………..Chapter 22…………

While Jinki’s second cousin once removed spent the rest of the night “compassionately” caring for the sick King and Queen, secretly waiting for them to transform or better yet, die, his loyal lackey did his dirty work….

Bound and muzzled stuffed into a sack while Heechul dressed like a common drifter, to go unnoticed, carrying them through the outskirts of town after town…It took 2 days to travel to the far edge of the kingdom. When he arrived to the heavenly landscape Heechul didn’t even bother getting off his horse; he untied the sack from where he sat on the saddle and turned it upside down; it was morning when the animals were woken up when they were suddenly dumped out of the bag in to Emerald Fields. Disorientated, tired, and weak from lack of oxygen and food and the pain of being cramped up and hitting the hard ground afterwards from a high height, they groaned sorely; the sudden bright morning sunlight stung their eyes; they squinted and shielded them. And before they could say or do anything, they saw a blurry vision of Heechul’s horse taking off leaving them there to perish.

Stunned at what had just happened they stared at the horse galloping speedily away. With a quivering chin and teary eyes, Taemin stumbled weakly towards his husband. “I’m scared. I don’t want to die, Jinki.” He landed in a soft hug, pillowing his face into Jinki’s furry chest as he cried.

The Crown Prince wrapped his arm around his tiny husband and murmured “I know, love. It will be ok.”

The teeny solider, clenched his jaw and turned away from the sight of the traitor leaving them. He swiftly hopped onto the Crown Prince’s shoulder and addressed everyone. “We must stop Leeteuk! We must hurry and get our princes back. I will find a spot high enough to climb and see our surroundings maybe I can plot a course on how to get out of here. We can’t start our trek through the Kingdom exhausted and weak and on an empty stomach thus Kibum and Jonghyun find food and water for their highnesses. We must gather our strength and as soon as we eat and rest we will be ready for the long journey back to get them were they rightfully belong: The SHINee Palace.”

Frightened, Kibum questioned worriedly “But how long until we fully transform? Go back? But we don’t even know if we can change back to men. What if we reach the palace and…”A tear fell from Kibum’s sleek eye and his red furry ears drooped. “…You heard them talking; we will eventually lose the ability to speak hangul. We can’t march into the palace speaking with animal vocals. And even if we do make it back in time before we lose our voices, what can we do? Is Hyung-nim going to rule a kingdom as a baby bunny? No because sadly he will one day lose his human voice all together even if we do make it home.  This is useless! We are going to die here.”

Minho proudly sprung onto the tip of Kibum’s nose. “Kibum, it is not useless. The King’s army never gives up! We will fight for hyung-nim and his family and that means we die trying no matter the cost. We aren’t full animals yet, we have hearts and minds of men and we will use our last remaining life as men to do what we can, while we can. Our attempt will not be in vain because even if our minds forget and turn animalistic, the heavens will know we did the right thing until our last human breath. And if we do not make it then we will just see each other in the halls of our forefathers in heaven for we will have died a faithful and honorable death. You maybe a young official back at the palace, but out here, you are a soldier! You and Jonghyun, we are the only army and hope Prince Jinki and Prince Taemin have right now and our duty is to get our Crown Prince and his husband home. I, Chief Choi Minho of the royal shinee guard will die saving the Crown and Kingdom rather than die out here without dignity doing nothing while Leeteuk hurts our King and Queen. So I will do something and you two will you join me, my brothers.”

Jonghyun bowed his head respectfully. “I will be honored to die trying.”

“What if we completely change on our way and forget who we are and end up eating each other like those sick souls want us too?” Kibum asked nervously.

“And that is why we must hurry.” Minho replied.

Taemin and Jinki walked over and hugged the three of them. “We can do this” Jinki said confidently. Kibum chuckled weakly as another tear slipped from his eye. “I don’t want to hurt anyone; Jinki, Taemin, forgive me if I eat you if I forget I am a man.”  Jonghyun asked for forgiveness too just in case, knowing clearly he and Kibum would more than likely attack them. “Me too hyung, Taeminah. Hopefully  I’ll be a dog that hates to eat cats and bunnies.”

“There will be nothing to forgive. This is not our fault.” Jinki said softly.

Kibum whispered “I will live the rest of my life getting you and prince Taemin back to the place. There is a huge chance we will die on our way back or lose our human selves and that is also a death. I rather die trying to get home and save the crown then die here doing nothing. It will be an honor to die with the four of you and an honor dying doing the right thing.  If we make it back and are able to talk, we will make that bastard pay for what he has done.”

