DongHyun's Ghosts
Title: DongHyun's Ghosts
Prompt: 05 - Ghosts, DongHyun, HyunSung
Pairing: None
Rating: PG
Summary: After DongHyun turns 16, he finds ghosts following him.
Notes: For blue_ant, because she asked (okay, demanded) for more DongHyun with dragons.
Disclaimer: Not mine, not true
See Table here!
The first ghost appeared the morning after DongHyun's 16th birthday. He caught sight of it out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned his head to look, he saw only the regular shadows of the hut where he lived with his mother. That kept happening, even during the day while he worked in the fields. He tried not to show it so much, just because he didn't want to get fired, and since he didn't, he guessed he'd done a pretty good job. He didn't have to be as careful at home, although he tried, because he knew his mother had enough to worry about without him adding to it.
"You seem nervous," she said one morning a week later.
DongHyun sighed. "I keep seeing a ghost," he told her, ignoring the patch of inky black in the corner of his eye.
His mother turned her attention away from their breakfast, her hands stilling. "A ghost?" she asked.
"Yes. Just out of sight. I thought it was a shadow, but I see it during the day, too."
She stared at him, then smiled tremulously. "What do you want to do about it?"
DongHyun stared at her, setting his chopsticks down. "I can do something?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. "You can feed it to keep it around and keep it happy, or you don't, and it will go away."
He frowned. "Keep it?"
"Yes."
"Why would I want to?"
"Well," she said, sounding even more unsteady, "has it harmed you?"
"No…." It had done nothing but watched, and he'd actually felt safe with it.
"Then keep that in mind."
DongHyun nodded and said nothing else through breakfast. By that evening he'd decided, and placed a small bowl of rice next to his bed, as his mother directed when he'd asked her.
When he woke up, the rice was gone.
"It's not the amount, or even what it is," his mother told him later, when he asked, worried that he wasn't giving the ghost enough. "It's the sacrifice."
"Sacrifice?" Nothing obvious had changed in the intervening time; they still had very little money, their fortunes hadn't changed, but… something had. Somehow.
"Yes. It shows you are serious."
"Serious about what?"
His mother hesitated. "About caring for it."
DongHyun thought about that, then nodded. "Okay."
DongHyun got the second ghost after his seventeenth birthday. He only noticed it because it showed up at different times and acted completely differently from the first one. It still took a while, but he eventually got the impression of red with this one. The first remained black as the shadows it stayed in.
"Now there are two," he told his mother, when he knew for sure."
She smile at him, but he could see sadness in her gaze, too. "Really?"
"Yes," DongHyun said. "I wondered if I need to offer more rice?"
A strange expression crossed her face, but it vanished before he could identify it. "I don't know," she said. "It can't hurt to try."
DongHyun nodded and ate less than usual for dinner. He put the bowl with the additional rice next to his bed, and fell asleep. A furious hissing woke him up and he lay still for a while, trying to figure out where the noise had come from and just how late it was. He turned to look down at his floor - because he'd figured that out, at least - but before he could ever look over the edge of his mattress, the hissing stopped. He saw nothing on the floor but the bowl of rice. Confused but exhausted, he went back to sleep.
The next morning, he found rice still in the bowl. He showed it to his mother in confusion. "Why didn't they eat it all?"
"Maybe they decided you need it more than they," she said.
DongHyun noticed how her voice trembled, but he didn't say anything. He continued to put down extra rice, but when the ghosts ate no more after a week, he thanked them and set down the original amount.
Midsummer, in the midst of hot work, DongHyun heard about the second Dragon the Emperor's Keeper had lost. He paused only a little, more to catch his breath. "He lost the second dragon?" he asked when he and the others stopped for lunch. He hadn't even heard of the first being lost - in fact, it had been a long time since the Emperor's Keeper had Dragons to keep. Never in his lifetime.
"He lost one last year, too."
"How can he lose a dragon?" someone else asked.
"Who knows," a third said. "Do you know anything about Dragon Keepers?"
As one, they looked at DongHyun, and then they all went silent. He wanted to ask, even opened his mouth to do so, but they turned away so determinedly that he didn't push it. He knew they only tolerated him at best, and he needed the work. He didn't dare ask his mother, either, because she looked more and more careworn as the weeks wore on toward harvest and winter.
He came home after the first snowfall to find his home a wreck and his mother gone. Something had obviously gone wrong, and the ominous feeling didn't go away when he didn't find any blood while he cleaned up. He hesitated, then made dinner. He left his usual offering of rice, and, feeling guilty but knowing he needed the sleep, lay down. It took a while for him to fall asleep.
