A/N: Mention of (not graphic), slight gore (only slightly)...not proofread as always, but this time its worse because I just finished writing and not even reading it...

A/N 2: Did you all got notification for this chapter update? Someone told me she didn't get a notification for this update and idk why T.T

The blinding sun rays through the prison tiny window woke Kyungsoo up; he groaned as he tried his best to shield his eyes from the hateful sun with his hands, but the effort seemed to be futile. He scowled as he sat up straight, yawning as he stretched his small body. Minseok is already awake, he noticed; the Second Prince was leaning against the nearest wall to the door leading to the outside of the prison area, frowning in concentration.

Minseok, Kyungsoo noticed, has lost a significant amount of weight after the last battle; it has been 4 days since the last battle, and no one had visited them since. There was a Sage that will send them food twice a day, but he will only put the plate of food near the entrance and disappeared in an instant. The amount of food he received was very little; it barely fed Kyungsoo alone, and now they have two mouths to feed. Minseok often only took a bite or two and pushed the rest to Kyungsoo, saying that he wasn’t hungry but the protuding cheekbones, very pronounced on the Second Prince pale face, fooled no one.

In fact that Minseok looked more and more like a corpse he was supposed to be as days passed scared Kyungsoo…

“Kyungsoo…the guards outside are saying something about someone is coming…”

Kyungsoo snapped out of his thoughts, and come face to face with Minseok, who smiled kindly at him. Kyungsoo smiled softly; he might look very thin right now, but Kyungsoo can see the fire burning in Minseok’s eyes. It was like the essence of Minseok’s life burning merrily in his eyes despite of the situation they are in at that moment, and it unknowingly gave Kyungsoo some hope.

That they both will be fine…

That they both will escape this hell hole and live happily afterwards…

“You have to look really sad and really lifeless, Kyungsoo. Come, let me help dirty yourself a bit”

“What about you, Minseok?”

“Hmm…I’m dead, right? I just have to pretend I’m dead…cold and not breathing, nothing more. Well, I am actually good at holding my breath! When I was younger I swam…”

‘Cruciatu inferorum’

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened as Minseok gave a loud gasp, clutching on his chest as if he was in pain before he dropped to the floor, eyes open but lifeless, body cold…

Memories of the day of the last battle flooded Kyungsoo’s mind; he saw this before, but it doesn’t lessen the pain in his heart seeing it for the second time. He let out a piercing scream as his tears fell to the ground, hands clutching the pale hands in front of him. Is this another magic trick of the Shaman? Or is Minseok is actually dead and the one in front of him in these 4 days is merely a puppet the Shaman created just to mess with his mind?

The sound of footsteps closing in made Kyungsoo shuddered in fear; he pulled the cold body of Minseok closer as he curled himself at the corner of the prison cell…

“What exactly you wanted with me, Luhan? I thought the King asked you to survey the town, and yet here you are, disobeying the King’s order and leeching on me. If it was not for the King’s soft spot on you, I’ll have your head hung on the kitchen’s door to remind those lazy kitchen maids what will happen to them if they late again”

“Aww Jongdae. I just wanted to visit my Princes. It has been a while since I saw them, and I might have forgotten their face”

“You mean your Prince that you follow around all your life, promising to guard him with your life, and here we are with you alive and bouncing, disturbing my job when you stalled on yours, and your Prince dead under my hand. Go away Luhan, before I kill you, King’s pet or not”

“Aww…you’re no fun, Jongdae. I am just merely curious about what is your intention coming to the prison, because as far as I’m concerned, no one is allowed to go to the prison, and that’s including you, my dear Shaman. I wonder what will happen if the King knew that his right-hand man dared to disobey him”

A familiar black robe with purple lining appeared in front of Kyungsoo’s cell, and to Kyungsoo’s dismay, a more familiar sky blue robe with Aqua’s insignia followed him. The small Sage gave Kyungsoo a blinding smile, and his smile widened even more as he noticed that the smaller Prince was crying and hiding behind his brother dead body. Luhan cooed softly as he walked closer to the cowering Prince, squatting next to him with a mocking smile. “What’s wrong, my dear Prince? Having a nightmare? Can’t sleep because your brother isn’t here to sing lullaby to you?”

