Here was the tale of a young boy whose life had been led astray, pushed down a winding path filled with creatures that whispered dark things into his ears.

WHAT A BURDEN.  NOT WORTH THE TIME NOR THE TROUBLE. They hissed, crawling up his legs and arms with their spidery long limbs.  STUPID LITTLE RAT.

That’s not true, Kyungsoo thought to himself, dazedly making his way through the hall with hands pressed against the cracked stone wall beside him.

It’s not.

Even in his head, his own voice sounded so painfully doubtful.

It was early morning yet and as such it was still dark and cold as he placed one unsteady foot in front of the other in a slow, plodding progress.

In the pale and ghoulish light of the sun rising across the distant hills, the castle seemed something out of a nightmare.  The shadows cast by the broken stones were jagged, forming the shapes of unspeakable creatures with clawed hands and sharp teeth.  The trees rustling in the courtyard beyond seemed like a chorus of fiendish voices chattering amongst themselves and shifting in wait.

Kyungsoo feared.  He had always been afraid, he supposed, of the darkest corners of his mind.  How was he to ever know that what he saw in front of him was real?  Whether the stone upon which Kyungsoo placed his hand or the ground upon which he paced restlessly was solid and true.

...after all, for all he knew he could have been toeing the line, arms outstretched like wings over the black beyond --- just one more step and then freefalling into the dark abyss ----

“You again.” The scornful voice in front of him made him pause. “And what exactly are you doing here at this time of night?”

-

“You terror!” The pretty young cook with the long brown hair (Katrina?  Katherine?  Kiara?) shouted after him, wielding her wooden spatula angrily and waving it at them as they took off into the distance.

“Thanks, love!” He tossed over his shoulder, bringing a meat pie from the bundle they had pilfered up to his mouth as he sank his teeth into the savory, steaming goodness.

“Don’t you think about touching my pies!” She shouted in the distance.  Too late, really, unless she expected him to spit it out on the ground before her - a disgusting, half-chewed mess.

“I think she’s sweet on me.” Confessed Sehun, minutes later, when they were a safe distance away.  Chunks of gooey meat and carrots flew from his mouth.  Kai who, as always, stuck closely to the side of his closest friend and ally, took to his bounty much more carefully - breaking off of pieces of the oozing pastry and the fatty juices from his fingers.

“You joke.”

Hearing his brother speak Moorish was an occurrence so rare that Sehun could not help but to turn toward him, a look of surprise coming over him.

“What’s this?” The youngest prince cried, pointing at his brother’s face. “All of a sudden, our dearly obstinate young friend once again chooses to speak our language?  I thought you had sworn it off completely!”

“And what’s the reason for the sudden change?  Don’t tell me it’s to woo a certain Tidreann lord?” Sehun leered, only to have a hand pushing his face away in response.  He snorted, shaking a half-eaten pie at his friend in playful admonition.

“What of your own ‘romantic endeavors’?” Kai’s voice was soft and quiet.  He chose his words very carefully, sounding out every syllable in a way that made it clear that he was unused to speaking the language that wasn’t his own.

“I am afraid I have no idea what you are talking about.” Sehun sniffed, curling his lip contemptuously. “And don’t tell me you are speaking of her.  A silly infatuation does not a romance make.”

“Her silly infatuation??” Kai repeated, finishing off his pie and dusting the crumbs from his fingers. “It was on your face that I saw that look - sim e kel’ah tal puj vaigas.”  [Like a dog that wags its tail.]

“I may have glanced in that direction.” The fair-haired prince’s cheeks now had a light dusting of pink, and he turned his head away stiffly. “However, I’ll have you know I was merely looking out of curiosity.  Not often do we get visitors from that region of - ”

“ - Se, se, se.” [Yes, yes, yes.]

“Oh shut up.”

It was quite fortunate that Sehun had, at some point during their short conversation, eaten his share of the food piled into his hands.  Otherwise, the shock given to him by a small figure bursting from round the corner of the corridor would surely have startled him into dropping whatever bounty he still held in his hands.

