Broken

The Art of Fire

When Ryeowook got to the hospital the next day, a smile played on his lips already before he entered the children’s room. He opened the door carefully, hoping not to draw any attention to himself, yet Kyuhyun’s eyes met his the moment he stuck his head through the door, quickly also attracting the children’s attention.

“Prince!” they all called out, so Ryeowook opened the door fully and entered the room, crouching down next to the other young man who was dressed all in black just like every day, minus the coat. Apparently, it was getting too warm for Kyuhyun to wear it.

“Are you sharing stories again?” he asked as the children quickly assembled around him and Kyuhyun in a semi-circle, nodding quickly.

“Yes, yes! He hasn’t heard the story of our old auntie yet!” one of the boys exclaimed.

“Oh really? How can that be?” Ryeowook gave Kyuhyun a scandalized look to which the other raised a hand to his heart as if he had been critically hit.

One of the girls climbed onto his lap, startling the fire artist, especially when she took away the other’s hand and placed her ear on Kyuhyun’s chest, remaining still for a moment before she confirmed. “He’s okay.”

The children cheered and Ryeowook couldn’t help but laugh. He the girl’s hair a few times in appraisal. “You did well for checking on him.”

The girl beamed at him. “The doctor also always checks on our heart! He’s not here, so I did it and Kyuhyun-sshi’s heart is still beating strong!”

“Good job.” Ryeowook didn’t have the heart to tell her that there had been no need to do such a thing—she was way too adorable.

The girl got comfortable on Kyuhyun’s lap, reaching out for the other’s hand to play with it, watching the fingers so intently that Ryeowook wasn’t sure if she wasn’t still playing doctor.

“Who wants to start the story of our old auntie?” Ryeowook asked into the round of children who all called out their name immediately. Eventually, one of the older boys starting telling the story of the elderly female ghost-sightings in the streets of the capital—sightings that had scared the entire city for a while until they realized the ghost’s friendly nature.

Ryeowook stayed for the better part of the story until he excused himself to check on Minjeong. His heart broke when he heard the child’s coughs already before entering the room. If Minjeong had caught another cold, he still wouldn’t be able to go home!

After determining that Minjeong indeed wouldn’t be able to go home yet and staying with the boy for a while, Ryeowook left the room and joined the doctor in the big room instead. At some point, Kyuhyun joined them once again and even though he still looked tense staying in that room, Ryeowook thought that he didn’t look quite as uptight as the day before.

 

 

Day by day, the situation seemed to get worse, and Ryeowook was grateful for Kyuhyun seemingly getting more used to working in the big room with the other two. More and more people came into the hospital, complaining about a lasting cough, a throat ache, and the first ones who had come were battling high fevers, speaking about trouble breathing in their more conscious moments. And after another week, Ryeowook noticed the first beds where someone had succumbed to this strange disease that seemed similar to the flu and still different.

He had to be the strongest, though, when he went to the children’s section. While all the other children were coming and going, their numbers and faces changing every day, there was one particular child who was still staying and who, as Ryeowook knew, had also caught this strange new disease. And, as he also knew though he did his best to suppress those thoughts, was most likely in the final stage.

Ryeowook knocked softly before he entered the room that little Minjeong had been staying in recently. Two of the other four kids who were staying in that room as well were playing quietly on the floor while Minjeong seemed to be asleep. When Ryeowook entered, the two boys looked up and squealed in excitement.

“Prince!” they both called out and hurried to bow formally before they both ran up to him, taking one of his hands each.

“Hey you two,” Ryeowook greeted them and crouched down with them, letting the two kids hug him. “How are you doing?”

“The doctor said I can go home today!” one of the two said proudly, nodding vigorously. His fever had gone down so much that he looked almost completely healthy again and Ryeowook, too, was certain that the child would be best off at home.

“I have to stay until tomorrow,” the other boy pouted. “The doctor said that we have to wait until even the last of these things are healed.” He pointed at the remainder of the infected smallpox areas that looked much better than they still had the few days before.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Ryeowook smiled at the two boys, then his worried glance went over to the small, pale figure on one of the beds. He stood up and went over to the bed.

