The Red Alert went off just after midnight. Baekhyun had been in his bed, listening to music, when his guards started hitting on his door, begging for an answer.

“What’s going on?” Baekhyun opened his door, taking in the serious look all his guards had.

“I apologize for disturbing you, my prince,” the head guard said, saluting him. “I’m afraid an intruder has passed our security; we must place at least two guards by your side to protect you.”

Two young officers saluted him, and stood on attention, eyes looking straight.

Baekhyun rubbed his forehead. “Who’s the intruder? Do we have any information?”

“Nobody we know, we don’t even know where he came from. A teleporter, sir. That’s all we know. Due to his nature, we couldn’t — we’ll catch him, sir.” The head guard’s tone was measured, neutral, and calm, as usual, as he was trained and expected to be, but Baekhyun still caught the slight he felt over his name, for not being able to catch the intruder on time.

“Have my parents been notified?”

“Yes, sir. And the crown princess is in the consul room — she refused to go into the safe room ... as you will also, my prince?”

Baekhyun smiled. He felt bad for the head guard. It was a position of great strength and honor, but there was only so much one could do to protect his prince and princess when they were stubborn, prone to breaking rules, and possessed rare powers bestowed upon them by the gods themselves, or so everyone believed about the last part.

“You guessed right, sir,” Baekhyun said casually. “I will stay in my chambers. Keep me updated, on my phone.”

“Sir,” the head guard said. “I’m afraid it would be very dangerous for you to be alone right now. Please allow me to place Taeyong and Lucas with you. They are two of my best guards, and they will do their utmost best to keep you safe.”

Baekhyun measured up his options. There was no question of him being able to protect himself, but the head guard would insist, while apologizing profusely. It was his job, after all. So that was how they would end up wasting precious time that Baekhyun could spend going around the palace, in the search of this teleporter. He had never met a teleporter before, and so, suddenly, his casual night had turned into a land of exciting opportunities.

He pretended to ponder for a moment, as if making this decision was costing him some great displeasure.

“All right, they can stay, but in the sitting room. I will be in my study.”

The head guard was visibly relieved. “Thank you, my prince.”

It was a shame that Baekhyun had no intentions of using the young guards, who seemed to stand taller as he gave his permission.

Baekhyun instructed his guards not to disturb him unless their lives were in immediate danger, and disappeared into his study room, where he quickly made some preparations.

He took off his checkered pajama set, and put on a black combat suit identical to those his guards wore. As he tied up his boots, Baekhyun kept his eyes on the door, in case the youngsters burst into his room; and on his phone, where updates of where the intruder was last seen were pouring in.

The main kitchen; the dining hall; south tower; all over the roofs; bathroom number eighteen — the guy seemed to be looking for something he didn't know exactly where it was.

How dangerous was he? Would he shoot Baekhyun on sight? Why was he here, and what was he looking for?

Baekhyun got up to his feet, and was just contemplating whether or not to take a gun with him, when, with a pop and a whoosh, the intruder himself materialised from a cloud of black smoke.

The very first thing Baekhyun noticed was that the intruder was scared , and he was just a kid. He wasn’t holding a gun, he didn’t make a move towards Baekhyun. If anything, he seemed to be just as confused as Baekhyun. It couldn’t be more obvious that he was not a threat. 

He was a tall skinny kid with black hair that was soaked from sweat; his eyes were soft and pleading, and he stood in front of Baekhyun, shaking from head to toe.

Baekhyun looked down and saw the kid’s black jacket was dark from blood on his left arm.

Without thinking, Baekhyun stepped forward and grabbed the kid’s arm. “Were you shot?”

The kid whispered something that Baekhyun didn’t understand. 

“What did you just say?”

Baekhyun could speak eight languages fluently, and was good enough to bull his way through it in four others, and had the basic knowledge of all the languages spoken throughout history, but the words that came out of the kid’s mouth was nothing he had ever heard before.

“What … what are you?”

The kid whimpered and hung his head low.

There was nothing he could do, but take off the kid’s jacket and inspect the damage. It wasn’t a gun wound, thankfully, but a simple cut on his forearm, not even a deep one.

