It’s the year when Kyuhyun is officially sixteen. He’s treated as an adult by most of the royalty and has more power than before. Not just that but he has hit an alarming growth spurt that ticks Yesung off whenever they stand next to each other.

Today was just any other day. Yesung had finished feeding the carps and t the lilac bushes. Now he and the prince sat in their usual place at the foot of the willow tree, hidden behind its curtain of leaves.

“Yesung.”

“Hmm?”

“Can I hear the rest of your story now?” Kyuhyun swiftly moves onto Yesung’s lap and rests his head against his chest cutely in a pouty, pleading way. Yesung sighs giving into the tactic. It does seem like a good time to just tell the simple story.

“I guess so.” the spirit agrees and continues the story he had stopped telling when the sixteen year old prince was only a naive eight year old.

~*~

The arena grew silent when the competition began and the rules of the three stages were announced. The stages were in order: create, control, destroy. The first stage was to create anything that could withstand a lightning strike. The second stage was for the princes to use their power to mentally control a living thing. The third and last stage was to destroy a given item.

The four princes lined up side by side as they awaited for the first stage to start. Each of them had their own area to work in where the citizens could watch too.

The crowd was restless as they watched the four princes. Whenever Youngwoon looked up after each spell the crowd screamed and cheered. Whenever Hyukjae did something clumsy like getting distracted by Donghae which caused him to fall on his face, the crowd would giggle and squeal. Whenever Ryeowook did anything, anything there were no reactions. Everyone was too distracted by the other three princes to notice the forgotten prince.

~*~

Two stages passed by quickly just like that. Bets grew wilder and cheers grew stronger. The very last stage came up and pressured the four princes. A large 40-meter boulder with layers of different metals was placed before each opponent. Forty meters high and twenty meters wide the rocks stood. It was amazing that there was still room in the arena.

“This stage requires you to use any spell, any ability of yours, to destroy this boulder into smithereens. DIfferent types of protection spells have been placed on these boulders, you just don’t know which ones. That means you can’t just destroy this with any old spell you have to find out its counterspell. The first to destroy the boulder will be the winner of the competition.” the King announced and the arena was filled with a louder applause than before.

The four princes were nervous as they wiped the sweat from their palms on their pants and prepared themselves for the challenge.

Ryeowook took a glance around at his brothers noting how Youngwoon’s eyes showed signs of panic and Hyukjae and Donghae were just whispering amongst themselves figuring out a plan. No one excelled in finding counterspells, a specific spell that is used normally to undo a specific spell. The three princes were more focused on powerful magic and brushed over the simple magic of counterspells.

The youngest prince was lucky. He knew what to do and he was going to show the entire world. Ryeowook took a deep breath and focused his eyes on the towering boulder before him. A tingling sensation swelled in his stomach and grew to ball of energy. He could feel it moving up in his body as if invisibly traveling through his organs. The ball of energy felt powerful and it felt so right as if all the things in the world was going to go smoothly for Ryeowook.

He would be acknowledged and well-known, the citizens would worship him and praise him for winning the competition, he would lead a wonderful life with his servant turned lover, and never again would he be forgotten or ignored.

The ball of energy suddenly expanded and was unleashed out of Ryeowook’s body, through his fingertips, mouth, feet, every inch of his body. The desire of acknowledgement and acceptance overwhelmed the prince as he cackled in triumph willing for the spell to expand and to destroy the boulder that was already wearing down and dissolving into the air.

His brothers all stopped what they were doing to watch him. The crowd caught on and all turned to see the youngest prince with rays of purple shooting out of his body creating a surging force of energy that seemed to have been emitted from within him. Whatever it was it was destroying no just the boulder but the entire arena.

No one knew what to do and all stood and watched as if in a trance. There was only one person that acted knowing that the prince would meet a drastic end if he wasn’t stopped. Ryeowook’s servant rushed out and wrapped his arms around the out-of-control prince.

“Stop, Ryeowook you’re destroying everything!” the servant cried as chunks of the arena began to come apart. By now the entire kingdom saw the danger and fled from the scene. Everyone except for the out-of-control prince and his servant was gone. Ryeowook still couldn’t get a hold of himself no matter how much his servant screamed into his ear and tried to knock him onto the ground.

