Work Text:
Vacation had been going great so far.
The members were able to travel overseas and for once it wasn't for any kind of work schedule where they had to stick to a specific routine, but this time it was for pure fun and enjoyment. Some well deserved off time.
They had already been on vacation for about a week and the hotel they were staying at was full of things they'd already bought for themselves and for each other. They bought so many souvenirs that they had to actually buy extra suitcases so they had something to lug all this stuff home in.
There were some days they spent going off and doing their own things, either alone or in pairs or small groups. Occasionally they'd come back together as seven if everyone could agree on where to eat or what to do.
They were currently at a large mall, once again, shopping. Considering they were all rich they didn't need to stick to a budget. They had split up to go into different stores. Yoongi, Jin, and Jimin went to a fishing store. Taehyung and Jungkook went to some clothing stores while Namjoon and Hobi went to a musical equipment store, seeing if they could find anything nice for their studios back home.
Namjoon was in awe of all the equipment that was displayed before his eyes. He wanted everything. He nudged Hobi. "Hyung, we're going to need more suitcases." The older burst into laughter, knowing what Namjoon was trying to say.
"We are already running out of room at our hotel so let's keep it light. Maybe we can see what we like and then order it online later?" Hobi suggested.
The two giggled as they continued to look around.
Elsewhere, Taehyung and Jungkook were in a dressing room trying to decide on some outfits.
"What do you think of this shirt?" Taehyung asked his maknae. It was bright pink and had bright orange flamingos all over it.
"Hmm...I don't think it suits you." Jungkook thought it was the ugliest shirt ever but he wanted to be nice about it.
"But I like it." Taehyung pouted, hoping Jungkook would change his mind.
"Well as long as you like it, hyungie, then that's all that matters." Jungkook smiled, biting his tongue thinking he still hated the shirt, but anything for his Taehyungie. Taehyung leaped forward and started rubbing his knuckles in Jungkook's hair. The two started playfully wrestling right in the dressing room as Taehyung told Jungkook to say he liked the shirt.
Jin, Yoongi, and Jimin were on another floor of the mall as they looked for fishing supplies. Jimin was playing around with different fishing poles when he accidentally hooked the back of Jin's shirt.
"Yahhh!" Jin turned and snatched the fishing pole from Jimin. "Who even decided to let one of the maknae's come with us?!"
Jimin started laughing. "You did, silly! Sorry Jin hyungie!"
Yoongi couldn't help but laugh at Jin's misfortune. He decided to also bother his hyung so he grabbed a fishing pole and started trying to hook Jin with it too. Jin retaliated, and soon all three of them started trying to hook each other with fishing poles.
They got kicked out of the store.
"Nice going." Jimin crossed his arms and glared at Yoongi.
"Why are you looking at me?! You started it!" Yoongi yelled in defense.
"I didn't start anything! It was an accident when I did it!" Jimin yelled back. The three of them broke out into playful banter before deciding to go find some of the others. They found Namjoon and Hobi in the equipment store and started browsing along with them. They were in the middle of conversation when they were cut off by the floor starting to shake.
"What the hell is that?" Jimin asked as all of them were looking down, seeing the floor physically moving.
People started screaming and running out of the store. "It's happening! It's happening!" One man screamed as he ran past them.
"What?! What is happening?!" Jin grabbed someone else who was running by. "What's going on?! Why is the place shaking?!"
"Earthquake!" the woman shouted. "Another earthquake! You have to run!" She was soon out of sight.
"An earthquake?! What the hell?!" Namjoon screamed.
The floor started shaking more fiercely and things started falling off the walls. They ran out of there in a panic, and when they got into a main hallway the next set of fear kicked in.
"Where are Jungkook and Taehyung?! Does anyone know what store they went in?!" Yoongi was looking in circles hoping to find them in the chaos of the crowd. Jimin pulled his phone out and tried calling them, Taehyung picked up and was already crying asking where everyone was.
