Pain was pulsing through his arm, floating up to his shoulder and seemed to pound deep into the marrow of his bones. Junho groaned with pain and felt an easing chill drip down onto his heated forehead. He heard a low ripple next to him. Hushed voices.

“He’s awakening.” – “Such a blessing he’s alive!” – “It doesn’t bear thinking about the king losing two of his sons one night!” – “What tragedy! Prince Junsu…”

With an effort Junho opened his eyes. His sight was blurred, his eyes were itching and a hard pounding in his head promised him a great headache to come. “Junsu-ah.” His voice was only a rasping sound, coming from his raw throat. “Shhht. You have to rest, Prince”, was murmured next to him in a gentle, but insisting voice. Again Junho heard the rippling of water and then his forehead was being patted gently with the damp cloth. His body was feeling so hot. With every bump of his heart, heat seems to heave through his whole body and with the heat pain echoed through his left arm. Once again Junho was lowly groaning in pain, panting with tightly shut eyes. “Junsu-ah”, he was whispering huskily in fever. And again there was made a hushing sound next to him, a chill was wetting his forehead, his eyelids, his cheeks and his lips. Junho opened his dry lips thirsty and gave a thankful, nearly inaudible whimper, as the cool water was chilling the ache in his throat.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Prince Yunho, it’s such a relive you are back!” The soldier was running hastily behind Yunho, who crossed the path of sand with long strides.

His horse stood on the other side of the path which he was striding for, snorting nervously while being hold in his tension only by Yunhos bodyguard Changmin. Yunho swung himself on his black stallion, face stern with severity. He took the reins of the prancing animal and while Changmin also climbed his horse, Yunho looked down on the soldier who stopped one step away from Yunho’s horse. Once again the prince let wander his gaze to the ruins of the hanok which still were smoldering in the distance. His gaze darkened a little more. “Where has my brother been brought to”, Yunho asked algidly. “To the pagoda, my Prince”, the soldier said reverential and bowed a little.

Yunho looked down the sand path which would lead him to said building. He didn’t waste time with more words, pressed his legs slightly into the sides of his stallion, which immediately responded and dashed forwards down the road, hurling up stones to all sides. Changmin followed close after.

Yunho guided his horse towards the bridge which allowed them entrance to the isle in the middle of the lake, on which the hexagonal pagoda was built. With loud pattern noise the stallion sprinted above the wooden planks, before Yunho made him slow down and slid out of the saddle while still pacing, to enter the building with hurried steps. Yet on the first meters Donghae, Junho’s bodyguard, met him. “My Prince”, he bowed hastily and followed Yunho. “It’s good you’re back.” – “How is my brother, Donghae”, Yunho tensely asked and scaled up the stairs, as Donghae had showed him this way. “It is critical, my Prince”, said Donghae, rushed forwards and opened the door for the heir, so he could enter the room of his younger brother’s sick bed. “He has massive burns on his left arm and a high temperature. He was conscious for a short while but now he is non-sentient again.” Yunho nodded shortly so Donghae knew he’d understand. “He is speaking about his brother the whole time in fever”, said Donghae, “mumbling his name over and over again.”

Yunho just stood there. He could only see the dark hair of his younger brother. Three young women were sitting around his bed, taking care of him. Yunho turned around to face Donghae again. “And Junsu”, he whispered strained. From the man’s look he was already able to tell that the answer wasn’t to his liking. Yunho gritted his teeth, pain was written in his brown eyes. “They are still searching for his… for his remains, my Prince”, Donghae answered lowly. Yunho shut his eyes for a moment, nodded and turned around abruptly to go to Junho’s sick bed.

Everyone moved momentarily and Yunho kneeled beside his unconscious little brother. His left arm was wrapped in white, damp cloth and on his forehead also laid a wet clout. His chest was heaving and lowering in an uneven snatchy tone. Yunho gazed at the young healer in front of him caring for Junho’s left arm, than looked back in the agonized face of his brother. With slightly trembling fingers Yunho took the healthy hand of the younger one, lifted it up to his lips and pressed a shaky kiss onto the knuckles. Junho turned his head a little and took a deep breath. “You have to recover, you hear me, dongsaeng?” Yunho whispered with a slightly husky voice, drew in a deep breath while watching the face of the younger. “Don’t you dare dying...”

Yunho gave the hand one more gentle squeeze, placed it back beside Junho’s body before he slowly stood up to leave the room together with Donghae, who quietly closed the door behind them.

