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Faute De MieuxPointed ears twitched, betraying the calm features of the elf. The doe-eyed creature remained silent, however, as it was not his place to speak. The Royal Courts was silent, the elf’s own ire mounting behind a smooth façade. Deep red eyes glinted defiantly under the fringe of rich auburn hair whilst the meek, much shorter elf by the name of Kyungsoo, did all of the talking.
The sloe-eyed Captain of the Guard kept his gaze on the much taller elf. It was something of an anomaly to have such a tall one of his species, much less normal for one to have a voice as deep and rich as his. And more often than not, he’d been frowned upon in most cases and taken for a Dark Child--one who shifted into anything and anyone freely.
They had only been passing through Shanghai, the main Dragon land, and Chanyeol had stopped to play with some little children while Kyungsoo continued to barter for some fruit. One of the more, close minded, women had seen him and heard his voice, seeing his uncharacteristically red eyes, all niceties had been withdrawn. Patrolling guards nearby had immediately arrested them, and here they were now, pleading their case with the Magistrate, the Council in attendance.
“My friend is not a Dark Child, but a Night Elf,” Kyungsoo repeated with utmost patience. Chanyeol would have lost his patience a long time ago and left without a backward glance nor a shred of anymore respect for such ignorant people. However, what with the sightings of Dark Children, and the fact that he couldn’t desert his friend, he kept his tongue.
“His eyes are red,” the Magistrate repeated, losing his own level of tolerance dwindling. “And he is much too tall. What makes you so sure he’s not fooling you?”
“Your guard had searched me before this meeting began,” Chanyeol finally spoke. He placed a comforting hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder to silence the other one. “He’s a master of time, is he not?” The unusual red eyes pinned themselves onto the Captain of the Guard who had readied himself for battle. “A Dark Child needs to be in possession of the blood of the form he chooses to take. There isn’t any blood on me to keep stored to keep up appearances.” Chanyeol’s lips thinned and he made direct eye-contact with the Governor. “Your General even removed my daggers. He had more than enough time to completely search me while no one was aware.”
“How dare you address the Governor in such a manner?” The Magistrate squawked. “Know your place and lower your eyes.”
“I’ve shown whatever respect I’d had when I entered this palace,” Chanyeol retorted, returning his attention to the Magistrate. “We both have. And yet you treat us like criminals. We had been summoned here by the King himself. We present his sealed summons and yet you still treat us like a pair of criminals.”
“Persistent liar,” The Magistrate seethed.
Chanyeol’s ears quivered, eyes beginning to glow when Kyungsoo’s smaller hands took a hold of his face so that their eyes could connect. The taller Night Elf kissed his teeth and balled his fists until they were white at the knuckles.
Kyungsoo turned to the Magistrate and the Council, as exasperated as his companion. “If this is what you really think, then let us go. We’ll leave the kingdom and not look back.”
“I think not,” The Magistrate spat.
“What is the meaning of this ruckus?” At the sound of the newer voice, all rose and fell to one knee. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol veered to look, the former quick to bow, tugging the latter down forcefully.
The one to come into the courtroom was tall, pale and dark haired. He was handsome, almost strikingly so with angular features mended onto an almost baby-like face. His small eyes landed onto the two elves and he frowned. “Are you the Night Elves the king had summoned from the Unseelie Court?”
He neared the two and stopped when his feet were just below their noses. “Rise and answer.”
Kyungsoo was the first to his feet, not without a warning glance to Chanyeol. The taller one sighed softly and got to his feet, careful to keep his eyes averted.
“Chancellor Jung,“ the Magistrate spoke up. “They are common criminals who--.”
“We are,” Kyungsoo said, when looked at expectantly after the Chancellor no longer seemed to pay attention to the idiot of a Magistrate. “the Night elves, I mean. I am Do Kyung--.”
“The summons,” the Chancellor demanded coldly.
Frowning slightly, Kyungsoo huffed, his patience squashed at the rude interruption. “The Magistrate has it.”
Nodding, Chancellor Jung reached a hand out to the side, never once moving eye contact from the wide-eyed elf. “Zitao.”
In less time than it took to blink, the summons was in the Chancellor’s hand, a small, almost nonexistent breeze ruffling the taller man’s robes. There was an indignant squawk that Kyungsoo knew, quite well, belonged to the Magistrate. The Chancellor opened the summons and read it once, quickly, and rolled it back up.
