It’s Written In The Sky (Your Destiny And Mine); fanxing (4/4)

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Chapter XXVIII - The highest price

“You shouldn’t be here,” said Yixing, breaking the silence.

Baekhyun looked at the dark, empty sky. No Moon that night. Yifan gulped, realizing that Baekhyun had referred to Zitao as his brother. “You’re the Moon.”

Baekhyun’s answer was a sigh. He didn’t say anything, but he released his hold on Jongdae, and the boy slumped on the ground with a soft thump. He still looked confused, but he made no move towards the hole where Zitao and the witch had fallen, and his lack of reaction seemed to satisfy Baekhyun.

Yifan wanted to be angry. If Baekhyun was so powerful he should’ve come earlier, he could’ve helped them. But looking at his face, mouth set into a thin line and shoulder tense, eyes gazing into space, he found out he couldn’t be angry with him. Baekhyun had lost his brother, after all.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said in the end, and his words seemed to shake Baekhyun out of his trance. He looked away from the sky, from that tiny plot of blue that probably had been occupied by Zitao’s light. But the boy who looked straight into Yifan’s eyes was not defeated, nor mourning.

“I don’t have time,” he said quickly, “I’ve already broken too many rules by leaving my spot in the sky empty to be with you now, so I need you, all of you,” added, shaking Jongdae a little, “to listen very carefully. Yixing, you’re the only one who can go to the other side.”

“Why Yixing? Why not me?” asked Jongdae.

“Because there’s no magic on the other side. That’s why Zitao,” he bit his lip, suddenly at a loss of words. “Anyway, if you go, there’s the possibility that you’ll lose your powers forever. Yixing has already renounced to his magic, so it’ll be safer if he goes.”

“I have no magic,” protested Jongdae, but Baekhyun pushed him down again.

“You stay still, and maybe we can save my brother who died to save your pitiful, meaningless life.”

There was bitterness in his voice, but Jongdae didn’t even heard it. When he mentioned the possibility of saving Zitao he tried to jump on his feet again, only to be thrown on the ground.

“Still,” threatened Baekhyun. “Yixing, it’s not dangerous, you just jump on the other side. The witch is dead, don’t worry. Take the topaz and,” he hesitated, “you’ll find Zitao, or what remains of him. His heart will be a stone, probably a very shining one, seeing that it’s Zitao we’re talking about.”
He snorted, and maybe sniffed.

Yixing headed towards the wall, but Yifan stopped him for a quick hug. “Be careful,” he whispered in his ear, “and take this.”

The heavy sword was useless in the hand of a committed pacifist like Yixing, but he accepted it nonetheless, if it made Yifan feel safer. He raised the violet veil of poison ivy with the point of the sword. Through the hole, they saw another forest and another sky. Yifan didn’t recognize those stars, so different and duller than the one they had in Faerie. Yixing crossed the Wall.

“What will he do when he comes back?” asked Jongdae, breathlessly. “Can you really bring him back?”

“No, I can’t,” was Baekhyun’s answer. “My magic is very ancient, but I have no powers on this realm.”

“But you said…” argued Yifan, tired of Baekhyun’s games, “you said we could save your brother.”

“Indeed I did.”

Baekhyun’s eyes were cunning, and old. He’d always appeared like a frail human boy, but he held thousands of years in his eyes. And yet, there seemed to be a sort of frailty, of young naivety buried deep inside of him, a note out of tune. He must’ve been older than time. The Moon was there, on the sky, from the beginning, and he would always be there, but Yifan had a feeling that Baekhyun was more human that he wanted them to believe.

“You can save my brother,” he said to Jongdae, with a hint of softness in his voice. “That would make him really happy. He’s been talking about you since you were thirteen years old.”

“I know,” choked Jongdae, “he told me.”

“What would you do to save him? Would you give up your happiness?”

Yifan tried to stop his brother, but Jongdae had already answered. “I’d do anything to save him.”

“Then I’m asking you to take Stormhold and the High Crags inheritance and throne, and to be the next Lord.”

Jongdae and Yifan both paled.

