Belligo

a/n: this was written a while ago but im only posting now bc 1) never going to be a full fledge fic :(((((( 2) im just updating my aff from my tumblr backlog of written pieces (next is underaged!donghae snippets which i have to find and piece together siiigh) and 3) i written a couple of warprize scenes but this is the most completed pieces that i can post to the public here. there's more of it here on my tumblr, i can't really publish it on aff bc they're kind of brief and snippet-ish instead of a completed scene. 

It’s not the first word he heard in Corinthian but it is the one that he is most staunchly familiar with. Much like a brand carved onto his soul, the word soon come to define his entire existent in Corinth.

Belligo. 

Bel-li-go, they called him.

----

The first time heard of it was upon his initial arrival in the Harbor of Eleis and between the myriad of languages that flood his ears and foreign faces of men and women of Corinth, their skin bronze by the sun and nothing like his[3], Donghae didn't pay much attention to way people were staring at him and addressing him something other than his royal title, a prince of Tenua.

It wasn't until they reach the capital city of Corinth, Pleides, that Donghae took noticed of the curious looks sent his way and though Donghae wasn't still use to the sharp and coarseness of the Corinthian’s tongue, the language fell deaf on his ears and he often has to rely on interpreter to understand, but he was able to realized that overuse of Belligo was in reference to him.

----

“Belligo,” Sehun says, sighing deeply from behind Donghae, “please don’t wander off again without me or the High King would have my head. You’re still unfamiliar with this place and I don’t want you to get lost.”

Donghae jerks to a stop and swivels around, hands balling into a fist at side. “Stop calling me that!” he snaps, glaring heatedly at Sehun. “Either address me by my given name, my title, or simply Your Highness would do but do not call me by such a word again. I am not a Corinthian, I do not want to be referred such a way and least of all in my enemy’s tongue.”

Sehun frowns, scratching the side of the face warily.  “I’m sorry, Belligo, but the moment you agree to come with us you lost your right to be call anything else. You’re no longer a Tenuan prince let alone a citizen of Tenua. You’re a Corinthian from here onward and you will wear that title to your grave,” he tells Donghae, almost apologetically and Donghae bites out a frustrated groan.

-----

Donghae carefully flips through the heavy tome, finger dragging down each page in search of a single entry. For nine days, he’d combed through the entire library of the eastern wing of the palace for anything that can help him cleared up the mystery that had plagued him since his arrival on Corinth and he’d found it in an old book that had seen better day, but one of the few books that is written in Tenua and speak of the subject he is interest in.  

Upon reaching page three hundred sixteen pages of the book, Donghae sees it right away and when he read through it, word by word his blood freezes. He violently flings the book down onto the floor and hears it land with a loud thump upon but he can’t hear or see anything but the haze of red.

His vision blurs and his breathing heavy as he clutches at the edge of the table. The words, printed in Tenua and as obvious and cleared as day, reads: Belligo, a title use in ancient time where war custom dictated that a spoil is acquired upon achieving victory; a prize of war.  

-----

It is strange to Donghae, who is used to his father’s grander of a court and the way he played those under his thumbs, letting them fight and make a fool out of each other for his amusement and every decisions he made were made in front of his courtiers, almost a spectacle in the way the problems and issues of the kingdom were presented to him and the gaggles of courtiers that would gathered and watched with bated breath and anticipation as the king decided the fate nations and men. Donghae’s father made an entertainment out of his rule. Donghae didn’t quite understand it but accepted it anyway because that was how it was always been done.

But even across several oceans something remained the same, the courtiers in Corinth are similar to ones back home. They all had too much say and secrets worth dying to keep, and everybody else business is their business and they were forever ambitious to gained favor from the king.

Donghae had always hated the mind games and charade played out in the Court of Tenua but here in Corinth, he took comfort in the familiar and expected. The nobility of Corinth weren’t as glamorous and showy as Tenua, often peacocking over each other for the king’s favor, but the polite veneer they painted across their face as they cut you down with piercing words were very much the same and every seemingly generous actions hide some sort of hidden intent that Donghae is always cautious to accept.

It was something he had learned the hard way in Tenua, and though he may prefer the act of shedding blood and sweat on the battlefield over the court’s intrigue any day, he knows that here it is his weapons. Instead of a sword and shield, his words and smiles are sharpen and Donghae would use it to his best advantage. 

