The End           

                Daehyun’s body felt like lead as the suffocating black gave way to consciousness.  His head was muffled and his limbs refused to move as he struggled to comprehend exactly who and where he was.  As his mind slowly became clearer, he could make out voices around him, but still couldn’t decipher what they were saying.  He tried to move his limbs, but they were weighed down and immobile.  He struggled with his eyelids, frustrated at how much effort it was taking to perform such a simple task, but finally managed to peel them open.  The bright light caused his eyes to water so he snapped them back shut.  He tried again, more slowly this time, and faired a little better.  Everything was a bright blur, so he harnessed his remaining energy into focusing his eyes.  While the distance was still hard to make out, he finally managed to focus in on a figure nearby.

                A faint smile, the best he could muster, crept onto his face when he saw the slumbering prince.  The mystery of his immobile limbs was now solved as he noticed Youngjae’s body splayed across his lower half, holding him down.  The prince’s chest was rising and falling slowly with his even breaths, his face slack and lips slightly parted.

                “Youngjae…Youngjae…” Daehyun’s voice was croaky and weak and barely registered in the prince’s ears.  Youngjae merely scrunched his face in slight annoyance and continued sleeping.  “Youngjae…. Youngjae…” Daehyun tried again, his voice gaining slight volume, though his throat was dry and painful.

                “Five more minutes…” Youngjae mumbled, turning face down and snuggling into Daehyun’s thighs.  Daehyun let out a silent laugh and refocused his energy to his legs.  He kicked them up as high as he could, jostling the ever sleeping prince.

                “Youngjae!”

                “What?” Youngjae grumbled as he started from his sleep and rubbed his eyes.  He glanced up, taking a minute to focus, before he realized exactly who it was who had woken him.

                “Daehyun!” He shrieked, launching himself forward and onto the dark-haired knight, instantly enveloping him in a tight hug.

                Daehyun hissed in pain and attempted to move away from Youngjae who had all his body weight pressed on Daehyun’s torso.  “Youngjae, you’re hurting me…”

                Youngjae instantly backed away and started to apologize.  “I’m so sorry!  I forgot about your wound!”

                “It’s ok,” Daehyun chuckled.  He took Youngjae’s hand in his and looked up at his prince.  He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept properly in a while, and his hair and clothes were a rumpled mess, but he otherwise looked unharmed.  “What happened?  Where am I?”

                “We’re still at Goguryeo castle.  We’re in the dining hall turned infirmary right now.”

                Daehyun furrowed his eyebrows.  “Why are we still here?  We didn’t go home?  Is it safe?”  It was Youngjae’s turn to chuckle as he rubbed his thumb over the back of Daehyun’s hand, trying to soothe the panicked knight.

                “It’s safe.  I guess I should start from when you passed out.  I don’t know if you remember, but after the king and queen were killed, you killed Himchan and I killed Yongguk.”  Daehyun nodded his head, the memories slowly trickling in.  “During that time Jiho came with men from Koje and Dongye.  With Wu Fan’s men, they managed to beat the Bangs’ army.  Once the threat was gone, the citizens started to come out and help with cleaning up.  All the doctors and surgeons came and set up this infirmary and medical staff came from home too.”  Daehyun nodded again as Youngjae finished his explanation.

                “But what happened with me, exactly?”

                “Ah, that. Well, Yongguk stabbed you, as I’m sure you’re aware.  I thought I’d lost you- you had out.  About that time Jongup and Junhong came running up to tell us about the victory and found us.  We carried you down here where they did surgery.  They said you were lucky that Yongguk missed your vital organs, but it was still pretty touch and go.  They told us not to hope for anything until you woke up.  That was a few days ago.”

                “Have you been here all that time?” Daehyun asked, thinking about Youngjae’s rumpled attire.  Youngjae nodded his head.

                “Of course I was, idiot.  Did you really think I was going to leave you?”

                Daehyun smiled and weakly punched at Youngjae’s arm.  “Well, I can tell from the smell.   You stink.”

                Youngjae smacked his shoulder and turned away with a pout, but it didn’t last long when Daehyun tugged him back with their still connected hands.  As he pulled Youngjae forward, the force caused something to fall out of Youngjae’s shirt and hang over his chest.  Daehyun outstretched his other hand to take it in between his fingers and inspect it.

