Donghae POV

I woke up after only a few hours of sleep because I was so excited about Hyukjae's arrival. I rushed out of bed and into the bathroom. Splashing some water onto myself and rubbing soap into my face, I washed up for the day.

I quickly finished and changed into a new green tunic. Because I live in Terran, the Earth Dragon's Kingdom, I (as well as my family) tend to wear green and brown a majority of the time.

When I was ready, I ran down stairs, eager to meet Hyukjae again. I don't know why I was so excited. Something felt exhilarating about him, almost as if he was the start of the adventure of my life.

Hyukjae was sitting leisurely at the table and he grinned as he saw me.

"Mornin'. Have a nice sleep?"

"Yeah, how was your first night at our house?" I grinned back.

The tall, dark haired man shrugged, a disgusted frown appearing on his pale face.

"Good, but I could've done without the sounds of Yunho and Jaejoong hyungs' nightly activities," he shuddered, "I don't understand how Yoochun is an only child."

I snickered.

"I don't either."

Stretching, I sat next to Hyukjae at the breakfast table and was about to strike up a conversation when Jaejoong interuppted me.

"Donghae!" he called from the kitchen, "Can you go to the market? We've run out of eggs. Buy a whole month's worth!"

"Sure!" I yelled back and grabbed a sack of copper coins on the table.

I turned back to my guest, "You want to come, too?" I asked.

He smiled and stood.

"Nothing else to do, so why not?"

We grabbed our cloaks and walked out of the house towards the marketplace.

~

"Where did you come from?" I questioned, curiousity sparking in my hazel eyes.

"Far, far away, young grasshopper."

"Haha, very funny. But seriously, where are you from?"

Hyukjae twirled a leaf in his hand, then it burst into flames. The fire dissapated once it touched his skin. I gaped at him in shock.

"You're a fire wielder?" I asked incredulously, "You're from Pyrath?!"

Pyrath was the nation of the fire dragons and it waged war on the other kingdoms 13 years ago. Ever since then, fire wielders have been shunned and driven away from Terran and Etherea.

"Shh," Hyukjae hushed as he looked around for bystanders. "I'm a refugee. I don't agree with the King's hunger for power, so I ran away the moment Pyrath declared war on the others. Your uncle took me in for a while, but I left before you were entrusted to him."

I immediately jolted.

"Did you know my parents?"

Hyukjae nodded his head.

"I was young, but I still knew them. They're good people, Donghae. They had to leave you."

I scoffed, for I had been told this my entire life.

"Yeah, sure. They had to leave me. Everyone says that as if I was in danger or something."

"...You were."

"Don't lie to me, Hyukjae. My parents probably were too young or something. There's no chance I was in mortal danger when I was like 2," I laughed, "I don't mind though. Uncle Yunho and Aunt Jaejoong raised me well enough. I grew up fine without my parents."

Hyukjae grew silent, as if thinking. We continued on our way to the market.

~

When we arrived, the shops were filled with customers. Busy workers hovered over products, advertising them.

"Beads, jewelry, beautiful products from as far as the Capital of Etherea!"

"Hot cakes! Hot cakes here! Buy our delicious hot cakes!"

"Fresh milk and eggs! Veggies galore! Get the best produce here!"

Shouts filled the marketplace and Hyukjae looked around, surprised.

"So this is what a Terran marketplace looks like." he mumbled.

I scrunched my eyes in confusion.

"Have you never been in a place like this?"

Hyukjae shook his head.

"No. I spent most of my time training my powers and well, looking for people like me. Rogues with good intentions. Bandits with guilty afterthoughts," he replied, "So I never really had time to waste on buying groceries."

"Well, don't worry. You'll get your fill today. Aunt Jaejoong told us to buy a month's worth of eggs, which is about 10 lbs." I grinned.

He grinned back and we set on finishing our errand. An hour and tons of coins spent, we were finished and had bags of fresh eggs. Like the road to the market, we were silent, but this time, it was a comfortable silence.

~

As we approached the house, I felt like something was wrong. The air felt drier than before, as if there had been a fire nearby. Suddenly, Yoochun ran towards us, his clothes slightly charred and his hands mildly burned.

"They came! We need to get Donghae to safety!" he panted, looking around fearfully.

My eyes grew wide.

"What happened? Why're you hurt? Where's Uncle and Aunt?" I asked frantically.

Yoochun shook his head, sweat falling down his red face, "They'll catch up later. Right now, you're our main priority. Let's go!"

Hyukjae and Yoochun grabbed me, nearly dragging me back to the marketplace, but I struggled.

