Chapter Text
Getting to the base was a simple affair. Seonghwa, as usual, fussed over Yeosang who was just as emotional as he was before extending the sentiment to the rest of the younger members, much to their amusement. After, Hongjoong drew their attention.
"Alright, I know we"re all happy to see each other again but I really need to check on Yeosang," he announced. The others nodded and Yeosang followed Hongjoong into the examination room.
"Conspiracies and schemes aside, I"m really happy to see you again Yeosang-ah," Hongjoong admitted. The younger male smiled shyly.
"Thank you, Hongjoong-ssi. For saving me. I wish we could"ve met under better circumstances." Hongjoong smiled sadly at that.
"It"s alright. Let"s just make sure everything is intact, okay?" Yeosang nodded and let Hongjoong get to work.
The bio-engineer conducted a full and thorough examination and by the end of it, he had a contemplative and slightly exasperated look on his face.
"Yeosang-ah."
"Y-yes?"
"Did you mess with the initial conception process?"
Yeosang swallowed and chuckled nervously, "Does it matter?"
Hongjoong propped up his elbow on the table with a sigh, resting his cheek in his hand. "It matters if you tell the person you involved. Wouldn"t you agree?"
Yeosang pouted and Hongjoong sighed again, his lips curving into a fond smile.
"Never mind. Now isn"t the time," he said, reaching for a holo-tablet to type something. Yeosang watched him work silently.
"After all," Hongjoong began, turning to Yeosang with a knowing look in his eyes, "we"re expecting guests, aren"t we?"
A few moments later, there was a loud noise outside and lots of commotion. The two occupants of the room turned towards the door as it swung open and a woman walked in. She was dressed in a luxurious black and silver embroidered hanbok with her hair in the traditional fashion with a silver hairpin.
The Head Priestess.
"Kim Hongjoong. Did you really think you could hide away from me forever?" she smirked. Hongjoong said nothing but got to his feet to stand between her and Yeosang. She scoffed.
"That boy behind you is mine. He"s the very future of the Order. You dare disrupt our plans?"
"Your plans?", Hongjoong scoffed. "Why, I didn"t realize so-called miracles were "plans" now? It baffles me, really. How confident you are in your fraud."
The Priestess lifted her chin haughtily. "Oh, please. The people are mindless sheep that follow the tiniest bit of false hope. I"m doing them a favour.”
"A favour? You"re blowing up bridges and setting terrorists on your own people! And for what? More followers?" Hongjoong spat. The Priestess sneered, her lips twisted into a malicious smirk.
"So what? If fabricated miracles are what bring them to the Order"s benevolent embrace, I"ll gladly provide it. Besides, what they won"t know won"t kill them."
Hongjoong chuckled at that.
"See, that"s where you"re wrong. Even if they did know, they wouldn"t be the ones killed," he countered, stepping up in front of the Priestess. A wicked smile formed on his face even as hers fell.
"You will."
The Priestess frowned but then her eyes widened.
"What- what are you talking about?" she stammered. Hongjoong looked up at the ceiling where multiple camera lenses emerged, hidden from view at a glance.
"Say hi to the people, Head Priestess," Hongjoong taunted.
Out in the city and all across the country, multiple broadcasts and billboard displays had been overridden with the livestream of the Priestess admitting to her lies.
And now, the people were absolutely furious.
Outside the examination room, more of Hongjoong"s men came rushing in, followed by other soldiers in uniforms bearing the national Coat of Arms. In no time, they had apprehended the Prestige Order officers who had initially subdued the other members, the latter having been alerted earlier by Hongjoong when he discovered the tracking drone on their trail.
With the tables turned and all the evidence they needed obtained, the Head Priestess was apprehended. Frantic, she tried to grasp at Yeosang as Hongjoong moved away from him to turn off the broadcast.
"No! No! I was doing this for the people! I was- Yeosang. Yeosang-ah. My sweet boy. Tell them. Prove your faith. You live for the Order, don"t you? We saved you-," she was shaken off by a disgusted looking Yeosang.
"You didn"t save me," he stated as the other members rushed in after taking care of the mess outside. "Hongjoong-hyung saved me. And Seonghwa hyung. And Jongho. Everyone you see behind you. But you? You are nothing to me."
Jongho walked up to Yeosang then as Wooyoung and San held the frantic woman back. She suddenly began to cackle.
"It doesn"t matter anyway. You were meant to serve the Order. You were created for us! After that pregnancy is done, you"ll expire. You hear me?! You were designed to die! You still lost!" she screamed.
Hongjoong just stared at her blankly as she did.
***
Jongho opened the door to the hospital room, the sterile white a stark contrast against the black hair of the figure in the bed. Silently, Jongho made his way to the side of the bed. Taking a seat on the chair there, he reached over and gently took the hand of the other person in his, lightly stroking over his fingers. The person began to stir as he did, and soon, clear fox-like eyes the colour of rich coffee were meeting Jongho’s soft ones.
“Hello, beautiful,” he greeted, his voice hushed and soft. Yeosang’s face lit up with a tender smile, the younger male still half-asleep.
“Hi…” he sighed in reply. Jongho smiled and placed a kiss on the back of Yeosang’s hand, interlocking their fingers right after and facing the other fully.
“How do you feel today?” he asked. Yeosang sighed again.