The Court was a different kind of battlefield altogether, where people wield words instead of swords, and that perhaps is even more lethal because just a few words can launch a war and lead thousands of men to their death but a sword can only strike down a one man at a time.  

He may not be as good at handling the courtiers like his siblings back home—Donghae would often steered clear of it, refusing to be even take part of the pretense—but he is a Tenuan Prince and he was taught well enough to navigate the minefield that is the court’s politics without embarrassing himself, or so he had thought.

The banquet hall is lavishly decorated with draperies and feverish colors. Lights  A hefty amount of food from all corners of the Corinth filled up the large banquet table and people of all level of the court either find their way to the ballroom floor, scatter across the vast hall in groups for a next piece of gossip and drama, or clamoring for an ear of the High King.  

It’s the Autumn Light Festival in Pleides and the Palace is seize in a state of celebration, and Donghae is caught right in it.

Donghae would often find himself the center of these festivities, not of his own choosing. Never of his own choosing. Maybe it was his paleness of his skin that looked like it hadn’t seen any sunlight under the harsh winter of Tenua, maybe it was his inability to speak the native tongue of this country, or maybe it was just that he was simply a Tenuan’s captive in the land of his enemy that made him a spectacle in the eyes of the Court. 

Either way, people would often crowd around him and chatter insistently in Corinthian, eyes scrutinizing him as if he was a doll propped up for their enjoyment and to dissect.

Nobody talk to him, they talk around him. Donghae exists in a state of perpetual air—they all know he is there but nobody acknowledge it.

Seated between Sehun on one side and a small boisterous man with an enormous red hat, decked out in rare feathers and gemstones that lined the rim of his hat and a heavy set of robes that are worth their weight in gold, and his fawning lady companion on the other side, Donghae is annoyed.

The courtier flicks a hand toward Donghae with a jeering smile as he talks to his lady, pointedly staring at him with no regard to decorum.

Donghae never quite understood the etiquette of the Court but even he can recognized when he was being openly mocked.

Donghae grits his teeth, biting back his tongue. 

The man is blatantly pointing at him now, finger inches away from Donghae’s face as he gestures wildly and entertains his lady in raucous laughter, using the fact that Donghae can't even follow let alone keep up with their conversation to call the man out on it.

Donghae deliberately puts down the spoon on bowl of soup and turns toward the man. “Do that again and I’ll break your fingers,” he warns, masking the heat of his words with a bright sunny smile on his face.

He hears Sehun snorting next to him as the two courtiers titter at him as if he had just said something terribly witty and continues on with their chatter, their fast moving coarse Corinthian washes over him like jagged knife piercing him with every word.

What complete disrespect, Donghae fumes.

The man draws closer, the large ornament on his hat brushes Donghae’s head, his hand touching Donghae’s upper arm as he speaks over Donghae to Sehun this time and Sehun apathetically responds back.

Donghae’s precarious patience snaps.

He shoves the man away back, knocking off the irritating and pretentious hat, that had been bothering him all night, at it. The hat falls on the table and onto the plates of food and a piece of hair drops into the bowl of soup in front of them.

A horrifying silent descends on them and all the eyes nearby is zeroes in on them, especially to the patches of hairlessness on the man’s skull. With receding hairline and empty span of space between spots of hair, Donghae begins to understand the need for a hat as the snickering around them starts to come in.  

The man’s face blooms an angry red, picking up his dirty wet ostentatious hat and places back on his head as the piece of wig, that had fallen off along with it, continues to drown in Donghae’s soup. The man starts to rail against Donghae and the words that he snarl, Donghae doesn’t need to know the meaning behind it to know that it’s vicious and cruel. He is for once grateful he doesn’t understand it because his hand is itching to do something about it.

Donghae glances back to Sehun to shoot him a glare as if to say you’re supposed to stop me from doing these things and Sehun, the bastard, simply shrugs. Donghae is once again reminded that Sehun is Donghae’s minder not his guardian, his defender, or his friend.

In Corinth, Donghae has no one. He’s truly alone in this foreign land, with enemies on all side and he just put himself in an awful situation.    

The man shoves his face right into Donghae, spitting venom and not letting Donghae a word in edgewise as every neighboring eyes watch the scene attentively, not bothering to even put a stop to it.  