A pounding on the door early the next morning made him nearly drop the bowl of rice he'd just dished up. He juggled it, caught it before it fell, and then set it down and opened the door. His eyes widened at the sight of the uniformed men standing outside. "You are Kim DongHyun, son of Park JeSung?" he asked.
The ominous feeling returned. "Yes," DongHyun said warily.
"Your mother was arrested yesterday on suspicion of treason. She was exonerated, but collapsed and died on the way back here."
DongHyun stared at him. "She… she's dead?"
"Yes."
"Treason?" he asked next. "What kind of treason?"
The man sighed. "She was suspected of luring the Emperor's dragons away. But they proved it could not be her."
DongHyun blinked, then bowed. "Thank you for bringing me the information."
The man - probably the captain - gave him a curious look, then turned and led the other soldiers away.
Stunned and in shock, DongHyun packed his lunch and went out into the fields as usual, keeping it all to himself. When he got home, still on autopilot, he made dinner, ate, set out his offering, and went to bed. There, in the dark, it all crashed in on him, and he mourned for his mother, unable to stop crying for quite a while. Just before he fell asleep, he felt something warm against his back, and something else on his feet. He didn't question the comfort it brought, and fell asleep quickly.
He managed to survive the winter, although if asked later, he wouldn't have been able to say how. It all passed in a daze, and even those he worked with noticed. They asked once or twice, and he answered, probably, because they stopped asking after a while.
Only the news of twin dragons - a real rarity - broke him out of that daze. The news caused a holiday, which broke up his schedule and his daze. It happened the day after his 18th birthday. He had no idea what it meant, except that he had no one to celebrate with. He spent most of the day alone in the midst of the celebrants, except for the ghosts he could see in the corner of his eyes.
Two days later, he realized he had two more ghosts. It took a while to realize it. These two stayed close together, giving off the impressions, eventually, of blue and purple. He accepted this as he had the first two. He did add more to his offering, and continued to do so until he found rice left over in the bowl.
A week later, rumors began to circulate that the twin dragons had disappeared. No one seemed to know how, or why. Mostly DongHyun ignored it, except when the increased presence of the guards interrupted the flow of his life. None of it made any difference to him. He just kept plugging on, working hard, leaving rice for his ghosts, and sleeping with the weight on his bed. He didn't question it.
His 19th birthday brought a fifth ghost. DongHyun wanted to ask his mother for advice, but couldn't. How many more would he collect? What would happen? He didn't stop putting down the rice, but he worried.
A week after his 19th birthday, pounding woke him up. He'd managed to sit up by the time the person pounding on the door broke the door open. Soldiers spilled into the house, carelessly tossing furniture aside and breaking it (again).
"You are Kim DongHyun?" one demanded, and DongHyun recognized him as the man who'd brought the news of his mother's death.
"Yes," he said.
"You will come with us."
DongHyun stared at him. "Why? I haven't done anything."
"The emperor's most recent dragon came here," the man said. DongHyun stared at him. The guard pointed at the dish left on the floor next to the bed. "What's that for?"
"Ghosts," DongHyun said.
The soldiers laughed, nudging each other, and one muttered something about silly peasant superstitions.
"Can you produce these 'ghosts'?" the leader asked.
"I've never seen them, fully," DongHyun said. "But the bowl is full when I go to sleep, and empty when I wake up."
The guard shook his head. "That is unimportant," he said, reaching to grab onto DongHyun. "You will come with…."
Black flowed from under the bed, solid and hissing in fury, growing as it - he, DongHyun knew suddenly - emerged fully. DongHyun gaped at the dragon, black - his first ghost? A red followed the black from under the bed, blue and purple climbing up from the back of the bed to flank DongHyun, and the last, green and smaller, curled up in his lap. All five of them hissed at the guards, who drew back a step.
"I-I didn't… they were just ghosts!" DongHyun protested.
The guard waved him to silence. "The Emperor will want to speak to you. Come with us."
Slowly DongHyun stood, cradling the small green dragon so it wouldn't fall. It - he, again - climbed DongHyun's sleeve and settled across his shoulders, tail loose around his neck. "Okay," he said.
The black dragon paced behind them, occasionally hissing his displeasure. The red ranged farther until news spread and people began to line the streets to stare. Blue and purple, the twins, stuck close to his sides, and he kept a hand on each head to try to keep them calm. And some, to calm himself.