“Tired. But you’re here. The first thing I see and hear when I wake up. That makes me feel better,” he answered. Jongho nodded and turned to look at Yeosang’s very swollen belly. Reaching up, he placed his hand on the bump and lightly rubbed it.
“And down here? Any trouble?” he inquired, his voice quieter this time.
Yeosang’s hand came up to join his and Jongho turned to him. The pregnant male smiled at him. “We’re fine, hyung.”
Jongho didn’t answer, staring at Yeosang for a while before nodding and simply getting closer to lightly lay his head on the side of Yeosang’s belly, not wanting to add weight but still be closer to his family. Yeosang’s hand came up to course through his hair, and Jongho’s eyes shut as he indulged in the feeling.
5 years later
Jongho stood out on the porch and watched the sky. The clouds were dark and heavy. He put on some boots and went out into the clearing in front of the house. Two little girls, brunette and black-haired, played in the grass. They looked up when Jongho called out to them.
"Eunhee-ah, Eunji. It"s time to come in now." The two girls looked up at him with matching pouts.
"Appa... can"t we stay longer?" Eunji, the brunette twin blinked her clear brown fox eyes pleadingly up at Jongho. Her sister nodded as well, her fluffy black hair bouncing. Her darker round eyes were debatably more devastating than her sister"s, and Jongho found it unfair given that they were practically his own.
He sighed and shook his head.
"Last time I let you two play outside too long, you got sick and I got scolded. Not happening. Come on."
The twins pouted but lifted their arms anyway for Jongho to lift them up into his strong arms, the human and cybernetic limbs firmly and safely clutching each girl to their father’s chest.
"Don"t pout so much. All your uncles are coming over for dinner tonight, remember?" he reminded them as he began to walk back into the house. The girls squealed.
"All of them?", Eunhee squealed. Jongho nodded.
"Yup. All of them," he answered, the door of the house coming into view. A figure stood in the doorway, fluffy black hair shifting in the soft breeze and exposing the pink patch at the corner of his eye as he smiled at the three approaching. Jongho smiled back.
"Your Eomma missed them very much."
~Flashback~
Jongho turned to Hongjoong after the Priestess"s words.
"Hyung. What is she talking about? What does she mean Yeosang will die?" he asked in alarm.
"Yeosang was originally designed to simply give birth and die after. He wasn’t designed to live," Hongjoong confirmed. But then he smiled. The Priestess"s smug smirk faltered at that.
"But what she doesn"t know, obviously, is that when Yeosang got handed over to me, I fixed more than just the complications of his organ development. So yes, he was designed to die. But I redesigned him," Hongjoong smiled at the now defeated Priestess being dragged away.
After she was taken away, Jongho tenderly asked Yeosang how he was feeling, still aware of the fact that Yeosang was pregnant. Hongjoong watched them with a slight scowl.
"Yah. Yeosang-ah. Aren"t you going to tell him?"
The two looked up at Hongjoong, so did the other members who were still in the room. Seonghwa spoke up.
"Tell him what?" he asked. Yeosang pouted and wrapped his hands around Jongho’s arm.
"Do I have to?" he whined. At the look Hongjoong gave him, he huffed. "You do it then."
Hongjoong sighed and turned to the older guardian.
"Seonghwa-ssi. The doctor who came to check Yeosang when you got to Seoul, what did he say?"
"Hm? He asked about the last pill and mentioned... that it was working earlier than expected?"
"He lied."
Seonghwa furrowed his brows at that. "Huh? What do you mean? Did it not work then? Is Yeosang not pregnant?"
Hongjoong shook his head. "No. He"s still pregnant. But it happened earlier because it wasn"t the pill."
Seonghwa"s eyes widened as he turned to Yeosang. "What- but how then? There"s no way-"
"Oh, but there is", Hongjoong replied, half-sitting on the desk in the examination office and crossing his arms.
"Natural human DNA is a powerful thing. It can easily override any synthetic sample in a pill. Especially when it came right from the source. Blood, a piece of hair or-," Hongjoong cocked a brow at Yeosang and Jongho, "-a kiss. Isn"t that right, Yeosang-ah?"
A loud gasp was heard, and they looked around to see that it was Mingi who had covered his mouth like a scandalized lady. Wooyoung shook his head.
"Wait wait wait- You mean Yeosang got pregnant from… a kiss?" he asked in disbelief. Jongho was still in shock.
"But it was only once though...?" he mumbled. Yeosang whined into his shoulder, hiding his red face.
"Only once?! I"d like to know when it even happened- wait. Oh never mind," Seonghwa said, sounding defeated. Yeosang raised his head.
"I just... didn"t want that to be chosen by the Order too. I wanted to choose. Just for this," he confessed. Jongho turned to him with a smile, already coming to terms with it.
"It"s alright, Yeosang-ah. I"ll be right here."
The twins were born 8 months later and by then, Jongho’s house in the woods was perfectly rebuilt and renovated.
Thanks to Hongjoong, who had been revealed to be working in the government secret service (mostly to bring down the Prestige Order), he got the pardon he needed and was able to start a new life with Yeosang and their twins.
The other members also found their places, Yunho and Mingi joining Hongjoong"s charity organizations and Seonghwa working alongside the leader, the latter taking over the management of the former Prestigiant convents.
It was a life Jongho would"ve never seen himself having a month earlier.
Kill or be killed.
That was what he lived by. His survivor"s code. But he wasn"t surviving anymore.
He was living.