It’s Written In The Sky (Your Destiny And Mine); fanxing (1/4)
Title: It’s Written In The Sky (Your Destiny And Mine)
Pairing: Yifan/Yixing, mentions of Zitao/Jongdae, Lu Han/Minseok and Chanyeol/Baekhyun
Rating: PG13
Word count: 34900
Disclaimer: EXO members don't belong to me, and Stardust belongs to Neil Gaiman.
Notes: originally written here for aestheticatlas at fanxingyou. stardust!au.
Summary: Yifan is a prince, but a lame one. Yixing is a mystery. Jongdae wants an adventure and Zitao falls on his own will. Under the knowing eyes of the Moon, a story of love, magic and blood begins. Once upon a time, in a magic land still inhabited by fairies, witches and unicorns, a boy set off on a journey to find a star, but he only found his destiny.
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Epilogue - The Star Who Fell (Reprise)
Stars glowed white on the summer night, little candles dressed in silver against the blue vault.
The one hundred and twelfth Lord of Stormhold of his lineage leaned on the balcony of his marble palace, looking at the sky with longing. He found what he was looking for without even trying, his heart leading the way through endless constellation like a compass. So many stars, but only one was bright in his eyes.
“Ten years have passed, but I can’t have it in myself to forget you.”
The little light quivered and throbbed, as if it was in pain. The Lord reached with his hand towards it, pretending to close his fist around the star and pulling it back, but his hand closed on the thin air, unable to reach for the little jewel nestled up high.
With a soft sigh and a last glance to the firmament, he went to bed, his velvet curtains wide open. At the corner of the world, his star seemed to radiate its light a little stronger than before, silently bidding him good night.
He was already sleeping soundly, a sleep without dreams, when the little star trembled, its glow shaking unsteadily, and finally fell down from the sky.
It's Written In The Sky (Your Destiny And Mine)
Part I - The Star Who Fell
Chapter I - Where the Lord dies and two princes engage in a quest to lose a Cursed throne
Yifan woke up, seventeen and awkward, tangled in silk sheets and faceless dreams. His brother stood at the bedside, gently shocking him out of bed, his face grim and serious.
“Jongdae, it’s,” he sent a quick look at the dark sky outside and couldn’t hide his irritation, “why are you waking me up at this ungodly hour of the night?”
His brother’s lips were set in a thin line, and his face was pale.
“Father is dying.”
Those three little words fell like a heavy lump on Yifan’s lungs, cutting all of his air.
Father is dying. Unspoken between them, lied an even heavier understanding. If their father was really dying, soon one of them would be forced to take his place, becoming the next Lord of Stormhold and suffering the pain of the Curse.
Yifan loved his little stepbrother, the only peer he was allowed to play with, his only friend in a long life of royalty. They had found each other, just like their two mothers had found each other in the coldness and silence of the palace, and they had grown up together.
Yifan read in Jongdae’s eyes his same worry. He didn’t want to succeed to his father, and neither he wanted his little brother to. But one of them would have to bear the Curse, for the kingdom needed a Lord. He dressed up quickly, ignoring the way Jongdae fidgeted on the doorstep, eyes fixed on the ground. He was the older brother, he should have been the one who comforted Jongdae, but when he was finally ready to go and see his parent in his last moments, he found it was too much. It was Jongdae’s hand on his shoulder, although weak and little.
For a moment, Yifan felt shame. He knew his brother wasn’t ready to reign, the same way he knew he wouldn’t be able to do it himself. But, deep inside his heart, he still hoped Jongdae was chosen as the heir instead of him. They had always been close, like they were one same thing, but as they walked side by side towards the Royal Chambers, the Curse stood like a Wall between them, and none of them could find a single word to spare for his own brother.
When they entered the Lord’s room, the smell of death had already impregnated the place like a invisible veil.
Yifan had few memories of his father. He had spent all of his childhood with his mother, Jongdae, and Jongdae’s mother. However, he remembered a tall, strong man, prone to loud laughter and with big, enormous hands made to hold a sword. Jongdae had his beautiful eyes, Yifan his height. None of them had his talents with weapon, nor his politic ability, but maybe they were too young for that. Sickness had eaten all of the vigour and the strength out of his body, leaving a majestic skeleton with a sunken face on his deathbed.
The one hundred and eleventh Lord of Stormhold and Master of the High Crags of his lineage raised his head from the cushions, looking at his sons when they entered the room. Yifan saw himself and Jongdae reflexed in his father’s eyes, and instantly knew what the man was thinking. They were too young, too unprepared, and none of them wanted the burden of the crown and the silver jewel. They wanted freedom, they wanted love, and they feared the Curse more than anything else. However, he had borne the burden of the curse as much as he could and now one of them would have to dislodge it out of his sick shoulders and into his own.
The dying Lord’s voice was weak as his appearance. “Help me, my sons.”
They lent him their arms, so that the great warrior could raise to his feet, and walk towards the window. He slowly undid the fastenings of the luminous jewel he had proudly won at his neck for the biggest part of his life, and held it in his hands for what seemed like a lifetime.
Yifan felt hollow and confused.
The sickness that brought an end to the life of the Lord od Stormhold had come swift and sudden, striking like lightning not only his life, but all of theirs as well.
His destiny was enclosed in his father’s next words, but between the anxiety for his impending future and the unexpected changes, he didn’t know what he was really feeling. Everything was too sudden. He knew he was supposed to feel bad, but he couldn’t find affection in himself for his parent, not even if he looked closely.
Beside him, Jongdae was restless. He had his mother’s ardent nature, and while Yifan was more prone to spacing out and overlook things without a second thought, sparing himself the pain and hurtfulness of his father’s behaviour, Jongdae had always suffered the lack of fatherly presence in his life. Yifan could feel his brother’s anger, radiating in waves and threatening to escape his clamped lips.
He understood such reaction, but as for him, he felt nothing. He wasn’t going to mourn over his father, nor ready to curse him. He was just confused, and afraid.
Such were his thoughts when the Lord spoke his last words.
“I know I haven’t been the best of the fathers, but believe me, my boys, I loved you very much. My time has come, I can see Death at my doorstep. I have lived a long and fulfilling life, though deprived of love and affection. Yifan, Jongdae, a Curse weighs upon my throne, and it’s time you both know everything about it, because one of you must necessarily inherit the title of Lord of Stormhold and bear it on strong shoulders.”
He paused to regain his breath. Even simple talk seemed to tire him.
“A long time ago, a great wrong was done to someone who came from the sky. That creature still inhabit the nigh vault, for they cannot die, or stop existing, and for this reason they’ll suffer the consequences of human’s capricious and wilful nature forever. They cursed our birthline and our throne. Every Lord of our lineage is destined to do great things, but he’ll never be with his true love. No matter if you find it, and you probably will, ‘cause the Curse is cruel in his fatality, you’ll never get to live together with them, and grow your children together. Such is the destiny of our kin.”
He coughed, and turned his gaze to the cold and distant surface of the Moon. Yifan didn’t know anything about love yet, and neither did Jongdae, but one of them was destined to suffer the loss of it, and they still didn’t know who would it be, or how deep would be the loss.
They exchanged nervous glances, and their father chose that exact moment to pronounce a magic spell known only to the Lord. He then raised his arms, throwing the shining topaz he had always wore at his neck in the air. The gem drew a perfect shining arc in the sky, but when it was nearing its zenith, it hit something. They heard a terrible sound like broken crystal, millions of glass bells falling onto the ground and singing pain, and the sound echoed for miles and miles until everyone in Faerie knew something big was happening.
Yifan ran to the window just in time to see a light, purer and brighter than the jewel his father had tossed out, falling somewhere, far far away, and leaving the colours of the rainbow in its wake.
Before he could say anything in response to the scene he had just seen, Jongdae started to laugh like a maniac.
“Almost twenty years of nothing, Father, absolutely nothing, and now you’re expecting us to fight our only brother to death to find a damned pendant in order to win a Cursed throne that no one of us does even want?”
The old man laughed, and it was a tired laugh. “No, my son, it’s actually the opposite.”
He was met by a distrustful silence.
“I have no illusion that any of you two is ready to become a ruler. However, there must be a Lord in our lands, or everything will turn into ruins in less than a year. That’s why I decided that whomever of you two finds the pendant can renounce to his right to the throne. The other one will become the next Lord, the one hundred and twelfth, and keep this reign alive. This is my last wish, boys, say goodbye to your mothers on my behalf.”
And just like that, with a contented face, he spired.
A stupefied, thick silence engulfed the princes. Jongdae opened his mouth, and then closed it again, eyes cast on the ground.
“Talk, little brother.”
“I love you, Yifan, but I don’t want to be Lord. I’ll find that jewel, whatever it takes.”
Jongdae still didn’t dare to look at him, but his voice didn’t waver and Yifan knew him well enough to know that his baby brother hid a still soul behind polite smiles.
He didn’t even look at him as he left the room, his silk vests whishing against the precious ebony of the door. “We’ll see.”
Chapter II - Where a boy meet a fallen star
(unavailable)
Chapter III - Where finders are keepers and losers weepers
The forest was dead silent and still. A thick, cold fog had covered everything like a white cloud and it made Yifan’s horse nervous. He held the reins in his hands with a grip so strong it bordered on painful, even though he knew too well that the woods couldn’t hurt him. His mother was a fairy of the woodland, tall and dark, and she had assured him that his blood would be his armour during the journey. He remembered her fingers, long and pale, a doting caress on his face before he left to search for the jewel. Wood fairies were, according to ancient legends, able to foresee the future. Yifan hoped that was not the reason of such a melancholic gaze when she bid him goodbye.
The young prince advanced on the clearing, struggling to see anything in the mist. The sources he had consulted, a farmer who lived on the village near the entrance of the forest and three poachers, had assured him that the star had fallen near the river, where the path divided itself into two different routes. He didn’t really trust those peasants, but seeing that they were his only source he didn’t have that much of a choice.
Benben, his white stallion, was even more edgy than he was, constantly sniffing the air and whimpering piteously. Yifan caressed the horse’s sides to encourage him moving, but soon it became clear that the stallion was adamant not to advance anymore.
He dismounted, patting Benben and telling him to wait, then he advanced by himself towards the point where the mist was more intense, almost like a solid wall of smoke. He walked through it, unable to see even his own feet, and after some nervous steps he finally came out in the open, in front of a giant hole on the ground.
The crater was impressive, surrounded by magic. Yifan could feel it, the hair on the back of his neck standing as the unknown power made him tingly all over. There was no trace of anything near in the immediate surroundings. He looked thoroughly, but the star was definitely not there, and neither was the topaz.
Yifan was a prince, and a well-mannered one, but he couldn’t help the loud curse that escaped his mouth, resounding loudly on the stunning silence. He thought he had seen a rapid shadow on the woods, but when he looked better nothing was there. Only, a little echo brought his own words back to him, distorted and mocking. He threw himself on the ground, breathing heavily. Even though nothing was there anymore, an ancient force still haunted the place, the pressure too strong for him to ignore it.
