“I-I don't understand,” Sehun stammers out.”What about my blood?”

Yixing takes a deep breath. “I apologize for intruding, but I had taken just a little bit of your blood and put it into the artificial mana. Usually Baekhyun would not have been able to do what he just did. But he was able to do the task assigned and much more.”

Sehun sat there speechless, looking into judgemental eyes he thought he would never have too see again. He turned his head to look at Baekhyun who has happily frolicking around checking out his wonderful ‘masterpiece.’ “But why?” Sehun’s voice no louder than a whisper.

“I suspected your family may have something to do with blood magic,” Yixing cringes at how bad he's sounding. Feeling as though he no different than everyone else. “From this, it seems-”

“You're wrong!!” Sehun shouts as he stands up to face Yixing in the face. His chest swelling up with fear as Sehun begins to feel the buildup of tears in his eyes. Yixing stares incredulously at him, shutting his mouth to listen to Sehun.

“You're wrong....” He bows his head as he wipes at his eyes. “I don't do any type of blood magic or voodoo...my blood has such high levels of mana that it can be used like artificial mana. I'm a walking piece of magic.”

Yixing feels his chest ache as he watches Sehun rub at his eyes. He's about to approach him when a pair of arms wrap around Sehun’s torso. Yixing freezes as does Sehun.

“It’s fine,” Baekhyun’s voice peeps out from behind Sehun. “I'm sure Yixing only wanted to double check. We meant no harm. Now that we know, we can put all behind us. Right?”

Sehun twists his body slightly to see Baekhyun smiling up at him, grip never loosening on him. He feels his cheeks burn in embarrassment, but nods for Baekhyun. Whose bright smile only causes Sehun's knees go wobbly at the sight.

Baekhyun lets go of Sehun’s torso and grabs his hand instead. Yixing hides a smile behind his sleeve when he catches the light pink tint of Sehun's cheeks. Baekhyun stands in front of Yixing with a tiny smile on his face. “Is the lesson over?”

Yixing looks at Sehun who immediately turns his head. A wave of guilt washes over as he turns to Baekhyun. “We shall continue some other day I guess. Lesson dismissed.”

Baekhyun smiles widely as he drags Sehun off. Yixing gaze is downcast as he shuffles his feet after the pair.

“U-Um,” Sehun stutters out, long legs trying to keep up with Baekhyun’s shorter ones. “I-I’m not comprehending what's going on...um Baekhyun...ssi?” He calls out to him, but gets no response.

“I'll explain in a bit!” Baekhyun happily skips forward a step, tugging Sehun’s arm albeit a little painfully. “But first, Jongdae!!”

The two run towards Jongdae who was in the middle of pulling his sword from a wooden dummy. He huffs and leans his arm on the handle of the sword as he waits for the two to come up to him. “I thought you had a lesson with Yixing. Why are you back so early? Usually you at magic.”

Baekhyun slaps Jongdae’s shoulder and he only snickers. “Shut up!” he whines.

“Oh I'm sorry my prince,” Jongdae mocks playfully. “You want to impress your future-” His mouth is hastily covered by Baekhyun’s hands. He rolls his eyes when Baekhyun tries to silently shush him.

Sehun stands about a foot away watching the two interact. His heart aches when the thought of Jongin pops up in his mind. The interactions between the two similar to when he would tease Jongin about Kyungsoo. And suddenly the urge to cry is there again. But he holds it back with a smile when Baekhyun turns to him.

Just as fast as the smile comes, it's quick to disappear when Sehun realizes something. “Did Jongdae just say prince?”

Baekhyun freezes and Jongdae breaks out into a cold sweat. “About that…”

Baekhyun waves his fingers around with a nervous chuckle. “Surprise...I'm the second prince. Baekhyun…” Another nervous chuckle leaves him as he slowly lowers his hands.

Sehun doesn't say anything, just stares at Baekhyun with blank eyes, occasionally blinking. Jongdae awkwardly scratches the back of his head and then quietly goes back to getting his sword out of the dummy. Baekhyun feels beads of sweat dripping down from his forehead as he waits. And waits. And waits…

It takes a few minutes, but Sehun finally moves. He does a hesitant half bow before stepping backwards about a foot. “I'm sorry. I've been rude haven't I?” Sehun keeps his head bowed as he clasps his hands together.

Baekhyun frantically waves his hands in front of Sehun. He takes a hesitant step back as he peeks at Baekhyun through his bangs. “Nononononononono. Oh hell noooo-” Baekhyun violently coughs when Jongdae slaps his back. He glares at him, but quickly turns back to Sehun who is staring at him with wide eyes. “You don't have to feel that way at all! Honestly I'd prefer it if you would ignore my title. It’s a bit suffocating at times to be talked to like that.” He explains and looks at Sehun expectantly.

