listed : school bus yellow, grassy green and barney purple.
Survival kits and medical bracelets are just about the most that the government can do for them, after all as a board of elected officials, they hardly known more than the regular civilian does. Classified information, such as the fact that the deadly illnesses always start in early spring when they spread the easiest, are privy only to a select few so unless there's a public announcement of some sort, millions of people will remain in the dark and never know of their impending deaths. It's better this way though, even Yunho thinks so, there's no need to further excite a nation that's already on pins and needles about the impending Cycle.
The reason why the government is so much more aware of the eighth Cycle than they had been for the seventh and sixth probably has to do with the fact that Cyclists around the world have predicted in the year 2014, the continent to be wiped out and annihilated will be Asia and that the target country is to be Korea.
There are five basic facts about the Cycles that everyone, regardless of age and sex, know of. Repeated at least once month on TV and printed across every billboard in the world, these are the only information that all Cyclists have agreed on to be true and are labelled as the Five Commandments of the Cycles : (1) Cycles occur once every four years regardless of leap year and the like, (2) Cycles strictly follow the pattern of plague, war, poverty and then death, (3) Cycles will target only one continent and one country in a year, (4) Regardless of whether the Cycle finishes in its entirety from plague to death, it will end at exactly midnight on December 31st of the Cycle year, and (5) the Cycles are closely modeled off of the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, and of the Christian apocalyptic vision of the Four Horsemen.
In some ways, they're right and in others, they're not.
- - -
Just two weeks after his birthday, Yunho returns home from work to find a moving truck parked in front of his apartment complex. The door to the left of his home is ajar and he hears four distinct voices coming from the once empty apartment next to his.
"We've got new neighbors!" Heechul tells him from the doorway of his own place directly across from Yunho's, "they're all pretty cute. I call dibs on the tall one."
Yunho's too busy listening to his new neighbors arguing about which box belongs to whom to reply to Heechul and while eavesdropping, accidentally trips over the corner of a duffel bag and winds up falling face first. He cringes immediately when all he hears now is a cackle from Heechul and complete silence from 9D.
There's the obvious sounds of a group of people running and then Yunho hears voices from behind him conversing with one another.
"I told you not to leave your crap lying around, now look what you did, Junsu," comes the mildly amused and somewhat annoyed voice of someone standing to his left.
"Isn't that your bag though, Changmin?" someone else.
Another one of them snickers, "Looks like it. Doesn't that tag say 'property of Shim Changmin' on it?"
Yunho's aware that there's a group of men standing behind him, Heechul included, and yet out of the five there, not one attempts to ask if he's alright and no one bothers to offer him a helping hand either. Muttering under his breath, Yunho rises slowly, hand gripping onto the door knob so tightly that he nearly breaks it, "You okay there?" someone finally questions and with a nod, Yunho turns. Tall and pretty cute indeed. Heechul's winking at him, an eyebrow arched and cocked, the corners of his lips tugged up into a smug smile, "Don't mind him, he's accident prone."
"I'm Yunho and I guess I'm your next door neighbor, welcome to the complex," he says instead, face more than a little red from embarrassment.
"Jaejoong," says the man that reaches out to shake his hand and Yunho recognizes him as the one that had snickered, "sorry for the mess, we're still trying to organize things. It's kind of messy with the four of us."
Heechul leans closer to them, a foot propped up against the wall and offers his help although no one has asked for it yet, "We're available to help out if you need it. An extra set of hands, or this case two, can be useful." When it comes to men, hot and young ones at that, Heechul never could resist and with a sigh, Yunho finds himself being dragged into a cluttered apartment full of half-opened boxes lying every which way. Yunho starts to pick up random things off the floor, helping to de-clutter the messy apartment as best as he can. As he's being asked to fix the toilet lights or mop the kitchen floor, Yunho finds out a little more about his four new neighbors, starting with their names and ages of course.