Kyungsoo wished with all his heart that he had enough courage to stand up and kick Luhan, or at the very least slap the mocking smile away, but he just pushed himself more to the wall, tears falling down fast…

And it irked Luhan more; the Sage stood up, snorted in disgust…

“I can’t believe that I used to be a part of this Royal Family. The King is stupid and rash, the prude little prince is dead, and there’s another one that is…useless. If this is the Royal Family, what about the people? Probably useless like them. If it was me I’ll wipe out the entire kingdom and start new…”

A loud slap echoed around the prison; Luhan found himself dropping to the floor, cheek red with a palm mark on it, and a larger than usual Kyungsoo standing in front of him with his shaking hand in mid air, teeth gritted…

“Don’t you dare speak ill of my family, or my Kingdom. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, Luhan. This will be a final warning…”

“Or what? You’ll punish me? Of all people? Don’t make me laugh, Prince Kyungsoo. I am no longer the meek Luhan you know”

Something glowed purple within Luhan’s chest before a purple hand, as big as Kyungsoo’s torso, appeared out of thin air and slammed the poor Prince to the wall, almost breaking his back…

“That’s. Enough”

A purple orb whizzed past Kyungsoo’s face before it hit Luhan in the face, making the Sage flew to the other corner of the cell, buried under the broken wall bricks; the thrower of the orb flicked his hand lazily and the purple hand that held Kyungsoo just now disappeared into the thin air again. The Sage’s face reappeared in between the broken stones, fuming mad as his dainty little hands pushed away the broken stones; blood spilled out from a cut on his forehead and his lips. He looked twice his normal size, seething in anger as he shoved the Shaman hard.

“What do you think you’re doing, Jongdae? Do you want me to tell the King that you dared lay a hand on me, his most beloved pet? Do you really want your head on a plate, my dearest Shaman?”

“Do you want me to tell the two Kings that not only you were stalling doing your jobs, you were also hindering me from doing mine and even attempted to kill the Pillar of Aqua?”

“……………….”

“That’s right, Luhan. The Pillar of Aqua’s safety has been entrusted to me, my dear Sage, so it is my job to stop you from injuring the Pillar of Aqua. If you really that curious on whatever I’m doing here, I came to ensure that the Third Prince is still alive, and collect the corpse of the Second Prince, both under the King’s order. If you attempted to slow me down again, I will not hesitate to throw you in the next cell,like how a traitor like you deserved. Now disappear, and don’t ever let me catch you stalling again”

The Sage hissed in anger at the Shaman, but hastily made his way towards the door, mouth muttering a long chain of curse words…

Jongdae turned his head towards the two Princes again; Kyungsoo, who had bursted with anger just now, had reduced back to the same cowering Prince that he usually is. If it was Luhan, Kyungsoo thought, then he might have a chance of winning since both of them were lacking in magical department. But he had lost just now, to a new Luhan who had an inkling of Nix dark magic from who knows where, and now standing in front of him is the Shaman, who possessed a more powerful magic than Minseok. The Shaman can huff and puff and Kyungsoo will lost; a sad reality, but he wasn’t about to try to change it anyways.

The Shaman gave him his usual smirk before he did something that Kyungsoo would never thought he would do; clapping his hands…

“I never thought the day that I see you mustered some courage and fight back will arrive, Prince Kyungsoo. I supposed a compliment should be in order, so…congratulations on finally becoming a man, Prince Kyungsoo”

Kyungsoo was confused by the reaction, but his eyes never leave the Shaman’s cold steely eyes; there was something that the Shaman intended to do in the prison that day, and he needed to know what…

In a blink of the eye, the Shaman disappeared from his spot and reappeared right next to Kyungsoo, grabbing his hair so hard that Kyungsoo felt like his head would snapped from the rest of his body. He tried to scream loudly, but his voice failed him and all that he can muster was a weak whimper. A chuckle can be heard coming from the Shaman as he shoved the Prince down to the floor; in his hands were a small lock of Kyungsoo’s hair.

