Dragonflies at Dawn - Chapter Two: The Prince.
Title: Dragonflies at Dawn
Pairing: Junmyeon/Yixing
Author: kphoria
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: PG-13 to PG-17.
Summary: He's the first one... the ancestor of all of them, but one day in a particular lake the dragonflies in the dawn bring with them unexpected feelings...
Saint Cloud, October 1845.
- “Just push one more time, Queen Mei, just one more time…”
- “Ngh-aah!”
- “It’s a boy, my queen, you just gave birth to a prince”
- “Give it to me, please, I would like to see him… Oh, he’s so beautiful… you’re so beautiful, my boy…”
- “How are you going to name him, my queen?”
- “I was thinking of calling him…”
- “I’m so sorry for interrupting this moment, but they are near, my queen”
- “I knew I could not enjoy this moment for too long. Lady Liu, I entrust you the mission of protecting the prince with your own life, I… I will not be able to take care of him… I will not be able of see him growing up…”
- “My queen…”
- “Please, do as I ask, take care of him. The priests will go with you and finish the protection ritual. Take this relic; it will help you to do it. No one ever will know that my child is a prince and will never know about his true nature. Raise him as a normal child, that is my final wish.”
- “They’re closer, just a few meters away.”
- “Lady Liu, the carriage waits for you.”
- “Protect him with your life.”
- “I will accomplish this for the eternity, my queen.”
Montpensier, june 1866.
- “These are the new paintings that have arrived, milord. I made the workers to put them on the show room so you can watch them calmly.”
- “Thank you, HyeonWoo. You can go back to your labors.”
The urge and the anxiety are stronger than my prudence. I walk quickly to the show room and uncover every single painting and once again, he’s in all of them. I spent years studying him and it still amuses me when I watch his appearances, the mysterious aura which surrounds him gets me intrigued. How come he appears on these paintings which have hundreds of years, I just can’t understand this.
- “Studying your beloved once again, Yixing?”
Amused, I turn round to find a smiling Baekhyun leaning on the door.
- “He is not my beloved, how could I be in love with someone I don’t know and existed ages ago?”
- “Oh, so you’re assuming now your taste for the ones of our same gender. Hmm, this is surprising.”
- “Don’t play with me, Baekhyun.”
- “I’m sorry. I just find your prudence regarding this matters kind of funny, Yixing; ‘this’ is something completely natural and normal.”
I clear my throat and decide to keep on with what I was doing. Talking about that matter is something I just don’t like. My personal topics are something I just do not discuss with people around me. I can say that Baekhyun is someone I can trust and say to be a confident, but even this way, my sexuality is something I do not feel sure enough about.
- “Hmmm, I can see you’re shy again, Yixing. Relax! Our society accepts us already, you know that?”
- “You know that it’s not what I am scared about.”
- “Okay, take your time, I just hope it won’t be too late and you’re too old when you wish to enjoy this, hahaha! Well, tell me what we have this time.”
- “He have received these oils, they are from 1750 and made by Pictorelli, Italian, he worked for the royalty in France until he passed away, he was the queen’s favorite artist.”
- “I see… Amazing quality, good chiaroscuros. I’m sure that it will be an excellent acquisition for the museum. But something attracts my attention, and yours too, doesn’t it?”
- “I think you found out when you came in here.”
No data, no clue, no name, only his image on paintings, drawings, sculptures. Maybe it’s a dreamer, someone who believes in unreal things or maybe I am creating a fictional story which makes no sense at all, seeing only what my mind wants to see and not connecting it with the reality. Still like this, I can’t help feeling attracted to this person, I want to know who he was, any information or something that could lead me to know what kind of person he was. My thoughts are quickly cut off by a surprised Baekhyun who holds in his hands the town’s newspaper.
- “Yixing, you will not believe this.”
- “What is wrong, Baekhyun? Once again, your ‘affection’s target’ the Count Park Chanyeol is on the newspaper again?”