"No! I'm not going anywhere until I get Uncle and Aunt! Let me go!" I shouted.

I managed to struggle free and ran towards the house, which had smoke seeping out of the windows. Yoochun and Hyukjae ran after me quickly, but I was quicker. I could hear shouts from the inside, so I grabbed the enterance door and pulled. Nothing happened.

"!" I cursed as I tried again.

The front door was jammed, so I rushed towards the back of the large home and hid behind a tree, watching. The garden was trambled and charred. Jaejoong's beautiful tulips had been incinerated and their pure yellow turned into a putrid black. There were about 20 horses and a dozing officer was watching over them. The horses and the officer's armor had the Pyrath insignia on them.

As I was about to attack the lone soldier, someone grabbed my hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hyukjae and Yoochun hissed, "You're going to get yourself killed!"

I looked at them in disbelief.

"So I should run away and leave my own family to their deaths? I don't think so."

Seeing that I wouldn't give up, the other relented.

"Fine. We'll save them, but follow my instructions." Hyukjae whispered.

The three of us talked quietly for a few minutes, then separated.

"Ready? Go." Yoochun gave us the signal.

Hyukjae whipped out a knife from his boot and threw it in the direction of the soldier. Far enough to miss, but close enough to scare.

"Who's there?!" the officier shrieked girlishly.

"Me," Yoochun smirked, then hit his neck hard to knock him out.

I stared at him.

"Where did you learn that?" I questioned.

Yoochun just shrugged and we moved on. Hyukjae grabbed the unconsious soldier's sword and unsheathed it.

"Doesn't seem too bad." he mumbled.

As I opened the back door, Hyukjae stepped in, sword ready. There was no one in the kitchen. We moved out, following the shouts of fighting. In the vast living room, Aunt Jaejoong was fighting 6 soldiers at once. Fire was enveloping his entire body, but it seemed like it didn't hurt him at all. The soldiers didn't have as much power as him, so they were having trouble fighting him.

"Need some help?" Hyukjae offered.

Jaejoong looked up in shock.

"Chun? Donghae? Hyukjae? Why're you all here?" he asked, still fending off the officers.

"Nevermind that, Mom," Yoochun said, grabbing an ornamental sword off the wall, "I'll take care of these bastards."

With a yell, the sword in his hand flamed a bright orange and my cousin rushed at one of the soldiers with it. The moment the sword went in contact with the man, he burst into flames.

"What the hell?" I gaped, "How do you guys have all of these powers? Why're you guys all fire wielders? And powerful at that?"

Jaejoong shook his head.

"No time to explain. We need to get out of here. Yoochun and I can handle here. Hyukjae, take Donghae and help out my husband. Hurry."

We nodded and sprinted up the stairs, where we could hear shrieks of pain. Yunho was holding off 12 soldiers and one was dead on the floor. Yunho was throwing blue fire in all directions and his eyes grew wide when he saw us.

"Donghae! Hyuk! I need some help with these brats!" he called out.

Hyukjae smirked.

"I'm gonna enjoy this." he said, cracking his knuckled.

He aimed his palms out in front of him, dropping the sword.

"Burn." he said quietly.

When he opened his eyes, black infernos shot out of his hands, circling around a few of the soldiers and engulfing them. It was like the fire was devouring them.

Even after that amazing spectacle, we were still outnumbered. My brain registered that fact as I clutched my hand tightly. I had done nothing to help us. Hyukjae, Yoochun, Aunt, and Uncle had incredible powers that were saving us, but I...I was useless.

I felt myself start to shake and I had a throbbing headache. I scrunched down on the floor and put my hands over my ears, closing my eyes.

"Stop..." I mumbled, "Stop...Stop! STOP!"

Suddenly, water enveloped me, cocooning me. Everyone stopped to watch. A hurricane formed inside the house, tearing it apart and sending the roof flying away. The entire structure was leveled. Ice cold water rained down on the people, but my ball didn't disappear. I stayed inside it, thinking about how I needed to save my family when the soldiers began to scream.

Water was being drained out of their bodies. The wind tossed their dry corpse to the ground and I finally calmed down enough to stop. When I opened my eyes, I saw Hyukjae and my family looking at me in shock. Hyukjae had admiration in his eyes too.

But I couldn't feel that way about myself. Not when I had killed who knows how many people without a single thought. I looked down at my hands, which seemed clean, but I knew were bloody with the essense of the dead officers.

"What am I?" I whispered, horrified.

Everyone bowed, touching their foreheads to the ground. Yunho looked up briefly to give me a conflicted smile.

"You, Lee Donghae of the kingdom of Etherea, are the Hidden Prince."