Chapter Twelve – Plans

Nothing but ashes and snow remained the moment Chanyeol and Ka’yen were done with the undead. They were left there catching their breaths, freezing against the unforgiving breeze and snow. Ka’yen fell on his knees and eventually sat on his heels, dropping the swords on both sides. Chanyeol, on the other hand, shifted into his human form, with nothing to hide his bareness—as if he’d care about it right now.

He quickly took large steps towards Ka’yen with creased brows and furious face, grabbing him by his arm that nearly took the latter off of balance.

“What the—“

“Where in the love of gods were you, Ka’yen?! You were gone for three days!” Chanyeol bursted out, inflaming his hands that burned the Heartfire child’s coat.

“Ow! Hey—“ Ka’yen stood up, stealing his arm back and rubbed it. He gave the fire wolf a pointed look before taking back his swords, scowling. To him, Chanyeol was being stupid right now. “I don’t need to tell you anything, it’s not my responsibility, fire wolf.”

“What? I was worried for you back there! And look what have you gotten yourself into?! Do you think you’d still be alive if I didn’t found you?!”

Ka’yen was about to retort again, but Chanyeol suddenly grabbed him by the neck and crashed their lips together. The kiss was punishing, deep and intoxicating, with the wolf exploring his mouth with his tongue, leaving no room for air to pass. It was heat, the hearth in the middle of the icy cold climate, the flame in darkness, in which Ka’yen didn’t reject but answered with equal if not, more ferocity.

Chanyeol s his arms around his slim waist, hard and lean muscles of his biceps caging his slender frame while Ka’yen wrapped his arms on the fire wolf’s neck. They’ve go on until their lungs burned, and only for a second did Chanyeol let the man breathe before taking his lips again. It wasn’t until both of their lips were bruised and swollen that they both stopped, the wolf leaning against the Heartfire child’s forehead.

“Don’t you dare do that stunt again, or I’ll go insane, Ka’yen… Don’t leave again. Please…Don’t leave me again…” Simple words, simple phrases, simple plea… But they carried deeper meaning and heavy feelings. Chanyeol would not be able to take another life time without his mate.

It was only when they were back in the fortress, and Ka’yen disappeared back to his room, without anyone noticing that Chanyeol remembered his bold stunt earlier. He had kissed Ka’yen out of impulse! And wasn’t just a simple kiss, he literally ate him out. However, what surprised him was Ka’yen’s eagerness to answer his kisses, and he didn’t fight him off.

His only question was…why?

The next day, Luhan received the news that Ka’yen was back in the kingdom. Upon hearing it, he clearly ran from his chamber in his night robes. He even forgot his manners, barging in without knocking in haste. “Ka’yen?!” he called.

He found him sitting by the window, with only his gray undershirt and simple brown trousers. Ka’yen was leaning against the sill, with one leg up and the other was dangling down. While his head was tilted against the glass, his eyes were passing through it.

Panting, the king shut the door down and ran towards him. Ka’yen seemed to only notice his presence when he was pulled up by Luhan, thrown into a tight embrace. “Your majesty?”

“Where in the hell have you been?! I was so worried about you!” The king exclaimed, pulling away only to shake him violently. “You knew that it’s dangerous out there, why did you leave without permission?”

While the king was oblivious to his own shameless tears, trickling and tracing his beautiful face, Ka’yen showed a tender act of wiping them away, with his nimble fingers and a reassuring smile, “And why would a royalty be worried of it’s servant, your majesty? Aren’t I your hired warrior? I was born to fight, I know how to protect myself, my lord.”

“Yes, you are my warrior, and you should be in the same place as I am for I’ll be needing you anytime and anywhere. That is why I am worried because you are my safety too.” Luhan argued stupidly, because they both knew that he was more than capable of protecting himself than the other. Ka’yen, however, replaced his smile with a straight face, eyes looking into Luhan’s deep cerulean ones.

“Is that… all the reason why you’re worried, your highness?” he asked.

“Luhan,” the white king reminded.

Ka’yen huffed, “Luhan, then?”

“I…” The king trailed off, finally realizing what he and the others had talked about the other day. Ka’yen needed to know the truth. It might not be about Baekhyun, but at least he had to know that he was the Heartfire Child.

Luhan released the redhead, walking barefooted against the soft carpet on the floor and paced back and forth. He had his hands clasped by his tailbone. “Actually, I have something else to say, Ka’yen.” Luhan took a deep breath and pivoted his heels, facing him.

