“If you don’t want to die, you’ll do what I say, got it?  Don’t move, don’t speak, don’t even breathe.”

He spoke so fast and so softly, his voice coming out in a hushed, aggravated whisper.  Seunghyun was still trying to process the language he was speaking when he suddenly found his hand pressed over his mouth and he pushed his body flat between him and Daesung.  Seunghyun wasn’t happy with the sudden proximity of his body and he was momentarily tempted to bite his hand, but when he heard the shuffling of feet, he froze. 

He could hear them passing by, like a slow-moving herd of cattle.  And even though he could see nothing but darkness, Seunghyun closed his eyes.  The memory of that woman’s sinister smile loomed on the edge of his mind and try as he might to push it away, he could still see it there.  He suddenly felt like his knees were going to give up on him.  But the hand clasped over his mouth slid down to take a firm grip on his shoulder just as he thought he was about to collapse.  He felt grateful for the support, sure that if he hadn’t been there, he would have succumbed to that smile.

“Move.”

Seunghyun barely heard the word whispered in his ear before he found himself being pushed.  He wasn’t sure where he was going, he couldn’t see anything the dark, all he knew was that the shuffling of feet were getting further away and the hand on his back pushing him forward was a lot more steady than his own shaking hands. 

“Stop for a minute, kid.”

Seunghyun did as he was told even though he wasn’t happy at being called a “kid.”  He turned, intent on giving this guy an earful, only to be blinded by a light being shined in his face.

“Hey!”

“Gomen, gomen,” he said averting the light, though he didn’t really sound sorry at all.

Once his eyes adjusted and he stopped seeing spots, Seunghyun realized that they were in some kind of alley.  Other than that, he had no idea where they were. 

“Are they gone?” Daesung asked.  He was doubled over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath as if he had just run a marathon.  Though, really, he was just trying to stop his body from shaking.

“Which ones?  The train people you two riled up or the idiots breaking windows?”

“Both.”

“Aw, well, the idiots will be fine, trust me,” he said, looking up and down the alley.  “The train people will just wander for a while.  It doesn’t look like they followed us.”

“The…train people…?” Seunghyun said, still trying to calm his own shaky nerves.  “Why do you call them that?  What are they?”

The man turned his flashlight back on Seunghyun, intentionally shining the light in his face this time.  “If I knew what they were I would’ve come up with a snazzier names besides ‘train people.’  They like the underground train stations, their skin turns to ash, and you don’t want to end up like them, that’s all I can tell you.”

“I don’t suppose you know how to not become one?” Daesung asked.

“Drink lots of orange juice?” he offered sarcastically.  “How am I supposed to know?  Maybe all they have to do is breathe on you, I have no idea.  But we can have the whole ‘how-not-to-turn-into-a-monster’ talk later, right now it’s really not the best idea to just stand around here.  Follow me.”

“Thanks, but no,” Seunghyun said.  He took a step forward and took Daesung’s arm.  Grateful as he was to be saved and grateful as he was for the support, there was no way he was going to just wander off somewhere with this guy.  “We have to get back to our friends.”

The man just blinked at Seunghyun.  “You’re kidding, right?  The street we just came from is full of those things.  What, you have a death wish?”

Man, this guy really had some nerve.  “Our friends-”

“What good are you to your friends if you’re dead?”

“We can’t leave them-”

“Oi, blondy, is your friend here always this stubborn?  Can you explain to him that I’m trying to help you?”

Daesung liked being called “blondy” about as much as Seunghyun liked being called a “kid,” but he turned to Seunghyun and took hold of his arm gently.  The gesture was almost instantly calming to Seunghyun, he could feel his muscles relax under his touch.

“Hyung,” he said quietly,  “I think we should go with him.”

“What?  What about the others?  What if those things ‘wander’ down to where we were and…and…”  Seunghyun couldn’t even bring himself to say aloud the horrible things his mind was imagining.

“They’ll be fine,” Daesung assured him, though he really wasn’t all that sure himself.  “Youngbae-hyung will know what to do.  We can find them tomorrow.”

Seunghyun and Daesung simply stared at each other, attempting to reassure one another with their eyes but at the same time both knowing that they were failing miserably. 

“Well, I don’t know what you two just said, but it sounded reasonable coming from blondy,” the man interrupted.  “Can we be on our way now?”

“Fine, but stop calling him blondy.  His name’s Daesung and I’m Seunghyun.  And I’m not a damn kid, either.”

A playful grin stretched across the man’s face as he held his hands up in defeat.  “Alright, alright.  Stubborn and touchy, I guess.  I’m Aoi.”

“Did he or did he not specifically say they wouldn’t stray too far?” Youngbae asked, growing more and more frustrated as he tried to peer into the darkness.  “Dammit, leave it to Seunghyun-hyung to wander off!”

“Maybe it was Daesung that did the wandering,” Seungri suggested.

“It doesn’t really matter which one did it, it’s the fact that they did,” he grumbled.  “What are we supposed to do now?”

