Journey 39

They appeared in the middle of nowhere on the Devara Desert. The moment Chanyeol and Luhan touched the rough grains of sand, Luhan stretched his fingers and snakes floated from beneath the ground. He then charged the reptiles towards Chanyeol but Chanyeol waved them off with a swipe of his hands. Then he swiped it again and the snakes reappeared towards Luhan.

"Don't you play dirty on me." Luhan snarled.a

With a swift motion the snakes retracked themselves towards Chanyeol and this time, a hundred scorpions floated with it. Chanyeol gulped and vanished just in time the scorpions and the snakes landed the spot he was standing seconds earlier. Then he reappeared behind Luhan and tried to charge at him but the latter merely smirked. He took one large step and he floated in mid-air while Chanyeol was left with a thousand snakes slithering on his feet.

"How many snakes does this desert has?!" Chanyeol wiped them all away with his hands but he was caught off guard as Luhan reinforced it with a hundred knives.

Chanyeol vanished again and landed on a spot where there was no gravity. He floated like Luhan too and the two battled in midair. Luhan made all sorts of weapons float towards him while Chanyeol made them all vanish and retracked them towards Luhan. When they hit a spot where the ground had gravity, the two of them fell instantly on the ground.

Luhan was the first one to stand up. He dug something from his pocket and pulled out a tiny, shining black pearl.

"Do you think you're the only one who has this?" he sneered. "Prepare yourself brother, because you'll get to see Jinri again."

Chanyeol's eyes widened as he realized what Luhan was trying to do. Before the black pearl touched Luhan's lips, Chanyeol grabbed him by the neck and strangled him down.

"No you will not involve Jinri here!!!" he shouted angrily.

Luhan was turning purple from Chanyeol's clasp but he still managed to smirk.

"You are so weak Chanyeol." then he dug a knife he concealed on his sleeve on Chanyeol's stomach. Chanyeol spurted blood and loosen his grip on Luhan's neck. Luhan turned Chanyeol around and gasped for breath. Then he dug the knife deeper in his brother's intestines.

"You were also predictable when it comes with that human." he tutted. "Which makes me stronger and throne-worthy than you." he emphasized angrily. "I hate you because King Iyo chose to love you than me. I hate you for that!" and he dug the knife - if possible - deeper.

Chanyeol groaned. His mind was in daze. Yet he can clearly hear everything Luhan says.

"I hate you because I don't have any happy family and you do! And now we're even don't we?"

Chanyeol laughed while more blood trickled from his mouth.

"B-but I d-don't Luhan." he said, placing a brotherly arm around Luhan. "I don't hate you at all. Because we're brothers."

Luhan's eyes widened. His fingers loosen the knife and stared at Chanyeol in bewilderment.

"I just killed your parents ." he grunted. "I made you kill a person. I tortured your friends. And yet you still don't hate me? Are you ing out of your mind?! HUH?!"

Luhan was so angry that he completely abandoned the knife and punched Chanyeol instead. 

"You think I'm a fool?! You think I'll soften because of your lies?! You think I'll be weak like you?! You think I treat you as my brother?!" Luhan continued as he sent each punch on his every sentence.
"Y-yes." Chanyeol gagged through his mouthful of stenching blood. "I w-will always remember those soft eyes you gave me when I told you and Kai that you two are m-my f-family. T-that Luhan... is the only time I can r-remember that you are g-genuinely h-happy."
" YOU!"
"LUHAN! THAT'S ENOUGH LUHAN!" Jongin appeared behind Luhan and grappled his arms with the help of Chen.
"W-what are you doing h-here?" Chanyeol asked blankly. It was not a part of their plan.
"Aiding you of course." Jongin said. He was in bruised and wounded also, but not as worse as Chanyeol this time. "We used a couple of remaining black pearls to send ourselves here."
"LET GO OF ME KAI!" Luhan continued struggling. Involuntary tears were starting to trickle down his soft, porcelain cheeks. "Let go of me because I want to beat every piece of on this guy!"
"You hate him too much Luhan even when Chanyeol's just a kid! Grow up!" Jongin shouted over his cries. Although he was angry at Luhan's treachery, a part of him had still made him remember of the times when they were friends. "Stop hating Chanyeol and yourself."
"I don't need your pity!" Luhan snapped. "I just want to kill Chanyeol!"
"No." Chanyeol clutched his stomach and tried to stand up hopelessly. Sehun and Baekhyun ran to his aid and supported him. "No Luhan, you don't want to kill me. You want to receive my love as a family don't you? But you just don't know how when you were so angry at the world and to yourself."

