Wretches & Kings

Hyun Ae had finally found a form of closure in G-Dragon. Though it may have not been the best for either party, peace had somewhat been restored to troubled hearts and minds. Hyun Ae had no had such close human contact in years. Staying during the long nights with GD made the rancid nightmares vanish far from consciousness.

The void in G-Dragon's heart was filled a little more. Never once had he actually loved someone in such a sense as he did Hyun Ae. Or at least that's what he thought. If was love or lust, he didn't care to differentiate at the moment. He had Hyun Ae in his arms, someone that would listen to him and cared for him and did so with such a pure soul. Perhaps he had been able to wipe Daesung's memory away and the pain that came with it.

However, he was wrong. Hyun Ae was comforted by GD, but it didn't wash away what she felt for Daesung. It infuriated her. She had GD to protect her, but it wasn't enough. She tried desperately to push away her emotions involving Daesung and to focus on the man in front of her, but it was impossible. Truly, she hated herself for it.

Hyun Ae was giving yet another IV to a dehydrated and depleting victim. Without her sight, Hyun Ae could fully feel and understand what was happening to BigBang's population. Medical supplies were limited, barely of any use. Food was nearly gone. They were perishing. There had been deaths. The elderly, adults, and even children. It made hearts hurt and crumble. Even when the Dakeu wasn't near, they were still causing so much pain and death.

Hyun Ae swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to keep her mind busy with organizing shelves. A pair of arms snaked around her waist. “You need to rest,” G-Dragon whispered, pressing his forehead against the back of her cropped crown.

“I'm fine,” she said. “Its you that needs to rest.”

“Can't,” came the bland reply. “Too many things.”

Hyun Ae rested a hand over his interlocked ones, closing her eyes as she felt his breath brush against her neck. “Its not over yet.”

“I know.”

Hyun Ae removed his arms from around her waist and turned to face him. “You don't sound like you know. Look at me,” she said softly, seeing his misty face turned away before it obeyed. “You have to stay confident, these people need you.”

G-Dragon sighed, eyes flickering shut. “I know,” he said again. “I just feel like its not any use anymore. Like there's this...black cloud getting closer and closer and we have nothing to stop it.”

A gentle hand rested on his cheek and Hyun Ae opened her mouth to speak.

A sudden scream broke tranquility. Both heads turned and G-Dragon was quick to go towards it. Hyun Ae tried to follow behind. The yelps continued, forming words. “Intruders!” Hearts sped, quaked with fear. G-Dragon spotted the woman approaching fast. When she saw him, she nearly collapsed at his feet, wheezing and sobbing.

G-Dragons squatted down. “What's is it?”

“Intruders,” she gasped out. “Military. I...I don't know—”

“Annyeonghaseyo?” The accent that was interlaced in the familiar word was foreign. There was the slow, deliberate pulse of many feet up powdered ground. Then, silence.

Seungri approached, eyes sparking when he heard it. He looked questioningly at G-Dragon before turning to the civilians who had approached and gestured them to retreat immediately.

“Annyeonghaseyo?” The greeting came again in an nonthreatening moment. “Is anyone there?”

“Who are you?” G-Dragon's voice made Hyun Ae start as it echoed off the old tunnel.

“My name is Colonel Samuel Wright. I'm with the Australian Marine Corps.”

Seungri and G-Dragon exchanged bewildered glances. “Australia?” Seungri whispered. “What the hell do they want?”

Suspicion roused in the leader's eyes as he turned back to the opening of the tunnel. “What do you want?”

“I wish to speak with someone,” the colonel spoke. “A...'G-Dragon'? Are you a member of 'BigBang', sir?”

“Maybe,” G-Dragon said.

“Sir, to keep things simple, we were sent to help BigBang.” The words passed through the trio in the tunnel with a sudden glimpse of reluctance. “You may not believe me, but please? Can we speak face to face?”

G-Dragon approached the entrance slowly. “How can I trust you?”

“Honestly, sir. I have no way of proving you can,” Colonel Wright explained, a smile evident in his voice. “You'll just have to trust your own judgment.”

“Walk forward and so will I.”

The scraping of heavy boots filled the tunnels and G-Dragon slowly moved forward with Seungri behind him. Hyun Ae crept along, staying far out of sight. G-Dragon peeked around the corner of the tunnel opening, coming face to face with a sturdily-built white man in dark and dirty uniform. He nodded his head. “Sir.”

G-Dragon looked at the crowd behind the intruder. “You want to meet with G-Dragon?” The man nodded and GD stepped only a small distance forward. “I'm G-Dragon.”

Colonel Wright looked him over for a good few moments with a curious glance. Then, the curiosity hardened and he bowed his head. “Its an honor to finally meet you.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Just what I said,” the Colonel stated. “We were sent to find and aid BigBang. To stop Doh-Chang.”

His last statement sent the chamber into bleak silence. One could almost hear exhales echoing. “Doh-Chang can't be stopped,” GD finally said. “He's too powerful and too many powerful ties to back him up.”

“Sir, with all due respect, all you've had is your own little guerrilla militia helping you out. We're armed and trained military who are ready to put this—excuse me—bastard in his place.”

“Why would your country want to help us?”

“You're the rebellion, the one group who has fought him and tried to break free. You can help us in overthrowing Doh-Chang and we'll help you do the same.”