Taemin added “We must also find out what happened to Jinki’s parents. Do you think they will be brought here once they morph?”

Jinki was very hopeful and optimistic. “It’s been 24 hours and they were sicker than we were so they should be mice by now. Mice are small; he could easily keep them hidden until they lose their human voices so they can’t tell anyone what he and Heechul have done to them. So maybe they are trapped in the palace somewhere so we must at least try to get back to them and save them from wherever he has hidden them.”

Minho hopped off Kibum’s nose and onto Taemin’s furry black shoulder “Ok, we must hurry and rest up…. Everybody hands, um..paws in, Loyalty on three for The Crown.”

Jonghyun stuck out his blonde paw into the center of the huddle, Kibum’s skinny black paw laid on top of his with Taemin’s teeny one on top of the fox’s, Jinki’s white fluffy paw was so bright against their black fur as it rested on theirs and finally Minho leaped onto the pile of paws and shouted “1, 2,3, Loyalty!”

“Loyalty!” They cheered to pump themselves up before they gathered food to restore what little health they had left before the journey.

....

They looked around; all they could see were blades of tall grass towering all around them. “I’ll need to find a tree so I can get our bearings. There has to be a watering hole or somewhere to eat. Maybe there’s a fruit tree or something.” Minho looked at Jonghyun “May I?” Jonghyun nodded “yes” So Minho hopped on Jonghyun’s head and jumped up and down trying to see above and past the tall grass. “There!” Minho shouted excitedly. “There is a tree. We must go this way.” He pointed in the direction. “Thank you for letting me use your head.”Minho chuckled as he leaped onto the ground.

“Not a problem, its team work. I’m always happy to help out ya know.” He smiled at the little blue Minho who he could tell was embarrassed by his miniature stature. “It’s ok Minho, we will find a way to get you to the man you were.” He said as they all started walking for food.

“I hope so.” The frog said quietly.

Seeing his friend starting to get depressed about their situation Jinki and Taemin remembered The King’s and Queen’s advice from years ago…

“People of our regal station in life must let the people see what they need to see and be who they need you to be .Example:  If they need a smile in scary desperate times, you give them that smile, the hope, the faith. It is our duty to our people.”

So just like a true prince, Taemin gave hope to his subjects “I know so.” Taemin said with a hopeful smile to keep their spirits up.

The Crown Prince smiled at his husband. “Each one of you is a part of me. The thing that makes each of you special, Minho the brave, Jonghyun the playful, Kibum the wise and Taemin the pure.. I’m all of those things put together because of our friendship. Without one of the qualities I wouldn’t be the crown prince you all know. I’ve learn a lot from all of you.”

Taemin added “And that is why as long as Jonghyun is a vibrant playful soul and you are a devoted solider and Kibum still has his wisdom and Jinki remains brave and truthful to his heart and kingdom and I too keep a pure heart and trust in Jinki, we will succeed. And if our personalities change we will help the other to recover it the best we can before it’s too late.”  

Minho smiled as he hopped along “You both sound like the king and queen; we won’t let you down, your highnesses.”

“Thank you” They said kindly. “We trust you all” Jinki added as he hopped forward.

….

Once they found the tree Minho tired out his new frog legs and hopped onto the trunk; he stuck like a frog should. He mumbled to himself “this is so weird” They all had a little chuckle.

Slowly crawling up the rough bark of the tree he reached the first limb; he leaped from branch to branch higher and higher to see if he could see anything. He saw a sliver of blue through the leaves.. “I think I see something.” He carefully inched his way along a long branch. He pushed a twig sticking out from the branch he rested upon out of the way. Minho could clearly see now; a crystal blue pond, emerald blades of grass stretching forever in a huge majestic meadow sprinkled with colorful wild flowers. A few trees here and there and patches of wild flowers the most breathtaking colors he had ever seen besides the time he was in the Queen’s Garden. He turned his head to look behind himself; he saw a tree line of dark trees. “Ok we won’t go that direction.” he mumbled to himself. “I think I see the Black woods from here. Heechul dumped us rather close to it. We must be deep in the Emerald Fields. It’s going to take us days to get out of here.” He yelled down. Below they all groaned; Jonghyun rolled his eyes “Jerk, did that on purpose. If we all don’t kill each other then something in there will if we get lost and venture in there once we are all fully transformed.”