“If you do, as the new Lord, you can ask me for a wish. You see, I can’t save Zitao alone, the rules are clear and I’ve already done more than I should’ve. But every Lord is allowed a wish, and if you wish for Zitao’s life, there’s something I can do.”

“But if he becomes the next Lord, he’ll be Cursed and he and Zitao…”

Yifan fell silent, not wanting to finish his sentence. If Jongdae didn’t become Lord, it would be his turn, and he didn’t want to be separated from Yixing, not yet.

“There is no way we both can have what we want, isn’t it?”

“There is no way any of you can have what you want,” was the curt response.

Yifan stuttered, confused. “What do you mean? This has nothing to do with me.”

He regretted it the moment the words left his mouth, grimacing in the way Jongdae turned towards him, betrayed and hurt, and Baekhyun looked on the verge of snapping.

“Do you all think that saving a life is so easy? That it’s something that can be done with a snap of my fingers? Is this the value you give to my brother’s existence?”

He didn’t know what to say. Jongdae was quiet as well, and the silence was only broken by Yixing’s arrival. He had left Yifan’s sword behind, and he carried a shining topaz in his right hand. The jewel glowed when he gave it to Baekhyun, but the other boy was more interested in what Yixing held in his other hand.

“A diamond. It fits Zitao so well,” said Baekhyun, tears threatening to spill under his eyelids as he accepted the globe of metal, melt and twisted around a diamond heart.

Jongdae raised his hand to touch it and Baekhyun let him take what remained of Zitao in his own hands. When he talked, his shoulders were tense but his eyes were dry, and his words firm.

“You’re all involved in my brother’s death, and you will all pay the price of his life. Yixing will pay it with his past. He won’t be able to go back to his village anymore, from now on he can only go forward and live as a normal human.”

Yixing nodded, like he was expecting it. He looked guilty. Protecting Zitao had been his duty, and he had failed it. Yifan wanted to hug him, to tell him that it’d been inevitable, but he refrained from doing it.

“Jongdae will pay with his freedom. He’ll have to perform his duties as the next Lord, to have a wife and children, and put aside his dreams of seeing the world and living a life of adventures.”

Jongdae nodded, too. He really had changed so much, thought Yifan, thinking back to the lazy, hot-tempered, dreamer who had been his brother for the past sixteen years.

“Lastly you,” Yifan gulped, waiting to know his destiny, “you will have to renounce to your peaceful life, as well. I’ll give you a mission, something that you must do for me. The success of your mission will be the price you have to pay for Zitao’s life, and you have to leave as soon as your brother has the crown of the High Crags on his head.”

He stared in horror at Baekhyun, feeling like the ground was missing from beneath his feet.

“This is the only way to save him,” said Baekhyun with a blank face, “if one of you decides it’s not worth it, there’s nothing I can do.”

Yifan thought of a house near the sea, and Yixing waiting for him on the door. He thought of dreams, and promises, soft lips pressing warm on his own and Yixing’s deft hands running on his vest to undress him. He thought of the future he had always dreamed, and the future he had learnt to dream only in the last few days.

Yixing and Jongdae seemed sure of their decision and Zitao really didn’t have a choice. The decision fell on Yifan’s shoulders, and on his conscience. It all depended on him.

“This way we can save him? Will he really be happy knowing that we, that Jongdae sacrificed so much for his sake?”

“I am sorry, Yifan of Stormhold. Saving a life requires sacrifice, on both parts. When Zitao will be alive, he’ll be back in the sky and your brother won’t be able to see him again. Jongdae will carry on with his life, like they’ve never met. It may seem hard, but human lives are brief and faint like a breath of the North wind. But Zitao will pay with his love, and he’ll live until the end of time with the weight of memories and the pain of his hollow feelings. He’ll suffer the highest price. As for you, you only have to walk until the end of the world, until you find my Heart’s Desire. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable price.”

He stared hard at them. “Are you willing to accept my conditions?”

