powerboys | If you can't solve this, then your problem is ddaeng

"Yoongi?"

Oh no. It was going to happen again. He could feel the dark fade away, he felt the realisation hit him. He could already feel it. He was cold, it felt wet underneath him and he started to run forward toward where he heard Yoongi yelling. "Yoongi?!"

Stumbling in the dark, he felt light come in and he knew this place. It was the area beneath their palace. It used to be dungeons, way back when, they it became their storage basement and sometimes Ten had kept snakes there. The ones that needed the least light, anyway. He always liked it down here but he never exactly wanted to stay here long. It wasn't like he had much choice. This is where Cheon kept him when he wasn't making a point out of him. In panic, he tried to run ahead to Yoongi.

He didn't make it far, the chain around his ankle seized up and he fell onto his knees. It skinned them instantly, he had no clothes on. As always. No, no, no. "Yoongi?!"

"Stay calm!" Yoongi had to find him, but this world was strange. Certainly not like the world he knew. He tried to remember the stories of heroes who had done these things, crossed into another world, but none of the legends seemed to have any helpful wisdom. All he could do was look around and focus on Ten. Things still seemed to get more focus and finally he could touch the ground when he crouched down and then he saw the walls, feeling as if they might be closing in.

That must be what it felt like for Ten. He turned around entirely and there Ten was, on his knees. He ran over to him, immediately wrapping his arms around him. He looked cold and he had nothing to cover him.

"You are not alone."

"Get me out of here! Please, don't let him get me! We have to go!"

Ten panicked but he couldn't help it. He was afraid and nothing ever seemed to make it better. Not hate, not revenge, not trying to move on. He even read some dumb book about letting go of grief. Well. He skim read it. It did not help at all. Reaching out, he tugged on the chain around his ankle. "Undo it, please? We have to go." He may have wanted one thing but he was soon clinging to Yoongi and admittedly impeding his saving progress.

"If I'm in here then when i go out next, it's going to be horrible. They make me wait for it."

"I believe I need to understand what is happening." Not that parts of it weren't easy to guess. "Please tell me what would happen next. I need to be prepared."

Yoongi looked at the chain, felt it in his hands, swallowing when he discovered there wasn't even a lock. There were different rules in this world, that much was for sure. But he held on to him, staying as calm as he could.

"Please, Ten. I will fight anything and anyone that tries to harm you. In any world."

"It's different every time. It depends if his men are there. If people are upstairs. If I'm alone, it's just Cheon and he'll play with me for hours." He really knew how to drag it out, he was always there but he always left him suffering. He had been left tied up in agony more than once. "If his men are there then they all take turns to--"

He assumed Yoongi knew the difference. He both wanted to escape and was too afraid to go up those stairs. And, like that, the door disappeared off the walk and the stairs sank into the ground. The room was getting smaller and smaller. "Once I went up there and it was my hyung."

"But you have never gone up there with me by your side, have you?" At least, Yoongi was certain, not like this. Yoongi turned Ten's head to look at him, so he could catch his eyes. "Let's go together, Ten. I won't leave you. I won't fail. I promise. I've sworn."

He pulled his sleeve up, showing the mark on his arm. Clear even in the darkness. "I'll break the chains and we will go up together. I can defeat an army for you if I have to."

"If we go upstairs, we can go, right?" He wanted to go back to Hobi already. Slowly, shakily, he reached out to trace the mark and slowly, the chain got a lock and the stairs came back. The door didn't. Not yet. He didn't trust who could open it. He looked down at his leg, one hand gripping onto Yoongi really tight.

"You can't fight any army, we just have to run. Please? If you die here then -- then bad things will happen. You have to stay safe. If you die then Cheon will live. Forever."

"I won't fail you, but you have to trust me. I have fought many battles." Even though nothing like this. Obviously. He let Ten trace his mark while he used a dagger to pick the lock. Apparently he could have weapons here, if only he didn't question it too much. He had reached for the dagger out of habit.

"I know what would happen if I died here. But it won't happen. I won't let him live."