“Follow me,” he spoke quickly. “Zitao, you as well. Your services in this Court are relieved until we’ve found a replacement for the Magistrate.”
As quickly as the summons had appeared, the Captain of the Guard was beside the Chancellor. Zitao, Kyungsoo noted, was a head shorter than the Chancellor, but one above himself. His eyes were almost sunken, handsome and frightening at the same time.
“Chancellor,“ another unfamiliar voice cut in. The Governor locked eyes with Chancellor Jung, the latter narrowing his eyes and leaving without a word.
The elves walked side by side, behind the Chancellor and somehow with Captain Zitao bringing up the rear. The hall was nothing like those of the Keep in the Unseelie where it was onyx and silver. Instead, it was garnished with gold and shades of red.
“Wow,” he breathed, taking it all in. The sunlight was bright, pouring in from the pane-less windows carved into the stone of the wall.
They had come to an area where Kyungsoo believed were to be a set of stairs. But there was nothing. The Chancellor, with a single bound, was already halfway to the top where the landing could hardly be seen.
“He does realize we can’t fly,” Chanyeol muttered, ending in a surprised yelp when a hand gripped him by the shoulders and the world did a sickening tilt. Just as it happened, it stopped, and they were back behind the Chancellor, not standing, but sitting in a stupor.
“On your feet,” Chancellor Jung said without looking back. The elves complied best as they could, Chanyeol cursing all the while under his breath in the Elvin tongue. It was then that Zitao walked past them with a smirk, through the large double doors before them. Chancellor Jung followed suit, pausing only to bow just after Zitao.
“Your Highness,” he said, motioning toward the elves with a flourish. “Apologies for the tardiness, but the Night Elves of Han have arrived. There was a small discrepancy with the Magistrate.”
“As usual,” came the boom of the voice of the dragon king. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo quickly bowed to show their respects before being told to rise. The King was seated on a well-cushioned chair, reclined with the Queen in his hold. The King was dark haired, like most of the dragon folk, and amber-eyed. His wife, however, had hair spun of fine gold with honey colored eyes. It was a startling contrast between the Dragon Lord and his Queen. The former screamed of strength and war while the latter spoke of the peaceful nature that the other was capable of displaying.
“Good day, Yunho,” the Queen greeted with a soft smile. “And Tao, how are you?“
The Chancellor bowed. “Good day, my queen.”
Zitao bowed as well, Kyungsoo not missing the tiny smile that played on the deadly looking man’s features. “I am excellent, your Majesty.”
“State your names,” the king spoke, golden eyes trained on the two elves.
“I am Do Kyungsoo,” the shorter of the two spoke, bowing.
“Park Chanyeol.”
“Are you aware of the reason for your travels?” The king inquired, never once moving away from his wife, if not clinging to her more.
“No, your Majesty,” Kyungsoo spoke. “We were merely told by the Fey Queen to come here for you have summoned us.”
“I’ve summoned two of the best Night Elves that the Unseelie had to offer,” the king sighed. Finally, he moved. In one fluid motion, he was on his feet, his robes a waterfall of gold silk around his body. “I am aware that looks can be deceiving,” he hummed, nearing the two elves. “But she must be joking.”
Kyungsoo was careful to keep his eyes averted, glancing over at Chanyeol to see that the other was, thankfully, doing the same. However, the tell-tale twitch of the taller elf’s ears made him wary.
“There’s not one ounce of power leaking from your auras,” the King said with a click of his tongue. He stopped in front of Chanyeol and used a finger to lift the other’s chin. It was then that the red-eyed elf saw that the King was a giant of a man, towering over Chanyeol by at least two heads. “And how unusual,” the king continued, looking into the defiant gleam in the taller elf’s eyes. “An elf tall as the human man and nearly as tall as Dragon Kin with eyes of the sharpest ruby.”
The King stepped back and stood so still, that Kyungsoo couldn’t help but to look up at the King, stopping just shy of the giant’s nose.
“You’re merely children,” he scoffed. “No older than my own son. Is this woman bluffing? Or are you both imposters?”
“With all due respect, Your Majesty,” Chanyeol spoke up, complete ignoring Kyungsoo’s frantic gaze. “You have been given what you’ve requested. If we truly are not to your liking or far below the expected caliber, then I suggest you let us take our leave.”
“Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo finally spoke, but he was met by angry red eyes.
“I’ve had enough of remaining silent,” the taller of the two groused. “We’ve been wrongfully accused and now belittled by the King himself. I understand that we need their help, but at the price of poor treatment?”
“We do need their help,” Kyungsoo agreed. “But your pride is going to be the death of our only lifeline!”
Kyungsoo bit back a gasp, the feel of a sharp blade at his neck stopping anything further to be said. Beside him, Chanyeol was seized by the Chancellor, his own blade threatening to dig into the taller elf’s flesh.
“Interesting.” The King had long since returned to his wife, settling as if he had not even moved. “But I am not amused. Chancellor, have them escorted to the gates and send a message to their queen for me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Chanyeol you are a natural ,” Kyungsoo fumed. “How could you ruin our chances like this?”
Chanyeol, not willing to back down, simply folded his arms and glared down at the wide-eyed elf. “The entire castle was being a royal pain in the neck, Kyungsoo. I refuse to tolerate that kind of attitude.”
“Dragons are proud creatures, it’s expected--.”
“It’s expected of anyone of royal standings to behave as if they have a shred of dignity and some kind of home-training,” Chanyeol interrupted. “They had no right treating us the way they did. Even the Chancellor’s a right bastard.”
“But you know we need their help. Dragons are the most powerful creatures on this continent and the only ones who can help us survive. Our people are dying Chanyeol. Why can’t you swallow your pride for once and do something to aid your kind and not jeopardize them?”
They were on their way to the city gates, walking behind the black backside of a mare while the townsfolk murmured and bustled around. The children who were playing with Chanyeol waved at them energetically, and they smiled back slightly before continuing their Elvin argument.
“It’s because we’re from the Unseelie,” Chanyeol spat. “He probably wanted us for some kind of black-labeled task that could cost us our lives and it wouldn’t matter because we’re expendable. Are our lives worth so little?”
“Are the lives of our people worth less than your own selfish pride?” Kyungsoo nearly screeched. “What’s the sacrifice of two of us compared to the millions-turned-thousands?”
“I know you want to help the Court,” Chanyeol breathed. “And so do I, but this isn’t the way to go and you know it. The Queen must be joking.”
“Watch your tongue.”
“Yes mother,” Chanyeol mocked. “Sorry, mother.”
The city gates were opened, the chains clinking and the wood of the drawbridge creaking as it was being lowered. Beyond, in the distance, lay the silhouette of what was left of the dying forest.
“Be on your way,” the nameless guard said to them in a broken version of the Human tongue. Kyungsoo nodded and brushed past, a sullen Chanyeol trailing behind him.
The sound of the drawbridge coming to a close prompted Chanyeol to twist is torso about and snort, thin wisps of flame kissing the open air before dissipating. “So much for the great City of Wulim.”
It had been a handful of hours before they entered the mouth of the forest, Chanyeol immediately feeling at ease in the familiar setting. The woodland was calm, content. It was one of the few parts of the continent that even stood a slim chance of surviving the Famine.
Something strange, however, made Chanyeol stop short. “Kyungsoo.”
“Don’t speak to me right now, Chanyeol.”
“This is serious.”
“I’m just as serious.”
“Damn it all, Kygun--.” Chanyeol’s litany was cut short by something hard colliding into him and knocking him over.
“Thanks for catching me,” a small voice breathed. Chanyeol struggled to catch his own breath, pushing the unfamiliar weight off his chest and rolling over. By then, Kyungsoo was helping to their feet a complete stranger.
“You’re not an elf,” the doe-eyed elf stated.
“No,” the young boy stated. He seemed to be about as old as Kyungsoo in appearance of not a smidgen older. “I’m a dragon.” He grinned toothily, his eyes gleaming. “I’d been trying to get a handle on my larger wings in the forest, but as you can see…” He gestured vaguely with one of his wiry arms, causing the pendant he wore to dance around his neck.
Chanyeol got to his feet and coughed, rubbing his abused chest. “Why aren’t you behind the city walls? Aren’t you a bit young to be traveling alone out here?”
The young dragon scowled. “What are you, my father? I’m tired of being mistaken for some weak babe unable to even roll over on his own.”
“Don’t mind him,” Kyungsoo soothed. “He’s just another pain in the , I’m sure.”
“I’m the one that took the hit, thank you!” Chanyeol fumed, eyebrows knitting together.
