“Well look what we have here,” smirked Count Kyuhyun.

            “Don’t try and stop us.  We know the secrets of the fire swamp.  We can live quite happily there,” said a determined Yunho.

            Jaejoong noticed as Yunho was speaking the soldiers lifting their bows and arrows, ready to shoot his love at the prince’s or the count’s command.  He lifted his arms in front of Yunho in a sign of surrender and asked, “If I agree to go with you will you let him go?  He is among the crew on the pirates ship Revenge.  If I go back with you will you return him to his ship?”

            “What!?!” exclaimed the puzzled count and pirate.

            “But of course.  You have my word,” said the sly prince.

            “But why love?  Why would you agree to this?” Yunho questioned Jae.

            “I already lost you once and it nearly killed me.  I can’t lose you again, for if I did it would be the death of me.  Especially when I can do something to stop it,” Jae softly said.

            While the two lovers were speaking their goodbyes the prince rode up to his best friend.  “See that when we’re out of sight that you imprison him in the Pit of Despair.  I want him to suffer,” said Changmin.

            “You have my word,” the scientific man told him.

            The prince rode towards his princess and lifted him onto his steed as he left for the castle.  Jaejoong looked longingly at Yunho the entire time, never taking his eyes off him.  Yunho turned around and as he was led walked confidently towards the count.

            “We are men of action.  Lies do not become us,” he told Kyu.  He knew what he fate would most likely be from that point on.

            “You’re right,” he told the man as he looked down upon him, as if the pirate was beneath him or lower than dirt.

            As if he was almost enraptured Yunho looked at the counts face.  Then he smiled smugly.

            “What is it Pirate?” asked an annoyed Kyuhyun.

            “You have a slight scar on the cheek of your face.  Someone was looking for you,” said Yunho.  The count lifted his sword.  He abruptly brought the hilt down on Yunho’s head.  Before the imprisoned man out his last thoughts were of Jae.

*YUNJAE*

            “Oh come on Aunt Heechul!  That’s not how the story’s supposed to go!” shouted an enraged Henry.  Heechul ignored him.

*YUNJAE*

            In the Pit of Despair a short man walked down the steps of the secret hideout towards the unconscious man.  He carried a bowl full of water and a rag towards him.  The man was Yunho, and he was strapped to a ‘bed’.  He still looked very ragged from his trip through the fire swamp.  The shorter man wetted the cloth with the water, rung it out, and began washing the blood off of Yunho’s shoulder were the rat had bit him.  The imprisoned man was startled from his forced sleep.

            “Where am I?  Who are you?  Why are you doctoring me?” asked a groggy Yunho.

            “The Pit of Despair.  Haha, Count Kyuhyun’s servant and helper.  Because the count likes his prisoners to be healthy before he tortures them,” replied Haha.

            “You don’t think I can take it?” asked an offended Yunho.

            Haha just nodded his head no.  As he continued the wash the captive he spoke.  “Well you’ve escaped and survived the fire swamp, so you’re very brave.  But no one survives the machine.

*YUNJAE*

            Jaejoong simply sighed as he walked aimlessly around the castle halls.  It had been two weeks since he had last seen his love.  He was lonely and had a bad feeling something terrible had happened to Yunho.  ‘How is he doing?  Is he still hurt from the R.O.U.S. bite in the Fire Swamp?  Is he angry with me for not leaving with him?  Does he still love me?’  Those thoughts simply caused him to sigh yet again.  He was so distracted he didn’t notice Changmin and Kyuhyun watching him pass the prince’s study.

            “It’s my father’s failing health that’s bothering him,” announced Changmin.

            “Of course,” Kyuhyun said in a condescending voice.  “I’m starting our guest on the machine today.  Would you like to come?”

            “Kyuhyun, you know I love to watch you work.  But I have my country’s 500^th anniversary to plan, my wife’s murder to plan, Guilder to frame for it, and a war to start.  I’m swamped.”

            Kyuhyun placed his hand on his friends shoulder and told him, “Rest my friend.  If you don’t have your health what do you have?”