Baekhyun put his finger on his lips and made a shushing sound, the kid seemed to understand him; he nodded and bit his lip. He winced and involuntarily pulled his arm a bit once, but other than that he stayed still and quiet as Baekhyun cleaned up his cut and bandaged it up.

After throwing away the bloody gauze pads in the bathroom, Baekhyun quickly washed his face with cold water and came back to his … guest.

He was a guest. What else would he be? Baekhyun would need to find someone who knew whatever that strange language with sharp edges and many pauses was … but until then, he would need to hide his guest, keep him safe.

If the government captured his guest, Baekhyun wasn’t sure if he could convince them to keep him free. No matter what his intentions were, he was a foreigner who had invaded the palace of the royal family, and had therefore threatened their well-being. He had a power — an extremely rare one — which made him the biggest threat they had seen until now.

There came a knock on his door. “My prince, may we come in?”

“No!” Baekhyun shouted, gesturing, with his hands, for the kid to stay still, as he had jumped up in alarm. “I’m coming.”

Baekhyun grabbed the kid’s arm and pulled him to his bookshelves, behind which a secret little room was. All one needed to do to find it was to pull three books from the shelves in a specific order, and whisper the magic words of the old Stum language. His mother herself had made the enchantment. The room was known by nobody else except the royal family.

He gave the kid a quick smile after gently pushing the kid in, who was starting to look ready to pass out. Maybe he had used his power too much, Baekhyun guessed, remembering the times he pushed himself too hard with his own power. 

As the door to his secret room closed, there was another knock in his door.

“My prince,” One of the young guards said. “Are you okay? We have an update for you.”

“Yes! I just need a moment.”

Baekhyun took off his clothes in seconds and threw them under his bed. He then opened the door, wearing only his underwear.

As he knew they would, the guards both lowered their heads at the sight. It wasn’t everyday they got to see their prince almost .

“I had just been taking a shower. Would have dressed up some more, but you sounded urgent,” Baekhyun kept his voice cool, but still put in a bit of a hint of displeasure. 

“We ask for a pardon, sir,” the taller one said. His big pretty eyes were troubled, and his cheeks were burning red.

The other one wasn’t in much better condition. Eyes darting all over the floor, the other one added. “The intruder seems to have vanished, my prince. He was spotted all over the palace up until about five minutes ago. We have to check everywhere and report back. Especially the private chambers of your royal highnesses, as they don’t have thermal scanners.”

Baekhyun didn’t speak right away; he had to at least pretend like he was surprised at the sudden disappearance of the intruder — his guest. 

He made himself look slightly concerned, thoughtful, and lost.

“Nobody is with me,” he then said. “I will want a full report tomorrow morning. You’re welcome to go and look around, if you want. I’m perfectly capable of keeping myself safe; it was a mistake of me to waste your time like this. You’re excused. Good night.”

The young guards looked up at him, and then looked down just as quick.

“Our time was not wasted,” the shorter one said. His ears were almost invisible between piercings, and his lips were plump and distracting.

But, as it happened, Baekhyun had an even more distracting someone hidden in his room, so he dropped his gaze, and cleared his throat meaningfully. “Good night. You may come back if the intruder bothers us again. Also, tell my sister that I don’t want him killed, understood? You catch him, you catch him alive.”

“Yes, sir,
 

“Good night, my prince.”

Baekhyun waited and listened to the young guards’ footsteps fade away, until they went through his sitting room door and closed it behind them.

His guest was curled up into a ball on the couch. He said some stuff when Baekhyun entered, but then dropped mid sentence (Baekhyun guessed) as he seemed to remember that Baekhyun couldn’t understand him. It irritated Baekhyun, not knowing a single word.

“It’s O.K” Baekhyun said loudly. “O.K” he repeated, smiling and raising both his thumbs.

The guest seemed to understand him; he nodded and sat up taller, and then he patted the empty space beside himself.

Baekhyun tentatively took a seat.

“Kai,” his voice came out very hoarse. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Kai,” pointed at himself. “Kai.”

“Baekhyun,” Baekhyun said back. “I’m Baekhyun. Nice to meet you ... Kai,”

I gained so much weight omg lmao