Yixing remembered the story his mom told him and his brother all the time when they were younger about what happened to people like them.

“You see the trees around you?” she said, tapping Yixing on the nose lightly and earning a giggle from him. “Well, when we die, we’re going to become trees.”

“Why?” Yixing’s younger brother, Tao asked, eyebrows furrowing deeply. He had that look since he was young, or at least Yixing always believed so.

“Because we’re people of the woods.”

Yixing scrambled over Tao’s lap and pulled himself onto his mother’s lap. “Why can’t we live in the town like everyone else?”

“Because we’re special, and special people like us get a special place in the world after they die. Don’t you want to live here forever with Mommy?”

Yixing nodded earnestly and tugged on Tao’s sleeve when his eyes started closing. Tao responded by nodding softly to say that he was still listening.

“When people in the town die, they’ll go to a place called Heaven, but in Heaven there will be so many people and everywhere will be crowded. Don’t you guys like having such a large field to run around in everyday?” Yixing’s mother picked her younger son up carefully before tucking him back into bed. She placed light kisses on Yixing and Tao’s forehead before she blew out the candles and bid them goodnight.

“Do you really think we’re going to become trees?” Tao asked as he peered out from under his blanket. He and his brother were separated by a small night table and could easily see each other from the moonlight that poured in from their window.

“I don’t know. Do you?”

“I guess so, since Mommy said so.”

“But I want to go to Heaven like the people in town.”

“Heaven sounds scary. Mommy said there will be a lot of people there!” Tao exclaimed, clearly disliking the very prospect of having to share his space with someone other than his family.

“I guess so. But at least there will be other people around. Aren’t you tired of being alone here all the time?”

“I have you. And Mommy.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” Yixing dropped the subject when he saw Tao turning around, his back facing Yixing. He laid in bed thinking about all the things he could be doing in town with other kids his age, and soon the sound of Tao’s light snoring filled the small room.

“I want to go to Heaven too,” Yixing said quietly to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

--

The only neighbor around for miles was the old lady who lived in a rotting cottage. Yixing and Tao weren’t allowed to go near there, but they would sneak around and often saw the old lady in black robes picking berries and concocting some kind of potion in her house, which explained the pillows of smoke that billowed out of her cottage all four seasons (or at least it made sense to the boys).

They called her “Witch” when they were thought they were out of earshot but repeatedly got scolded from their mother for calling her names. Their mother banned them from ever calling the old lady “Witch” ever, ever, for eternity ever again.

Not that “Witch” was the only thing they called her anyways.

They also blamed the Witch for keeping their mother sick. For as long as they could remember, their mother was sick and weak and gradually got worse as they grew older. By the time the brothers were in their late teens, their mother could barely get out of bed, so the two brothers had to work hard to provide for the family.

And Yixing had to give up his dreams of living in town. He had formed a kind of trade with the physician in town in his pre-teen years once his mother couldn’t go to town herself, trading small forest animals for medicine, but that was the only time he entered the town and each visit never lasted for more than a few minutes.

Yixing would sometimes miss dinner because he liked to sit on the little hill that sat above the town. He watched business owners closing up their modest shops and making their ways back to what they considered home. Somewhere off in the distance laid the castle, the home to the royal family who declared themselves as the rulers of the town and the region surrounding it.

He once saw a parade where the royal family presented themselves in elegant carriages drawn by majestic horses, and he ran home to drag Tao away from his mother’s side to watch as well. They sat and saw confetti being thrown around and listened to the harmony of the band. As the royal family neared the end of town, which was surrounded by a short but sturdy barricade, Yixing could swear he saw the prince looking over to their direction and smiled.

Yixing nudged his brother and asked if he saw the prince do that.

“Do what?” Tao asked with his eyes fixed on the parade.

“Smile! The prince looked over in our direction and smiled at us.” Yixing spoke animatedly with exaggerated hand motions.

 “Stop over exaggerating,” Tao said. “He was probably admiring some pine tree or something.”