“At first, when I met you in Eldama’s throne room, I was really impressed by your talent. That was the only reason why I hired you. However, back when I saw you use your power, followed by Chanyeol’s awakening—I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. You see, there were four images around the prophecy. A phoenix, A fire wolf, twin swords and a mirror. All of it made sense to me, when I considered the possibility, that you might be the Heartfire Child. You manipulate fire, you woke the fire wolf, and you have this twin sword.” Luhan gestured to the weapon on the mattress.

“I can’t afford to lose you. This world cannot afford you gone. You are the key to end this cold death. You are the hope of this land.” Luhan strode forward and stop an arm length in front of him. “You are the Heartfire child, Ka’yen.”

The king didn’t get what he expected to get. He thought Ka’yen would laugh, or worse, deny that fact. Instead, Ka’yen was intently looking straight back to him, unfazed and unmoving, like the news didn’t surprise him at all.

“Ka’yen?” the king called.

Slowly, the redhead’s lips stretched into a grin, eyes sparked like embers, “Thank you for telling me, Your Highness—I mean, Luhan.”

“Y-you—you’re not shocked?”

Ka’yen shook his head, “Actually, during the times when I was gone, I learned a lot of things.” He said, turning around and faced the snowy lands outside of the fortress. “I learned about the cause of this winter, and about the prophecy…”

Luhan’s drummed in anxiety. Has Ka’yen also learned about the things he didn’t have to know?

“About the Heartfire child… someone told me that it was me. He gave me proof.”

“Who was he?” Luhan inquired.

“It doesn’t matter who he is, Luhan. What matters is that he told me about the truth. Something that you should have done yourself. But it doesn’t really matter now,” Ka’yen smiled, “You told me and that’s enough, even if it was a bit late. You’ve been honest to me…”

No… I wasn’t…Luhan thought.

“I’m sorry, for not telling you.” Luhan whispered, head bowed down.

Ka’yen put a hand on the king’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “Hey, it’s okay…” he hushed back, “Is that all that you need to tell me anyway, Luhan?”

The king raised his chin and met a pair of curious garnet. He fought with himself if he should tell him about Baekhyun or not. In the end he decided to nod. “Yes,” he croaked, “Yes that would be all.”

If there was something that flashed in Ka’yen’s eyes when he said that, Luhan didn’t notice. For Ka’yen was quick to hide it with an eye blinding smile and a soft, okay. The king left him without failing to remind that breakfast would be at nine. Ka’yen walked him through the door before closing it again after waving his goodbye.

Ka’yen leaned against the closed doors with a long sigh, brows creased and eyes shut tight. He remained like that until he heard a soft thud followed by a poof. He found Xiumin standing—no—crouching like the bunny he was by the end of the bed.

“Are you alright, Baekhyun?”

The redhead opened his eyes, glowing ever so brightly and nodded. Xiumin stood and sat by the soft mattress and offered comfort to the troubled man. “Why didn’t you tell him that you know it all?”

“Xiumin, Luhan isn’t ready. I know that seeing your brother die in front of you at the age of five wouldn’t be as forgiving as seeing a maimed deer in the forest. “ Ka’yen clicked the door’s lock and went by his previous post before Luhan entered. “I know he will know sooner or later, but not now. He wanted to tell me, Xiumin, but there’s fear in his eyes. I don’t want to cultivate that fear any deeper.”

“Then… what are you planning to do?”

“For now, I will observe the snow queen’s acts. And when Yrif comes back with his report, I will tell them the whole story. And the way how I can end Dalia’s greed, and have your powers back.”

Xiumin smiled at him, “Thank you Baekhyun, but… having my powers back won’t mean that I will be going back to the spirit world.”

With this, Baekhyun chuckled, “Of course you can’t, but you can always stay here.” He crossed his arms over his chest when he faced he spirit. “I believe I made a promise to Chanyeol that if I could find someone who can freeze him I would do it. I think it would be you.”

Their laughter rang in the chamber with Xiumin asking. “And how about Chanyeol?”

Baekhyun pursed his lips and lifted his shoulders. “Chanyeol isn’t as dumb as he looks. He’ll find out soon, more or less.”

“You won’t tell him too?”

Baekhyun grinned, “I’ll let them have a hard time for making a fool out of me when I am still half of myself.”

Xiumin returned the grin, “That’s cruel!” Baekhyun only laughed at him.

=a.n.

hello guys! it's been a while right? too long? hahaa i'm sorry! but please don't be confused, the narration will refer baekhyun as baekhyun if one knew the truth, in this case it was umin right? but lu and chanyeol doesn't know it yet, so they refer him as Ka'yen, but either way they're the same person. and yep they're one now!

hohoho.

Exo L's in the philippines who didn't get to attend the concert, i am with you guys so don't worry hahaha! let's just hope they'll come back again in another year, alright?