Donghae’s eyes were frantic as he scanned the room he was in, nervously glancing at the dark figures standing in every doorway and next to windows. “Could you repeat that please?” he asked into the silence.

“You heard me the first time. Your flight leaves in three hours. Junghyuk or one of his boys will meet you at the airport. I expect rapid progress, Lee Donghae. You should be competent enough in less than six months to take over the clan. Junghyuk won’t keep anyone for longer than that and his patience runs thin with additions. He’s only doing this to clear the favor he owes me. Taemin, Jongin, make sure he gets there.”

“Yes boss,” the two mentioned men chorused as they started moving towards him.

“But… but I don’t have a pass to travel?” Donghae said, unconsciously taking a couple of steps back.

“You don’t need to concern yourself with that triviality. Your new life as a boss begins now, Lee Donghae. You can walk out or be carried out, your choice.”

Donghae closed his eyes briefly, thinking of his family. The thought of merely disappearing from their lives combined with the surge of adrenaline through his system had him straightening his back before he turned sharply to face the door. “I’ll walk,” he muttered, just loud enough to be heard. What the hell, he reasoned to himself, his life was pretty much going nowhere anyway and he might be able to slip away at the airport.

“Which way?” he asked in the hallway, certain that Jongin and Taemin were right behind him.

“Left,” a calm voice answered from his right.

Looking over his shoulder as he turned in the indicated direction, he raised an eyebrow. “Which one are you?”

“Jongin,” came the answer in the same calm tone. “Watch out for the table.”

Donghae whipped his head back around and was barely able to step around the long table set against a wall with various pieces of pottery on it. “Who the would bother putting a table in the middle of a hall,” he grumbled to himself.

“Boss inherited the collection, said it was pointless to keep it locked up. That’s why the table is there,” a voice to his left said, and Donghae guessed that it was Taemin.

Rolling his eyes, he kept walking through the silent hallway until the ornate front door was opened for him.

“Garage is to the right,” Jongin directed. “Give me the keys Taeminnie. I don’t want to explain why our package never made it because of your reckless driving.”

“You’re such a pain in the ,” Taemin grumbled, but Donghae could hear the jingling of keys as they were passed from person to person.

“So you keep telling me.”

Donghae couldn’t quite keep the surprise off his face at the sly tone.

“What’s the surprise for? Everyone knows that you’re into guys too,” Taemin told him as he opened the back door of the car. “Literally and figuratively.”

Donghae cleared his throat as he crawled inside. “I just wasn’t expecting to hear that at this precise moment,” he finally answered as Taemin slid in next to him and Jongin opened the driver’s side door. “I’m still trying to catch up to the fact that I was kidnapped and suddenly told to take over a clan by a guy I apparently helped a few years ago but I can’t remember or I’m going to die,” he snapped before trying to clamp down on his temper.

Taemin snorted softly and waved a hand. “Details. We’re all going to die at some point, what does it matter when and how?”

“Can’t have if you’re dead,” Jongin replied calmly. “Start being a little more careful.”

Taemin’s brows furrowed as he thought about that for a second. “Okay yeah that’s a downside.”

Donghae really couldn’t help the amusement at the banter between the two. It at least got his mind off his current circumstances.

“You really don’t remember helping out the boss?” Taemin asked, his eyes widening and giving him a far more innocent aura than should be allowed.

“No,” Donghae replied, picking at a thread of his jeans.

“It was about three years ago, you held up the boss’s car before it drove into an ambush.”

Donghae frowned. He definitely didn’t recall stopping any cars by choice… “Wait are you talking about when that car hit me?”

“Yeah!” Taemin said, brightening up. “That accident held the boss up by an hour, which got security in place and prevented him from dying in an ambush.”

“Are you ing kidding me,” Donghae exploded, making both Taemin and Jongin jump. “I almost ing died because of that accident and I’m still dealing with the aftereffects of it!” He rubbed his forehead, already feeling a headache brewing. “Oh my god, just take me home,” he said tiredly, staring out of the window.

“Sorry, boss said you’re getting to Junghyuk, and you’re getting to him,” Jongin replied.

Donghae leaned his head on the window and swallowed, trying not to cry. So much for slipping away unnoticed.

“Boss didn’t like that you were hurt so bad by an accident,” Taemin said quietly. “Once the doctors said you’d make it, he paid for all of your medical bills, including recovery, immediately.”

“…The hospital only told us that an anonymous benefactor had seen the story and paid for it,” Donghae finally replied, once he was sure his voice wouldn’t waver.