As it was, it still gave the Moorish prince an awful fright.  He lifted his hands defensively at what looked to be a wild beast with twigs in its hair, eyes strangely and feverishly bright - only to stop himself when he realized what - or rather, who - was standing before him.

“You again.” He couldn’t help but sneer, patting the crumbs off of his tunic as if that had been his intention all along. “And what exactly are you doing here at this time of night?”

“Your… Your Highnesses.” The creature sounded absolutely ghastly, looking out-of-breath and weepy-eyed.  Sehun could not understand at all. “I … apologize for startling you, but I… I was out for a … walk.”

Prince Sehun of the Northern Moors, second in line to the throne, did not trust the quiet Tidreann lord with the sallow face and the dark eyes.  Indeed he did not.  After all, the last time he’d met the lord out on one of his ‘walks’, he’d made a spectacular show of trying to drown himself in the fountain.  There was just something wrong about him, and Kai was a fool not to see it.

Those beady eyes barely passed over him for a second before settling on his companion.  He felt Kai still beside him, as enraptured with the figure before him as the figure was with him.  For a moment, Sehun felt again the prickling sting of being forgotten.  He bristled, standing up straighter.

“This is the second time now that I’ve caught you sneaking about at such strange hours.  Is this a habit of yours?” Sehun couldn’t help but to jeer. “You may want to take more care in your travels though - there’s been rumors lately of a frightening creature lurking the fen.  ...that wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”

Something about Sehun’s words seemed to pierce through whatever haze had wrapped around the young lord’s mind.  He could see a new light entering those dark eyes.

“No, Your Highness, I don’t believe it was.”  The young man muttered, without a hint of humor in his deep voice.

“Would you like me to fetch your sister for you?” Sehun spoke, now openly ridiculing the other man. “Perhaps she can come to you back to your rooms - keep you safe and sound from all the ghosts and the ghouls lurking about.”

As if reacting to an attack that was physical rather than verbal, the smaller man curled in on himself, breathing hard through his nose.  His eyes were glittering and wet now, gaze focused sharply on Sehun.

“Thank you, Your Highness, however I assure you I am … fine … on my own.” The young lord said, although his polite words barely seemed to mask the hurt in his voice.  Seeing nothing but villainous intentions in him, Sehun felt no pity for the Tidreann man as he excused himself with no more than a few quick words murmured under his breath.  The young lord spun on his heel, fleeing back from whence he came with his fists clenched tightly at his side.

“What a funny little thing.” Sehun laughed, still watching as the figure retreated into the darkness where he belonged. “If you ask me, these little fits of his mask something rather sinister.  Who knows - perhaps he’s off to toss himself into another fountain somewhere.”

Sehun found himself cursing, flinching in pain when a fist thudded into his gut.  Kai was already halfway down the corridor by the time he finally gathered himself and looked up.  With a heated glare that all but radiated disapproval, Kai disappeared quickly down the stone corridor, chasing after the man who had fled first.

“You’ll see, my friend.” Sehun muttered to himself after a lonely minute, still rubbing his stomach lightly. “You’ll find that it’s true - the rumors about him.”

“...about who?” A voice came from close behind him.  He spun around, only to find the bane of his existence standing there - dog heeled at her side.

-

“‘Soo!” The shouts were following him as he made his escape.  In an attempt to lose the man who followed, Kyungsoo turned purposefully into the winding old halls of the southern castle, stepping quickly over bits of stone that he could only assume had been left behind in the aftermath of the great battle.

His heart rate was, as usual, skyrocketing in the presence of the other man.  As his breath continued to catch in his throat, blood pulsing thickly under his pale skin, he watched as the walls curved and swayed, cursing his own weakness.

“‘Soo.”

Behind him still, he could hear the pounding of feet against stone.  A hand tugged and pulled at his wrist, and though he wrenched his arm away from the warm grip at first, it kept returning.

“‘Soo!”

Finally, he was forced to stop.  Without even realizing it, he had broken into a run at some point, and now he stood there dripping with sweat, panting and heaving while foreign fingers remained locked like iron shackles across his wrist.  Despite his desire to see a friendly face, Kyungsoo refused to turn back, frightened that something in those bright eyes would compel him to confess all his sins.