“Prince, will Minjeong-ah be okay?” the first boy asked.

Ryeowook sat down on the bed and felt the sick boy’s forehead. He still seemed to have a strong fever, but the touch woke him up. The boy opened his eyes slowly, soon focusing on the young man sitting on his bed. “Prince,” he said with a weak smile, his voice barely audible.

“Minjeong-ah. How are you feeling?”

“I dreamed of… of a garden. With many flowers. Granny was there.” His grandmother had died a few years earlier, bringing a sad smile to Ryeowook’s lips.

“Really? What did she say?”

“She said… she’s happy. Healthy. That breathing will be… easier there.” Minjeong had to take a break to try catching his breath. He coughed dryly, only able to stop after a long time during which Ryeowook lifted him up a little.

“Oh Minjeong-ah…” He wished he could say something encouraging, could tell the boy that he would be fine, would go home soon.

“Breathing… hurts. Prince, it hurts.”

“Should I call the doctor?”

“He won’t… come.”

Ryeowook shook his head. “No, if I call him, I’m sure he will come.” He turned around to the other two boys. “Can you two get the doctor, please? Tell him I called for him and that he has to come quickly.”

“Yes!” The boys saluted him in unison, then they ran out of the room.

Ryeowook stood up and closed the door, then he sat down next to Minjeong who had lain back down. “Prince… where’s mommy? Where’s daddy?”

“They were here yesterday while you were asleep.” He didn’t have the heart to tell the boy that his parents hadn’t been able to come, working harder than ever in order to pay the doctor’s bills.

“You saw them?” Ryeowook nodded gently, bringing the hint of a smile to Minjeong’s chapped lips. “Can you… Prince, if they come again… while I sleep… can you tell them that I… love them?”

Ryeowook nodded again. His eyes were stinging lightly, but he refused to give in to the urge to cry. No, Minjeong was there, alive, having trouble, but at least still breathing. Not well, but still. “Of course I’ll tell them in case you’re asleep,” he promised.

“Thank you.” Minjeong reached out his spindly arms and Ryeowook helped the boy into his arms, letting Minjeong rest his head against his chest, one tiny hand holding on to his outer robe. He felt the boy’s fast, flat breaths against his own body while he held the boy who was hardly more than skin and bones. “Prince… can you sing for me?”

“What do you want to hear?”

“Anything.”

Ryeowook thought for a moment, no melody and no words coming to his mind at first. What could he sing? Where were all the children’s songs that he usually sang for the kids when they requested it? He raked his mind, growing desperate when he still came up with nothing for endless seconds, until finally, the first words and notes of a children’s song came to him. He started slowly, haltingly, needing time for the familiar song to manifest in his mind again.  

His voice stayed soft while the small boy relaxed in his embrace, his breath slowing down. Ryeowook’s vision blurred, his eyes b with tears, but he still refused to cry, focusing to keep his voice steady, focusing on the child’s weight in his arms, on his breaths that seemed to become more and more shallow with each verse that passed. Where was the doctor?

His hands tightened on the too big clothes around the boy’s skinny frame. His heart gave a painful throb, sending leaden, hopeless ache through him until he couldn’t utter a single word anymore. His entire body was shaking. At some point, he had lost the fight against the tears and he couldn’t stop more and more from falling.

A shadow moved through his vision, clad all in black, but he couldn’t look up, couldn’t divert his attention from the small, lifeless boy whom he still held.

The black shadow crossed his vision once more and then arms wrapped around him carefully. Ryeowook couldn’t push them away, couldn’t move, he could only stay hunched over, crying for the poor, sick boy whose last request had been nothing but a song.

At one point, the arms that held him let him go and Ryeowook felt like he was falling, falling, falling… Minjeong was taken from his arms with gentle, relentless force, then he was once again pulled into a tight embrace.

“What happened here?” a female voice asked all of a sudden. “Get away from our prince!”  

“It wasn’t me. The child died. When I arrived, our prince was already like this,” a calm voice replied. The arms attempted to let go of Ryeowook again, but the prince shook his head, clinging to the black fabric under his hands as if his life depended on it.