Sehun slowly nods in understanding. But doesn't raise his head. “I'm not particularly comfortable with it, but if you insist…”

“I don't mind! Truly!” Baekhyun assures him with a smile. “It'd be even better if you could call without the ssi or anything like that. Baekhyun is just fine.”

“You are older than me, are you not?” Sehun asks. Baekhyun looks up in thought before nodding and asking why. Sehun’s cheeks turn slightly pink as he nods. “Would you mind if I called you hyung?”

“He family-zoned meeee,” Baekhyun whines as he thrashes around on his bed. “Hyung?! He wants to call me hyung!! I mean I still allowed it, but hyung?!”

Jongdae crosses his legs as he watches Baekhyun’s despair in amusement. “You could have said no. You know that right?” Baekhyun groans and rolls onto his stomach. He stills for a second before smothering his face into a pillow and a muffled scream fills the room.

“Mrff,” Baekhyun mumbles, face still pressed into the pillow. Jongdae slouches in his seat as he sits there waiting for Baekhyun to do something besides wallow in his own pity. Anything. He had been going at this for almost half an hour now and Jongdae didn't even know what he meant by ‘family-zoned’ at first.

Now it's a term Jongdae plans on using a lot.

“Why don't you talk to Yixing about this,” Jongdae suggests with a wave of his hand. “He's a lot better at this consoling thing than I am.”

Baekhyun places his cheek on the pillow to look at Jongdae. “Yixing and Sehun kinda fought…”

“About what?” Jongdae asks, interest piqued now.

Baekhyun awkwardly shrugs from his prone position on the bed. “Something about blood magic. I don't really get it, but Sehun got a bit worked up about it. Yixing seemed kinda down afterwards too.”

“Blood magic?” Jongdae ponders for a second before he runs out of the bedroom saying he'll be back later.

Baekhyun sits up on his bed wondering if he should follow, but decides against it to take a nap. He figures Jongdae will find him eventually.

“Did you actually...”Jongdae screams the first part before lowering his voice down to a whisper when he sees Yixing holding a finger to his lips with a glare. “...ask him about blood magic?”

Yixing releases a troubled sigh as he arranges the herbs on the table. “More like I accused him.“ Frustration seeps from his being as he tugs at his hair. “I feel horrible. What am I supposed to do now? He’s been up in his room for a few hours now. I cannot get through to him. Did I mess up?”

Jongdae rubs his back in comfort. “How about I talk to him?” Yixing releases his hair to turn his head to give Jongdae a disbelieving look, which he mocks offense at. “Do you even dare to think that I, Kim Jongdae, am incapable of doing such a task?” Yixing raises an eyebrow at him, to which he clutches his chest. “You hurt me Yixing. But that's not stopping me. I'll be fine. Don't be such a worry wart.”

He pinches his cheek affectionately and makes his way up the stairs. Jongdae slows down when he reaches the wooden door that stands between him and Sehun. He knows that he said he would talk to him, but now that he's here, he's not too sure on what to say.

First there's the issue of the blood magic. Which he knows is probably isn't true. He figures he probably should have told Yixing that ahead of time. Oh well. Second there's also the issue of why he knows. Plus the fact he kinda sorta cornered Sehun about it a week ago. Lastly, Baekhyun. Somehow everything seems to work its way back to that boy.

Baekhyun is the one who got close to Sehun. Well he showed an immense interest in Sehun. Baekhyun is the one who wanted to dig deeper. Baekhyun is the one who spared a lifetime in the dungeons and likely death for Sehun. Hopefully all his actions don't go to waste Jongdae thinks.

Jongdae scratches the back of his head as he mulls over his thoughts. A large sigh leaves him as he places a hand on the doorknob. Another sigh leaves him when he tries to turn the knob, only to find it locked. Jongdae resorts to knocking three times on the door. the sound of fabric rustling against each other is heard, but the door stays locked and closed.

“Hey. Um Sehun? “ Jongdae says to the door. “You don't have to answer or anything,but at the very least just listen. So I heard that Yixing asked you about blood magic and all that, but try not to take it too personally. I'm pretty sure you know how bad of an offense it is to use something like that. And now that you are kinda in the castle with people like the queen, precautions do need to be taken, but  should have been handled differently. And I know you don't do that kind of magic. You're innocent, don't worry.

“Of course it would be totally awesome if you could tell us what kinds of magic you could do. If you aren't ready, that's okay too. I'm a bit curious as to what your...parents taught you. Maybe even your brother too...if he did... or if you had...I’m gonna move on.” Jongdae cringes at his sentences. As if he couldn't get any more awkward than this.

“And um. About Baekhyun. Glad to see you two getting along,” Jongdae lets out a nervous laugh as he rubs the back of his neck. “Maybe you two could spend more time together. You know, try to open up to him if you can't do that with me or Yixing. Oh about Yixing, please forgive him. He feels extremely bad about what happened earlier. I probably should have told him beforehand that you didn't do that kind of stuff.

