❝ Peace begins with a smile... right? ❞

 poisoned blade 
chapter XVIII

The nearby pit continued to make sizzling noises, as if it was making its debut as a sound effects producer. Yeon Young eyed the one in front of her, who was also the one she deemed the most dangerous. Care to guess whom? If your guess is the one with poisonous daggers – the annoying as hell bastard with stupid squinty eyes that didn’t want to let her leave, you are right.

“Good afternoon, Seokjin,” Jongin replied chirpily as though they were there to have tea in the middle of the garden.

Seokjin gave a false mocking smile towards Jongin, not long after shooting the trio with questions. “Did you send her to spy on us?”

“Why would we? I would rather be spending my time sparring in the military academy. You are not as interesting as you think you are, Bangtan.” Jongin said cheerfully.

“Shut your trap, you er.” Jimin growled, as he lashed a frontal attack on Jongin. The latter gracefully jumped back, and sent a condescending grin in Jimin’s direction.

Yeon Young frowned as they started fending themselves, them being the minority in the three versus five, the left out one being Seokjin in his research.

To be honest, couldn’t they have teleported out, just like they did in? It seems like her thoughts were read, because, Jongin started talking in her head, again.

Sorry princess, but I can’t let Seokjin film us having a ‘black magic’ moment, as Bangtan usually claims we do.

I believe I did tell you to stop getting into my head, Kai.

Now I know you find me hot though.

Oh shut up.

“I have a feeling we need back up, Sehun,” Jongin gave a wry smile as he went head-on with Jimin’s slash uppercut.

This is where you use your power, idiot. Sehun mentally rolled his eyes as Jongin pouted sulkily. His efforts weren’t appreciated very much were they?

He used half of his concentration to find his target and soon, Minseok was on his way. Usually, ice-users weren’t the fastest bunch but upon hearing that his beloved angel was under attack, that, was a different matter entirely.

Minseok entered the scene with a loud appearance, half- and flashy training shorts, screaming that he would save her at any costs. Yeon Young gawked.

“Yeon Young, now is not that time to be admiring my hyung’s body! Seriously, you can look at mine anytime you want to-”

“Not helping, Kai!” She hissed as Yoongi’s lightning fast dagger attacks came flying in her direction yet again, shaking her out of her fantasies. She took ahold of the one stuck in the ground and threw it back at Yoongi, and although she miscalculated his movements, the dagger ended up scratching his shoulder slightly in the end. Yoongi grew even more annoyed with her, and his emotions were pasted indiscreetly on his facial gestures, much to her smug confidence.

Oh, I’m such a professional.

“Well, can’t you do that thing?” She dodged yet another dagger. Erasing their memories, I mean.

Even if I did, their one-hour memory loss will definitely be triggered by later events. When that happens, I need to say goodbye to the world.

Huh?

Meaning, our leader will kill me for being an idiot.

Ah.

Ouch. My wellbeing isn’t at the top of your priority list, is it?

Yeon Young didn’t bother to shoot Jongin a ‘that’s-not-true’ look and presently, it looked as if the place would go up in flames or be horribly deteriorated by the time they stopped fighting because of all the poisons being thrown around like toys.

Yoongi saw his chance and made a beeline from his spot at the back. Immediately, he advanced towards Minseok’s overpowering frame, and caught him by surprise, seeing how the latter failed to avoid the lethal weapon that was now stuck in his shoulder blade.

“MINSEOK-HYUNG!” Eyebrows furrowed, Jongin tackled Jimin’s smaller frame down and made use of the time lag to get to his hyung’s side.

“! Sehun, what should we do?”

“Get Baekhyun, or Kyungsoo,” Sehun clicked his tongue and gnawed at his lips until he could taste blood. He down Hoseok successfully and covered Yeon Young, who was struggling with Namjoon.

“Hey, get ready to run.”

As soon as those words rolled off Sehun’s lips, he grabbed onto Yeon Young’s free hand and bolted for the exit. The girl couldn’t even scream as she tried to keep up with the wind-user’s fast pace. Extraordinary as it was, she felt like she was actually running in the wind. She felt her fingers loosening themselves from his grip and tightened her grasp in a moment of panic.

Sehun twitched ever so faintly, and spared a side-glance to the girl trying to keep up her pace beside him. He instinctively entwined his fingers and made a small spell to ease her pain of matching speed to speed with his strides.

“Pretend to run. They are behind us,” He said quietly as they took another turn in the garden.

“I never signed up for this, silver eyes.” Sehun momentarily turned to look at her with his usual apathetic features, and if Yeon Young wasn’t mistaken, she could see his eyes flash silver for a second. She blinked in confusion, and his orbs were back to the pure solid black, that contrasted so beautifully against his pale milky skin.

“If you say so.” Yeon Young shrugged her shoulders with a small callous smile.

The raven-haired boy almost snorted, to his distaste. Judging from her reply, she probably made out the tiny eye colour change to, ‘I-will-not-let-you-die’. Sehun didn’t bother correcting her, even though she might have been wrong. She doesn’t understand, does she? I’m not protecting her out of duty, but something in me just controls my every movement. What is it? Sehun lets out a dry laugh in his mind. I don’t even understand myself, so how can she?

He pushes Yeon Young away as a bullet made its way an inch from her shoulder, and the attack effectively shakes him out of his thoughts.

“Can I be very honest? I’m actually itching to punch one of them in their faces right now.” Yeon Young grimaced sardonically as she cracked her knuckles.

“They are princes. An attack against them would very well result in the loss of your freedom, or your life.”

“Can’t you bail me out of prison? You are also a prince, right?” She gave Sehun a doubtful glance.

“Our leader wouldn’t condone such actions.”

“Ah, you mean that condescending prick with a face that screams loser?” The one beside her shot her an unamused look, and Yeon Young believes it’s the first time he showed any emotion other than indifference. As the sense of amusement surged over her, she spotted a familiar boy running in their direction with a party of ten palace guards or so.

“Sehun! Where’s Minseok-hyung?” It was Byun Baekhyun, also the one who had recaptured her. It made her blood boil thinking that he made her run around the whole palace, getting her hopes of escape up only to be recaptured because he had been keeping tabs and using magic to locate her.

“Jongin took him.” Sehun said stonily, but in fact felt so relieved that the load was taken off his chest. Yeon Young glared at Baekhyun and he promptly ignored her fiery gaze.

“Okay, then I guess the case is closed,” Baekhyun noticed Yoongi behind her and his face contorted into a sneer, “You bunch sure do love to cause trouble, huh?”

“Enjoy getting locked out of your toy room again,” He shot him a mocking eye smile before rushing off to aid the injured.

Yeon Young turned to look at Sehun and he looked down at her vacantly, as if they weren’t just in a battle for their lives. Dear Aza, couldn’t he be more emotional? She rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “Well, whatever. Silver eyes, what’s going to happen to Minseok?”

“He… heals fast.” The impassive prince replied, as if he was stating the obvious. Yeon Young just nodded her head slowly, lips laxly pursed, as she observed Sehun deliberately. Monsters.

She had forgotten that in a moment.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
happy lunar new year, lel. and tmr is my bdae.
the struggle for birthday wishes is real.

◯ darkmoon