The night was so dark that the folks in the villages downstream swore the Moon was gone when they recounted the story to their children. Under the black sky, the ghost of a tall man wearing robes of a thousand years ago and the shadow of a precious topaz at his neck met the Moon on a wide clearing, not far from an ancient Wall where three lost boys were recovering from a mortal fight and a tragic goodbye. Grass and trees had covered the place so well it was impossible to distinguish it anymore, but the Moon and the boy remembered very well the shape of the massive crater under their feet, for it was the place of their first encounter.

They had not met in a long time, the last when the Curse didn't yet exist. The tall man had something important to say, but he lost himself at the sight of the Moon, wearing the face of a young boy with light hair and bare feet. Oh, the memories.

“Don't you think,” he asked, “that this grudge has lasted long enough? Maybe it's time you stop punishing our kids for something I have done a too long time ago.”

The Moon smiled sourly.

“You’re not the first who asked for a magic impossible even for me tonight. I can't invert the Curse, and you know that. It'll last until either the Moon or your throne disappears”. He didn't add that he was glad for it, the Curse having been the only link between them for a long, long time. And, in the end, wasn't the Curse what brought his prince back to him one last more time?

The tall man sighed. “My kin, and yours too now, are suffering because of your stubbornness. There really is nothing you can do?”

“Zitao has made his own choice. He sacrificed himself to save Jongdae's life and Jongdae sacrificed his freedom to let him go, to know he was safe, though far, far away. Don't look down on their love just because they did what you weren't able to do. They made a choice, and even if it pains me to do so, I have to respect my didi's choice.”

He paused, words trapped on the tip on his tongue, but in the end, he couldn’t let them go. He wanted nothing more than to make the accusing eyes of his lost love turn soft and loving again, and yet his pride stopped him. It had been too long.

The other boy didn’t know, but Baekhyun had already set everything up, even before this story had even started. His thoughts fell on the Yifan, who had tried to escape his origins so hard, but in the end hadn’t had the courage to cut all the ties with his blood. The tall boy had accepted the mission, like the real prince he was, deciding to sacrifice his freedom and his life for a good cause. Baekhyun didn’t really trust him to do it right, tough, he was dumb and he couldn’t fight and who knows where he could have wandered off to if someone hadn’t showed him the right way. But Baekhyun was always a step ahead of everyone. After all, he’d been the one who had sent Yixing to Yifan, to be his guide, his companion, to help him in his mission. Yixing, the little child of the Lost Village of unicorns, a boy who had found his love and his destiny thanks to the mission Baekhyun had assigned to him. And now that they were in love he would’ve been too sad to actually separate them. Not when he needed him to help Yifan in his mission.

Baekhyun smiled. Maybe he couldn’t help his brother on his own, but there was no need for him to do it personally. Not when he had so many debts to collect.

“Their time will come, eventually. Zitao is waiting for him at the end of the world.” He sighed. “And will our time, eventually, come too?”

The question fell on an empty clearing. A strong wind had blown the clouds away, and the Moon shone again from his throne in the sky, bathing the glade with silver light. In what was once a giant crater, not even the ghost of the tall prince was visible anymore. Only memories stayed, from where a former Lord of Stormhold had once met the Moon with barefoot feet, and fell a little in love.

“I am Chanyeol, of Stormhold.”

“Just Baekhyun.”

But that was another story, for another time.
Chapter XXIX - Where the end is a new beginning

Not even a lunar cycle was completed when the two princes of Stormhold came back home. After fifteen days since the death of the former ruler, Faerie could finally celebrate its one hundred and twelfth Lord of Stormhold and Master of the High Crags. Every anxiety forgotten, people sighed in relief. The young Lord seemed almost too young for hold the grave weight of power in his tiny hands, but his eyes were hard and he didn’t waver as Queen Kim put his crown on him.

Yifan slipped away from the party, only stopping to nod knowingly at a not quite sober Lu Han, who was unconsciously trying to sneak his hands into the vest of a very ruffled Kim Minseok in the middle of the banquet hall. Minseok wasn’t apparently able to be cruel and cold to Lu Han when the latter wasn’t sober enough to stand properly and kept giggling like a kid.

