Chapter 34 – The Last Few

Suhee is just starting to wake up when Hakyeon casts the no-magic spell. He considers letting her hit the ground but a pointed look from Minho – who needed her for information – makes him cast a cushioning spell.

“Let’s go send those letters,” Minho says, directing a guard to lock up Suhee.

“What about Jaehwan?” Hakyeon demands as Minho begins to leave.

“Um, heal him up, take his magic. Do what you need to do, I guess.”

While Leo had never gotten along greatly with Jaehwan – frankly they’d never talked that much – he’s still annoyed by the prince’s words.

“He’s been helping you his whole life,” the Anyethi states.

Minho nods. “Yes, and I appreciate it. However, my priority right now is to get the country working, not to nurse an injured guard.”

Leo’s about to rise up when Hakyeon squeezes his hand. “Fine,” the sorcerer says. “But my priority is to get rid of sorcerers. I expect to see all of them in the next few days. All of them.”

“For now, helping me is your priority.”

The two men glare at each other and this time it’s Leo that steps in. “You should heal Jaehwan first and then send a letter to Hongbin.”

Hakyeon crosses his arms over his chest. “Okay,” he agrees and then turns to Minho. “I’ll come help you after that.”

Minho tuts but doesn’t say anything more. He waits impatiently while Hakyeon casts two different healing spells, the no-magic spell, and a cushioning spell. Hakyeon is trembling by the time he’s done but only Leo notices.

Jaehwan is moved to the infirmary – overseen by Hakyeon, of course – before the sorcerer agrees to help Minho now. Leo sits beside Jaehwan’s bed and watches Hakyeon follow the prince from the room, trying not to worry.

“I feel bad about leaving Sanghyuk alone after everything,” Hongbin mumbles as they enter Ravi’s workshop.

He helps Ravi sit on a stool and then starts gathering ingredients for a more powerful health potion. The workshop has a number of health potions strewn about but most of them look like they’re for common things like the flu and minor injuries, not magic inflicted ailments. He’ll just have to make one.

“He’ll be fine,” Ravi says. “I feel worse about leaving Yeongsik with him than anything else.”

Guilt settles its way into Hongbin’s stomach. He hadn’t stopped to consider that, his entire focus had been on getting Ravi better. Ravi sees the look on his face and tries not to laugh.

“He’ll be fine,” he repeats. “I’m sure of it. Hakyeon and Leo will be home soon.”

Hongbin only then succeeds in finding everything he needs for the potion. Stocks at Hakyeon’s house were low since he’d stopped actively learning more potions, but he knew Ravi always had everything.

He quickly gets the potion brewing and then turns to face the potion maker. “What’s going to happen now?” he asks.

It takes Ravi a second to figure out what Hongbin is asking. “Minho will take care of everything until the country can run itself.”

“I meant with me,” Hongbin grumbles. “Wasn’t I supposed to do something?”

Oh, Ravi thinks to himself before frowning.

“You’re going to go do it now,” he replies. “Surely you should have figured out why Hakyeon taught you by now?”

He hasn’t but he chooses not to admit that. “What about you? What are you going to do? Magic is being made illegal, right?”

“Hmm,” Ravi hums. He’s had years to think about it but in the last few months he’d become unsure. “I’m going to go find my mum. I know what country she’s in at least.”

Hongbin can’t help the sinking feeling in his heart. “Oh… you’re leaving.”

Ravi can’t bring himself to meet the younger man’s gaze. “Yeah…”

The sorcerer can’t help the dark blush that covers his cheeks when he forces out his next question. “A-And what about us then?”

The potion maker feels his breath catch and his cheeks work to imitate Hongbin’s. “‘U-Us’?”

“Y-Yeah… Us?”

If the floor could sweat it would be. Hongbin looked like he was trying to stare a hole through it after all. It was like he was determined to only look at that one spot forever. It’s only when the mental timer in his head alerts him to stir the potion that he looks away.

Ravi thinks he’s on the verge of hyperventilating. Just ask already! He yells at himself. It was like the beginning of their relationship all over again, skirting around each other when the answer was right there in front of them.

“Will you come with me?” Ravi asks.

At first he’s just relieved that he hadn’t stuttered again. But seeing the way Hongbin’s eyes light up and a smile stretches across his face makes him realise that he could have stammered over every consonant and the answer would have been the same.

“Of course, you idiot!” Hongbin cries. “I seriously thought you were going to leave me here!”

He wants to run over to Ravi but the potion is finished and needs to be put into vials.

Ravi tries not to laugh but fails. He’d been scared of getting rejected but now he feels stupid for even considering it.

“H-hey, Hongbin,” Ravi says, causing Hongbin to turn and smile at him. “You know I love you, right?”

Hongbin’s smile gets even bigger. “I love you too.”

He finishes filling the vials with potion and hands one to the potion maker. Ravi inspects it for a brief second, more out of habit than because he doubts Hongbin’s abilities, before swiftly drinking it. The sorcerer has this weird realisation that that was the last potion he was ever going to make and that he’s totally okay with it, especially because it was for Ravi. Before he can stop himself he plants a kiss on Ravi’s lips.

“Leo,” a warm voice murmurs, seeming to perfectly suit the soft fingers in his hair.

He stirs, forcing his eyes to open as he sits up. He doesn’t remember falling asleep but Jaehwan is awake now. He has this really sudden urge to hit Jaehwan for getting too close before he realises that he’d practically been asleep on the guard’s thigh.

“You awake?”

Leo finally turns to look at Hakyeon, rubbing an eye as he does. Hakyeon looks exhausted but Leo knows that suggesting a rest would be useless. Besides, he knows Hakyeon would just throw it back in his face after how much magic he’d used himself.

“I’m awake,” he answers.

