Chapter 21: Another Sun

Chanyeol was a bright kid.

He was intelligent, in a way that made others like him, and perpetually happy. He had one of those charming personalities that was like a magnet, attracting everyone in the vicinity.

And even though he was the Crown Prince of Korea, he never acted arrogant and pompous.

His mother was a kind woman. From what he could remember, she had eyes that were warm, sort of like the sea on a summer day—cool, but warm, and always changing. He also remembered her smile. It was always present, never fading, even on the darkest days. She always smiled at him when he returned from his classes, opening her arms and chuckling as he ran into her embrace. She would then his hair at the part soothingly, and ask him to tell her everything that happened that day.

And he would.

Over a plate of freshly baked cookies, courtesy of the palace chef, and a glass of cold milk, he would chatter away excitedly about every single thing that happened during the day. And his mother would smile and nod, and sometimes, Chanyeol thought that she wasn’t even listening to him anymore, because her eyes would have this far away look, like she was somewhere else, possibly in the past, or maybe in the future, but it didn’t matter to him, so he would continue talking, even when she stopped looking at him, stopped nodding, and stopped mhmm-ing at the right places.

Chanyeol had a younger brother that was one year younger than him. His name was Jongin.

He liked Jongin, even though Jongin was bratty and loud and loved playing pranks on him. He liked Jongin because Jongin was his younger brother, and when the lights were out and everyone was sleeping, and the storm was still raging outside, four-year-old Jongin would be crying at his bedroom door, and five-year-old Chanyeol would wake up and comfort Jongin until Jongin fell asleep again. The next morning, his mother would find the two of them asleep, side-by-side, in Chanyeol’s bed.

Chanyeol’s other younger brother was Sehun, but Sehun wasn’t his mother’s child. Sehun was one of his father’s concubine’s son. But Chanyeol didn’t care who’s child Sehun was, because Sehun was a sweet, honest kid that was the same age as Jongin. The three of them had been inseparable since the first time they’ve met at the Palace Garden.

So, with his mother, Jongin, and Sehun with him every single day, five-year-old Chanyeol really liked life. He liked it so much he wished every day that nothing would ever change, that he would be able to tell his mother exaggerated stories about how he saved a squirrel over milk and cookies everyday, that he, Jongin, and Sehun would play catch and get the poor ball stuck on the top of the tree as soon as he finished his homework.

But life never stays the same. Life is a fine balance beam, and when one side tips a bit too much into the “good luck” vault, a supreme being intervenes and manually upturns the balance beam so everything falls into the other side, the “bad luck” vault.

Life was getting too good for Chanyeol, so when he was seven years old, life decided to play a little trick on him.

It was a Thursday probably, and Chanyeol had just returned from class, bounding into his mother’s room to tell her about this new thing he learned in school called the water cycle. But the minute he stepped foot into his mother’s wing, he knew something was wrong.

Wine glasses lay shattered on the floor, glass pieces stabbed into the rug and red liquid seeping through carpet. He recognized it as champagne and blood.

He tore through the hallways, heading for his mother’s bedroom tucked at the end of the corridor, right next to his. He skidded to a stop as he turned a corner, spotting uniformed men cluttered outside her bedroom door. Chanyeol took a tentative step forward, before gasping and stumbling back.

One of the uniformed men pushed his mother out of the bedroom, holding her hands firmly behind her back. He said something to her that Chanyeol couldn’t hear, but his mother merely laughed bitterly and shook her head, looking at the man with contempt. She replied, and the man raised a hand to strike her, growling something under his breath.

Chanyeol was furious.

He was about to step forward, but his mother saw him and caught his eye. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head surreptitiously, a gesture he knew meant to stay back and not move. He didn’t want to, but he remained unmoving, eyes trained on his mother and the man.

The man said something else again, and Chanyeol could catch a few phrases, but nothing concrete. His mother didn’t reply, eyes filled with silent hatred as she looked at the man. He shouted something and reached for the pistol strapped to his belt, pointing it at his mother’s head.

Chanyeol stepped forward. He heard a scream and then a bang, and then another scream, and then it was silent.

Somehow, he ended up on his knees, his hands gripping the carpet. His eyes were wide with horror, and he could only see his mother’s glassy, unmoving eyes and the blood dripping from the side of her head.

Perhaps he was the one who had screamed.

The next few hours passed in a blur. He remembered a beautiful woman walking towards him, lifting his chin with sharp, blood red nails. She had called herself his older sister, Soyeon.

“One day, all of this will be mine,” she said to him, a sweet smile on her face. She pushed him away. “Let the boy live.”