Jaejoong's the oldest at 28 and technically Yunho's hyung by a couple of days. He's also the one that Heechul latches onto. Yunho picks up on tidbits of their conversation, something about pink being in or how ripped jeans may look good but are unflattering on most body types. There's also talk about whether white is actually a color or not and once they get to discussing all things taupe, Yunho tunes them out and turns to the others, hoping their conversations are at least understandable.
He finds Yoochun in the kitchen with Changmin, the younger of the two digging through the mostly empty fridge for something to eat while Yoochun's smoking a cigarette. It surprises Yunho because anything containing nicotine hasn't been in production since a decade after the Cycles started but there's always contraband for sale somewhere. Probably about a year after Cycle 3, the government decided to ration goods, not knowing when disaster would strike and hoarded all sorts of things including cigarettes and beer. Yunho figures that there's probably nothing useful in the food sheds except a few bags of rice but the price for that goes up and down so often that every household has at least three bags secretly stashed somewhere.
Changmin's the one who catches him staring but he doesn't say anything directly to him, digging a plastic bag full of cup noodles out from somewhere and boiling a pot of water for what is probably their dinner tonight. At least Yunho'll get fed for all his manual labor. Junsu wanders in sometime after Changmin gets the first cup noodle going, pouring in so much water that he burns his left hand. As red as it is though, Changmin doesn't even notice it until Yunho points it out, asking in a mix of horror and surprise if Changmin's in need of any first aid, not that Yunho knows any.
Yoochun explains to him that Changmin's got a high tolerance for pain but that it's equaled out by the younger man's low, low, very low tolerance for bullshit. Changmin's got a temper and he's a moody one, something that Yunho realizes on his own at a later time. He also finds out that Changmin's his dongsaeng, younger by two years while Yoochun's the same age as Junsu and just one year younger than him.
As soon as Changmin gets all the cup noodles cooked, he does something Yunho's not expecting. The younger man grabs a pot, washes it thoroughly and proceeds to dump the contents of seven (because Changmin needs two) cup noodles into it, stirring it all around before adding some more boiled water and then dumping in a few cans of pre-cooked sausages.
"They're the good kind too," Heechul says through a bite of food, sharing the lid with Jaejoong, "not the government branded ones. You guys must be rich or related to some city council member."
Junsu laughs at the comment but he's the only one who does so, Changmin clearing his throat and silencing his companion with a flick of his eyes. Jaejoong nearly upsets the lid that he's got balanced between his arm and Heechul's, Yoochun accidentally kicking Yunho when he's aiming for Junsu.
"Thanks for the food," Yunho says, Heechul wisely picking up on the mood at the dinner table with ease and directing the conversation back to taupe and maroon.
There's not much cleaning to be done since dinner is basically fast food but Yunho volunteers anyway and he's left with Junsu who had lost the rock paper scissors match. Yunho dries while Junsu washes the pot and chopsticks, smiling and joking with Yunho the entire time, teasing him easily despite only having just met him. Junsu's got a penchant for jokes, the practical kind that aren't really funny from the victim's point of view, but the jokes are never made with any ill humor and besides the fact that Changmin hadn't talked to Junsu for a week after one joke, for the most part Junsu's mostly harmless. For the most part.
Over the course of a few months, Yunho gets to know the four next door fairly well. Heechul often invites himself over to explore Jaejoong's spacious and packed closet and as a result, Yunho's taken along as an excuse. Heechul obtains a key somehow, probably through smooth talking or maybe he'd just confessed to Jaejoong that he lusted after the other man's clothes because one week, instead of asking Yunho to appear as if he was robbed, Heechul just lets them in with a key from his tiny loop. No one's home of course, it's the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday morning and if it weren't for the fact that he's feeling sick, Yunho would be in the laboratory researching future details in preparation for Cycle 8.
Cyclists have been predicting when it'll happen, "it" being the very first signs of the Cycle, the plague. Maybe this year it'll be a new strain of the chicken pox or maybe it'll be some type of influenza that the scientists haven't developed a vaccine for yet. They mark D-day as the tenth of March but when that comes and goes, they re-declare it to be the twenty-third. That passes too and by Apirl fifth, many are thinking that perhaps Korea isn't the target after all, maybe it's Shanghai or Indonesia. But it's not. They're only lulled into a false sense of security and when the first signs of illness strike, many are unprepared. Yunho isn't one of them.