“You shouldn’t have taken this kind of initiative! Who do you think you are?” the female voice berated the man whom Ryeowook long since identified as Kyuhyun.

“I’m sorry if I have overstepped a boundary. But our prince looked like he could need someone by his side.”

He needed to get himself under control. He couldn’t think about Minjeong any further. He couldn’t think about the child’s voice as he said that he had trouble breathing. That he loved his parents. That Ryeowook should tell them that. His heart clenched in grief and he held on to Kyuhyun even tighter, unable to stop the tears or the sobs that shook his body. Poor Minjeong! Poor, poor Minjeong hadn’t deserved any of that!

“Prince.” This time, the female voice was much nearer. Kyuhyun’s body tensed under him and Ryeowook finally managed to divert his thoughts, thinking instead about what Kyuhyun had to think of him in that moment, how pitiful he had to sound, how much of a disgrace to the royal family he was.

When he could kind of control the sobs, he finally leaned away, yet it took a short while longer until Kyuhyun’s arms let him go, one hand remaining on his back just a little longer in a comforting gesture before that hand dropped away as well, for a moment giving Ryeowook the feeling that he was falling as well, left without anything to anchor him in the present where he had to act like he was alright. He took the tissue that his maid offered to him, blowing his nose and wiping over his eyes, trying to regain his composure completely, but he still felt all shaken inside and like a single wrong word or thought would tip him over the edge by the time that the doctor appeared in the doorway. He didn’t look surprised at all.

“So the kid died.” His voice was matter-of-factly, as if he had made a statement about the weather instead.

Rage welled up inside Ryeowook. How could the doctor speak that lowly of poor Minjeong? How could he not show any feelings towards the painful death that this child had had to suffer?

He drew in a shaky breath and stood up, making eye contact with the doctor briefly before he looked away, unable to take the other’s empty look. “I’m leaving,” he announced and started walking without waiting for a response.

The two maids were by his side in an instant, but someone else walked even closer to him, almost touching. Ryeowook clung to the solace that Kyuhyun’s presence emitted, trying to ignore the urge to reach out and take the other’s hand, hug him, feel that secure embrace again. But it wasn’t possible. He was a prince. Kyuhyun a fire artist. They were both men. Such a thing didn’t happen—not friendship and especially not more than that.

He had to ban those thoughts from his mind as well in order to maintain his composure. They came to a stand not too far from the court gates and this time, his maids stayed rather close to them. Ryeowook wanted to tell them that it was okay, that they shouldn’t worry, but somehow, he couldn’t. Instead, he turned to Kyuhyun, looking right into the other’s eyes for a moment, but the urge to throw himself into the other’s arms and cry was nearly overwhelming, taking his breath away for a moment, so he quickly looked away again.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” Kyuhyun asked quietly.  

“I don’t know.” His own voice sounded toneless to Ryeowook and if he still had enough energy left for that, he’d be scared by it. “I don’t know if I can already go back tomorrow.”

Kyuhyun reached out for him, but then seemed to think better of it. Their eyes met once more and Ryeowook could tell that there was so much left unsaid, so much that both of them wanted to say…

He turned away and straightened his shoulders. “Goodbye, Kyuhyun. And thank you for today.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ryeowook could feel the other’s eyes on him all the way into court. He kept the act up until he was safely in his room where he sat down in front of the mirror and just stared at his reflection, saw his red and swollen eyes, tried not to cry again.

He had no idea how much time had passed when a knock startled him from this trance. “Yes?”

“The King and the Queen would like to talk to you, my prince.”

Ryeowook stared at the maid, the words needing time to register in his mind. He knew that he should probably feel unsettled about this prospect, but he just felt empty inside, the same emptiness that he clung to since he had pulled away from Kyuhyun’s safe embrace.

“I’m coming,” he said but needed a little longer until he could finally get up heavily and follow the maid to the study where any serious business took place. He was still too exhausted to feel nervous.

The maid knocked, then she bowed and left. When he was asked to enter, Ryeowook did and sat down after he had greeted his parents respectfully, trying to stay focused on the situation at hand.

