Mob Ties

10

Taehyung sighed and crouched down, resting his elbow on his knee and placing a bunch of black roses on the tombstone. His eyes ran over the inscription and he sighed again. "Maya-Persephone". He couldn't help but go back three years and remember the moment he had realized that his life, everything he had and fought for, the power he had thought that he possessed, everything had turned out to be pointless, useless, insignificant.

Flashback

"Baby, don't, please, we'll get out, I promise, just don't!" Taehyung desperately held her hands, kissing her fingers. Sticky blood stuck to their palms, the smell of gunpowder in the air so strong it made their eyes water. "I love you, Tae, but there's no other way" Maya shook her head as she watched as their friends tried their hardest to fend off Kang Lu's attack.

"I can't allow it, Maya, I can't live without you, why don't you understand!" Taehyung roared in such pain that Maya's heart sank and her tears made wet streaks down her dirty face. "I'm sorry Tae, I really wish there was another way, he won't stop until he gets what he wants, but risking all of your lives just so I can live isn't fair,my love!" she cupped his face and kissed him deeply and tenderly.

"Please, baby, anything but this, please!" Taehyung tried, even though he knew it was pointless and that Maya was right. There was nowhere for them to run anymore, their ammunition was running out, there was no one to help them in the middle of the battle. Most of them were already seriously injured, including Taehyung and Maya. Cang Lu wouldn't stop until he saw her dead.

"Give her to me and I'll let the others go!" came Kang's greasy angry voice and Maya sighed. "It's time to end this. I love you, Tae, no matter what, I want you to know that I love you!" Maya sighed and reached into her pocket. "One last shot, my love, be accurate" she handed him a small silver bullet, the mark of the Devil Dogs, he was to end their lives in case they were caught and were likely to give away information important to Kang.

Taehyung took the bullet and loaded it with trembling fingers. His gaze returned to Maya's, he growled and pulled hard on her neck, locking their lips in the most passionate, deep and painful kiss the two had ever shared. "I love you, Maya" he rested his forehead on hers, without taking his eyes off hers. "I love you my forest fairy" Maya gave him a gentle smile, and then she broke away from his arms, squirming her own as a sign of surrender.

The firing from both sides stopped the moment Maya appeared from behind the overturned, bullet-riddled car. "Finally!" Kamg Lu stepped forward with a smug smile. "If you hurt any more of them, I swear I'll chase you to Hell, Kang!" Maya hissed, letting her gun fall to the ground as she walked towards him, feeling the eyes of Taehyung and their friends on her back.

"A deal's a deal, Persephone, you know I always do my part!" he stopped a few feet away from her and raised his weapon, aiming it at her chest. "Everything ends here and now, along with your life, Persephone" Kang Lu promised and pulled the tab of his small gilded revolver, squeezing the trigger lightly. The two shots rang out at the same time, Maya had no time to react and her body flew back, as did Kang Lu's, in the opposite direction, in whose forehead gaped a huge hole.

"No no no no!" Taehyung burst out from behind his cover, tears streaming uncontrollably as he slid down the gravel and dropped to his elbow next to Maya's body, then bent his knees, sitting on his feet and lifted her head, pressing the wound to her chest. "Maya, baby..." his voice broke and she opened her eyes, smiling slightly. "It's...okay...Tae" her voice was a sighing whisper washed away by the sobs of the wind. "Don't talk baby, stay strong, the ambulance will be here soon, just stay with me!" he looked intently into her eyes, which were slowly darkening, losing their luster.

"Maya!" Taehyung shook her slightly, her eyes seeming to refuse to stay open no matter how hard she tried. Taehyung had looked death in the eyes and other times, many times, he had drawn so much blood between his fingers that it could cover a wheat field and still be there for another half. But he had never felt the precious liquid weigh and hurt so much.

"Don't leave me,baby,don't give up for me,Maya,stay for me!" he prayed as the others surrounded them, refusing to look at the scene in front of them, eyes averted to the sides, keeping a close eye on Kang's men, who seemed to have no reason to fight after the death of their chief, and were ravaging in small groups, not even they go to the trouble of collecting Kang's body.

Maya reached up and caressed his cheek. "I love....you" she whispered, her fingers trailing down his jaw and his eyes widened in horror as her chest rose hoarsely, her back arched and she tried to take a breath, before time and for both of them to stop.

Taehyung shook his head, pushing the memory away. He had promised himself, he had also promised Maya that he wouldn't live in the past, that he wouldn't feel sorry for himself, but he couldn't stop thinking, if they had made other decisions, if Maya hadn't shown up, if they had been better prepared, or he was stronger, or if they had never met at all, their lives would have turned out differently.

Sighing, he looked at the tombstone one last time, then stood up and walked to the waiting car. Sitting in the back seat, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "Do you have to do it every year?" he turned his head and looked at the woman beside him with a small smile. "It's just saying goodbye to the past,my love, a reminder of who I was, not to repeat the same mistakes" she huffed and shook her head.

"I'm sure you miss this Maya a lot!" the woman pouted and Taehyung raised an eyebrow, rising and turning his face and body towards her, leaning forward and pinning her to the seat between his body and arms. His gaze drifted down to her heavily bulging belly, then back to hers, full of lust. "I miss her" he admitted, his deep husky voice sending shivers down her spine.

"I loved her" he leaned down and lightly touched her lips. "But I love you both more, doll, and I wouldn't trade our little family for anything" he kissed her again, this time deeper and more passionately. "You know you're being overly dramatic, right Kim Taehyung?" the woman laughed and Taehyung pouted. "You always say it, but you like it, Miss Kim Maya!" he smirked before capturing her lips again, gently caressing her belly that held their daughter and their future.