“Damn little sneaky Jongdae, he must’ve come before me and taken the star.”
He sighed. There was nothing for him to do there, so he decided to come back to where he had left Benben and try to follow Jongdae’s step, if his brother had really found the star first.
There was another possibility. Maybe someone else had found it. Maybe not everything was lost. Not yet.
He crossed the white wall of fog one more time, but when he got out of it, he found that his horse wasn’t there anymore.
He panicked. He could recognize the tree, but gone were the horse and the rope he had used to secure his only means of transport to said tree.
He was alone, and suddenly his wood fairy blood didn’t matter anymore. The forest was scary, haunted by deadly fog and animated by a whole orchestra of creepy sound. For a moment, a long excruciating moment, he thought he had heard a wolf howling, but in the end the only thing that came out of the bushes was a little grey bunny that looked at him like he was crazy, and then ran away.
Yifan cursed again, the words filling his mouth and leaving behind an aftertaste of triumph. He had never cursed in his life, but it felt exhilarating doing it for the first time in this kind of situation. Alone, stuck on an unknown place and probably doomed to be the next Lord.
He would’ve screamed, but he only feared to attract even more attention, and now that he listened closely, he could hear the sound of steps slowly approaching him. Keeping his breath he scrambled, trying to find a good hiding place. In the end he crawled under a root, sticking his limbs under the bushes the best he could, and waited there for his destiny. Someone was walking towards his hiding place and whoever they were, they surely weren’t making any efforts to keep their presence hidden.
A pair of boots stopped exactly in front of him, and Yifan thought he was going to melt on the ground, not of worry but for the shame to be found in such an uncomfortable position.
“Prince Yifan of Stormhold, I know you’re down there. Please get out and stop bothering the poor tree.”
The boy was fair, with reddish hair and white milky skin. His name was Lay, he said, but Yifan suspected he was shamelessly lying. When he told him, the boy giggled.
“Do you really expect me to reveal my real name, like this? Are you out of your mind?”
He covered his mouth with the back of long, white fingers when he laughed.
Yifan wanted to remind him that he was probably speaking with the next Lord of Stormhold, but seeing that the peasant already knew his noble origins there was no meaning in bragging about it. That, and he didn’t really want to be reminded of his impending doom.
“Listen, lad,” - “Lay,” replied dreamily the boy - “Lay,” continued Yifan in a condescending tone that, with his great scorn, failed to annoy his companion, “I know it seems a little strange and beyond the reach of a simple farmer like you, but I'm looking for a star.”
Lay's eyes widened comically. “A star, you say?”
“Yes, a star.” The prince looked thoroughly at him. “Do you happen to have seen one?” He added.
“I can't see any star here. Absolutely, totally no star. Uhm, no, no.”
“Are you sure? One hundred percent sure?”
“A thousand percent sure. You can look for yourself, there's no star here. Unless I'm a star, but do I look like one?”
He said it with a totally innocent tone, but Yifan could smell something funny there. This bizarre looking boy was hiding something from him, no doubt about that. But he had to half-heartedly admit it, “you don't look like one.”
Lay offered him a sweet smile. “See? My point. No star here.”
Yifan cursed again, under his breath this time, but the boy caught it anyway. “You shouldn't do that, the spirits of the forest don't like that kind of words in their domain. If you make them angry not even your fairy blood will be able to save you from their wrath.”
He said it looking perfectly calm, but a shiver ran through Yifan's back anyway. Who are you? Why do you know so much about me?
“Why are you here, though? Are you from this forest?”
Lay nodded. “Yes and no, it’s a bit long to explain, but I'm here because I have a debt to repay.”
“What kind of debt?” asked Yifan as he rose on his feet and brushed the dust away from his velvet travel outfit. “And to who? I don't think there's anyone else apart from us in this forest, especially at this time of the night.”
Lay hesitated, losing for a moment his playful appearance. He looked a little guilty. “The truth is, I think I'm in debt with you.”
“Explain yourself.”
“Well,” said Lay cautiously as he walked in circles around Yifan, “I may happen to be the person who let your horse escape.”
Yifan’s feet hurt. His pride hurt even more, but at least his stubbornness prevented him from asking Lay for a little pause, even though they were walking for hours now. Yifan had refused to listen to the meaningless foolish excuses Lay had tried to feed him with, demanding at least to be accompanied until the nearest village.
Lay had tried, was still trying, to make small talk as they advanced through the dark forest, but Yifan wouldn’t even bear to look at him.
“Are you still sulking? I said I’m sorry, you know? Your horse was really scared and whining and I thought it would be better for him if I let it free. How could I have known it would’ve ran away as soon as I undid the knot? I just thought it was too tight, and if I untied the knot, the horse would’ve calmed down. In my defence, who leaves a poor horse all alone and completely terrified during the night in a magic forest? That’s just asking for trouble. And what if you were a bad person and you had just forgotten about leaving your horse there? What if you were off doing bad things? The situation was pretty suspicious and I…”
“Could you please shut up?”
Yifan’s voice echoed sinisterly in the heavy silence. Under the vault of branches and leaves the air was unnaturally still, not even a ray of light was able to pass through the barrier of ancient trees.
The only living sound was Lay’s constant, annoying chatting.
“You shouldn’t scream so much, or we’ll attract unwanted attention.”
He turned towards the boy, finding him lost in his thoughts, his gaze fixed on the darkest recesses of the forest. “We should move faster.”
Yifan snorted. “Aren’t you tired? I’ve reached my limit.”
Lay looked around, muttering something under his breath, before finally turning towards Yifan with a smile. “We’ll be out of the forest in a few hours. Can you walk just for a little while? I’d prefer to get out of the woods before the sun sets.”
“How do you know what time is it?”
“Habit, I think.”
“Umph, whatever. I’m only following you because I left my compass on Benben, but if I find that you’re tricking me…” Long fingers caressed the hilt of the precious sword Yifan brought at his side, in what was supposed to be a menacing gesture.
“Oh, just stop it, before you hurt yourself,” snorted Lay, “you don’t look like you’ve ever weaved a weapon before, and I don’t want to be charged for having caused the prince to cut himself with his own sword.”
Yifan resisted the urge to scream.
Two hours and at least three avoided princely emotional breakdown after, they finally saw a light coming through the woods. All fatigue forgotten, Yifan ran towards the orange and purple hues, jumping over roots and moving braches out of his way. Out of the forest, the sun was really setting, pouring a palette of lights on the sky. He took a moment to draw in a big gulp of cool hair. It was refreshing, after being stuck in that old, still forest all day. A path twisted and turned through the hills, and from his position he could clearly see the lights of the village he had visited just the day before. He felt like a heavy weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders, and he sighed with a relief. So now I have to thank the strange dude, I think…
“It really was the right path, I was starting to think you were leading me to some gulch to kill me and strip me of my platinum swor-”
The words died in his throat. “Lay? Where are you, lad? Lay?”
His words lost themselves through the trees, but the mysterious, fair boy didn’t come out. Should I care? Hell no, I have a star to find.
Yifan laid a last stare in the dark woods, then, sighing, he started his descent towards the village.
Chapter IV - Where trusting strangers my not be the wisest decision
(unavailable)
Chapter V - Where people aren’t always what they seem
The first thing Yifan saw upon entering the village was an inn. Which was, in fact, rather strange since he had visited the same village the previous day and he could swear that no inn had been there at the time.
The second thing he saw was a unicorn. He had never seen one in his life, but legends weren't rightful to the beautiful creature. It was whiter than everything he'd ever seen, almost majestic in his candour, and pure. Yifan was almost scared to be near such an innocent creature, afraid to taint it somehow.
There was something strange, though. The unicorn looked frantic, gesturing towards the inn in hasty, scared motions.
Yifan wasn't stupid, he knew too well he was supposed to stay away from a mysterious inn suddenly come out of nowhere in the middle of an unknown village. He had lived holed up in the palace all of his life, but where he lacked in common sense he made up with adventure books.
Maybe the books should've warned him against unicorns, too, because Yifan wouldn't have stepped near the inn for all the stars of the world, but he ended up doing it all the same hoping to find some relief for the poor creature. Everything in his situation screamed danger and bad idea, but if the unicorn were human, he would’ve probably been crying, and deep in his heart Yifan knew he couldn't leave him like that. After a soft, soothing caress on the silver mane, he knocked at the door.
When it finally opened, in front of him stood, in all of her glory and a red dress, a beautiful woman. She didn't seem too happy to have guest.
“We're full.” She said shortly.
He looked behind her. The place was silent and seemingly empty. It didn’t certainly look full, but he was taught to mind his own business, and the lady looked really anxious to close the door and get rid of him.
“Oh, well, sorry for bothering you then.”
She slammed the door in his face and that would have been all, but the unicorn kept fretting, pushing Yifan towards the window with his warm nose in a mute request.
“She says they're full, I can't force her to let me in, you know? Oh, may the gods help me... alright, you stubborn creature, I'm going.”
Following the unicorn's pushes, he approached the window. It was very cold outside, but it must've been warm and toasty inside because the glass was fogged, and he had to struggle to see what was happening in the dinner hall. The unicorn was fidgeting at his side, hurrying him.
There was a table near the fireplace, and sitting at the table, with his head lolling lazily over the wooden surface, was his brother. Jongdae didn't look lucid enough to walk on his own, and Yifan took a mental note to remind him that, able to inherit Stormhold or not, he wasn't still of the proper age to drink. Besides Jongdae, a fierce looking boy was staring mesmerized at the fire, almost like he had never seen it before. He had almond shaped eyes of obsidian steel and golden hair, and the way his fingers were curled absentmindedly over Jongdae's forearm struck Yifan like lightning. His little brother had always been picky on physical contact, but Yifan just chose to impute it to what he'd drank. That, too, was strange. Jongdae, usually composed, neat and obedient Jongdae, directly disobeying Queen Kim's direct orders and drinking alcohol?
The unicorn whinnied. “I know, I know. Something is off.” Something was, indeed, very off.
He breathed over the glass to make it easier to see, and gasped when he saw the pretty lady from before entering the room. From afar, she looked almost menacing, an ominous aura seemed to surround her. She didn’t look so beautiful anymore.
Yifan was up on his feet, sword in his hands, before she could even get close to the fireplace and the two sleepy boys. The unicorn was already charging against the door. Unseen to his brother and the blonde boy, at her back, the lady clutched in her tiny pale hands a small, ancient dagger.
When Yifan opened his eyes, everything was buzzing and shaking. There was something in his ear, he thought, like a whistle, and he couldn’t focus on anything. Shadows shifted at the corner of his eyes, but nothing was definite enough for him to understand what was going on. Something flew past his head, and an ancient, instinctive voice in his head told him that it was time to move. He moved his hand blindly on the floor, following the same primal instinct that overpowered the chaos, the noise, the fuzz, ordering him to survive. He didn’t even know what he was looking for. Finally, his fingers closed themselves over the hilt of his father’s sword. He raised it with a hand, using the other to pull himself on his feet. Everything was confused, but at least figures were taking shape under his eyes, and he realized that the loud sound clogging up his hearing was Jongdae’s voice, screaming for help.