- “You just are not happy if you don’t attack him, for God’s sake! Take, see it for yourself.”
I laugh cheerfully to my workmate’s disgrace, and take the newspaper looking at him with some disdain. I was never interested on this town’s news, they are always lies disguised with pomposity and elegance. Unless it is about this museum’s news or any work of art, the newspaper is something vain and empty to me.
- “The photography in the middle, Mr. ‘I care too little about what you want to show me’.”
I watch the photo and look at Baekhyun, I watch the photo again, my eyes have twice the normal size, this is simply something unbelievable. No, I can’t believe this. It’s him…
- “Yes, I believe the same thing than you, Yixing, it’s something unbelievable and hard to conceive. I do not understand how this can happen, but at least it seems we can give a name to your figure.”
I see him walking towards one of the recently brought paintings and bowing before a figure imprinted in it, and look at it carefully, and some minutes after, before my astonished gaze and my body frozen by amusement, I hear him saying with a fun tone on his voice:
- “How are you, Baron of Montblanc...”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The tiredness I feel is extreme, I thought that in my state I would be free from those human issues, but along the years and experiences I could realize that it affects the supernatural being like me too. Today’s meeting has been so annoying, boring and lacking of any kind of sense. I lie on my divan and close my eyes leaning my head back. I do not want to see anyone, I do not want to talk to anyone but Kris.
- “I understand that they do not alarm you at all, Junmyeon, but I am worried, they are strong and could try something against you just to get more power.”
- “Tell me, Kris, tell me if you remember how many murder attempts, attacks or moments where my existence and position were in danger along all this time.”
- “I don’t think I would be able to answer that question, it has been a long time since I don’t count the times.”
- “Since I have created people like us they have attempted, but haven’t accomplished that goal. I just don’t know why you are so stubborn and do not understand that if something happens to me, every one, you, them, absolutely all will die.”
- “I apologize once again, it’s just that I don’t know, I don’t’ like all this of wanting to see us destroyed. I want to finish this matter once for all, but I don’t know how to do it. My thoughts about all this are completely useless.”
- “Kris, Kris, Kris… how come you have such a low esteem for yourself? Honestly I find hard to believe that it’s you who is saying those words about yourself…”
- “I’m sorry, father.”
- “Hahaha, I like when you smile. But let us change the topic. Tell me, how is your neophyte?”
- “He’s still on his stage of getting used, though it was harder than what he was used to, his period has been shorter than the other vampires, and it surprised me a lot. I think I haven’t made a bad choice after all.”
- “Your decisions always fill me with pride and you know that, this is not the exception. Just remember to keep an eye on him and even more in this stage, where his body is getting used to his new nature. I have to scums you can use as food, and don’t look me with such a face, they are people who do not deserve to be alive, and he needs human blood these days. Tell YongSook to take them to your mansion.”
- “Junmyeon...”
- “You don’t have to say anything. I’ll visit him this Friday, I think that if he drinks some of my blood, the process will be stronger and we will gain more strengths. You chose a special and strong neophyte, Kris. Tao will be a perfect vampire for our clan and the perfect mate for you. I was starting to feel sad because you didn’t find anyone for you.”
- “Sad, you? Hahaha, don’t make me laugh!”
- “Hey! Being an immortal being doesn’t mean that I don’t have feelings. I’m proud of you. You know that, don’t you? You are the most perfect and best creation I made in my whole life.”
- “What makes you say that? You can still create someone better. We will live forever, Junmyeon.”
- “I know. But I can still affirm that. Look at yourself, Kris, you are beautiful, powerful and immortal, what else can you ask for? Besides, you are my son, someone willingly created by me, the only one alive. That makes you unique and special, Kris.”
- “You make me feel like some kind of heir.”
- “You are…”
- “Please do not speak like that. You make me feel anxious again and I don’t like it. Are you going to the lake to see the dawn again tonight?”
- “I don’t know… Maybe… I don’t know what I want to do.”