Still, the bitterness was a swelling wave that sometimes overwhelmed him with its weight, threatening to drown him in his own self-loathing which had tortured him far more than any of the terrors that woke him at night.   in wounded, hiccupping gasps, Kyungsoo pried open his lips, stilling his beating heart and willing himself to speak.

“Am I just a burden to everyone I’ve met?  Is it that my existence is just too - too painful for everyone to bear?” Kyungsoo choked, the angry tears he didn’t realize he had been holding back now spilling over his cheeks. “Is that what it is?”

Kai looked taken aback.  For a moment, he seemed shocked, his eyes as wide as Kyungsoo’s own.  But then the expression folded, features softening into one that looked of great regret and sorrow.

“No.” The wild prince said in that halting way of his, trying to tug the smaller man toward him. “No - no.”

Kyungsoo let himself be pulled closer, although he still tilted his face away, eyes directed to the ground to hide his shame.

“I admit that I’m weak at times.  I - I realize that I am slow and inadequate.” Kyungsoo quietly wept.  His quivering voice was breaking into pieces and he could barely feel the fingers that pressed into his cheeks, wiping away the tears almost as quickly as they came. “Since the day I was born, I’ve always known that I was a - a mistake - ”

“Stop!”

The words, heavily accented but spoken in a language Kyungsoo was meant to understand, were enough to shock him into silence.  Warmth surrounded him then, and he blinked, finding himself suddenly pressed against the prince’s solid body.  His hands were trembling, trapped as they were between their two bodies, and he could find no other place to rest his head except against the bare skin of Kai’s chest.  For some reason, the contact made his heart hurt even more.

“Your - High - ness?” Kyungsoo sobbed brokenly, only to feel a hand press lightly into his hair in comfort, the other’s head coming to rest lightly on his.

“Soo... Hurt. No hurt, Soo.” Kai offered such few words, and yet in his quiet eloquence he brought to Kyungsoo more comfort than he’d ever been offered by anyone else in his life.  He was a pillar of strength Kyungsoo had been searching for for years.  That someone who hadn’t known  him nor the type of life he’d had to live for twenty long and bitter years could still continue to treat him with such unmotivated kindness - was one that encouraged his tears to fall even faster.  They trailed fat and hot down his cheeks, and with one stifled whimper, he fell right into that strong embrace, pressing his fluttering eyelids against skin that smelled so strongly of smoke and honey.

“I’m sorry.” Kyungsoo began, his guilt overflowing as he muffled his wet sobs over and over into the other’s shoulder.  The arms around him held him even tighter, as if he was something fragile and worth protecting.  He wrapped himself ever tighter into that wonderful delusion, smiling a watery smile as his bitter anger turned into an aching pain - one that clawed its way into his heart.

“It’s not you - it’s never been you - for you have always been so kind to me!” He blurted out between wet, trembling gasps, knowing the other man was listening to the words that came tumbling out too fast and too slow. “... but there are things about me that you cannot understand - for I - I am not a man, you see, but a monster - unworthy of the affection that you’ve shown me --- and although everything in me wants --- I, I cannot - ”

He was pushed away abruptly, ripped out of the warmth only to find fingers resting against his lips to silence him.

Kai’s eyes were shining with an emotion so earnest that it almost pained Kyungsoo to see it on a face so handsome and pure.  He hardly knew the man, and yet in the few moments they had shared together, it seemed they had known each other for an eternity - hour spent locked in an embrace, speaking their truest hearts through their wandering eyes, and Kyungsoo, still wiping away the last remnants of tears - Kyungsoo -

“No. Not monster.” Kai said.

It took him a moment to understand the meaning, so struck he was by the lilting way the words flowed from that mouth - like a song.  And yet, when it hit him, he found the tears in his eyes slowly drying.  His mind, for once, was so blissfully silent.  All the while, the prince remained there - never moving closer and yet never backing away.  Instead, he simply stood there, waiting and watching for a response.