The lady, now she didn’t look like a lady at all, what with pointy, dreary fangs protruding out of her mouth and black snakes where her gorgeous dark hair had been, was pinning his baby brother against the wall by the neck with only one hand. The other, with its treacherous claws, was a few inches away from Jongdae’s neck.
Yifan didn’t think. The sword fell on the floor with a loud clank, but she didn’t even notice. She noticed, however, when Yifan threw himself over her with all of his weight. They crashed on the floor, the three of them, Jongdae, Yifan, and the witch, Yifan was now beyond sure she was a witch, in a mess of tangled limbs and curses.
He took his brother’s wrist and pulled, half crawling, half-walking out of the reach of the dagger, trying to reach the door. Jongdae stopped him.
“Wait,” he moaned, clutching his forearm where blood had stained the silken shirt, “Zitao…”
“What? Are you crazy?”
He looked it, crazy. His eyes were wild and glossy, and he was too pale to actually be okay.
I have to put him out of danger, we have to…
Jongdae wiggled out of his hold, falling on his knees near a figure hunched on the floor.
“Tao, Zitao, we have to go…”
An anguished cry was the only response.
The boy. Yifan had totally forgotten about the other boy. And where was the unicorn? With a quick sideway glance at the witch, who was still struggling to get up, probably stuck on something on the ground, he took in the figure of the blonde boy with dark eyes, pressing uselessly over a rapidly expanding red blotch on the unicorn’s white mane. The floor under them was drenched in blood, and the boy, Zitao, was crying, big shiny tears rolling onto his cheeks. The unicorn moved his legs feebly, but it was slowly bleeding to death. The witch had torn her dress to be able to get up freely, and she was now steadying herself up.
“Jongdae,” called Yifan, voice laced up with urgency, “the fireplace!”
“Aye!”
He didn’t wait to see if his brother had really understood, in a moment he was dislodging the boy’s hold from the unicorn, “Help me, we have to get it on its feet,” and together they pulled him off the floor. The poor creature was trembling, and Yifan patted its back.
“Come on, be strong, we have to get out of here, Jongdae! Jongdae!”
“Coming!”
Zitao’s eyes travelled through the room, franticly looking for Jongdae, but the prince was still tampering with the fire. The witch was already on her feet, dagger held tight and high, ready to fall over them.
What really fell, in the end, was a cascade of embers on her back. Jongdae laughed in triumph.
She screamed, a long howl of agony that accompanied them outside the inn. Jongdae was the last to get out, and he closed the door behind himself with burnt fingers. Her clawed hands, engulfed by flames, were the last thing they saw before the door was properly locked. The witch’s inhuman shrieks haunted the group as they ran, as quick as they could with a dying unicorn with them, away from the burning house.
“Quick, the forest, she won’t be able to find us in there!”
“Please don’t die, please, I’m so sorry, please don’t die…”
Zitao’s pleas filled Yifan’s ears, a monotonous, heart-breaking litany.
“Jongdae, I need help! She’s a witch, a little fire won’t be able to stop her for long.”
He couldn’t hear the witch’s cries anymore, but the glow of the inn burning was still visible as they climbed back the hill towards the entrance of the forest. It seemed days ago that Lay had led him there.
“She’s probably looking for us already, but if we enter the forest-”
“I can’t.”
Yifan looked towards his brother, speechless. Jongdae sent him a guilty look.
“That forest is evil, Yifan, and my mother is not a fairy of the woodlands, like yours. You may be able to leave the forest unscathed, but I can’t say the same for me, and mom told me to stay away of the woods if I could.”
Yifan opened his mouth to protest, to object that, with a crazy Spellbinder on their traces, splitting up was the worst idea, that he didn’t know where else they could go with the unicorn, he could feel his pulse getting fainter, almost imperceptible, dying under his hand.
Jongdae beat him. “She’s not looking for you, or for the unicorn. She’s looking for Tao.”
At the mention of his name, the boy raised his eyes, puffy and red from crying too much. He looked devastated.
“Listen,” said Jongdae, “this is my plan. We distract her. You hide with the unicorn in the forest. The woods won’t harm the both of you, I’m sure. Try to heal him or something, if you can. He saved our lives while you were unconscious on the floor.” He bit his lip, sourly. “What a pathetic sight we make, two princes, sons of the greatest warrior of our time, and we have our necks saved by the most nonviolent creature ever.” He caressed the neck of the unicorn, before pulling Zitao up. “Come on, we have to go.”
“Wait, Jongdae, you can’t leave me with… How am I supposed to heal it?”
Jongdae didn’t know. Yifan didn’t either, but his brother and Zitao were already gone.
The sky was slowly clearing, meaning that sun would rise soon.
They were camping at the border of the forest, were it was still possible to know whether it was night or day from the light feebly seeping through the still scattered branches. They could have gone further, walked beyond in the darkness until Yifan was sure the witch wouldn’t have dared to follow them, but it wasn’t wise to delve in the home of ancient spirits without a guide. Besides, the witch was hunting Jongdae and Zitao now, if the plan had worked out well, so he really didn’t need to hide. The only thing he could do was wait for the unicorn’s death. It was unavoidable by now, he could feel it at heart. He had no medical knowledge regarding humans, even less about magical creatures. He had tried, during the night, to prepare himself for the worst, but deep inside he knew that he would’ve cried at its death. His heart felt too heavy.
“Why did you have to be so stupid?” he murmured with a broken voice, hugging the white neck and trying to resist the urge to drown his face in it and just cry. He had never really been the clingy type with pets or animals in general. There was something in him that utterly refused to just even think of the unicorn in terms of an animal. It was intelligent, Yifan suspected even more than he was, and there were way too many complicated emotions reflected in its eyes for it to be called a mere animal.
“You should have walked away from that house. You should have left us at her mercy. Maybe it would’ve been better. Maybe I should just thank you. Jongdae said you saved our lives, but now you’re dying and it’s so wrong. What can I do, it’s so wrong. You shouldn’t die. It hurts, thinking that you’ll die.”
And it did hurt. He shook his head, trying to chase away the image of something so beautiful, so pure and sensitive, decaying and rotting away.
The unicorn suddenly neighed and stood up, scrolling Yifan’s arms away from its neck. The prince fell backward on the dirt, wincing in pain. The unicorn trotted weakly towards the centre of the clearing, where little flashes of pink and orange light were falling from the trees. It was dawn.
The unicorn stayed there, bathed in the first ray of sun of the day, his dark eyes fixed on Yifan’s. The forest’s murmur that had stayed with them all night seems to grow in intensity, a thousand little voices talking around them as everything quivered and grumbled until, with an explosion of silver light, the unicorn disappeared. In its place, under Yifan’s astonished eyes, fell a familiar boy with fair skin and reddish hair.
Chapter VI - Where a journey of a thousand miles begins with a kiss
(unavailable)
Chapter VII - Where the unexpected help is annoyed and annoying
Baekhyun came up out of nowhere. One minute and Yifan was cradling the unicorn, the boy, the lad, Lay, whoever he was, and Yifan took a note to make his life a living hell for everything if the damn dude survived. The following minute, Baekhyun was there giving him the scare of his life.
“Oh Lord, I thought you were a witch!”
“Do I look like a witch?” was the snarling response.
The blonde boy gave him an assessing look, soon turned in the most conceited expression one human being could possibly muster. He didn’t wait for Yifan’s response, like it didn’t even matter to him. Yifan’s entire existence probably didn’t matter to him, seen that as soon as he stopped staring at Yifan like he was some extremely offending kind of disease, he turned his attention towards the boy on the ground.
After seeing a unicorn turning into Lay, Yifan couldn’t be really sure of anything, but Baekhyun looked pretty human. Though, Lay had looked the part too.
“Are you at least human? Hey, what are you doing with him?”
“I’m Baekhyun, shut your trap please. I’m trying to concentrate here. I haven’t healed a human boy in a long time.”
Yifan closed his mouth on instinct, but scooted closer to see what was happening. He wasn’t sure he could really trust this Baekhyun who came out of nowhere, really, nowhere, there was only forest and forest around them, and the hill, and the village, but Yifan was surveying the hills to check whether the witch wasn’t really chasing them, so it was either he came out of the suspecting, whispering, dangerous woods or… Or nothing, there was no other place. He had met Lay on the woods too, before, and Lay had helped him. Well, before dragging him to an inn and almost getting him killed at the hands of a crazy witch who was after Jongdae’s new friend. And who the hell was Baekhyun, anyway? He groaned, hating to be the only clueless one. Everyone else seemed to at least know what was happening, but none of them had stopped for a second to explain things to him too.
“Could you please give us space to breath? I’m trying to save a life here.”
Baekhyun’s irritated voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because you have nothing to lose, without my help he would’ve died anyway.”
He closed his mouth, not knowing how to respond.
Baekhyun pushed him out of the way.
“Ok, I’ve patched him up, at least. He shouldn’t die, so just look after him, ok? And make sure to give him this, so at least he’ll know where to go when he wakes up.” He left a small package on the ground, near Lay’s supine form.
“Wait, what? Where are you going?”
“My job here is done. I saved his life, I go home. I’m not responsible for him, you are.”
“Wait, WHAT? Since when, I, why…”
He tried to grab Baekhyun before he left suddenly, just like he had come, but Baekhyun made a mildly disgusted face and picked Yifan’s hand out of his arm with a finality that left no space for discussion.
“Are you really this dumb? It must run in the family then.”
Yifan stared, agape. He still didn’t get it, despite Baekhyun’s impatient little looks.
“He saved yours, your brother’s and Taozi’s life, so now you owe him.”
“He had a debt with me first, the whole horse thing…”
“Which he repaid by leading you safely through the forest and avoiding that His Royal Pain got eaten by mountain lions. Now it’s you turn! I thought that your kind valued honour over everything else, right?”
He looked around himself nervously, fixing his eyes on a little patch of blue sky over them.
“Look, make sure he survives the night, at least. He’s not that bright in his unicorn shape, well, he’s never been particularly bright but that’s Yixing’s charm and he’s hurt and things could end up really badly if you leave him alone. You really owe him your brother’s life, and maybe yours too as far as I know. And in the end it’s all your fault because if he wouldn’t have stayed behind to help you find your way through the forest he would’ve been with them and there was no way he would’ve let them enter that freaky inn. Oh my, it’s really late and I absolutely have to go, it was not a pleasure.”
With that, he just disappeared. With a pop. Into thin air.
Yifan was really starting to get the hang of it. When the day had ended, Lay had become a unicorn again. He would’ve liked to see him going back to human at dawn, but he didn’t make it.
The ground was uncomfortable, he missed his pillow and he hadn’t changed his clothes in days. Sleeping in such condition, with predators lurking around them and rain threatening to fall any moment, should’ve been impossible for him, but sleep he needed and in the end he let himself be swept into the arms of Morpheus.
Chapter VIII - Where being on the lam is tiring
(unavailable)
Chapter IX - Where a journey of a thousand miles begins with a name
“Wake up, hey! Wake up!”
