THIS TOOK SUCH A LONG TIME TO FINISH AND TURNED WAAAY LONGER THAN I EXPECTED OMG ISI IMMA KILL YOU!!

Chanyeol slowly lowers himself into the snow, watching as the huge snow wolf sniffs their tracks meters away from him and praying that Chen’s sent-changing magic will work. Beside him Minseok covers, barely visible under his large, white, winter coat and on his other side Chen is almost completely melting into the snow. The group of identically dressed humans with a large black wand on their chests behind the wolf scan the area carefully and Chanyeol ducks even lower down. The wolf lets out a bark and Chanyeol lets out a breath of relief as it takes off in the opposite direction from where they’re hiding. The group behind immediately tug their reins of the wolves attached to their sleighs and follow their tracker.

"That was too close" Minseok mutters and Chanyeol has to agree. The group has been hunting them for more than half a year now; across Taemin's territory, over the golden fields and several cities. They’re currently in the high mountains and the group is catching up to them.

“Why are they even hunting us?” Chanyeol whispers as he hears the now familiar horn in the distance, getting further away.

“Probably have something to do with Chen” Minseok mutters and glances towards said man.

“Oh right, so we’re blaming the person who just made sure that you’re not lying on the ground in a pool of your own blood now” Chen bites back. “Next time I’ll make sure the track leads them right here and kill the both of you.”

 “We weren’t blaming you, just speculating.” Chanyeol says slowly and frowns towards the wizard. They’re all tired from the hunt and the cold climate does nothing to lighten their mood which has led to one too many arguments during the last few days. “And you have to admit that they’re probably after you.”

“Well why couldn’t they be after the freaking prince of the country, huh? I mean, you can’t say that the crown has no enemies.” Chen says and Chanyeol is about to tell him that the crown is actually very popular in these peaceful times but Minseok irrupts him.

“Let’s not fight right now guys, we need to get away from this snow. There is a town down at the river. If we just can get off this god-awful mountain we can discus those people later. It should take about a day if we get going right now” He says and rise up from the snow.

Chanyeol swallows any harsh words and takes a deep breath before he stands up. Their horses are long gone, sold before they started climbing the mountains, and Chanyeol look forwards to getting down from the mountain so that they can purchase new ones. Minseok grabs Chen by the amulet and as usual the wizard looks extremely displeased. Chen always hates being carried but in the mountain he doesn’t really have a choice with the meter deep snow.

“I hope that town has a nice bar” Chanyeol mutters to himself as he starts to fight through the snow.

It does have a nice bar. It’s homey, cosy and with great stay in rooms. They had hidden Chen under a large coat as they walked in are now happily situated in a room with a warm fire place.

“Let’s go down to the bar and get something to eat, no one recognised you so it shouldn’t be a problem” Minseok suggests and behind him Chen frowns.

“Can’t you just order food?” The wizard ask, lying comfortably on the bed. “I mean, it would be stupid if you got drunk right now.”

“We wouldn’t get drunk, we’re not stupid” Chanyeol says with a wave and walks towards the door, Minseok following with a grin.

“Are you sure about that?” Chen screams just as the door closes and Chanyeol cracks up as they walk away from the room.

“It’s funny how he still doesn’t trust us after almost a year” He tells Minseok and the other hums in agreement.

“I think all those years as a ghost has made him grumpy.” The knight answers as they walk into the bar. “He’s quite nice for a ghosty-wizard but right now I feel like he’s being ridiculous, we’re just getting a drink. Not getting drunk.”

Chanyeol doesn’t really knows how it happens. One moment the bartender is grinning at him while handing him “the bars special” and the next the room is spinning and Minseok is gone. He’s been dancing (or trying to) with several people and his insides are feeling gittery. He tries to sit down on a barstool and fails miserably just as he spots a familiar figure coming towards him.

“Heeyyy Chen!” Chanyeol says happily as the ghost jumps towards them and the guys beside him lets out a chocked noise. “W-whas you’se doin hese?”

“Saving your sorry from complete embarrassment. You’ve been drinking too much” Chen says with a scoff and pulls Chanyeol up on his feet. Small tingles shoots up Chenyeol’s arm from where Chen’s hand is holding his and he burst out in giggles. “Time to go”

“Aww but Chennie~!” Chanyeol whines with a grin and the wizard glares at him.

“Don’t call me that” He says as Chanyeol wobbles and falls heavily on him. “” Chen groans. “This is going to be a hell, hold on and try to walk okay?”

Chanyeol looks down and sees that Chen’s stone is now floating slightly above the ground and he stumbles to keep up as Chen floats away, leaning heavily on the wizards shoulder and feeling cold where their bodies touch. He gazes up at Chen’s face with a blurred vision.