“They’re going to see how powerful I am once I destroy this boulder!” Ryeowook growled as he pushed his servant away.

“It’s already destroyed Ryeowook! Can’t you see that you’re destroying everything?” the servant cried but it was no use. The prince couldn’t hear him, his ambition for power had taken over what his servant had once loved in the prince.

The purple streaks of energy that were coming out of Ryeowook’s body had tainted the air a dark violet and created a large purple orb in the air that in the magic from all over the kingdom of Para. The citizens all over the kingdom had lost their powers all of a sudden as the elements of magic traveled through the air and into the purple orb.

Ryeowook’s lover panicked as he threw himself towards the ball of magic. He couldn’t have done anything else with his magic gone. With the mindset of stopping the prince somehow, the servant managed to have his body absorb the magic and energy Ryeowook had been controlling. The prince stumbled back as he saw what his lover had done.

The servant couldn’t control himself either as he attempted in draining all of Ryeowook’s magic, that was all he was aiming for. But it wasn’t just the magic that got drained away but Ryeowook’s life essence. The prince collapsed onto the remains of the arena, his -what used to be healthy- body was pale and frail looking. His lover walked over placing two fingers beneath his nose to check his breathing. There was none. As he slipped his arms under the prince, the servant picked him up and made a decision to take him to their peaceful haven.

~*~

Debris crunched beneath the servant’s feet as he walked around the castle through various passages and gates until he reached the northwest garden. Behind a field with various flowers dotted around the green grass was a lilac pond.

The small pond was surrounded by bushes of purple lilacs and by the pond stood a large willow tree that dipped its curtain of leaves into the water. It was where the Prince Ryeowook and his lover met, lived, trained, and now it will become the place where they will bid farewell.

The servant placed the prince’s body propped up against the willow tree. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought Ryeowook was merely asleep and would open his eyes anytime now. They didn’t. Muttering a spell with the entire kingdom’s magic within him, he sent Ryeowook off. His body began to dissolve into particles and was carried away by the lilac blossoms that were swept over by the wind. Ryeowook’s lover watched as Ryeowook disappeared amongst the lilac bushes. The prince always showed favoritism to purple flowers, especially lilacs. A flower that symbolizes love, he would say and scatter lilacs onto his lover’s hair before they shared a kiss. Now he can join the lilacs that he loved to be around.

The lone servant sat back against the willow tree. After resting in solitude , he stood back up to leave and to inform the King and the entire kingdom of what had happened. When he stepped just five feet away from the farthest lilac bush, a strong force field seemed to have pushed him back. The servant can’t leave the lilac pond.

He became known as the Guardian of the Lilac Pond. The sudden buildup of magic within him had taken his life but kept his soul on the face of the Earth. He cannot die, never, until the magic within him is released and he can finally let go of his prince. Everyday the Guardian of the Lilac Pond tends to the lilac bushes and rests in the shadow of the willow tree and he will continue until one day he can move on.

~*~

A soft breeze sweeps by deepening the silence after Yesung’s long tale. Neither of them said it, that Yesung is the lone servant who lost his lover to insanity and magic. Kyuhyun feels his fingers tighten into Yesung’s sleeves feeling lost of what to say.

“The end.” Yesung whispers and Kyuhyun catches a saddening tone in it. He knows very well that that was not the end of the story because it continues on forever. “I finally told the story, does that mean you’re going to stop coming to bother me now?” Yesung says trying to lighten up the mood but Kyuhyun only pulls the spirit’s arms closer around him feeling like a kid again.

“Sorry.” Kyuhyun mutters. He doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for. Maybe he’s apologizing for everything Yesung had to go through, alone. Maybe he’s sorry for not being able to help. Maybe he’s apologizing for making the spirit tell such a sad tale.

Yesung pats the boy on the head like he always did when Kyuhyun was little. He feels slightly better after telling someone the story. It made him just one step closer to letting go. Yesung could feel it already, his body growing slightly weaker and his hand drops down away from Kyuhyun’s head.