Disbelief filled him first, then doubt.  Such ugly emotions; ones that made him want to run as he had on every other occasion.  And yet his feet held firm against the ground as he stood there in glorious revelation.

In the most sincerest of ways - Kai wanted this.  In the most sincerest of ways - Kai wanted him.

Still fighting the urge to crawl away from it all, Kyungsoo nearly felt like crying all over again.

Thin fingers fell from where they had been caressing his lips, and although Kyungsoo found himself mourning their presence, he watched as the savage prince took a step closer, holding Kyungsoo by his elbows now.  On his face was a terrifyingly gentle expression that made Kyungsoo’s knees knock together in a moment of weakness.  Cool breath traced across his cheeks, and for a moment, Kyungsoo thought he would feel lips against his own.  Instead came words.

“Come?” Kai asked - as if he needed to.

I would go anywhere with you.  Kyungsoo thought to himself almost immediately, although it was not a thought he would ultimately voice.  His eyes fluttered open, the lights of the lanterns still lit outside casting a soft and dreamy light.

“I… shouldn’t.  Sister is usually awake by this hour and I’m afraid she’d hate it when she finds I’ve disappeared. She likes to treat me like her possession sometime, I'm afraid.” He said, regrettably, although his lips twitched upward in a small smile.  Such a kind man.  Such a kind and sweet man.  What good had he done to deserve this?

“Does not own.” Kai whispered, reaching out until he could hold Kyungsoo’s hand lightly within his own.  Kyungsoo could feel his heart stutter.

“No one own Soo.”

...that’s right, Kyungsoo thought to himself, looking down to see his own pale fingers juxtaposed against the glowing tan of Kai’s own.  Such a simple and short thing, and yet it seemed to be the very first time the thought had ever occurred to him.

There was hesitation, still, the ever-constant feeling of oh-no-I-shan’t-I-can’t - and yet it had planted in him a seed of defiance - one that began to sprout and grow when he felt fingers squeeze around his own.

“Come,” Kai tried, one last time, looking weary but resolute in the early morning light. “Please.”

Kyungsoo bit his lip, worrying it until it was nothing but a thin white line.

Then, squeezing his fingers back ever so lightly, he looked up.

“...okay.”

-

As a child, he happened upon a tiny little bird with broken wings.

It was clearly dying.  The leaves beneath it were dripping red with blood for reasons he would never know.  And yet he could not help but to see something beautiful in its fragility, cupping it into his hands.  It was a frightened little thing - shivering with its heart and chest fluttering against his fingers - but its eyes - oh how they had still burned with life.

Until the very last moment, he thought he felt those eyes upon his, stubbornly refusing to give up even as it continued to bleed out slowly in his arms, its struggles growing gradually weaker until there was nothing but the memory it left behind.

It had burned itself so vividly into his mind, the image only drawn back to the forefront most recently when he had glimpsed a small figure leaning out of a horse-drawn carriage.  He had held his breath in its beauty.

Another broken bird, one whose eyes were always wide and frantic, those plush lips were always quivering - paralyzed with fear - and yet -

What a charming, sweet little thing, Kai thought to himself, smiling when he heard Kyungsoo’s laugh for the first time.  A little broken, a little raw - but breathtaking all the same.

Feathers were falling from the rafters of the aviary like snow, settling into Kyungsoo’s black hair and resting on his long arches of his delicate eyelashes and the curved peak of his small nose.

Kai watched from afar as the king’s hawk - a regal and majestic creature - came floating in.  She beat the air gently with her golden wings, drawing near with an innocent curiosity.  What a rarity - Kai noted, his smile widening - for Edel was well known for how fussy she could be over who was allowed to handle her.  She seemed to have no problem settling upon Kyungsoo’s gloved hand, carefully allowing the young lord to adjust to her weight before folding her wings in and shifting her weight onto the human’s arm.  For a moment, the two regarded each other in still silence, both bird and human cocking their heads at each other in imitation.

“Look, Kai!” Kyungsoo spoke without turning his head.  His voice was raw, the laughing tone almost watery. “Look!”