“You have pretty eyes” Chanyeol slurs. “I want to poke them”

“Oh geez, you want to poke my eyes out, how romantic.” Chen answers tiredly and continues to drag Chanyeol toward their room. 

“Not poke them out” Chanyeol explains as he stumbles over the first step of the stair, Chen swearing lightly beside him. “Just touch them and look at them. I wanna see your face when it’s not shimmery, you know. When it’s like human. You have a pretty nice face don’t you?”

“Of course I have” Chen mutters and Chanyeol giggles at the flustered tone of his voice. “But you’ll never be able to see my face if you get faced like this again cause I will leave you faster than you can say the bars special, really what where you thinking?”

“Noo, Chen don’t leave me~!” Chanyeol whines as they reach their apartment, the door swining open on its own and revealing a snoring Minseok on the bed.

Chen doesn’t answer and steers Chanyeol towards the bed. Chanyeol falls down on it, dragging the wizard down with him. Chen is clearly not expecting it and yelps as he’s pushed down on the best next to Chanyeol.

“Promise to stay here forever.” Chanyeol whines, way too loud and Chen flinches away. Chanyeol immediately drags him back with a loud whine. ”Cuddle with me”

“Chanyeol, I can’t cuddle with you, it takes to much energy okay?” Chen says, voice wavering and Chanyeol groans in disappointment. He can’t even feel Chen properly as they lie down and he slowly lets go.

“When you become human again” Chanyeol slurs as his eyes starts to feel heavy. “I’ll cuddle you and then you’ll stay.” He hear Chen sigh and smiles tiredly, his focus waving in and out of sleep. The last thing he can hear before he blackens out is a small whisper from the wizard.

“I guess that wouldn’t be too bad.”

Chanyeol wakes up with several swords pointing at him.

“Rise, oh noble prince Chanyeol” Says the large man dressed in a white robe with a wand on it with a sarcastic tone and Chanyeol blinks the sleep out of his eyes. He barely has the time to realise the situation and swear mentally before he's roughly forced to his feet. He glares at the two men holding him up before he looks around the room, getting a better view of the situation.

Minseok is sitting with his hands bound on the bed and is glaring at the intruders.Their weapons are lying in the corner, too far away to reach and Chen is being held down by the amulet by a small guy, looking absolutely furious..

"What do you want?" Chanyeol asks, trying to put as much authority into his voice as possible and straightens, ignoring the men holding him down.

"Nothing that will hurt you, your majesty" The man says and the title sounds like an insult from his mouth. "We're just gonna take him" He continues and nods towards Chen. Chanyeol does not like the look in his eyes as he looks the wizard up and down.

"Oh Gee, how great" Chen mutters sarcastically and Minseok is wearing his typical "I told you" look.

"You can’t have him.” Chanyeol states. “What do you want with him anyway?"

“We want to find a way to gain the wizards power”The man in front of him says, eyes glued on Chen. “By eating them. This is the first time we find a wizard- spirit and we will not let him go. We've been searching for 20 years!”

 “That is ing sick!” Chen screeches and looks at the man with outright discuss and Chanyeol has to agree. The man is clearly bath- crazy.

"I will not allow you to do that!" He says and furrows his eyebrows and Minseok nods on the bed, quietly struggling towards his binds.

"Well" The man says slowly "You can either let him go or fight us and with all due respect your majesty you're over powered right now" The grin on the man’s face is menacing and Chanyeol grinds his teeth.

"We'll see about that" Chen says and strong wind suddenly flows around the room. "As if I'm going to be eaten by some pity humans."

The wind increases and the men around them looks around in confusion. With their focus rubbed Chanyeol sees his opportunity to escape and quickly slams his shoulder into the face of the captor on his left while simultaneously raising his right foot and kicks his other capturer in the balls. The howls in pain they let out turns back the others attention to him but before they can do anything a wall of wind slams into them all, knocking everyone in the room to the floor, including Chanyeol.

“Go and untie Minseok!” Chen yells from the side and Chanyeol feel the wind around him decrease. As fast as possible he gets to his feet and runs towards Minseok, the wind still strong around him and slowing down his movements. There are screams from all the men around him but Chanyeol ignores them and focus on getting the ropes off Minseok’s wrists.

“I’m so sorry Prince Chanyeol, I have failed you” Minseok screams and Chanyeol is quick to shake his head.

“We can’t blame this on each other!” He says and manages to free Minseok just as the door to the room slams open, revelling more men in cloaks.

