A/N: I didn't proofread it. It's 3.25am here right now, and my mind is not working well...

A/N 2: This happened in the same time frame as Chapter 5, just in case you're wondering. Just from another perspective

It was a dream...

But you were with me...

I would prefer a dream with you in it, rather than a lone reality...

***

Jongin stared as the Royal Physician bustled around his small chamber, finding the right herbs to brew for the injured Sage from Aqua. Jongin and Baekhyun were shocked when the tall Sage, even with him bleeding and looking like he’s going to faint at any time, told them that he has to go back to Aqua that very night, fearing the worst happened to the two Princes.

Jongin had never seen Baekhyun as angry as when he knocked poor Chanyeol to ground, telling him that it is useless to go back in that pitiful state, as he will get killed instantly the minute he reached Aqua. Jongin had to step in when Baekhyun dragged Chanyeol by his uninjured foot as they walked to wake the Royal Physician; Jongin rolled his eyes at the Second Captain as he carried the tall Sage behind him, Baekhyun trotted beside him. ‘It’s not my fault when he’s too tall for me to carry!’ Baekhyun quipped, and Jongin bit his tongue to stop himself from sassing the Second Captain; Baekhyun is not in the greatest mood to joke around, and a wrong sass may cost him a bleeding ear from the nagging of the armor wearing guy.

Luckily for them, Yixing was still up in his little chamber when they arrived, because Jongin hated the thought of having to wake the Royal Physician at this time of the night. Yixing, with the help of Baekhyun, had cleaned the injured Sage before he treated the wounds, bandaging the open wounds with strips of cotton. Chanyeol had complained before about going back to Aqua again, but he quickly closed his mouth after Yixing pulled out a huge needle, the size of Jongin’s index finger, and threathen to do acupuncture with that instead of the normal, tiny needles.

Jongin wondered if some of Baekhyun’s sass had rubbed off the normally calm, docile Royal Physician...

Yixing had been rambling about the stupidity of the late Aqua King, and about the current one, as he carefully insert a long needle into Chanyeol’s skin, which made something in Jongin’s mind clicked...

“Do you know a lot about the royalty of Aqua?”

“The late Queen of Terra was an Aqua Princess once upon a time, and she talked a lot about the family she left at Aqua. About the late King, which is her older brother, about his attitude...sigh...I’m sometimes glad that she passed early. I don’t know what will happen to her if she saw what turmoil happened in her beloved Aqua right now”

Jongin let out a small hum; he had never met with the late Queen of Terra, but he heard a lot about her. Terra Princes had talked about her adoringly, the Queen had said that the late Queen of Terra was her best friend, even his Uncle Yifan had said that it is weird to think that the late Queen was from Aqua, for she resembled nothing like the skirt chaser King of Aqua. Jongin personally regretted the fact that he hadn’t met her in person; a person that is spoken so highly by the people around him must be very, very astounding.

Yixing poured out three cups of flower-scented tea, before he passed it around to Baekhyun and Jongin. He took the last cup, grabbing a wooden spoon, and slowly fed Chanyeol some. “This tea is good to calm your nerves and make it easier to heal. It will make you drowsy tho, but you’ll be sleeping so well. And it is perfect for you, Mr I-need-to-go-back, and you my King”

Jongin almost spat his tea out; both from the urge to laugh at the sass, and the shock from being mentioned…

“Whatever you mean, Sir Yixing?”

“You were heading to the Land of Dream, no? I can see that you’re wearing a window bracelet, although I cannot fathom where you found it, my King, for it is quiet…uhh…delicate process to make it, to say it simply”

Jongin looked down at his hand, where the bracelet Prince Jaehwan gave dangled happily. Jongin frowned in confusion; he can’t remember when he put it on, because when he was bickering with Baekhyun about carrying Chanyeol, he kinda remembered slipping it inside his shirt, not on his hand. But he decided to not dwell on it longer. Probably he did put it on his arms, who knows.

“I…It’s a gift from…one of the Terra Princes”

“It must be either Prince Hakyeon or Prince Jaehwan, I assumed, no?”