~*~

When Kyuhyun is 18, things begin to change. Things already have started to change when Kyuhyun hit an interesting thing called puberty. The prince had gotten annoyingly tall that now he looks down at his spirit friend instead of up. He has also gotten to the hormonal stage (which started a few years back) and tends to jokingly suggest that Yesung helps with his problems but he would get smacked on his head every time he asks. The biggest change in Kyuhyun is his emotions. Sometimes he still can’t understand them.

One spring afternoon, Yesung is sitting against the the willow tree in his usual spot. Kyuhyun sees him as he’s walking over feeling excited to see his friend as usual. What he doesn’t understand is how the excitement increases each passing day. Yesung is still the same. Kyuhyun is still the same. Their relationship hasn’t changed. The pond hasn’t changed.

When Kyuhyun approaches the tree he sees Yesung waving him over to sit on his lap like always. Instead of complying, Kyuhyun takes a seat on the other side of the willow tree behind its curtain of leaves. Frowning, Yesung gets up to see what the prince was up to. Taking this chance, Kyuhyun grabs Yesung’s hand and pulls him down onto his lap. The spirit loses his balance slightly and ends up lying across it instead.

“What are you doing Kyuhyun, I could’ve hurt myself.” the spirit snaps and sits up, shifting around so he was comfortable. That excites Kyuhyun, a lot. Yesung and his crossed face, lips pursed, and aura just slightly hot and fiery is quite exciting. The purple glow around Yesung’s figure doesn’t make him seem surreal but just more beautiful.

“Kyuhyun? What are you looking at?” Yesung calls leaning in and searching Kyuhyun’s eyes for an answer. It snaps the prince back to the scene.

“Yesung…I feel funny. When I look at you I really want to do something.” he mutters.

“This isn’t one of your lame jokes is it because haha I don’t find jokes pertaining my face funny.”

“It’s not.”

“Then what do you want to do when you see me?” Yesung asks with his legs pulled up to his chest and he was sitting right in front, almost against, Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun stares and stares at Yesung, his brown orbs are trained hard on him. Yesung can’t help but stare back at the warm eyes that always managed to help Kyuhyun out of mistakes.

‘Can humans and ghosts kiss?’ the question never crossed Kyuhyun’s mind even when he arches his head down to seal Yesung’s lips with his own. A strong waft of lilac sweeps from Yesung’s body. He smells like sweet heaven, the perfect scent, not too citrusy and definitely enough for Kyuhyun to practically taste it on his tongue that peeks out and into Yesung’s mouth.

With hands on Yesung’s hips, Kyuhyun turns the spirit around so that he really is sitting in his lap now, his back pressing against Kyuhyun’s warm and broad chest, and his head turned to the side to receive the heartfelt kiss from the prince.

When they break away there’s instinctive of each other’s fingers and the long silence which neither of them understands.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Yesung begins when his morals return. “I’m dead and you’re alive. I can’t be in a relationship with you that way. It’ll end up hurting you and I don’t want that.” The spirit is ranting, trying to set his mind straight to understand the entire situation.

“I’m a hundred something years older than you.” Kyuhyun doesn’t care. The spirit looks only in his twenty’s since he kept the form he died with. Besides, age is but a number.

“I still have feelings for the prince I loved a hundred years ago.” Kyuhyun doesn’t care, he doesn’t even understand his own feelings at the moment.

“I have what used to be your kingdom’s magic inside of me.” Kyuhyun doesn’t care.

“I could kill you any second.” Kyuhyun doesn’t care.

“I could die any second, my soul this time, and I would leave the face of this earth. Forever.” Kyuhyun cares now and he doesn’t know what to do. So, he wraps his arms around Yesung (like how the spirit always does to him) and kisses him full on the mouth again because that is what he always wants to do, starting from now, whenever he sees Yesung.

Yesung feels vulnerable as he’s lost in Kyuhyun’s embrace, in Kyuhyun’s lips, in Kyuhyun’s world. He feels his body become weaker than before. Lately he can hardly ever find energy to do things. The usual, daily tasks that he does like watering the lilacs and feeding the carps, become extremely difficult to complete. It was like the magic within him that kept him on Earth was slowly beginning to release into the air and Yesung was slowly beginning to fade away because he is slowly letting go.