“Hurry up!” Chen screams from somewhere in the middle of the room and Minseok makes a dive for their weapons, watching out for the men around them. The wind is decreasing and strength and soon a cloaked man comes running towards Chanyeol with his sword held high. Chanyeol manages to avoid him and looks up just in time to see Minseok throw his sword towards him. It flies through the storm with ease and Chanyeol catches in the air before he swirls around and push it through the chest of his attacker. The man’s eyes widen in chock and Chanyeol quickly jerk his sword out of his body, turning away from the man and the guilt.

Minseok is already fighting various men in cloaks, hurting and killing when there’s no choice. It takes some time for Chanyeol to find Chen and when he does he gets worried over how hard it is to see the man. He’s barely more than a glimmer of light in the room.

With two strong leaps he’s at the wizard, battling off a group of attackers before swiping up the other by the amulet.

“You ok?” He asks, not needing to shout anymore as the wind is basically gone.

“When we get out of this situation I will slaughter you.” Chen answers and Chanyeol can’t help but grin sheepishly. His grin quickly disappears as more men in cloaks burst through the door. Minseok appears beside Chanyeol, his face furrowed in concentration.

“They are too many” He says solemnly and Chanyeol knows that he’s right.

“We’ll just have to jump out of the window” Chen says bitterly and Chanyeol turns to look at him with a frown.

“We’re on the highest floor” He says and the wizard looks at him in annoyance just as Minseok screams to watch out and Chanyeol breaks the eye contact with Chen in order to fend off the attacker.

“Just trust me on this one!” Chen says and they really have no choice. They are severely over-powered and Chanyeol wonders how the crazy guy has managed to make so many people believe in his stupid “eat-the-wizards” theory when most people doesn’t even believe that wizards exists.

“Let’s do as he says!” He screams to Minseok and sets off towards a window to his right. Their attackers are clearly surprised by the move and Chanyeol can easily disarm the ones who are standing in their way. He hears the voice of the first man scream some order just as he crashes into the window, falling out of the room in a rain off glass. He expects himself to keep falling but he doesn’t. Instead he’s flying, soaring towards the water on a wind current. He can hear angry screams behind him and a terrified one from Minseok. He turns around and sees the knight looking down on the city under them with terrified eyes.

“I’m going to dump you in the river!” Comes Chen’s voice right next to Chanyeol’s ear and he barely have time to register the others words before he’s over the water and falling fast. He hits the surface with a large splash and feel a surge of pain from where the water hits him. He immediately starts kicking upwards. Chen’s amulet is weighting him down but he refuses to let it go as the stream starts to take him away. He manage to break the surface and swallow and lungful of air and water. He coughs and hears as Minseok screams his name further up the stream.

“I’m here!” he screams back and tries to blink the water out of his eyes, legs kicking desperately to keep him up.

“Get to the shore!” Minseok screams back and Chanyeol looks around him, trying to gain back his sense of direction. He sees the little town disappear higher up the stream and realises that they are travelling very quickly. They’re lucky that the stream is so small and Chanyeol can almost touch the sore if he stretches out an arm.

He fails the first five time he tries but manages to get a grip off the ground on his fifth try, digging his nails into the soil and finding a stone to hold on to. His body hits the side of the shore and second’s later Minseok’s body slams into him with a grunt. His breath is pressed of his lungs and Chanyeol struggles to breathe as dirt and water flows into his mouth. He splutters and coughs, almost losing his grip of the ground.

"Come on Chanyeol, you have to get up." Minseok grunts and Chanyeol can feel the other trying to push him up on the shore.

Still out of breathe Chanyeol manages to lift his body out of the water, rolling away from the it and taking Chen's amulet with him. He stops himself from spinning when he's safe but drops the amulet at the same time. It rolls some metres away before it stops. Chanyeol struggles to stand on all four, coughing and gasping for air as his head spins. On the side he can hear the distinct sound of Minseok vomiting and it triggers his own gagging reflexes. He vomits all over the ground in front of him, destroying his clothes as some splatters up on his sleeves. He breathes heavily through his nose and tries to stop his head from spinning. His mouth tastes foul and he's struggling not to face plant down in his own vomit.

"We need to get out of here" Comes Minseok’s voice to his left and strong arm grip Chanyeol’s shoulders. "Let’s go into the forest, it's harder for them to find us in there."

Chanyeol is hauled to his feet and he stumbles against Minseok, almost tackling him to the ground. Minseok doesn't bulge and half carries Chanyeol towards the forest, snatching Chen's amulet on the way.

It's not until they're almost amongst the trees that Chanyeol realises that the amulet looks empty.

