Hello! I've decided what the heck, and have decided to at least finish this story here as well as on my new platform, AO3. Thanks for reading!

Ana double and triple checked the straps of their supplies, focusing on something else other than the throbbing in her temples.

The straps were holding trunks together – affixed to the top of the pile was a small control linked to Kingsman headquarters. Once the four of them jumped, the cargo drop – holding portions, weapons, and gears – would follow and the brilliant minds at tech would use the small thrusters attached to maneuver and follow their path to land as close to them as possible.

After the four of them and their supplies landed - all radio connection would be cut off.

If they succeeded, they were to turn on the radio the South Korean government provided when they were only a mile away from the DMZ. It was still unsure what would happen then, but it was a minuscule comfort to have allies nearby. If they were caught, they each had cyanide pills on them, Ana herself had a second for the First Daughter.

Ana's anxious and disastrous thoughts of what could go wrong were interrupted by heavy breathing over the comms.

She turned to see Roxy sitting with her head bent over her knees, Eggsy rubbing her back and muttering comforting words.

She then looked to Kennedy, standing still as he stared at the cargo door, all suited up and ready, and then back to Roxy and Eggsy. She took a deep breath as she walked towards them, taking a seat on the other side of the panicking Roxy, still bent over.

"Not a fan of heights?" she said, meeting Eggsy's gaze over her back.

Roxy nodded, still bent over.

"Did you guys have ta do a jump like this during the interview process?" Eggsy asked casually. Ana blinked, but then shook her head, reaching a hand forward onto Roxy's neck, finding pressure points to help calm her down – a trick she learned from her mentor.

"Nothing at all like this, this'll be only my second jump. LA is too populated for a mission of this kind, so we didn't have anything like this for the interviews... wait, did they really make you guys jump out of a plane?!"

"We had quite a time, didn't we, Rox?" Eggsy said, still rubbing his friend's back.

"It was six of us left, we had ta land undetected in a specific spot," Eggsy continued their story, "and only after we had all jumped did we learn that only five of us had a parachute - but didn't know which one. It took an effort to get Roxy into the air… and then even more when we learned it was me without the parachute."

Roxy let out a distressed hum and Ana frowned at Eggsy and shook her head. While the story was fascinating and she shelved her questions for later - talking about what was a likely stressful situation for Roxy wasn't the way to go about calming her down.

"Well this time, we all have our parachutes, even with back-ups," Ana said pointedly, giving Eggsy an incredulous look as she continued to comfort Roxy, "and Kennedy is an ex-Navy SEAL, so he for sure has his parachute ready. I've double checked mine, and here," she said, moving her hands to check the straps on Roxy's parachute, tugging hard so she would notice, and even turned the dial on the oxygen tank to make sure it was still working, "you're all good."

Roxy took in another breath and looked up at her.

"What's your biggest fear?"

Ana blinked at that.

She had one, and thanks to Valentine, it came true. But instead of talking about Natalia, she decided to take another route.

"Hellenologophobia," she said slowly, still unused to the word on her lips - but she kept it tucked in her mind for a talking point.

"What's that?" Roxy asked, her breath still a little shaky.

"The fear of complex scientific terminology," she replied with a grin.

They both stared at her for a second before Roxy laughed out loud, Eggsy following just as wholeheartedly.

Roxy calmed down from laughing – and from that, her panicked breathing had also calmed down.

"Know any other good ones?" she asked.

"Anatidaephobia is fear of ducks, cathisophopia is a fear of sitting, somniphobia is the fear of falling asleep… and that's all I can really remember right now. To be honest, I'm nervous myself."

Roxy sat up straight and gave her an incredulous look.

"You're nervous too?"

Ana frowned.

"Of course I'm nervous. I'm not afraid of heights and in fact I'll have fun falling through the air, but I'm nervous at what's going to meet us once we hit the ground," she said, keeping Roxy's gaze through their helmets, "and… I suspect that's what has you more nervous than your fear of heights."

Roxy stared at her for so long, Eggsy cleared his throat and started to say something but Roxy shook her head and stood up.

