How long had it been? Half an hour? An hour? G-Dragon didn't know, he had lost all sense of time. The only thing he did know was that it had been too long. Why hadn't he found Seungri yet? Had Taeyang pointed him in the wrong direction? Where was he hiding? His stomach churned as his mind threw images at him, worst case scenarios. No, Seungri was smart, he wouldn't get himself into too much trouble, would he? G-Dragon wasn't sure. He could be a stubborn babo that one, getting lost in his own feelings to the point that he forgot to synchronize them with the real world.

He chewed his lip as his eyes darted frantically from side to side, trying to discern a Seungri shape hidden in the shadows between the trees. It was starting to get dark. He wasn't sure if it was because the day was growing older, or if it was just the thick roof of leaves that was shutting the day out, leaving him less and less light to work with the further he went. His nerves were growing restless, he knew he had already wandered too deep into the forest. Not only was there no imagining what could be lying in wait in the darkness, sizing him up, deciding whether he would be suitable for tonight's dinner menu, but he was slowly losing his sense of direction, risking having to spend the rest of his dramatically shortened life roaming this devious maze of the unforgiving forest, never to be seen or heard from again.

He wouldn't be helping anyone by losing himself and his life in the woods, perhaps sentencing the others to death as well as they divided up to look for him. No. He had to turn back. No matter how much he didn't want to give up, he had to focus on the bigger picture. He wasn't really accomplishing anything by randomly wandering around, hoping to stumble upon Seungri by chance. For all he knew, Seungri could be back by now. He tried to convince himself that he was probably back with the others, even though his heart leapt painfully each time he told himself this poorly constructed lie, already falling apart at the seams. He desperately took out a needle and a thread, trying to sow it back together, for that was the only way his stubborn feet would accept turning around.

Seungri's breath got knocked out of him as something hard hit his back, its warm tentacles weaving themselves around him, forcefully squeezing the life out of him. “Hh... hhhI...hhI canhh...th breath..” he managed to utter, getting scared that he had fallen into the clutches of an evil tribe hunter that was taking him hostage. Were there still tribes that practiced cannibalism?

“Babo! You can't just run off whenever you feel like it!! You have to tell somebody where you are going!” G-Dragon shouted in his ear, his voice echoing painfully through his ear canal. He stuck his finger in his ear to try and numb the sound. “I'm serious!!! I thought you were lost in the woods, I thought that you had maybe wandered too far in and.. and..” G-Dragon's voice faltered, he wasn't sure but he thought he could see the beginning of a tear forming in the corner of his eye, but the anger that followed wiped away all traces of it, making him doubt what he had seen. “You almost got me killed!! I searched everywhere for you and I barely made it out before the forest swallowed me whole!!” he scolded him, releasing the death grip he had on him, instead slapping the top of his head, hard.

“Ouch!” Seungri complained, not at all happy with this out of the blue rage that he felt was totally uncalled for. It wasn't like he was slacking off or anything, he was helping. In fact, this whole project of theirs had been going awry until he came and set it straight. And he had left for a good reason. A reason he would never be able to tell G-Dragon though.

“G! I can call you G right? Since we're desert-island-pals and all..” Kikwang grinned sheepishly as his arm encircled G-Dragon's, pulling him away to show him their incredible progress. “Ta-da! It's ready!!” he practically giggled, he was so relieved that his blunder earlier hadn't ruined everything, proud of how his bandmates had come together with a little help from Changmin and a lot of help from Seungri, making a small refuge for poor Seunghyun. He hoped it would help, at least a tiny bit.

“Awesome! Great work, guys.” G-Dragon patted a few shoulders, trying to express a fraction of the gratitude that was welling up inside him, threatening to overflow. There was no time for such mushiness, Seunghyun was more important. “Let's go get Seunghyun.” he suggested, silently wishing that he had bigger and sturdier guys to choose from since they had to carry Seunghyun all the way over here while trying not to stress his body too much. Even with the alcohol, the fever was still a concern. If it got too high, it was game over. It was as simple as that.