He bowed to noble women and brave knights, politely refusing their offers to celebrate together. As the brother of the new Lord his company was very much appreciated and probably required by royal etiquette, but he had somewhere to be, right now.

His mother was waiting for him in front of one of the secondary doors. “Leaving so soon, dear?” Her voice was deep and warm. She petted his head making him feel like a child. No matter how tall he’d grown, she was still taller than him, a beautiful princess of the fairies who once had lived in the woods, free and wild.

“You already know everything, right?”

“I always do, my boy,” and her smile was so familiar and so mom that Yifan couldn’t help but smile back, “that’s what I’m here for.” Where their father had been scarce in delivering affection, almost a stranger for Yifan and Jongdae, their mothers had always been generous.

“Will you still be here when I come back?” he dared to ask, and her smile grew even bigger because he had said when, not if.

“A child had to be forced to leave his palace not even a month ago, but my son is a man now, running towards his destiny on his own decision. But your mom is always going to wait here, at home. No matter how far you’ll go, this is your home.”

Her words were laces with tenderness, but she lowered her tone to whisper in his ear, low and confidential, “I always knew that my son was destined to do great things. You’ll see the end of the world in this journey, Fan.”

He snorted, “I should’ve taken the crown. Jongdae was the one who wanted quests and adventures. But he’s trapped here.”

“Jongdae’s destiny is his own. Your father knew what he was doing when he sent the out of you in that suicidal quest. He had already chosen Jongdae.”

“Why then? If he already knew why did he do it?”

“Jongdae needed to find his destiny, and you needed to find yours.”

Her eyes held old secrets, trapped like frozen amber in her dark eyes. She had the answer, but she’d not tell. He would’ve to find the answers on his own, as always. No one ever told him anything.

“He’s waiting for you, you know.”

“What, who?”

He blushed, seeing the stark queen Wu giggling at him like a young girl, before whispering with a comic plotter tone, “Your destiny, dear. He’s waiting for you outside. A fine looking man, very…” she carefully chose the word with a sly face, “delectable, I already like him.”

“Did you," he stuttered, tripping on the words, "did you talk with him?”

She pouted at him. Terrifying, strict, glacial queen Wu was pouting, the world was about to end.
“Yes, I did.”

All right, thought Yifan, the world had definitely ended.

“Oh, please, I had to talk with him since you didn’t even mention that boy to me,” she fake-sniffed. “I’m hurt. My only son doesn’t even tell me about his fiancé, the love of his life.”

“Mom, please.” He was beyond mortified, but the queen laughed at his affronted face.

“I had to know through a dream, because you don’t trust me enough to tell me about this kind of things anymore. Ah, the sorrow of an old woman…”

“Well mom, your Majesty Queen Wu,” he said with a disrespectful bow, “I have to go.”

He stole a quick hug and left, running without turning back. There were tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. She was probably suffering as well, but she had decided to let him go away with kind words instead of tears, so that his heart could feel lighter. He was going to leave home for a long time, and his mother had given him the best gift. The last memory of this place would’ve been her smiling face.

“I don’t care if it takes twenty years, one day you’ll come back and I want you to formally introduce that boy to me. And I want grandchildren.”

“Goodbye mom,” he whispered.

The doors closed behind him, her last words flying towards him in the silent air.

And remember, no matter how far you will go, this will always be your home, Yifan of Stormhold.

He expected to see Yixing’s face, but the world turned upside down when he met the last person he wanted to see in all Faerie.

“What are you doing here?” he snarled.

“Impressive woman, your mother. So tall, a rare beauty,” answered Baekhyun, idly picking at a bag of sweets from Jongdae’s coronation party.

“Shouldn’t you be up in the skies or something? And wait, did you talk with my mother?”

He pointed towards the sky. “Black Moon tonight, I’m off duty. And yes, I did. Don’t worry, I only told her good things about you, you’re really hung and I can give birth to magical children, she expects you to be back with kids by the way.”

He didn’t care if Baekhyun was magical and ancient, he was going to strangle him.