Ana stood up as well, now regretting her tough love act, but Roxy let out a few deep breaths and walked towards Kennedy, standing next to him and staring at the doors.

Ana looked at Eggsy who was frowning at her. Ana reached towards her helmet and pressed a button twice, turning off the comms. Eggsy wordlessly understood and reached towards his own helmet as he stood up to face her. The noise of the plane grew a little louder, but it wasn't too loud for him to hear her.

"I didn't-"

"Don't, Linc… that was what she needed."

Ana blinked.

"She was a wreck during that interview mission. I almost had to push her off the plane," he said, looking over at his coworker, "now... I think she'll be the first one to jump."

"But at a mission like this?" she said softly, instantly regretting it when Eggsy turned back to her.

She moved her hand to push the comm button but Eggsy grabbed her wrist. She met his gaze.

"We're all scared, Linc."

She could only stare at him, finding some comfort in the words. His hand shifted and moved from her wrist to hold her hand. Surprisingly, she didn't feel the need to pull away.

The lights in the plane turned off for a split second before they turned red and started flashing.

"Go time," Kennedy said.

Ana pulled away, turning on the comms in her helmet again as she walked towards the backdoor as it started opening, the four of them bracing themselves against the strong force of air that invaded the cabin.

A fifth voice joined their comms.

"Strap check."

They each checked their straps.

"Copy," they said in unison.

"Oxygen check."

They each fiddled with the dials of their oxygen tanks.

"Copy."

"Coming up on target in five, four, three, safe travels, Kingsman, see you on the other side."

Just as Eggsy predicted, Roxy let out a yell and jumped out first. Kennedy followed, Eggsy gave a nod at her before he jumped, and Ana took a deep breath and pushed the cargo out beore turning around and taking a step back out of the plane, watching it grow smaller as she fell.

She turned her body and tucked her legs and arms in, diving through the air and catching up to the others before she quickly splayed her arms and legs back out, slowing her descent. They were above the clouds so there wasn't anything to see yet.

There was only heavy breathing over the comms. Displayed on the glass of their masks was their landing target as well as a measure of distance to ground, the numbers changing so fast that Ana ignored it.

There was a gust of wind that threw them off, and Roxy gasped but Kennedy said calmly "Redirect twelve degrees," and they all followed suit.

"We're doin' good, team, stay steady," Eggsy said calmly over the comms.

Faster and faster they fell…

They broke through the clouds and it was quite a sight to see. Their target landing was near a large lake with a handful of rivers breaking away from it. Around the body of water were mountains full of green, and outside of that was more and more green. There were grey pockets in the distance, military zones she suspected, maybe even small towns.

Ana took in a deep breath and smiled, truly enjoying her time of weightlessness and falling.

The ground was coming closer and closer, the target coming closer and closer, and the numbers in the display turned from green to red.

"Deploy chutes now!" Kennedy shouted. She pulled the strap near her hip and grunted at the impact as it deployed but quickly grabbed the handles to keep her descent steady and steer the parachute, the rest following suit. Ana looked around her to make sure she wasn't too close to the others – the last thing any of them needed was their parachutes tangling.

She heard a muffled bang – but it stood out enough that she got worried.

"Did anybody else hear-"

Her question was cut off when she started falling faster than what her parachute should allow. She looked up and saw a hole the size of a baseball in her chute, ripping wider open to the size of a dinner table within seconds.

"ANA!" she heard them yell through the comms.

"My chute is down," she said, staying calm as she let go of her handles and unclipped the now useless chute, reaching for her backup, "deploying secondary." It would save her life, but she wouldn't be able to steer – she would land where she landed and have to find the others on her own.

"Disengaging main parachute," she heard Eggsy's voice.

"No! I've got it!" she yelled as she pulled the strap to the secondary.

But nothing happened.

"Shit!"

"Galahad redirect ten degrees and for fucks sake GO FASTER," Kennedy said.

Ana turned her body and splayed out her arms and legs to slow her descent (if just barely), and saw a figure coming right at her, without a parachute.

"Linc, I've got ya, I've got ya," Eggsy chanted as he came closer and closer. Ana reached out and Eggsy hit her hard in midair. She wrapped her arms and legs around him tight, pulling the strap for his secondary chute just as they all heard another bang.

