At this point, the trio had been craning their necks up at the tower for what had to be two hours now.

(It had actually been twenty minutes.)

They groaned and sat around in front of the tower, setting up a picnic because it was past noon and they were hungry. Suddenly, a revelation came to Henry.

“Hey, what did the prophecy say about all of this?”

Eunhyuk paused, mid-spoonful of soup. “Uh…”

“Finish eating first?”

“That’s ‘finished eating first, your highness’ to you.”

Henry turned instead to Kyuhyun, who had his face scrunched up in concentration. “I think…something about towers…and victory?”

“That doesn’t help at all,” Henry frowned.

“Shut up, Henry.” Eunhyuk jabbed him in the side.

Kyuhyun sighed. “We have no choice. I guess we have to call up Onew now.”

A horrified gasp came from Eunhyuk, while Henry looked confused. “You can do that?”

“Sure we can,” Kyuhyun said matter-of-fact-ly and dumped the contents of his bowl right onto the ground. (“No, not the food!” cried Eunhyuk, still in an overall horror-struck state.) He then dug through his bag and did some vague, elaborate-voodoo-glowing thing with some powder, making the puddle all sparkly and SHINee.

“Oooh,” Henry wheedled as he admired the SHINee-ness.

Eunhyuk gave up and stopped fighting fate, so now he just looked exhausted.

Suddenly, Kyuhyun yelled, “ONEW, COME OUT, I KNOW YOU’RE THERE AND I KNOW THAT YOU’VE ALREADY EATEN LUNCH BY NOW SO THERE’S NO REASON FOR YOU TO IGNORE ME!”

Noises that sounded like pots falling and glass shattering came out from the puddle before Onew’s face appeared on the surface, panting like he’d just run ten miles.

“Sorry!” the palace soothsayer piped as he brushed shards of…something off of his clothes. “I tried to get to you but there was a coffee table in the way.”

“…Was it the one Minho gave you?” Kyuhyun eyed what he had originally thought was firewood behind Onew.

The soothsayer chuckled sheepishly. “That’s the one.”

“Oh, he’s not going to be happy.”

Onew’s eyes turned wide. “I’LL MAKE IT UP TO HIM. I’LL BUY HIM A NEW ONE.”

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I called you up because we need to hear the prophecy one more time. We’re having issues getting up the tower.”

“Oh, alright. Um, it went like, ‘Oh Princes two of our great kingdom, you—”

“No, skip that part, we don’t need it.”

“Um… ‘The younger will travel the Sapphire towers and set his beauty free?’”

“…That tells me absolutely nothing.”

“’Oh trudge and row, trudge and row, climb the vines to victory—”

“Oh, right! That’s what it was. That’s all, Onew, bye.”

“B—” Kyuhyun stomped on the puddle and disconnected the link.

“Well, that’s what it was,” he said, addressing his companions. “Climbing vines.”

The three of them took a moment to ponder the meaning of the universe the prophecy. Eunhyuk stared at the tower.

Henry his chin, because he lacked a good beard, and hugged his four-dimensional bag to his chest. “What do you guys think? All I’m getting are strong ‘play me’ vibes from the keyboard.”

“There’s some ivy growing at the base over there,” Eunhyuk said after a while. “Kyuhyun, how heavy are you and how high can you jump?” Kyuhyun just looked at him.

“Guys, I’m going to try playing the keyboard. I think it’s trying to speak to me.”

“Eunhyuk, I know you come up with improbable solutions to things, but that one was just stupid. And Henry, do whatever you want.”

Eunhyuk glared at his brother, while Henry unfolded(?) the keyboard from his bag and started playing “Super Girl” on it.

At first nothing happened, which was alright because the princes actually liked this song. Then, all of them watched with jaw-dropped amazement as the ivy Eunhyuk had pointed out earlier started to grow. The vines grew thicker and sturdier as they wove their way up to the window, causing the princess and her servant to poke their heads out in curiosity.

“…That was totally a fluke,” Eunhyuk said after taking a moment of silence to express his astonishment.

“I’m coming!” Kyuhyun called and started to climb the vines. Sungmin sniggered.

***

“Eli, Eli, look! It’s a purple squirrel!” Kevin jumped up and down and pointed at the unsuspecting rodent. “Make a wish!”