                “You kept it?” He asked as he looked at the white and yellow rabbit pendant.  Youngjae’s hand came up to clasp at the necklace the second it was released from Daehyun’s fingers.

                “Of course I did.  It was the only connection I had to you.  Yongguk took it at one point, but they gave it back to me when they were cleaning up the bodies,” Youngjae explained as he grasped the pendant tight.

                Daehyun smiled and let his body relax once more.  “I’m glad.”  He finally took the opportunity to observe his surroundings.  They were, in fact, in the dining hall, but small beds were lined up in aisles and filled with bodies.  Various other people were in the large room, some doctors continuing to check up on patients, while others were obviously devoted loved ones. 

                “Looks like someone finally woke up.”  Daehyun looked up to see a few figures standing over his bed.  He smiled at the familiar faces and they smiled back.  “Glad to see you didn’t let someone like Yongguk take you down.”  Zitao’s signature smirk was on his face, though his arm was wrapped in a sling.

                “Looks like you didn’t get out unscathed either,” Daehyun shot back, and then extended his hand to shake hands with his past friend.  “Glad to see you made it, Jiho.”

                “Glad to see you made it too there, Dae.  We were worried about you.”

                “He and his men got here in the knick of time.  None of us would have survived if it wasn’t for him,” the tall man Daehyun recognized as the leader, Wu Fan, interceded. 

                “You can’t lay all the praise on us.  We had plenty of help too.”  Jiho nodded his head over to a bed a little ways across the room.  A pretty, short haired girl was sitting by the bedside, fists pounding into the body lying on the bed.

                “You stupid idiot, Jihoon!  I told you not to get hurt!”

                “I’m sorry!” the tall boy tried to soothe the girl and simultaneously protect his body as the blows rained down on him while tears continued to stream down the girl’s face.  “I didn’t mean to!”

                “You-“ punch “don’t-“ punch “know-“ punch “how” punch “scared” punch “I” punch “was!”      

                “I’m sorry, milady,” Jihoon chuckled as he wrapped his arms around the princess and pulled her into an embrace.  “I didn’t mean to make you worry about me.”

                “Worry about you?  Don’t be stupid,” Sulli huffed as she wriggled her way free and crossed her arms.  “I was scared that I was dumb enough to fall for someone stupid enough to lose to the likes of Bang.”

                The group chuckled as they watched the lovers’ quarrel.  “Princess Sulli sent reinforcements as well.  It’s the only way we managed to survive.”

                “Short hair suits her, you know,” Daehyun commented and everyone laughed again.

                “Well, it’s not like she had much of a choice after Youngjae burned it off that one time.”  Youngjae’s cheeks colored as everyone continued to laugh.  As the laughter died down, Daehyun tried to take account of who all was in the room.

                “So how did we come out?  Were there a lot of losses?”  The mood turned somber as the boys relayed the fallen soldiers. 

                “Well, from Goguryeo’s side, there are only a few people you know.  None of Aron’s men made it.  From Suho’s men, Sehun was the sole survivor and surrendered.  From my men-“ Wu Fan started to choke and Zitao did his best to take over.

                “We lost Yixing and Xiumin.  And Luhan… he hasn’t woken up yet.  We don’t know what will happen.  He was injured pretty badly, but we’re keeping our hopes up.” Daehyun’s stomach turned at the news of the always smiling, baby-faced boy.

                “From my end, there were a few Dongye loses and some injuries, but no fatalities, fortunately,” Jiho reported with a somber smile.  He didn’t want to revel in his fortune when his two friends were still trying to cope with their losses.

                “What about Jongup and Junhong?  Where are they?  You said they’re alright, didn’t you?” Daehyun asked when he realized that he hadn’t seen his friends yet.

                “UPPIE!  LOOK!  HE’S AWAKE!”  No sooner was the question out of Daehyun’s mouth then there was a loud shout through the hall and two sets of feet thundering toward him.  Soon he was being pulled into a loose hug by his two friends, a pile of snacks and sweets falling onto his lap.

                “It’s good to see you’re awake, hyung.  We were worried about you,” Jongup said as he hugged his fellow knight.

                “Yeah, sorry we weren’t here when you woke up.  We were worried, but we were even more hungry, so we went to get food.  You can have some if you want,” Junhong motioned to the large pile of food that had fallen on the poor bed-ridden knight.

