something old, something new | taekook

Interlude: All Hail The King

****

Taehyung is not unfamiliar with the concept of fear. A powerful ruler knows that strength comes from accepting that fear, not turning away from it. A worthy king knows they must accept the bite of terror to grow from it.

He does not feel like a worthy king, now. Standing in the streets of Seoul, desperate hands pulling at his hair.

He feels like a child, a desperate child, grasping for something he has no hopes in reaching.

Because no matter how hard he pushes, no matter how he strains, there is nothing but silence. A wall. A barrier between him and the only one he needs in this world.

He growls, lip curling as he pushes harder, a spike of pain driving through his skull as he tries to force himself through. Jeongguk's last thoughts are still looping through his mind, disgust bleeding into surprise to panic to fear in an amalgamation that makes Taehyung's stomach churn. Jaehyun, explosion, blood, death- Taehyung takes a deep breath in, ribs creaking with the force.

A plan, he needs a plan, needs a plan, but nothing is coming. His mind, always racing, always searching looking peeking- nothing. Nothing.

Then there's a familiar grumble, a curse under their breath, and he has it.

"Yoongi," he gasps, and he turns to where his mentor is stepping from the car they had... acquired. "Yoongi, please," he stumbles forward, the only ring he wears now tugging through his hair as he reaches for the man. "We need to go, now."

The man's expression morphs into one of concern but he's quick to follow Taehyung's lead, slipping into the car behind the wheel. It roars to life without another word and Taehyung only has to push the thought of home into his mind before they're off, straight to the hidden spires of the city.

"What's happening?" He asks, grip dangerously tight around the steering wheel. His gift, as Taehyung's, has always been too closely linked to his emotions.

"Coup," Taehyung grinds out and Yoongi sucks over his teeth, disgusted. "Jaehyun. His coven is ransacking the castle as we speak."

Yoongi is only silent for a split second and Taehyung hears the question before it comes, Yoongi's worry building beneath his fury. "And Jeongguk?"

Taehyung's silence is his answer and Yoongi growls, pressing the gas harder.

They're not far, as Taehyung had told his love before, before everything had fallen around them, but they're still too far. Five, ten, fifteen minutes- whatever the distance it's too much. Too much possibility for mistake, for injury, for-

Taehyung teeth grind even as he feels an abyss open inside of him. Beckoning. He won't think about it. It won't happen, he promises himself. It'll never happen.

"Plan?" Yoongi asks, racing through a red light seconds after it turns. Taehyung is quiet for a second too long and the former king snaps out a hand, knuckles slamming hard into his chest. "Fucking focus, kid, what's the plan?"

But Taehyung's mind won't focus on anything but the 'i'm fine' that had filtered through before his baby's voice and mind had been cut off from his reach.

He had forgotten what silence had felt like. Loneliness.

"Taehyung!" Yoongi snaps again and the king looks over, sees how the man's jaw is clenched in anger and frustration, sensing the emotion as intimately as if he was feeling it himself. It soaks into his skin, pushing his fingers to curl into tight fists, nails digging into his palms.