It was something about the way the young lord’s pained smile.

Tell me to take you away.  Kai begged toward the smaller man’s back, thoughts longing and wistful.

Tell me how to spring you from this cage of yours, and I promise you I would.

Before another word could be said, Kai was standing behind Kyungsoo, folding his arms across the young lord’s waist.  When Kyungsoo twisted in his arms, looking up at him large, unblinking eyes and a soft noise of confusion half-caught in his throat, Kai reached out, cupping his cheek in his hand.

Lips and lashes were trembling beneath his gaze, and yet Kyungsoo met him halfway, full lips as plush as he could have ever imagined pressing against him in a way that threatened to break his heart.

The chaste quality lasted but a moment before Kyungsoo was turning in his arms with a broken sob, sending the bird perched on his hand fluttering back into the air as he tilted his head up and sunk his hands into Kai’s thick and auburn hair.

Edel flapped her wings, perhaps feeling upset at having been left behind - or perhaps bearing witness to what was unfolding.

Kai felt the tickling slide of eyelashes against his cheek as Kyungsoo’s eyes fluttered slowly shut, and with a soft sigh, he wrapped his arm tighter around the young lord’s waist, drawing him in as close as he could.

Perhaps this little bird would be the one he would finally be able to save.

-

“...Lady Bita.  How wonderful it is to see you.” He spoke, voice dry as a desert.  He was already eyeing his avenues for escape.  She stepped forward, blocking his most obvious exit with her body and submerging herself into the lantern light that was bathing the hallway.  Though the way she moved and dressed were distinctly masculine, there was no denying that in this light, her feminine features stood out, making her seem somehow… softer.

“Is it?” She spoke shortly, with a strange emotion in her voice. “When it seems as if you’ve been trying to avoid me all week.  Why is that?”

She took another step forward, and the Moorish prince had to fight to stand his ground, tamping down his wild nerves, willing his feet that itched to take a step back to remain where they were.  For the first time, she seemed to sense his discomfort.  She stopped advancing, pursing her lips with a look of contemplation.

“Surely even you can acknowledge the fact that your advances can be quite… intimidating.” Sehun forced out with an embarrassed tone, unwilling to meet the woman’s gaze for fear that he might become lost in that warm, smoldering brown.  Whereas he was so used to the way the ladies of the court painted their faces with powders and rouges in abundance, her face lay untouched by anything except for her natural beauty, one that he feared he could not deny.

“Are you frightened?  Don’t be.” She smirked, unclenching her fists and easing toward him as if trying to approach a skittish animal.  He began to take a step back, but she reached out quicker than he could retreat, gripping his hand tightly. “...after all, we’ve met before.”

“‘Met before’?” He faltered, stumbling over his words as if his tongue were thick and his mind were slow. “When?”

“The last I saw of you, you were still a child.  I was a fool to presume you would still remember.” Bita chuckled - an oddly rumbling sound that he could not help but to find pleasing to his ears.

“It could not have been more than fifteen summers ago, when our countries were not yet at war.  I visited with my father for a fortnight during the autumn.  Do you not recall how we used to play as children by the old willow trees?” Bita smiled in a way that had the memories stirring within Sehun’s head.  Although it was still unclear, the details lost through the fog of time and a lackadaisical adolescence, he believed he still remembered pieces of it - a head full of thick, beautiful hair that he loved to press his face against.  Warm hands that cupped his own.  Skin that smelled like the earth.

And a child’s voice, pure and young, whispering the same words to him now:

“‘I will come back for you.’” She echoed, finally stepping up fully to him, bringing his hands into her own. “Tell me you haven’t forgotten.”

For once, Sehun found himself at a loss for words.  He knew he was gaping, his mouth parted but with nothing but silence coming from between his lips.  She baited him with a grin.

“I… might recall some of it.” He said, finally.  Eyes flicking down momentarily toward her curling mouth, he forced himself to take a step back, shaking his head firmly. “...but that was years ago.  Even if I did return your affections then - and I cannot remember whether or not I did - I cannot guarantee them now.  Not with the way I’ve been treated these past few days, being chased after as if I were the woman here.”

