Dance into the Fire

~*~

Not brothers by birth

But more by circumstances

However, living for so long without one another

Brings about many joys and sorrows

In reuniting

~*~

Chapter Four

~.~

For a long while, Daehyun had just found himself sitting in his quarters aboard the Matokian ship in complete amazement. It had been nearly twelve years since he had even heard his mother tongue and he was surprised how easily it all came back to him. But what surprised him the most was the fact that he was so overwhelmed by all the insignificant little things that he had forgotten about. The sensation of the cotton sheets that were made out of the wool from a Galanit, a sheep like creature that looked something like a rolling ball of wool that every year would snag itself on a tree branch on top of a hill and unroll itself before disappearing back to where it came until it was once again it needed to untangle itself. It was soft and unlike anything else in the entire universe and for the longest time the young man couldn’t help but just run his hands across the surface.

Then there were the small bottles of water from the springs at the back of the house he had spent the first seven years of his life in and it was the freshest water that he had ever tasted. Naturally produced from the rains that fell on the mountain that would trickle down through the rocks to flow into the springs and rivers and oceans to eventually begin the process all over again. It was crisp and fresh and required no effort to produce. EXO Planet had water but Daehyun had always felt that it tasted a little bitter, but there again since a majority of it came from Suho when he would be called upon to make it rain or to fill the rivers with his powers to the point that he would pass out for weeks on end it was no wonder that it tasted that way.

Daehyun felt a stab of guilt in his heart, he had promised Suho that he’d take him to see real rain one day and now he couldn’t keep that promise. Or maybe he could, he would just have to wait and see what happened to him now.

To distract himself from the sorrow of leaving his adoptive brothers, Daehyun focused on cleaning himself in the small dip pool and using soaps that brought back memories from when he had been a toddler chasing after Yongguk and his brothers with the soap on wash day much to the playful annoyance of their mother. He paused at one stage, realising that he would been seeing his Aunt and Uncle once again as well as Youngjae and Jongup for the first time in a long while and it brought tears to his eyes. He did not know quite the reason why but it was a shock to the system. Tears weren’t allowed on EXO Planet, it was a sign of weakness and fragility that lead to many horrible things but he pushed them to the side of his mind.

Tonight he was going to spend it in joy and laughter and wonder because he did not have to be anyone but himself. Though he could only hope that someone would comfort Tao tonight because he was not going to be happy with whatever they were going to do to Yifan. He then remembered that Chen would be around, as he had managed to remain well behaved to the point that even Sehun and Jongin had begun to question what he was up to but Chen had just shook his head and said that he needed to be there for them.

Sighing, Daehyun pulled himself out of the water and dried himself off with the fluffiest towel that he could find though all of them were completely fluffy and smelt wonderful despite them being just a step above normal officer issue but that was one of the advantages of being the cousin of a General he supposed. Though he had to wonder how Yongguk had made it to the level of General, he had always been extremely good at tactics and games when they were younger but he would have always thought that he would go into some other route as he hated conflict. Or was that Yongnam? It was next to impossible to think and they certainly had too much to catch up on.

Pulling himself into a pair of trousers and a shirt which took him a good five minutes to work out how to wear, Daehyun used fine combs to sort out his unruly hair and made the only exception to the full Matokian outfit that he was wearing which was in the form of a necklace. It was gold and held a single clear jewel with twelve little gemstones in different colours around it. Chanyeol had shyly giving him it with a parting kiss the previous evening before disappearing from sight for the rest of his stay on the planet. Daehyun had been a little confused with the action but figured that Chanyeol would have gotten over his minor crush soon enough if his looks towards one of the other Princes was anything to go by.

Hiding the necklace under the shirt, Daehyun nodded to himself in the mirror and grinned stupidly. He was sure to have changed since the last time that Yongguk, that much was obvious but the way the elder had smiled at him showed that he was still highly accepted.