Yifan scrunched up his nose, turning on the other side and plunging his head into a pile of fallen leaves. An intense smell of soil invaded his nostrils. He jumped on his feet in disgust.
Lay was looking at him with curiosity and mild entertainment. “Your have leaves on your hair.”
Yifan blushed and quickly brought his hair to his hand to try and fix the wild nest that once was his perfect hair. He winched at the sensation of dirt and knot, finally surrendering to his inevitable state of disarray.
Lay was still looking at him. Under the pale morning sun his hair were more brownish than red, and he was still deadly pale. Whether it was his natural complexion colour or the consequences of the wound, Yifan didn’t know.
“Are you alright?”
Lay nodded. “Thank you for taking care of me and, you know, asking me not to die.”
There was no mistake about the blush on his cheeks as he said it, and Yifan blushed as well.
The sounds of the forest stirring back to life covered the awkward silence that had fallen over them after the quick exchange. The symphony of birds chirping, water falling somewhere near them and wind blowing softly and making the trees sway back and forth was so loud Yifan was amazed he had managed to get some sleep at all. At this time of the day, when everything was bathed in a cold sun, the forest seemed almost idyllic, not at all like the nightmare of the previous days. Or maybe it was just the knowledge that Lay was safe and sound and blushing.
Yifan kicked a stone and looked away from the bright colour on the other’s cheeks, praying that his own wasn’t as obvious.
Get a grip on yourself, you’re the prince of Stormhold!
He was, after all, a very charming and handsome young man with noble origins and an enviable pedigree, it was normal that this creature, probably raised in the woods all of his life, was amazed by his presence.
“We should go. I have to find Zitao and bring him back safely. How long was I out, anyway?”
Yifan’s eyes glowered dangerously. “So you know that rascal who’s harassing my brother?”
Lay raised his eyebrows. “Like your brother wasn’t enjoying it. Come on.”
He wanted to protest but Lay was already walking away, calling for him to hurry.
They had nothing to pack. Baekhyun had left them food and water, but Yifan had consumed it all during his night watch over the sick unicorn.
“Do you know where you’re going, at least?”
Lay merely laughed at him. Of course he knew where he was going. He knew everything, while Yifan was still drowning in his ignorance. Well, time to get some answers.
He ran after him.
“Where do you come from?” he asked, once they were walking side by side. They had an hour-long walk until they reached the village from two days ago, meaning he had all the time he needed to ask his questions. “Really, no lies this time.”
Lay opened his mouth to answer but Yifan added, for good measure, “I already know about the unicorn thing, by the way.”
“Of course you do. I changed, like, three times in front of you. You’d be a fool if you still didn’t know.”
He hummed to a little bird and smiled when it flew towards him, landing on his stretched hand.
“I am a unicorn, but I wasn’t born in this forest. I came from the eastern lands.”
“You do realize that this is the Eastern Forest, the border of known world? There’s nothing beyond it.”
He received a chop on the back of his neck.
“Just because you don’t know anything it doesn’t mean that there actually isn’t anything. And for your information this has always been the Western Forest for me, it’s all a matter of perspective.”
“Whatever.”
“Anyway, the Moon talked to me and I received the greatest honour for one of my kind.”
“No, wait a moment. The Moon talked to you? Are you sure that the witch didn’t also wound your head?”
“I am a magical unicorn able to shift to human at sunrise, are you really questioning whether I talked to the Moon or will you let me go on?”
Yifan raised his hand in surrender.
“Like I said, I received the greatest honour. I have to find and bring back home a lost star.”
Different things clicked in Yifan’s brain at the same time, but neither of them managed to make sense in his head. “I’m looking for a star too, we’re looking for the same star then! But wait, weren’t you after that Tao kid? You have to retrieve him too alongside with the star?”
Lay looked at him. “Are you sure you didn’t hurt your head in the commotion with the witch?”
When Yifan didn’t answer, still watching him with puzzled smile, Lay sighed. “What can I say? It must run in the family.”
“Are you offending my family too? First Baekhyun, then you,” Lay’s eyes became the size of saucers, “what now?”
“Did you- Did you really say Baekhyun? When did you see Baekhyun?”
“Oh, he came yesterday to fix your wound. Didn’t I say it before? Thank the kid, you wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for him,” he paused for a moment to flash him a big, proud smile, “and me, obviously.”
Yixing looked like he hadn’t even heard the last part. “Are you really sure it was him?”
Yifan was late to answer, a little lost in the enticing way Lay was biting on his bottom lip. It was distracting. “Shortie, blond, caustic as a lava bath? I think that’s him. He told me his name himself.”
“Oh.” He seemed to ponder over it for a while. “You know, Baekhyun is a very busy person, you were very lucky to have been able to see him.”
“You mean you were very lucky. He healed you, saved your life.”
Lay frowned upon hearing his words. “He doesn’t really have a lot of time to spare, so I just find it strange that he came personally. He can’t miss even a single night of work.”
Lay had stopped, and Yifan found out he didn’t quite liked the unsure look he was receiving.
“Now what?”
“I’m leaving. We’re going on separate ways from now on.”
Yifan’s heart missed a beat.
“I thought you were the one who saved my life, but if it was Baekhyun then everything changes. We don’t have a bond and I don’t own anything to you. I brought you to the village,” he indicated the houses at the bottom of the hill, “and that should be enough to cover for your help. We say goodbye and I find Zitao on my own, don’t worry. I wouldn’t want to further bother you.”
The last part was said in a slightly sarcastic tone that Yifan didn’t quite like.
He realized, in a split moment, that he didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t even managed to found the star. Thinking back of the last few days, he had fought a witch, barely met Jongdae’s new best maybe-even-something-more friend and saved a magical unicorn who still had to decide if his personality was more sarcastic or sassy. Said unicorn was, by the way, the only one who could help him to find the star, but instead of looking for it, he had decided to try to save this Zitao kid instead. At least Jongdae was too busy running around tall kids with a killer look to find the star on his own, but Yifan wasn’t really keen on using the fact that his brother was on the run for his life at his advantage to try and find the jewel before him. In fact, the thought of finding the jewel had not really been in his head for the past two days.
First he had been worried about the unicorn’s survival, and now he was worried about Jongdae’s survival. For what he knew, Jongdae could’ve been hurt, or even worse. He realized, with a sigh, that he would’ve taken the responsibility of the throne right there if that meant saving his little brother.
Lay was already walking away, and with him all of Yifan’s hopes.
“Wait,” he ran towards him, “let me come with you.”
“Why should I?”
“You’re going to find this Tao, right? Then my brother is there too, and I want to help him.”
Lay seemed to hesitate. “What about the star?”
“We can look for it later, together. Or maybe not,” he added quickly seeing that Lay was already starting to furrow his brows disapprovingly, “maybe we can save those two and then we can look for the star on our own, not together. I look for it on my own, you do the same and may the best win?”
Great, just what he needed. Another rival after that same damn star. Someone else he had to outsmart in order not to become Lord. He tried not to grimace at the thought, in order to look honest and reassuring.
Lay crossed arms on his chest. He wasn’t very eager, but he looked at least intrigued by the proposal.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You’re the only one who knows how to find them, right? Both Zitao and the star. You bring me to Zitao and I save my brother’s neck. Our moms would skin me alive if I’d let him die at the hands of that crazy clawed lady.”
“You’re right, I know where to find them. So, why would I need your help?”
Oh, good question. Think, Yifan, think.
“I can be helpful when I want. I’m a warrior.”
“Are you?”
The raised eyebrows thing was totally uncalled for. Yifan may have been unconscious while Lay saved the day back at the inn, but when the unicorn was bleeding to death on the floor it was Yifan who had took control of the situation and came up with an escape plan. He hadn’t really burnt the witch himself, Jongdae did, but he had been useful. He had led the party away, at least.
“Ok, I’m not warrior. And I don’t even have a sword anymore,” he cringed at the thought of the family sword, the one his father and grandfather and all of their forefathers had brandished in the old chronicles, laying forgotten between the ashes of the burnt inn.
“But I love Jongdae and I’m really worried about him. I just want to make sure he’s alright. No funny stuff, no stars involved. When I was a child, I read that unicorn can tell if a person is serious just by looking at their eyes. Look at me and you’ll know I’m not lying. Aren’t the ones like you the most generous and compassionate creatures? Am I not pitiful enough?”
He hoped no one was listening. It was bad enough that one of the possible future heirs to the throne of Stormhold was begging a fairy-tale creature for help. If his mom knew, he’d end up worse than dead. Lay looked in his eyes for what felt the longest time, until he could feel the shadow of another blush colouring his face at the close inspection. What if unicorns could really read thoughts out of someone’s eyes and Lay was becoming accustomed through detailed graphic scenes with the tiniest bit of attraction Yifan felt towards him in?
After what felt like eternity and a lot of cold sweating on Yifan’s part, the other boy just sighed.
“You can come. But I have to confess you that I have no idea how to find them, either.”
“What? You made me humiliate myself for your help and now you can’t help me?”
He suddenly remembered something that had been in his pocket all along.
He fished the mysterious bundle left by Baekhyun and gave it to Lay. The other boy didn’t waste time, making quick work of the dirty wrapping.
The package contained a compass, and really, Yifan would’ve slapped himself for not thinking about it before. He could just use the compass without giving it to Lay, but the other boy was already giving him a judging look and commenting, “It’s a runic compass, you wouldn’t have been able to use it without my help anyway.”
He sent him a smirk. “Unless you can read ancient lunar runes that haven’t been used for at least,” he pretended to think about it, “a thousand years? Or more?”
“Ahah, and how come can you read it, then?”
“I’m a unicorn,” replied Lay matter-of-factly, flashing him his most charming smile. Yifan was really starting to hate those smiles. They made him feel like punching in his companion in his perfect smug face, both for being a little know-it-all and for the fluttering butterflies he made appear in Yifan’s stomach. He set on pouting, but Lay was already playing with the compass to notice his hurt.
“I guess Baekhyun left it for me?”
He nodded, still playing insulted.
“Well, we may have a little chance to find them now. Let’s go.”
He stubbornly bowed over him, adding even a flourish at the end. Because he was a polite prince who knew mannerisms and such. “Make way, Lay.”
“Yixing,” was the unaffected answer. “If we have to travel together as companions you at least ought to know my real name. I’m Yixing, nice to meet you.”
“I thought unicorns can’t lie.”
“I never lied. Lay is my name. Just the one I’ve never used in my life.”
“Ah. I’m Yifan, heir to the throne of-”
“Yifan, I already know.”
“Oh.”
He stole a glance to Yixing’s profile, thinking how his real name fit him much better than Lay, but he was forced to look away in shame when Yixing caught him openly staring and blankly looked back at him.
“Where does the compass point?” he asked, in the end.
Lay, Yixing, reminded his fussy mind, checked the instrument and smiled politely at him, all white teeth and white skin and, was that the hint of a dimple? Yifan thought it was time to regret his choice to travel with this particular boy.
“You may want to lose the cloak, my prince, we’re heading South.”