Fingers gripped his chin with shocking impropriety, pulling it up so that he was forced to look into golden eyes.

“Somehow, I think you rather like it.” She groused. “But you are free to stop me at any point if you feel I am being... untoward.”

Then she leaned in.

Color spread across his face like wildfire, and although he grimaced - Sehun did not step away.  Instead, strangely enough, his legs locked in place as his eyes fluttered shut.

He could feel her breath against his lips, soft like a whisper, and with hesitant anticipation, he opened his arms after a moment, puckering his lips as he pressed forward.

Only to be met with the smell of dog and a mouthful of slobber.

Sehun opened his eyes, gasping when he discovered Lady in his arms, the dog standing on her hind legs as she propped herself up against him like a wet log, at his face with energetic enthusiasm.  The creature barked at him in greeting, awooing with sadness when he pried himself out of its grip, wiping his mouth across his arm with a look (and cry) of disgust.

Lady Bita was laughing at him openly, nearly in tears as she clapped her hands down on her knees.  Her mutt was springing up and down at her side, tongue lolling out of its mouth in blissful ignorance of the joke that had been played.  At first glowering, Sehun let her have her laughs, a small smile beginning to twitch onto his own face as he acknowledged her wit with a fake sneer.  Wiping the tears from her eyes, she finally gathered herself with a sigh.

“While this has been an enlightening experience, I am afraid I am needed elsewhere.” She said bidding him ado.  Sehun sputtered, somehow feeling indignant at being left alone at such a pivotal moment - especially after a week of near-constant attention!

Still she did not linger, perhaps having already accomplished what she had been planning all along.  With a flick of her hand, she gestured at her dog to follow, waving a hand at Sehun over her shoulder. “Perhaps we shall meet again tomorrow, when your mind is clearer and you smell considerably less like a dog!”

“Tomorrow?” He called out after her, trying not to sound too desperate. “I’m quite busy tomorrow, I’ll have you know!”

“Oh?” She called out, turning around for just a moment, a vision of tall and dark beauty that he, in all of his previous fright, had not realized.

“Yes - but perchance you happen to catch me wandering the eastern halls at noon…” He trailed off hesitantly.  Though still as skittish on his feet as a newborn calf, his eyes were bright and his insinuation clear.

Rather than respond, Lady Bita winked, a toothy smile spreading across her face as she turned away once more, this time without looking back.

Scratching the back of his head distractedly as he watched her leave, Sehun hiccupped.

-

Like a lovesick fool, Kai allowed Kyungsoo to pull him along, laughing in delight all the while at the way the other man seemed to come alive under his touch.

As was quite common within the fen, it had begun to drizzle outside, light and pattering under the morning sun.  And yet, instead of taking the long path back through the halls of stone, Kyungsoo pulled him out through the open courtyards, splashing across shallow puddles and dashing through the long grass.  He let the rain fall upon him, pulling the hood of his robe down to more clearly feel the wet droplets falling across his face.  Kai could only follow in his shadow, hands always extended in front of him to catch the young lord whenever he slid upon the slippery ground.

The rain was dripping against the grass and the leaves.  The calling birds, weighed down by the moisture in the air, sat atop the trees, passively calling out to them as they passed - and yet Kai could only hear in his ears the sound of Kyungsoo’s infectious laughter.

It seemed too soon that they reached the western halls and far too soon for Kai to have to bid Kyungsoo good-bye for another day.  Still, the day ahead was filled with duties for them both, and as much as he would have liked to spend the day by his little bird’s side, even Kai had to admit that such things were inevitable.

So, in an almost sulking and certainly sullen way, he tugged insistently at the other man’s arm until the young lord came willingly back into his arms.  Dragging his fingers through the other’s thick and damp hair, he pulled his new lover in for a sweet kiss, the clear drops of rain that peaked across the bow of those full and pink lips.

When they finally pulled back, Kai could see that though flushed and nervous, there was something more settled about the way Kyungsoo looked at him now with a shy smile.  He no longer seemed quite so frightened in Kai’s presence, and that by itself swelled his heart.