"What the fuck?!" Roxy yelled over Kennedy's order of "Maneuver, maneuver!"

Ana cried out as the chute deployed and hit the air, jerking their bodies at the impact.

"Hold on!" Eggsy yelled as he wrapped his arms and legs around her as well, making them into a sort of pretzel.

She wanted to close her eyes but couldn't tear her gaze from his, filled with panic that she expected mirrored her own. His gaze flickered away.

"Anabelle," he said and she gasped at his use of her name, "brace."

She nodded and closed her eyes and body tight, wrapped around him as they hurtled towards the ground.

"Shit," she heard Eggsy mutter seconds before their bodies jerked, them floating in midair for a split second as she heard the sound of the parachute ripping and they fell again.

It was a short but brutal fall, branches stopping their momentum with force, the breath leaving her as they both hit the ground with Eggsy's weight on top of her.

"Are you okay?" Eggsy asked.

She opened her mouth but could only breathe, her heart racing, her mind racing…

"Lincoln, Galahad, report!" Kennedy shouted over comms.

"We're fine. A bit of shock, but fine."

"Just landed on target, supplies are secure and we're coming to you, stay put," Roxy said.

"Copy," Eggsy said as she kept her eyes shut, "Ana, are you okay?!"

She finally opened her eyes, Eggsy still on top of her, removing his helmet and reaching for hers, taking it off as his gloved hands touched her cheek and her neck.

"Are you-"

"I think so," she whispered, her hand coming to his chest to push him off, "Yes. You?"

He gave a grunt and she took that as a yes as they both rolled and propped themselves up on their hands and knees, breathing heavily. Her arms and legs were still shaking so she took another deep breath before moving to stand up. Eggsy detached his parachute, the clicks of the metal on metal echoing in the silence of the woods

They both heard a snap of a twig and moved accordingly, dropping to the ground again and rolling away just as a shot rang out.

Ana reached for her weapon and came up on her knees, arms straight out and her finger on the trigger as she assessed her surroundings.

She'd barely laid eyes on the shooter before Eggsy was standing up and taking a few steps forward, aiming his own gun at the man.

He looked ragged. There was dirt smeared on his face, hair and clothes. He had a long unkempt beard, long tangled hair… yet calm eyes. His clothes and boots and even the straps of his backpack were all worn, as though hanging by their last threads. He held a long range hunting rifle with a scope in his hands, loosely aimed at the two of them.

Her aim faltered, and the man met her gaze. His eyes were wild, unhinged, and scared.

She slowly stood up.

"Wae?" she asked.

The man moved his grip on the rifle he was holding.

"Nachseon salam," he said.

"You speak Korean?!" Eggsy said, his gaze and aim still towards the stranger.

Ana didn't bother to answer. She holstered her weapon and took slow steps to stand next to Eggsy. She reached forward and laid her hand on his arm, trying to push it down – a signal to put his gun away.

"This man almost killed you, how could you-"

"Shut up," she said.

"Shut up," the stranger echoed.

She raised an eyebrow at that.

"English?" she asked.

"Some," the man answered.

"Okay then, what the fuck's your problem?!" Eggsy said, taking another step forward, his aim still true.

There was rustling of leaves and heavy footsteps followed by Roxy and Kennedy breaking through the trees, weapons drawn. Ana threw her hands up.

"Stop! Stop!" she cried but they ignored her, coming up to Eggsy to stand at guard next to him. The stranger adjusted his grip on his rifle again.

"Oh for fuck's sake," Ana said, walking forward to the stranger, who took a step back. At least it put her between him and them.

"Why Americans here?" the stranger asked.

Ana moved her arm behind her and held out a palm, hoping the others understood her signal as she racked her brain for the little Korean she knew.

"Wae ssoji?"

"Nachseon salam," the stranger repeated.

Ana took in a deep breath, and dropped her hands.

"Anjeonhan ibang-in."

The stranger tilted his head.

"Korean very bad."

Ana rolled her eyes.

"My very bad Korean is what's keeping them," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, "from killing you," she mimed a finger gun at him.