“But I’m so sure he looked right at u—“

Tao pulled him up suddenly. “Let’s go home. Mom’s waiting for us.”

Yixing got up and dusted off his pants but turned back just as he was about to enter the woods to watch the retreating form of the prince.

“Yixing!”

“Coming!” Yixing jogged to catch up to Tao’s long strides.

--

Yixing woke up right at the beginning of the day, the time when the only reasonable creatures that were up were the birds, chirping their harmonies that probably reached up into the skies. He took no time to linger in bed, knowing he had much to accomplish that day. He had to go and set traps to catch some game, make his way down to town to pick up the medicine, come back in time to eat breakfast that Tao prepared, and so much more before sunset.

Picking up some leftover bread from the basket on his way out, Yixing made sure he had all his equipment for the traps and trekked through the woods to the spot where he knew many animals passed through.

Weaving the rope through, under, and around itself, he created the perfect knot he knew would catch any poor soul that walked into the trap. He stood up, satisfied at his work, and quickly walked off to the edge of town.

He walked up to the back gate, which was hardly ever used and rusted so badly that it took great effort to even get open. The homes around there could hardly be called homes. They were shacks with roofs that barely provided enough shelter for the occupants.

Yixing took purposeful steps outside of that vicinity, uncomfortable under the stares of the people there. He was still unsure of which direction the physician was. He could walk through the woods with his eyes closed and never get lost, but roads and alleys seemed more like a maze to him.

--

He snuck back out the back gate with a satchel of medicine for his mother tightly tied around his waist. He took a detour to check up on the traps. Whistling, he took his time to get there, positive that some kind of creature would be waiting for him because spring always brought curious animals with it.

Yixing was especially careful to not make too much noise in case he scared the animal (which they were going to eat anyways, so who cared, Tao would say). Either way, he didn’t want to get the animal too worked up because large animals did have enough power to pull away from the rope if they tried hard enough.

A large shadow awaited him. It was larger than any animal he had caught before, and he was excited to be able to take such large game to show his family. It was laying on its side, breathing evenly. The closer he got, though, he saw patterns on its body, so Yixing assumed that it must be some kind of large cat, probably a lost soul from a neighboring forest.

However, the closer and closer he got, the more suspicious he got. The limbs were too long to be a feline’s. The body too small for a bear. Patterns too…man made.

“Oh no!” Yixing exclaimed as he ran to, not the animal, but the human.

He pulled the other man’s leg out of his trap and turned him so that he was no longer stuck. There was a worrisome amount of blood trailing down the side of the man’s face, so Yixing ripped off part of his clothes and made a bandage around his head.

The man was light enough to carry on his own to his house, and once there he quickly made room on his bed for the man.

“Tao! Get a towel and some water,” Yixing called out. While waiting, Yixing pulled off the man’s shoes and made him as comfortable as he thought possible.

“Here,” Tao said, passing the towel and water to his brother. “Wait, doesn’t he look really familiar?”

“What?” Yixing washed the man’s face but did not get the chance to get a good look at his face until then. “Oh. He does look really familiar.” Yixing pushed back part of the man’s bangs from his face and saw the most breathtaking face he had ever imagined he would see.

“Ge, isn’t that…isn’t that the prince?” Tao whispered, now afraid for his life for having the prince of the entire land in their insignificant hands.

Yixing couldn’t take his eyes away. The prince, whose name he had heard from the physician was Prince Luhan, looked like the epitome of the angels his mother used to talk about.

“Shouldn’t we take him back?” Tao asked. He nudged Yixing in the side, successfully pulling him out of his trance.

“I guess we should. He is the prince afterall.” Yixing reached out to touch Prince Luhan’s flawless skin, but was stopped midway by a strong grip on his wrist.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to touch the prince,” Tao said, almost snarling. “Let’s go.”

“Did you say the prince?” Yixing and Tao’s mother said weakly from the doorway. She was breathing heavily; even the short walk from her room to theirs took a lot of effort for her. She clutched the doorframe to keep herself steady, but Tao was by her side in seconds.