Part II - The Boy And The Star
(unavailable)
Pairing: Yifan/Yixing, mentions of Zitao/Jongdae, Lu Han/Minseok and Chanyeol/Baekhyun
Rating: PG13
Word count: 34900
Disclaimer: EXO members don't belong to me, and Stardust belongs to Neil Gaiman.
Notes: originally written here for aestheticatlas at fanxingyou. stardust!au.
Summary: Yifan is a prince, but a lame one. Yixing is a mystery. Jongdae wants an adventure and Zitao falls on his own will. Under the knowing eyes of the Moon, a story of love, magic and blood begins. Once upon a time, in a magic land still inhabited by fairies, witches and unicorns, a boy set off on a journey to find a star, but he only found his destiny.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Epilogue - The Star Who Fell (Reprise)
Stars glowed white on the summer night, little candles dressed in silver against the blue vault.
The one hundred and twelfth Lord of Stormhold of his lineage leaned on the balcony of his marble palace, looking at the sky with longing. He found what he was looking for without even trying, his heart leading the way through endless constellation like a compass. So many stars, but only one was bright in his eyes.
“Ten years have passed, but I can’t have it in myself to forget you.”
The little light quivered and throbbed, as if it was in pain. The Lord reached with his hand towards it, pretending to close his fist around the star and pulling it back, but his hand closed on the thin air, unable to reach for the little jewel nestled up high.
With a soft sigh and a last glance to the firmament, he went to bed, his velvet curtains wide open. At the corner of the world, his star seemed to radiate its light a little stronger than before, silently bidding him good night.
He was already sleeping soundly, a sleep without dreams, when the little star trembled, its glow shaking unsteadily, and finally fell down from the sky.
It's Written In The Sky (Your Destiny And Mine)
Part I - The Star Who Fell
Chapter I - Where the Lord dies and two princes engage in a quest to lose a Cursed throne
Yifan woke up, seventeen and awkward, tangled in silk sheets and faceless dreams. His brother stood at the bedside, gently shocking him out of bed, his face grim and serious.
“Jongdae, it’s,” he sent a quick look at the dark sky outside and couldn’t hide his irritation, “why are you waking me up at this ungodly hour of the night?”
His brother’s lips were set in a thin line, and his face was pale.
“Father is dying.”
Those three little words fell like a heavy lump on Yifan’s lungs, cutting all of his air.
Father is dying. Unspoken between them, lied an even heavier understanding. If their father was really dying, soon one of them would be forced to take his place, becoming the next Lord of Stormhold and suffering the pain of the Curse.
Yifan loved his little stepbrother, the only peer he was allowed to play with, his only friend in a long life of royalty. They had found each other, just like their two mothers had found each other in the coldness and silence of the palace, and they had grown up together.
Yifan read in Jongdae’s eyes his same worry. He didn’t want to succeed to his father, and neither he wanted his little brother to. But one of them would have to bear the Curse, for the kingdom needed a Lord. He dressed up quickly, ignoring the way Jongdae fidgeted on the doorstep, eyes fixed on the ground. He was the older brother, he should have been the one who comforted Jongdae, but when he was finally ready to go and see his parent in his last moments, he found it was too much. It was Jongdae’s hand on his shoulder, although weak and little.
For a moment, Yifan felt shame. He knew his brother wasn’t ready to reign, the same way he knew he wouldn’t be able to do it himself. But, deep inside his heart, he still hoped Jongdae was chosen as the heir instead of him. They had always been close, like they were one same thing, but as they walked side by side towards the Royal Chambers, the Curse stood like a Wall between them, and none of them could find a single word to spare for his own brother.
When they entered the Lord’s room, the smell of death had already impregnated the place like a invisible veil.
Yifan had few memories of his father. He had spent all of his childhood with his mother, Jongdae, and Jongdae’s mother. However, he remembered a tall, strong man, prone to loud laughter and with big, enormous hands made to hold a sword. Jongdae had his beautiful eyes, Yifan his height. None of them had his talents with weapon, nor his politic ability, but maybe they were too young for that. Sickness had eaten all of the vigour and the strength out of his body, leaving a majestic skeleton with a sunken face on his deathbed.
The one hundred and eleventh Lord of Stormhold and Master of the High Crags of his lineage raised his head from the cushions, looking at his sons when they entered the room. Yifan saw himself and Jongdae reflexed in his father’s eyes, and instantly knew what the man was thinking. They were too young, too unprepared, and none of them wanted the burden of the crown and the silver jewel. They wanted freedom, they wanted love, and they feared the Curse more than anything else. However, he had borne the burden of the curse as much as he could and now one of them would have to dislodge it out of his sick shoulders and into his own.
The dying Lord’s voice was weak as his appearance. “Help me, my sons.”
They lent him their arms, so that the great warrior could raise to his feet, and walk towards the window. He slowly undid the fastenings of the luminous jewel he had proudly won at his neck for the biggest part of his life, and held it in his hands for what seemed like a lifetime.
Yifan felt hollow and confused.
The sickness that brought an end to the life of the Lord od Stormhold had come swift and sudden, striking like lightning not only his life, but all of theirs as well.
His destiny was enclosed in his father’s next words, but between the anxiety for his impending future and the unexpected changes, he didn’t know what he was really feeling. Everything was too sudden. He knew he was supposed to feel bad, but he couldn’t find affection in himself for his parent, not even if he looked closely.
Beside him, Jongdae was restless. He had his mother’s ardent nature, and while Yifan was more prone to spacing out and overlook things without a second thought, sparing himself the pain and hurtfulness of his father’s behaviour, Jongdae had always suffered the lack of fatherly presence in his life. Yifan could feel his brother’s anger, radiating in waves and threatening to escape his clamped lips.
He understood such reaction, but as for him, he felt nothing. He wasn’t going to mourn over his father, nor ready to curse him. He was just confused, and afraid.
Such were his thoughts when the Lord spoke his last words.
“I know I haven’t been the best of the fathers, but believe me, my boys, I loved you very much. My time has come, I can see Death at my doorstep. I have lived a long and fulfilling life, though deprived of love and affection. Yifan, Jongdae, a Curse weighs upon my throne, and it’s time you both know everything about it, because one of you must necessarily inherit the title of Lord of Stormhold and bear it on strong shoulders.”
He paused to regain his breath. Even simple talk seemed to tire him.
“A long time ago, a great wrong was done to someone who came from the sky. That creature still inhabit the nigh vault, for they cannot die, or stop existing, and for this reason they’ll suffer the consequences of human’s capricious and wilful nature forever. They cursed our birthline and our throne. Every Lord of our lineage is destined to do great things, but he’ll never be with his true love. No matter if you find it, and you probably will, ‘cause the Curse is cruel in his fatality, you’ll never get to live together with them, and grow your children together. Such is the destiny of our kin.”
He coughed, and turned his gaze to the cold and distant surface of the Moon. Yifan didn’t know anything about love yet, and neither did Jongdae, but one of them was destined to suffer the loss of it, and they still didn’t know who would it be, or how deep would be the loss.
They exchanged nervous glances, and their father chose that exact moment to pronounce a magic spell known only to the Lord. He then raised his arms, throwing the shining topaz he had always wore at his neck in the air. The gem drew a perfect shining arc in the sky, but when it was nearing its zenith, it hit something. They heard a terrible sound like broken crystal, millions of glass bells falling onto the ground and singing pain, and the sound echoed for miles and miles until everyone in Faerie knew something big was happening.
Yifan ran to the window just in time to see a light, purer and brighter than the jewel his father had tossed out, falling somewhere, far far away, and leaving the colours of the rainbow in its wake.
Before he could say anything in response to the scene he had just seen, Jongdae started to laugh like a maniac.
“Almost twenty years of nothing, Father, absolutely nothing, and now you’re expecting us to fight our only brother to death to find a damned pendant in order to win a Cursed throne that no one of us does even want?”
The old man laughed, and it was a tired laugh. “No, my son, it’s actually the opposite.”
He was met by a distrustful silence.
“I have no illusion that any of you two is ready to become a ruler. However, there must be a Lord in our lands, or everything will turn into ruins in less than a year. That’s why I decided that whomever of you two finds the pendant can renounce to his right to the throne. The other one will become the next Lord, the one hundred and twelfth, and keep this reign alive. This is my last wish, boys, say goodbye to your mothers on my behalf.”
And just like that, with a contented face, he spired.
A stupefied, thick silence engulfed the princes. Jongdae opened his mouth, and then closed it again, eyes cast on the ground.
“Talk, little brother.”
“I love you, Yifan, but I don’t want to be Lord. I’ll find that jewel, whatever it takes.”
Jongdae still didn’t dare to look at him, but his voice didn’t waver and Yifan knew him well enough to know that his baby brother hid a still soul behind polite smiles.
He didn’t even look at him as he left the room, his silk vests whishing against the precious ebony of the door. “We’ll see.”
Chapter II - Where a boy meet a fallen star
(unavailable)
Chapter III - Where finders are keepers and losers weepers
The forest was dead silent and still. A thick, cold fog had covered everything like a white cloud and it made Yifan’s horse nervous. He held the reins in his hands with a grip so strong it bordered on painful, even though he knew too well that the woods couldn’t hurt him. His mother was a fairy of the woodland, tall and dark, and she had assured him that his blood would be his armour during the journey. He remembered her fingers, long and pale, a doting caress on his face before he left to search for the jewel. Wood fairies were, according to ancient legends, able to foresee the future. Yifan hoped that was not the reason of such a melancholic gaze when she bid him goodbye.
The young prince advanced on the clearing, struggling to see anything in the mist. The sources he had consulted, a farmer who lived on the village near the entrance of the forest and three poachers, had assured him that the star had fallen near the river, where the path divided itself into two different routes. He didn’t really trust those peasants, but seeing that they were his only source he didn’t have that much of a choice.
Benben, his white stallion, was even more edgy than he was, constantly sniffing the air and whimpering piteously. Yifan caressed the horse’s sides to encourage him moving, but soon it became clear that the stallion was adamant not to advance anymore.
He dismounted, patting Benben and telling him to wait, then he advanced by himself towards the point where the mist was more intense, almost like a solid wall of smoke. He walked through it, unable to see even his own feet, and after some nervous steps he finally came out in the open, in front of a giant hole on the ground.
The crater was impressive, surrounded by magic. Yifan could feel it, the hair on the back of his neck standing as the unknown power made him tingly all over. There was no trace of anything near in the immediate surroundings. He looked thoroughly, but the star was definitely not there, and neither was the topaz.
Yifan was a prince, and a well-mannered one, but he couldn’t help the loud curse that escaped his mouth, resounding loudly on the stunning silence. He thought he had seen a rapid shadow on the woods, but when he looked better nothing was there. Only, a little echo brought his own words back to him, distorted and mocking. He threw himself on the ground, breathing heavily. Even though nothing was there anymore, an ancient force still haunted the place, the pressure too strong for him to ignore it.
“Damn little sneaky Jongdae, he must’ve come before me and taken the star.”