"I trust you." He really, truly did. The door came back and the lock just sort of snapped like brittle nothing, pinging the cuff off his ankle. He slowly got to his feet, not letting go of Yoongi as they crept through the basement. "He killed my snakes here. The ones I kept down here and--and..."

The more he talked about it, the more it started to happen. Suddenly his smashed enclosures came to life and unsettling pools of red. He closed his eyes and tried not to see it. Why did he have to do this to himself? "Fuck. Yoongi, fuck! Why does this happen? I want to move forward!"

"Perhaps you have to face it. I don't know." He didn't know that much about how the mind worked, but he could see the pain Ten must be feeling reflected everywhere around them. "Your snakes, they are alive again. Are they not? I'm sure I recognised a few. Your God must have helped you. Your family suffered, your people did, and they shouldn't have, but they have moved on. They have found peace. Only you have not."

Yoongi walked next to him, smelling blood. He was used to the smell, but he still felt unease and, more than that, he hurt for Ten. "You are still so afraid. As strong as you are now."

"Of course I am. I'm so afraid. I want to be stronger, I have all these stupid new powers and I'm friends with a God and I still can't get over this! And I'm trying, trying so badly, to just move on and get over it but it hurts too much. I can't." Ten wished it was easier to just get over it but it was hard. It was his family, his mother and father, his beloved pets, his people and his own body. All destroyed and ruined by these cruel men.

"They're lucky they get to find peace. I want that too. They left me here." They all got to die and move on, dancing around on the fluffy clouds and what did he get? Cheon. "Sometimes I wish I had died with them... I know that's a horrible thing to think and I never really wanted to die but it's so hard."

"Dying is a lot easier than living, Ten. Don't be ashamed for the thought. Be proud of how strong you are to have chosen to live this long. I wish it was me and not them every time I have to bury a friend." Not something that was a rarity in his life, for obvious reasons, but that didn't diminish the feeling, not in his experience. "You'll have to fight to overcome it. To overcome him. I have seen your spirit, Ten, even before your God gave you powers. You are so much stronger than you know."

"Thank you for being so kind to me. Really wished I'd given you more than just my virginity and a snake." Kind of owed him a kingdom or something. God knows what. "My sister thought you were a travelling manslut, by the way. Stole my innocence. Such a bad influence." Ten smiled and he couldn't believe it. He was smiling in a dream. It was the best experience he'd had in a long time.

"Well..." Yoongi had to smile as well, shrugging his shoulders a little. "Perhaps she wasn't entirely mistaken, although that would have been just a little before your time. I'd done most of that before I ever met you." Which was maybe strange, given how relatively young he had been there, but the life of a soldier certainly lent itself to maturing a little faster. At least in some ways.

"I always thought that maybe, once I earned my honours, I could come back and see if you were married yet. I didn't think I stood much of a chance. Prince and all."

"Are you kidding me? I would have had you in a heartbeat. I doodled our names somewhere in my room up there. M.Y hearts 10 or some bullshit like that." It was a more innocent time in his life. One where he thought that he would be a prince forever and not have to do so much but he could breed his snakes, see his people and help them out, maybe marry Yoongi one day.

"Dad told me once that he'd give up trying to control me in any respect and he just hoped I settled down." Didn't really matter with who.

"I never thought I'd be in a position to assume I could be worthy of a prince. I've changed a lot since then." For one thing, he had a lot less respect for the ruling class, but more than that, he had simply matured. Seen a lot and done a lot. And as of tonight, done even more than he could have ever imagined. "And here I am now. You are even further beyond my reach than you were when I first met you. I feel I should build you a temple rather than kiss you."

"You're the only man worshipping me."

With a small laugh, he reached out and took Yoongi's hand, turning around and looking down. His snakes were okay. They were in their cages, the smell of blood was gone and it almost seemed normal. Almost. He knew something was off but he was trying his hardest to fight this. "I want to go to my room. The place where we... you know. I want to show you the carving and I want to show you the view again." That was his challenge. He wanted to go to his room. He hadn't been thee, not even in a dream, for a long time. "Help me?"