They don't get far. Minseok stumbles and falls into the first glade they see, groaning as his back hits the ground. Chanyeol falls with him and the amulet rolls into the middle of the glade. Chanyeol's head is still spinning but he forces himself to crawl over to the amulet, desperately looking for a sign of the wizard.

"Chen?" He whispers and his voice breaks. He thinks he sees a glint of something in the grass some metres away from the amulet and shuffles closer to inspect it closer.

"Chen?"

"Your face is like 10 cm from mine, back off you creep” Comes a whisper from underneath him and Chanyeol gasps.

“Chen!” He exclaims.” You’re alive!”

“As I have told you countless of times now I can’t really die” Chen still manages to sound sarcastic even when he's barely visible and Chanyeol breathes out a sigh of relief. Behind them Minseok groans and Chanyeol shifts his attention to his knight. He had assumed that Minseok hadn't been hurt during the fight but maybe he was wrong.

"Are you hurt?" He asks Minseok and the other grimaces.

"Not really, just stuck with a hangover" The knight mutters and turns to look at Chen. "I'm sorry that you had to go through this." Chen shrugs and Chanyeol frowns.

"All of this is my fault" He says with a sigh. "If I hadn't been so stupid and accepted that drink we would have been more prepared for a fight."

“We wouldn’t have been prepared for that fight anyway, they were too many” Minseok mutters and it hurts Chanyeol to know that he’s right.

"I remember that place by the way. The river." Chen suddenly speaks up, just as the sun starts to sink below the horizon and lowers the forest in darkness. "I used to come here with my friends, Kris and Luhan, and later with Liyin. At that time there used to be a little village there, not the one we were at but another one further down the river. It disappeared decades ago, mostly due to a large drought that almost took away the stream. It used to be bigger before, the stream. They used to fish in it and we would secretly help them catch the fish or keep the fish away from them just to annoy them. Life was so simple back then." He says and Chanyeol stares up at the darkening sky, trying to imagine the river large enough to supply a village with fish.

"What happened to them? These people you're talking about. Who were they?" Minseok asks quietly as Chanyeol tries to picture a village around them.

"They died." Chen answers, voice empty of emotions. "It was such a long time ago that I barely remember their faces. Kris and Luhan were wizards and Liyin was a human. Kris and Luhan were my best friends, we did everything together. Both their fathers was in the highest order and together we were the tree who was expected to take over the highest seats in the council when we got older. But then the contract was signed and the day after the words spread like wildfire. Kris had been killed by his father. The king had ordered him to put Kris under a human master, the king’s son actually, and Kris father decided that Kris was better off dead. I don't know if Kris agreed or not but I'm guessing he did. Kris hated taking orders. The last time I saw him he was on his way to confess to the man he loved, I never heard if he did it or not. Liyin was my girlfriend at that time and after Kris’s death, I and Luhan decided to flee and I could not take her with me since it was too dangerous. It was a stupid decision but I was young and afraid. They killed her of course, hoped that it would lure me out. Luhan stopped me from coming to her aid and I cried for days. We managed to escape for another year, hiding away from civilisation but eventually they found us. We fought as hard as we could but we were tired and outnumbered. In the end I stood alone, Luhan lying on the ground beside me, barely alive and I soon fell beside him. He had a knife in his hand and in the end he whispered that I’d be okay and that he’d always loved me. Then he put the knife through his chest and died. They stopped me before I could kill myself and that is the last thing I remember before I woke up days later in this form. Alone and hunted.” Chen’s voice is empty as he recalls the story.

Chanyeol wishes he could see Chen’s face but even in their quickly darkening surroundings he’s barely more than a faint glow in the shape of a human. He leans down beside the wizard instead, Minseok crawling over after some minutes to lay on his other side, the darkness settling around them and they should get up right now but it seems like none of them have the strength. Sometimes the darkness takes over and you just have to lie down and wait for it to pass. Just wait until you have gotten accustomed to the heavy feeling in your chest and the world turns brighter again.

“I guess time heals a lot of things” Chen speaks up again. “And I never thought that I’d say this but I think you’re something close to my friends.”

“I’m honoured.” Minseok mutters on the side, almost asleep and Chanyeol can’t help but grin. He’s pretty sure that Minseok and Chen are the two most sarcastic, grumpy, proud people on the planet but they do have a way of reading the atmosphere. Right now a sarcastic comment was exactly what they needed.

“One day” He whispers. “I will make the both of you smile more. We’ll be the smiling trio”

“Right.” Chen whispers back with a snort. “Good luck.”

“If there is one thing I’ve learnt by being your knight” Minseok mumbles. “Is that one should never underestimate you so I guess I’ll just wait and see.”

“The smiling trio” Chanyeol whispers happily. “Lead by the happy virus”

The two other mumbles something back then they fall into silence, sleep taking over as they let the darkness pass over them.