“Can you please behave like a very powerful and magical being instead of the most annoying child I’ve ever have the misfortune to meet?”

“Why should I behave all old and mature when I’m actually very young? I’m only a couple of thousand years old! Why, do I look old?”

He ignored the fake panicked way Baekhyun had run to look at his face in the fountain, smiling in relief at his own, young face. “A couple of… Wait, aren’t you too young to be the Moon?”

“The previous one was much older than me. She left, by the way, because of your family. Something about her favourite daughter marrying one of your ancestors, you know the legend.”

“Ivayne and Tristran,” muttered Yifan. Everything came back to that legend.

“I never cared about their names. I just know that she left, and I was the brightest star in the sky, so they chose me and I became the Moon. But I was never meant for this duty.”

He pouted, but the mocking sadness couldn’t hide the real one. “I’m tired, it’s been too long. Stars are protected in their cocoon of sky. They rarely look Down here, they rarely feel anything. But from my throne in the sky I see everything, I share your pain and your joys. I got too involved and it wore me out.” He sighed, “And I can’t forgive myself for putting my brother in danger. He would’ve never looked Down and found and Jongdae, he would’ve never fallen in love if it wasn’t for me.”

An anger he didn’t think he was able to feel exploded in Yifan’s chest. Baekhyun had let all of them pay the highest price, and now he wanted out, just like this?

“Is this your wish? To leave Zitao alone up there with those cold stars?” he used his most venomous tone, but Baekhyun merely whistled. “I though you hated Taozi, looks like he’s got an ally down there. But no, that isn’t my Heart’s Desire. I just want you to succeed, because if you do, if you can complete the mission, you can ask him something, anything.”

“Anything?”

The both turned towards the stairs, where a confused Jongdae was standing, looking even smaller than usual wrapped up in his father’s robes. He tilted his head and the crown slid and almost fell, but he quickly recovered it with shaking hands.

“Oh, my Lord, we were waiting for you,” greeted cheerfully Baekhyun, as Jongdae fretted to reach them, eyes frantic with hope.

“With anything you mean, really anything? Also supposedly impossible things like, I don’t know, a star?”

Baekhyun’s crooked smile was an answer enough.

“Don’t worry, Yifan here will know what to ask me when the time comes. It’s time you go, prince, to the end of the world. Say goodbye to your brother, Jongdae.”

“What, but I don’t know what to do!” protested Yifan. Baekhyun dismissed him, pointing to the side of the mountain, to the secret stone stairs. Stormhold had never fallen in the enemy hands, it was impregnable, but the Giants who had built the palace had been wise, leaving an escape route. A natural series of rock rungs, almost invisible if you didn’t know it was there, hidden in a rift on the mountains and made to lead the inhabitants of the palace into the forest.

“You will be introduced to your guide as soon as we reach the valley,” was the only explanation he got. He gulped nervously, looking at the way the stones faded into the darkness of the night, giving the impression that he was staring at a bottomless pit. It didn’t seem very safe. Sighing, he let Jongdae squeeze him.

They both knew the hug they were sharing was the last for a long, long time.

“I’ll do what I can, Jongdae, I promise.”

“I know you will. Please live this adventure for me too.”

“Be a good Lord, make me proud.”

“Good luck.”

Baekhyun winked, “You go first.”

He would’ve liked to say a few last words to Yixing, at least, but the boy had disappeared. Maybe he didn’t have the heart to suffer the pain of separation, thought Yifan, and maybe it was better like this. He didn’t know if he could’ve been able to leave after seeing Yixing’s face, knowing it was the last time for months, maybe years.

As he disappeared in the rift, he heard Jongdae asking faintly, “Will he be alright?”

“I don’t trust him either, but don’t worry, I’ve thought of everything.”

Chapter XXX - What Is Love

Yifan fell. Obviously. His cape got stuck in a root and it was too dark, he lost his balance and his hold on the stone and he tumbled down for a few metres before landing on a lush fern. He was lucky he’d already reached the end of the stone stairs, or he would’ve been dead.

“You’re an idiot,” said a soft voice somewhere above him, and he groaned as a second, more annoying voice replied, “It definitely runs in the family.”