Yunho wiped his face with his palm, breathed deeply and then looked back at Donghae. “Where is Eunhyuk?” – “He is also searching for… for Prince Junsu, my Prince”, answered Donghae carefully. Yunho gave a nod and looked back at the closed door for one more time. “Good. You stay here and look after Junho-ah. As soon as there are any changes with his condition, I want to know. I’m going to see Eunhyuk so he can explain to me, how it could have come to… this.” Yunho’s eyes gave a dangerous glint and he turned around. He went downstairs, bowing slightly to the kingly healer who seemed to be on his way back to Junho, while passing by. “My Prince”, the man mumbled and went up the stairs. Yunho didn’t give him a second glance. He knew the man would do everything he was able to, to save Junho’s life.

Yunho left the pagoda. Snow started falling down and little white flakes came trickling down from the bright sky. Yunho shot a short glance up into the clouds and stepped to Changmin who once again hold their horses. “So?” the young man asked calmly after he had handed Yunho his horse’s reins. Yunho lifted himself into his saddle and waited until Changmin climbed on his brown horse. “He has to recover”, Yunho answered and grit his teeth, looking up to the window of his brother’s sick bed’s room. “He has to”, Yunho mumbled once more, then turned his stallion and let him fall into a light trot while passing the wooden bridge to reach the ruins of the sleeping quarters.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yunho found Eunhyuk with the other soldiers who were recovering the dead bodies in the smoldering leftovers of the hanok which once was the sleeping quarters of the princes. Prior he sent Changmin to bring the horses to the stable. They yet had come a long. Yunho had set off early in the morning, just after the messenger had reached his and the king’s quarters and told them what had happened.

“My Prince”, Eunhyuk bowed reverential to the heir as he got to him in between the ruins. Yunho gave him a short examination, then let his gaze wandered to the burned wood trusses lying everywhere on the ground. The hanok’s outlines were still recognizable. But also without the smoldering rests of the doors, Yunho would have known the house good enough to be able to say where they were standing. “How comes my brother slept in this room and not with his twin brother like normal”, Yunho asked and watched the soldiers carrying away the leftovers. Nearby stood a cart on which five to six corpses were lying. Yunho’s cold gaze returned to Eunhyuk. “They had a fight, my Prince. You know your brothers…”, Eunhyuk started, obviously feeling slightly queasy. Yunho eyed him up. “Yes, indeed”, he answered calmly but algidly nevertheless.

Eunhyuk carried on: “Well, Prince Junsu decided to go to your room for this night, since you weren’t here. I thought nothing of it, since they had fought often and the next day everything was back to normal. I deployed some guards in front of Prince Junsu’s… your chamber, my Prince and went to rest in the rooms next to Prince Junsu’s. And when I woke up again in the middle of the night, the whole house was already fast aflame. I had a narrow escape.”

Yunho looked at the man with clutched jaw. Of course he understood the survival instinct well, understood that Eunhyuk firstly saved himself from the flames. But still. “You were responsible for his safety”, Yunho hissed between pressed teeth, his face unmoving like ice. Eunhyuk lowered his gaze to the ground. “You had had to save him… or die trying.”

“I know, my Prince”, whispered Eunhyuk lowly. Yunho abruptly turned away and went with aggressive steps over to Kangin, the commander of the brigade which was searching for Junsu’s corps. “Have you found him?” he asked tensely while approaching the man. “No, my Prince”, he responded shaking his head. “It is strange, we-” – “HERE!” Yunho spun around as he heard the loud yell of a soldier who stud in some distance next to a tree. Yunho narrowed his eyes to see more clearly.

For the soldier was still flourishing wildly at them, Yunho and the commander hurried over to him. And the moment he recognized the thing up there in the branches, the question in his mind grew even bigger. It was a delicate bracelet, made of black ribbon and red agate pearls. Yunho reached up and got the piece of jewellery by the tips of his fingers. It slid chilly into his palm. Yunho opened his hand and frowned. He knew this bracelet.

“Is this-” – “It belonged to my brother”, Yunho murmured and twisted the filigree work warily between his fingers. The silken ribbon was lacerated and seemed to be bitten through. Yunho hadn’t had to read the name, written on the small golden tag, to know for sure that this was Junsu’s. Their mother had given one to each of them; they had them since their birth. Yunho closed his hand around the small fire colored pearls and looked up. The soldiers were standing around him in silent, waiting for him to say something.

“My brother is alive. And where ever he may be, I will find him. And WHO ever dared to abduct him, will pay dearly for it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

It took exactly two days. Two days, until a messenger arrived at the castle, pressuring he had to see Prince Yunho. He had an urgent message. Yunho, who was deliberating with his cousin Kangin and his bodyguard Changmin, was in no good mood when they were disrupted. He hadn’t slept well or even not at all the last nights, so it was no wonder his nerves were on edge. He was just about to debate with Kangin and Changmin, where his little brother may have been dragged to – while it still was to question, how Junsu could have been abducted from his chamber at all – as the man stumbled into the small hall, breathing heavily. “My Prince… Prince Yunho!”