Perhaps unnerved by the way Kai looked at him as though trying to commit every detail to memory, the young lord dropped his gaze, the strings of animal sinew that held Kai’s furs together.

“I imagine my sister will be quite cross with me, coming back so late.” He murmured, glancing up between strands of dripping black hair.  Kai made a questioning noise, though the look on his face remained as infatuated as ever.

“Although I do often find myself wandering, I never usually come back this late without warning.” Kyungsoo offered by way of explanation, watching as understanding trickled into Kai’s expression.

The dinnish prince straightened, a determined look settling on his face as he squared his shoulders.  He turned, as if to walk in before Kyungsoo could first.   Kyungsoo stopped him with a single hand splayed across his chest, a gesture that had been so often repeated now that he almost felt comfort doing it.

Silly man.  Kyungsoo thought fondly, a feeling so rare and warm and raw and new to him.  Trying to protect me from my very own sister.

“You needn’t worry about me.” Kyungsoo said with a smile, soft and serious as he pressed his forehead against the other’s. “I will be just fine.  Now go.”

Kai seemed reluctant to leave him - even as Kyungsoo pushed at his chest, urging him to move in the other direction, he dug his heels into the ground in protestation.

“Do not fret - I will most assuredly be here to-morrow, and the day after next.” The lord laughed, a reassurance that finally seemed to work as Kai allowed himself to be moved. “I do hope to see you again soon.”

And I too, Kai’s smile and twinkling gaze seemed to say.

Head still turned in Kyungsoo’s direction, Kai continued to hold onto his left hand until the very last moment, his fingers over Kyungsoo’s bracelet with a tender expression before finally letting go.

Hand outstretched in a wave toward the retreating figure, Kyungsoo watched his warrior prince run through the rain, the smile on his face stretching even as the yearning ache in his heart began to grow.

-

As anticipated, Kyungri launched into a great and mighty fit the moment he finally returned.

“Do you realize the hour, Kyungsoo?  Where have you been?”

“Out.” He said, simply, without tone nor expression.  He moved to the side, trying to make his way past the formidable form of his sister and further into the room.  She stepped into his path, forcing him to still.

“Out where?  Doing what?” She demanded.

Recent memories flooded his mind and he couldn’t help a soft smile.

“Someplace where it was wonderful and warm.” He murmured, his eyes unfocused and expression calm as he recalled the way Kai’s lips had felt against his own. “...far from this dreadful place.”

A sharp cracking sound rang out, so loud that even stoic Virgil looked up from where he had been folding away their linens.  Kyungsoo’s cheek throbbed from where his sister had laid his hand upon it, and he imagined the sharp pain he felt to be the raising welts where her nails had dug into him.  He slowly turned back to face her, covering the heated skin of his cheek with one hand.

“Know your place, little brother.” His sister said dangerously, breathing hard. “Remember to whom you are speaking - remember to whom it is you owe your life!”

“I owe you nothing.” He spat back in a rare moment of disobedience, daring to raise his chin up at her. “For you are my sister, not my master!”

Kyungri looked as if she would scream in frustration.  It would not have been the first time.  Much to his surprise though - she did not.

Instead, taking a moment to breathe in deeply, she smiled instead, an expression which sent chills running down his spine.

“You were with Kai, weren’t you?” She circled around him like a vulture, vicious and bloodthirsty. “What, is he the one who has inspired such sudden defiance in you?”

No one owns you.  He could still hear Kai’s voice echoing in his head.

Although he said nothing to her in response, something in his expression must have given his sister the answer she had been waiting for.

“This is a game, Kyungsoo!  Do you really think he loves you?” She whispered into his ear as she wrapped herself like a snake around his back.  “Do you really think he’ll save you from this miserable life of yours?”

Kyungsoo shuddered, trying not to let himself be twisted by her barbed words.

“And if he does?” He bit back, eyes prickling with tears. “What would you do?”

She laughed.  Long and hard, a sound so rotten and piercing that he flinched back from it.