The second he hears news of a cough being spread around, he sends Jihye off to seclusion in the spare bedroom. He keeps it stocked with food and there's enough to last her for a year if she rations it properly. There's face masks and antibacterial gels, plenty of alcohol wipes and while there's a window, it's bolted from the inside and out, no way for any pores carrying the sickness to reach her. Instead, to provide her with fresh air, Yunho's got tanks of oxygen and an air purifier. No one knows if these gadgets will actually work but it has for the past three Cycles and Yunho can only pray it works for this one as well.
He's running out to the market to buy some coffee beans when he literally runs into Junsu, the younger man donning a pair of white rimmed sunglasses and looking entirely different from the Junsu that Yunho had played Mario Kart with just a week ago. Junsu apologizes and looks away when Yunho tries to help him up, avoiding the touch and standing up by himself. "See you later, Hyung," is all Junsu had said before the younger man walked away from him.
The next day, the death toll in the city of Seoul rises to one thousand and sixteen. At the rate in which people are falling sick and dying, Yunho predicts that by the end of the month, everyone in the city will have succumbed to this mystery virus that works much like the common cold does. The doctor on the nightly news at six tells them that wearing face masks won't be of any help, that the pores in the air are actually so small that no matter what, as long as a breath of air is taken, the risk of catching the new virus is there. As with all the previous plagues that came with the Cycles, there's no cure. Scientists spend all the time they have between Cycles trying out antidotes, inventing new vaccines and shots they claim will fight whatever virus the Cycle throws their way but in the end, they fail. There's always a new strain or an abnormal formation that the scientists haven't prepared for. Always.
When Yunho turns on the news the next night, the doctor is no longer on the program and there's a new one in his place. His name is now listed along with the two thousand others names of the deceased and for his efforts for once being the most trusted doctor in Korea, he gets a line at the bottom of the screen announcing his death. Victim number two thousand and ten. That's the number that'll be listed next to his name in the official records once the first phase of the Cycle is over with.
In the end, Influenza Z or H1N13 as it's known as scientifically, claims the lives of nearly five thousand Korean men and women. Every plague is different in both its manner of killing, this particular one causing a slow but rather painless death, and in its target audience. Surprisingly, H1N13's victims are all in their thirties and mostly healthy, and unlike other plagues before it, none of the elderly or young were infected. Upon closer examination though, Yunho discovers that the bulk of the dead have had criminal records, some having stole or held up a grocery store, others having killed or beaten a spouse. A plague with morals, that's certainly a first.
- - -
Yunho's moved into Heechul's for the time being, not wanting to risk spreading anything to Jihye by accident and while it's a trying experience, having to live with his best friend, it's not without its fun moments. Every Friday night, Heechul invites the others from across the hall into his home for a slumber party of sorts but instead of sleeping and doing each other's makeup, they spend the time drinking homemade beer and eating chips with dip.
For the most part, those that live on the same floor as them shy away from get-togethers like these, it's a surefire way for diseases and germs to spread so they decline and Heechul never asks them again. He's friendly enough but he's not patient and he's knows when to quit. So it winds up that every week, the only ones gathered in Heechul's apartment are Yunho, Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun, Changmin occasionally making an appearance if he feels like it. The younger man isn't antisocial, he just prefers to spend his time alone doing other things, like watching porn, or so Yoochun tells them.
Yunho never notices how Junsu pales when the plague is mentioned or how his demeanor changes from smiling and joking freely to becoming more solemn and quiet. For the entirety of the three months in which the plague hit them, Junsu had worn those white sunglasses the entire time. Heechul, being the fashion-oriented man that he is, often stole it to play with, modeling it on himself and taking pictures when Junsu wasn't around to see. Junsu will share pretty much everything, his half of a burger or his bed during sleepovers but whenever Heechul mentions those gorgeous frames, Junsu immediately says no. They're his and Heechul can't take them.