If Kibum had fingers he would have clenched his fists, “When I get my hands on him, I’m going to kill him. He is a disgrace to his title” the fox muttered to himself.

Minho saw a bush full of berries in the distance “Jonghyun-ssi gather some berries, they are north of here. Kibum and I will lead the princes to the water to the east. Meet us there.”

“I don’t have hands, Minho; I can’t pick berries.” The puppy frowned as his degrading form was brought to his attention. He didn’t want Minho to be sad about his form but yet he felt bad about his own suddenly as he looked at his paws where hands should be. “What if I never play an instrument again” he thought to himself. “I really don’t want to die. I hope we make it.”

The wise fox suggested “We should find an apple tree or something and you could knock them down and we could eat them before we drink from the pond together. Besides we don’t know if those berries are poisonous to us. Do you see an apple tree or any fruit trees?”

Minho frowned as well. “Sorry, Jonghyun I guess I’m not use to you all being four legged with paws.”

“It’s alright.”  Jonghyun tucked his tail down, ashamed for the 1^st time in his entire life of his lowly status which Leeteuk choose to depict as a dog.

“Right, I’ll look for a fruit tree.” Minho said. Taemin lifted his little black paw and petted the canine. “Jonghyun hyung, Its ok. We’ll fix this. We all feel really sad about what has happened to us. Think of Minho, he is normally a tall powerful solider and he is a tiny dart frog that can easily get squashed. Our Prince once a strapping handsome gentleman with the highest title in the world other than his father, now just a mockery of his formal self as a harmless adorable fluff ball.”

Jinki took his cue from his husband and turned playful; Just like Taemin did moments ago, Jinki took his mother’s advice and tried to lift his spirits too “Hey, I’m not adorable. I’m the crown Prince” Jinki said with an eye smile and lowered his ears to the front of his poofy white tokki cheeks and used his ears to buing buing with instead of his paws;  Making Jonghyun laugh and feel better about himself. Taemin and Kibum chuckled along as well. “I’ll be positive” Jonghyun said to the two princes.

“Good, we all must be. I have faith we will make it, so you all should too.” Jinki said while he and Taemin hugged him. Kibum joined the hug with a gentle nuzzle of his head against them; they all agreed to have faith. “We’ll make it” Taemin murmured softly reassuring them with the Crown Prince.  The strong royal couple never showed a sign of weakness in front of the others just like the King and Queen trained them to do in a time of crisis and it worked.

High above them in the tree the frog yelled down once more “There, is a fruit tree. I see it!. Let’s start off in that direction” Minho shouted down to them while pointing his right front webbed foot. “You guys go on; I’ll climb down and be right behind you.”

Jonghyun lead prince Taemin in the direction he told them through the tall grass. Jinki and Kibum watched Minho climb down……

Having left the others behind Taemin and Jonghyun were on their way when a colorful butterfly flew in front of Jonghyun’s nose; his puppy instincts suddenly kicked in and took over against his will; he got distracted and wanted to play with it, “Arf Arf!” he playfully chomped his jaws and took off chasing after it leaving Taemin alone. “Jonghyun!”

…

Hearing his husband scream in the distance Jinki snapped his head in the direction the voice came, staring at the thick barrier of grass separating them. “Taemin” he breathed. “Taemin! Jonghyun! Is everything alright!?” He hopped a step away from the tree. His nose wiggled anxiously as he waited for them to call back to him but they didn’t...his ears stood up at alert; he tried again. “Taemin! Jonghyun!?” Jinki looked over his shoulder and ordered “Kibum stay with Minho, make sure he gets down safely. I am going on ahead to check on them.” Jinki quickly bounded off in their direction.

….

The kitten went in search of Jonghyun but he was too fast. “Jonghyun! Hyung, come back! You’re going the wrong way. Why are you running? The fruit tree is this way Minho said!” …Taemin yelled the puppy’s name a few more time as he raced into the blades of grass that was swooshing around in the wake of the dog’s haste. Taemin soon lost sight of the puppy but he heard him bark again and then once more really faintly, quickly losing any sign of him. Within seconds of the last bark Taemin was left frightened and stranded all alone.