He opened his eyes to stare at an amused Baekhyun and a stern Yixing.

They hadn’t seen each other since that day at the Wall, but it seemed ages ago. He threw himself at Yixing, making him squeal. Baekhyun looked extremely pleased with himself.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to leave without seeing you one last time and…”

“One last time?” Yixing frowned, stealing a glance at Baekhyun’s impossibly pleased face. “You didn’t tell him anything, didn’t you?”

The other boy beamed at them, “I like surprises!”

He looked back and forth, trying to understand what was going on and stubbornly refusing to let go of Yixing. He dreaded that moment, even if he knew it was necessary. Yixing was human now, mortal, no magical powers of any sort, and wherever Yifan had to go, he couldn’t come with him.

“I’m coming with you,” explained a still pissed off Yixing, exploiting Yifan’s confusion to shake Yifan’s clingy limbs off and starting to examine his bruised face.

“Wait, what?”

Yixing looked piteously at him, before turning to Baekhyun. “You’re right, it must really run in the family.”

Yifan felt a pang of déjà vu, remembering his and Yixing’s first encounter, the looks and the words of mocking pity he had received from his guide back then.

“You can’t come with me, this is my mission!” he tried to argue, but Baekhyun quickly cut him. “He can and he will. He’s your guide.”

“He,” said, trying to keep the slightly hysteric tone out of his voice and failing miserably, “is human now. No powers, he can’t even protect himself, and I can’t protect him!”

“No one expects you to protect him, kid,” said Baekhyun viciously, throwing a judging look at Yifan’s lanky frame and managing to look insulting even if he was shorter than Yifan and he looked much more defenceless, “on the contrary, I want him to protect you. Look at yourself, two weeks of camping in the woods did wonders for your survival skills, but you still don’t know how to light a fire, or tell apart poisonous fruits from edible ones, and I don’t even want to know how you intended to find the right path through the mountains. Yixing can help, and his best interest is not letting you die, now that he’s head over heels for your ugly face.”

“You can’t command people like they’re your pawns.”

Baekhyun looked tempted, and for a moment Yifan thought he was going to strike him with magical lightning on the spot. But he recomposed himself.

“I can and I did. Who did you think sent Yixing to you that day on the forest, right after Zitao found Jongdae? Who saved his life so that he could be with you? Who helped you to find your Heart’s Desire when you were stupid enough to lose him?”

“What are we, an experiment? Is our love a trick of yours too?”

Yixing put a hand on his shoulder, drawing circles with his fingers and soothing his anger. No, their love wasn’t a trick. Yixing had lost everything for them, for love.

“Don’t doubt my skills. I’m the best matchmaker of the world. You know, I’m the Moon, I have experience with kisses and confessions and all of the romantic shit that happens under my careful eyes. I only had to put you two together and you did the rest.”

“Yifan,” Yixing’s voice tickled his neck, “he’s telling the truth. What I feel, what we feel,” continued, sliding a hand over his heart, “it’s true. And I can’t let you leave without me.”

It was going to be dangerous, it was going to be long and tiring and it was his price. It wasn’t fair that Yixing had to pay for it, not after everything he’d already given up.

“Listen to him,” pleaded Baekhyun, “He’s your destiny, and you’re everything he wants. Isn’t this enough for you?”

Yifan was tired of being told what to do. Everyone seemed to know his destiny better than he did. But if he thought about it better, he realized that in his journey he’d never been alone. Baekhyun had helped him find Yixing, had brought them together, and now that he had to leave for this difficult quest, he had make sure Yifan wasn’t going to be alone. When he was parting from the palace after having said his goodbyes to his mother and Jongdae, deep in his heart, he’d wanted nothing more than for Yixing to come with him, and now here Yixing was.

They also had a point, he didn’t know how to survive by himself.

He finally smiled at Yixing, who smiled back. He also wanted to thank Baekhyun for the help, the other boy had been a loud pain in the neck and he’d always complained about Yifan, but he deserved to hear some words of expressed gratitude. Except Baekhyun was gone, without a sound and without a last word.