                “I’m alright for now,” Daehyun shook his head at the food and everyone looked aghast.

                “Well, you must be feeling bad if you’re rejecting food,” Youngjae snickered.  Daehyun returned the quip with a smack to the prince’s shoulder and everyone erupted into laughter once more.  Finally the mood quieted and Wu Fan turned to Youngjae, his expression more serious.

                “Now that everything is getting cleaned up, there is a very important issue to discuss,” Wu Fan began.  “We need to quickly decide the future of Goguryeo.  Since there is no remaining royal family and you, a royal, killed the last remaining member, you are entitled to take it over, Prince Youngjae, if you so desire.”

                Youngjae quickly shook his head.

                “No, no.  You all fought hard to free yourselves from monarchy.  And after everything these people have been through they deserve to finally have a say in their own country.  I’ll leave it up to you, Wu Fan.  Just know that you’ll always have a friend in Baekje whenever you need it.”  Wu Fan thanked Youngjae and then turned back to his two companions.

                “Well, how about we let Daehyun rest up?  We need to check up on our own men and then get to work on the new government structure.” 

                “We’ll come back and check on your later, yeah?” Zitao smiled at Daehyun as he delicately patted his shoulder.

                “Take care!” Jiho punched him much more firmly, causing Daehyun to wince and then the three boys were gone.

                “Well, it’s nice to see that things went relatively well,” Daehyun commented and the three remaining boys nodded their heads in agreement.  “But how much longer until we can go home?  I’m ready to return and forget about this entire ordeal.”

                “It’ll still be a little while,” Youngjae answered, “You just woke up from a borderline fatal injury, Daehyun.  You’re in no shape to travel.”  Daehyun crossed his arms in a frustrated protest, but it didn’t last long when he noticed two new figures making their way toward his bed.

                “Your majesties!”  He tried to sit up to bow, but the king motioned for him to stay in place.

                “How are you feeling, Sir Daehyun?” Queen Yoo asked as she knelt down next to his bed and brushed his bangs away from his face.  “I’m glad you finally woke up.  I thought our Youngjae was going to lose his mind sitting here fretting over you.”

                “Mom…” Youngjae blushed with embarrassment, but Daehyun thought it was adorable.

                “I’m alright.  Just a little sore,” Daehyun played down his injuries.  “I’ll be ready to report back to duty in no time.”

                “Don’t be ridiculous,” the king shook his head.  “You’ll need plenty of time to recover.  And then there will be the royal wedding and the honeymoon… we’ll make do without you for a while.”

                “R-royal wedding?” Daehyun paled as his gaze instantly shot to the furiously red Youngjae. Was Youngjae getting married again?  Right after he was just saved from the depths of hell?  Had the Yoos learned nothing in this whole ordeal?

                “Did you forget to tell him, Youngjae?” Queen Yoo turned to chide her son.

                “I didn’t forget.  I just didn’t have time to bring it up.”

                “You’re getting married?! Again?!  Are you serious?  After everything that we’ve gone through, after everything that’s happened, you’re going to do something stupid like that again?!” Daehyun couldn’t control his outburst that surprised everyone sitting around his bed.  “Who is it?!”

                Daehyun was taken aback as Youngjae began to giggle and soon everyone around him was joining in.

                “You, you big idiot,” Junhong snapped, but Jongup quickly slapped a hand over the younger’s mouth.

                Daehyun started in surprise.  What were they saying?  “What are you going on about over there?”

                “I guess we should explain,” the king chimed in.  “It’s all thanks to you and your bravery and love for our son that saved not only Youngjae, but our entire kingdom from the threat of the Bangs.  You’ve done more than even we could.  And for that you and Jongup and Junhong will all receive promotions.  You will no longer be Sir Daehyun, the knight, but now a Duke.”

                “A…a duke…?” Daehyun couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  “You mean… as in the position right under prince?”

                “That’s right,” Queen Yoo smiled.  “And you will then be considered a royal and eligible for marriage with another member of the royal family.”  Daehyun’s gaze shot back to Youngjae who was nervously fidgeting with hands.

                “So… if you want to… you know… get married…or whatever…we can …” Youngjae’s face burned as he finally brought his gaze up to meet Daehyun’s.  Daehyun couldn’t contain his wide grin as he reached over and pulled the boy tight into his chest, ignoring the searing pain in his side.