A week after H1N13 officially stops spreading, the last recorded case of it being the fifteenth of July, Yunho receives word that Junsu's passed away. The always happy and sweet younger man that greeted him with a smile every time they met, passed away a few days ago.
"It was the flu," Yoochun explains quietly, head bowed as he delivers the news. Changmin's standing stoically by his side but Jaejoong's nowhere to be found. The fact that the older man isn't there surprises Yunho, Jaejoong was always the caretaker of the group, the one that had made sure the other three were fed and clean, often kicking their asses to the shower when he deemed them too smelly.
"Is Jaejoong-hyung alright?" he asks, peering out of Heechul's apartment to see if Jaejoong's standing in the hallway somewhere.
Changmin stiffens up next to Yoochun and nods before his hyung can answer, "He's fine. He's taking care of other things, calling Junsu's parents and the crematory."
Nowadays, the deceased aren't buried, there's simply no more earth to dig up and the coffin makers find it impossible to keep up with the demand as well. Anyone that's been inflicted with the flu are cremated, their ashes given back to the family members in a plain ceramic jar with their name written in black marker on the top. It's informal and rude but in times like these, no one can bother to make a fancy plaque and engrave it with hangul.
"If there's anything I can do..." Yunho trails off, wishing he could offer something more than his condolences.
Changmin nods and bows to Yunho, placing his hand on Yoochun's hip before he turns and leaves. Yoochun smiles faintly at Yunho when he asks if everything is really okay but the younger man doesn't answer, following Changmin's footsteps as they go back into their apartment.
It's another few days after that when Yunho hears news of war breaking out between North and South Korea. This is something that people have worried over for decades and it's something their country always prepared for but never really expected to happen. And so begins part two of Cycle 8.
- - -
They call it a war but nothing really happens. There aren't any bombings or attacks on their country and Yunho still goes about his normal life, buying groceries and going to work at the coffee shop. Any free time that he has is spent in his secret room that Heechul calls his batcave or Yunhostein's laboratory. The grocery stores are packed and the shelves are mostly empty. There's not much to buy anymore and while it's technically only the second phase of the Cycle, people are preparing for the third phase by hoarding as much food as they can for the tough months to come.
Heechul's little parties become less and less frequent, and there's rarely any food served at them anymore. Sometimes Jaejoong will bring over a pot of jjigae he made and they'll eat that but times are getting harder and while the war is just a war in its name, it's still not a joke and people are dying whether it be from robberies or other events. That's actually how Heechul dies.
Walking home one night from work, he's robbed at knifepoint for his wallet, a few hundred won that he hands over immediately, hands pressed against the wall where the robber has cornered him. Instead of just leaving it at that though, the robber had stabbed him. Inexperienced and probably scared out of his wits, the robber had fled the scene, unknowingly having stabbed Heechul in the liver. Heechul dies before the ambulance even gets there.
Yunho doesn't get a phone call telling him that his friend has passed away. Instead he wakes to a note slipped under the door with word of Heechul's death and the time that the older man's ashes will be available for pick-up. Yunho's also forced out of the apartment he had been sharing with Heechul. It's government subsidized so once Heechul's gone, so is the apartment. He packs as much as he can, Yoochun and Changmin both stopping by to help him. Yoochun offers their apartment, knowing that Yunho couldn't go home to his own apartment and while it's apparent that Changmin's not a fan of the arrangement, he's the one that helps Yunho move in.
Jaejoong's missing that night from dinner and while Yunho doesn't ask about him, he is curious as to why the older man isn't present. There's no way Jaejoong's still at work, not when there's been a curfew in effect for the entire capital since January and so unless Jaejoong's really good at sneaking around, he'll be arrested by the police for being out so late at night and taken to the precinct for fingerprinting before being dropped back at home.