Hakyeon rubs between his ears and kisses his cheek sweetly. “Good. Can you go check on Hongbin and Sanghyuk?”

“Why?”

He’d rather stay here with Hakyeon to be honest, but at the same time he feels a little concerned about the youngsters. It’s Jaehwan that turns that tiny concern into a really big concern, butting into their moment like he always had.

“Yeongsik was ordered to go get you, Hakyeon,” he states.

“What?”

“This morning Suhee gave him the teleportation potion and sent him after you.”

“Is that why he never responded to my letter?!” Hakyeon cries, alarmed.

He clings to Leo’s arm, shaking the Anyethi a little. “Take me home.”

“No.”

Both Jaehwan and Hakyeon freeze upon that single word from Leo’s mouth. Hakyeon’s concern is about to turn into anger when Leo squeezes his hand. “I’ll go. You stay here.”

“But–”

“You’re exhausted, Hakyeon,” the Anyethi states. “Besides, they’re going to be fine.”

Hakyeon wants to argue, to cling to Leo and demand to be taken home so he can protect his babies but at the same time he knows Leo is right. He needed to have faith in Hongbin.

“Okay,” he agrees. “I’ll stay here. Come back soon.”

Leo kisses him gently and then moves away to teleport.

“He’s just as annoying as I remember,” Jaehwan says while rolling his eyes.

Hakyeon jabs him in the thigh. “Never trust someone who doesn’t like cats,” he teases.

Jaehwan grins. “What? I’m more of a dog person.”

Hakyeon groans and changes the topic because he’s started thinking about Sanghyuk again. “What are you going to do now?”

The look on the guard’s face is sort of lost. “I don’t know…”

“You’re home!”

Before Leo can even get his bearings after landing he’s almost falling. The arms around his neck squeeze a little too tight as they begin to topple over but Leo can’t help but feel relieved that Sanghyuk is alright. He returns the embrace, relying on his magic to keep them upright.

“Are you okay?” he asks, pulling away so he can inspect the youngster fully.

Sanghyuk looks to be physically fine but the lounge room does not. Leo can’t stop his mouth from falling open a little when he sees the hole in the front of the room.

“Do you think Hakyeon will be mad?” Sanghyuk asks, ears turned down sadly.

“As long as you’re unhurt he won’t care,” Leo lies.

He only then spots Yeongsik, tied to Hakyeon’s favourite armchair with the dirtiest rope in existence.

“Did he attack you?” the Anyethi questions.

Sanghyuk nods. “Hongbin fought him and took his magic.”

That explains why he’s still unconscious, Leo thinks. It can’t have been too long ago then since it normally lasted about an hour and a half.

“Where is Hongbin?”

“He took Ravi home because he was hurt.”

“He left you here with Yeongsik alone?!”

Both he and Sanghyuk are surprised by the protectiveness in his tone. It was no secret that they still had trouble getting along sometimes – Hakyeon was constantly telling them off for their squabbles over minor things – but Sanghyuk honestly feels like crying. He’d burst into Leo’s life and upset the balance.

He’d thought Leo would never like him because of a number of factors. He’d tried his best to get on Leo’s good side, even going so far as to consider not changing forms very often, but nothing had ever worked. He’s incredibly relieved that Leo likes him enough to feel protective.

“Don’t cry,” Leo mutters, feeling awkward when Sanghyuk starts to cry.

The Anyegi covers his face with an arm. “Sorry.”

Leo flounders around for a way to stop the tears because he’s the one that feels sorry. In the end he just pats Sanghyuk on the head.

“Wait here a second, I’ll be right back.”

Leo totally screws up his landing in his haste and knocks over a cauldron. Luckily it’s empty but the noise it makes when it hits the floor is still horrible.

“Why didn’t you send a letter to Hakyeon?” Leo demands when he spots Hongbin and Ravi on the other side of the room.

Hongbin is torn between rejoicing at Leo’s appearance and getting annoyed. “He never showed me how!” he cries, annoyance winning out.

That pulls Leo up short. “Really?”

Hongbin nods.

“Oh...”

“D-Did you check on Sanghyuk?” Hongbin asks.

“Yes. I can’t believe you left him there alone,” Leo grumbles.

“Sorry. I needed to make Ravi a potion…”

Ravi looks considerably better now and he can’t keep a stupid smile off his face after finally confessing.

“I need to get back to Hakyeon so you have to go home,” the Anyethi states.

“Alright,” Hongbin agrees, standing up. “Is Hakyeon okay?”

Leo frowns. “He’s overdoing it.”

Ravi also stands up, joining hands with Hongbin as Leo grabs the sorcerer’s other arm. Concentrating hard, Leo teleports.

They fall over when they land and Leo remains on the floor, panting heavily. Ravi is the most concerned because in seven years he’s never seen Leo struggle to teleport only two other people before.

“Are you okay?” he asks, helping the Anyethi to his feet.

Leo nods. Sanghyuk peaks around the corner and sighs in relief when he sees who it is. He kind of wants to point out that that was longer than a second but Leo looks exhausted. Slowly he comes to stand at Hongbin’s side.

“Sorry for leaving you alone,” Hongbin says, ruffling the Anyegi’s hair.

Sanghyuk still has puffy eyes from crying but Hongbin chooses not to ask. The teen simply smiles.

“It’s alright. Ravi was hurt.”

“I’m taking Yeongsik,” Leo states, ignoring their conversation.

The three watch as Leo grasps Yeongsik’s wrist and teleports without another word. The chair and rope are left behind.

“Is he really okay?” Hongbin asks.

Ravi doesn’t answer.

Oh man, Minho turned into an arsehole. He was almost evil, but no, he’s just an arsehole. He’ll still fix the country and hand the control over to the government, but god he’s an arsehole.