A click.

A click was all it took for Sehun’s heart to stop.

A creak.

A creak was all it took for all the blood in his body to leave him.

A movement.

A slow, agonizing movement of the door of which separates him and his captor form each other’s sight was all it took to make his heart beat again – again and again, ramming against his rib cage, threatening to rip it open.

A light.

A faint, calming light was all it took to give his naïve little rabbit heart a blinded hope that this person behind the strange, rickety door might just be his savior.

A realization.

A realization of who he was, where he was from and that wherever he reaches and regardless of what situation, how he should act was all it took to cause his entire body – mind and soul – to relax.

Sitting up straight, legs folded and overlapping with hands gently placed on each knee, Sehun waited for the other, ready for anything.

Savior or captor, or just a regular farmer who had come to get something from the barn – he knew what he had to do.

~*~

“It rained a lot, didn’t it? Last night – I mean.”

“Yes. Local farmers must be rejoicing and thanking the heavens for this bounty of water, but it might just interfere with our search for him.”

“Really? I thought it might’ve helped.”

“If that is what you think, Your Majesty, then I can’t force you.”

~*~

If it was a captor, he wouldn’t make a mad dash for the woods. It could be dangerous, and these people have a reason for capturing him. They could’ve killed him in his room, but they bring him here. If ever they were to torture him, he wouldn’t struggle. What else can he do?

If it was his savior, knight in shining armor or a heroic no-name, lucky him. He doesn’t have to stay in this boring hellhole.

If it was a regular farmer… well, a regular farmer wouldn’t even think about keeping a prince in his barn, would he? Sehun has this stereotype of farmers that their all humble folk who have clean intentions, probably from all the books he has read. Incredulously, there was truth in his idea.

He watched the door move painstakingly slow in irritancy, actually impatient in meeting whoever was in the other end.

~*~

“…You think he’d be okay?”

“Well, that question can have a lot of meanings, Your Majesty.”

“Like what?”

“If ‘okay’ as in if he has a source for everything he needs, Sire, then there are two situations that have come to mind. If he is in the hands of captors, it depends on their intention. If it to hold him captive and exchange him for a price like a ransom, he is most likely to be fed properly and given proper housing at least. For them to kidnap royalty – a prince at that! – The price they are going to ask for might cause a fortune. I fear it, Your Majesty. But for Prince Sehun’s sake, His Highness is ready to pay any price, yes?”

“I’d sell my soul.”

~*~

He was ready, to say the least. But what he wasn’t ready for was to hear a faint voice in the distance, shouting. Not in distress or fear. It was more of calling the other’s attention; the other who Sehun supposed was the man in front for the door stopped.

Sehun heard the footsteps come closer, his shouting a bit clearer, but it was only when the new anonymous halted right outside of the door that he understood what he was shouting.

“Chanyeol,” he breathed out.

“What is it, Baekhyun?” The one who came to the place first replied in a monster deep voice, making Sehun jolt, but not as much that they notice someone was inside.

“Chanyeol!” It seemed as if the one named Baekhyun was scolding him, but the one named Chanyeol wasn’t following.

“What? Didn’t Kevin tell us to get some tools?” An English name. Sehun could’ve thought he was in another country, but these two didn’t seem like foreigners.

“Those are in the shed. This is a storage room for hay.” Sehun heard a bit too much of urgency in this guy’s voice. Was this ‘Kevin’ some kind of ruthless syndicate?

“Oh. Alright then, to the other shed!”

So much for an escape, Sehun thought.

“Wait, aren’t you going to close the hay barn?”

If only there was something he could do to make the others notice him without looking like a fool. Something. Anything.

“Huh? Oh yeah!”

He tried to stand up, but his legs suddenly went feeble and numbed, enabling him to lift himself merely a millimeter from the floor before making a muted thump.  He tried to call out to them or at least a ‘hey’ to make his presence known but his throat felt incredibly dry, he couldn’t even will his muscles to move his jaw further. Was this the drug, or just morning fatigue?

“Um… how do you lock this, again?”

Now was his chance, and he just had to blow it. You are one ty prince, Sehun.

“You managed to release the locks, but couldn’t put them back in place? Seriously, Chanyeol.”

If only he could will something to call their attention, but he couldn’t. Sometimes, Sehun wished he was psychic.

“But I didn’t do this!”

One who could read thoughts and send mind messages through telepathic communication. But no, he had to be born as the only son of royalty and get himself into this mess.

“Then who did?”

He prayed. He prayed for an outside force or any spirit of nature to help him get out. It was delusional, yes. But did he have any other choice. What was he going to lose anyway? Please, anything… please…

“It was-!”

Suddenly, Sehun felt something tug at his gut, but it wasn’t any gut feeling he was familiar with. Usually, they would just me concentrated on his abdomen or some place near it, but this one was followed by tension rippling through his muscles.

He was curious as to what this was as much as he was curious as to what his current situation really was and – as if on cue – the doors burst open letting a bright, evangelic light fill in with a burst of gushing wind flowing in.

As the wind hit his skin, the strain went away as if the wind had a soothing effect on him. Well, it always had. Every time it would pass by, even just a tickle on his face, they were always so soft and gentle on him. Everywhere he went, it was always the same and so, in the painful confines of his bitter castle life, it was safe to say the wind was his only friend.

By the time he looked in front of him, all the tiring apprehension was gone, and all he saw was two guys enveloped by morning daylight, one almost a head shorter than the other.

They stared between each other – Sehun and the other two men before him.

“Is that…?”

“I think it is.”

They started to whisper rapidly like they were arguing, just the two them, and Sehun slightly felt betrayed even though he barely knew them.

He tried his voice and cleared his throat. They stopped, and their hands that were suspended in mid-air dropped to their sides, frames stiff.

He tried again. “Err… Excuse me, may I know where-?”

Sehun was stopped mid-sentence as they dropped on all fours before him simultaneously, screaming at the top of their lungs, almost waking up all their neighbors (if they had any).

“YOUR HIGHNESS!”

Okay. Now Sehun was really lost.

That is if this isn’t the world of the departed and that light is the opening of the gates to paradise. 

--

A/N: Unoriginal story title. Bleh.

I has failed you guise once again~

Firstly, really sorry for updating after 3 months. Three. Friggin'. MONTHS.

And yet I write a chapter as short as the skimpy clothes s wear.

Secondly, sorry for the bad chapter. I might have dragged it for too long. The coherence is retarded and the awkward cutting is just asking for sarcasm.

Man, I'm saying so much "sorry"s today. I feel like an awkward penguin.

I should leave and write the second chapter now (which I hope would be longer). Bye~