Chanyeol wakes up to happy birdsong and bright sunlight. He slowly sits up and looks around. In front of him Xiumin is staring at a very small campfire with a frown and beside him is the form of a barely glowing Chen. He seems better than before but Chanyeol still can’t see him properly so he leans down and squints at the figure.

“Will you stop doing that? Your face is too close! Back.off.”

“Oh sorry” Chanyeol leans back again with a sheepish expression and rubs the back of his neck. “I keep forgetting.”

“You’re litterarly the most stupid person I have ever met” Chen deadpans and Minseok snorts.

“Wait until you meet his little brother Sehun and his older brother Baekhyun, then you’ll see stupidity in its true form.”

“And here I thought you respected the royal family” Chen says, sounding amused and Chanyeol pouts at the two of them and is about to defend his family before he’s suddenly hit with a realisation.

“Wait Minseok, how long have we been out?” Minseok blinks at him and frowns.

“About a year? Maybe it’s…wait.” He says and his eyes widen as he looks at Chanyeol.

“Beakhyun’s wedding is probably very soon, if we haven’t already missed it.” Chanyeol says with a sinking feeling in his stomach. “If I want any chance of being there I’ll have to abandon this quest now and start the journey home.”

There is a silence as the realisation sinks in for all of them.

“It’s a shame” Chen mumbles and Chanyeol is so busy being horrified to hear what Chen says afterwards. He only realises that Chen said something when Minseok’s both eyebrows shoots up towards his hairline.

“What?” He asks and turns to the silver glow beside him.

“Don’t make me repeat myself Chanyeol” Chen says, sounding embarrassed and annoyed while Minseok snickers in the background.

“But I really didn’t-“

“I said I was starting to hope that you’d find my grave you stupid-“Chen explodes but is irrupted by a loud creaking noise. Chanyeol hastily stands up as the ground around them starts to shake and large cracks erupts from the ground right by the forest to their left. Chen lets out a startled yell as Chanyeol quickly grabs the stone and drags them both backwards while Minseok searches the ground for a weapon. The ground itself seems to rise up, revealing a large, door-shaped hole in front of them with weird symbols on the top.

“What is that?” Minseok whispers, grabbing a large branch.

"I don't recognize those symbols" He says. "Maybe it's some code language?"

"It's old wizardy." Chen says lowly. Chanyeol turns around slowly to look at the wizard. Chen is staring up at the opening with an unreadable expression, made even harder to describer due to the fact that he's still pretty much see-through. "It says 'Here lies Jongdae- knight of the highest order, master of thunder and the king of song-spells. Died too young by unwilling hands. May your next life be a blessing and gift you with the will to forgive the crimes that has been made against you’" He continues with a strange tone.

"Who is Jongdae?" Chanyeol asks slowly, testing the atmosphere.

"It's me. My real name."

The glade is quiet as Chanyeol and Minseok looks back and forth between Chen and the opening.

"This is your grave" Minseok breathes out, eyes large. "No wonder no one can find them! They don't exist until you want them to!"

"What do you mean?" Chanyeol asks, looking in confusion at Minseok

"Chanyeol, we've been looking all over the world for Chen's grave in vain and now, just as Chen say that he want you to find it, it springs out right in front of us. I wouldn't say that it's a coincidence." Minseok stresses, sounding irritated and Chanyeol feels his cheek colouring.

"Oh" He says and scratches his neck before he looks down at Chen. "Did you...I mean did you mean that you want me to find it or, you know cause if..."

"Let's go inside" Chen irrupts Chanyeol and jumps towards the opening, not even looking at the prince and Chanyeol deflates visibly.

"Yea, sure" He answer, letting Chen jump before him into the grave. Minseok follows soon behind, armed with the thick branch and Chanyeol raise a questioning eyebrow.

"What? Who knows what's waiting inside" Minseok says and Chanyeol snorts and shakes his head. Then he sees Chen jumping inside the opening. The air around him seem to shimmer and minutes later he's standing there looking more alive and compact than ever.

With a gulp Chanyeol grabs another close by stick, precautions is after all always good.

The grave is warm and sparsely lit. They've been walking in a long, slightly downwards tilted stone corridor for what feels like hours and the only light around them seems to come from underneath. It's bluish and the whole thing is making Chanyeol very uncomfortable. Worse is that Chen (or maybe he should say Jongdae now) has been strangely quiet since they arrived. He hasn’t said a word and his silhouette just keeps growing in strength. Chanyeol can clearly see his face now, his glittering eyes and slightly up-curled mouth. His sharp jaw and the frown that’s currently on his forehead.