Luhan met Chanyeol's soft, warm eyes. His lips trembled and he knelt down. Jongin let go of him and stared at his former friend pitily.

"I just want to be loved." Luhan choked. "Is that too much to ask?"

Chanyeol dragged himself towards Luhan and knelt down much to his pain. He knew he was losing too much blood but he doesn't care. Chen gave him warning looks but Chanyeol casted it all aside. If Luhan had still one knife left on his sleeve and he'll use it on Chanyeol again, then Chanyeol don't care anymore. Right now, he was a brother. Not an enemy.

"I love you brother." Chanyeol hugged Luhan. He sniffed his tears back but he couldn't control the waterworks. The salty drops kept on falling on Luhan's shirt until it gets damp. "It is not yet too late for us."

* * *

It took a week for Chanyeol to finally wake up. The sun was at its brightest shine - like it was suggesting that it was another day to start over. A hope that everything is not yet too late. That everything will be fine again.

"You're awake!" Sehun exclaimed and stood up from his chair. He vanished on the door only to reemerge with a large tray of food with him. "You need to eat so you can take back all those days you were asleep."
"I'm not hungry." Chanyeol grunted but his stomach opposed loudly, making the younger one chuckle.
"Kai cooked all these foods so eat them all up!"

Chanyeol grinned and started eating his breakfast.

"How's my people Sehun?" he asked.
"They're doing fine." Sehun grinned. "The EKs were working together to rebuild their homes. The EMs were locked down the cellar, and well... Kai did all the leadership while you were still asleep."

Chanyeol nodded in approval.

"Kai has a big heart. Do you know that he already dedicated and loved Exo even before he sets foot in here?"
"I didn't know that, but I guess it was predictable." Sehun laughed. "How are your wounds?"
"Healing." Chanyeol replied. Then slowly, he dropped his spoon and looked sadly at Sehun.

A long pause followed after that. Then, Sehun finally spoke up.

"I miss Lay." he said, echoing Chanyeol's thoughts.
"He's in good hands now." Chanyeol smiled.
"I know." Sehun answered. "Here."

Chanyeol caught a tiny, black gem and stared blankly at it.

"When we were still preparing for battle, Lay told me that if he ever got killed, I should give his black pearl to you." Sehun muttered softly. "He said you'll know where you'd use that."

Loud footsteps echoed down the hall and Chen's head popped in.

"Good morning Prince Yeol! About time you wake up! Come down here, the EKs are waiting for you."

Sehun supported Chanyeol until he can stand up all by himself. The two of them followed Chen which led them outside the veranda with a sea of cyan welcoming below them.

"Hail Prince Yeol!"
"Our savior!"
"Welcome back Your Highness!!!"

Jongin and Baekhyun appeared silently beside Chanyeol. Chanyeol gave him a brotherly pat and winked at him. Then he faced his people and raised a hand, making the crowd fall silent.

"Once, a shepherd told me that he lost faith in me." he started. "But then someone told me that I should get too hard on myself. The thing here, my people of Exo, is that this is not only my victory. Before the uprising I kept reminding you that we should support, trust and love each other because that's all what we've got. And we did. We were finally free."

Louder cheers followed his first paragraph. Chanyeol let everyone to tone down before he continued, with a much firmer tone.

"But what I did realize here is that no matter how powerful I was or whose blood was running through my veins, I will always be not enough to lead you all."

Jongin snapped his head towards Chanyeol with a large frown in his face.

"Why? Because I have my heart torn into two places." Chanyeol continued. "The one is in Earth, and the one is in Exo. I thought hard of this even when we are still captives. I realized that I could never lead you all when there was a large part of my heart that has its attention. I left it on the foreign planet. Will you, by any chance, can understand your prince?"
"So you're leaving us?" one woman asked from the crowd.
"Yes." Chanyeol answered straightforwardly. "And I'm leaving you with a leader who showed greater passion for Exo than me." Chanyeol grabbed Jongin's wrists and dragged him in front of him. "You have seen how Kai worked the hardest for us. You have seen how devoted he was to our planet. Tell me, would anyone accept our new king? Where royal blood and magical powers don't matter anymore?"

Everyone was silent for awhile until a hand shot up, followed by another, and another one. Chen, Baekhyun, Sehun and Chanyeol raised their hands too. Jongin looked at the stream of hands voting for his reign. He looked at Chanyeol with hesitant eyes.

"I can't do this alone Chanyeol."
"You are not alone because our friends are with you." Chanyeol smiled. "And I.... am going home."