- “Are you thinking again about finding him? How can you do that if you do not have any information about his existence, besides of the fact of him being a prince of a non-existent kingdom? How will you know that it’s him?”
- “I think I’ll know when I see him.”
- “You think so?”
- “I don’t know. I do not want to talk about that. I will rest for a moment, that meeting left me in such a bad mood. I’ll see you in the dinner if you will stay at the castle.”
Even when Kris left the room some minutes ago, this thought does not leave my mind. How will I find him? How will I know that it’s him? I want to find him, the one who was born to be by my side, the one who was born to be my eternal mate . How would you be? How would you look? Who are you, Prince of Saint-Cloud?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My whole existence is a lie and I do not know how to find the truth. My mother, if I could call her that way, made her best to raise me in the best way, but I know that it was part of a lie. She and my father are not the ones who created me and saw me being born. I am unable to face them and tell them I know everything. I am weak.
Coming here is something that calms my tormented soul. My place, my lake, my moment. I reach out one of my arms and let that little being, a dragonfly land on my index finger. My fixation with them started when I was little and my mom gave me the relic with the shape of a dragonfly, which I have never left since that day. It is a strange obsession but I could not take it out from me. Every time I see them, I feel that they connect me with something I cannot discover, but is part of me. Who was I? Who will I be? Why am I here? These are questions that I never found an answer for. I’m tired, I’m so tired of looking for them without having a result. How longer could I go on?
Looking at the twilight is when I remember my revelation of the day. I cannot understand. I cannot explain it to myself. How can a person look so alike in detail to another who appears in different works of art and all of them in different ages and periods of time. It’s something so unreal. Can a person look alike another even if it’s its descendant? Everything is so confusing and difficult, but at least I have a clue. Just as Baekhyun said, at least I have a name and with that, I could establish a connection and finally reach to a conclusion to my research of all these years. I have the hopes of, if I find this person, he would have the answers to all my questions and doubts, and perhaps I could even know something about my hidden past. Maybe Baekhyun is right, and I should attend the party next week, maybe it could be a good idea to meet the Baron of Montblanc…
Pairing: Junmyeon/Yixing
Author: kphoria
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: PG-13 to PG-17.
Summary: He's the first one... the ancestor of all of them, but one day in a particular lake the dragonflies in the dawn bring with them unexpected feelings...
Saint Cloud, October 1845.
- “Just push one more time, Queen Mei, just one more time…”
- “Ngh-aah!”
- “It’s a boy, my queen, you just gave birth to a prince”
- “Give it to me, please, I would like to see him… Oh, he’s so beautiful… you’re so beautiful, my boy…”
- “How are you going to name him, my queen?”
- “I was thinking of calling him…”
- “I’m so sorry for interrupting this moment, but they are near, my queen”
- “I knew I could not enjoy this moment for too long. Lady Liu, I entrust you the mission of protecting the prince with your own life, I… I will not be able to take care of him… I will not be able of see him growing up…”
- “My queen…”
- “Please, do as I ask, take care of him. The priests will go with you and finish the protection ritual. Take this relic; it will help you to do it. No one ever will know that my child is a prince and will never know about his true nature. Raise him as a normal child, that is my final wish.”
- “They’re closer, just a few meters away.”
- “Lady Liu, the carriage waits for you.”
- “Protect him with your life.”
- “I will accomplish this for the eternity, my queen.”
Montpensier, june 1866.
- “These are the new paintings that have arrived, milord. I made the workers to put them on the show room so you can watch them calmly.”
- “Thank you, HyeonWoo. You can go back to your labors.”
The urge and the anxiety are stronger than my prudence. I walk quickly to the show room and uncover every single painting and once again, he’s in all of them. I spent years studying him and it still amuses me when I watch his appearances, the mysterious aura which surrounds him gets me intrigued. How come he appears on these paintings which have hundreds of years, I just can’t understand this.
- “Studying your beloved once again, Yixing?”
Amused, I turn round to find a smiling Baekhyun leaning on the door.
