Chapter 2: The task

 

 

Running footsteps. Screams of the Palace servants. Shattering of plates.

Baekhyun’s constricting throat and stinging eyes, threatening tears… His trembling hands gripped the handle of the sword that his brother had just given him.

Run away…run away…

Then curved talons, sharp and glinting silver, clamped around his arms and suddenly his feet left the earth completely as he was dragged into the air. Terror pounded hard and loud in his ears. Coursing and electrocute him.

Form the chaos beneath him, his brother called out in fear—

Unable to move or fight, Baekhyun let out a soundless cry as the world fell away with each whooshing wing-beat. And everything faded into darkness…

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Softened sobs echoed in the darkness. Then a strong hand rested on his shoulder. Baekhyun looked up into that shadowed face.

“Come here, my beloved,” the figure said, pointing at the morphing darkness. “Take a look. I have collected all of these beautiful things for you.” Pulling the boy up easily, Kris gestured at the changed scene before them.

“A sky full of stars, snow-white flowers… And you,” his bright eyes gazed lovingly down at Baekhyun, finger trailing the shorter’s cheek, “beautiful for all of eternity. What more does your heart desire?”

 

 

“A never-ending night, flowers that never wither,” Baekhyun says, sleep-laced voice rising with emotion. His long fingers curl around the flower heads. “I never wanted any of this! All I want is just—”

“Whoa!”

An unfamiliar and deep voice wakes Baekhyun from his sleep.

Before the foreigner can process the situation, Baekhyun is before him, nose-to-nose, cold blade unsheathed a hair from the taller’s throat. The redhead freezes, holding his breath. Wide hazel eyes meet narrowed and blazing amber.

“Who are you?” Baekhyun growls through clenched teeth.

“C-Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun sweeps the younger’s figure. Then he lowers the blade and returns it to its home, still watching the newcomer through the corner of his eye, still wary.

“Is that really your name?” he asks, settling back into the flowers.

“Well, it’s a pet name, sort of.” Chanyeol’s is deep and rough like a bass. “My real name is Heinrich—”

“Both sound vile.”

The corner of Chanyeol’s eyebrow twitches. 

I was called vile again, he thinks. “So I have to take you away from—” he starts, but he is cut off again.

Scrambling up and twisting in all directions, Baekhyun screams, “Zeus! Zeus! I don’t know what you’re up to now, but show yourself!”

“Zeus?” Chanyeol repeats blankly. “Oh, Kris? He—”

“He’s up to his damned tricks again!” Baekhyun snarls, whipping back to face Chanyeol. “He probably told you all the same filthy lies.”

Chanyeol blinks and says, “But Gods only speak the truth…”

The older snorts and turns away. “You’re just like the others, believing everything that comes out of his mouth.”

Chanyeol sighs and sits down not far from the other.

This is gonna be difficult…

For a long time, neither of them speaks.

Leaning back on his long arms, Chanyeol gazes up at the cloudless sky full of stars, long fingers toying with the faintly glowing flowers.

There isn’t any dirt, he notices as he picks up a handful of petals. Of course. Soil isn’t exactly beautiful…

“It’s beautiful here,” Chanyeol comments.

Baekhyun scoffs quietly.

Gazing at him, Chanyeol can’t help but notice how attractive the older is. Straight nose, full lips, and shining amber eyes.

Since this guy is a beauty, surrounded by beautiful things, Chanyeol thinks, these other jewels don’t impress him. He sighs. What a waste...

If I had all these beautiful things in my grasp…

 

 

It was spring. The flowers around her were in full bloom and the sky is clear, but Chanyeol could only see the pretty woman before him.

He stared determinedly into her shadowed eyes, his voice trembling.

“I don’t have anything right now,” he said with effort. “But for you, I’d get it all so wait for me. I’ll make you happy for sure!” Before she cans respond, he was dashing away and he threw over his shoulder as he disappeared, “so wait for me okay?”

“Kora!”

 

 

I gotta hurry, Chanyeol thinks, absentmindedly shredding the snowy petal. And get this guy out or Kora will…

Rustle!