It’s fascinating, how Jongdae is almost a real person now, almost completely intact and Chanyeol imagines that he’d feel human flesh if he touched Jongdae’s arm. He wants to reach out but the tension around Jongdae’s eyes and in the air stops him. It doesn’t feel like the right moment to be assuring.

A sudden gasp from Minseok reminds Chanyeol that he hasn’t kept his eyes on the road before him and he quickly looks away from Jongdae’s face. What he sees makes him drop his stick.

Where there before was nothing but an endless corridor an enormous stone door stands, with white streaks of lightning crossing down from the top of it. Chanyeol has to crane his head back to look up on the door and the only reason he can see the top is the faint glow from the lightning streaks.

“We’re here” Jongdae whispers but doesn’t make a move to open the door.

“Do we…” Chanyeol starts and swallows nervously before he continues. “Do we just open it?”

“Why not?” Jongdae answers and his voice sounds empty, not happy or filled with sarcasm like Chanyeol is used to. He’s still not moving, just staring up at the lightning streaks over the door and Chanyeol slowly reaches forward to grab the two handles in the middle. The door is surprisingly easy to open and Chanyeol accidently pushes too hard, making the two sides slam right open and reveal the room inside.

It’s huge.

Golden walls stretch up towards a roof they can’t see and a long silver walk in front of them leads up towards a large marble square. The walk is lined by a row of statues, large stone birds in different terrifying positions and occasional stone blocks filled with weird symbols. The right wall is lined with a bookshelf where millions of books stand in neat rows that stretch up far out of sight. On the other side multiple openings lead out to rooms that Chanyeol can’t see.

Jongdae is off in a second, suddenly brought to life by the view in front of him and he disappears into one of the hidden rooms, exclaiming excited and disbelieving shrieks. Minseok walks down the silver way and Chanyeol follows slowly, taking in the view around him. He stops and looks closer at one of the birds. It’s much larger than any other bird he’s ever seen, large enough to support the weight of a human and with black feathers. All the birds have different colours but the same long beaks and enormous wings. The eyes seems to be alive even though the bird is made of stone and Chanyeol suppresses a shiver as he moves on. Jongdae is roaming through a room full of weird-looking but clearly well maintained clothes and Chanyeol feels the urge to go to him but a call from Minseok stops him. He turns around and sees the other by the grave, gesturing to him to come up, and he walks the last part of the way top stand in front of the grave.

The first thing he notices is that the air is warmer around the grave and that you can see Jongdae’s human body through a glass slide on the top.

The second thing he notices is that Jongdae is short. Much shorter than he thought.

“He’s a lot smaller than I thought” He whispers to Minseok and the other hums in agreement.

“Well thank you for pointing out my lack of height, it’s not like Minseok is any taller anyway” Comes Jongdaes annoyed, sarcastic voice from the side and Chanyeol jumps in surprise. He turns to look at the wizard and is met with a small smile. Chanyeol realises that when he saw something glimmering while Jongdae was otherwise translucent was probably the wizard’s eyes.

“It wasn’t meant as a bad thing” He hears himself say and behind him Minseok snorts.

“The cute height aside, maybe you should look at this Chanyeol.” Minseok says and points down at the grave where a short description in normal tongue can be seen.

“To reunite body and soul say the wizards full name three times with both hands on the grave and he shall then be yours forever.” Chanyeol whispers and he’s pretty sure he’s blushing at the last part. “Is that all?” Slowly he looks up at the wizard and his heart sinks when he sees that Jongdae isn’t smiling anymore. “Is…is this okay? I mean, you can always back out- it’s alright but if you don’t I promise to keep my promise.” He says seriously and Jongdae meets his eyes just as seriously.

“Two things” He says after a short silence. “Number one, you have to keep your promise. Don’t make me do anything I don’t want to do. I want your word on this”

“Yes of course” Chanyeol nods vigorously. “You have my word, on my honour and the honour of this country. As long as you’re not hurting anyone or are destroying my people in any way I won’t force you to do or not to do anything.” Jongdae nods at this and continues.

“And two” There is a tense silence and Chanyeol realises that he’s holding his breath.

“You can’t go to the capital looking like that, I refuse to call you master if you’re dressed in rags and without a sword. There are some traditional clothes in there, my father was a sewer and it’s all his work, some of them should fit you so you’ll have to wear that.” Jongdae continuous and Chanyeol smiles widely at him.

“I promise!” He says cheerfully and turns back to the grave, feeling ridiculously happy. “So I just put my hands on the grave and say…”

“Kim Jongdae”

“Kim Jongdae” Chanyeol tastes the name on his tongue and take a deep breath before he puts his hands on the grave. “Well, here goes nothing.”