“We need to get going,” the shorter elf announced. “Let’s go, Chanyeol. It was nice meeting you, uh…”
“My name is Wu Sehun,” the young dragon replied with a small smile. He looked at Chanyeol, possibly really looking at him for the first time. “Are you an elf, too? You’re so tall, and your--.”
“Yes,” Chanyeol in. “I’m an elf, now can we all just move along?”
“Are you herbal elves?” Sehun looked over at Kyungsoo, who held back the tiny sigh that Chanyeol released at exponential levels.
“No,” Kyungsoo answered. “Why do you ask?”
“There’s no power radiating from your auras.”
Before Kyungsoo could even blink or breathe, Chanyeol had spun him around and began walking at a brisk pace, not bothering to look back. “Go home, kid.”
“Nice meeting you!” the call came from Sehun. Chanyeol dutifully ignored it and growled in warning to Kyungsoo.
Herbal elves, he thought derisively.
They were barely half a mile away when a chill barreled down their spines. Chanyeol’s ruby eyes widened and he whirled around, Kyungsoo mirroring his actions. A mist had settled over the forest, blocking any and everything within their range of sight.
“Kyungsoo,” he urged.
“On it,” the large eyed elf said, already on the ground with one ear to the soil. “There’s nothing on the ground. All of the animals have gone into hiding.”
Chanyeol muttered a curse. “And the boy?”
Kyungsoo fought the urge to smile. Chanyeol may have been a hot headed elf, but the boy’s heart was bigger than his mouth. Kyungsoo focused his attention to the earth, closing his eyes. The dark behind his lids transformed into a grayed image of the forest in a radial diameter of four hundred meters. There were only trees beyond the mist. There was no real sign of--.
“They’re hot on his heels,” he gasped, getting to his feet. He grabbed Chanyeol by the hand, shorter legs already in motion as they retraced their steps back toward the mouth of the forest.
Sehun hated when other people were right when it came to his thirst for freedom. Just when things go great, they turn sour, and end with him in danger and needing to be rescued.
The young dragon unfurled his wings, unable to see through the thick gray mist, and flapped them. The gust did nothing to tear through the obstruction, and he opted to shift fully into his dragon’s form. The red-scaled flying reptilian sailed toward the sky, attempting to get to the canopy, but crashed into an invisible wall. He couldn’t move past the second branch of the tree!
He dropped to the ground, heart racing and amber eyes darting quickly to and fro. Sensing a presence behind him, he rolled to the side, getting his arms underneath him. His eyes widened at the sight of a red blade biting into the ground. It then retracted into the mist. The ground around it, however, had shriveled up and dried into nothing but desert sand.
Another one had barely missed him, grazing his cheek. Without much hesitation, he dropped his jowls and blew, more wind than fire billowing out into the mist. But it seemed to have hit another wall, spreading out and disappearing. Leaping back, he dodged another red blade, but yet another had barely missed his eye.
He got on all fours, wings tucked carefully behind him. “Show yourself!”
Sehun’s voice didn’t echo the way it should have, sounding muted even to his own ears. Just what kind of magic was this?
A dark shadow descended into the invisible prison, settling like black smoke onto the ground before separating and taking the shape of black lion men with zircon ram’s horns.
The young dragon swung his tail toward them, but it went right through, the affected areas turning into smoke before reforming as if nothing happened. The lion men advanced, dark spears made from the dark aura poised for the killing blows.
Eyes squeezed shut, he braced himself for the inevitable, the only word riding on his last shout, the name of his older bother. The pendant around his neck glowed a faint yellow.
“Yifan!”
There was a rumble under the ground before the earth fell apart around him. Sehun opened his eyes and his world went dark.
Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had run into a magical barrier, struggling to see beyond the mist.
“Use those big-for-nothing eyes of yours, damn it,” Chanyeol cried.
“I don’t see you trying to do any better,” Kyungsoo retorted. He dropped to the ground again, ear to the dirt. “He’s right there. And so are they.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Chanyeol moved to step into Kyungsoo’s line of vision. The shorter of the two saw locks of auburn thicken and lengthen before digging into the ground. “Start channeling!”