Donghae’s annoyance is fraying and he starts to rise, with all the attention to effectively shut the courtier’s mouth up but a hand drops on his shoulders, holding him down with a force so strong that Donghae stills for a moment. Donghae tries to jerk out of the grip but when he look up he sees the High King’s face peering down at him.

Donghae opens his mouth to say something but Hyukjae squeeze his shoulders and Donghae shuts it with a snap.  

Hyukjae turns his attention toward the  man and exchanges a quick remark to the courtier, voice calm and subdued but it’s enough to make the man pales, face ashen and retreating back into his seat as he looks upon Hyukjae as though he seen the devil in front of him.

Donghae doesn’t even have time to process what’s going on when Hyukjae drags Donghae out of his seat by his wrist and away from the crowd.

Donghae casts a helpless glance at Sehun for any assistance but Sehun only give him an amused wave instead as Donghae stumbles along behind Hyukjae.  

Hyukjae leads him through thick velvet blue curtains that hang on the entrance that divide the banquet hall from the garden outside. They pass the guards station there with an acknowledge nod from Hyukjae and they step right onto the balcony and the clamor of the party dies as the curtain falls back in place, giving away to the cool air and the quiet hum of nature. The balcony that oversees the immense courtyard and the garden outside is empty except for the two of them there.

Hyukjae abruptly lets Donghae go and braces himself against the railing, putting a heavy distance between them a reverse of their earlier position and with is back to Donghae. It leaves a cold impression on Donghae and somehow it stabs at him more than Sehun’s careless shrug ever did.

The silent stretches between, awkward and heavy and then Hyukjae shoulders start to shake, his entire body quivering underneath some terrible pressure and Donghae braces himself for the onslaught that will come from Hyukjae.

He curl his hands at his side, reading to defend himself but the noise that break the silent is—shocking. Clutching at his stomach and bending over, Hyukjae falls over himself in ruckus laughter much to Donghae’s gaping mouth.  

“So that’s what was underneath his ugly hat,” the High King says fluidly in Tenuan, once he finally regained control of himself and can finally piece together entire sentence together without breaking into laughter again.  

“You’re laughing,” Donghae seethes. He doesn’t find the entire situation funny at all. It was demeaning and offensive to him.  

Hyukjae faces him again and his eyes twinkling madly. “Admit it, it was a little funny,” he responds, lips twitching.

Donghae frowns, folding his arms across his chest. He thinks of the courtier’s flushed face, the balding head, and the wig in his soup and he. Okay, maybe it was a little funny but—he shakes his head. “I don’t find it a laughing matter,” he says stubbornly.

Hyukjae just flashes him grin as though he can see through Donghae’s façade and shrugs. “Alright,” he acquiesces and walks past Donghae to the other side of the balcony. He steps down the stone stairway that lead right into the garden and awag from the festivity.

“Where are you going?!” Donghae yells.

“Escaping,” is the dismissive respond that Donghae gets back.

He trots toward the top of the stairway and watches as Hyukjae keep getting further away. “It’s your party! You can’t just leave,” Donghae retorts.

Hyukjae pulls stop and turns his head back. An eyebrow goes up. “Am I king or not,” he says and when Donghae makes a face at him, he smiles. “So are you going to join me or you’re planning to stand there all night long?” He holds a hand out to Donghae. “Come, my Belligo.”

Donghae stares down at the hand offer to him and then looks back toward the party, behind the thick curtains, thinking of the people that cares nothing about him, who thinks nothing of him, and then once again back to the Hyukjae—the High King, who is his sworn enemy, the person who took him from his home and stole everything from him, the one whom had vowed to kill until the last breath he breathe and the one Donghae should feel be the least comfortable with but in this strange and foreign land, Hyukjae is the only face that Donghae recognizes and the only one Donghae finds himself constantly drawn to despite the animosity between them[4].

It’s frustrating to be constantly pulled into Hyukjae’s orbit and get dragged into his pace but, “Ugh, I truly hate you,” Donghae yells in frustration and chases after Hyukjae.  