“We don’t have a choice,” Jiyong said wearily.  He was sitting on the steps of the apartment complex, his face in his hands.  “We’re not going to abandon each other.  I don’t know where they went or why, but…they must have had a good reason.  We’ll find them.”

Youngbae sighed and let his frustration fade as he took a seat next to Jiyong.  “You’re right.  So what should we do?  Wait for them to come back or try to find them?”

“It’d be impossible to find anyone in this darkness,” Seungri interrupted.

“We’ll wait here.  If we all start running around, we may never find each other.”

Of course they wouldn’t leave without Seunghyun and Daesung.  That wasn’t even possible in their minds, although they had already been separated.  Yet, each one of them knew and understood that finding them was most likely a long-shot.  Who knew where they had went and why and where they were now.  Let alone if they were even still alive.  And that was the thought that was putting Jiyong in such a dismal mood, try as he might to put the idea out of his head.

“Do you hear that?”

Jiyong perked up at Youngbae’s words although he hadn’t heard a sound.  And next to him, Seungri was also shaking his head.  “Hear what?”  But no sooner had the words left his lips did he hear the footsteps.

They were all on their feet then, huddled together at the foot of steps, all listening intently to the slow cadence of footsteps that were approaching.

“Is it them?”

“It doesn’t sound right…”

“It almost sounds like…like high heels or something…”

“A survivor maybe?”

“Or something else?”

They were frantically whispering to each other, trying to make sense of what was happening, trying to not let the darkness scare them more than it already was.

“Let’s just breathe for a moment and I’ll go check,” Youngbae whispered, laying a hand on both Seungri and Jiyong’s shoulders. 

“Is that really okay?” Seungri muttered, as Youngbae moved towards the street and tried to see something in the darkness, but could only hear the oncoming footsteps.  He looked backed at Seungri and Jiyong, barely able to make out their faces.

“Well?” Seungri whispered.

“How am I supposed to tell?” he asked, before looking back at the street.  He took a deep breathe, and as steadily and coolly as he could, he called out into the darkness, “Seunghyun-hyung?”

The sound stopped and then there was nothing but silence.  Youngbae was about to step back towards Seungri and Jiyong when there came a reply from a broken female voice somewhere in the darkness, much closer than any of them liked.

“Seung…hyun…?”

“An office building?”

“Hey, beggars can’t be choosers.  It was the closest and best option.”

Aoi motioned them into a dark parking garage with a smile that Seunghyun was becoming more and more annoyed with as time went on.  Once inside, he guided them through the cars as though nothing was wrong at all.  The man almost had a bounce to his step.  Here was a guy that was thoroughly enjoying the moment.  And Seunghyun was a man that was becoming thoroughly annoyed.

“Did you work here or something?” Daesung asked.

They reached the end of the parking garage and a door that led into the building.  “Do I look like a salaryman to you?” he asked, opening the door for them.

“To be honest, I don’t know what you look like.”

“Well usually the answer is cool, awesome, hip, sophisticated guy, or something along those lines.”

“I think you look like an old man,” Seunghyun offered as they started up the stairs.

“That’s an awesome old man to you, kid.”

They made their way up to fifth or sixth floor, Seunghyun lost count on the way and he didn’t catch the number on the door before it swung open and he found himself suddenly accosted by a small dog.  It wasn’t very big and didn’t look very threatening, but it was barking up a storm and bouncing back and forth on its little legs with so much energy that it was making Seunghyun tired just watching.

“For crying out loud, can’t you keep that thing under control?”

A short dark-haired man came over and scooped the dog up in his arms.  He was shorter than both Seunghyun and Daesung, though Seunghyun was certain he was older than they were.  Yet he looked no less fashionable, judging from the jewelry on his hands and the glimpse of designer sneakers.  “Don’t call my Koron a thing.”

“It’s bad enough finding food for ourselves, I have to scavenge for dog biscuits, too.”

“Don’t make things up,” he retorted before acknowledging Seunghyun and Daesung.  Where he had been short-tempered with Aoi, he showed nothing but concern for them as if he thought they were a couple of lost little children.  “Who is this?”

“A couple of kids.  They went wandering down into the subway.”

“What the hell did you do that for?”

Seunghyun simply stared at the blond that had come up behind the smaller man.  There were two others behind him, standing solemnly and silently with their arms crossed over their chests watching the situation carefully.

“We didn’t know,” Daesung finally said.

“And Aoi-san saved you?”

“I suppose you could say that.”

“Suppose?  I save your and that’s the thanks I get?  No respect from the younger generation!”

“So you are an old man?” Seunghyun smiled.

Aoi narrowed his eyes at him.  “Watch it, kid.”

“Alright, well, nice to see that Aoi-san has found someone to spar with, but maybe we should save the snarky remarks for later, okay?”  Both Aoi and Seunghyun stared and almost glared at the hands that pushed them apart.  Seunghyun looked at the man that had stepped between them, a man who definitely had the air of a leader about him.  “First, I’m sure your name isn’t kid.  Introductions first, yes?  My name is Kai.  Little guy is Ruki-”

“Don’t call me little.”