                “Of course I want to,” he murmured into the mess of sandy brown hair.  “I told you I was never going to let you go ever again.  I love you, Youngjae.”  Youngjae smiled and returned the embrace, forgetting about the onlookers and nuzzling into his now fiancé’s neck.

                “I love you too, Daehyunnie.”

                “We’ve talked it over with Youngjae.  He’s going to seriously restart his royal lessons.  Then in a few years, when we’re ready to retire, we can rest easily, leaving the kingdom in his hands, as long as he has the three of you by his side to help him run it,” the king explained as he smiled down at his son.  The two boys raised their heads to look at each other and Daehyun gave the younger a puzzled expression.

                “Really?  I thought you didn’t want anything to do with taking over the throne.”

                Youngjae sat up.  “I didn’t until I got here and saw what a difference being a proper ruler actually makes.  It’s more important than I thought, you know?  And I don’t ever want our people to have to go through what the people of Goguryeo went through.”

                Daehyun smiled at the prince and pulled him back into his arms.  “Then I’d be honored to be by your side.”

10 years later

                “Kids!  Kids!  Get down here!” Youngjae shouted up the staircase and then stomped his foot with a huff.  “I swear to god, they are the most obstinate kids ever.”

                “Who do you think they got that from?” Daehyun smiled as he hugged his husband from behind. 

                “Please, I was never this bad,” Youngjae tried to argue but even he knew he was lying.

                “You were absolutely incorrigible.  I’m surprised I’m not already dead from all the stress you put me through.”  Youngjae chose to ignore the brunette and turn his attention back to rounding up their children.

                “Come on, kiddos!  We’re going to be late for little Zihan’s party!” 

                “GIVE ME BACK MY HORSE, KEKE!”

                “COME AND GET IT, JOKO!”  Daehyun’s daughter came streaking down the staircase at full speed, soon followed by her enraged younger brother.

                “Keke?  Joko?” Youngjae asked in confusion as he turned in Daehyun’s arms to face his husband.”

                “You haven’t heard that yet?  It’s the new nicknames they made up for each other.” 

                Youngjae shook his head at the silliness of the names before trying to wrestle down his two unruly children.  “Do you have your bags packed?  Are you ready to go?  Uncles Junhong and Jongup will be here and ready to go soon!  You don’t want to be late for Zihan’s birthday party.  Suhoon and Jilli are coming too!”

                The family was all heading to Goguryeo.  President Wu Fan was throwing a birthday party for his vice president, Zitao, and General Secretary, Luhan’s, son, Zihan.  Kids from all over the peninsula would be coming, since it was not only a birthday party, but also a celebration for ten years of undisturbed peace and prosperity across all the kingdoms. 

                “We get to ride in a carriage with Toto and Dada all by ourselves, right?” Youngjae’s daughter asked once her father had caught her in his arms.  Youngjae turned to look at Daehyun.

                “Jongup and Junhong’s kids,” Daehyun quickly explained.

                “Ah.  Yes.  You four get to have your own carriage.  But you better be good and follow all the rules, ok?”  The two kids nodded their heads, doing their best to look obedient.  Soon the sound of a carriage rolling up to the front door was heard, however, and they struggled free and dashed out the door toward their cousins.

                “DADA!  TOTO!  WE GET OUR OWN CARRIAGE!  LET’S SET THINGS ON FIRE!”

                “THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF LISTENING TO THE RULES!” Youngjae shouted as he chased down after the kids.  Daehyun shook his head with a smile as he grabbed his family’s bags and trudged out after them.

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Author’s note:

I am literally in tears right now, I don’t think you guys understand.

This all started as just some cracked up idea I came out with when I was really bored at work and messing around in my notebook.  But it has been so fun and I have loved interacting with your guys in the comments section.  You guys have no idea what your kind words have meant to me over this past month (and some) of writing this.  I don’t want to stop- I want to drag it out and expand on every little detail of their lives from here on, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing it.  You are all fabulous and I will miss you so much!

(This is my official ending message even though there’s technically a chapter after this, but since it’s not everyone will read it, so I want to properly say good by here.)

Thanks for everything!!!

Love always,

Dani