Hyukjae didn’t give Donghae a choice when he claimed Donghae as a consolation for war and even now when Hyukjae offers his hand to him, it doesn’t feel like a choice either. There never was a choice when it comes to Hyukjae, Donghae is only starting to find out.

a/n 2: this entire scene center around the theme of choice and what it means for donghae particulary. here he is in a place not of his choosing, surrounded by who hates him bc of hyukjae yet he can't help the growing fondness toward hyukjae in the end. and HE ABSOLUTELY HATES IT bc it feels like it's out of his control this attraction toward his enemy and just like how hyukjae took donghae's freedom and now he's taking his right to choose to fall in love with hyukjae and that's make donghae hate him all the more. it's a complicated situation i think bc on one hand hyukjae is his jailer but on the other hand he provides, protects, and offer donghae more freedom than his own father did. donghae who never left his own country, donghae who hadn't been accept the world outside of his father's dictatorial views, and donghae who couldn't understand why hyukjae who seems to equally hate donghae yet treats him with such gentleness and care. it's very, very contrary and confusing for everyone involve except... hyukjae :P bc he knows the reason behind it.

[1] so belligo, the word directly translate to donghae's language is the prize of war, aka warprize, but it actually has two meaning depending on if you read the word prize as a verb or a noun!! prize as a noun can mean reward, loot, or trophy but as a verb it means to cherish, to value greatly, and to hold dear. so on one hand, belligo can mean trophy/spoils of war OR something you hold in such a high regard that YOU WOULD WAGE A WAR FOR.  guess which one donghae thinks it mean. GUEEEEEEEEEEEES. >:[[[[ language is such a beautiful thing \o/, hehe.

[2] the word belligo (pronounce, BELLE- LA-CO) stems from latin word bellum which means war and diligo meaning to love, prize, highly value so warprize :DD. in hyukjae's language it has such a lovely meaning to it, that which we hold dearest to our heart that only a war may come and take from us, but really bad connotation b/c warprize doesn't invoke much feeling of BELOVED, sadly.

[3] the reason why there are more ppl speaking donghae's language is b/c his country was an ever expanding empire, before they were defeated by hyukjae that is, that once they conquered a state, they quickly has the state assimilate to their religion, language, and culture so it would more like 'unified' country under their rule. many ppl's heritage and customs end up being systemically wiped out in the campaign unfortunately :((. so donghae being a prince of his country never actually had to learn any other language and haven't experience any other culture but his own. he lives a very shelter and privilege life so he find the diverse cultures in corinth to be jarring to say the least.

[4] donghae has every right to be pissed b/c warprize may sounds not that bad in meaning BUT in the context of his situation, donghae was won in a war aka literally the spoils of war so he is not even consider his own person anymore, he is a thing, a prize to be fought over and acquired so YEAAAA. To break it down even more, warprize is a very archaic system established several thousand years ago when countries were much smaller and people fought over things like women/men, land, resources and warprize are the spoils the winners of those war came out with, sometimes this means land, very valuable and cultural artifact, precious jewels, and very rarely it is even a person b/c ya know HUMANS we are selfish and greedy little buggers :D~ anyway, when the warprize status is given to a person it means that person cease to exist as entity onto themself but exist solely for the sake of the country/tribe and the ruler that won them. For as long as they exist they belong to the land that conquered them and the king that owned their body, heart, soul etc and they can never return to their homeland and old life again, even if they were royalty b/c they are no longer a person but a trophy!! In theory, warprize is very similar to slavery but it’s not since they don’t serve at their ‘owner’ at all, they are decorative piece that holds no power and their only value is how much their ‘owner’ wanted them and they can never be bought free like slaves and like Donghae mention even in death they are not free of their status as warprize :((. But this system hasn’t exist in the last hundreds of years (it still exist in places where there are isolated pockets of civilizations that aren’t let’s say ‘forward’ in time but each culture has their own version of ‘warprize’ and how they are treated and thought of), except in donghae’s case of course. 

So what can we take from this?? Well warprize isn’t a kind system, it is actually very humiliating and degrading for one with such a high born status like Donghae, a prince, to fall like that. So even though Hyukjae treated Donghae VERY KINDLY AND NEVER ABUSE/HURT HIM in anyway this IS STILL VERY CRUEL, but before you raise a pitchfork at Hyukjae, he has his own reason for doing so and since we only have donghae’s pov we’re still much in the dark, so hyukjae’s reasons will be explore more throughout the story~. It doesn’t excuse his action though but it’s nice to have a little perspective on his side. Wow, sorry for the super long end notes but since this isn’t a full length fic I feel like I had to explain a lot of things that I wasn’t able to fit into the fic for w/e reason.