It got worse in the city, red and black flanking the twins, creating a larger buffer between DongHyun and the crowd. These people looked openly hostile. DongHyun didn't understand, but he also didn't ask. He didn't dare.
DongHyun slowed as they approached the gates to the palace, the dragons slowing with him. The EMPEROR wanted to talk to him. By the time the soldiers reached the gate, he'd dropped back significantly.
"Come on," the guard said, and DongHyun sped up to pass through the gate behind the guards. All of the dragons shuddered the same as DongHyun when the gates closed behind them.
The black dragon and the red dragon ranger wider now, exploring the place they'd apparently come from. The green dragon's tail tightened around DongHyun's neck, his claws digging into his shoulder. "They can't take you," DongHyun said softly. Both of the twins hissed, and DongHyun patted their heads, repeating the words to them.
Ahead of them, a couple of men stood on the steps of the building the guards lead them toward. The black and red dragons squeezed in again, pacing next to the twins, watching the two men warily. DongHyun realized who one of them was when the guards split to let the dragons through.
The other man spoke first. "He stole them."
"I did not!" DongHyun protested, then blushed and bowed, feeling the green dragon's claws dig into his shirt as he did so. "My apologies, Your Majesty."
The Emperor smiled. "Come inside," he said. "Yes, they can come in. This is their house."
The dragons didn't seem too enthusiastic to go in, but DongHyun followed the emperor into the building. It did look like a place the dragons would enjoy if they lived here. Open spaces, climbing rails, toys to play with spread out on the floor. They didn't move from his side as they emperor led them to a room built against one wall.
Not a room, a suite. Lushly appointed and warm, the room gave the impression of wealth. The emperor sat in one of the chairs, and gestured DongHyun toward the couch. DongHyun sat, the dragons swarming up and around him settling down so they surrounded him. The other man had followed them in and took the other chair, a scowl on his face.
"Tell me how you got these dragons," the emperor said.
DongHyun took a deep breath and started his tale. When he ended, the Emperor nodded his head. "So you didn't know."
"No," DongHyun said. "Until your guards came into my house, I thought they were ghosts."
"And their names?"
DongHyun stared at him. "I don't… how would I…"
The black dragon nudged his knee, and he looked at it. "Um," he said, blinking in surprise. "This is HyunSung. The red is JungMin," he continued when the red dragon touched his shoulder. "The blue is YoungMin and the purple is KwangMin, and YoungMin is the older. This is Minwoo." He touched the green dragon on his shoulder.
The emperor looked at the other man. The man looked back at him. "What?"
"Did you know that?"
The man's scowl deepened. "No," he said grudgingly. "They didn't tell me."
DongHyun glanced between them, confused, not sure what he'd stepped into. The Emperor turned back to DongHyun. "You say they will protect you?"
"They did when your guard would have grabbed me," DongHyun said.
"Would they do it again?"
DongHyun stared at him. "I… don't know," he said. "I'd rather not test it."
The emperor looked interested. "Why not?"
"It frightened Minwoo," DongHyun said. "YoungMin and KwangMin have only just calmed down."
The black dragon - HyunSung, DongHyun had to remember their names - looked at the emperor and hissed.
"I see," the emperor said, and stood. "We will leave this man to his home, and find you a place to stay."
Of course the emperor turned DongHyun over to a servant, who helped him pick a place in the larger room to sleep. Exhausted, starving, and overwhelmed by everything that happened, DongHyun decided on a nap before anything else.
The servant - his servant, he discovered - brought him some simple food. DongHyun ate gratefully, and left rice on a plate next to his mattress. With a last, disbelieving look around, he lay down, pulling the blanket up over him, careful not to lay on Minwoo. The dragons got comfortable around him - the way they'd slept since the news of his mother's death - and fell asleep.
DongHyun woke to roars and shrieks, the weight on his bed gone. He sat up, trying to make sense of the noise, rubbing his eyes to clear them. The dragons stood between DongHyun and the man who lived in the house built into the room. He glared at DongHyun with such hate that DongHyun barely noticed the knife held in the man's hand. "What do you want?" he asked and rubbed his face to try to wake up.
"You are ruining everything!" the man yelled. "I will not lose without a fight!"
DongHyun tried to make sense of that, without luck. "What am I ruining?"
The man stepped toward him, and HyunSung darted forward and knocked him back. The man swung wildly, and his knife scored along the black dragon's head, under his eye, before HyunSung bit it and tossed it away.