Having lost him he called out again franticly after hearing the faint bark “Jonghyun! Jonghyun!” Prince Taemin’s lip started to tremble, his chin quivered and with eyes beginning to fill with tears he breathed “Jonghyun, oh no.”….….He panted and panicked; He stopped running because he had gotten faint; he was already weak ever since they had gotten ill and then later transforming in to a tiny baby cat that the running made his weaken body worse; he felt lightheaded. He blinked and tears finally fell, and rolled down his soft black cheeks “Jinki. Oh no I got lost. Jinki! JINKI!!!” He looked behind himself then in the direction of Jonghyun. He didn’t know which way to go. If he should wait or turn back…then he realized he had run too far himself and didn’t know how to get back…..

….

Alone as well in the tall grass Jinki heard the bark two more times and Taemin scream his name; he thought one of them had gotten hurt “Taemin” he gasped “I’m coming!” Thinking his husband was in danger Jinki couldn’t take it; he dashed even faster, as fast as his chunky bunny legs would carry him. Back at the tree the shouting startled the chief; Minho slipped from the tree and fell from the branch. “Minho!” Kibum padded over to where he thought he had fallen, but he didn’t see him on the ground. Kibum walked all around the area but he couldn’t find him; he thought: since he couldn’t see him it must be because he was too tiny in the tall grass but it was just a piece of bark that fell in to the grass from the tree when Choi fell. Kibum couldn’t see the teeny tiny blue dot that was Minho being carried by the wind in the opposite direction and that was the real reason he couldn’t find the frog laying amongst the tree roots: he blew away in a sudden gush of wind during the fall from the tree branch as the chunk of bark continued down, falling to the ground. 

….…

“Taemin where are you!” The Crown prince shouted; just like Taemin he couldn’t see anything but the towering wall of grass all around him. “I love you, I’ll find you!” he said more to himself than to Taemin who was out there in the vastness somewhere.

…….

“Minho! Where’d you go?” Kibum wondered around the area nervously searching for Chief Choi “Come on, no playing. Jinki hyung said we have to stick together.”

…….

Jonghyun blinked and narrowed his brows in confusion as he came out of his blackout; never knowing he had ran away after a butterfly. “Taemin-ah, where’d you go?” Jonghyun walked in a circle looking for his group. No trees, no berry bushes, no apple tree and no pond. He never made it to where Minho instructed him to take prince Taemin; he froze noticing he had no clue where he was or what happened.  “Where am I? Oh no, I got lost. How’d I even?… Taemin! Jinki! Minho! Kibum!!. Help! Help! HELP ME!” He started back in the direction he thinks he might have come from. “Help me! I think my brain is turning canine! I don’t want to be a dog!” He whimpered to himself. “I don’t want to be a dog” He repeated in a mumble.  He took a deep breath and tried to up his feelings for the crown and princes. “I’ll find you Taemin before I turn. I won’t let hyung-nim down. I promise I won’t eat you if I find you. I can do this!” He pep talked himself up before he got depressed again and set off more determined to find his best friends: his brothers.

…….

Minho shouted for Kibum as he traveled on the air current but the fox couldn’t hear his little voice in the wind. High in the air, as he flew farther away, he saw Kibum with his head down poking it around the foot of the tree; obviously he was looking for Minho. “Kibum! Kibum!” He shouted in vain until he landed with a tiny thud far away. As soon as he was returned to the earth he immediately began his long trek back to the tree. With his size he knew it could possibly take him half a day so he leaped as fast as he could to kill as much time as possible.  However being so minuscule and so close to the ground he wasn’t even sure if he was going the correct way: unable to see much but thick blades of emerald grass as wide as his whole face right in front of him….

…….

All of them lost their way and spent the rest of the day looking for one another. Lost, further and further they ventured deeper in to the heavenly emerald grass until nightfall….  Taemin had found a pond, but he wasn’t sure if it was the right one Minho had seen from the treetop. He drank from the cool water……The sun had set behind the horizon; Taemin curled himself into a ball next to some lovely roses he found near the pound which made him think of his husband and the red rose he gave Jinki for his coming of age present.  He smelled the pretty scent “I love you Jinki, We’ll find each other.” His voice to hoarse from shouting so much all day long, his meek cries of help came out in a low whimper. “Jinki my love, my sweet angel prince..” The kitten tucked his paw close to his chest feeling his own heartbeat, he felt it thump. It didn’t feel like an animal’s, it felt human to him and he had faith and knew somewhere out there his regal husband’s was beating like a man’s as well with the same rhythm. “…please find me.” He thought: if this was the pond he should stay here and wait for the others and his husband.

