As Baekhyun had mentioned, the light was but a faint glimmer reflecting on the walls at first, but as they continued walking, it grew. 

It grew steadily until it was practically blinding, and the group had to walk blindly for a good minute before their eyes could get accustomed to the incoming sunlight. It had been days since Seoyeon had catched the glimpse of the sun. 

It was safe to say that the image she had envisioned of the palace underground was extremely different from the one she found herself before once they had arrived. In Seoyeon’s mind the undergrounds were still intact, the torches fastened on the walls still lit, and the guards still standing at each side of the entrance. 

It was a false image - obviously, because there was none of that. There wasn’t even an underground. Instead, the ground above them seemed to have collapsed into a landslide, and it seemed that in order to actually get inside the palace, they’d have to climb.

Unconsciously, her gaze fell on Kyungsoo, whose eyes were roaming around the location with an unreadable expression. They then fell on her, and their eyes met. She was quick to look away though, she hardly thought she could properly handle his intense gaze in a situation like this. 

”It’s oddly quiet,” Chanyeol noted. ”Not the first impression of the palace I had in mind.” 

”Well, this place has been abandoned for eleven years, it’d be far stranger if there was much sound around here. Come on, let’s go and search for the portal. I don’t know exactly where in the palace it resides, so we’ll have to scatter around and look for it,” Baekhyun said, making a small jump on the collapsed soil in order to climb it. 

Seoyeon gripped on a loose tree root that had sprouted from the ground, feeling its humid texture with her hand for safety before locking her grip on it and climbing upwards. The loose soil cracked and slipped beneath her feet as she made her way up to the main palace grounds along with the rest of the group. 

Ruins. 

Everything was in ruins. 

She didn’t know what she expected, honestly. She knew everything would look like this, and she was prepared to go through it. 

What she was not prepared for, was the unfamiliar, painful sting in her heart at the sight. And perhaps that sting was because she could barely recognise the place. This wasn’t her past home, this was a grave. 

Her train of thoughts was broken by a warm hand gently grabbing her wrist, and in reflex Seoyeon whipped around, almost yanking her arm out of the grip. But she stopped once she realised that it had been Kyungsoo, who was looking ahead with a rather empty stare. Her first thought was to wonder why he looked so unbothered, but the way his fingers had wrapped around her wrist told her another story, one where it was clear that he had done that in an attempt of comfort. 

It felt odd to have someone hold her that gently without any further intent, but for once Seoyeon chose to battle her instincts and let the prince find his comfort. After all, Kyungsoo was the one who had lived in the palace the longest, it had really been his home once upon a time. It was only natural that the sight unnerved him. 

His other hand flew to one of the columns, a violent tremor had overtaken it as he brushed his fingers along the eroded pattern and Seoyeon swore she saw his lips tremble slightly. 

A cold, raw, numb seeped in at the sight of the weather-worn composite columns, once a creamy, regal white now a shade dirtier draped with a thick layer of moss. The carvings on the limestone walls were partially eroded, and partially covered by vines and wall plants grown untreated over time. Part of the ceiling had crumbled too, and instead they were met with the bright blue sky, the distant chirping of birds, and a terrifyingly quiet breeze that reminded her that her past was nothing but a ghost, a shadow. Along with it, followed the dim light of the sun, filtered through trees and overgrowth. 

Seoyeon inhaled the dry, dusty air as she spotted the remains of an old archway that led to a flight of stairs. She froze, and Seulgi—who was right behind her and Kyungsoo—took notice of it. 

”What happened? Why did you stop?” she asked. 

”I- that archway..” Seoyeon trailed off, frowning in concentration. The prince stood still beside her, uncharacteristically quiet. 

Her hand slipped from his grip as she stalked towards it. ”It’s the first thing in here I recognise.” 

It was true, she recognised it - which was obvious, since she used to live there, but there was something about the way it was perfectly lined up with the stairs that unlocked a piece of her mind that had been shoved down long ago. 

”If you go up and turn left, I think—” she began, now in her own trance as everyone else was forgotten. Seoyeon walked up the stairs without a second thought with Kyungsoo and Seulgi trailing behind her, feet moving on bare muscle memory despite the fact that she couldn’t remember where it led. The only thing she knew was that it led somewhere she had been many times. 