- “He is not my beloved, how could I be in love with someone I don’t know and existed ages ago?”
- “Oh, so you’re assuming now your taste for the ones of our same gender. Hmm, this is surprising.”
- “Don’t play with me, Baekhyun.”
- “I’m sorry. I just find your prudence regarding this matters kind of funny, Yixing; ‘this’ is something completely natural and normal.”
I clear my throat and decide to keep on with what I was doing. Talking about that matter is something I just don’t like. My personal topics are something I just do not discuss with people around me. I can say that Baekhyun is someone I can trust and say to be a confident, but even this way, my sexuality is something I do not feel sure enough about.
- “Hmmm, I can see you’re shy again, Yixing. Relax! Our society accepts us already, you know that?”
- “You know that it’s not what I am scared about.”
- “Okay, take your time, I just hope it won’t be too late and you’re too old when you wish to enjoy this, hahaha! Well, tell me what we have this time.”
- “He have received these oils, they are from 1750 and made by Pictorelli, Italian, he worked for the royalty in France until he passed away, he was the queen’s favorite artist.”
- “I see… Amazing quality, good chiaroscuros. I’m sure that it will be an excellent acquisition for the museum. But something attracts my attention, and yours too, doesn’t it?”
- “I think you found out when you came in here.”
No data, no clue, no name, only his image on paintings, drawings, sculptures. Maybe it’s a dreamer, someone who believes in unreal things or maybe I am creating a fictional story which makes no sense at all, seeing only what my mind wants to see and not connecting it with the reality. Still like this, I can’t help feeling attracted to this person, I want to know who he was, any information or something that could lead me to know what kind of person he was. My thoughts are quickly cut off by a surprised Baekhyun who holds in his hands the town’s newspaper.
- “Yixing, you will not believe this.”
- “What is wrong, Baekhyun? Once again, your ‘affection’s target’ the Count Park Chanyeol is on the newspaper again?”
- “You just are not happy if you don’t attack him, for God’s sake! Take, see it for yourself.”
I laugh cheerfully to my workmate’s disgrace, and take the newspaper looking at him with some disdain. I was never interested on this town’s news, they are always lies disguised with pomposity and elegance. Unless it is about this museum’s news or any work of art, the newspaper is something vain and empty to me.
- “The photography in the middle, Mr. ‘I care too little about what you want to show me’.”
I watch the photo and look at Baekhyun, I watch the photo again, my eyes have twice the normal size, this is simply something unbelievable. No, I can’t believe this. It’s him…
- “Yes, I believe the same thing than you, Yixing, it’s something unbelievable and hard to conceive. I do not understand how this can happen, but at least it seems we can give a name to your figure.”
I see him walking towards one of the recently brought paintings and bowing before a figure imprinted in it, and look at it carefully, and some minutes after, before my astonished gaze and my body frozen by amusement, I hear him saying with a fun tone on his voice:
- “How are you, Baron of Montblanc...”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The tiredness I feel is extreme, I thought that in my state I would be free from those human issues, but along the years and experiences I could realize that it affects the supernatural being like me too. Today’s meeting has been so annoying, boring and lacking of any kind of sense. I lie on my divan and close my eyes leaning my head back. I do not want to see anyone, I do not want to talk to anyone but Kris.
- “I understand that they do not alarm you at all, Junmyeon, but I am worried, they are strong and could try something against you just to get more power.”
- “Tell me, Kris, tell me if you remember how many murder attempts, attacks or moments where my existence and position were in danger along all this time.”
- “I don’t think I would be able to answer that question, it has been a long time since I don’t count the times.”
- “Since I have created people like us they have attempted, but haven’t accomplished that goal. I just don’t know why you are so stubborn and do not understand that if something happens to me, every one, you, them, absolutely all will die.”
- “I apologize once again, it’s just that I don’t know, I don’t’ like all this of wanting to see us destroyed. I want to finish this matter once for all, but I don’t know how to do it. My thoughts about all this are completely useless.”