“Ye – yeah, it was Prince Jaehwan”

Yixing nodded softly, face unreadable as he poured another cup of tea for Jongin…

“Sir Yixing, do you know anything more…about…the Land of Dream?”

“Nothing more than what I have told you the day before the coronation. But…I think this person may know something...that you need to know”

Yixing softly pat Chanyeol’s shoulder with a knowing look, before the Royal Physician went away, dragging a half-asleep Baekhyun, whispering about giving them some privacy before he closed the door behind him…

“Chanyeol…”

Jongin raised from his seat and sat at the edge of Chanyeol’s bed, thinking what would be the best way to coax the unwilling servant to share his secret…

“I met with Kyungsoo today, with the help of Prince Minseok. But…Kyungsoo seemed very fidgeted, even Luhan and Prince Minseok too, and we were talking when a…water pillar appeared and disappeared…and Kyungsoo quickly disappeared afterwards too…”

Chanyeol groaned hard, head hung down…

“It’s the King…he is probably eavesdropping and Prince Minseok decided to blow his cover and alerted Prince Kyungsoo…maybe that’s why…the execution…”

“Where were you this morning, Chanyeol? I have always assumed that personal Sages are basically attached to the hip of the prince, like Luhan and Prince Minseok, but you weren’t there this morning…”

Chanyeol nodded softly; Jongin can see that he is still quite unsure whether it is safe or not to confide in him, but the chance are there. “I was…in the prison…” Chanyeol whispered softly. Jongin gasped, too loudly in his own opinion, but it was a shocking piece of information. “The King found the mask I used at that party, and went on rampage. I was caught and thrown into prison, and…and…”

“He made all those wounds on your body, right?”

Chanyeol choked on a sob…

“I resisted so hard. At the end, he pulled out someone from behind him…a man…and all of the sudden I was telling him everything. Words just spilled out of my mouth like water”

“A man?”

“It’s a Shaman from Nix, judging from his appearance. He wore a black cape, with purple edge”

Jongin felt like his stomach dropped to the floor; it’s hard enough to fight Junmyeon as is, because he is a fighter and Junmyeon is a Summoner that can summon water from far away before Jongin can come close, now he has another help from Nix. Of all places, Nix is the kingdom he hated the most, thanks to their unending effort to bring Stella down. Nix has been on Stella’s tail ever since the passing of the late King, for some reason, but with the help of Terra and Aqua, well, the late King of Aqua, they managed to deflect the attack of Nix.

But now the Kingdom of Aqua had managed to earn themselves a Shaman; a dark magician, a specialty of Nix, which meant that there must be some sort of partnership happening between Aqua and Nix now. He clicked his tongue in frustration, trying to cram everything in his brain before laying them down in a meeting with the Captain and Second Captain of Stella, and probably his Uncle Yifan too, because the former Captain might have a better idea and experience in fighting a war with mages.

“Umm…my apologize…my King”

Jongin turned around to face the Sage again, who looked like he’s in between bursting down into tears and thinking so deep that he unknowingly bite into his lower lips, too hard that it’s bleeding…

“It’s about…Prince Kyungsoo…”

“I’m listening…”

“It’s…umm…about…umm…is my King aware about…the three Princes of Aqua?”

“That the late King and the late Queen didn’t have a royal heir, and all three Aqua Princes are the sons of the late King with different women. The current King is the eldest among the three, so he is crowned as King after the passing of the late King”

“In a sense, that’s the gist of it. Since there is no royal heir, so the eldest Prince, Prince Junmyeon, succeeded the throne. However…what if there’s more to it?”

Jongin tilted his head in confusion; he was well aware that the late Queen of Aqua never gave birth due to her weak condition, but what’s more to it?

“The late King has one sister, who became the Queen of Terra…and another sister, older than the late King, who had seemingly disappeared from the history of Aqua, because she left the castle after arguing with the late King about the throne. The late King was adamant about succeeding the throne, because in his word, the older sister married a commoner so her heir wouldn’t be THAT good. Fuming, the eldest Princess left the castle with her husband that very night, never to come back again, and the late King succeeded the throne”

Jongin closed his eyes; he is glad for he was borne in Stella, for his people doesn’t seem to mind that his mother, the Queen, was a commoner. They loved her all the same, for the late King, his father, was deeply in love with her, and the people celebrate the love between the royal and the commoner. Never did Jongin see his people treat his mother differently, or making snide remarks about her upbringing.

