ACT III

The earth is swaying from Ten’s point of view. He’s lying on a makeshift bed in a cabin that’s way too cramped for an army to fit in and he can feel someone (or something) rocking his bed in his sleep. He jolts up, eyes opening wide to stare at his surroundings. There are three small windows baring the night sky and a pile of robes in an open bronze chest at the foot of his bed. His eyes instantly settle on one of the robes and he recognises Osaka’s famous landscapes in its stitches—Yuta’s robes. He must be in Yuta’s ship cabin and the sea was lulling him to sleep.

He pulls himself off the bed to stand on his feet and almost kicks Johnny’s face in the process. The young noble is lying on a fur carpet on the ground, his left hand swung in a cast while he snores in his sleep, a sword hugged close to his chest. Ten bites on his lips as he tiptoes out of the cabin door. Outside, the sea wind instantly hits him in the chest and he gasps, shivering in his cotton robe. There’s still dried blood in his hands and he can still smell the sun in his skin, the smell of sand and war clinging to his memory just like the taste of death. Ten goes back inside the steep hallways leading to the smaller cabins and he sees a faint light glowing from a half-open door.

There are hushed voices coming from the small crack between the doors and Ten walks slower, trying his best to muffle the sound of his footsteps with the slapping of the waves in the sea. From where he’s standing, consumed by the darkness of the night, he can see Jaehyun sitting on his bed, his head bowed low and his shoulders hunched over. His upper body’s bare and a thick bandage hugs around his waist, blood staining the edges. The Emperor’s robe has fallen over his legs, leaving his chest and arms exposed in the cold. He looks pale and weak.

“You don’t have to go out there. We still have hundreds of men on our ships, and we will have more when we dock the South,” Doyoung sounds agitated. He’s standing in front of Jaehyun, his back facing the door.

“You don’t understand, Doyoung, I am the Emperor—”

“And I am your friend,” Doyoung cuts in. “I won’t let you kill yourself. Jaehyun, please.”

Jaehyun exhales harshly. He looks tired and unwell, his brows dipping while he whimpers at the slightest of movements. “I have to end this war. I can’t keep letting all of you take the fall for me. I’m supposed to be saving you, not the other way around.”

Doyoung bows his head, hands curling into fists. “So is that it? Is it just about your pride? Goddamn it, Jaehyun, this war is not yours alone!”

“But what if it was?” Jaehyun’s words make Doyoung’s head snap up and Ten’s heart jumps in his chest.

“What are you saying?” Doyoung asks. “Stop blaming it all on yourself. You know it’s not your fault.”

Jaehyun shakes his head, holding his arms around himself while he stares longingly at Doyoung. “There’s so many things I want to tell you, Doyoung. But I… I don’t know if I can. There’s still a lot that you don’t know. My father was a very evil man. I’ve already lost too many people close to me and I can’t bear to lose more. Not Johnny, Ten or anyone. And you...” he stops, swallowing hard. “Especially not you.” Jaehyun struggles on his feet and almost falls just as soon as he stands.  Doyoung rushes to him, catching him in his arms, and the Emperor’s eyes flicker up to gaze into the noble’s eyes, the light from a small lamp breathing in his dark pupils.

“I can take care of myself,” Doyoung whispers, his voice almost inaudible from where Ten is standing bathed in shadows outside the door. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

Jaehyun’s hands wrap around Doyoung’s arms, his eyes glazing over his face. They sit still on the bed for a few seconds and Doyoung’s the first to break the eye contact. The way Jaehyun’s hand touches Doyoung’s face is careful and almost loving, fingers skimming over the noble’s jaw before his palm rests on his cheek. And from what little Ten could see, it’s almost as if Doyoung had stopped breathing. The noble’s eyes flicker up to stare back at Jaehyun, his face flushing.

“But I want to,” Jaehyun finally speaks. “I worry about you a lot.”

It’s probably hard to focus when you have a half- Emperor sitting right in front of you and almost a hair’s breadth away from wrapping his arms around your body. Ten smiles to himself when he sees Doyoung struggle to avoid Jaehyun’s heavy stare but end up frozen on the Emperor’s bed with Jaehyun’s arms gripping him tightly and keeping him there.

“Jaehyun…” Doyoung pauses, his mouth open. There’s a hint of fear in his eyes and Ten’s not sure where it’s coming from.

Jaehyun smiles, bright and attractive, and Ten remembers the way it used to fire up his own cheeks and ears. Perhaps it’s doing the same thing to Doyoung now. “I know things are complicated now,” Jaehyun starts. “But I want you to know that when all this is over, you have a home in me. You can come back with me to the South.” Ten watches as Jaehyun’s hands fall on Doyoung’s trembling ones, slowly intertwining their fingers together. “Only if you want to,” Jaehyun says, eyelashes fluttering when he stares at Doyoung more closely.

Doyoung chews on his lips while his gaze settles on their hands. When he pulls his head up to look at Jaehyun again, his eyes are filled with tears. “Why are you being so nice to me?” he asks.

“It’s hard not to be nice to someone like you,” Jaehyun offers him another smile. “You’re an incredible person, Doyoung.”