Once up the stairs, she turned left to a large, half destroyed corridor. ”I recognise this, it has to be—” Seoyeon walked ahead, feeling the numb pain grow. 

”Hey- be careful!” Seulgi shouted behind her, but she paid no attention to that as her body automatically halted in front of a destroyed archway, where there once had stood a door. A wall plant had grown around it, circling through the cracks of the stone like a green river. 

Seoyeon drew in a sharp breath at the sight before her. Of course. ”—My room.” 

Or what was left of it. Only two of the walls were still standing, which granted them a view of the crumbled stone and palm trees sprouting from it outside. Half of the ground was gone too, though there was a rusty piece of metal that resembled the remains of a bed.  

Something was bubbling up inside her. Something painful, that she had kept stored away. But it didn’t make sense. Seoyeon was over her past, right? 

Then why, why, did the sight hurt so much? Why was a thick, cold lump growing steadily in , and why was it getting harder and harder to repress it? 

She kneeled on the ground, brushing her hand against the metal of her old bed, a shaky sigh leaving her lips as she did so. 

Kyungsoo followed behind her, inspecting the room with a broken gaze. ”There’s nothing left of it,” he breathed silently. 

Seoyeon closed her eyes, and as if a door had been unlocked in her mind, millions of memories washed over her, overwhelmed her almost. 

Instead of the decaying mineral there was a soft mattress, and  silk sheets the shade of a sunset amber that would lull her to sleep every night. 

Instead of the moss covered half demolished walls, there was a fully constructed ceiling imprinted with intricate carvings of plants and flowers, sculpted to the utmost detail. Seoyeon had spent many hours staring at their magnificence, wondering how a pair of hands could transform stone into a masterpiece as such. 

Instead of the cold hearted, withdrawn shell of a person that she had become, there was a young girl, eager to learn, eager to explore, eager to live. 

It all came crashing on her at an alarmingly fast speed. 

The memories of the many nights and days spent there; looking out the window and towards the stars and waiting every morning for the prince to get there so that they could walk to training together. Memories of the endless hours spent trying to conjure a proper knife with her powers, and the immense feeling of victory once she had succeeded, or that one time where Kyungsoo had gotten himself in trouble and hid in her room while she was in bed with a cold, which resulted in him getting sick as well. But it didn’t matter at that time, they both laughed it off like they always had done, because they were happy. 

The queen had insisted on taking care of them both that time and had dismissed multiple servants, and Seoyeon could almost recall the feel of her warm, soft yet slightly wrinkled hand brushing the hair back from her forehead with a gentleness equal to the one of a mother. 

But it didn’t matter, none of that mattered once she opened her eyes again to find that all of that was gone; vanished into the cobwebbed corridors, and imprinted on the faceless marble statues. Her laughs were but a distant echo, her cries a mere silent breeze, and everyone else who had died there were but ghosts of the past, brushed upon by the merciless breath of time. It was all there, yet at the same time it wasn’t. 

Seoyeon felt the lump in thicken as she got back up on her feet and outside the room, meeting Seulgi’s worried glance by accident. 

”Are you okay?” the girl asked, and she froze completely, dragging a shaky breath. 

Could she get a grip on herself? Why was she acting so horrendously weak when she had spent the past years without laying a single thought on her past? Why was it all bubbling up so suddenly? 

Seoyeon’s stare hardened and she cleared before walking away. ”I’m fine,” she retorted with a tone more harshly than intended. 

Once they were outside and had descended the staircase, Seoyeon, Kyungsoo and Seulgi catched up to Baekhyun and Chanyeol who were headed into another hallway that seemed to lead to a bunch of gardens. 

Chanyeol halted in his tracks and tapped Baekhyun lightly on the shoulder as a signal to stop walking. The male turned to them. ”Where did you guys go? Me and Baekhyun searched the ground level but found nothing, maybe it’s in one of the gardens. Are you coming with us?” 

Seulgi complied without a second thought and walked up to them, while Kyungsoo and Seoyeon stood still by the end of the stairs. 

The lump in was almost suffocating, but she shoved it down for