Rebel | taehyung x reader | angst
He taught you how to fly, only to cut your wings off when you were read to leap. | 2.5k
Princess!Reader / Servant!Taehyung / Royalty!AU
Numb.
You felt numb, staring as people ran past you, looking for an escape. The fire only roared louder.
You couldn’t feel the freezing marble against your throbbing knees. You couldn’t see the blood painting the once shining floors. You couldn’t hear the screams of the people - your people - as they rushed like ants, trying to wake up from this nightmare.
The scent of hemoglobin thickened the atmosphere. Carmine covered the lifeless figures lying on the floor. The same liquid, pooling out of your mouth, out the thousand cuts covering your once soft skin, skin now marred with bruises, reflecting every shade of purple and blue. Your luscious curls lay flat against her scalp, having lost their bounce. Dull and reddened eyes replaced the once sparkling orbs. To anyone watching, you’d seemed more dead than alive.
All was lost.
Your eyes remained glued to the swirling blood on the floor when a pair of boots stepped into your line of sight. Your fingers clenched harder around your silk skirt, moist palms dampening the soft fabric. You didn’t have to look up to know who it was. The brass chain burning against your neck was enough.
When your father had claimed that being a princess wasn’t at all like those stupid fairy tales your mother used to narrate every night, you had learned to believe him, believe that there were no magical ball dances til midnight, no beasts with cold hearts in lonely castles, no cursed frog princes for you. No, you had grown up - and out of those silly tales - to be the epitome of a perfect lady, dutiful and obedient, compliant to orders. You expected to be wed off to a respected gentleman when your father saw fit, and you knew better than to argue. Your mother’s shrieks behind closed doors every time he felt she was being problematic was warning enough.
Second in line to the throne and oldest daughter of a King with ice flowing through his veins, you had learned to forget all emotions and desires, and had learned to please instead. Emotions were a luxury, not something a princess should be feeling.
You were entirely convinced of this, that is, until a certain raven-haired individual decided to come along.
Kim Taehyung had literally stumbled into your life when he decided it was a good idea to try carrying more boxes than his might would allow. The alleged addition to the kitchen staff wore the most comical expression as he rose to address his victim, only to see the princess on the ground before him. It felt like a breath of fresh air to you, the disheveled look gracing the boy’s sharp features rather than the seemingly confident men all around you.
“Y-your Majesty, m-my apologies, I d-didn’t see you there. Please f-forgive my mindless m-mistake.” He stuttered, head bowed low enough to almost touch the ground.
You let slip the tiniest smile at the boy’s fractured apology, throwing a gentle nod his way to let him know it was okay.
You had then made it your mission to see that beautiful face again, and soon, you found yourself to not be able to get enough of it.
It wasn’t his angelic features that had you so intrigued, however. No, it was the contrast between the stuttering boy and the giggling one, transformed in only a month of your acquaintance, that had you feeling warm all over. Kim Taehyung, who initially had trouble even addressing you, had soon become regular company, your first friend.
He possessed a natural charm, unlike any man, that had you enraptured. It felt easy to laugh around him, right to tease him, warm to see that adorable grin appear on his features.
“Oh please,” you giggled, waltzing through the gardens. “Just admit it, you’re too slow to catch me, Tae.”
Taehyung only rolled his eyes from across the flower bed, boxy grin etched on his golden skin. “What I don’t understand is how you manage to run with a thousand ruffles pulling you down. What witchcraft do you possess, woman?”
As if he could predict it, your next step backwards onto a puddle of mud had you going toppling over into the earth, until you felt long, calloused fingers gripping your arms, keeping you from your demise. Those hands pulled you forward towards his broad frame, never letting go.
It was one of those days when you were feeling brave. Whether it was the temporary courage or the rush of adrenaline from almost falling, you couldn’t tell, but something inside you had compelled you to make the next move.
You placed the softest peck on his pink lips.
He flinched back momentarily, before something snapped in him. He lunged at you, lips crashing onto yours. It was sloppy, imperfect. You loved it, you loved the mess, you loved how your tongues clashed for more contact. Nothing felt enough.