He sighed. There was nothing for him to do there, so he decided to come back to where he had left Benben and try to follow Jongdae’s step, if his brother had really found the star first.
There was another possibility. Maybe someone else had found it. Maybe not everything was lost. Not yet.
He crossed the white wall of fog one more time, but when he got out of it, he found that his horse wasn’t there anymore.
He panicked. He could recognize the tree, but gone were the horse and the rope he had used to secure his only means of transport to said tree.
He was alone, and suddenly his wood fairy blood didn’t matter anymore. The forest was scary, haunted by deadly fog and animated by a whole orchestra of creepy sound. For a moment, a long excruciating moment, he thought he had heard a wolf howling, but in the end the only thing that came out of the bushes was a little grey bunny that looked at him like he was crazy, and then ran away.
Yifan cursed again, the words filling his mouth and leaving behind an aftertaste of triumph. He had never cursed in his life, but it felt exhilarating doing it for the first time in this kind of situation. Alone, stuck on an unknown place and probably doomed to be the next Lord.
He would’ve screamed, but he only feared to attract even more attention, and now that he listened closely, he could hear the sound of steps slowly approaching him. Keeping his breath he scrambled, trying to find a good hiding place. In the end he crawled under a root, sticking his limbs under the bushes the best he could, and waited there for his destiny. Someone was walking towards his hiding place and whoever they were, they surely weren’t making any efforts to keep their presence hidden.
A pair of boots stopped exactly in front of him, and Yifan thought he was going to melt on the ground, not of worry but for the shame to be found in such an uncomfortable position.
“Prince Yifan of Stormhold, I know you’re down there. Please get out and stop bothering the poor tree.”
The boy was fair, with reddish hair and white milky skin. His name was Lay, he said, but Yifan suspected he was shamelessly lying. When he told him, the boy giggled.
“Do you really expect me to reveal my real name, like this? Are you out of your mind?”
He covered his mouth with the back of long, white fingers when he laughed.
Yifan wanted to remind him that he was probably speaking with the next Lord of Stormhold, but seeing that the peasant already knew his noble origins there was no meaning in bragging about it. That, and he didn’t really want to be reminded of his impending doom.
“Listen, lad,” - “Lay,” replied dreamily the boy - “Lay,” continued Yifan in a condescending tone that, with his great scorn, failed to annoy his companion, “I know it seems a little strange and beyond the reach of a simple farmer like you, but I'm looking for a star.”
Lay's eyes widened comically. “A star, you say?”
“Yes, a star.” The prince looked thoroughly at him. “Do you happen to have seen one?” He added.
“I can't see any star here. Absolutely, totally no star. Uhm, no, no.”
“Are you sure? One hundred percent sure?”
“A thousand percent sure. You can look for yourself, there's no star here. Unless I'm a star, but do I look like one?”
He said it with a totally innocent tone, but Yifan could smell something funny there. This bizarre looking boy was hiding something from him, no doubt about that. But he had to half-heartedly admit it, “you don't look like one.”
Lay offered him a sweet smile. “See? My point. No star here.”
Yifan cursed again, under his breath this time, but the boy caught it anyway. “You shouldn't do that, the spirits of the forest don't like that kind of words in their domain. If you make them angry not even your fairy blood will be able to save you from their wrath.”
He said it looking perfectly calm, but a shiver ran through Yifan's back anyway. Who are you? Why do you know so much about me?
“Why are you here, though? Are you from this forest?”
Lay nodded. “Yes and no, it’s a bit long to explain, but I'm here because I have a debt to repay.”
“What kind of debt?” asked Yifan as he rose on his feet and brushed the dust away from his velvet travel outfit. “And to who? I don't think there's anyone else apart from us in this forest, especially at this time of the night.”
Lay hesitated, losing for a moment his playful appearance. He looked a little guilty. “The truth is, I think I'm in debt with you.”
“Explain yourself.”
“Well,” said Lay cautiously as he walked in circles around Yifan, “I may happen to be the person who let your horse escape.”
Yifan’s feet hurt. His pride hurt even more, but at least his stubbornness prevented him from asking Lay for a little pause, even though they were walking for hours now. Yifan had refused to listen to the meaningless foolish excuses Lay had tried to feed him with, demanding at least to be accompanied until the nearest village.
Lay had tried, was still trying, to make small talk as they advanced through the dark forest, but Yifan wouldn’t even bear to look at him.
“Are you still sulking? I said I’m sorry, you know? Your horse was really scared and whining and I thought it would be better for him if I let it free. How could I have known it would’ve ran away as soon as I undid the knot? I just thought it was too tight, and if I untied the knot, the horse would’ve calmed down. In my defence, who leaves a poor horse all alone and completely terrified during the night in a magic forest? That’s just asking for trouble. And what if you were a bad person and you had just forgotten about leaving your horse there? What if you were off doing bad things? The situation was pretty suspicious and I…”
“Could you please shut up?”
Yifan’s voice echoed sinisterly in the heavy silence. Under the vault of branches and leaves the air was unnaturally still, not even a ray of light was able to pass through the barrier of ancient trees.
The only living sound was Lay’s constant, annoying chatting.
“You shouldn’t scream so much, or we’ll attract unwanted attention.”
He turned towards the boy, finding him lost in his thoughts, his gaze fixed on the darkest recesses of the forest. “We should move faster.”
Yifan snorted. “Aren’t you tired? I’ve reached my limit.”
Lay looked around, muttering something under his breath, before finally turning towards Yifan with a smile. “We’ll be out of the forest in a few hours. Can you walk just for a little while? I’d prefer to get out of the woods before the sun sets.”
“How do you know what time is it?”
“Habit, I think.”
“Umph, whatever. I’m only following you because I left my compass on Benben, but if I find that you’re tricking me…” Long fingers caressed the hilt of the precious sword Yifan brought at his side, in what was supposed to be a menacing gesture.
“Oh, just stop it, before you hurt yourself,” snorted Lay, “you don’t look like you’ve ever weaved a weapon before, and I don’t want to be charged for having caused the prince to cut himself with his own sword.”
Yifan resisted the urge to scream.
Two hours and at least three avoided princely emotional breakdown after, they finally saw a light coming through the woods. All fatigue forgotten, Yifan ran towards the orange and purple hues, jumping over roots and moving braches out of his way. Out of the forest, the sun was really setting, pouring a palette of lights on the sky. He took a moment to draw in a big gulp of cool hair. It was refreshing, after being stuck in that old, still forest all day. A path twisted and turned through the hills, and from his position he could clearly see the lights of the village he had visited just the day before. He felt like a heavy weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders, and he sighed with a relief. So now I have to thank the strange dude, I think…
“It really was the right path, I was starting to think you were leading me to some gulch to kill me and strip me of my platinum swor-”
The words died in his throat. “Lay? Where are you, lad? Lay?”
His words lost themselves through the trees, but the mysterious, fair boy didn’t come out. Should I care? Hell no, I have a star to find.
Yifan laid a last stare in the dark woods, then, sighing, he started his descent towards the village.
Chapter IV - Where trusting strangers my not be the wisest decision
(unavailable)
Chapter V - Where people aren’t always what they seem
The first thing Yifan saw upon entering the village was an inn. Which was, in fact, rather strange since he had visited the same village the previous day and he could swear that no inn had been there at the time.
The second thing he saw was a unicorn. He had never seen one in his life, but legends weren't rightful to the beautiful creature. It was whiter than everything he'd ever seen, almost majestic in his candour, and pure. Yifan was almost scared to be near such an innocent creature, afraid to taint it somehow.
There was something strange, though. The unicorn looked frantic, gesturing towards the inn in hasty, scared motions.
Yifan wasn't stupid, he knew too well he was supposed to stay away from a mysterious inn suddenly come out of nowhere in the middle of an unknown village. He had lived holed up in the palace all of his life, but where he lacked in common sense he made up with adventure books.
Maybe the books should've warned him against unicorns, too, because Yifan wouldn't have stepped near the inn for all the stars of the world, but he ended up doing it all the same hoping to find some relief for the poor creature. Everything in his situation screamed danger and bad idea, but if the unicorn were human, he would’ve probably been crying, and deep in his heart Yifan knew he couldn't leave him like that. After a soft, soothing caress on the silver mane, he knocked at the door.
When it finally opened, in front of him stood, in all of her glory and a red dress, a beautiful woman. She didn't seem too happy to have guest.
“We're full.” She said shortly.
He looked behind her. The place was silent and seemingly empty. It didn’t certainly look full, but he was taught to mind his own business, and the lady looked really anxious to close the door and get rid of him.
“Oh, well, sorry for bothering you then.”
She slammed the door in his face and that would have been all, but the unicorn kept fretting, pushing Yifan towards the window with his warm nose in a mute request.
“She says they're full, I can't force her to let me in, you know? Oh, may the gods help me... alright, you stubborn creature, I'm going.”
Following the unicorn's pushes, he approached the window. It was very cold outside, but it must've been warm and toasty inside because the glass was fogged, and he had to struggle to see what was happening in the dinner hall. The unicorn was fidgeting at his side, hurrying him.
There was a table near the fireplace, and sitting at the table, with his head lolling lazily over the wooden surface, was his brother. Jongdae didn't look lucid enough to walk on his own, and Yifan took a mental note to remind him that, able to inherit Stormhold or not, he wasn't still of the proper age to drink. Besides Jongdae, a fierce looking boy was staring mesmerized at the fire, almost like he had never seen it before. He had almond shaped eyes of obsidian steel and golden hair, and the way his fingers were curled absentmindedly over Jongdae's forearm struck Yifan like lightning. His little brother had always been picky on physical contact, but Yifan just chose to impute it to what he'd drank. That, too, was strange. Jongdae, usually composed, neat and obedient Jongdae, directly disobeying Queen Kim's direct orders and drinking alcohol?
The unicorn whinnied. “I know, I know. Something is off.” Something was, indeed, very off.
He breathed over the glass to make it easier to see, and gasped when he saw the pretty lady from before entering the room. From afar, she looked almost menacing, an ominous aura seemed to surround her. She didn’t look so beautiful anymore.
Yifan was up on his feet, sword in his hands, before she could even get close to the fireplace and the two sleepy boys. The unicorn was already charging against the door. Unseen to his brother and the blonde boy, at her back, the lady clutched in her tiny pale hands a small, ancient dagger.
When Yifan opened his eyes, everything was buzzing and shaking. There was something in his ear, he thought, like a whistle, and he couldn’t focus on anything. Shadows shifted at the corner of his eyes, but nothing was definite enough for him to understand what was going on. Something flew past his head, and an ancient, instinctive voice in his head told him that it was time to move. He moved his hand blindly on the floor, following the same primal instinct that overpowered the chaos, the noise, the fuzz, ordering him to survive. He didn’t even know what he was looking for. Finally, his fingers closed themselves over the hilt of his father’s sword. He raised it with a hand, using the other to pull himself on his feet. Everything was confused, but at least figures were taking shape under his eyes, and he realized that the loud sound clogging up his hearing was Jongdae’s voice, screaming for help.