JungMin darted forward, knocking the man further back and off his feet, then turned to check on the black dragon. DongHyun moved toward HyunSung as well, worried, but stopped at a hiss from YoungMin.
The man had gotten up, and he skirted the red and black dragons, moving toward DongHyun with eyes narrowed. "This is my position," he said, voice low and ominous. "You cannot take it,"
'I don't…." DongHyun said, and stopped when everything finally snapped together. "You're the Dragon Keeper," he said slowly.
"Yes."
KwangMin hissed and shifted closer to DongHyun. "Why are they coming to me, then?" DongHyun asked.
"I don't know," the Keeper growled. "But you're in my way."
Minwoo hissed, right by DongHyun's ear. "I wish you'd stop," he said, noting that HyunSung and JungMin had moved and now followed the man toward him. "I don't want them to hurt you."
"You don't want them to hurt me?" the man demanded, incredulous.
"No, I don't," DongHyun said.
JungMin glanced at the door abruptly, but none of the others did, their attention focused on the Dragon Keeper still advancing on DongHyun. Whatever he saw apparently didn't register as a threat, because he went back to the man he and HyunSung stalked in ghostly silence.
"Why not?"
The man stopped short. "You don't know?" he demanded.
"Know what?" DongHyun asked, confused all over again.
"That he killed your father for this position," a voice said, and both humans looked toward the door. DongHyun recognized the guard captain that had collected him that morning. He stared at the guard. "He what?" he asked.
"It is why the dragons came to you," the guard said. "And explains why we had no new dragons for… many years."
The Dragon Keeper sputtered. "The woman was pregnant?" he demanded.
"Yes," the guard said.
Minwoo moved, scrambling down DongHyun's arm to leap to the floor. He joined the twins, hissing softly. With a sudden shock, DongHyun knew what they wanted to do. "No," he said quietly.
All five dragons went still, and he felt their attention shift to him. Anger, confusion, and frustration crashed in on him. "I don't want you known as killers," DongHyun went on. "He'll be taken care of, he'll pay for what he's done, but I don't want his blood on any of you."
HyunSung hissed, and the dragons backed up to surround DongHyun, the message obvious. If he came at them, they would defend DongHyun. The Dragon Keeper stared at DongHyun in fury.
"You are just like him," he sneered, and lunged at DongHyun.
Minwoo screamed. YoungMin and KwangMin moved to block the man, crossed in front of DongHyun so he couldn't get any closer. Guards appeared from nowhere - at least, DongHyun hadn't seen them come in - and took the man away, raving and screaming threats.
As soon as they left, DongHyun scooped Minwoo up, trying to find out where he'd gotten hurt. The little green dragon lay still in his arms, still breathing, eyes closed. YoungMin and KwangMin stuck their noses close, trying to see. Minwoo stirred, then opened his eyes and hissed, swatting at KwangMin's nose. KwangMin reared back and snorted in disgust, and his twin hissed a laughed as he backed up. DongHyun smiled. "Does that mean you're okay, or that you're a lousy patient?" he teased.
Minwoo hissed and moved, but his movements seemed slow and stiff. DongHyun set him down on his bed, then went to check on HyunSung. The black dragon stood patiently as DongHyun examined him. DongHyun found only a small scrape across the scales under his eye, no blood, and it didn't even seem to hurt.
"Are they all right?"
DongHyun looked up in surprise to find the emperor walking toward them. He did his best to not look threatening, and stopped immediately when YoungMin moved to block him.
"HyunSung got a scratch, but I don't think it penetrated his scales or skin," DongHyun said. "Minwoo…." He glanced back at the small green dragon. "I think he'll be okay, but I'm not sure, and I don't know how to tell."
"Thank you," The emperor said. "I would like you to stay here, with them. Will you?"
DongHyun stared at him. "But. I'm just…."
The emperor smiled. "You are the Dragon Keeper," he explained. "A hereditary position, usually. The dragons," he nodded at YoungMin, still guarding DongHyun, "choose. They cannot speak any louder than they have."
DongHyun looked at him, then at the dragons, who all looked back at him, except YoungMin, who still stood on guard. "Okay," he said slowly. He had nothing at home to worry about, so…. "What do I do?"
"First, introduce me formally to the dragons," the emperor said. "I have missed having them around."
"Introduce…. What happens when I do?"
The emperor smiled. "They will know I'm allowed near you. I can visit you, and them when you aren't here."
