Work Text:
Golden
Taehyung thought the seven of them would be together forever.
It may be sappy and too saccharine, but he genuinely believed that it was seven or nothing. That with everything they have been through, the world against them, they would still be for each other.
Until the world ended in 2020.
They made them choose.
Hoseok or Jungkook.
There was only one antidote left.
Golden was the glare of the sun as it burned above the golden duo.
Taehyung was too slow to make a choice the first time. Both Hoseok and Jungkook died that day.
He cried his eyes out until his heart stopped beating suddenly. And then he woke up, drowning in the Han River where he was fished by a local patrol.
The city was not in ashes. There were no dead bodies littered everywhere. They told him it was June 12, 2013.
So, he dived right back into the water despite the efforts of the patrol to keep him in the boat.
He drowned.
He woke up to the same scenario.
The world ended. 2020.
Hoseok or Jungkook.
Taehyung does not make the choice again. The golden duo dies.
He wakes up drowning in the Han River for a second time.
June 12, 2013 once more.
So he drowns again.
The world ends. Hoseok or Jungkook.
Jimin chooses Jungkook in a heartbeat. So did Seokjin and Namjoon. Yoongi only hesitates for a second before he chooses Jungkook.
Taehyung screams why.
He does not make the choice.
The golden duo dies.
He wakes up drowning.
And drowns again.
It is the same question.
The others choose Jungkook again. They urge Taehyung to make the decision quick. He looks Hoseok in the eyes and even Hoseok was telling him to choose Jungkook.
He makes the decision, but it's too late.
How many times now did the golden duo die?
Taehyung wakes up drowning. He thinks if he goes back, he must answer faster.
He does not want to choose, but Hoseok-hyung has chosen for him.
He drowns and wakes up, 2020.
Hoseok or Jungkook.
Taehyung looks at Hoseok while choosing Jungkook. He wants to engrave into his mind the way he failed Hoseok. Taehyung thinks it's himself to blame, not Jungkook. Never Jungkook.
Jungkook is fed the antidote. He lives.
Hoseok dies.
And so does Taehyung.
He wakes up drowning, 2013.
What did he do wrong? Why did he die? He made the choice.
But was it the right one?
The Han River welcomes him as he pushes away from the local patrol and into the water.
He drowns. How many times had he drowned now?
Taehyung wakes up to that same golden sun of 2020.
He laughs when given the question.
Jungkook, he answers. The golden maknae lives. The golden hyung dies.
Taehyung dies once more.
And so, he drowns again to 2013.
Was Jungkook never meant to live?
Taehyung's lungs burn ironically with water in them.
He wakes with the golden sun in his face.
One antidote.
One answer.
Hoseok or Jungkook.
He chooses his first love, but the others do not agree.
Hoseok does not agree. So, they give the antidote to Jungkook.
His first love dies.
Taehyung dies along with him.
Blue water.
Golden fire.
The cycle repeats.
He still chooses Hoseok, but the choice does not carry weight. Out voted: 4 to 1.
Jungkook lives.
Hoseok dies.
Taehyung's heart stops beating the moment Hoseok breathes his last. And then he is back to June 12, 2013 drowning but he is still the same man.
In between dying from a heart attack and drowning in the Han River, Taehyung thinks Hoseok is meant to live.
He abandons the cold 2013 to wake up to the golden warmth of 2020.
They were not even asked to choose yet when Taehyung steals the antidote and feeds it to Hoseok.
The golden maknae dies.
The golden hyung lives.
Taehyung lives.
Hoseok was meant to live after all. His soul entangled with Taehyung's is the tether that keeps him from drowning in death's pool.
And he sees it only now, the red threads tied to his pinky finger leading to the other members' own fingers. The threads burn in the middle, falling limply, finally separating him from them.
There's a shine of something bright under his lashes and when he looks down at it, he thinks, everything makes sense now.
Tied around his neck, leading to Hoseok's own pretty neck, is a golden chain, damning but beautiful still.
And that, Taehyung thinks, is a gift and curse at the same time. Which god did he kill to be bestowed such a thing for eternity?