“Stupid boy,” She said, just like the shadowy figures that were beginning to crawl out from beneath his bed. “Nobody loves you.  Not your little prince, who only wants your body, nor our mother, who was forced to have you.”

His pupils dilated.

As hundreds of the little dark beasts poured out from the cracks, attacking him with their cackling laughs, Kyungsoo shrank in on himself suddenly, all bravado gone as he shook his head.  “No, you lie - “

“And to recall how much trouble she went through to produce a son, only to be disappointed when you were the one who came out!  All her hopes for a young male heir - dashed to pieces when you came out of her like the wailing little monster you’ve always been!”

“Stop it!” He yelled, covering his ears with his hands to block out the sounds of her voice and the growing sound of the church bell that had rung the morning mother died.

“You were the reason she jumped off that cliff!  You were the reason we were left with nothing at all!” His sister shouted back, continuing to raise her cruel voice in a way that was meant to shame and humiliate. “And to think that you still believe in this illusion of love!”

And then - in just seconds - it all became so clear.

“...I’m not the only one.” Kyungsoo suddenly whispered with eyes blank and dull.  His sister, in the middle of her tirade, paused.

She leaned closer to him, as if daring him to speak.

“What did you say?”

“You loved him,” He said, with numb lips.  His eyes glanced over to where her mourning garb still hung, and then back to see that Kyungri had grown suddenly pale, and silent. “...didn’t you?”

“...be quiet, Kyungsoo.” She whispered in a quiet and deadly warning.

“You’re jealous of me.” He concluded, letting his hands drop back down to his side.  The bangle on his wrist, sliding slowly down his skin, suddenly felt solid and heavy.

“Kyungsoo…” She began again, the frantic light in her eyes building as she took a step toward him.

“You are jealous of me because you loved a man and he didn’t love you back!” He laughed, sharp as a knife, a mirror image of his sister in all the wrong ways. “You are jealous of me because you loved a corpse!!”

“SHUT UP!  SHUT UP!!” His sister screamed in a wild rage, ripping a sheet from between Virgil’s fingers.  Flying over to where Kyungsoo stood, still laughing, she pushed her brother back onto his bed, wadding up the cloth in her hands and shoving it as far down into his throat as he could - watching with a crazed glee as he began to choke on it.  Virgil leapt to his feet in alarm, trying to pull his Queen back.  Even as Kyungsoo’s laughter turned into frightened tears and choking whimpers, Kyungri held on with all the force of a wild animal, throttling him now with her hands.

After what felt like hours, Virgil was finally able to pry Kyungri off of her brother’s prone form, although he could not take back what his master had already done.  She fell to a crumpled pile on the ground, hair wild and twisted as she lay gasping on the ground.  Kyungsoo, bruised and mangled, was just able to turn his head to the side and pull out the spit-soaked lump with trembling fingers.  He took in rattling, open-mouthed breaths, heaving his coughs into the sweat-soaked bedding beneath him.  Watching as the monsters gathered around his bed to point and stare, he curled into himself, wrapping his arms around his shivering body as he strained to take in air.

He could see Mother now, sobbing as she always was in the dark little corners of their room, whatever was left of her hands curled over her face.  He covered his face in fright, not wanting anymore to see the white bones sticking out from her broken back.

He trembled with the force of his sobs.

“You will do as I say or you will do nothing at all.” Kyungri spoke darkly from her place within the void.  Thorny black vines were trailing up her calves, curling on her head like the crown of a demon queen.

“You will OBEY!” She thundered, echoing mother’s corpse as she picked herself up from the ground and came rushing at him with her decaying fingers outstretched.

Kyungsoo threw his head back and screamed.

a/n: sorry this got really dramatic all of a sudden idk what happen
also i'm planning to respond to the comments from the previous chapter i'll definitely do that tomorrow i'm sorry i haven't yet i know i was in conversations with some of yall and then just like disappeared for a few days my bad you know how work can be sometimes NO BUT REALLY I FEEL BAD I PROMISE I"LL RESPOND TOMORROW also i always read the comments and yall are legit the best i love you guys i hope you know that