~*~

When Kyuhyun is 20 years old he realizes his feelings. Sure, Yesung was a childhood friend that told stories and stayed by his side for around ten years of his life, but he is so much more.

The prince finds the spirit lying on his back beneath the willow tree. It’s the end of spring with summer peeking out around the corner and the willow tree provides the perfect shade for the weather.

“Yesung I have something to tell you.” Kyuhyun chirps as he lies down beside him. Yesung turns his head to the side and peeks open an eye and grins. It was all he was capable of doing. Kyuhyun notices how oddly tired Yesung seems lately but the spirit always insists it’s just the weather affecting him.

“What is it?”

The prince turns to lie on his side. He leans in and whispers into Yesung’s ear like the little hyper 8 year old he was a long time ago.

“I love you.” he grins and keeps the same distance from Yesung, right by his ear. A smile stretches across Yesung’s face as he prepares himself to speak.

“You know I’m a spirit right?” Kyuhyun nods.

“And that spirits stay around the human world because they are attached to something from their past?” Yesung says, remembering what Kyuhyun told him on their first encounter.

“And that I can officially face death once I let go of Ryeowook?” Kyuhyun nods again as his fingers find their way to intertwine themselves with Yesung’s.

“Thanks to you, I can finally move on now.” Yesung whispers feeling himself grow weaker and weaker. The only body part that still feels strong is his left hand that’s being held so tightly by Kyuhyun.

“Stay.” Kyuhyun mutters repeatedly as he watches the spirit slowly dissolve starting from his feet. His particles are carried away by the wind instead of lilacs like how Ryeowook’s did. Everything happens so fast, one second Kyuhyun’s staining Yesung’s face with tears making the spirit actually seem alive, breathing, and human and the next second the face (that had waltzed into Kyuhyun’s dreams more than once) is dissolving as well.

Eventually, Yesung’s fingers slip away from Kyuhyun’s grasp and all that’s left is the very faint scent of lilacs and a stronger sweet honey scent like hydrangeas followed by a soothing voice.

“I love you too, Kyuhyun. And this marks the true ending of my story.”

“The end.”

“And so, the day after that, in the forgotten Lilac Pond there weren’t just lilac bushes but there were also bright red hydrangea bushes. The Guardian of the Lilac Pond became part of the pond and at times his laughter can be heard in the wind and once or twice there are glimpses of a figure dressed in servant robes with a glowing purple outline dashing around in the willow tree.”

“What’s going to happen to you?” the 6 year old servant boy asks with wide eyes. The boy was orphaned then adopted by the royal gardener to work in the castle.

“Me? I don’t know, I’m going to turn into blue hydrangea bushes once I can let go of my past.” Kyuhyun says simply and ruffles Sungmin’s hair.

“Do you know what lilacs and hydrangeas mean?” Sungmin asks with a small smile as he swirls his finger around in the pond water, playing with the koi carps.

“What do they mean?” Kyuhyun asks playing along.

“I help out with the royal gardener, Miss Teukie,  and she told me lilacs symbolizes love.”

“Miss Teukie also told me me that hydrangeas stand for preservation like love that lasts forever.”

“You sure do know a lot.” Kyuhyun remarks as he stands up and stretches out from the long story-telling.

“Miss Teukie also told me that Para never lost its magic and that ghosts don’t exist. You shouldn’t lie to kids even in stories even if it was an interesting story.” Sungmin adds and Kyuhyun grows fairly annoyed.

“Then what am I?” Kyuhyun asks.

“You’re the Guardian of the Lilac Pond.” Sungmin chirps and Kyuhyun debates on arguing with the child even if Sungmin is right.

“Believe whatever you like.” Kyuhyun says and heads over to trim the lilac and hydrangea bushes.

Hidden behind the hedge of the northwest garden with a willow tree, lilacs, hydrangeas, koi carps and other creatures, there lies a forgotten pond. And it is the Guardian of the Lilac Pond’s duty to care for the pond. He is a spirit who hides in the curtain of leaves of the willow tree during the day and comes out at night when he can roam around freely.

A/N: yays finally done hope u guys liked it :D thanksh for readin^^