“Kim Jongdae”

“Kim Jongdae”

“Kim Jongdae”

Jongdae’s figure disappears beside them with a plop and the glass melts of the grave.

And then nothing happens.

Chanyeol stares down in confusion on the body underneath him.

“What’s going on? Did it not work?” He whispers to Minseok beside him.

“You should kiss him” Minseok answers and rolls his eyes when Chanyeol stares at him. “You know, like in the stories”

“But…”

“Just do it” Minseok says and places a hand on Chanyeols neck to press him forward. Chanyeol hesitates for a moment but then decides that it’s worth a try.

Besides, it’s not like he’s against kissing Jongdae.

The wizard’s lips are surprisingly soft as he touches them with his own and Chanyeol’s heart does this funny little flop that it definitely hasn’t done when he’s kissed people before. It sadly only lasts for a moment before Chanyeol is roughly pushed back. He stumbles backwards and grips a very pleased looking Minseok by the arm to regain his balance.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Shrieks a very red and very much human looking Jongdae from where he’s sitting in his grave and Chanyeol can feel his cheeks heat up.

“Y-you weren’t waking up so…”

“I have been away from my body for several thousand years, did you think I’d just sprint up directly?”

“Now, now” Minseok irrupts in a very amused tone before Chanyeol can answer. “Let’s solve this when we get to the capital, shall we? We have a long way back and Baekhyun’s wedding can be any day.”

“Oh no” Chanyeol says, momentarily forgetting his embarrassment. “Baekhyun’s wedding! There is no way we’ll get there in time!”

“Oh, that’s not a problem” Jongdae says with a smirk and Chanyeol decides that he very much likes the world when Jongdae’s face isn’t hard to see. “We can just fly there.”

Joonmyun is walking through the corridors of the palace, servants’ running all around him as they prepare for Baekhyun’s wedding, when a guard suddenly comes running towards him.

“Your royal excellency Suho, I beg you for forgiveness if I am bothering you but I believe we’re under attack!” The guard says as soon as he stops in front of Jonnmyun and bows, breathing heavily and sounding close to having a panic attack. The servant beside Joonmyun drops a large plate whit a gasps and Joonmyun frowns at the guard.

“Under attack?” He asks and the guard nods vigorously.

“Yes, your royal excellency. From the sky! There are these huge birds coming towards us and…” At this point the guard start hyperventilating and can’t speak anymore. Joonmyun turns to the servant beside him.

“Take care of this guard” He orders before he’s off down the stairs, marching towards the courtyard.

As he walks another guard comes running.

“Your royal excellency, Master Youngguk told me to you to the safe rooms”

“I do not care what Master Youngguk said, get my sword and meet me in the courtyard” Joonmyun irrupts sternly and the guard seems to deflate but does as he’s told. No one goes against the king.

Joonmyun continues down the corridor, seeing guards running around and catching bits about three giant birds coming towards the castle in high speed. He tries to come up with a battle plan as he almost runs towards the courtyard but when he steps out on the stairs beside the head of the royal guard, Youngguk, his only plan is still to just shoot at the birds with arrows until they hopefully die.

“So you came anyway, Your royal excellence” Youngguk says grimly and Joonmyun glares at him.

“Of course I did. Where is Lay?”

“Here” Comes Yixing’s voice from behind them. “And before you even ask, no I am not going anywhere.”

“I am not asking, I am commanding you to go inside” Joonmyun snaps, not looking back at his husband as his eyes locks on the three silhouettes in the sky. Those are indeed some huge birds and Joonmyun prays that they’re friendly.

Before Yixing can return Joonmyun’s harsh remark a song is heard around them. The entire town seems to fall silence as the voice weaves through the air. Joonmyun tries to make out what its saying but it’s not in a language he’s familiar with.

And then the gold starts. First it’s just some speckles in the air and then thin strips of glittering, golden powder flows through the town. Joonmyun hear a gasp from behind him and when he glances back he realises that the entire royal family except Chanyeol, who they haven’t heard of for months, is assembled on the stairs. He silently curses as he turns his attention back on the scene in front of him just as the song gets more playful.

Golden dancers sprints out from the glitter, swirling around with the song, laughing faces that seem nothing like a threat and a lot more like they’re trying to invite Joonmyun to join their dance.

And then the first bird lands. It takes up the entire courtyard, with huge brown wings stretching towards the sky and Joonmyun looks behind him for his sword. The guards from before hurries forward with it and he takes it in his hand, positioning himself to attack as Youngguk does the same.

