In another life

01

He was dead. He knew that much. He had felt as the bullets went through his neck and his sides. Barreling into his skin and carving into his flesh. He was dead in every sense of the world. At least that's what he had thought. However, when he struggled to open his eyes, he wasn't met with the pouring rain of the sixth round. He wasn't met with the metal walls that contained them all. He wasn't met with aliens chanting out their names over and over again. He was met with two large unblinking blue eyes and white hair in pigtails.

  "Papa! Father! He's looking at me!" The voice was little but it was bright and giddy. It was loud too. He never had problems before with sensitivity to noise. Maybe it was a side effect of blood loss. 'Where am I?' "Aaa..baa.." his brows furrowed and he frowned. He didn't mean to say that. He wanted to ask where he was. So he tried again. "Ahama.." his voice was much smaller than what it usually sounds like and he was having a hard time raising his head.

"Biyoo, don't be too loud. Papa told you, babies have sensitive ears," another child chided, her blonde hair cut to her shoulders before she turned to look into the crib. Straight at Ivan. Just who were these people, and where the hell was he? He lifted his hand, only to see small baby fingers. The girl from before took it as an invitation to take his hand into her own. "He sure is cute," she says as she leans against the crib with a smile. The only plausible explanation he could come up with was that he did die. He had taken his last breath on that stage. Then he took another breath, this time in a new life. He hoped this life treated him better than the other one had.

  "Papa, can I pick him up?" The girl questioned as she turned her body towards whoever was heading this way. "Not yet Yoosung, he's still little," the voice was soft, yet firm, in a way that left no room for arguing. He suddenly felt extremely nervous. He was going to meet his dad in this world. The closest dad he had was Unsha, and even then that wasn't much. After all, that alien adopted him as a present for his wife, he was nothing more than a pet. An asset to make both money and happiness. He knew it, and the aliens knew it too.

"Please papa, I'll be careful!" Even though the man's tone left no room for argument, it seemed as if the girl was immune to his tone. Her slight whine drew him out of his thoughts and he gulped as best as he could in this form. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't this. The man's face was soft, his eyes a dark brown, and his hair a stark black. His eyes seemed as if they held all the stars in the world, and his skin was as pale as the Milky Way. His expression was soft and he held a gentle smile.

He looked so gentle...so warm...it made Ivan have the inexplicable urge to cry. He would blame that on being a baby.

Large hands lifted him into the man's arms, his dad's arms. The man smiled down warmly at him as if he were the only thing that mattered on this planet. All Ivan could do in response was lean against him. "Hello Ivan," the man said with a soft giddy expression, a smile on his face as he looked lovingly down at Ivan. "Is he awake Dokja?" In appeared a taller man with much sharper features than his dad. He looked as if he were perfectly sculptured, with the way his face was defined enough to make every part of him stand out but not too much to be gross. He had dark eyes and much more tanned skin, his hair a mess.

"Yes he is, Joonghyuk-ah," Ivan's eyes trailed over to the taller man, who much like his papa was smiling warmly at him. It made him feel giddy inside to be given such love. It almost made him feel embarrassed, after all, he was never given such affection before. "Papa, let me hold him," a tall teen with black hair in a ponytail popped up from behind the tall man-Joonghyuk, Ivan reminded himself consciously as he curiously glanced at her. How many children were in this house was something he couldn't help but wonder.

  "I haven't held him at all," the other man commented, turning his gaze towards the teen who sulked but nodded. "Just get me later, hoggers," is all she said before bouncing back and turning away, seemingly already forgetting about what she was just saying. His dad smiled and pressed a soft kiss to Ivan's forehead before passing him to the other man, his father. He felt the intensity of the man's eyes was nonexistent, despite how serious the man looked. It was almost comforting, having eyes on you that weren't treating you as a pet.

His dad sat down on the couch, his father following after. He reached his small hand out, grabbing onto the shirt on his father. "Papa, blocks," a small voice drew his attention, he turned his head, seeing a small toddler climbing onto the couch with blocks in her hands, her black hair short like a bob and eyes a dark brown. If Ivan had to guess, he would assume his eyes were the same color. For some reason, Ivan felt as if this girl was familiar.

"Sua, I can't play blocks now. I'll come play with you in a bit," his dad said as he lifted the small girl onto his lap. Ivan's breath hitched as he stared at the small girl. She couldn't have been much older than two, and she had brown eyes instead of purple. Yet he knew it, one look at those eyes, one look into the sea of emotions that ran through them, and he knew it was her. Emotions surged up in him, but unlike his first life, he didn't know how to control his face yet, at least not enough to hold back his expression.

All he could do was scrunch his face up before he began crying. It was embarrassing, crying as much as he was now. Surely he would never live it down if his past friends knew. He wanted to cover his mouth and squeeze his eyes shut until his tears ceased, yet he didn't. All he could do was helplessly cry as he stared at the child who resembled so much of his childhood friend. "Shh, it's okay, papa and father are here," the warm arms that enveloped him so lovingly didn't stop, not even for a second, even as he cried.

If it had been in the past, the aliens would surely have punished him for the ruckus he was causing. His new parents were not the aliens. They held warmth, comfort, and kindness. They had such raw expressions and emotions and didn't once think of hiding it from Ivan. They wanted Ivan to know he was loved, and that they would never hurt him. His eyes once more fell on Sua as he hiccuped, his papa whispering gentle reassurances as his father rocked him.

He didn't know if this was his Sua, or if he was the only one gifted with reincarnation. However, he hoped this was his Sua, and that she felt such kindness and affection from these two. Hopefully from the rest of the family as well. He wanted his Sua to know that she was loved, Mizi loved her, and this family loved her. He could only hope that Sua was living peacefully, here, or somewhere else. Yet one small part of him had a fester of hope planted into his heart, because maybe, just maybe, if Sua was here, Mizi and Till would be here too.

Especially Till. He hopes Till is here, it's the first time in a long time that he's hoped for anything, and he prays that his hope wasn't wasted on something foolish.