The lady, now she didn’t look like a lady at all, what with pointy, dreary fangs protruding out of her mouth and black snakes where her gorgeous dark hair had been, was pinning his baby brother against the wall by the neck with only one hand. The other, with its treacherous claws, was a few inches away from Jongdae’s neck.
Yifan didn’t think. The sword fell on the floor with a loud clank, but she didn’t even notice. She noticed, however, when Yifan threw himself over her with all of his weight. They crashed on the floor, the three of them, Jongdae, Yifan, and the witch, Yifan was now beyond sure she was a witch, in a mess of tangled limbs and curses.
He took his brother’s wrist and pulled, half crawling, half-walking out of the reach of the dagger, trying to reach the door. Jongdae stopped him.
“Wait,” he moaned, clutching his forearm where blood had stained the silken shirt, “Zitao…”
“What? Are you crazy?”
He looked it, crazy. His eyes were wild and glossy, and he was too pale to actually be okay.
I have to put him out of danger, we have to…
Jongdae wiggled out of his hold, falling on his knees near a figure hunched on the floor.
“Tao, Zitao, we have to go…”
An anguished cry was the only response.
The boy. Yifan had totally forgotten about the other boy. And where was the unicorn? With a quick sideway glance at the witch, who was still struggling to get up, probably stuck on something on the ground, he took in the figure of the blonde boy with dark eyes, pressing uselessly over a rapidly expanding red blotch on the unicorn’s white mane. The floor under them was drenched in blood, and the boy, Zitao, was crying, big shiny tears rolling onto his cheeks. The unicorn moved his legs feebly, but it was slowly bleeding to death. The witch had torn her dress to be able to get up freely, and she was now steadying herself up.
“Jongdae,” called Yifan, voice laced up with urgency, “the fireplace!”
“Aye!”
He didn’t wait to see if his brother had really understood, in a moment he was dislodging the boy’s hold from the unicorn, “Help me, we have to get it on its feet,” and together they pulled him off the floor. The poor creature was trembling, and Yifan patted its back.
“Come on, be strong, we have to get out of here, Jongdae! Jongdae!”
“Coming!”
Zitao’s eyes travelled through the room, franticly looking for Jongdae, but the prince was still tampering with the fire. The witch was already on her feet, dagger held tight and high, ready to fall over them.
What really fell, in the end, was a cascade of embers on her back. Jongdae laughed in triumph.
She screamed, a long howl of agony that accompanied them outside the inn. Jongdae was the last to get out, and he closed the door behind himself with burnt fingers. Her clawed hands, engulfed by flames, were the last thing they saw before the door was properly locked. The witch’s inhuman shrieks haunted the group as they ran, as quick as they could with a dying unicorn with them, away from the burning house.
“Quick, the forest, she won’t be able to find us in there!”
“Please don’t die, please, I’m so sorry, please don’t die…”
Zitao’s pleas filled Yifan’s ears, a monotonous, heart-breaking litany.
“Jongdae, I need help! She’s a witch, a little fire won’t be able to stop her for long.”
He couldn’t hear the witch’s cries anymore, but the glow of the inn burning was still visible as they climbed back the hill towards the entrance of the forest. It seemed days ago that Lay had led him there.
“She’s probably looking for us already, but if we enter the forest-”
“I can’t.”
Yifan looked towards his brother, speechless. Jongdae sent him a guilty look.
“That forest is evil, Yifan, and my mother is not a fairy of the woodlands, like yours. You may be able to leave the forest unscathed, but I can’t say the same for me, and mom told me to stay away of the woods if I could.”
Yifan opened his mouth to protest, to object that, with a crazy Spellbinder on their traces, splitting up was the worst idea, that he didn’t know where else they could go with the unicorn, he could feel his pulse getting fainter, almost imperceptible, dying under his hand.
Jongdae beat him. “She’s not looking for you, or for the unicorn. She’s looking for Tao.”
At the mention of his name, the boy raised his eyes, puffy and red from crying too much. He looked devastated.
“Listen,” said Jongdae, “this is my plan. We distract her. You hide with the unicorn in the forest. The woods won’t harm the both of you, I’m sure. Try to heal him or something, if you can. He saved our lives while you were unconscious on the floor.” He bit his lip, sourly. “What a pathetic sight we make, two princes, sons of the greatest warrior of our time, and we have our necks saved by the most nonviolent creature ever.” He caressed the neck of the unicorn, before pulling Zitao up. “Come on, we have to go.”
“Wait, Jongdae, you can’t leave me with… How am I supposed to heal it?”
Jongdae didn’t know. Yifan didn’t either, but his brother and Zitao were already gone.
The sky was slowly clearing, meaning that sun would rise soon.
They were camping at the border of the forest, were it was still possible to know whether it was night or day from the light feebly seeping through the still scattered branches. They could have gone further, walked beyond in the darkness until Yifan was sure the witch wouldn’t have dared to follow them, but it wasn’t wise to delve in the home of ancient spirits without a guide. Besides, the witch was hunting Jongdae and Zitao now, if the plan had worked out well, so he really didn’t need to hide. The only thing he could do was wait for the unicorn’s death. It was unavoidable by now, he could feel it at heart. He had no medical knowledge regarding humans, even less about magical creatures. He had tried, during the night, to prepare himself for the worst, but deep inside he knew that he would’ve cried at its death. His heart felt too heavy.
“Why did you have to be so stupid?” he murmured with a broken voice, hugging the white neck and trying to resist the urge to drown his face in it and just cry. He had never really been the clingy type with pets or animals in general. There was something in him that utterly refused to just even think of the unicorn in terms of an animal. It was intelligent, Yifan suspected even more than he was, and there were way too many complicated emotions reflected in its eyes for it to be called a mere animal.
“You should have walked away from that house. You should have left us at her mercy. Maybe it would’ve been better. Maybe I should just thank you. Jongdae said you saved our lives, but now you’re dying and it’s so wrong. What can I do, it’s so wrong. You shouldn’t die. It hurts, thinking that you’ll die.”
And it did hurt. He shook his head, trying to chase away the image of something so beautiful, so pure and sensitive, decaying and rotting away.
The unicorn suddenly neighed and stood up, scrolling Yifan’s arms away from its neck. The prince fell backward on the dirt, wincing in pain. The unicorn trotted weakly towards the centre of the clearing, where little flashes of pink and orange light were falling from the trees. It was dawn.
The unicorn stayed there, bathed in the first ray of sun of the day, his dark eyes fixed on Yifan’s. The forest’s murmur that had stayed with them all night seems to grow in intensity, a thousand little voices talking around them as everything quivered and grumbled until, with an explosion of silver light, the unicorn disappeared. In its place, under Yifan’s astonished eyes, fell a familiar boy with fair skin and reddish hair.
Chapter VI - Where a journey of a thousand miles begins with a kiss
(unavailable)
Chapter VII - Where the unexpected help is annoyed and annoying
Baekhyun came up out of nowhere. One minute and Yifan was cradling the unicorn, the boy, the lad, Lay, whoever he was, and Yifan took a note to make his life a living hell for everything if the damn dude survived. The following minute, Baekhyun was there giving him the scare of his life.
“Oh Lord, I thought you were a witch!”
“Do I look like a witch?” was the snarling response.
The blonde boy gave him an assessing look, soon turned in the most conceited expression one human being could possibly muster. He didn’t wait for Yifan’s response, like it didn’t even matter to him. Yifan’s entire existence probably didn’t matter to him, seen that as soon as he stopped staring at Yifan like he was some extremely offending kind of disease, he turned his attention towards the boy on the ground.
After seeing a unicorn turning into Lay, Yifan couldn’t be really sure of anything, but Baekhyun looked pretty human. Though, Lay had looked the part too.
“Are you at least human? Hey, what are you doing with him?”
“I’m Baekhyun, shut your trap please. I’m trying to concentrate here. I haven’t healed a human boy in a long time.”
Yifan closed his mouth on instinct, but scooted closer to see what was happening. He wasn’t sure he could really trust this Baekhyun who came out of nowhere, really, nowhere, there was only forest and forest around them, and the hill, and the village, but Yifan was surveying the hills to check whether the witch wasn’t really chasing them, so it was either he came out of the suspecting, whispering, dangerous woods or… Or nothing, there was no other place. He had met Lay on the woods too, before, and Lay had helped him. Well, before dragging him to an inn and almost getting him killed at the hands of a crazy witch who was after Jongdae’s new friend. And who the hell was Baekhyun, anyway? He groaned, hating to be the only clueless one. Everyone else seemed to at least know what was happening, but none of them had stopped for a second to explain things to him too.
“Could you please give us space to breath? I’m trying to save a life here.”
Baekhyun’s irritated voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because you have nothing to lose, without my help he would’ve died anyway.”
He closed his mouth, not knowing how to respond.
Baekhyun pushed him out of the way.
“Ok, I’ve patched him up, at least. He shouldn’t die, so just look after him, ok? And make sure to give him this, so at least he’ll know where to go when he wakes up.” He left a small package on the ground, near Lay’s supine form.
“Wait, what? Where are you going?”
“My job here is done. I saved his life, I go home. I’m not responsible for him, you are.”
“Wait, WHAT? Since when, I, why…”
He tried to grab Baekhyun before he left suddenly, just like he had come, but Baekhyun made a mildly disgusted face and picked Yifan’s hand out of his arm with a finality that left no space for discussion.
“Are you really this dumb? It must run in the family then.”
Yifan stared, agape. He still didn’t get it, despite Baekhyun’s impatient little looks.
“He saved yours, your brother’s and Taozi’s life, so now you owe him.”
“He had a debt with me first, the whole horse thing…”
“Which he repaid by leading you safely through the forest and avoiding that His Royal Pain got eaten by mountain lions. Now it’s you turn! I thought that your kind valued honour over everything else, right?”
He looked around himself nervously, fixing his eyes on a little patch of blue sky over them.
“Look, make sure he survives the night, at least. He’s not that bright in his unicorn shape, well, he’s never been particularly bright but that’s Yixing’s charm and he’s hurt and things could end up really badly if you leave him alone. You really owe him your brother’s life, and maybe yours too as far as I know. And in the end it’s all your fault because if he wouldn’t have stayed behind to help you find your way through the forest he would’ve been with them and there was no way he would’ve let them enter that freaky inn. Oh my, it’s really late and I absolutely have to go, it was not a pleasure.”
With that, he just disappeared. With a pop. Into thin air.
Yifan was really starting to get the hang of it. When the day had ended, Lay had become a unicorn again. He would’ve liked to see him going back to human at dawn, but he didn’t make it.
The ground was uncomfortable, he missed his pillow and he hadn’t changed his clothes in days. Sleeping in such condition, with predators lurking around them and rain threatening to fall any moment, should’ve been impossible for him, but sleep he needed and in the end he let himself be swept into the arms of Morpheus.
Chapter VIII - Where being on the lam is tiring
(unavailable)
Chapter IX - Where a journey of a thousand miles begins with a name
“Wake up, hey! Wake up!”