Baekhyun breaks from his thoughts to see the taller standing up with his long limbs and gazing at him. When their eyes meet, he doesn’t understand the shiver that sweeps through him.

“Kris told me there’s a cliff and we can escape from there,” Chanyeol says. “Why don’t you come with me to see if he’s truly lying?” He reaches out a large hand. “Come on—”

“There is no end to this world,” Baekhyun replies firmly, turning away from the offered hand. “The cliff doesn’t exist either. I have no reason to believe you. Furthermore,” he raises his voice when Chanyeol opens his mouth to protest, “nothing good comes out of anything where Zeus is involved.”

“But that Kris said he’d grant my wish.”

A fine eyebrow raises. “A wish?”

Relieved that he is getting some sort of a response from the older, Chanyeol nods his head so enthusiastically that his hair bounces. Baekhyun has the vivid image of an excited puppy.

“Yup! I’ll get you out of here and marry Kora!”

For a moment they look at each other. Baekhyun staring dumbstruck and Chanyeol obliviously triumphant and grinning so widely that it borderlines creepy.

Finally Baekhyun turns away with a dismissive tsk. “How silly.”

Chanyeol’s smile falls off his face faster than it appeared. “It’s not silly!” he insists. “I’m not attractive like you who can get a pick of anyone I want!”

Baekhyun makes no motion that he is listening, face stubbornly turned away.

“And now you’re ignoring me!”

For some reason, Chanyeol thinks, hands unconsciously clenching. This guy really ticks me off. What can I do to make him believe me?

Taking a deep breath, Chanyeol tries again. “How about I go to the end of the world and bring back proof for you,” he offers. “How about that?”

“Don’t bother,” Baekhyun shoots back. “No matter how many years you keep running, you’ll never find anything. You won’t be able to do it.”

Where have I heard that before? Chanyeol wonders.

 

 

“Don’t bother.”

The broad back of a dusty suit loomed into his mind. He was standing before a plain desk of a humble office and glaring at the back of the professor, his throat constricting, fighting the scalding tears that threaten to fall.

“No matter how many years we keep at it,” the older man said without turning around. “There was nothing to be found. It’ll be the same for you.”

Chanyeol doesn’t remember much except for the crescent moons carving into his palm and the taste of rust on his tongue.

“Don’t bother…”

 

 

“Why?”

Bright amber eyes widen as Chanyeol fights to keep his voice even.

“Why do you assume that from the beginning?” he demands. “All of you who have it all always say stuff like that. You think those who don’t have anything don’t even have the eyes to see the truth!” He takes a shaking breath but doesn’t break eye contact for a second. “I want to believe…”

Kris’s voice resonates through him.

I’ll make your wish come true

“I believe what I see,” Chanyeol continues. “The cliff exists for sure…”

During his talk, Baekhyun didn’t move with an unreadable expression. When Chanyeol falls into silence, the older considers what he had said.

“All is not what it seems in this world,” he says finally, gazing at the stars again. “You trust your eyes too much.”

“Are you saying that you see more than me?” Chanyeol challenges. “Do you know what the world is like?”

Baekhyun laughs humorlessly. “How could I?” he says. “How could I know anything about the world? But,” he pauses for emphasis, “I understand the logic of this place. More than someone like you who has too much confidence—”

“Remember those words!”

Blinking, Baekhyun watches as Chanyeol turns on his heel. ““I’ll make you eat them, you jerk!” With that, he dashes away before tossing a “You just wait!” over his shoulder.

Watch me, Chanyeol thinks to himself as he runs through the endless field of white.

The professor’s face flashes across his vision.

Just you watch!

Then Baekhyun’s openly skeptical yet beautiful expression replaces the other’s.

I’ll definitely prove you wrong!

 

And Baekhyun watches him go, refusing to admit that the tears that sting his eyes are born from the other’s receding absence.

 

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Ok. I admit it. I rushed through it. But I have to make a deadline. I'll clean up a little bit, but this is basically it ^_^ Any questions or anything, feel free to let me know! Until next chapter!