He took a few calming, deep breaths to combat the feeling of his emotions going out of control. The doctors told him that it was normal after a traumatic brain injury, but Donghae wasn’t very fond of it.

“So is Jungsu with you guys?” he asked. If his recovery had been arranged, then it was likely that he’d been sent to a therapist affiliated with the clan.

Taemin nodded. “He really does have a license, though. Boss wouldn’t send you to someone without one.”

Donghae whispered several curses under his breath. “Has he been planning this ever since?” he muttered bitterly.

“Well, you’re like the third one. The other two… let’s just say they didn’t work out so well.”

Donghae frowned for a moment. “So why am I being sent out of the region if the other two were here?”

“Our other allied clans are busy and the bosses don’t have time to train you by the time boss wants to retire,” Jongin answered shortly and with enough emphasis to indicate the subject was closed.

Donghae sighed. “Great. Fantastic. My excitement knows no bounds,” he sarcastically muttered. If the back door had handles, he would have almost been tempted to throw himself out of the car and take his chances that way. Another traumatic brain injury might just totally knock everything loose and Donghae wouldn’t have to be aware of anything. “Why the hell does everyone seem to think this is a good idea?”

“Because boss thinks so.”

“Aish,” Donghae blew out. “Maybe you do need a new boss, this one’s a little off track if he thinks that someone with a traumatic brain injury, a bad memory, and a short temper is a good idea for being the boss of a clan!”

“You done?” Taemin asked calmly.

“Not really,” Donghae growled, glaring at him. “I’ve tried my hardest to stay out of any clan business aside from what everyone has to and now I’ve got to take over a clan because someone almost killed me. . If it wouldn’t upset my mother so much by just disappearing, I would have said everything and taken my chances back there.” He turned away, staring blankly out of the window and tried to not worry about the heavy silence in the car.

Incheon airport hadn’t changed much from before the Burning Wars, but the glint of solar panels on every exposed surface caught his attention. Once the finite resource of oil had run out, the world had switched over to mostly solar power, and each region bartered with other regions for goods that couldn’t be produced. Jongin parked the car in one of the reserved spots close to the terminal door, then opened the door for Taemin.

Donghae was tempted for a few seconds to just not get out of the car for spite, but he finally slid across the seat and stepped out of the car, pulling his light cardigan closed against the chill in the air. Spring had finally lifted the dreariness of winter, but it still got cold once the sun had gone down. “, we couldn’t have at least stopped off at my place to get a jacket?” he griped.

“You’re not going to need it; I hear it’s already pretty hot there,” Jongin replied.

The doors slid open as they walked in and Donghae blew out his breath, feeling the heated air washing over him.

Donghae was whisked through multiple security areas, and no amount of pleading eyes would make anyone ask if he was okay or there under duress. He was surprised when he was immediately shown onto a private plane. Jongin calmly sat down, patting the seat next to him. Taemin immediately moved to the indicated seat with a wide smile. Donghae picked a seat at random, sighing to himself as he buckled the seatbelt. He didn’t even have a book to keep him occupied for the long flight to Mexico City.

Leaning his head back, he stared blankly at the ceiling, emblazoned with the clan’s symbol. The curved brushstroke line in blue was supposed to resemble a dragon moving through water, and Donghae knew that it was highly symbolic of the ideals the clan was supposed to live up to. He personally thought that every clan in the world lived down to every expectation he ever had of them, but then the alternative was completely ineffectual and corrupt regional governments.

Faced with that option, the clans looked holy by comparison.

//

Donghae was startled out of sleep by the sudden jolt as the plane’s wheels skidded on the runway. Frantically looking around, he tried to calm his racing heart from the surge of adrenaline. “Are we there already?”

Taemin was already standing, shrugging his suit jacket back on. “No, we’re just recharging in Los Angeles.”

“So where the are you going?”

“Already talking like a boss,” Jongin commented as he stood. “We’re going to pay. Stay here, please.”

Donghae rubbed his forehead as a headache tried to make itself known. Theoretically, he could try to sneak out of the plane and into Los Angeles – he spoke passable English and there were enough people of Korean descent he could blend in – but he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if anything happened to his family if he did sneak off. 

He stared at the city skyline, for a minute or so before getting up to try and find some water. Raised voices outside caught his attention, and he was going to just ignore it until he heard the demand to make sense in English. Rolling his eyes, he immediately walked to the door.