DongHyun frowned. "Will that happen a lot?"
"No. But it has happened."
DongHyun nodded slowly, still reeling from everything that had happened that day. "Um. I think I need your name?" he said.
The emperor bowed. "Kim Jongwoon," he said.
DongHyun walked toward him, stopping next to YoungMin. "My friends," he said, and the other dragons gathered around, even Minwoo, riding on KwangMin's head, "this is our benefactor. Kim Jongwoon. Sire," he went on, blushing slightly, "my friends." He named the dragons again. Each one stepped forward to touched the emperor's shoulder with his nose. That finished, the dragons relaxed, and DongHyun watched as they wandered off to explore.
"The building there is for your use, your personal quarters," the emperor said. "I will have men come to clean it out. You may decorate as you want. It is for you and your family."
DongHyun opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again. Hereditary, he'd said. So he had to have a family. But he also had time. "Well," he said after a moment. "I don't need much, so… I'll take you up on that when I find a wife?"
Jongwoon laughed softly. "You're a smart man," he said.
It didn't take DongHyun long to settle in, and the dragons took less time than he did. DongHyun grew used to palace life, mostly, but he always remembered to place a small bowl of his favorite food next to his bed. After all, his mother had said that it wasn't the food. It was the sacrifice. He never woke to a full bowl, or an empty house.
Prompt: 05 - Ghosts, DongHyun, HyunSung
Pairing: None
Rating: PG
Summary: After DongHyun turns 16, he finds ghosts following him.
Notes: For blue_ant, because she asked (okay, demanded) for more DongHyun with dragons.
Disclaimer: Not mine, not true
See Table here!
The first ghost appeared the morning after DongHyun's 16th birthday. He caught sight of it out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned his head to look, he saw only the regular shadows of the hut where he lived with his mother. That kept happening, even during the day while he worked in the fields. He tried not to show it so much, just because he didn't want to get fired, and since he didn't, he guessed he'd done a pretty good job. He didn't have to be as careful at home, although he tried, because he knew his mother had enough to worry about without him adding to it.
"You seem nervous," she said one morning a week later.
DongHyun sighed. "I keep seeing a ghost," he told her, ignoring the patch of inky black in the corner of his eye.
His mother turned her attention away from their breakfast, her hands stilling. "A ghost?" she asked.
"Yes. Just out of sight. I thought it was a shadow, but I see it during the day, too."
She stared at him, then smiled tremulously. "What do you want to do about it?"
DongHyun stared at her, setting his chopsticks down. "I can do something?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. "You can feed it to keep it around and keep it happy, or you don't, and it will go away."
He frowned. "Keep it?"
"Yes."
"Why would I want to?"
"Well," she said, sounding even more unsteady, "has it harmed you?"
"No…." It had done nothing but watched, and he'd actually felt safe with it.
"Then keep that in mind."
DongHyun nodded and said nothing else through breakfast. By that evening he'd decided, and placed a small bowl of rice next to his bed, as his mother directed when he'd asked her.
When he woke up, the rice was gone.
"It's not the amount, or even what it is," his mother told him later, when he asked, worried that he wasn't giving the ghost enough. "It's the sacrifice."
"Sacrifice?" Nothing obvious had changed in the intervening time; they still had very little money, their fortunes hadn't changed, but… something had. Somehow.
"Yes. It shows you are serious."
"Serious about what?"
His mother hesitated. "About caring for it."
DongHyun thought about that, then nodded. "Okay."
DongHyun got the second ghost after his seventeenth birthday. He only noticed it because it showed up at different times and acted completely differently from the first one. It still took a while, but he eventually got the impression of red with this one. The first remained black as the shadows it stayed in.
"Now there are two," he told his mother, when he knew for sure."
She smile at him, but he could see sadness in her gaze, too. "Really?"
"Yes," DongHyun said. "I wondered if I need to offer more rice?"
A strange expression crossed her face, but it vanished before he could identify it. "I don't know," she said. "It can't hurt to try."
DongHyun nodded and ate less than usual for dinner. He put the bowl with the additional rice next to his bed, and fell asleep. A furious hissing woke him up and he lay still for a while, trying to figure out where the noise had come from and just how late it was. He turned to look down at his floor - because he'd figured that out, at least - but before he could ever look over the edge of his mattress, the hissing stopped. He saw nothing on the floor but the bowl of rice. Confused but exhausted, he went back to sleep.
The next morning, he found rice still in the bowl. He showed it to his mother in confusion. "Why didn't they eat it all?"