It was exhilarating, to say the least. It was the feeling of fear, of losing your first kiss, any kiss, the the castle’s dishwasher, and it was the feeling of thrill, the thrill of doing exactly that. That way his arms were protectively caged around you made you feel more free than the open structure of the castle walls did. For once, you felt more than your father’s pawn.
Kim Taehyung was like a drug, the most dangerous one. He infiltrated your thoughts, appeared in your dreams, and rescued you from your nightmares.
He had taken over your senses. He was all you could see, all you could hear, all you could feel. You felt insatiable, yearning for him every second he was away.
Your rendezvous had had become a regular occurrence. It had become more intimate and less… innocent. He made you feel like you were a scrumptious meal and he was a starved man.
Over time, you felt yourself become a princess how could afford the luxury of feeling.
You were happier. Skipping when no one was looking, humming when no one was listening. Of course, your mindless purring was nothing in comparison to his saccharine vocals when he sang to you as he stroked your hair, head perched on his thigh.
No one had found out yet. It was unlikely to happen anyway, unless someone had decided to visit the farthest corner of the gardens, where the creaking old shed stood. You spent tour afternoons there, lounging in its shadows, basking in each other’s presence.
Taehyung had barely spoken that day, humming the lullaby his mother used to sing him, one you had heard from his lips a thousand times. The ring on his right ring finger - his father’s ring - glistened as the rays of the sun peeked through the shed, landing on it. You turned to him, placing a peck on his down turned lips.
“You know, sulking won’t fix whatever has your forehead wrinkled.” You mumbled, reaching out to straighten the creases on his smooth skin.
He ran a hand through his inky locks, not speaking for a moment. Then, he sighed, before swallowing loudly.
“I… have a gift for you. It’s not much, but it means more to my than a hundred piles of silver and gold.” His hands surfed his pockets, gently pulling out a brass chain.
Your eyes widened as you realized what exactly he was holding. You quickly pushed his palm back towards him.
“Taehyung!” You immediately sat up. “I can’t have your mother’s pendant!”
His face fell, a sudden darkness immediately replacing the warmth of his brown orbs. “I know it’s nothing compared to the jewels you’re showered with every day, and I completely understand why you seem repulsed by the thought. It was my mistake for asking, but I would appreciate if you didn’t sneer down on what matters to me just because it doesn’t live up to your standards.”
You fumed at his idiocy, landing a smack at the back of his skull. He was taken aback for a moment.
“No, you absolute halfwit,” You reprimanded, rolling your eyes at his theatrics. “I never even mentioned it ‘living up to my standards’, you assuming moron! It’s the last memory you have of your mother! You can’t just give it to me!”
A look of surprise flashed across his features before moulding into a sincere smile. Not one of his childlike grins or his lewd smirks, but just an honest smile. The dark clouds left his eyes as soon as they had arrived. He placed a gentle peck on the crown of your head.
Taehyung’s father, as he clearly remembered, had been seized for execution under the false claims of murder when he was only a toddler. They had no evidence, no proof. Just orders from the newly crowned King. He remembered his mother begging for them to let him go. Most of all, he remembered how she grasped onto the pendant every day, waiting in vain for his father to return. He remembered the hopeful smiles on his mother’s wrinkling face, till the day they were one again. With memories flooding his mind, he knew that there was no one else that he’d rather give this pendant to.
“She would’ve wanted you to have it.” With that, he took the delicate chain and clasped it around your neck, before capturing your lips in another breathtaking kiss.
That night, Taehyung didn’t sleep. His thoughts kept wandering to you, to what he was doing to you. Guilt ate at him as he thought of how he was taking away your life, your future. You should’ve been looking for a suitor, not fooling around with him. You were a princess, meant to enjoy the finer things in life, not the affection of the measly help.
Could he really do it? He thought to himself, but immediately shaking his head. No, this wasn’t what he had always believed. So what if she was royalty and he wasn’t, that didn’t make them any less human from one another. He couldn’t think otherwise, not with what he had planned.