"Lincoln stand down; this is a hostile," Kennedy said.

"Bullshit," Ana began, but the stranger echoed her again, "bullshit."

"He's acting on instinct. Does he look military to you?" she asked, taking a step back so she could see all of them, "He saw us falling from the sky and took precautions. Says himself he shot at us because we were strangers. I mean look at the scope on that thing… if he wanted to kill me, I'd be dead! Hell... all of us would be."

"Destroying your parachute is another way to kill you, a cowards way," Eggsy said, taking a step forward.

Ana stepped into his space, forcing him back.

"And I'm saying that we don't need to kill the man. He's innocent."

There was a beat of silence.

She saw the incredulous looks on all of their faces, but Kennedy was the first to lower his weapon. Eggsy and Roxy followed suit.

"Anjeohan iband-indeul."

Ana nodded as she turned to the man.

"Yes, safe strangers."

The man nodded and moved the strap on his rifle to rest against his back.

"Why are here?" he asked.

"We need to find someone," Ana said.

The man tilted his head.

"Not… a good place."

Ana nodded.

"That's why we need to find them," she said, keeping his gaze.

"Where?"

"Ch'Angdo-Up."

The man faltered, but then pointed to the left.

"Why are you helping?" Kennedy asked, taking a tentative step forward.

The man stood still for a second, but then started speaking Korean so rapidly that Ana barely had a chance to keep up as translator.

"Was a soldier… but his friends died from the famine. He has no family so he ran… China doesn't accept refugees… he decided to try South Korea…" she stopped and listened some more, and then gasped.

"He's been alone, traveling for a year, trying to find the border."

There was a long beat of silence.

The man moved his arm out from one of the straps of his pack and swung it around. Instantly Eggsy and Kennedy had their guns aimed again.

Roxy was the one to step forward, hands up. The man saw her and nodded, dropping to his knees as he dug around in his pack, bringing out a map and unfolding it on the ground.

Ana and Roxy both knelt down near the map and Ana instantly noticed it was out of date. She wasn't sure how much, but she'd studied the current satellite maps during the hours long plane ride to know this man had been out here so long that he didn't know where the danger was anymore.

The man pointed to a spot on the map and circled his finger, showing where they were. He then traced his finger for a short gesture and tapped the paper, showing a small bit of land near a large body of water that forked into the land surrounding it.

"Ch'Angdo-Up."

Ana nodded.

"Ch'Angdo-Up."

The man nodded and then looked up. Ana followed his gaze to see Eggsy and Kennedy standing near, their guns still drawn but not aimed.

Ana reached into a pocket of her suit and brought out her map, unfolding it and placing it above the old one, the more recent changes to the landscape more visible. Military bases, small towns, patrols.

The man gasped and muttered under his breath.

Ana pushed the paper towards him.

"For you. Neoleul wihaeseo."

The man stared at her for a long beat, but then nodded.

He quickly packed up, taking the newer map, throwing his backpack across his shoulders before he stood up.

Ana held out her hand. He stared at it but shook his head, instead bending forward.

"Thank safe strangers."

He then turned and ran into the forest, disappearing from sight and soon from sound. It didn't take long for the enveloping silence mixed with the natural sounds of the forest to surround them.

"Well," Ana started, "wasn't exactly how I envisioned my first visit to North Korea, but I gotta say I'm not disappointed-"

"What in the fucking hell was that, Lincoln?!" Kennedy barked, walking up to her. She stood her ground and stared up at him as he stopped inches away.

"That was me fixing an ugly situation!"

"It was four against one, we could've killed him and be done with it."

"We didn't need to kill-"

"He shot you out of the sky!"

Ana felt her eyes sting but blinked back the tears. But Kennedy, being Kennedy noticed and instantly his face twisted as he took a step back. She growled at his acknowledgement of her weakness but took a deep breath.

"We kill him, we leave a dead body here… any kind of patrol comes by and finds a gunshot wound… it's immediately high alert and our chances of getting out of here alive are from barely possible to downright laughable. I fucking saved us by saving him!" she said, turning to Roxy and Eggsy.