“Ryeowook,” his mother started, taking his hand. “We have been informed that this flu… this disease… is getting out of hand.” He stared at her blankly, meeting her sympathetic eyes. “Because of this, your father and I have come to the conclusion that it would be best if you stayed inside court from now on.”

Ryeowook blinked, turning to his father, then back to his mother. “But I have to work at the hospital…” His voice trailed off. He knew the argument—if it could even be called that—was weak, and yet he didn’t dare to think further than that.

His mother shook her head. “No, not anymore. We will send out a messenger tomorrow to let the doctor know that you won’t continue your work at the hospital. The situation is too dangerous.”

“The girls have also informed us that they failed to protect you today. That this… fire artist,” the King almost spat out those words, “was there and… touched you. Ryeowook, you should have known better than to—“

The lecture rained down upon the prince who could only sit there and listen, trying to understand the words that were thrown at him. He wasn’t allowed to go outside. His maids had just been fired. Minjeong died. He had to stop working at the hospital. There was probably no next time seeing Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun expected him back. He still had a private show from Kyuhyun that was waiting for him. He wouldn’t be allowed to see it.

He somehow and somewhen arrived back in his room, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. He quietly closed the door and let himself collapse onto his bed, not bothering with taking off his clothes, brushing his hair, or anything else. The same thoughts kept on repeating in his mind until they singled down to two: No Minjeong. No Kyuhyun.

A wet spot slowly formed on the pillow as new sobs shook his body.

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Evelyn-Everdeen
shortened A/N chpt. 31: Even though belatedly, I did my best to research a proper quote for Kyuhyun's fan that fits into the era where this story takes place. "Wherever you go, go with all your heart" is attributed to Confucius and will be used from now on

Comments

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drunkbluestar
#1
Chapter 44: Hello, author. I was away from AFF for a few months and when I came back, the first thing that I noticed was The Art of Fire is completed. I rushed to read the last three chapters and as always, your writing never disappoints. I am very glad that Ryeowook and Kyuhyun got the happy ending that they deserves. Thank you for writing this amazing piece and finishes it neatly! A very beautiful story.
ElloryQueen
#2
Chapter 44: I finally got around to reading these last two chapters, and it was such a nice ending! I'm glad they were both able to find peace in themselves, or at least for the most part. Thank you for continuing this story until the end, it was worth it!
KagayakuHoshi #3
Chapter 44: Beautiful! I have loved this story from the beginning, I’m a little sad that it’s ended… but thank you so much for writing such an amazing story <3
yuinatsuko127 #4
lovely story!
the_fictitious
#5
Chapter 43: New beginnings....and wookie's other power maybe?
misspunky29
#6
Chapter 43: Awwwwwww am so happy we are slowly and nearly having Kyuhyun back!!!! But on the other hand, I think Ryeowook is still a bit afraid to tell what happened to him while Kyuhyun was manipulated by his sire. It will take time but am sure Kyu will be able to make Wookie speak about it(since English is not my first language, I may have misunderstood that part but I think Wook is still affected by what happend) And I soo want Hangeng and Heechul to stay with Kyu and Wookie !
ElloryQueen
#7
Chapter 42: This is so exciting! I really love stories where one of the love interests has to "fight" for the love of the other. I know it's not really the same, but it's going to be so interesting to watch Ryeowook thaw that frozen glare of his. Like it would be so sweet if this current Kyuhyun starts having feelings for Ryeowook more than protection, and that is what gives the old Kyuhyun the path to take control again.
misspunky29
#8
Chapter 42: Ohhhhh can't wait to see Ryeowook helping Kyuhyun so he could have control of his body again. Like Kyu is still there but the manipulation that Kyuhyun sire did is really deep it will take a while before we see the Kyuhyun that we all love
Katalex_
#9
Chapter 41: Huwaaaaa ryeowookieeeee😭😭😭😭
the_fictitious
#10
Chapter 41: Omooo andwaee!!! But you, unnie, how you make my heart break but keep me hooked enough to want more, the greed for more makes me consume in madness, yet still I wait patiently, like a madman in my head, for the next chapter :")