Yunho stared at the man stunned. Normally no one dared to just burst into his interlocutions. Normally no one dared to trouble him with anything while he was working without asking at all. One of his eyebrows was twitching dangerously while Yunho shifted slightly in his sitting position, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He was staring quietly at the man, but the expression on his face alone was enough to tell, he was close to losing his temper.

Changmin and Kangin were exchanging a quick look and drew back then. Now Yunho was sitting alone behind the great table on which lay unfurled a map of the whole kingdom. “What?” His voice was piercing. In the background Kangin and Changmin silently shook hands, while both tried to hinder a grin to spread wide on their faces.

“Prince Yunho!” The man kneeling on the ground was still panting and didn’t dare to take his eyes from his own hands. “There is… it’s said that a dragon has been seen in the west. He is flying towards the north, they say!”

Silence followed his words and the messenger still didn’t dare to look up, until: “A dragon!?” Now the man on the ground risked a gaze up to Yunho and then nodded. “Yes, my Prince.” He cleared his throat to strengthen his voice. “They say it is the first one to be seen beyond the great desert since-” – “I know for how long there have no dragons been seen around”, Yunho cut into hissing, stood up smoothly and gave in to the need to go up and down restlessly. The man on the ground remained silent. He didn’t dare to say anything anymore.

Yunho turned to face Changmin and Kangin who were - opposite to their goofiness before - now professionally waiting for his commands.

“Kangin, send your soldiers to the north, east, south and west to check, what is going on there.” Kangin gave a short nod and disappeared quickly. Then Yunho looked at his bodyguard Changmin. The young man returned the look calmly. “You arrange for a messenger to be sent to my father.” Changmin also gave a quick nod and then went off hurried.

Yunho, sliding a hand through his hair, now turned back to the messenger. “Why now?” he mumbled to himself lowly before he hinted the man on the ground with a light wink that he was allowed to go. In the doorway he almost collided with another man and Yunho who just was about to sit down behind his table again, glanced up annoyed. But his view changed as soon as he saw Donghae’s agitated expression.

“My Prince, your brother”, Donghae struggled for breath and Yunho stiffened, waiting for Donghae to go on. “He woke up, my Prince!”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Panting, Yunho entered the room in the pagoda. The healer sat next to Junho’s sick bed and looked up at him. He nodded slightly, but implied to be quiet. Yunho struggled to do so as he walked into the room approaching his injured brother who lay there just like did before. But when Yunho kneeled down beside him, he saw that Junho had opened his eyes. His little brother seemed disorientated and tired but at least he was awake!

“Junho-ah”, Yunho’s voice was hushed. He felt like he would have just bothered his brother, if he would have spoken to loudly. He seemed so vulnerable. And still Yunho put forth his hand to brush a strand of hair out of his face. Junho returned his gaze and as he parted his lips, first thing to hear was a heavy breathing.

“Hyung.” Junho lifted his healthy hand with an effort to grab Yunho’s. He squeezed his younger brother’s hand reassuringly. “You are awake.” – “Hyung, what about Junsu? You found him?” – “Shhht… we’re still searching for him, but…” Yunho looked up at the healer. Who told Junho that his brother hasn’t lost his life in the fire?

“Hyung, Su-ah’s not dead”, stated Junho huskily, but cocksure. He now remembered the shadow flying across him. “I know, but how do you know, dongsaeng?” – “I have seen it.” Junho’s eyes slid shut and he seemed close to drifting away again. Yunho just noticed that he had grabbed his brother by the shoulder to give it a shake, when the healer resolutely pushed him away. But he had to know. “What is it, you have seen?!” – “The shadow”, mumbled Junho under his breath and slightly opened his eyes once more to look at Yunho. “What-” – “In the sky… like a dragon… huge wings…” – “Junho-ah!” Again Yunho was tempted to grab his brother’s shoulder to shake him awake, but the healer looked at him with an algid gaze. “My Prince, your brother needs rest. He can tell you not anymore. This is everything he says the whole time. Just give him the rest he needs.” Yunho clutched his jaw, but gave a short nod. He stood up and bowed slightly to the man who was caring for his brother. And after one last glance at Junho he left the room with rushed strong steps.

“Keep your eyes firm on him. I want him to be fine when I return.” His gaze was cold as he eyed Donghae saying this. “My Prince?” – “I’m going to find my other brother.” Yunho was already half way down the stairs, when he turned around to face Donghae one more time. “Don’t you dare to let Junho die!”