Yifan scrunched up his nose, turning on the other side and plunging his head into a pile of fallen leaves. An intense smell of soil invaded his nostrils. He jumped on his feet in disgust.
Lay was looking at him with curiosity and mild entertainment. “Your have leaves on your hair.”
Yifan blushed and quickly brought his hair to his hand to try and fix the wild nest that once was his perfect hair. He winched at the sensation of dirt and knot, finally surrendering to his inevitable state of disarray.
Lay was still looking at him. Under the pale morning sun his hair were more brownish than red, and he was still deadly pale. Whether it was his natural complexion colour or the consequences of the wound, Yifan didn’t know.
“Are you alright?”
Lay nodded. “Thank you for taking care of me and, you know, asking me not to die.”
There was no mistake about the blush on his cheeks as he said it, and Yifan blushed as well.
The sounds of the forest stirring back to life covered the awkward silence that had fallen over them after the quick exchange. The symphony of birds chirping, water falling somewhere near them and wind blowing softly and making the trees sway back and forth was so loud Yifan was amazed he had managed to get some sleep at all. At this time of the day, when everything was bathed in a cold sun, the forest seemed almost idyllic, not at all like the nightmare of the previous days. Or maybe it was just the knowledge that Lay was safe and sound and blushing.
Yifan kicked a stone and looked away from the bright colour on the other’s cheeks, praying that his own wasn’t as obvious.
Get a grip on yourself, you’re the prince of Stormhold!
He was, after all, a very charming and handsome young man with noble origins and an enviable pedigree, it was normal that this creature, probably raised in the woods all of his life, was amazed by his presence.
“We should go. I have to find Zitao and bring him back safely. How long was I out, anyway?”
Yifan’s eyes glowered dangerously. “So you know that rascal who’s harassing my brother?”
Lay raised his eyebrows. “Like your brother wasn’t enjoying it. Come on.”
He wanted to protest but Lay was already walking away, calling for him to hurry.
They had nothing to pack. Baekhyun had left them food and water, but Yifan had consumed it all during his night watch over the sick unicorn.
“Do you know where you’re going, at least?”
Lay merely laughed at him. Of course he knew where he was going. He knew everything, while Yifan was still drowning in his ignorance. Well, time to get some answers.
He ran after him.
“Where do you come from?” he asked, once they were walking side by side. They had an hour-long walk until they reached the village from two days ago, meaning he had all the time he needed to ask his questions. “Really, no lies this time.”
Lay opened his mouth to answer but Yifan added, for good measure, “I already know about the unicorn thing, by the way.”
“Of course you do. I changed, like, three times in front of you. You’d be a fool if you still didn’t know.”
He hummed to a little bird and smiled when it flew towards him, landing on his stretched hand.
“I am a unicorn, but I wasn’t born in this forest. I came from the eastern lands.”
“You do realize that this is the Eastern Forest, the border of known world? There’s nothing beyond it.”
He received a chop on the back of his neck.
“Just because you don’t know anything it doesn’t mean that there actually isn’t anything. And for your information this has always been the Western Forest for me, it’s all a matter of perspective.”
“Whatever.”
“Anyway, the Moon talked to me and I received the greatest honour for one of my kind.”
“No, wait a moment. The Moon talked to you? Are you sure that the witch didn’t also wound your head?”
“I am a magical unicorn able to shift to human at sunrise, are you really questioning whether I talked to the Moon or will you let me go on?”
Yifan raised his hand in surrender.
“Like I said, I received the greatest honour. I have to find and bring back home a lost star.”
Different things clicked in Yifan’s brain at the same time, but neither of them managed to make sense in his head. “I’m looking for a star too, we’re looking for the same star then! But wait, weren’t you after that Tao kid? You have to retrieve him too alongside with the star?”
Lay looked at him. “Are you sure you didn’t hurt your head in the commotion with the witch?”
When Yifan didn’t answer, still watching him with puzzled smile, Lay sighed. “What can I say? It must run in the family.”
“Are you offending my family too? First Baekhyun, then you,” Lay’s eyes became the size of saucers, “what now?”
“Did you- Did you really say Baekhyun? When did you see Baekhyun?”
“Oh, he came yesterday to fix your wound. Didn’t I say it before? Thank the kid, you wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for him,” he paused for a moment to flash him a big, proud smile, “and me, obviously.”
Yixing looked like he hadn’t even heard the last part. “Are you really sure it was him?”
Yifan was late to answer, a little lost in the enticing way Lay was biting on his bottom lip. It was distracting. “Shortie, blond, caustic as a lava bath? I think that’s him. He told me his name himself.”
“Oh.” He seemed to ponder over it for a while. “You know, Baekhyun is a very busy person, you were very lucky to have been able to see him.”
“You mean you were very lucky. He healed you, saved your life.”
Lay frowned upon hearing his words. “He doesn’t really have a lot of time to spare, so I just find it strange that he came personally. He can’t miss even a single night of work.”
Lay had stopped, and Yifan found out he didn’t quite liked the unsure look he was receiving.
“Now what?”
“I’m leaving. We’re going on separate ways from now on.”
Yifan’s heart missed a beat.
“I thought you were the one who saved my life, but if it was Baekhyun then everything changes. We don’t have a bond and I don’t own anything to you. I brought you to the village,” he indicated the houses at the bottom of the hill, “and that should be enough to cover for your help. We say goodbye and I find Zitao on my own, don’t worry. I wouldn’t want to further bother you.”
The last part was said in a slightly sarcastic tone that Yifan didn’t quite like.
He realized, in a split moment, that he didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t even managed to found the star. Thinking back of the last few days, he had fought a witch, barely met Jongdae’s new best maybe-even-something-more friend and saved a magical unicorn who still had to decide if his personality was more sarcastic or sassy. Said unicorn was, by the way, the only one who could help him to find the star, but instead of looking for it, he had decided to try to save this Zitao kid instead. At least Jongdae was too busy running around tall kids with a killer look to find the star on his own, but Yifan wasn’t really keen on using the fact that his brother was on the run for his life at his advantage to try and find the jewel before him. In fact, the thought of finding the jewel had not really been in his head for the past two days.
First he had been worried about the unicorn’s survival, and now he was worried about Jongdae’s survival. For what he knew, Jongdae could’ve been hurt, or even worse. He realized, with a sigh, that he would’ve taken the responsibility of the throne right there if that meant saving his little brother.
Lay was already walking away, and with him all of Yifan’s hopes.
“Wait,” he ran towards him, “let me come with you.”
“Why should I?”
“You’re going to find this Tao, right? Then my brother is there too, and I want to help him.”
Lay seemed to hesitate. “What about the star?”
“We can look for it later, together. Or maybe not,” he added quickly seeing that Lay was already starting to furrow his brows disapprovingly, “maybe we can save those two and then we can look for the star on our own, not together. I look for it on my own, you do the same and may the best win?”
Great, just what he needed. Another rival after that same damn star. Someone else he had to outsmart in order not to become Lord. He tried not to grimace at the thought, in order to look honest and reassuring.
Lay crossed arms on his chest. He wasn’t very eager, but he looked at least intrigued by the proposal.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You’re the only one who knows how to find them, right? Both Zitao and the star. You bring me to Zitao and I save my brother’s neck. Our moms would skin me alive if I’d let him die at the hands of that crazy clawed lady.”
“You’re right, I know where to find them. So, why would I need your help?”
Oh, good question. Think, Yifan, think.
“I can be helpful when I want. I’m a warrior.”
“Are you?”
The raised eyebrows thing was totally uncalled for. Yifan may have been unconscious while Lay saved the day back at the inn, but when the unicorn was bleeding to death on the floor it was Yifan who had took control of the situation and came up with an escape plan. He hadn’t really burnt the witch himself, Jongdae did, but he had been useful. He had led the party away, at least.
“Ok, I’m not warrior. And I don’t even have a sword anymore,” he cringed at the thought of the family sword, the one his father and grandfather and all of their forefathers had brandished in the old chronicles, laying forgotten between the ashes of the burnt inn.
“But I love Jongdae and I’m really worried about him. I just want to make sure he’s alright. No funny stuff, no stars involved. When I was a child, I read that unicorn can tell if a person is serious just by looking at their eyes. Look at me and you’ll know I’m not lying. Aren’t the ones like you the most generous and compassionate creatures? Am I not pitiful enough?”
He hoped no one was listening. It was bad enough that one of the possible future heirs to the throne of Stormhold was begging a fairy-tale creature for help. If his mom knew, he’d end up worse than dead. Lay looked in his eyes for what felt the longest time, until he could feel the shadow of another blush colouring his face at the close inspection. What if unicorns could really read thoughts out of someone’s eyes and Lay was becoming accustomed through detailed graphic scenes with the tiniest bit of attraction Yifan felt towards him in?
After what felt like eternity and a lot of cold sweating on Yifan’s part, the other boy just sighed.
“You can come. But I have to confess you that I have no idea how to find them, either.”
“What? You made me humiliate myself for your help and now you can’t help me?”
He suddenly remembered something that had been in his pocket all along.
He fished the mysterious bundle left by Baekhyun and gave it to Lay. The other boy didn’t waste time, making quick work of the dirty wrapping.
The package contained a compass, and really, Yifan would’ve slapped himself for not thinking about it before. He could just use the compass without giving it to Lay, but the other boy was already giving him a judging look and commenting, “It’s a runic compass, you wouldn’t have been able to use it without my help anyway.”
He sent him a smirk. “Unless you can read ancient lunar runes that haven’t been used for at least,” he pretended to think about it, “a thousand years? Or more?”
“Ahah, and how come can you read it, then?”
“I’m a unicorn,” replied Lay matter-of-factly, flashing him his most charming smile. Yifan was really starting to hate those smiles. They made him feel like punching in his companion in his perfect smug face, both for being a little know-it-all and for the fluttering butterflies he made appear in Yifan’s stomach. He set on pouting, but Lay was already playing with the compass to notice his hurt.
“I guess Baekhyun left it for me?”
He nodded, still playing insulted.
“Well, we may have a little chance to find them now. Let’s go.”
He stubbornly bowed over him, adding even a flourish at the end. Because he was a polite prince who knew mannerisms and such. “Make way, Lay.”
“Yixing,” was the unaffected answer. “If we have to travel together as companions you at least ought to know my real name. I’m Yixing, nice to meet you.”
“I thought unicorns can’t lie.”
“I never lied. Lay is my name. Just the one I’ve never used in my life.”
“Ah. I’m Yifan, heir to the throne of-”
“Yifan, I already know.”
“Oh.”
He stole a glance to Yixing’s profile, thinking how his real name fit him much better than Lay, but he was forced to look away in shame when Yixing caught him openly staring and blankly looked back at him.
“Where does the compass point?” he asked, in the end.
Lay, Yixing, reminded his fussy mind, checked the instrument and smiled politely at him, all white teeth and white skin and, was that the hint of a dimple? Yifan thought it was time to regret his choice to travel with this particular boy.
“You may want to lose the cloak, my prince, we’re heading South.”
Part II - The Boy And The Star
(unavailable)