“And here I thought that you are at the very least learnt something from today’s ordeal, Prince Kyungsoo…oh well, at least it will make my job easier… Veni, mi daemonium exercitus…”

To Kyungsoo’s horror, the lock of hair in the Shaman’s hand soared into the air before a black slimy blob emerged from the floor and started to engulf the hair before it morphed into another Kyungsoo…

Seeing the flabbergasted Prince made the Shaman’s smirk grew wider; he walked closer to the second Kyungsoo, whispering softly but clear enough for the real Kyungsoo to hear…

“You are Prince Kyungsoo, Third Prince of Aqua. You were thrown into prison by your brother King Junmyeon and his accomplice King Sehun. You witnessed your brother Prince Minseok killed in front of you. You are very sad and distraught to the point you were eating and sleeping less than normal and cried a lot”

The other Kyungsoo repeated the words, and he sounded exactly like Kyungsoo to the point that the real Kyungsoo can’t help but to stare in both horror and awe…

“What…is that?”

“Hmm? It’s my most prized spell, and consider yourself lucky to have seen it because usually when people saw my demon army, most of the time the next thing they will see is the pearly gate of Heaven, just like the late Aqua King, I supposed”

Kyungsoo had to bite his tongue to stop himself from making a scathing remark; fighting someone who has an arsenal of dark magic is definitely unwise…

“…why is…he’s here?”

“Hmm…did I pluck your brain out too when I pulled your hair, Prince Kyungsoo? Of course its to bring both you and Prince Minseok out of here, or do you want to stay here alone because I need to bring Prince Minseok’s body out of here and put it back into his room…”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened before he quickly shook his head; he definitely haven’t imagine the possibility of going out of the prison cell, with Jongdae’s help no less. The Shaman smirked again as he carefully picked up the cold body of Minseok from the ground, carrying it bridal style. “Now, be a good kid and go to sleep, Prince Kyungsoo. And for your own sake, please don’t waddle into the Land of Dream now, or I will personally come and kick you back into the reality”

Kyungsoo was about to ask what was that supposed to mean when the Shaman clicked his fingers and all of the sudden Kyungsoo felt like his eyes were heavy, very heavy. He dropped to the floor weakly and the last thing he saw was his hand looked like the hand of the doll he used to own before Chanyeol accidentally burned the poor doll while trying to teach him a simple water magic.

Jongdae picked up the doll from the ground, smiling as he tucked the doll safely in Minseok’s robe before he carried the body somewhere…

“The Third Prince is kinda cute, Prince Minseok. It’s irritating me so much that he’s so useless, but at the same time I can’t help myself from cooing at him because he’s so adorable. Now I get it why you’re so keen on protecting him, even though he’s not even your brother”

***

A pale moonlight shone through the windows to light the dark corridors as a pale figure slithered past the corridor, unbothered to bring a torch to light up his way. There was no Sage in sight, for this area was forbidden for anyone in the castle, unless they were summoned there, and there’s no one there to summon anyone anymore. The figure stopped in his track, casting a few spells on the corridor for a good measure before he resumed walking. He stopped in front of a large oak door, hesitating a bit before pushing the door open, letting him inside the white room.

The room looked exactly how he had left it a week ago; there’s a small bed at the corner with white bedsheet, a small desk that’s too small for him to sit at the other corner, a giraffe doll sat on top of the desk to remind the owner of a certain Sage, a huge window covering one of the wall with the Lake of Aqua as its view, two other walls were bookshelves crammed with books from top to bottom, and he was sure the owner had read all of the books, possibly multiple times.

Junmyeon sighed softly as he plopped on the bed; Kyungsoo’s bed…

The King stared at the ceiling, where someone had put something, papers shaped like stars that glowed in multiple colors, sighing again; this is Kyungsoo’s room, where the younger had spent most of his life in. The stars must be put there by Chanyeol, his personal Sage, who has been attached to him at the hips ever since the day Chanyeol walked into the castle, for Chanyeol has a lot of nifty tricks up his sleeves. Junmyeon sighed again for the nth time, closing his eyes as he let himself being carried away by his memories.