Heading out of his quarters, remembering his shoes at the last minute because he was not on an Exoian craft, Daehyun had to ask one of the guards where he needed to go and still managed to get completely lost as he had forgotten the ships tended to all look very much the same. Though a y chuckle came from behind and Daehyun turned to see Yongguk coming towards him, dressed in more civilian styled clothes that matched the clothes that the younger was wearing and with a very happy gummy smile, the General wrapped his arm around the others shoulder, “Should have known that one of my men would have to tell me that you were wandering around lost. Come on Daehyun, we have lots to discuss and catch up on.”

Yongguk’s quarters were only a little different than the ones he had been allocated, the only noticeable difference to Daehyun’s eyes was that they were a little larger and held a communication bank that was hugely advanced and clearly meant to be set so that the General could be called into action at a moment’s notice. Though there were other little things that made the room clearly more important, for one thing there was a fruit bowl with red Dalia’s glistening invitingly and under the view port window there was a little flower box that held a few gentle stems of plants. Daehyun smiled, “Still trying to grow your fortune, Yongguk-hyung?”

Yongguk chuckled, “No. I gave up a long time ago but I still indulge where I can.”

“Good, I think Aunty would have thrown several hundred fits at you otherwise,” Daehyun smiled cheekily towards the elder.

“Believe me, she did,” Yongguk smiled and ensured his door was firmly locked before throwing a tight grip around Daehyun and hugging him. The younger was only surprised for a second before he hugged back just as tighter, if not a little more than he intended as his body had not yet quite adapted to the pressure differences though that would right itself with time. For a long while the pair were just silent, holding each other in their shared embrace and letting their emotions run over one another. They had been as close as brothers at one time, Daehyun coming to live with the Bang family after his parents were killed in a raid though he had always opted to keep his original family surname, and it had been a cruel day that had seen them separated.

Finally, Yongguk patted Daehyun heavily on the back twice and pulled back, allowing the bone crushing hug to end as he smiled towards the other and wiped away the stray tears that were creeping down from the light brown eyes, “Now none of that, Jongup will do more of it than either of us can produce and that should be the last thing that either of us want right now.”

“I don’t care if I see him as a snot monster,” Daehyun smiled as he remembered the little crying blond haired child whom had been in hysterics the day he left, “I will be very glad to see him.”

Yongguk smiled, “He’s changed a lot from being a snot monster.”

“I expect so,” Daehyun smiled as he sat down, watching as Yongguk poured him a glass of fine electric blue whisky which he had never tried before but knew what it was, “I expect many things have changed. Though start with Aunt and Uncle and tell me everything about our family. I don’t want to be out of the loop when I get home.”

“We have a long journey ahead of us,” Yongguk smiled warmly towards his cousin, “Plenty of time to catch up.”

“Time is a fickle mistress and until I’m used to its regular flow I shall treat it as if it will slip away from me in a matter of seconds,” Daehyun said, trying to suppress a longing sigh as he thought of how little Tao would do that to everyone in the room if he was in a sulking mood, “So start talking and tell me everything.”

Yongguk chuckled, “That doesn’t give me a good place to start, Daehyun.”

“Well start with how you have become a General,” Daehyun said, taking a sip out of the whisky and coughing a little before taking a bigger gulp, “The last I knew you were going to learn how to grow Ponthyias properly and tend to the royal gardens as the best Gardener in a century and now here you are leading men into battles.”

For a few seconds Yongguk was quiet before he nodded, “Paths change and to be honest, it was either take a commission in the army or end up working in the salt plaines.”

“You failed school in other words,” Daehyun smiled, “I bet that caused Yongnam to laugh.”

The shadow that crossed Yongguk’s face were enough to tell Daehyun that something wasn’t right with the other’s twin and he frowned, “Is he okay?”

“No,” Yongguk said softly, taking a gulp of whisky, “Yongnam passed away the winter after you left.”

“Oh...” Daehyun said, dipping his head, “I’m sorry.”

Yongguk shook his head, “It’s fine. It happened a long while ago.”

“Can I be rude to ask...” Daehyun did not want to finish that sentence off but he couldn’t help but be curious.