They loved her for everything she is; poise, demure, pretty and smart, and Jongin is forever proud of her…

Not even his Uncle Yifan dared denouncing the Queen, even though he is Stella’s Second Prince and has every right to succeed the throne before Jongin’s coming-of-age, he simply didn’t…

“It was a sad tale, about a Queen that is banished from her throne simply for marrying the love of her life, which happened to be a commoner. Now here’s the thing; the Kingdom of Aqua deemed someone a royal heir when that someone is borne by the Queen, regardless of the father, and that is why all three Aqua Princes are not considered royal heir. However, in actuality, 18 years ago, in a small house near the sea, Princess Luna, the eldest Aqua Princess, had given birth to a son before she passed away a week later. Her son has been sent to the castle as per Princess Laura’s request before she married the King of Terra, and since the resemblance of the baby and the late Princess Luna is uncanny, the baby is raised in the castle as…Prince Kyungsoo”

“So…Kyungsoo is…a royal heir?”

“Only the late King, the Princes of Terra, and Prince Kyungsoo knew the whole story. If…if the current King knew the truth, he might…thought that Prince Kyungsoo is after his throne”

Chanyeol burst into tears, which he haphazardly wiped with his sleeves…

“Prince Kyungsoo doesn’t have a lot of magic. He wasn’t allowed to practice since young. The late King made it so that Prince Kyungsoo can’t leave the castle because they were afraid that the third prince might mingle with other kids and learn magic. Prince Kyungsoo only knew the most basic magic, and that won’t protect him from the King right now. Prince Minseok sent me here with the promise of protecting Prince Kyungsoo, but…I haven’t been able to contact Prince Minseok at all since I left Aqua…I have no doubt that Prince Minseok is a very skilled Summoner, but what if something happened to him? What will happen to Prince Kyungsoo? Please…please my King…I beg you,please let me leave…Prince Kyungsoo needs me”

Chanyeol dropped himself to the ground, head bowed to the ground, begging for Jongin to let him go, and Jongin felt stuck, tongue-tied; he needs to rescue Kyungsoo, but Chanyeol isn’t in the condition to help anyone…

A door swung open pulled Jongin into reality; Yixing strutted back into the chamber, alone this time, which Jongin can only assumed he left to put Baekhyun to bed. Yixing took a quick look around to digest the scenery in front of him before he slowly pull the tale Sage to the bed again, drying his tears with a soft cotton cloth. “It’s okay, take a deep breath. You’ll feel much better tomorrow, and THEN you can ask if you can leave or not”

Jongin REALLY wondered if anyone has been teaching his new Royal Physician some sass; it’s either Baekhyun or Zitao for sure, because they are the sassiest of sassy after all…

Jongin stared as the Royal Physician fussed around the whiny Sage; too many thoughts running around his head as he tried to digest all the information he received tonight. He had to held a meeting with both Captain and Second Captain, the former Captain, and maybe the Queen, because she might have valuable information. To save the two Aqua Princes from the clutch of the King of Aqua, who had joined forces with the Kingdom of Nix, might be hard, very hard, but Jongin had to do it…for Kyungsoo…and for his own sake…

‘Jongin…’

Jongin blinked as he looked around, bewildered; did someone just called him? Yixing was busy with Chanyeol, not sparing him any glances, so what did he just heard? His imagination? Jongin stood up; maybe he was getting too tired and started to hallucinate, so he might as well leave the Royal Physician’s chamber and went back to his chamber and take a rest.

‘Jongin…come here’

To the horror of the Royal Physician and the flustered Sage, Jongin stumbled to the ground, mumbling something incoherent before closing his eyes…

‘Is someone calling me from the Land of Dream?’

***

He’s falling…

He can feel his body floats and fell down…

‘Here, grab my hand’

He reached out his hands, but there