"We're coming!" Jimin cried. While they ran for them, the two youngest were also running in a desperate attempt to get to their hyungs.
The entire mall was shaking so badly that it was causing people to stumble and fall. Jungkook tripped and fell, causing Taehyung to trip and slam down right on top of him.
"Ow!" the youngest screamed.
"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Taehyung got up and grabbed Jungkook's shirt, pulling him to his feet and then dragging him along in his grip.
"Hyungs?!" Taehyung screamed, hoping they could hear them. "Hyungs?!"
The older members heard Taehyung's screaming, they looked to see both him and Jungkook looking all around panicking and crying.
"Taehyung! Jungkook! Over here!" Hobi screamed. The members all finally made it to each other.
"Are you two okay?" Yoongi asked the two youngest as he hugged them.
The two nodded, and then Taehyung asked what the hell was going on. "Is the mall collapsing?!"
"You could say that! It's an earthquake! We have to get out of here!" Jin gestured for the stairs, knowing they had to get down to the bottom floor and out of the building before it collapsed on them.
"Everyone hold hands! Nobody get separated!" Jin led his members through the screaming and crying crowd. It was like a stampede with people falling and landing all over each other. Namjoon couldn't seem to get his footing and kept tripping, falling to the ground.
"Now is not the time to be clumsy!" Taehyung yelled at him as he helped him back up and grabbed him.
"It's not my fault!" Namjoon couldn't believe Taehyung was accusing him of being clumsy for falling during a literal earthquake.
While they were running Jimin got knocked over by some other people in the crowd running by. Jungkook shoved them. "Hey! Watch it!" He grabbed Jimin and pulled him back to his feet.
The walls started crumbling and breaking apart all around them. The sound of metal and wood creaking and snapping echoed throughout the mall and mixed together with everyone's screams and cries. Jin kept looking back to make sure everyone was still holding onto each other. Doing continuous headcounts. One two three four five six. One two three four five six. One two three four five six. He didn't care to count himself, he just knew he needed to make sure there were six others with him at all times.
They made it out of the mall, running further down the road. They stopped to catch their breath. Jimin had his hands on his knees as he hyperventilated. "What...what are we supposed to..to do?"
Crowds of people were still screaming and running past them. "We have to find somewhere to-" Namjoon was cut off by what sounded like an explosion.
"What the hell was that?!" Yoongi cried.
They looked to see the entire mall beginning to collapse, along with multiple buildings along the road. As the buildings were crashing down, dust and debris, including chunks of metal, started flying through the air.
"Run!" Jin screamed. He grabbed Namjoon and pulled him, and soon they were all back in formation of holding each other to run. There was no more time to catch their breath as they were now in a race against the objects coming their way.
The ground kept shaking. Buildings all around them kept collapsing. Taehyung turned to see a piece of a building sign falling and it was about to land right on Jungkook. "Maknae!" he pulled him out of the way and the younger boy stumbled forward and fell face first into the pavement, scraping up his cheek.
"Jungkook!" Hobi screamed. He grabbed both Taehyung and Jungkook, helping the youngest up, and they continued to run. Jungkook clutched his cheek in his hand and wiped the blood and tears away. He knew right now wasn't the time to pay attention to the slight injury, they had bigger problems.
Adrenaline had them on overdrive. When it was evident that they couldn't outrun all of the debris flying in the air the members felt trapped. They figured their only safety from the debris was inside a building, but being inside a building wasn't safe either.
A piece of metal was flying right for Yoongi's head, Jimin grabbed him and shoved him out of the way but it made Yoongi fall into a hole that had formed in the road. "Help! Get me the hell out of here!"
"I'm sorry!" Jimin cried as he reached his hands down and was able to pull his hyung back up. Namjoon grabbed everyone and pointed to a building that many others were running into, it seemed to be holding up well despite the earth collapsing in on itself. They ran in and once again stopped to catch their breath. All of them were visibly sobbing, so Jin pulled everyone into a group hug, kissing all of their heads.