Yongguk leaned back for a second or two, remembering that winter which now felt strangely so long ago and yet also like it was just yesterday that it had occurred. He remembered how the chill had been worse that year, how both himself and his twin brother had come down with the same mysterious illness that had resulted in both of them being covered in purple spots and their skin had gone a very wrong shade of yellow. The healers had worked tirelessly trying to come up with a cure but with each passing day the twins got weaker and became unable to function. Then one day, a crow had appeared with a bottle from a distant medicine man with instructions to apply three drops of the liquid inside to each of their lips.

The illness left them both within a day but whereas Yongguk grew stronger and started to recover, Yongnam fell sick almost immediately with whooping cough which was mixed with a chest infection and then he caught a vomiting bug on top of it. He did not survive to the end of the week with such a mixture and it was only years later that his Father explained to him that Yongnam had always been afflicted with a weaker immune system. Yongguk had naturally been upset and disorientated after that, learning that there was nothing he could do in order to save his brother he had all but given up on the school work and became idle and lazy.

Until he was presented with the choice of either going to the salt plaines and working hard for next to nothing in return or becoming a member of the army where he could possibly regain some dignity. Within two years he had advanced to a Lieutenant and in a further three he was one of the youngest General’s in the entire army but he was also one of the most feared. Yongguk always believed that it was his brothers way of getting back at him for giving up, making sure that he had a purpose to look after those who were weaker and needed defending with such a clear mind that it flabbergasted even him at times but Yongguk felt like he couldn’t be happier with his current station in life.

He relayed this all to Daehyun who took it in his stride and then reached across to pour some more whisky into Yongguk’s glass once he was finished, “You sound like some character straight out of a romantic story, Yongguk-hyung.”

Yongguk laughed aloud at that, “If I am then the Gods above help me.”

“I bet you have some great tragic love story waiting for you at home,” Daehyun said with his eyes twinkling.

Yongguk shook his head, “No. I am single and fully intend to stay that way.”

“It’s your first Bridal Ball though when we get back, isn’t it?” Daehyun said with a wistful smile.

“Yes,” Yongguk said with a strained voice before shaking his head, “But I doubt that there will be anyone there who can catch my eye. I have not been in a relationship for a very long while and I have no desire to be in one.”

Daehyun laughed, “That’s normally the point when Love comes and grabs you so hard that you cannot help but want to keep it.”

Yongguk snorted, “Clearly the whisky has gone to your head, Daehyun. But regardless of that, tell me of Exo Planet and the Princes that you were warding with. I am eager to learn what I can.”

It was Daehyun’s turn to look uneasy, “Can we save that talk for another time? It’s not pleasant and tonight I just want to exchange in happy stories of home.”

For a second the General looked concerned and Daehyun raised his hand towards the other in surrender, “No they did not treat me unfairly or wrongly. Far from it in fact, but...Yongguk, I think any of those twelve boys would have gladly accepted what you went through rather than having to live the life that they do there. It’s nothing like what we would have believed as children and I don’t think I can speak of it just yet.”

Yongguk nodded, “Fine. What else shall I tell you of home?”

“Tell me everything, anything, from the good to the bad,” Daehyun said with a smile, “I want to feel like I never left Mato.”

Looking at the other, Yongguk nodded and immediately understood. Daehyun wore a harder shell now because of his experiences on the EXO planet, not because he had been abused but because he had seen the silent suffering that the people had to go through and when they were children his heart had been as big as the ocean. Now it was carefully protected so that it could not get hurt or be opened up to more wounds. Yongguk grabbed Daehyun’s hand tightly and squeezed it, “You’re home, Daehyun, I’ll keep you safe.”

“Thank you,” was all that he replied with, a soft smile on his lips before Yongguk began telling him about Youngjae’s tragic love affairs that made him cold to the very notion of love and how Jongup had grown into a fine young man who was, despite his status as a bastard, making a name for himself and would in all probability be a personal handmaiden to the brides in the Palace by the time they got back.

Daehyun lapped it up happily and let himself be calmed and cleared by the thoughts of everything that he was returning to as it would be simply amazing to be surrounded by love, affection and friendship once again. 

authors babbling: so our goreous General appears and shows that he's a real family man too. Gotta love Gukkie and Dae here, I had fun with this chapter keep going, there's more.