Jinki remained optimistic in hopes if he stayed brave and happy and not let depression get to him it would help keep his human thoughts longer and keep the ill toxin, transforming his cells in his body and brain, at bay….He stumbled upon a patch of vegetables. He was starving from not eating since his wedding a few days ago. He pulled a carrot from the ground and then another. After he was stuffed he became tired…

They fell asleep all trying their hardest to hang on to their human selves that they all felt was quickly slipping away from them…..……But sadly when they had awoken after that 1^st night in Emerald Fields the poison stripped their minds… There was a trace of memory, although very minuscule; they knew they were suppose to be looking for something or someone when they woke up but were not sure what or who it was….and by next  morning that followed after that one, they stopped searching all together for they had no memory of their past lives any longer…..

……………….

As more days passed they thought they had always lived there….During the 2 and half months they had been lost Taemin almost found his way out of Emerald fields one night and that is where he met other cats, real cats that were wondering around the edge of the heavenly land. Taemin had come across a big brick wall. He pounced and was able to land on top of it. He smiled when he saw other cats on the other side down below. He jumped the wall but when the other felines couldn’t understand his human language, Hangul, they didn’t’ want to play with him. He felt sad and jumped right back over into Emerald Fields….Jonghyun had found Taemin one afternoon moping about the wall next to a puddle of rain water; he looked scared and lonely and very sad. Jonghyun smiled and introduced himself and vowed to cheer him up until he found what could make him smile: which would have been his husband although they didn’t know it at the time that that was the thing his heart needed to smile. They played together a few times over the weeks but one day Taemin forgot who Jonghyun was all over again. That day Jonghyun saw the black kitten drinking from a pond and wanted to play with him again but accidently scared him half to death since Taemin had no memory of him, which led to the Kitten darting away from the clearing and into the lush think grass and eventually landing on Jinki’s bunny chest.  When Taemin bumped in to Jinki, he was a happy little tokki and brave when Taemin found him since Jinki had fought hard to remain that way the night they all fell asleep that 1^st night in Emerald Fields: in hopes that that would keep him as human as long as possible and help him keep his memoires…. When Taemin had ran into Jinki they may not have remembered who each other were at the time but their hearts did, which trigged their headache filled flashbacks: Their souls trapped inside their animal bodies trying to scream out and reconnect to the other….

...Later that day that the kitten had ran into and landed on Jinki is when they all found each other again…….Kibum had been lost alone the whole time too after being separated, it wasn’t until he heard Jinki and Taemin talking after they re-met as animals near the tree that he remembered he was lost but that was all he could remember at that time….. Minho was confused every day he woke up though and climbed the tree for that was the last thing he did with the prince he was sworn to protect and guide home (although he didn’t remember any of it) but his human side was fighting hard which to the frog it just felt like a gut feeling telling him to do that every day and soon he started to wonder if he was lost, which was indeed what his human side was trying to tell him: to look for the two princes and get them back to the palace!  Minho also had a feeling not to eat certain fruits; he felt safer this way but at the time he didn’t know why until he re-met Kibum after they all had forgotten and re-met one another 2 and half months later when he had fell out of the tree and onto the bunny’s shoulder and the cat tried to swat at him while Kibum had yelled “he’s poisonous!” Jonghyun finally caught up to the long lost group of brothers after Minho fell from the tree…..  They all were confused as to why the puppy knew Taemin but the younger couldn’t remember. Having thought they just met for the 1^st time they wondered: why do the others seem familiar? How did they get there? Were they once human? How come they can’t remember anything? Why did it hurt to remember? They wondered, never knowing it was the poison in their blood: that their every cell was fighting against them making it painful to remember and to even think as the poison ate at their brains tampering with their memories trying to change them into animals forever………Being reunited all together again, it sparked countless questions and once they figured out they may have known one another the quest began to find answers to their apparent memory loss and a way out of Heaven’s garden thus they began their journey together once more……

As they traveled they smelled the lovely floral scent of flowers that led them to the angel by late afternoon. She asked them to lay down and rest so she could help return their memoires before it was too late, before they fully transformed and lost everything that made them men. She waved her right hand over their heads after placing a flower petal on their foreheads to ease their pain; her heavenly power made them close their eyes and slip peacefully into a dream-like state where all their memories could be restored….