“But you know, memory . But you know, I honestly don't know anything about you so I can't say too much. I'd like it if we could become closer friends if that's possible. You know push back the entire ‘black magic accusations’ and ‘horrible childhood.’ Kinda hard to do, but it would be awesome if we could. I'm sure Yixing would love to learn some techniques from you. And you could probably learn a few things from him. You know, give and take kind of thing.”

Jongdae stares at the grains in the door as he thinks. No noise had come from behind the door during his spiel. But now, the shuffling of feet comes closer to the door and stops.

“I-I wasn't ever offended by Yixing,” a small voice comes from the room. “I just thought that I wouldn't be hearing those kinds of accusations any more. It just surprised me.”

“Well. Now that this little misunderstanding  is cleared, you won't ever have to heard those kinds of things ever again,” Jongdae assures him with a smile even though they can't see each other.

A small laugh is heard. “I hope so.”

“You won't be hearing it from me, Yixing or Baekhyun at the very least,” Jongdae hesitantly hovers a hand over the doorknob before deciding to retract it and stuff both of his hands into his pockets. “Think you could do those things I asked? I understand if you can't, but-”

“We'll see,” Sehun interrupts him. “We'll see...”

Jongdae doesn't reply and Sehun doesn't say anything else. He pats the door twice to let Sehun know he's leaving and Jongdae is back down with Yixing again.

He sits with a groan as he watches Yixing stir something around in the pot on the stove. “What you cooking up today?” he asks as he gathers up the herbs and plants on the table. Jongdae looks around before setting them into a basket on the ground.

Yixing doesn't reply. Jongdae settles into his seat as he intently watches Yixing’s back. “Did you hear?”

“Of course I did. I hear everything in this house. What did you think?” His voice cracks at the last word and Jongdae wordlessly wraps his arms around his waist as he dabs at his eyes with his sleeves. Jongdae buries his head in the crook of his neck when he hears soft sniffles from him. “I'm such a bad person…”

“You’re a wonderful person.”

“I antagonized him.”

“You are forgiven.”

“I’m supposed to care for him.”

“You’re doing a good job.”

“He hates me.”

“You say a lot of stupid things. You know that right? I know he doesn't. Even if you think that, I'll be here to tell you otherwise.” Jongdae presses a kiss to his cheek, the salty taste of tears linger on his lips when Yixing turns around to wrap his arms around him. He doesn't say anything when he feels wetness seep into his shirt. Jongdae just rocks them back and forth to a tune he hums.

“Don't feel bad Yixing,” Jongdae tells him as he rubs a comforting hand on his back. “You heard Sehun. He never said he hated you.”

“But that doesn't mean he isn't thinking that…” Yixing says in a nasally voice. He sniffles and rubs his head across Jongdae’s shirt. Jongdae smiles as he combs through his hair.

“I honestly doubt he is,” Jongdae assures him. “You’re overthinking again.” A smile creeps up when he hears a muffled ‘am not’ against his shoulder. “Of course you aren't. But it's not stopping me from watching over you and Sehun.” A deep sigh leaves Yixing as he shakes his head against his shoulder.

The two stand there in a tight embrace as silence engulfs them. Sehun peeks around the corner as longing churns in his stomach. He leans against the wall, careful to not let a thump ring out when he presses the back of his head against the wall. He stands there for a minute before carefully making his back up the creaking stairs. If he made his way down with no sound, he could make his way up with no sound.

Once his foot reaches the second to last step, he turns around to sit himself up on the cushiony rug that extends from the end of the hallway to the top of the staircase. Sehun props his elbows on his knees as he stares down the stairs.

Black hair droops down into his eye sight and he blows at his hair only for it to fall back down. Sehun rubs the strands between his fingers. His attention catches the bandages wrapped around his hand. He lets out a silent sigh as he unwraps the bandage to reveal an unblemished hand.

“You can't let them find you Sehun. We won't let them touch you. But we can't keep you here any longer. Go to this address...Yes. I know you don't like this place, but it's the only place where you'll be safe. I'm so sorry my sweet, sweet Sehunnie. But we will find you when the time comes. And when we do, we can finally be happy.”

Sehun drops his hand to his lap as he hangs his head. The future never seemed more daunting than it did at the moment he hears Baekhyun’s cheerful voice cut through the silence of the small cottage.

A/N: This took a lot longer to get out. Sorry about that. I kinda hit a writer’s block, but it’s all good for now! Oh and I changed the title and summary of this story if you hadn’t noticed already. I just felt that the title and summary wasn’t pertaining to what’s being written and well I changed it! Hopefully you guys like it cause I think it fits a bit better.

I’ll also be playing a sport in this upcoming spring for school. So updates might slow down again. I apologize, but I’ll try my best to update! Thanks for understanding~~
 

Oh and a Happy Chinese New Year for those who celebrate it! 新年快乐! May you all be healthy and prosperous in the new year! Eat plenty while you celebrate ^^