Late that night as Yunho's trying to find a comfortable spot on the bed once slept on by Junsu, he hears a loud roar from below his window, sitting up in surprise. That sounds like the roar of a car engine. But that's impossible since cars haven't been in use since the last Cycle. There's no more oil to be drilled or found and so cars had pretty much become extinct, useless sheets of metals that people now used to make badges or shields.
Almost afraid to go and check, Yunho finds that it is indeed a car, a red sports car to be exact and he's even more surprised to find Jaejoong in the driver's seat. There's no one next to Jaejoong but the older man seems to be talking to himself, tapping his fingers on the wheel before he drives off for the garage. There's probably still a few cars in there but Yunho's willing to bet there are none as well-kept and none that are functional like Jaejoong's car is. There also isn't a car as expensive as Jaejoong's red Ferrari.
The next day, Yunho walks the entire way to the crematory, returning late in the afternoon with an urn in hand, a tiny two by five inch jar holding all that remains of Heechul. Jaejoong cooks Heechul's favorites that night, a tableful of delicious food that Yunho hasn't had the pleasure of eating in years. He didn't know it'd be his last full meal for a long while.
- - -
The informal war ends a short month after it starts. It's the shortest war yet for phase two of a Cycle but no one's complaining. The atmosphere in the city is muted these days, everyone glum and in low spirits to have lost their relatives and friends. The famine that follows the war is always the hardest part. People need food to survive and while other countries continue to pledge that they'd fly in some grains and emergency food aid, it almost never reaches the country in need and the people end of dying anyway.
On the fifth day of the famine, the shelves are completely empty and the grocery shops and supermarkets have closed up. The storage shelves are cleaned out and there's nothing left to sell, even the pet food and expired beef jerky having sold out. In desperate times, people will do just about anything and eat all edible things.
While Yunho's not exactly surprised, he does get caught off guard when he finds the room he shares with Jaejoong to be empty, the older man's possessions and everything, gone. All that remains is Yunho's bed and a closet that's half full. Jaejoong's expensive designer bags and boots are gone, the older man's ripped jeans and black leather jackets missing as well.
"Jaejoong's died," is what Changmin tells him when Yunho asks. There's no further explanation and Yoochun just flashes him a weak smile, scooping up some rice into his mouth as they eat.
There's a knock on Yunho's bedroom door the next morning and it's Yoochun, the younger man with a black overnight bag slung over his shoulder, a rather large Ferrari crest on the side of it. "Hyung, I'll be out of town for a couple of days, don't worry about Changmin, I swear he's more bark than bite."
Yunho's only just woken up but no matter how he tries to ask where Yoochun's going at a time like this, the younger man won't answer and after another fifteen minutes of chatting about whether he has enough food with him or not, Yoochun leaves. Changmin's already in the kitchen when Yunho walks Yoochun out and he barely says a word to Yoochun, nothing about how his hyung should take care of himself. Instead, Changmin murmurs a "good luck" and a "don't fuck this up" before going to pour himself a new cup of coffee.
- - -
Yunho's slow but he's not stupid. Two days later while looking through Heechul's things, he finds the pictures that the older man had taken with Junsu's sunglasses. At the corners of the frames, right where the sunglasses bend, Yunho finds a familiar logo on them, one that he's seen on both Jaejoong's car and Yoochun's bag, it's another Ferrari brand item. Curious and coincidental, Yunho doesn't think much of it at first but when Yoochun doesn't return home for a week, he starts to worry and then he starts to think.
The four phases of the Cycle are known to correspond directly to the four horsemen of the apocalypse : the white horsemen that brings plague upon the world, the red horsemen that wrecks havoc with war, the black horsemen responsible for causing famine and last of all, the pale horsemen of death.
There's a photograph of a pair of white sunglasses in his hand, Jaejoong's red sports car and Yoochun's black leather overnight bag. Yunho's willing to bet that if he were to walk into Changmin's room, he'd find something yellow with the same brand and dark horse logo on it. The four horsemen of the apocalypse were always regarded as a myth of sorts, after all, it's based on the Bible and many have since lost faith in their Gods since the beginning of such Cycles. But what if it wasn't just a myth and what if it were true? What if there were four horsemen sent every quarter of a decade to earth with the sole purpose of carrying out judgement on humans?
