Heal me // A Jikook Trilogy //

《85》Born To Rule

As one, we ascended those stairs.
As one we turned to the crowd watching us.
Both familiar faces and strangers.

Gently, we laid down Hwasa and Namjoon.
Together.
Side by side as they should have had the chance to be and now never would again.

Later, I told myself.
Later we would have time to properly grief her.
To bury her.
To honour her memory.

Later, we would have to build the strength to bring our brother back from the edge.
To help him through this and repay a debt we all owed him.
It was our time to save him.
But for now-

Lian stepped to the front, standing tall and proud, imposing yet stunningly beautiful.

The room was holding their breath, waiting for her to speak, which she did in a voice that carried through the hall.
Held power but also sorrow of a girl who just lost her sister.

"I'm aware that you don't know me well. Some might have seen me on TV because of my fathers case. Or heard about the night I came with BTS to declare war.
Perhaps all you heard about me were rumours and whispers.
I joined BTS only a few months ago. I was not raised in this world either.
I was born into wealth and riches. Born into a world of privilege, sheltered and protected and I knew nothing of this world.
Of people suffering. Of what it was like to loose someone.
To be betrayed and broken. Forgotten and abandoned. But I was lost all the same.
Trapped in a prison that was made to look like a perfect life. It wasn't. And meeting BTS made me realize that. Made me see that there was one thing I didn't have.
One thing that everybody should have: Freedom.
To be who you are. To not be afraid to express yourself. Be yourself.
Love yourselves for who you are, all the broken pieces of you.
But they showed me so much more. Showed me, that I had been one of you all along.
Betrayed by her own father. Abandoned by her own mother. Hunted and broken by her brother.
I know what loss is. What grief is. How betrayal feels.
It made me realize that family is not sharing blood with someone. Family is a choice.
A choice to stand with one another. Fight with one another.
Grief and laugh and cry together. To go through both the good, the shitty and the horrible.
Together! That's what Suho never understood.
That's what made it so easy for me to convince him I was ready to betray my own family.
And now Suho is dead. His reign is over. His empire gone."

The crowd had listened in silence, but now, there were some shouts.
Some cheers about Suho's tyranny finally being over.
But Lian's voice still carried over them, passion and the vision she was talking about filling the room.

"Things will be different now."

She sighed, deep and heavy and turned to watch our leader.
Watched the way he lay next to Hwasa, his chest heaving evenly while hers was still.
Slowly, she turned back to the crowd.

"I know you were all expecting Namjoon to be the one to take over.
For RM to stand here and tell you this. You all know him. You know what he stands for.
What he fights for. But so do I.
I chose him as my leader, because just like many of you, I believe in the things he wants to achieve.
To create an underground that works together. For it to become a place of strength and unity.
A family that stands together against all those who see us as nothing but lowlife!
To be there for all of those who got fucked over by the world out there.
For so many years, X-EXO has undermined you.
They have nurtured hatred between the Gangs because they knew that if all of us stood together, they were no match for us.
As we proofed today.
Today, it was not just BTS fighting Suho.
It was all of us.
To hold the power, he diminished all of yours, kept you on a tight leash, threatened you, hurt you, created fear to keep you in check and made you fight each other so you wouldn't fight him. We are not going to do that.
But... all freedom comes with compromise.
We will not allow chaos to break out.
For Gangs to turn on each other and start another war just to take power.
There has been enough death. Enough pain.
But I am not stupid enough to believe that all your enmities between each other will just be forgotten.
I know forgiveness is a hard road and grudges can't just be talked away.
And change cannot be forced to happen over night.
So yes- we will give you freedom.
Freedom under the compromise of order.
Of new rules, but better ones."