His caretaker immediately rushed to him, gathering him up into her arms as she ran to her room in the servant quarters. She tucked him into bed, murmuring that it was alright, that she was going to find his father and Jongin, and that everything was going to be okay.

He knew it wasn’t going to be okay, but he nodded and closed his eyes.

When he woke up, his father and Jongin were both sitting by the bed.

He never cared much for his father. He barely saw him, and his mother had told him that his father was the Emperor, and the Emperor was an important person who didn’t care much for his family.

All of a sudden, though, he was angry at his father.

He was angry at his father for not being there when his mother needed him, for not being there when his mother didn’t need him, for not being there in general.

Chanyeol sat up in bed screaming insults, ignoring the pounding in his head. He kicked his blankets and grabbed pillows and threw them at his father, wishing that that sad, tired, apologetic look on his father’s face would disappear, just disappear.

Finally, when he calmed down, a wide-eyed Jongin walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright, hyung. It’s all going to be alright.”

Chanyeol, breathing hard, looked at Jongin with eyes a little too dim for a seven-year-old. He wanted very much to believe in his younger brother, but all he could think of was his mother’s blood spilling onto the rich, velvet carpet of the Palace hallways.

After that day, Chanyeol underwent a drastic change.

Instead of being the resident Happy Virus, he became quiet and introverted, often brooding and keeping to himself. He frequented the military training fields, watching the troops with a sort of unnatural interest. Soon, he began training his own play army.

Under the pretense of searching for play mates, his father sent notices all over the country, gathering hundreds of boys that were around the same age as Chanyeol. They formed the Crown Prince’s famous play army, the First Legion Fuoco.

And in the First Legion Fuoco, there was one boy who would change Chanyeol’s life once again.

His name was Byun Baekhyun

---

“Baekhyun? Baekhyun, can you hear me? Goddammit, Byun Baekhyun, open your damned eyes before I go insane!”

It hurts.

Baekhyun stirred from his sleep, fingertips twitching.

“Oh my God, I think he just moved, did he just move, tell me he just freakin’ moved.”

Was that Chanyeol?

“Baekhyun? Baekhyun, are you awake?”

Baekhyun opened his eyes, his lashes fluttering, and he saw a blurry image of Chanyeol staring down at him.

“Baekhyun, oh my ing God, you are awake, PRAISE THE LORD BAEKHYUN IS AWAKE. Now go call the doctors, NOW.” Chanyeol jabbed a finger at the door menacingly, and Minseok immediately scuttled away.

“What era is it?” Baekhyun muttered weakly, feeling like he had slept for eons.

“Just the fiftieth century, no need to worry,” Chanyeol joked, taking a seat on the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I just got run over by a truck,” Baekhyun anwered honestly, lifting his arm an inch before letting it drop back down. “Where am I?”

“In my room. I carried you all the way here after you fainted at the Palace gates. I’m so awesome, I know.”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun laughed.

“God, it’s so nice hearing you laugh again,” Chanyeol murmured, instinctively brushing a piece of hair away from Baekhyun’s face.

Baekhyun’s eyes softened.

“How long was I out?”

“A few days. Scared the life out of all of us. The battle’s over, you know.”

“We won?”

Chanyeol grinned. “Of course.”

“That’s good.” Baekhyun closed his eyes. “I think… I’m just going to nap for a little longer…”

“Alright,” Chanyeol said softly, Baekhyun’s hair. “Just remember to wake up, okay?”

“Mhmm…”

Wake up, so I can tell you I love you.

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A/N: WHY, ISN'T THIS DISAPPOINTING. WE WAIT A MONTH AND YOU GIVE US THIS MEASLEY LITTLE CHAPTER? WOW, YOU .

Lol, sorry guys ;___; I would blame everything on school, but I feel like I've used that excuse one too many times, so let me just blame everything on writer's block (which is sorta okay, because stupid writer's block makes everything bad). But I got sick like, a few days ago, and I'm better today, but my mom didn't let me go to school 'cause I had to "fully recover," so I speed typed this out while watching Flower Boy Next Door (omfgawd Enrique let me love you goddammit).

Sorry for being AWOL for two months. I know I .

So I think I said this story was only going to be like, thirty chapters long. I lied. It's definitely going to be more than that, since yeah, lotsa other to factor in yo. There's another arc, and then there're side stories for the side characters, AND THEN, we're done. I think.

Thanks for those that actually read this story and stick with it throughout I love you all.

I'm sorry for being such a crappy updater I'll try harder ;___;

Bye~~

Oh, does anyone have KakaoTalk? Add me! ID: InsipidCoffee.