Everything fits into place after that. The disappearances and deaths of Junsu, Jaejoong and now Yoochun, all one after another in correlation to the sequence of plague, war and famine. The fact that the four had moved in just a few days after Yunho's birthday and a few weeks prior to the start of the eighth Cycle. This explains the never ending amount of food in the apartment, the fridge always stocked and the drawers full of food. There's always a cold beer when Yunho wants it and no matter how damp the air may feel outside of the apartment, inside, it's never anything but light and airy.
When Yoochun doesn't return after nearly three weeks, Yunho knows he's on the right track. He's been researching a lot more lately, trying to work out just who and where Changmin and the others are from but he finds that he really has no idea where to even start. Just how is he supposed to research about the four horsemen when they're supposed to be nothing more than a story in a book?
Changmin saves Yunho the trouble of thinking up something witty and covert, telling him one night over dinner that he's going to be going away for a few days as well.
"You're not returning are you?" Yunho asks carefully, placing the chopsticks down on the table as he looks up at Changmin. It's not that he doesn't get along with the younger man because he does but Changmin's always been the most reserved one and in a way, Yunho should've known that while Jaejoong was the oldest, Changmin's the one that gets things done. Changmin's the last of the four phases and the most powerful one of them all.
Changmin looks at his watch and Yunho does too, a beautiful stainless steel watch with a round face. A round, yellow face.
"It's a Ferrari watch," Changmin says casually while continuing to eat, "I've got another one if you'd like it."
It all fits into place. Yunho shakes his head and looks at the clock, it's almost six and that means it's time for the night news. Yunho turns it on a minute before the news starts, watching Changmin out of the corner of his eye, leg shaking a bit from both nerves and as a bad habit.
The news that night is morbid just like it is every night. The country is low on supplies, the food shed that the President claimed was well-stocked turned out to be half-empty already and tonight comes the official announcement that there no longer is an emergency food to be rationed off. The people are on their own. Of course this news leads to more robberies and deaths, many more dying like Heechul had for just a couple won and sometimes for less than that. Just a piece of bread is enough to warrant death these days.
"When is Yoochun getting back?" Yunho asks evenly, looking at the plump piece of chicken in his bowl.
"He's not," Changmin says, clearing his throat, "I'm sorry to say that Yoochun's d-"
"He's dead," Yunho finishes for him, cutting in before Changmin can even say it, "you're sorry that Yoochun's dead and you don't know how he died but you know that he did." It's the same story that Changmin's fed him three separate times now.
In the end there isn't a spectacular showdown between them and Yunho doesn't punch Changmin in hopes of killing the younger man. Changmin's probably older than he is and Yunho knows that it's useless to try and stop whatever Changmin is doing but he does want to know one thing : why?
Changmin doesn't answer at first, he's too busy packing his own overnight bag for wherever it is that he's going but Yunho stays still long enough and while he remains quiet, he makes it known that he's not going to leave without having his questions answered.
"You're death, right?" Yunho asks, the two of them seated on the couch, Changmin staring at him blankly as he just blurts it out there.
"I'm not-"
"Don't give me any of that technical stuff," Yunho says clearly, "cut the bullshit and the scientific crap out, I just want the facts."
And so he's given them. Changmin quietly confirms that he is one of the four horsemen, the last and literally, the deadliest, of them all. The mystery of the Cycles isn't so much of a mystery after Changmin explains everything to him, telling him how every four years, a batch of horsemen are sent down to a corner of the earth, not to judge per se but simply to deliver what humans have long been forewarned about; the apocalypse. Every Cycle is a different group of horsemen, hence the differences each time when it came to the type of plague, the amount of people killed and how.