The older noble sniffs, a few tears escaping his eyes as a smiles tugs on his lips. “You’re only saying that because you saw what happened to me in the East.”

The wind is still cold outside but a special kind of warmth fills Ten’s chest when he watches Jaehyun move closer to Doyoung, a hand brushing away stray strands of hair from his face. He’s always been so gentle.

“I’m not,” Jaehyun whispers ever-so-softly, peering through his eyelashes. “I like you, Doyoung.”

Doyoung in a breath before Jaehyun leans in closer to seal their mouths in a quiet kiss. Jaehyun is careful when he cups Doyoung’s face in his hands, bringing him closer. The noble’s hands wander around the empty bed sheets, seemingly afraid to hold Jaehyun where he knows it might bring him pain. His palms settle for Jaehyun’s shoulders instead, lithe fingers gripping the breadth of the younger man’s torso while he kisses him back with such tenderness and restraint. Jaehyun buries himself deeper into Doyoung’s mouth, his thumb caressing his jaw and he winces when the noble’s hand drops to his hip accidentally, touching on his bloody bandage.

Doyoung pulls back quickly, eyes wide at what he just did. “I’m so sorry,” he says, retreating his hands to himself while he stares at Jaehyun’s bandaged waist.

Jaehyun just laughs, eyes crinkling. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“Are you sure? I think I hit you somewhere painful, I—” Doyoung’s words are interrupted by Jaehyun’s fingers on his mouth.

“I’m fine,” the Emperor says more sternly, taking his fingers to the noble’s cheeks and keeping them there. “I promise.”

Doyoung bows his head with a sheepish smile, scooting closer to the Emperor. Ten takes this as cue to leave.

It’s still freezing outside. The wind claws at Ten’s skin and he shudders, teeth clenched and arms braced around himself to centre whatever bodily warmth he has left. He paces around the main deck, hearing the sails flap in his ears while the wind scuttles through it. Yuta’s ship is massive with multiple masts and shrouds zigzagging towards the sky. Its railings are carved with ancient markings, a bit of gold paint touching it and making it glow. Ten can still see a few of Siam’s ships tailing them from behind and one of Jaehyun’s a little at the front. Ten guesses it’s past midnight now with the way the moon shines amidst an ocean of stars and the sky looking blacker than it has ever been. The hatch is still open and Ten can hear people snoring and talking in whispers down under. Some soldiers are probably still awake.

Ten’s feet are quiet when he walks over to the poop deck, feeling the rough cotton of his robe graze his calves. It’s a weird feeling being on a ship again, sailing back to a familiar place when it feels like death was just calling to him seconds ago. Or maybe days. He doesn’t really know how long he’s been knocked out.

The King nears the railings and the rush of the sea against the hull of the ship crashes into his ears. He’s just about ready to approach the edge of the deck before he sees a familiar figure standing in the corner. Taeyong is preoccupied with the gathering of stars in the sky.

The soldier’s black hair is flowing in the wind as much as the black robe that is drifting around his legs. His back is still Ten and just the nearness of him makes Ten’s heart crumble with every step he takes. He doesn’t really know who this person is. Everything he’s known about Taeyong may not be true anymore.

Taeyong senses Ten before he could even take a step closer and it doesn’t surprise the King. They stare at each other for a few seconds before Ten’s gaze fall on Taeyong’s arm. There’s a poorly knit bandage wrapped around it, the tip of the serpent’s tail still glowing in gold under the moon’s feeble light. Taeyong quickly covers it with a hand like Ten’s stare burned him and the King’s lips curl into a pained frown.

Ten just shakes his head. Maybe standing here is a bad idea. He takes a deep breath and turns around to head back to his cabin, but Taeyong’s call stops him in his tracks.

“Ten.”

There’s a sense of longing and deprivation coating Taeyong’s voice that Ten fights himself to ignore. He just stands there, feet anchored to the floorboards with his back facing Taeyong and there’s a warzone building up in his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Taeyong says.

It pisses Ten off how bare his apology is. Where Ten always has the words to suffice and explain, Taeyong always leaves him groping in the dark, coming apart. Ten hates it more how his body responds to Taeyong automatically, making him turn to face him and just the mere sight of his face makes his whole world recoil. Taeyong’s entire existence inevitably washes over him again and a part of him keens, calling for Taeyong just as he has always yearned for him.

“Why did you never tell me?” Ten asks. Anger and betrayal are flooding through his veins and it makes his skin crawl. There are so many questions swimming in his head that he can't paddle through. He wants explanations. He wants answers to comfort him. To let him know why Taeyong never trusted him enough with the truth. Yes, he failed him once too. But he bared himself full in front of Taeyong and everything that he knew about Ten was all him. He never lied to Taeyong about who he was.

“You wouldn’t have taken me in.” Taeyong’s voice is soft, each word heavily calloused with restraint. “My presence was a threat. Where I was, the Enemy followed.”

Ten is not convinced. “So did you plan all this? Did you plan to step into Siam, get all of us wrapped up in chaos… endanger my men’s lives and make me fall