Come to think of it, why had they built the hut so far away, why not just right beside him? In hindsight that would have been a better plan, but they had been focusing on not disturbing Seunghyun with the noise of the construction, forgetting to think ahead. All these guys and not one of them had been bright enough to connect the dots, he himself included. In their defense, they had just been in a plane crash and were dealing with being stranded on a desert island, lost somewhere in the middle of the ocean, not knowing whether they would ever be able to return home, still trying their best to save a friend in critical condition with their head screwed on backwards. They were doing the best they could.

“Careful! Careful!” Daesung repeated with every step they took, watching Seunghyun like a hawk while pearls of sweat made their way down his forehead. Seunghyun wasn't exactly as light as a feather. “We'll just assume we are supposed to be careful until told otherwise, okay?” Changmin spat at him, the pressure clearly getting to him. Daesung went completely quiet, but somehow the silence was even more overbearing. You could still hear him saying it over and over again in your mind, careful, careful, careful. Kikwang was beginning to fear that it would never stop, that he would have a Daesung voice in his brain forever, constantly telling him to be careful.

“Just a little bit further, almost there!” G-Dragon encouraged them, trying to find strength to make it the last few feet without incident. Then he saw it, the tree root that was sneakily peeking up from under the ground. But before he could prevent it, the root had already embraced the tip of Kikwang's shoe, tripping him without warning, making him fall flat on his face. As if that wasn't bad enough, he fell right in front of Doojoon that had the spot next to him. They were all pitching in, carrying Seunghyun together, trying to make the trip easier on his body by keeping him as steady as they could. But if Doojoon fell over Kikwang, and then Yoseob over Doojoon, creating a nice domino effect, they would discover the opposite of steady.

It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. He couldn't look away, yet he couldn't do anything about it. He was forced to watch it unfold, securing his hold on Seunghyun just in case. He wouldn't be able to hold him up all by his lonesome, but it was the only thing in his power to do, so he did it. He saw panic in Doojoon's face as he noticed the obstacle he was facing, Kikwang lying flat before him, blocking his path when he had already started the next step, his foot in the air, not having a lot of options other than to let him drag him down with him. But instead of giving up, Doojoon got creative, using his many years of dance practice, somehow managing to change his step into a leap, gliding to safety, only taking one hand off Seunghyun for a moment to catch Yoseob that tripped the second Doojoon was clear.

G-Dragon breathed easier, cold sweat dripping down his temple. That could have turned out so awfully bad, he almost couldn't believe they had caught a little break in this vortex of disasters in which they seemed to be trapped. He made a mental note to thank Doojoon for his quick reaction, he had really saved the day.

With some maneuvering, they managed to get Seunghyun into the shelter, but there was only space for one more, one person to take care of him. But there was no need to hold a vote, Daesung had picked himself and had already disappeared into the hut with supplies. He was there for the long haul.

Dongwoon kicked a rock to vent his frustrations. Kikwang was sobbing into Junhyung's shoulder. It was understandable after the day he had had, it really wasn't his moment to shine. He knew Junhyung was just consoling him. He knew it was simply an act of kindness, nothing more. But still there was this little green monster on his shoulder, poking him, whispering all kinds of nonsense into his ear. Wasn't it a little bit suspicious that Kikwang had had multiple 'accidents' in one day, could it be that they weren't accidents at all, that he just liked being consoled by Junhyung and was making up reasons to get what he wanted. Of course he knew that Kikwang wasn't like that, he would never do that, not like this. But the green devil refused to leave his shoulder, digging his claws into his skin, making sure his poisonous words would be heard.

“Okay, since it's working, should we throw together another one before it gets too dark?” G-Dragon suggested in an upbeat tone, relieved that something was finally working out. Changmin looked at him like he had completely lost his mind, shooting sparks out of his eyes.  

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A/N: Yay! It's finally out of the freezer! This unofficial hiatus turned out to be a little bit (a lot) longer than planned, but it couldn't be helped. The updates might be slow, but they always come eventually kkk >.< Thank you so much for your endless patience, I will try to update sooner than later, though right at the moment I'm a bit swamped with the Big Bang New Year's Writing Festival, do check it out if you're interested ;) So glad to be back though! *^^* ♥