One two three four five six.
"Is everyone okay?" Jin asked. It wasn't until then that he actually noticed Jungkook's cheek which had started to bruise. "Oh no...maknae.."
"I'm fine, hyung! I'm fine!" He didn't want anyone to waste their energy worrying about him. "It's just a small scrape I promise I'm fine!"
Yoongi was holding his wrist. He hadn't mentioned that he twisted and hurt it when he fell into the hole, but Hobi noticed his hyung wincing in pain. He gently grabbed Yoongi's arm. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I must have landed wrong. I'm fine too. Please don't worry!" Yoongi was in the same mindset as Jungkook. There were worse things happening to them at the moment.
Taehyung was having trouble catching his breath. He had his hands on his knees and was panting before clutching his chest. Namjoon was quick to start patting and rubbing his back. "Deep breaths. There you go."
"How long is this going to last?!" Hobi screamed out towards all of the other people holed up in the building with them. One man said whenever they got earthquakes they lasted anywhere from a few minutes to almost an hour. "But this is the worst one we've ever seen! I have never in all of my life seen it destroy things to this degree!"
Taehyung dropped to his knees and started coughing. The others surrounded him and did anything they could to try and help. He had inhaled a lot of dust that was flowing through the streets and was now trying to hack it all back up.
They stood there all rubbing his back, giving each other worried glances about the entire situation.
Things seemed to have calmed down. The world finally stopped moving. The building they were in stopped shaking. People stopped screaming.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Everyone was silent as they listened to their surroundings. It's as if even the bugs of the earth had stopped their chirping.
A low creaking noise started.
"We have to get out of here," Jimin advised. "Something doesn't feel right."
"You don't say?!" Jin screamed.
"Hyung I'm serious! I don't think this earthquake is over! I think we have to get out of this building!" Jimin was already making a run for the back door, as the air was a bit more clear out in back, the debris not traveling that far.
A screeching noise suddenly overpowered what felt like the entire earth. Everyone covered their ears because it was too painful to listen to.
"Go go go!" Yoongi yelled at his members. All of them picked Taehyung up off the ground and shoved him along, following Jimin out the back. Right before Jin was the last of them to make it out, the shaking of the earth had intensified by infinity. It felt like the entire earth had completely shattered. All of the members were knocked off their feet, and Jin's ankle got trapped by a door frame that had fallen onto him.
"Hyung! Hyungie!" Jungkook cried and found his footing, running to his hyung. Jin was desperately trying to push the frame off his ankle but it was too heavy. Soon all of them were there to help but it was insanely difficult because all of them kept getting knocked off their feet.
"Go! Just go without me! You guys go and find somewhere safe!" Jin looked at them with pleading, teary eyes, silently wanting them to get to safety but also silently not wanting to die there alone.
"Go without you?! What is this 'go without you' bullshit?! We aren't going anywhere without you!" Yoongi grabbed the frame and mustered all the strength he could to get it off Jin's ankle just enough so his hyung could slither out. The other members were right back at it. They were able get the frame a bit off of him and he quickly pulled his ankle out before the earth cracked and made everyone drop it again.
"I'm free! I'm free! Oh thank you! Oh my dongsaengs, thank you!" Jin cried tears of happiness as they all helped him stand back up. He pulled his pant leg down to hide that his ankle was bleeding.
They were running aimlessly through the streets again. They didn't know where to go. They were running down a road when all of the sudden the entire thing cracked and exploded into two, sending half the members flying to one side and half of them to the other. They all landed with a thud.
Hobi was clutching his side, sure he had to have just broken a rib. It was agonizing to move in the slightest, but his adrenaline still kept him going. Any amount of pain is better than being dead!
He looked to see that Jungkook and Namjoon were with him, crawling onto their hands and knees.
There was no sign of the others.
"Guys?!" Hobi started to scream, but winced in pain. Namjoon and Jungkook were quickly at his side. He could see the cuts and bruises they'd sustained too.
