It was a not much known fact that Wufan was not the oldest of the Guardians.

People looked at his towering height, his stern expression, his commanding presence as one half of the Guardians’ leader and just immediately assumed it. And Wufan never said anything to contradict it.

It was not that he didn’t want to admit that he was in fact, younger than Minseok or Luhan. Nor did he purposely hide it.

It was, as simple as it was, forgotten.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He was eight years old when he first entered the Haven Sanctuary. A scrawny kid, with arms and limbs that started to grow longer than his small body, he was awkward and quiet.

There were already three other boys staying there, the Matron told him, two of them older than him. Wufan was glad of that fact; he was feeling rather overwhelmed by everything and would like someone older he can look up to.

That changed though, when the Head Teacher told him that he would be one of the leaders of this generation’s future Guardians. Wufan didn’t know why they had chosen him, though the older man mentioned something about the special sign etched onto his right shoulder, alongside the mark of the Tree. All he knew was that from then on, he would be responsible for these boys.

Joonmyun, another boy who already lived there, was also told of the same thing. In his eyes Wufan saw the same hesitation and fear he was sure etched in his own, both boys trembled at the sudden huge responsibilities they would soon carry. But Joonmyun was so small, his body dwarfed by Wufan’s own taller shadow, his little shoulders seemed too frail to handle the responsibilities that Wufan decided there and then that he would do anything he can to share the larger load of leader’s duties when the time comes.

It was hard at first. Being an only child who lives with only his mother, he had little to none experience with other boys his age. Added that his face had a natural stern expression on, making others slightly wary of him at first glance, he was deathly afraid that the others won’t accept him so easily. 

Yet surprisingly they all become close soon enough, along with the other boys who come after them. Perhaps it was because it was already ingrained in them, the affection and bond that tied them all together along with their future duties, but soon enough Wufan felt as if he had always been in the Sanctuary all his life, along with these boys he’d come to know and loved and called his brothers.

Wufan learned to leave a candle out on the bedside table for Jongin who’s afraid of the dark, or what kind of food that Minseok likes best when the older boy was feeling blue. He knew how sensitive Tao is and always gave him an extra longer and tighter hug and to gently pulled Chanyeol away when the other boy was being too hyper-active and disturbing the others. When it stormed he would let Jongdae dragged him to the open courtyard so the younger boy can danced happily under the rain and clapped excitedly with each booming thunder, the kittenish grin on his face matched with Wufan’s gummy smile. He learned to make a makeshift nest out of clumps of grass and dried leaves to keep every injured lizard or birds or any other small animals that Yixing found and pleaded to keep until it heal.

They all lived and played and studied together, excited over their future Guardianships and respected Wufan and Joonmyun as their leaders. Even Luhan and Minseok, the two older boys, accepted his leadership without a struggle, something that Wufan was worried about before and bit by bit he forgot about his previous concern.

Yet there was one time when he’d been in the Sanctuary for three years. By that time all of the future Guardians had been rounded up, the two groups already assigned with their respective leader.

The boys had a rare day off and wasted no time to play around the Sanctuary. It was a simple game of hide and seek, something that Wufan excels at because he knew each and every corner and nook of the place where his younger brothers like to hide. When Wufan had rounded up the last boy, Luhan had laughed and stand on tip-toes to ruffle his hair, commenting him on his excellent searching skill.

Wufan had stood stock still for a minute, recovering from the display of affection. He had been preparing to be the leader for so long that he’d forgotten that he wasn’t the oldest there.

That small incident was quickly forgotten, though, as the boys grew up. Wufan himself didn’t think much about it anymore, too busy to watch over his brothers while at the same time preparing to bear his responsibility as a leader.

Just like that, the fact was just simply forgotten.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Wufan sighed as he rolled his neck, trying to ease the stiffness there. His eyes were burning and his muscles ached with fatigue and he would like nothing more than to sleep.

The last few weeks have been hectic, to say the least. The whole land of Zolora had been strike with a strange plague, crippling almost one-third of its population. Luckily it wasn’t a life-threatening disease; it only rendered the patient into a high fever that left the body so weak that it couldn’t do much besides lying down.

The illness had spread rapidly from the kingdom’s borders to reach the capital in just under two weeks, where it infected most of the castle’s inhabitants. Several of the Elders had fell sick, and some of the Guardians too, and Wufan had run around here and there to keep the government running.

With more than half the Elders and the Guardians bed-ridden, it fell on to the remaining ones to still run the kingdom, making sure that the government won’t run to the ground and arranging the distribution of medicine and healers to all over the land.

Previously Wufan had shared this burden with Joonmyun, but the smaller leader had fallen ill with the disease three days ago, along with three more Elders the day after and Luhan and Minseok after that.

There was still Yixing, but the Guardian of Healing was busy himself with helping the castle’s infirmary caring for the sick people, while Jongin was much too young and Wufan tried to not tasked the younger man with too much.

That meant it left Wufan practically alone with trying to run the kingdom, and he was almost at his wits’ end.

In a