"Give it time. I won't be the last. Beautiful Ten. What a God you'll be."

Yoongi held his hand and nodded, keeping his focus on Ten rather than their surroundings, because he had a feeling that they were tied. He couldn't be too bothered with the logistics of this place. It didn't smell like blood any more, so that was something.

"I'm with you," he said immediately, nodding his head, "I'll help you. No matter what."

This wasn't a challenge he could beat by simply slicing his way through people, real or imaginary. He would follow Ten's lead.

Ten nodded his head and slowly, he climbed the stairs and pushed the door open. Looking around fearfully, he clung to Yoongi and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Cheon is always on the throne. We have to be really quiet if we want to get upstairs." He knew the name of the game was defeat but he just couldn't provoke him. He was too afraid.

He wanted to avoid and retreat. He was naked, vulnerable and trapped. Yoongi or not, he was still afraid.

Yoongi nodded, not saying anything. But he stayed by Ten, even as he looked around, holding on to him. Sooner or later he would have to face Cheon, they would have to, but there was no need to rush. At least not yet. Perhaps there was some point into taking the long route, perhaps Ten would feel better prepared to face him eventually.

So instead of aiming for the throne room, he took the way to Ten's room, still remembering it from days long gone, even if this place followed different rules than the real world.

Holding Yoongi's hand, Ten led him up and up, weaving through the hallway. "My bedroom is always at the end. Ten at the end. Five got the best room, right by the bathroom. I hated her for that." Ten smiled faintly as as they walked by, each room began to look less destroyed and more like their old rooms. They always left their doors open, it was a very open sort of community. He and his siblings had little secrets among them.

As he entered his room, he looked around and frowned lightly. "It hasn't changed." Unlike his siblings, his room was still destroyed. All his stuff had been knocked over, his snake enclosures smashed. He looked around, kicking the broken bits of glass. "They dragged me out of here. I tried to hide. My oldest brother blocked my door off for me. He thought that ... that there would be a chance."

Yoongi moved so he could wrap his arms around Ten from behind, doing what he could to try and make him feel safer. He looked around the room, noting the damage more than anything. "The attack on your kingdom was cowardly, but overwhelming. I doubt there could have ever been a chance. I'm sorry."

He had studied it all recently, preparing for the war. One that he'd still have to fight, provided he made it out of here. "That's not how it looked when I was here though. I remember it well."

He pressed his lips against Ten's neck, just for a moment. "You seemed to know exactly what you wanted, until you suddenly got nervous. Very cute."

"I thought it'd go one way and then fucking Seven told me it doesn't go that way and then Five gave me weird advise. I didn't want to do some of the stuff but I didn't know if it was expected. They were apparently just being dicks cause I got you first." And they managed to make him freak out before his first time and not know what he was doing. With a sad sigh, he nuzzled closer to Yoongi and closed his eyes.

"You still smell so good."

Exactly as he had before they'd done it. The room slowly started to go back to that day and Ten closed his eyes, smiling a little. "You slept so long after! Sooooo long. I thought I'd killed you."

"You were very sweet. And you're very sweet to say that too, because my guess is that I likely smelled sweaty." Well, it stood to reason, given he had been training and competing all day. He just hadn't thought about it much at the time, up until he was in bed with a beautiful prince who smelled like flowers. That was the kind of experience that brought things into perspective.

"In my defence, I didn't exactly get to sleep much otherwise. Besides, that night was my first time in a bed in months and my first time in a bed that soft as well." That had taken quite a bit of explaining once he'd finally woken up. "Here we are. That's where I best remember you."

"The hot sweaty smell is sexy, you know? Especially on guys." Ten opened his eyes and looked around, smiling a little. This was more like his room. He turned his head and his snakes were alive again. "I'm so glad you liked my snakes. So many people ran away. The only other person who would just let my snakes crawl all over him was little Jiminie."

Sure, Jimin was older than him but he always felt younger. He turned his head to the side and smiled, nodding forward. "That's where I carved our names. Under my writing desk."

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