“I told you, he’s a very busy person,” said Yixing with a mocking smile. “Next time we meet, he’ll probably complain that after all he did for us, you weren’t even polite enough to thank him.”

“An accurate scenario.”

He didn’t know if it was the few days of separation they’d suffered, or if he was just too in love, but Yixing looked stunning. His mouth watered at the thought that they were going to be together, and for a moment the house near the see and his dream of becoming an artist disappeared, overwhelmed by Yixing’s presence so close to him.

“Are you sure you want to come with me? What if you realize it was just a mistake?”

He didn’t need any star when Yixing’s heathers glowed so bright, and the shadow of lowered lashes drew complicate arabesques on the pale blush on his cheeks. Without realizing he closed the distance between them until he could count those long lashes, wanting nothing more than to feel them tickling on his skin when he leaned down to kiss Yixing.

“I gave up everything for you,” murmured Yixing on his mouth, and he resisted the urge to taste the words with his tongue, “I have nothing more left, but you. Please, let me stay.”

Yixing was a lovely pleader, and his face was warm under Yifan’s fingers. His mouth was even warmer, and Yifan shuddered, trying not to lose himself in the feeling of Yixing’s pink tongue against his and insistent hands tugging at his neck to get him down, closer. The new angle was pure torture, and he moaned at the feeling of Yixing’s body pressed against him, at the friction, at the sweetness of Yixing’s lips and the softness of his hair gently cradled in Yifan’s hands.

“Ok,” he panted, detaching his body from Yixing’s to clear his head, “you’ve been very convincing. I love you.”

He froze as Yixing blushed. “I mean, you can come. You can stay with me, always. You can...”

It was his turn to blush, as Yixing started to laugh. At him. He only kissed him to get him to shut up, not because Yixing was addictive and Yifan was in love with him.

“So, my prince,” said a well kissed Yixing after what seemed like hours of kisses, “shouldn’t we get ready to go?”

Yifan dragged his teeth over Yixing’s lower lips, red and abused, making him giggle. “I don’t know the right way, and my guide seems very distracted today.”

“Don’t worry,” stage whispered Yixing, taking a very familiar instrument from his pocket, “I have a compass.”

“A very rare one,” he mused. He pretended to squint at the little signs carved in the instrument. “Lunar runes, a refined choice.”

Yixing grinned deviously. “If you know how to read it, of course.”

“And where does the compass point?” he asked.

Yixing checked the instrument and smiled brightly at him, all white teeth and white skin and devastatingly sweet dimple. Yifan thought it was too late to regret his choice to travel with this particular boy. He’d fallen so hard for him, that even the thought of going to the end of the world didn’t scare him, as long as Yixing was with him.

“You may want to lend me your cloak, my prince, we’re heading North.”

The End (Of The World)

Baekhyun’s palace was huge, the stars who inhabited it too bright. They were forced to close their eyes in order to avoid being blinded by their light.

They were ready. Ten years had passed since the start of their journey, and they had travelled back and forth, seeing the opposite ends of the world. Yixing hadn’t changed. Same glowing eyes, same carefree smile, same lovely dimple. Yifan had learnt how to twist those fine features in anger and in pleasure, how to make red roses blossom on his cheeks and to placate the loneliness in his eyes when everything became too much and Yixing dreamed of home.

He had changed, too. The tall, lanky boy that ten years ago wanted his house on the sea had become a man, or so Yifan hoped. Yixing still treated him like a child most of the time, but he had assured him that Yifan was not only a man, but his man, and Yifan had never been prouder.

There was a platinum chest in Yixing’s bag. They had acquired that treasure at a hard price, risking their lives for ten long years, and now they were finally going to deliver it to its righteous owner.
The life on the road had been fun, but in the end they both just wanted to go home.

Baekhyun was waiting for them, lazily sitting on his throne and looking smug and satisfied to see them. “Why did you take so long?” he said, taking the chest from Yixing’s hands and opening it in his lap. He blushed when he saw the content, but he didn’t show them. His Heart’s Sesire was his to own, after all.