"So it's a test? A practice run before the real deal?" Yunho asks in frustration and anger, "we're the white rats? He just sends off a batch of horsemen, of killers, when he feels like it?" His mother, his father and probably his sister sacrificed because of a sudden whim.
Changmin shakes his head and then shrugs, "I'm just doing my job," he repeats, "this is what I was sent down to earth to do and it's what everyone horsemen before me was sent down to do. Whether they accomplished it or not, whether it was successful or whether they failed, it was our jobs."
Yunho thinks it's bullshit. He also thinks it's a dream and so he laughs, chuckling hard and then stopping, eyes squinting until he's staring Changmin down. "You're the last phase, you're the one that's going to kill all those who are still alive in Korea." It's a statement, not a question. Yunho's studied the Cycles long enough to know that there are haven't been a single survivor from the previous seven Cycles and that he's probably only hours away from dying himself. "Where are the other three? Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun? What's happened to them?"
"Terminated. Once their jobs were completed, they were terminated." Changmin kicks at his bag until it falls open and Yunho can see the contents. There's nothing in there but a few shirts and some snacks. "Junsu tried to spare you the first time around, he wouldn't let you touch him when you tried to help him because Junsu's entire body is a virus. All it takes is one finger on your skin and you'll have been infected. Jaejoong didn't manage to do much but war wasn't meant to be the highlight of this Cycle. He did what he could and killed those that crossed his path. Heechul was an accident, a casualty of something Jaejoong didn't have control over."
It's the most Changmin's spoken since he moved in nearly a year ago and Yunho's shocked, his brain barely able to comprehend everything Changmin's just told him.
"Just accept it and move on. You can try to understand it but you never will." Changmin addresses Yunho again, picking up his bag from the floor and zipping it close, "Yoochun's got the easiest job out of us all and for the most part, he succeeded. There are supposed to be more deaths by now but it doesn't matter, I'll take care of the rest."
Changmin's almost out the door by the time Yunho's senses kick in again and he grabs hold of the younger man, unafraid of the touch even though he knows he should be, "My sister, I can't- she can't die. Please, my sister." That's all Yunho says, the older man's last plea. There's no reason for Changmin to agree to anything Yunho says and he doesn't, pushing Yunho lightly as he steps out of the apartment.
The younger man doesn't return and Yunho watches the news religiously for the next two weeks. He moves back in with Jihye, letting her out of the room and out of confinement, hugging her and telling her everything is going to be okay, lying because he knows they're going to die.
- - -
Fifteen days before the start of 2015, the news stations have long since stopped reporting. There are no longer any news casters or reporters available and those that are still living are much too afraid to come out. Yunho wakes up one morning to a knock on the door. It's not annoyingly loud but it's persistent and when Jihye says she'll get it, Yunho stops her. It's not fair that Yunho can't protect the only family he has left but he has no other choice and when he opens the door to find Changmin standing there with a faint smile on his face, Yunho can't say he didn't know this was going to happen.
- - -
Year 2086 : Cycle 27
Seventy-two years since Cycle 8's attack on South Korea, the world has moved on and Korea's started to rebuild itself. Not everyone died in Seoul that time, about a handful of people made it out alive and although a good portion out of the remaining twenty moved away, Jihye stayed. An empty urn that should contain her brother's ashes sit on a table in what was once Yunho's batcave, a room that Jihye has since lost the key to. Yunho disappeared that day after answering the knock on the door and after waiting for so many years, Jihye's already accepted that he's gone. Maybe death took him.
Jihye lives to die of old age just as Yunho had wished and begged Changmin for and there are granddaughter and great-grandchildren present at her burial and wake. Yunho's there too. He's standing off to the side when her coffin is lowered into the ground and he even gets the opportunity to throw some dirt onto it, standing in line with a white rose that he hands to a woman he knows to be his niece.
Yunho doesn't stick around for whatever happens next, he's got an appointment to keep. Walking out of the cemetery and into the parking lot, Yunho finds his motorcycle parked at the curb. Black and shiny, there's a familiar logo on the side seat of his bike.
It's a white horse.