Kyungsoo closed his eyes, the monochrome image of the area inside the box still fresh in his mind’s eye. He reached out a hand and gripped Chanyeol’s ankle, channeling his earthen magic through the other elf. Without looking, he knew that Chanyeol was hard at work, combining their abilities. It was another anomaly that Chanyeol was notorious for, being called the Gorgon behind his back for decades because of his snake-like hair.
The tendrils darted under the ground under Kyungsoo’s careful guidance, slithering quickly into the midst of the invisible dome.
“Good, Chanyeol,” he said. “Now I need you to separate them and create a barrier over him. Quickly. And arm it.”
Deed already done, Kyungsoo stopped channeling for the time being, energy a bit spent as he continued to survey the scene from his place on the forest floor. With his mind’s eye, he saw an earthen dome erected around the young dragon, with jagged spikes jutting out of every available area.
“There are five of them,” Kyungsoo dictated. “I need you to set the whole place on fire.”
“Are you sure?”
“Your own magic is useless against you so it should be fine.”
With enough assurance from his friend, Chanyeol’s eyes were consumed with the red of his irises, and in seconds, the inner part of the field was ablaze, the flames at the barrier.
“Stop. They’re gone now.” And on a dime, the flames thinned and died out.
The mass of hair extended began to retract, Chanyeol helping Kyungsoo to his feet and darting toward where the boy should be.
By the time they’d gotten there, Chanyeol’s hair was back to normal and the dome was breaking apart without the aid of Kyungsoo’s magic to hold it together. Behind the wall of rock was a huddled dragon. Still frightened, the dragon opened its mouth and breathed.
“Sehun, wait!”
The dragon stopped short at Kyungsoo’s frantic cry and opened its eyes to see Chanyeol already in front of the shorter elf, hands raised and ready to protect the other. The tall Night Elf lowered his arms slowly, eyeing the dragon from the side. Abruptly, the winged creature shrunk to reveal the young boy they had come across earlier.
Kyungsoo rushed toward him, Sehun already clawing at the elf’s robes, a long litany of thanks blurring together.
A shadow from above drew Chanyeol’s attention to the skies, and he braced himself. The incoming dragon was large and black, wasting no time in landing and shoving its snout between Kyungsoo and Sehun. Kyungsoo was forcefully pushed away, and Sehun clung to the dragon.
“Yifan!”
The large dragon, larger than Sehun’s form by far, glared at the elves, growling.
“Don’t!“ Sehun choked out. “Don’t hurt them. They saved me.”
“I told you to go home, kid,” Chanyeol admonished with an exasperated sigh.
“I’m not a kid,” Sehun shot back, which seemed automatically to the elves as a well-practiced retort. “But thanks, again.”
The young dragon let go of the black one and transformed. He pushed his snout into Kyungsoo’s chest, prompting a hug from the shorter elf, who obliged with a chuckle. However, Chanyeol got hot air blown into his face from the same muzzle.
“Hey!” he squawked indignantly, ears twitching.
“Come back to the city with us,” Sehun’s voice permeated through their minds.
“We can’t go back there,” Kyungsoo denied gently, casting a glare at Chanyeol. “Thanks to this lout, we’d been put out.”
“I can see why,” Sehun hummed as Chanyeol made a rude gesture at the shorter elf while Kyungsoo wasn’t looking but immediately looked away with his arms folded when the other looked back. “But that doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”
“I refuse to go back there,” Chanyeol muttered. But his denial fell on deaf ears as he gaped openly at Kyungsoo who was already climbing onto Sehun’s back.
“Who’s side are you even on?” He demanded. “Doesn’t being put out equate to being banned? As in, disallowed to return?”
“That’s never stopped you,” Kyungsoo glared. “Either you hop on, or deliver the message to the Queen on your own.”
Chanyeol huffed, walking toward the red dragon when Sehun just took off. Annoyed, confused, and wary, he cast a cautious glance at the black dragon who looked at him, appearing just as unwilling as he.
A/N: I have no idea what’s going on here. But I love the KrisYeol pair. I apologize if nothing in this chapter made any sense at all. I just started writing and it all came out. It’s been a while since that happened, honestly--years if I were to be frank. A fantastical universe unravels with elves wielding unusual abilities and features and dragons with sharp tongues.
Who knew?
And I love an angry Chanyeol.
SO! It's literally been years and I've fallen out of fandom but I want to finish this fic over time. So for those of you who actually stayed subbed and are still looking for updates, I do apologize for the wait. But Definitely gonna be updating this soon.
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