- “Kris, Kris, Kris… how come you have such a low esteem for yourself? Honestly I find hard to believe that it’s you who is saying those words about yourself…”
- “I’m sorry, father.”
- “Hahaha, I like when you smile. But let us change the topic. Tell me, how is your neophyte?”
- “He’s still on his stage of getting used, though it was harder than what he was used to, his period has been shorter than the other vampires, and it surprised me a lot. I think I haven’t made a bad choice after all.”
- “Your decisions always fill me with pride and you know that, this is not the exception. Just remember to keep an eye on him and even more in this stage, where his body is getting used to his new nature. I have to scums you can use as food, and don’t look me with such a face, they are people who do not deserve to be alive, and he needs human blood these days. Tell YongSook to take them to your mansion.”
- “Junmyeon...”
- “You don’t have to say anything. I’ll visit him this Friday, I think that if he drinks some of my blood, the process will be stronger and we will gain more strengths. You chose a special and strong neophyte, Kris. Tao will be a perfect vampire for our clan and the perfect mate for you. I was starting to feel sad because you didn’t find anyone for you.”
- “Sad, you? Hahaha, don’t make me laugh!”
- “Hey! Being an immortal being doesn’t mean that I don’t have feelings. I’m proud of you. You know that, don’t you? You are the most perfect and best creation I made in my whole life.”
- “What makes you say that? You can still create someone better. We will live forever, Junmyeon.”
- “I know. But I can still affirm that. Look at yourself, Kris, you are beautiful, powerful and immortal, what else can you ask for? Besides, you are my son, someone willingly created by me, the only one alive. That makes you unique and special, Kris.”
- “You make me feel like some kind of heir.”
- “You are…”
- “Please do not speak like that. You make me feel anxious again and I don’t like it. Are you going to the lake to see the dawn again tonight?”
- “I don’t know… Maybe… I don’t know what I want to do.”
- “Are you thinking again about finding him? How can you do that if you do not have any information about his existence, besides of the fact of him being a prince of a non-existent kingdom? How will you know that it’s him?”
- “I think I’ll know when I see him.”
- “You think so?”
- “I don’t know. I do not want to talk about that. I will rest for a moment, that meeting left me in such a bad mood. I’ll see you in the dinner if you will stay at the castle.”
Even when Kris left the room some minutes ago, this thought does not leave my mind. How will I find him? How will I know that it’s him? I want to find him, the one who was born to be by my side, the one who was born to be my eternal mate . How would you be? How would you look? Who are you, Prince of Saint-Cloud?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My whole existence is a lie and I do not know how to find the truth. My mother, if I could call her that way, made her best to raise me in the best way, but I know that it was part of a lie. She and my father are not the ones who created me and saw me being born. I am unable to face them and tell them I know everything. I am weak.
Coming here is something that calms my tormented soul. My place, my lake, my moment. I reach out one of my arms and let that little being, a dragonfly land on my index finger. My fixation with them started when I was little and my mom gave me the relic with the shape of a dragonfly, which I have never left since that day. It is a strange obsession but I could not take it out from me. Every time I see them, I feel that they connect me with something I cannot discover, but is part of me. Who was I? Who will I be? Why am I here? These are questions that I never found an answer for. I’m tired, I’m so tired of looking for them without having a result. How longer could I go on?
Looking at the twilight is when I remember my revelation of the day. I cannot understand. I cannot explain it to myself. How can a person look so alike in detail to another who appears in different works of art and all of them in different ages and periods of time. It’s something so unreal. Can a person look alike another even if it’s its descendant? Everything is so confusing and difficult, but at least I have a clue. Just as Baekhyun said, at least I have a name and with that, I could establish a connection and finally reach to a conclusion to my research of all these years. I have the hopes of, if I find this person, he would have the answers to all my questions and doubts, and perhaps I could even know something about my hidden past. Maybe Baekhyun is right, and I should attend the party next week, maybe it could be a good idea to meet the Baron of Montblanc…