*YUNJAE*

            Yunho looked up as he heard two sets of footsteps enter his prison.  It seemed the count was paying him a visit today.  The henchman neared him and began putting suction like cups on his temples and chest.  Which had tubes from the dreaded machine hooked up to the suction cups that were stuck on him.

            The count sat down at what looked like a desk with papers strewn in an orderly chaos on it.  After finding his place in the notebook he spared a glance at his test subject and explained his machine.  It used water to work but instead of it creating energy it used the suction cups to out life.  It has a handle that ranges from one to fifty, with each number representing how many years would be taken.  A very sadistic torture device created by an equally sadistic man.  He explained it as “I am a man of science.  So I need you to be honest in how this makes you feel.  One day I plan to go up to five but let’s start with one right now shall we?”

            At his signal his henchman brought the handle up to one.  The water ran.  The wheel turned.  Yunho couldn’t help shaking as he could literally feel life leaving his body.  Then what felt like hours later, but was really only minutes, Haha lowered the handle back to zero.  The machine stopped as well as his pain.

            “Now tell me how did that make you feel?  Remember, be honest,” taunted Kyuhyun.  Yunho could only whimper and moan in pain.

*YUNJAE*

            Jaejoong couldn’t take it anymore.  The guilt and loneliness left from his decision and leaving Yunho was eating him alive.  He stormed into the prince’s study and exclaimed “I love Yunho and he loves me.  We will always love each other.  And should this engagement continue I can assure you I will be dead by morning.”

            Stunned for a moment Changmin broke from his stupor.  “Are you sure your Yunho still wants you?  After all you were the one who did the leaving.”

            “Yunho and I love each other.  He will come for me.”  Jaejoong spoke with conviction in his voice.

            “I have an idea.  You write four copies of a letter to Yunho and I will send it with my four fastest ships to deliver them to his ship Revenge.  But should he deny you would you consider me in the place of suicide.”  Jae nodded and turned heal.  He walked out of the room, never knowing Changmin had no real intent to fulfill his promise.

*YUNJAE*

            Many more weeks had passed.  Castle guard and holder of the gate key Kwangsoo had been summoned to his prince’s study.  He was a rather tall and gangly man, with not the best reputation for loyalty.  “You summoned me your highness,” he said as he kneeled at Prince Changmin’s chair.

            “Yes I have heard rumor that mercenaries from Guilder are coming to assassinate my bride on our wedding night.  I want you to have the thieves forest emptied to ensure his safety.”

            “My spy network has heard nothing of this,” the Chief Enforcer spoke up.  The prince gave him a devilish look that seemed to say ‘I can get someone else.’  “But I will do it,” he assured.

            “See that you do.  Form a brute squad if you need…”  They were interrupted by Jaejoong’s entrance.  Both automatically clammed up.

            “Any news from Yunho yet,” Jae asked.

            “None yet precious,” he told him.

*YUNJAE*

            A few days later, the day of the wedding to be exact, Kwangsoo returned to his prince to tell him the thieves forest was cleared.  “Good, make sure to double the guard while you’re at it.”  Kwangsoo was silenced by the princess’s arrival.

            “There he is my docile bride.  Every ship in my armada is ready to accompany us on our honeymoon,” Changmin told his bride as Kwangsoo took that moment to slip out from the room.

            “Every ship but your four fastest you mean,” Jae replied.

            “Huh?  What do you me-” the prince stopped mid-sentence as it dawned on him.  Jaejoong had caught him in a lie.

            A look of anger passed over Jae’s eyes.  He only said “You lying coward,” and walked out of the room back to his chambers.  He didn’t see Changmin shaking in anger as he walked away.

*YUNJAE*

            Blinded by rage Changmin rushed down the stairs to the Pit of Despair.  He found the bane of his existence resting from finishing a torture session.  He failed to see his friend as his gaze was focused on his prisoner.  “You truly love each other?  And you may have been truly happy.  Not one couple has such a chance and so I think no man shall suffer as much as you,” he told Yunho.  He quickly lifted the handle to fifty.

            “No not to fifty!” Kyuhyun shouted.  But all that could be heard was Yunho’s wail of despair.  Not five minutes later the wail stopped.  Yunho was dead.