"Hyungie!" Jungkook cried with worry.
"I'm..I'm okay.." Hobi gasped. "Where..where is everyone else?!"
They looked to see the road had split in half, and the other four were squirming to their feet on the other side.
"Hyungies!" Jungkook screamed as he waved his arms at them, getting their attention. He could tell that the others were hurting. Taehyung was coughing and clutching his chest all over again. Jin was starting to limp. Yoongi was rubbing his wrist and his neck. Jimin's arm was covered in blood.
There was a giant sink hole in the road, broken pieces of asphalt created new layers of land. To get to each other the members would have to make their way down into the hole, across it, and back up.
The biggest problem was that the earth was still shaking and nobody knew if the hole would get bigger or crack apart more.
A risk that Namjoon, Jungkook, and Hobi were willing to take because they refused to stay separated.
"Wait! No! Guys! Stay there! Stay over there! We don't know if this will crack more!" Jin screamed at the others to not risk it, but they didn't listen. Namjoon and Jungkook were already helping Hobi get down into the hole. They held hands and ran to the other side, soon they were right below where Jin was standing.
"I told you to stay over there! Are you crazy?!" Jin scolded.
Namjoon lifted his hands up. "Maybe a little bit, now help us up before we sink more!"
Jimin, Yoongi, and Taehyung were also able to make their way over and help pull the three back up. As soon as they were all together again they hugged tightly and cried. Checking on each others injuries making sure that everyone was at least okay enough to continue moving. It's all they could do even though there was no real destination. They had no clue when or where this earthquake was supposed to end. They knew it wasn't possible, but they all had a slight hope that maybe it was something they could outrun.
They continued on their way, and luck wasn't on their side. They had taken a turn down a side road and a building came crashing down.
Right on top of all of them.
They screamed as they felt their bodies smash into the ground and metal beams fall down, trapping them. It had gone dark, being covered by layers and layers of building. Weight was pressing down on all of them, trapping them in place. Now they couldn't run. They were trapped there at the mercy of the universe.
"Help!" Taehyung shouted. "I'm stuck! Help! Someone help me! Please!"
"I'm stuck too!" Jin's voice could be heard. He needed to hear everyone's voice. He was desperate for it. "Is everyone okay?! Alive?! Is everyone alive?!" Not being able to see or move was absolutely terrifying. He instantly started counting in his head. He needed to hear six little voices shout that they were okay.
One two three four five six. Please. Please. One two three four five six.
"Hello?!" Jin screamed louder before falling into a coughing fit. He heard voices scream to him saying that they were alive.
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
...
Five
...
"Hobi?!" Jin screamed. He wasn't getting an answer from Hobi. "Hobi-ah please say something! Please tell hyung you're okay!"
"I'm here!" the rapper finally screamed.
Six.
All of the members started screaming to each other about what injuries they think they had. A broken ankle here, a broken wrist there, including all of the cuts and bruises.
There was nothing left to do but wait and hope nothing else fell on them. They could feel the debris that was trapping them shift with each crack of the earth. It sounded like thunder outside. They all tried to desperately free themselves but they were no match for giant building structures.
The earth slowly started to relax.
The members didn't trust it at first considering this had already happened once before. They were still petrified that everything was going to start all over again.
As they waited, they could sense hope on the horizon. Some time had passed and the earth remained still. They could hear sirens blaring and knew it was emergency personnel coming to rescue anyone who needed it. All of them started screaming for help. They didn't know if anyone could hear them from the surface, so they made sure to all collectively scream at the same time.
"I don't want to die here. I don't want to die here!" Jungkook started screaming.
"We won't!" Taehyung yelled. "We won't die here, Jungkookie! They will hear us! They will save us!"
They could only hope.
It felt like hours had passed, but finally, right as they were on the brink of suffocating from screaming so much and losing their breath, the members felt the objects above them shifting and people screaming that they could hear voices.
"We're here! We're down here!" Yoongi cried.