Roxy had her lips tucked in but nodded in agreement. Eggsy only stared at her, tilting his head when she met his gaze, as though still questioning her. Rightfully not believing her said intent on saving the man's life.

She shook it off and turned back to Kennedy.

"Let's get back to the supplies and save our country from the brink of Nuclear War, shall we?"

Kennedy glared for a few more moments before turning around and walking away.

Roxy, Eggsy, and Ana all gave each other a glance before following.

Eggsy came beside Ana as they walked in silence.

"Don't say anything," she muttered after a while.

"Wasn't… gonna," he said with what sounded like a painful grunt.

Ana stopped immediately but Eggsy kept walking. Only then did she notice that he was walking with a slight limp.

"Galahad!" she called after him, but he kept walking. "Eggsy, stop!" she said, and he turned to look over his shoulder with a grin but then tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground. "Eggsy!" Ana said, more in exasperation than anything as she rushed forward. She heard Kennedy and Roxy falter in their footsteps, but heard Roxy cry out his name as well.

Ana knelt down next to him, checking his body and cursing when she noticed a wet patch on his skydiving suit, where blood was pooling around a small branch protruding from his lower stomach.

"Tis but a scratch," he said, letting out a coughing laugh.

"Goddammit Eggsy now is not the time for Monty Python," Ana said. Eggsy smiled at that, but then his face turned white and he groaned.

"Debris from the fall, most likely," Kennedy piped in.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Roxy said loudly.

At that, both Kennedy and Ana blinked at the outburst. Kennedy seemed… ruffled, but drew himself together as he holstered his gun.

"Okay, enough British references," Ana said, "we need to get to the medical supplies and deal with this right away."

"I'll go," Roxy and Kennedy said at the same time. Ana rolled her eyes as Roxy stood up.

"I'm a fast runner, and bringing him with us will only make it worse – and slow us down."

"I'm faster," Kennedy said matter of factly.

"Not with that ego, you aren't," Roxy said before breaking into a sprint, soon disappearing into the trees.

Kennedy cursed under his breath but shook his head as he knelt down on the other side of Eggsy.

"Shock from the fall is probably wearing off."

"Sounds about right," Eggsy said tensely, letting out a breath, his face scrunched in pain.

"Should we take it out?" she asked, her hands going to the branch. Kennedy pushed her hands away, shaking his head.

"If we had an X-Ray I'd say yes, but we don't know how deep it is."

Eggsy lifted his head to stare at his own wound.

"Don't look like too much blood."

"You fool; you can't see how much has already stained your suit!"

A slow grin grew on Eggy's face.

"Is that concern I hear?"

Ana rolled her eyes to cover the fact that his comment had made her realize why she was feeling equally out of breath and lightheaded – he was hurt, and she couldn't fix it.

She definitely was concerned, but he would never know about it.

"My concern is that a fellow agent is wounded on a mission that just started. This will slow us down, idiot."

Eggsy, still grinning, only stared back at her.

"Ya concerned 'bout me."

Ana threw up her hands as she shifted her weight forward, bringing a leg out to stand up and walk away.

"Did ya see that mate, she's concerned."

"Shut up," she heard Kennedy mutter. Eggsy let out a broken laugh.

"Looks tiny… can't be too deep."

"You willing to risk that, soldier?" Kennedy snapped.

Eggsy shut his mouth and let his head drop as Ana turned around to stare at Kennedy, a realization hitting her.

This was probably his first mission in a while where he was with more than one other agent; the last time being on a mission with this many people was on his SEAL team. It was no secret that his past was what allowed him to do mainly solo missions. That, and due to his curt attitude towards other agents.

But all in all, as Ana watched Kennedy assess the wound with one hand while feeling Eggsy's pulse with the other, she was glad Kennedy was here, and was their unspoken leader on the mission.

They heard incoming footsteps and Kennedy sat up, his hand on his weapon as Roxy appeared. He relaxed as Roxy stopped next to him, kneeling down and opening the medical pack.

"Alright, let's do this," Eggsy said.

No Cars Go by Arcade Fire

Translations are phonetic, from Google.