Warning: the following chapter may begin with unsettling graphic images of blood/internal organs.

Jihoon wasn’t in a sweat by the time the ambulance came in with Hayi strapped to a stretcher, but he felt like he was. He felt like he was stewing in sweat. Dying with it. His internal thermostat was ed. Heart pounding wildly.

Dino hadn’t lied. There was a lot of blood. Jihoon was only allowed to observe from the side-lines, but her clothes were ruined with it, and the smell of blood was so asive it made the prince gag.

Mingyu allowed him to duck into a bathroom and return in his royal garb: in the state of being the fiancé he was allowed to watch from a high room with a glass window as his beloved to-be was operated upon. In reality, he didn’t look at her. He just stared at the floor, hands clasped together in front of him, listening.

The doctors were giving a play-by-play.

“We will now attempt to remove what seems to be an unidentified metal bar from the patient’s hip. Oh, God. The object is located in the patient’s uterus. Stand by. More suction.”

They labored over the girl for sixteen hours, pulling pieces of shrapnel out of her and attempting to stem the blood so it didn't pout out of her like a sieve. Mingyu took his calls for him. Jihoon was in no way ready to be phoning people.

Hayi had part of a crow-bar lodged in her uterus through the stomach, and had several wounds in the chest. She had been caught running through the ruined palace hallways towards the kitchens when a secondary, minor explosion had gone off. She was riddled with holes, but somehow, oh God somehow she was still breathing.

Hayi was still breathing. Still moving after the operation was done and the exhausted surgeons took their gloves off in relief. She was feisty. She refused to give up. Not for anything. Nor for anyone. Hayi was still going.

It wasn’t until after she had been moved to the IC unit and was on life support that he dared pick up his phone.

“Dino, baby?”

“Jihoon.” The boy was barely holding it together.

“Dino, where are you all staying?”

“…the courthouse. The big one.”

“Kid, I am coming to you. Stay put, alright? I’m coming to get you.” The boy’s strides were so quick that even the long-legged Mingyu had to work to keep up. “Mingyu,” he growled. “Start the car. I need to be at the courthouse now.”

“Right now?”

“Ten minutes ago.”

There were a set of rooms in the courthouse that had been locked and sealed from any assailants, and were guarded 24/7. They had been re-decorated in record time to accommodate for the royals that were staying there for the time being.

Uncle Heechul sat on a chair on the other side of the room. Jun was outside on the phone. Dino was curled up on the bed under Jihoon’s left arm. Minhyun was curled up under his right. Shannon sat at the end of the bed.

With the two boys asleep, Jihoon had to be very soft. “Shannon. Shannon, sweetheart?”

The girl looked up.

Jihoon gulped. “…you know that being royal sometimes means doing the thing you least like doing, right?”

Fear set in the young teen’s eyes. “What are you going to do?!”

“Shhhhh. Nothing bad.” The Prince took a deep breath. “I’m going to make arrangements for you to fly to Tokyo.”

Surprise drew itself on her face, but with little resistance.

“It’ll be good for you to meet Saato Hikaru in real life. I’m sure the palace will welcome you with open arms. And…”

“And it’s safer there than it is here,” the little girl sensed.

“Yes. And it’s safer there.”

“I agree,” an elderly voice chimed in. “Shannon, it’s time you were removed from such pain. We have no plausible cause to send any of your brothers away, but you at least can go have a holiday. Hmm?”

The stress the last year had caused the family was deeply etched in the dark circles of Jihoon’s skin, the permanently confused look on Minhyun’s face and the fear in Dino’s eyes, but it had changed nobody like it had changed Uncle Heechul. A year ago, he had been a spritely man. Fit, for his age at least, well-dressed at all times, tall, prominent, and an avid tea-lover. Now he was bent over a cane like a little old man, wasted away. He’d lost weight, gained wrinkles and age spots, and finally was looking his age. Uncle Heechul had withered under the weight of his family being under threat.

Shannon thought about it. “…I don’t want to leave you guys,” she whispered. “I don’t know if when I come back, you’ll still be… here.”

It fell deathly silent. Neither of the men in the room, young or old, had the wisdom to know what to say to her. She was only thirteen. Only thirteen.

“Never mind.” Shannon flipped her hair over one shoulder and pulled out her phone like any petulant teenager. “I’ll go.”

Jihoon looked at her. Her skin was showing dry patches. She had been out in the sun too much this year. “Shannon, kid?”

“Hmm?”

“Look at me.”

The girl looked up.

“I love you, you know. Your big brothers – all love you.”

It was the first time that Shannon cried in front of other people in a year.

Two days later, Jihoon met his little sister on the tarmac. It was a private send-off: details would be published later after an official stateme