“I wish for your shining mirth with the rising sun ‘til the day eternal sleep takes me.”

Kevin pouted. “You’re not supposed to say it out loud…”

 “What’s done can’t be undone. Did you make your wish?”

“Yes!” the magician giggled, spinning in circles because he was just in that kind of mood.

“May your hearts desires be with you,” Eli said wistfully.

***

“ing stairs…”

“Princes shouldn’t swear, Kyu. And this is a vine.”

“…ing vine.”

“Well maybe if you didn’t skip training to play video games all day—”

“Shut up and climb, Hyukkie!”

When Kyuhyun’s grueling battle with the vine was over, they all tumbled into the room at the top of the tower. They took a few breathers to get their composure back before Seohyun walked up to Kyuhyun and stared at him.

“So, are you the prince charming destined to save me from being held captive in this tower?”

Kyuhyun didn’t even look at her. “Sorry, you’re not really my type.”

She flipped her hair (or part of it, at least) over her shoulder. “Well, neither are you, but some saving would be nice.”

Unfortunately, the prince still wasn’t paying much attention to her so she huffily gave up and started to introduce herself amiably to the other two instead. Kyuhyun, however, grasped both of Sungmin’s hands and stared into the servant’s eyes as if they had Starcraft in them or something.

“You must be my One True Love,” he breathed.

Sungmin stared back at him with equal fervor. “I don’t usually date gamers, but your voice is really y.”

“So come with me and we’ll get married.”

“I can’t leave unless Princess Seohyun relieves me of my duty…” the Sungmin sighed dejectedly and gave Seohyun puppy-eyes.

“I can’t do that!” Seohyun frowned. “I might be stuck here for who knows how many more years, and who’s gonna keep me company?”

Right at that moment, someone dressed in regal clothes embellished with gold lining and tassels and all that jazz jumped in from the window.

“Princess Seohyun!” the man said with a grand flourish. “I, Yonghwa, am your Prince Charming, and I have come to rescue you from a dreary life of captivity and dreariness! Fear not, for you will be dreary no longer!”

Seohyun gasped, tears in her eyes. “Oh, Prince Yonghwa, I’ve never met you before, but I am somehow certain that you are the man of my dreams! Sungminnie, everything you’ve ever said suddenly makes sense!” She threw herself into Yonghwa’s arms and they all rejoiced.

Eunhyuk wiped a stray tear from his eye. “It’s times like these that I wish I had my own One True Love.”

Henry hugged his keyboard and dry-sobbed.

“…So we’re going to leave now,” Kyuhyun said, tugging Sungmin toward the window.

They all slid down the vine, and Kyuhyun discovered that the way down is always much more work than the way up.

The princess started a tearful farewell to the one person who had stuck with her all these years. “Oh, Sungminnie, I hope you li—”

“HALT!” a booming voice came from the sky. “I CANNOT LET YOU LEAVE THIS CLEARING!”

They all lifted their heads and saw an enormous, red, serpent-like dragon flying toward them at top speed. It landed before them with a great cloud of dust and stuck its huge head in front of them.

“Er—” Eunhyuk began, “we’ll just be taking Kyu’s OTL and leaving…”

The dragon flared its nostrils. “As the guardian of this tower, I cannot let that happen.”

Yonghwa drew his sword valiantly. “No dragon will stand in the way of my true love and I! I shall slay you, vile beast!”

Seohyun gasped. “No, don’t do it, my prince! The dragon is too mighty!”

“I must, my fair lady! For our love!”

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes at them. “You’re so cheesy.”

“Um…Kyuhyun?”

“Yes, my lovely, sweet, wonderful Sungminnie? Sunshine? Apple of my eye?”

Eunhyuk shuddered and made a disgusted face. “I never would have guessed you had it in you to be romantic, Kyu.”

The dragon ignored all of this and uncoiled, raising its head and opening its mouth wide.

“OH MY GOSH, ELI, THERE THEY ARE!” a happy voice suddenly called from the forest behind them. Such a bubbly voice could only belong to one person…

“Kevin!” Henry cried. “You’re back! Oh, who’s that with you?”

“Look, Henry, I’d hate to cut your reunion short but we kind of have a problem at hand,” Kyuhyun hissed and got into a fighting stance.