*

He remembered the day he first met with Kyungsoo; he woke up early that day, getting in bath even before his maids told him to, and was already perfectly dressed at sunrise. He was 5 at that time, and he was practically raised by the two maids who were always at his side, because he has no mother and his father was always busy. The two maids were kind and always smiling at him, praising him when he did a good job and scold him when he’s naughty, just like how mothers do, in Junmyeon’s opinion. He loved the two maids so much that he begged his father sometimes to give them gifts for taking good care of him, and the King obliged.

He never knew his mother, but he had heard stories about her, and it didn’t make sense for him at that moment why he was left alone, why his mother wasn’t there when all the kids his age he met outside the castle has a mother, and why most people will avoid his eyes when they were talking about his mother…

Junmyeon put his thoughts aside and smiled; his father had said something about a baby boy that will be sent to the castle, and that he will be raised as another Prince. Junmyeon smiled happily; another Prince means that the baby is his brother, and he would finally has one. He had seen the kids outside the castle with their little brothers and sisters, and he had asked his father about it once, but the King got angry and yelled at him.

Junmyeon never asked about it again…

When Junmyeon first saw the baby, he was totally mesmerized. The baby was tiny; his head is only slightly bigger than Junmyeon’s two palms and he was about Junmyeon’s arm length. His hair was black, unlike Junmyeon’s brown, and his lips pouty and shaped like a heart. The moment Junmyeon reached out to touch him, the baby reached back and wrapped his tiny hand around Junmyeon’s finger, giggling, and 5 years old Junmyeon swore to the Sun and Moon that he would do anything and everything to protect this bundle of joy. The baby was named Kyungsoo, and Junmyeon loved the name too; he felt like the name perfect for the baby.

What he didn’t know was that the bundle of joy is the start of his misery…

He didn’t understand when the King forbade him to go and visit Kyungsoo; in fact, he wasn’t allowed in the castle wing where Kyungsoo is. His two maids were no longer attending him all the time, for they were also taking care of Kyungsoo, and he found himself lost most of the time. There’s no one to play with him, no one to talk to him, no one to teach him alphabets and numbers, and Junmyeon found himself alone. He created some troubles to get some attention, and while it worked to some extent, he found himself getting more lonely at the end of the day, and the usually smiling Sages are scowling at him because of all the troubles he created. Junmyeon lowered his head, and one day he decided to talk to the King about it; the King might not offered a solution, but at least someone will hear him. That’s the very least he can do, Junmyeon thought silently as he made his way to the King’s chamber.

The usually closed door was slightly ajar that day, and the usual Sages guarding the door wasn’t there for some reason…

Junmyeon peeked inside the chamber, looking around for the figure of his father, and the sight burned his heart and soul…

The King was with his usual two maids, no clothes in sight, doing something that Junmyeon didn’t know what but judging from the hushed whisper and the disappearing Sages, Junmyeon concluded that they weren’t supposed to do that. The small Prince lowered his head, but keep his ears peeled, because the ones in the room were talking about him and his baby brother.

“Ah…ooh…Your Majesty. Why…ooh…Prince Junmyeon wasn’t..ah! Allowed…to see the new baby?”

“That baby was not a normal baby. He was born on the day of the blue moon, by my sister. He must be what the history books talked about; the Pillar of Aqua. That thing has a power to crush my Kingdom with just a sneeze. He’s dangerous! Not only Junmyeon, I forbade anyone from getting close to the imbecile! He shall not be taught magic, for if he realized that he is the Pillar of Aqua, he will try to take my throne, just like his Mother, that wretched Luna!”

“Ooh…but what if…we have a baby…my Lord? What would happen to…ahh…him?”

“They will be raised in this castle, just like Junmyeon…but don’t leave me like his mother did, will you? I shall lavish you with all the riches in the world…”

Junmyeon willed himself to turn away, shutting down his ears from the groans and the moans coming from the room. He learnt that Kyungsoo wasn’t his brother, but his cousin; a son for Prin