Then Minseok hops off the bird. He’s dressed in weird clothes and he’s looking pale as he waves his hands in the air and tries to be heard over the loud music. Joonmyun frowns and hesitates, giving the bird time to leap up in the air and be replaced by another one, this one black and if possibly even larger.

“Your royal excellency, stop!” Minseok shouts and Joonmyun’s jaw drops as Chanyeol hops off the second bird, broadly smiling as he strides towards them. Behind him the bird flies up again. He’s dressed in possibly the strangest, weirdest, most colourful and possibly the most beautiful clothes Joonmyun has ever seen and the music and dancers seem to stop as he walks forward and sinks down on his knees.

“Your royal excellency” He starts and by now the entire palace has assembled in the courtyard and a large part of the town is standing by the gates. Chanyeol’s voice is loud enough so that they all can hear him. “Your royal majesty, lords, brothers- it’s a pleasure to be back! I apologize for this quite strange way of entering but we were in a hurry to lord Baekhyun’s wedding.”

For a moment Joonmyun can just stand there, too chocked to get a word out as the glimmer around them slowly disappears. Then he takes a deep breathe to control himself as the anger flares up inside of him.

“You have a lot of explaining to do lord Chanyeol.” He says slowly and Chanyeol’s smile seems to falter.

“Well you see…” He starts but is irrupted by the large gasps and shrieks of the crowd as a ball of what looks like liquid fire falls from the sky. The ball falls in rapid speed towards the ground and slams down on it right in front of the stairs beside Chanyeol, leaving no mark but a short man with glittering eyes, upturned lips and a strong jaw.

“I think that I can do most of the explaining your royal excellency.” The man says and he seems to be glowing slightly. Beside them Minseok is crunching on all four, trying to breathe. “My name is Jongdae and I’m sorry if the glitter thing scared you, I just found it quite beautiful but if it’s not in the taste of your royal excellency I can produce something else, maybe diamonds? Or flowers?” The man says and in an instant flowers starts to grow all around the courtyard and with a wave of his hand the man, Jongdae, is grasping a large, shining diamond which floats up in the air and stops in front of Joonmyun. The man is grinning and all around them whispers of “wizard” flows through the air. Joonmyun turns back to Chanyeol, who’s clearly trying to hold back his grin.

“You, lord Chanyeol, really do have a lot of explaining to do.”

It’s not until the morning the day after that Chanyeol manages to drag Jongdae out on an excluded balcony and get some alone time with the wizard. The entire court has been lavishing them both with attention and Chanyeol’s been trying to get some alone time with Jongdae for the last 10 hours so that they can talk. Strangely enough Jongdae doesn't seem to be bothered by the attention and his eyes are shining as he turns to Chanyeol.

"Man, it's nice to be alive!" He says with a large grin and Chanyeol tries very hard not to stare too much.

"Yea, must be." He says stupidly before clearing his throat. "The thing is, I remember what you said when I made my promise and I was just wondering what you're going to do now. Are you...are you leaving?" Chanyeol does his best to sound like he's not bothered by the possibility of not seeing Jongdae in the nearest future but a hint of bitterness that he prays Jongdae doesn't notice still slips through. Jongdae's smile falters and he looks down on the ground between them. Chanyeol realises that they're still holding hands and quickly let go.

“Oh. Uhh no. You see I was thinking that I could stay here for a while” Jongdae answers with a vague gesture and if Chanyeol didn’t know the wizard any better he’d say he was blushing. “Ya know a castle isn’t a too bad place for a wizard.”

"Are you..." Chanyeol starts, trying in vain to control his happiness. "Are you sure?"

"Well yea." Jongdae says and looks everywhere but at Chanyeol. "I kind of like this place, lots of nice people. Friends and uuh good-looking princes" By the last line Jongdae's face is brick red.

It still takes Chanyeol a while to get it. When he does he can't fight the wide grin that stretches across his lips and he slowly takes a step forward.

"Really, good-looking princes? Are you thinking of sehun?” He asks playfully and Jongdae hits his shoulder lightly.

“No, you stupid.” He mutters and Chanyeol takes another step forward, following the movement of Chen’s Adams apple as he gulps.

“Am I too close now?" He asks and thinks about how much nicer it is to actually see Jongdae’s blush. “Should I back off?” He asks, leaning down so that his breathe ghosts over Jongdae’s lips.

“Umm” The other stutters. “N-no I guess its fine.” And Chanyeol cherish in the way Jongdae has suddenly turned insecure and cute.

“You sure?” Chanyeol asks playfully and enjoys how Jongdae’s face turns even redder. “Maybe I should lean even closer? Or-“

“Just shut up and kiss me already!”

And really, how can Chanyeol say no to that?