Once they realized people were right there, they screamed more.
"I hear you!" A voice called.
All of them members started cheering, although it was more like faint gasps of happiness. They were all exhausted, hurting, and disoriented.
Sunlight poked through a small hole in the top of the debris. They knew they were saved. With that fear behind them, every single one of them finally allowed their bodies to give up. It was someone else's turn to help them now. They all passed out.
--
The members all woke up in a hospital room back in South Korea. They didn't know how long they'd been unconscious, but it was long enough to be rescued from the rubble and transported home.
They had been placed in a large room together with seven beds all lined up next to each other. They look around confused on how the hell they got there, and a nurse informed them that they'd been saved from the rubble and their manager had already heard about the earthquake. "When Sejin couldn't get a hold of you guys, knowing what was happening, he immediately shipped out medical planes to go get you. He knew something was wrong. Had you brought right back to us."
Jimin smiled at that. Not only did he have members he could count on, but also a manager. He looked to see along with himself, everyone was well bandaged up. Yoongi had a cast on his wrist, Jin one on his ankle. Hobi had cracked ribs that would only heal with rest. Taehyung had needed some breathing treatments and stitches, Jungkook's face had bruised up pretty badly, and Namjoon was also full of stitches and bruises. Jimin had his fair share of bruises too. He looked to see he also had some casted fingers. He had no clue how that would have happened, but he wasn't surprised. Everything was falling apart around them so quickly he didn't understand how any of them even made it out alive.
"How bad was it? The earthquake?" Jungkook wondered.
The nurse flipped on the news to the coverage of what took place. A 9.5 magnitude earthquake had torn half the country apart.
"No way," Jin was practically panicking all over again. "That's the highest magnitude there is!"
Namjoon hushed everyone as he continued to listen.
Thousands of casualties. Hundreds of homes and other buildings were destroyed. Infrastructure had been ruined completely. Roads were blocked off and many people were still missing.
"How the hell did we survive that? We..we were trapped...we shouldn't be alive.." Yoongi was by no means complaining, he just couldn't believe it.
"Well we are, so let's be damn grateful!" Hobi shouted.
All of them were sad seeing each other so hurt, but they knew the worst was behind them. It could have been much, much, worse.
Manager Sejin popped into their room and surprised them with flowers and little presents.
"Sejin!" Taehyung cheered. The manager ran around and hugged all of them. They asked how the hell he knew and he said he heard about the earthquake and instantly panicked. "I had to send for you immediately. I just knew."
They couldn't thank him enough. Jungkook started to sulk as the news continued to show footage of the devastation. His heart ached for those who didn't have the same luck as them.
"I want to help them," Jungkook admitted. "Any way we can, we should help them."
Sejin said he could set something up. "Maybe an event to raise money?"
The members were all for it, despite their injuries they were willing to do what they could for others.
--
They all had to heal up in the hospital for a few weeks and eventually had been sent home together. They helped each other the best they could. Taking care of one another when someone else was down and hurting. They looked around and realized all the stuff that had been brought on vacation had been lost to the earthquake.
"It was just stuff. It's replaceable, but you guys aren't, so stop complaining," Yoongi had lightly scolded one day. The others knew he was right. It was just stuff.
They did multiple charity events, although they had to be little virtual things because they weren't well enough to perform or do crowds yet, and were able to raise millions of dollars in aid to the country. Many people there were calling them heroes but they ignored the gesture, they felt like survivors just trying to help.
They were home one night, many weeks after things had finally calmed down. Cuddled together eating and watching a movie, Jin randomly said thank you to them for not leaving him behind when the door frame had fallen on him.
"We would have never done that. Just like you would have never left us behind." Namjoon didn't pay much mind to his hyung because he was so invested in the movie, but Jin couldn't stop staring at his members.
Knowing that every single one of them was there with each other. Every single one of them put someone else's life ahead of their own when they needed to.
And every single one of them made it out alive.
One two three four five...and six.
[The End]