“Why?”

“I think you know the answer to that,” the colonel said. “You want these people free, don't you?” G-Dragon's silence was taken as an affirmative. “Doh-Chang has controlled you all far too long. No one else is stepping in and we're your closest neighbor, next to Europe and they ain't doing jack squat. But we're more than happy to help.”

“How did you find us?” G-Dragon asked, voice still low and uncertain.

The leader smiled, a gesture that was at ease. “A couple of your friends brought us here.”

One of GD's slender eyebrows arched. “Friends?”

“We figured you wouldn't last much longer,” the voice that rose from behind the group of Australians seemed to drop the whole earth into silence again, “and that you'd need reinforcements.”

The small militia parted and two figures stepped forward. Hyun Ae's whole body was frozen, everyone's was. She couldn't see them, but she knew the voice. The deep, emotionless tone that had taunted her in a different time. He was close enough, she could see the familiar outline. But there was another beside him.

“T.O.P,” G-Dragon's voice was filled with anguish and a form of relief as he breathed the name. “D—”

The golden blur. “Daesung?” Hyun Ae's voice left her lips before she could properly think. “Daesung...” The name had been raw in her throat for months, but now it had rejuvenated into a pure wave of unbelieving joy.

He had been watching her the entire time, unsure of her uncertain and still reaction. But when she said his name, he was relieved. Utterly ecstatic. “Its me,” he said.

His soothing voice resonated and Hyun Ae was stumbling towards him. Wrapped in his arms as he lifted her from the ground, her arms around his neck like a vice. She cried into his nape, wracking sobs. He shed tears as well, all fears and doubts gone.

Everyone watched the two, with confusion, pity, happiness. One pair of eyes burned with a sudden amount of loss, betrayal. He'd lost her, he knew from the moment realization crossed her face. She was Daesung's, not his. GD wished her to be, wanted her to stay by his side so much it hurt. He had been there for her, comforted her, gave her a sense of love when no one else could. But she would run right back to Daesung and forget him. She had already.

Hyun Ae's feet touched back onto the ground. Daesung took her face in his hands, peering into damaged eyes and immediately noticed something was amiss. But before he could ask or ponder further, Hyun Ae copied his action, grabbed his face and planted her lips on his with such a forcefulness, he forgot to draw in air. Hyun Ae's heart was swelling so much it hurt and fresh tears fell from her eyes. Never had she believed he would come back. She pulled away, running fingers down his face to memorize it. Even up close, she could barely see it if only the contours and shades.

Someone cat-called and the colonel chuckled. “Obviously, one of you was rather missed a lot.”

T.O.P smirked. “I guess. If I would have known that, maybe we would have hurried a little more.” He nodded to Wright. “Sorry we're late. We had to take a detour with the Dakeu lurking around above.”

“Its alright,” Colonel Wright replied. “I think I did some decent persuasion. We're not dead yet.”

“What happened?” GD asked suddenly, tearing his eyes from the couple that everyone was goggling over. An unwelcome sense of anger was burning in his gut that he tried desperately to subside for later.

“You went over the edge,” Seungri said. “And Hyun Ae said—”

“I did go over the edge,” T.O.P agreed. “It was purposeful. I had to disappear for a while.” Seungri and G-Dragon both looked at him with a sense of bewilderment. “In order to bring in recruits, I had to get off the radar and that meant yours too.”

“And Daesung?” Seungri asked. The couple standing away from them turned. “He was supposed to be dead.”

“I heard the shot,” Hyun Ae said, peering back up at Daesung with watery eyes. “I thought you were...”

“Did you see him die?” T.O.P asked with an self-assured tone.

“No,” she admitted.

“Those two guards that came to...execute me,” began Daesung. “One of them was T.O.P. That shot was him turning on the other Dakeu.” The blonde chuckled. “I was just as stunned as anybody.”

Undying gratitude filled Hyun Ae's chest. Without thinking, she made her way over and wrapped her arms around T.O.P's body, hugging him as tightly as she could. The Watchman stiffened immediately, staring down at her with a look of uncertain shock. “Thank you,” Hyun Ae whispered.

T.O.P cleared his throat and rather gently pried her arms from around him. “Its fine.”

G-Dragon nodded and gripped T.O.P's shoulder. “I'm glad to have two of my best men back. You could have deserted us and you didn't.”

“We're not Taeyang.” Daesung's voice was bitter on the name. “We pledged to stand by you until we died and that's what we plan to do.” Hyun Ae retreated to his side and gripped his hand at his words.

“Speaking of Taeyang...” Seungri said.

T.O.P and Daesung glanced at one another and Hyun Ae wondered. Taeyang had been in the room with them... “We let him go,” T.O.P said. “After Daesung took care of him.”

“You should have known what I'd do when you let me go,” Daesung replied, a small smirk playing at his full lips.

“You were half-dead. How was I supposed to know that you would try to strangle him?” Though by the look on T.O.P's face, it was obvious that Daesung's violent actions are what he had hoped for.

G-Dragon turned to the small group of soldiers. “So you truly want to help us take down Doh-Chang.”

“Yes, sir,” the colonel said. “Together, I think we can destroy him and his empire.”

G-Dragon gestured with arm to follow. “Let's get down to planning how to kill the motherfucker, then.”