“Guys, why do you all look so nervous—oh.”

Kevin paused when he got to the group, Eli in a tow.

“…Lord Hangeng?” he peered at the dragon and poked at its forearm. “What you doing here?”

The dragon stopped mid-fireblast and stared at the skinny magician. “Kevin Woo?”

There was a great whirlwind of the magical sort, riling up the dust around them once more and getting it in Kevin’s hair. He was not amused (but he got over it, because he’s Kevin). When the dust finally cleared, the Chinese dragon was gone. In its place was a strapping young man that looked like he’d just seen the light.

“Kevin!” he cried and hugged the boy. “How’s Heechul? Where is he? Oh man, how long have I even been gone?”

“Lord Heechul is back in the Kingdom of Androgyny. Why are you here? Is this where you’ve been all these years?”

Hangeng the dragon hung his head morosely. “After I took care of my dragon-matters, I had all the intentions of finding Heechul again. But then a witch caught me and cursed me to guard these towers, and I can’t leave.”

The others were pleasantly surprised at this turn of events. It was nice to know that they probably weren’t going to get roasted in the next five minutes. Seohyun stepped forward and spoke up.

“The spell’s broken now that Yonghwa’s found me. I don’t know how, but I don’t care. You’re free to go now, I think.”

Hangeng’s eyes widened and got all watery, and he turned and hugged her instead (earning a glare from Yonghwa). “Thank you, thank you! Now I can finally return to my dear Heechul…”

Eunhyuk wiped a tear from his eye, again. “Such a touching tale…”

“So, you might want to hurry, Lord Heechul’s not happy as it is…”

The dragon-man whipped around and looked utterly terrified. “Oh heavens. I’ll…get going…right now… It was nice meeting all of you! Sorry I almost attacked you guys!”

They all waved at Hangeng as he turned into a dragon again and launched into the air, traveling out of sight at what was probably the fastest he could manage. Kevin sighed.

“If I’d known that Lord Hangeng was here the whole time, I could have saved myself from a lot of Lord Heechul’s moodswings…”

The others nodded sagely, as if they knew exactly what he was talking about.

“Oh, I forgot! Guys, this is Eli. He’s the one that helped me find you guys!”

Eli bowed. “I am Eli, from the Town of Origin, your highnesses. I am honored to meet your acquaintance.”

Kyuhyun nudged Eunhyuk and looked pointedly at Henry. “I think I like him, he’s actually polite. Wait, is that a hologram above his head?”

“So that’s why you like him,” Eunhyuk sniggered.

“Not as much as like my Minnie,” Kyuhyun all but sang. Sungmin smiled up at him and if either of them had been the video game character, roses and hearts would be swirling around them.

Meanwhile, Henry was explaining their quest to the man, who appeared very intrigued by the notion of searching for true love.

“Journey’s end in lovers meeting, as every wise man's son knows,” Eli nodded. “I am also questing for my, ah, true love…” He gave a very specific look to Kevin…

…who didn’t seem to be able to translate it. “Really? You should travel with us, then! Can he, please?” Kevin appealed to Eunhyuk.

Eunhyuk eyed the sword on the man’s belt and his bulging muscles. “Alright. Fine. But you’re responsible for him.”

“Yay! Henry, Henry, Eli speaks English too!”

Henry was thoroughly excited at this prospect, and the three musketeers pranced together in the sunlight.

Out of the blue, a black horse plodded up to Eli and looked at him somewhat guiltily.

"Kiseoppie, you're back!" Eli embraced the horse happily. They continued prancing.

“…So where’s Seohyun and Yonghwa?”

Kyuhyun shrugged. “Left, probably.”

“Ah,” Sungmin said. “I’ll miss her, I think.”

“It’s okay, you have me now.”

“Oh Kyuhyunnie, you’re so sweet.”

Eunhyuk groaned. Damn it, Kyuhyun, you were never that nice to me. He sighed. OTL, please find me soon…

--------------------------------------

A/N: Gaiz, I don’t really know what I was on when I wrote this chapter. Probably the coffee and sugar I had.

…DRUGS ARE STUPID, EVERYONE.

By the way, thank you so so so much for all your comments and subs! They really mean a lot to me. =D

Kyuhyun, Eli and Yonghwa are so OOC right now, I don’t even.