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      Restless, KyungSoo found himself stuck to ChanYeol's side through the whole night. There had been something he couldn't understand about this past episode and it dug at him for a while. First, that letter that said he would be hung in front of his own palace and then LuHan injured ChanYeol. The thought of LuHan killed him, for KyungSoo felt that he had been the reason the two of them died. If I see him here, will he be the same? He counted the flickers of the candles around the dark room that was gradually getting brighter from the rising of the sun, LuHan will actually be standing, breathing—Alive... He'll be alive.

      ChanYeol's fingers twitched lightly as his eyes opened to see KyungSoo's sleeping face right next to his own. After realizing that the smaller man had made a spot for himself next to him, ChanYeol rushed to a sitting position. Regret followed as his wounds still ached. The small grunts he made were enough to wake the smaller male from his slumber and up to see if ChanYeol had been alright. After he inspected the wounds with his small hands, KyungSoo sighed heavily and smiled to his friend;

      "I'm glad you're okay."

      "O-Oh," ChanYeol glanced off into the other direction, "S-Say, you're not going to get revenge on LuHan, will you?"

      "I don't know," KyungSoo's heart pounded loudly with pain, "I want to but I don't want to-"

      "Your Majesty! We have brought the criminal!"

      KyungSoo shot up and out through the front door to see the guards throw LuHan on the dusty ground. On instinct, KyungSoo ran over to his friend and picked him up. The guards tried to pull him away from danger but he wouldn't budge. Without any more interruptions, LuHan was brought into ChanYeol's infirmary room and he sat on his knees before his King.

      He glided his gaze along LuHan's live figure; the blinking deer eyes and sharp jawline were exactly like the ones from his present time. As he swallowed, KyungSoo carefully approached the, seemingly-nervous, criminal. He could see that LuHan was afraid of him and he didn't understand why. If he injured ChanYeol, my best guard, why would he not want to attack me? Confused once more, KyungSoo sat in front of LuHan and looked deeply into his doe eyes for answers.

      "K-KyungSoo-I mean, Y-Your.. Majesty.." LuHan kept his gaze with the floor, "W-Will you give me permission to ask a question?"

      "You already are."

      "I-I do not know why I am here, wh-what crime did I commit-"

      KyungSoo stood up and pointed towards ChanYeol, "He says that you are the one who injured him."

      "S-Sire! That isn't true-!"

      KyungSoo sighed, for LuHan looked like he was telling nothing but the truth. He glanced back at ChanYeol and saw that he, too, had been shocked from seeing a live LuHan and began to wonder to himself; It surely isn't possible.. but if, what if ChanYeol lied to me? Somewhere in this past life, there is something that I must fix... but does that mean that ChanYeol has a right to his own actions? He knows who he is, where we came from and why we are here but he is acting strange. With deep pain in his chest, KyungSoo decided to trust ChanYeol, the man that he knew he could trust, and sent LuHan away to the dungeon.

      "B-But it wasn't me! I don't know why I am here!!"

      The helpless tone in his old friend's voice made his heart ache. Not once, but it was twice that KyungSoo sent his friend away from his side and that hurt him the most. ChanYeol quietly sat next to his short friend and began to fidget with the fabric of his dark outfit. He stayed silent while the other male fell to his knees in realization of what he had just done to a possibly innocent man. The regret stretched over his face and was readable to ChanYeol for he knew him best. He wanted to tend to his agony but he didn't know if that was the right thing to do at that time.

      "ChanYeol," KyungSoo croaked through his unsteady vocal chords, "Are you sure it was LuHan who injured you like this?"

      Hesitant, ChanYeol quickly got to his knees and faced his forehead with the cold floor of the infirmary, "Y-Your Majesty! I s-swear!"

      "Okay.."

      Hours went by and the sun fell and left nothing but a land without shadows. The night air got colder with the snow that fell like cherry blossoms in the spring and the stars were no longer visible behind the clouds of midnight. KyungSoo had been walking on a lonely path towards the damp dungeon that held his friend. Upon arrival, he noticed that LuHan's glistening eyes were still the same. Even though this had been in the past, everything about him had been the same. He sat on the dirty, hayed dirt and spoke through the wooden bars;

      "Why did you do it?"

      "I didn't do anything, your majesty."

      "Can I believe you?" KyungSoo hung his head, "I don't know who to believe."

      LuHan felt hopeless at this point and pulled his light body towards the man he called King, "Your Majesty, if you do not believe in the words of your people, how can you run your own country? If I am killed an innocent man, you will die a murderer and that is not what I want! We have been together since we were kids, Your Majesty. I was the Hyung that pulled you out of the rushing waters when you weren't able to swim just yet. I was the Hyung that said goodbye when you went off to another place. Don't you remember? If you do, find the truth in my words and eyes."