“Mom, what are you doing out of your bed?” Tao asked, voice much softer than before. He helped her sit down in a chair.

“You need to take him back to the castle. We can’t be seen with him.” She sounded panicked, and that was what scared the brothers even more. She was always the calm, in-control person, even throughout her illness.

“What are you talking about?” Yixing prodded.

“He needs to be taken back!” She was sweating profusely by then. “The king is the reason we’re out here, out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“Mom?” Tao wiped her sweat. “What do you mean?”

She glanced nervously at Luhan, making sure he was still unconscious. “Your father, he used to work for the royal family. He was the king’s most trusted man. I don’t know if you remember, Yixing, but we used to live in the castle. One day, he was sent on a mission and never returned. Then the king banished us from his land, and that’s why we’re out here, and that’s why the prince needs to go back.”

Yixing and Tao listened in shock; this was the first time their mother had ever talked about their father and their history. They both watched as Luhan slept peacefully, looking absolutely perfect in their imperfect abode.

“I’ll go take him back,” Yixing offered softly. He motioned to Tao to help their mother get back to her bed as he pulled Prince Luhan onto his back.

--

Luhan was warm, acting like a blanket for Yixing. He wasn’t sure if Luhan was physically keeping him warm, but Yixing felt a warmth coming from within and that, he was sure, was keeping him cozy.

The moonlight shone down on them and provided enough light for Yixing to see clearly in front of him. It was deep into the night, and most everybody in town was in their homes, tucked away in comforts and security.

Yixing didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t want to let Luhan go back to the castle. He wanted to keep Luhan by his side and show him everything he knew about the woods and the beauty of life in the wilderness. But Luhan probably wouldn’t like that, since he was used to riches and gold and power.

As Yixing approached the castle, Yixing pulled up his hood, which covered his face in case anyone might recognize him from the castle. He called for the guard to open the doors, announcing he had the prince and that he was safe.

“Oh goodness! We sent people to search every nook and cranny of the land for Prince Luhan. Thank goodness he’s safe!” the butler exclaimed when he ran forward to take Luhan from Yixing.

Everyone there, the servants, the butler, the guards, seemed to completely ignore Yixing as they scurried around to get Luhan back to his room. Servants were sent to report to the king and queen that Luhan was safe. The search team was called to return back.

Yixing stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. After most of the chaos receded, the butler seemed to remember Yixing and ran back to thank him, but Yixing merely nodded and took off.

--

Luhan filled every thought, every action, every cell of Yixing. He couldn’t seem to get the prince out of his mind, and it was making him go crazy.

He was dangerously close to chopping his foot off while cutting up some firewood when he thought he saw Luhan standing next to a tree. He almost burnt all the food as he dozed off dreaming about what it would be like to hold Luhan’s hand. He came this close to forgetting to come up for air as he bathed in the ice cold river (which, to Yixing, felt like a hot spring, thanks to Luhan).

“Sometimes I wonder who’s the older of us two,” Tao mumbled when he saw Yixing cutting himself with a knife while slicing some apples.

“Hey! I heard that!”

“I meant for you to hear it. Stupid.” Tao directed one of his deadly glares towards Yixing, to which Yixing retaliated by throwing a potato at his brother’s head. Of course, Tao would catch it. “Stop daydreaming and make sure not to kill yourself.”

“I’ll try, Tao gege,” Yixing said sarcastically. “Hey, Tao.”

“What?”

“Do you think it’ll be possible for me to ever go to the castle?”

“No.”

“You don’t have to be so blunt,” Yixing pouted.

“Can we focus on our family? We need to work together to keep us together, and if one of us starts daydreaming we’ll fall apart. You know that better than I do.”

“Do you think the Witch could help us?”

“Ge. Quit that.” Tao pointed the knife in Yixing’s direction.

Yixing raised both his hands in surrender. “Fine.”

But the thought of visiting the Witch for help refused to escape him. He quietly decided that he would take a detour from his usual route to go to set his traps to take a trip to the Witch.