“Seriously? You two got sent and neither one of you speak English?” he asked testily as he stomped down the built-in stairs. “What are you trying to tell them?”

Jongin was silent for a second, his face expressing his disapproval of Donghae making an appearance. “We have payment for topping up the charge on the plane in barter strips.”

“Fine,” Donghae sighed. Turning his head to the assembled mix of clan security and maintenance workers, all with clan markers either tied around their heads or arms. “Our apologies for the confusion,” he started smoothly, grabbing the barter strips from Jongin’s hands and noticing the relaxing stances as he spoke English. “We’ve been flying at night and need recharge, payment…” Blinking, Donghae shook his head, trying to dredge up the proper grammar. “Have barter strips payment,” he finally said, knowing that it wasn’t entirely correct, but it got the meaning across.

The clan security members nodded their heads, and after a brief discussion Donghae evenly distributed the barter strips between the three clans that would provide power. He bowed shallowly before turning to get back on the plane.

“Don’t even bother saying it,” he said as he passed Jongin. “You both are lucky that I can speak English well enough to avoid getting your heads blown off.” As much as he stomped down the stairs, he stepped lightly on the way back up, not wanting to leave the ground crew with the impression that he was throwing a tantrum, even if he felt like it.

“The flash of barter strips should have been enough,” Taemin groused as he entered the plane behind Donghae.

“Obviously, it wasn’t,” Donghae returned. He paused for a moment, wanting to be spiteful enough to not bother asking if they would have enough of a charge to get back to Seoul, but his mother’s voice was nagging at him in the back of his mind to be nice. “Will you have enough of a charge to get back?”

Taemin looked at him, his eyes wide in surprise. “Uh… yeah, we’ll be flying with the sun all the way back.”

Donghae nodded and turned back to stare out the window. The recharge took a few minutes, and Donghae only breathed easier when they were back in the air.

He took a nap out of pure boredom for the remainder of the flight and woke up grumpy, disoriented, and with a small headache as they descended.

The hot blast of heat was almost a relief, and he winced at the dazzling sunlight that entered the plane as the door opened. He wished that he had a pair of sunglasses with him as his head throbbed. Avoiding the door for the moment, he grabbed some water and quickly downed it, guessing that he was both dehydrated and hungry.

“They’re waiting for you,” Taemin said as he stood in the door.

Rolling his eyes, Donghae stubbornly refused to move until he’d had enough water to sustain him. Pulling his cardigan off, he folded it over his arm and made his way down the stairs. His eyes adjusted quickly once in the full glare of the sun, and he took in the view.

The two cars parked would have probably been considered relics before the Burning Wars, but the wiped down solar tiles on the roof told him that they still worked, and he curiously glanced at the five men lounging on the hoods. They looked totally relaxed, but the way their hands casually rested near shoulder holsters or on the handle of their guns told him that they were alert for any trouble.

The one in the bright yellow shirt lounging against the windshield was the one Donghae kept his eye on as he made his way down the stairs. Glancing over to where Taemin and Jongin were standing, he looked at the guy that was nearly dwarfing them. Black pants, scuffed and dirty combat boots, and black shirt opened just enough to display the scorpion necklace around his neck. With one last distrustful look towards the guy in the yellow shirt, Donghae stepped over to them.

“This him?”

Donghae guessed that the deep, rough voice belonged to Junghyuk.

“Yes,” Taemin answered. “Lee Donghae.”

Donghae bowed as he had been taught by his mother. “Hello.”

He saw the look of surprise flicker across Junghyuk’s face before he quickly bowed back. “You two can go now,” he roughly said to Taemin and Jongin. “Our debt is repaid, there won’t be a next contact from your boss.”

Jongin’s mouth soured a bit, but both he and Taemin bowed shallowly to Junghyuk and then to Donghae before climbing back into the plane. Donghae closed his eyes as the door shut with a resounding click and he pressed his lips together. He didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, but it looked like he was going to be a boss whether he liked it or not.

“How old are you kid? Sixteen?” Junghyuk asked, his voice softer and kinder than it had been.

“Twenty-four,” Donghae quietly answered, then looked up nervously. Junghyuk looked like he could set his hand on Donghae’s head and squish him flat. “How old are you?”

Junghyuk smiled, and Donghae relaxed the slightest bit. “Your hyung by seven years,” he said, ruffling Donghae’s hair. “You’re a cute one, how did you get mixed up in clan business?”

“Yah! Eric! Are you going to stand there all day or what?”

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