You lay awake the same night, squealing at every thought of the handsome dishwasher. By then, you had started to understand, and feel the four letters everybody seemed to yearn for so dearly - love.
You were in love with Kim Taehyung. In your reverie, fairy tales did exist. You had believed that he would be waiting for your descent at the bottom of a tower, that he would go find a genie if only to wish for a happy future for you both, that he would fight dragons if it meant rescuing her.
That man. That one man had meant everything to you. He had taught you how to speak your mind, to do as you pleased, to love yourself and all that she came with. You would have given up all the riches in the world just to be with him for eternity.
That man stood before you barely a day later, on the ashes of what was left of your home. Fitting, given that he was the one to set it on fire.
Kim Taehyung didn’t slouch like he did at the shed. He stood tall, the perfect image of a confident man. The ebony of his leather suit did wonders to hide the bloodstains, but his bare face gave him away, dried crimson sprayed across his cheeks and jaw.
Your family was dead. Your father, mother, brother and sisters, all victims to the betrayal of the dishwasher, were assassinated by the band of rebels invading the castle walls, led by the man you had thought you loved.
Your father had known about the rising rebellion, known about the revolution against his ruthless and unfair rule, and the incompetence of the heir, his son. Yet, he did nothing against it, letting the spark grow into a flame. Now he lay in ashes, along with his people, who were left to suffer for his mistakes.
You had watched as your world crumbled around you. One moment, she was humming in the library, thoughts filled with the dishwasher’s face, and the next, you hear his name being called for mercy.
You grit your teeth, trying not to look at the face you had been caressing not long ago, only to lose the battle with yourself. Your eyes met his cold orbs, filled with bitter hate towards him, and yourself, for trusting him.
“You!” You didn’t bother to hide the growl behind that one word, only for your voice to crack midway. Tears began to form in your spiteful eyes, the dam threatening to break.
His face reflected nonchalance at the sight of your vulnerability. He seemed bored, almost, looking down at you with dark clouds in his eyes again, except this time, they were darker in yours. He didn’t even bother to adress the detest radiating off you.
“Run,” he spoke with a voice deeper than the voice you knew, if that was even his real voice. “Run before you find a knife through your throat.”
You didn’t move. Your teary gaze burned through him. You didn’t know the feeling of fear anymore, all that lingered was the feeling of anger and betrayal. You were boiling with rage at the thought that you were nothing more than a puppet in his schemes. Was anything he said ever real? Did he ever mean it when he cried on your shoulder for his parents? Was his mother’s pendant even really hers?
The indifference on his face answered all your questions. You both knew you were going to die anyway, so why was he letting you escape, when he could easily stab you with the bloody sword held in his dexterous hands?
“Why don’t you just kill me instead?” You whispered, voice tired and broken, barely reaching his ears as you continued to look up at him.
I can’t! Taehyung wanted to yell out. A part of him almost did, a part of him that so desperately wanted to hold you. He wanted to wipe your tears away, to engulf you in his arms until you fell asleep. He wanted to take all the pain away, to wash the blood from your cuts, to kiss the scars away. I can’t, because I love you!
Of course, he couldn’t say that. He was a leader. He represented a cause, he repeated his people. He couldn’t let his selfish dreams ruin what they had worked too hard to achieve. Emotions were a luxury, definitely not what a leader should be feeling.
His concern for his cause, concern for his people stifled the tiny voice in his head, mourning. Even he couldn’t control the words that spilled out of his lips as he smirked down at you.
“You were never more than a good fuck. Now that you’ve served your purpose, I see no reason why I’d want to associate with you. Even your filthy blue blood is a tarnish to my sword.”
✎ HELLO TO EVERYONE WHO HAS NO IDEA WHO I AM (Which is probably everyone). This is a new tumblr account that I have created. I used to run @lebootae (please don’t visit that) but that was almost a year ago and the current works make me cringe. So haha, this is my new attempt at trying to start writing and expressing my undying love for bangtan. Kind of a bad idea to start off with an angst but hey, this is what i do best, cry relish in the diversity of human emotions. Hope you enjoyed this!
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