“The blond is Reita,” he continued, completely ignoring Ruki’s death glare.  Reita smiled at them both, uttering a small “yo” as he was introduced.  “And that’s Uruha.”  The other man who had yet to speak gave a small smile.

“I know you guys,” Daesung spoke suddenly.

“You do…?” Seunghyun muttered.

“Yeah.  Before this all happened, I saw a poster somewhere.  Maybe in the train station, I don’t remember, but…you guys are a band, right?” 

Kai sighed.  “It might be better to say we were a band.  Unless we start playing for those monsters out there.  We were GazettE.”

Daesung smiled, finally starting to feel a little better about the whole thing.  “I thought so.  It’s hard to tell without the makeup and costumes, but…you definitely looked familiar.  We’re artists, too, you know.”

“Small world,” Aoi muttered, grudgingly standing in the corner with Uruha trying to console him. 

Kai ignored the temperamental guitarist.  “I’m afraid I’m not sure who you are, though…”

“Oh, well…I’m Daesung and this Seunghyun.  From Bigbang.”

“Oi!” Aoi suddenly yelled.  “Are you telling me you’re D-Lite and TOP?”

“Oh no,” Ruki muttered, deftly moving out of the way before Daesung and Seunghyun suddenly found Aoi all over them.  “Fanboy alert…”

“Oh don’t tell me you’re a fan,” Seunghyun muttered.

“What, an old man like me can’t be a fan?  I love that boom shakalaka thing-”

“Okay,” Kai said, steering Aoi away from them, “don’t assault the idols, please.”

“He’s kind of a closet Kpop fan,” Ruki whispered.  “But anyways, where is the rest of your group?  Bigbang has five members, doesn’t it?”

For a brief moment, both Daesung and Seunghyun had momentarily forgotten what was really happening.  Between being attacked by little Koron and then Aoi, they had completely forgotten that just a while ago they had been running for their lives.  And somewhere out there in the darkness were their friends.

“We got separated,” Daesung said quietly.  “We’re not sure where they are.  Or if they’re okay.”

Ruki’s face was nothing but sympathy as he patted Daesung on the shoulder.  “I’m sure they’re fine.”

Though they all exchanged reassuring smiles, none of them really felt relieved.

They had a nice set up.  How they had managed it in the short amount of time since the world ended, Seunghyun wasn’t sure, but it was nice.  It was like they had raided a camping store.  They had cleared out the center of the floor of desks and had camping lanterns for light gathered in the middle.  It was enough that it almost illuminated the entire floor except the very edges where they had their bedding setup.  They could even do some proper cooking with some other various camping-type equipment if they so wanted.  They were well-prepared and Seunghyun felt like maybe Aoi’s calling him a kid was a proper assumption because he sure as hell didn’t feel like he was prepared at all.

“Water?”  Seunghyun took the offered bottle with a small ‘thanks.’  “Not tired?”

“Too worried to sleep,” he said quietly.  The others had long since gone to bed, even Daesung, but Seunghyun just couldn’t.  Sure, every bone in his body was exhausted, but he was afraid of what he’d see in his nightmares if he allowed himself to sleep.  “You?” he asked, realizing he had no idea who he was talking to and looking up, saw Uruha smiling at him. 

“I guess I’m the same,” he said, sitting down next to him.  “I could really use a drink, though…”

“I think everyone could use a drink.”

“True enough.”

There was silence between them then until Seunghyun couldn’t bear it any longer and spoke just so he didn’t feel like everything was pressing in on him.

“What’s with that guy?”

“Aoi-san?”  He laughed a bit.  “Aoi is Aoi.”

“So he is a crazy old man?”

“I’ll give you the crazy part, but if he’s old than so am I and I’m not ready to be old yet.”

Seunghyun held up his hands in defeat.  “Fair enough.  But if he calls me boom shakalaka boy again…”

“I’ll do my best to keep him from fawning over you.  Makes me jealous anyways.”

“You have something with that guy…?”

“Why is that so surprising?  Aren’t you with Daesung?” he asked and could only smile at the surprised expression that took over Seunghyun’s face.  “You know, it was written all over your face.”

“It was?”

“Oh yeah,” he said, “and I’m pretty perceptive for an old guy.  Especially when I’m this sober.  I really need some alcohol,” he sighed, standing up and offering his hand to Seunghyun.  Seunghyun merely stared at it for a few seconds before taking it.  “My real name is Kouyou.  I’m sorry we had to meet like this.”

“Yeah," he muttered, "me too.”

___________________________

I am SO SORRY.  I simple didn’t have time to write when I was in Germany or when I got back.  The friend I visited hates Kpop or anything to do with it, so writing with her around felt…threatening D: And then between work and job interviews, I just didn’t have time T^T 

Anyways…GazettE appeared!  My two greatest loves in one fic!  It’s a silly idea, isn’t it?

And somehow it became AoiXUruha even though I’m more of a UruhaXRuki fan…

Also, I’m pretty sure Aoi is a Kpop fan…

Again, I’m sorry I’ve been absent for nearly a month.  I will do my best to update sooner next time.