The sky glowed around them, and Yifan realized that this place, where he and Yixing were standing, was where everything was decided. The future of every living being walking Down There was foreseen and scrutinized here, out of time and out of place, in the sanctuary of eternity. Having completed their mission they could ask anything. Immortality, power, unimaginable treasures. The future was in their hands, they could rewrite history, they could change the shape of continents. He didn’t know where to look, too brilliant were the possibilities mirrored in his eyes. And then everything was dark.

Yixing’s hand was over his eyes, and Yixing’s soft voice whispered a warning in his ear. “Yifan, remember what we’ve come here for.”

He shuddered. A crucial night of ten years ago, when everything had changed, played in his mind. He remembered the taste of Yixing’s lips on his tongue, and tell-tale sensation that only the first time running your hands on foreign skin can conceive. He had looked at the stars, then, while Yixing slept on his chest, heartbeats mingling like they were a single being. He remembered looking at the stars and pitying them, because from their cold thrones on the sky they would’ve never been able to feel the warm caress of loving hands on heated skin, the dreamy murmurs of love confession before the battle, when the only things that matters is love.

Assisting at this immortal display of magic and power, of eternity and immutability, seeing his own world from Above, so little and insignificant, only inhabited by irrelevant people whose trivial human lives didn’t count anything at all, was dangerous. His felt his little heart swell with want, and he was scared by the intensity of his own desire, so thick and husky that he could almost lose himself in it. But Yixing was there, real and wonderful next to him, and Yifan didn’t need anything that wasn’t Yixing’s hand held tight in his own, never letting go.

Baekhyun’s mouth was set in a thin line and his face was serious, only his eyes betrayed his happiness. They had passed their last test. A nod of his head and the white doors were opening. A sound of impatient footsteps could be heard in the silent alleys, and a boy with dark hair and a diamond necklace appeared in the hallway.

Yixing smiled at Zitao, as Baekhyun got ready pronounced the last words of his mandate. A new Moon had already been chosen from the sky, and Baekhyun hoped that Joonmyeon was ready to take his place in the crystal throne of the Vault. As for him, Baekhyun was ready to disappear, freeing the Lords of Faerie from his Curse. And who knew, maybe a new chance with his prince awaited in another life.

Everything had started here, on the sky, a long time ago, when a young star had fallen in love with a human prince. A single moment in time had been able to change so many lives.

Yifan held Yixing’s hand on the top of the world. He had dreamed of this moment. From now on no more duties, no more destiny, no more obligations. Just you and me. He wanted to say those words, to whisper against Yixing’s forehead, he wanted to put an end to this long story. The thought stayed trapped in his throat but there was no need, because Yixing already knew. He always knew.

“The reward for the brave travellers who have reached the top of the world is a single wish,” said Baekhyun.

Yifan’s voice trembled, as he asked, “Can we really ask for anything?”

“Anything, really. But since you’re already here, why don’t you pick a star?”

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. Jongdae 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, his glow shaking unsteadily, and finally fell down from the sky.



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A/N: i'm not even sure whether i should post this or not. tbh i was really confused by the whole lawsuit thing and i've decided to put all of my kris fics on hiatus until i sort out my feelings, but this was already written and tbh i really enjoyed fxy. it was my first fic exchange and a fantastic experience for me. also, this prompt was really beautiful.
-this fanfiction is heavily based on Stardust, a beautiful novel from Neil Gaiman. Read it, it's wonderful!
-TAOCHEN PARTS ARE PURPOSEFULLY MISSING. i'm sorry, but being a fanxing exchange i only wanted to write about them. also i had no time
-this fic was impossible to write. i had countless despair moments and i wanted to give up and delete everything but in the end i am quite satisfied of it. i wanted to write 10k but the fic obviously defied me. ahah. 35k of despair.
-infinite thanks to my lovely beta thatredpanda who beta read this mess and cried over every wrong saxon genitive. you're my bae. and thanks to dear mataariki for always ALWAYS being there to kick my ass when i cry over my lack of talent. ilu girls.