      KyungSoo didn't know that they shared such a past. All this time, he thought that LuHan in the past would have just been a far, far stranger he happened to meet but he turned out to be something much, much more. He was a friend, one that rescued him when he had drowned and one that said goodbye when he went off to rule a new country. KyungSoo wanted to believe him but he needed to believe in the only person that came with him to the past, ChanYeol. He had never told a fib and never in KyungSoo's life, did he think that the man would.

      "I don't know," KyungSoo desperately searched within LuHan's teary eyes, "I don't know who to believe."

      "Your Majesty, I called you KyungSoo many times before, and here I will again." LuHan locked his gaze with the shorter man as a tear ran down his left eye, "KyungSoo, if you believe in his lie, you will never be able to see me again. He's tearing us apart, don't you see? ChanYeol has always wanted to be by your side... He wants you to only rely on him. Why can't you see that?"

      With a heavy heart, KyungSoo rushed out of the dungeon before his own streams could be seen and he rushed to find his brother's chamber, in search of advice to their current situation. The sound of his footsteps on the snow was the only thing to comfort him from the fear of losing his friend once more. I want him to stay.

      "I don't know what to do.."

      SeungWoo elegantly poured his brother a cup of ginseng tea and lightly sipped on his own, "Do you know the reason?"

      "No, I never asked."

      "Why not go and ask ChanYeol first? If he was lying, I'm sure he had a reason."

      Just like he had been ordered, KyungSoo found himself back in the infirmary room and in front of a beagle. The man's ears twitched upwards as he saw his friend's teary eyes. Bewildered, ChanYeol stood up and kept his gaze with those watery eyes. The two only exchanged glances before KyungSoo finally spoke up, "Why did he hurt you?"

      "I-I," ChanYeol tried to look for an excuse, "I-"

      "He didn't hurt you, did he?" KyungSoo watched as his friend hung his own head and shook it, "Why would you lie to me? You and I both know why were are here! Why-"

      "I don't know!" ChanYeol found himself angry and upset, "I don't know... I've been sitting here ever since I blamed LuHan and I don't know why I did it! I tried to tell you and I tried to explain but I didn't know what to say! What would you have said to me? I couldn't control my own actions during that time and I couldn't understand why. I am here, I am from the future... so, why? Why couldn't I behave like my normal self-?"

      KyungSoo wrapped his little but strong arms around ChanYeol's waist and begged him to calm down. He had never seen his him so desperate and disoriented in his whole life. None of them were lying, not LuHan nor ChanYeol. They were both telling the truth and KyungSoo could finally see it. He finally understood the meaning of why the two of them had been sent back to the past. He remembered that ChanYeol was the only one with the line across his forearm and that straightened everything up. This was the bad dead that ChanYeol had done in the past. He put the blame on LuHan, someone he envied, and had him killed by KyungSoo's own command. But when the truth was revealed, ChanYeol was punished by the man he looked up to, King Do.

      "I understand now," he let go of the taller male, "Let's go set him free."

      The two ran towards the dungeon and had the guards open LuHan's gate and with KyungSoo's say, everything was dropped. LuHan had become a free man in less than eight hours. A smile appeared on his sad face and he hugged ChanYeol with everything that he had.

      "Thank you, old friend."

      ChanYeol held tightly onto the LuHan he'd only have in the past, "I-I'm sorry... truly sorry!"

      KyungSoo's shoulders felt lighter and a weight was lifted off of his chest. He found himself crying streams of relief and he wanted to take LuHan back to the future with them. He wanted to show him the wonders of the future but he knew that it was just impossible to do. With a sigh, KyungSoo hugged his Hyung and let his tears wet the silk of his outfit, "I'm glad I got to see you again.."

      "We'll see each other again, I promise-"

      Like the distant sound of bells, LuHan's voice disappeared with the past and as KyungSoo opened his eyes to see his room. He covered himself with his blanket and wailed back to sleep. To go back and forth through the past and present made his emotions go crazy. It made him miss his friends even more than he had before the whinceing sensations in his chest were beginning to feel like bee stings. An unbearable suffering was brought upon the group because I wasn't able to choose correctly in my past life. If only I had done well, not only as a King but as a living human, Kris and LuHan would still be alive to this day. Even in the end... everything is still my fault.

      Next to the crying man, ChanYeol watched his friend hide his pain and that was the only thing he could do. He wished that there was something they could do to bring back the dead but it was scientifically and morally wrong. So, silently, he sat in his bed and listened to a stressed Do KyungSoo. Though everything had been clearer now, he still wondered if there was something else that needed to be done in their past lives.

      "What will tomorrow bring?"

      I kid you not, even my own chest was hurting because the story is too depressing... I cried a few times and damn, I realized how mean an author could be to their own character.. but that makes the stories go by! I'm sorry for taking so long to release a chapter! I am in the process of planning a new story and finishing this one! I hope you all stay for the ending chapter!! So, you tell me, what will tomorrow bring?

      감사 ♥