"Maybe they decided you need it more than they," she said.
DongHyun noticed how her voice trembled, but he didn't say anything. He continued to put down extra rice, but when the ghosts ate no more after a week, he thanked them and set down the original amount.
Midsummer, in the midst of hot work, DongHyun heard about the second Dragon the Emperor's Keeper had lost. He paused only a little, more to catch his breath. "He lost the second dragon?" he asked when he and the others stopped for lunch. He hadn't even heard of the first being lost - in fact, it had been a long time since the Emperor's Keeper had Dragons to keep. Never in his lifetime.
"He lost one last year, too."
"How can he lose a dragon?" someone else asked.
"Who knows," a third said. "Do you know anything about Dragon Keepers?"
As one, they looked at DongHyun, and then they all went silent. He wanted to ask, even opened his mouth to do so, but they turned away so determinedly that he didn't push it. He knew they only tolerated him at best, and he needed the work. He didn't dare ask his mother, either, because she looked more and more careworn as the weeks wore on toward harvest and winter.
He came home after the first snowfall to find his home a wreck and his mother gone. Something had obviously gone wrong, and the ominous feeling didn't go away when he didn't find any blood while he cleaned up. He hesitated, then made dinner. He left his usual offering of rice, and, feeling guilty but knowing he needed the sleep, lay down. It took a while for him to fall asleep.
A pounding on the door early the next morning made him nearly drop the bowl of rice he'd just dished up. He juggled it, caught it before it fell, and then set it down and opened the door. His eyes widened at the sight of the uniformed men standing outside. "You are Kim DongHyun, son of Park JeSung?" he asked.
The ominous feeling returned. "Yes," DongHyun said warily.
"Your mother was arrested yesterday on suspicion of treason. She was exonerated, but collapsed and died on the way back here."
DongHyun stared at him. "She… she's dead?"
"Yes."
"Treason?" he asked next. "What kind of treason?"
The man sighed. "She was suspected of luring the Emperor's dragons away. But they proved it could not be her."
DongHyun blinked, then bowed. "Thank you for bringing me the information."
The man - probably the captain - gave him a curious look, then turned and led the other soldiers away.
Stunned and in shock, DongHyun packed his lunch and went out into the fields as usual, keeping it all to himself. When he got home, still on autopilot, he made dinner, ate, set out his offering, and went to bed. There, in the dark, it all crashed in on him, and he mourned for his mother, unable to stop crying for quite a while. Just before he fell asleep, he felt something warm against his back, and something else on his feet. He didn't question the comfort it brought, and fell asleep quickly.
He managed to survive the winter, although if asked later, he wouldn't have been able to say how. It all passed in a daze, and even those he worked with noticed. They asked once or twice, and he answered, probably, because they stopped asking after a while.
Only the news of twin dragons - a real rarity - broke him out of that daze. The news caused a holiday, which broke up his schedule and his daze. It happened the day after his 18th birthday. He had no idea what it meant, except that he had no one to celebrate with. He spent most of the day alone in the midst of the celebrants, except for the ghosts he could see in the corner of his eyes.
Two days later, he realized he had two more ghosts. It took a while to realize it. These two stayed close together, giving off the impressions, eventually, of blue and purple. He accepted this as he had the first two. He did add more to his offering, and continued to do so until he found rice left over in the bowl.
A week later, rumors began to circulate that the twin dragons had disappeared. No one seemed to know how, or why. Mostly DongHyun ignored it, except when the increased presence of the guards interrupted the flow of his life. None of it made any difference to him. He just kept plugging on, working hard, leaving rice for his ghosts, and sleeping with the weight on his bed. He didn't question it.
His 19th birthday brought a fifth ghost. DongHyun wanted to ask his mother for advice, but couldn't. How many more would he collect? What would happen? He didn't stop putting down the rice, but he worried.
A week after his 19th birthday, pounding woke him up. He'd managed to sit up by the time the person pounding on the door broke the door open. Soldiers spilled into the house, carelessly tossing furniture aside and breaking it (again).
"You are Kim DongHyun?" one demanded, and DongHyun recognized him as the man who'd brought the news of his mother's death.
"Yes," he said.
"You will come with us."
DongHyun stared at him. "Why? I haven't done anything."
"The emperor's most recent dragon came here," the man said. DongHyun stared at him. The guard pointed at the dish left on the floor next to the bed. "What's that for?"
"Ghosts," DongHyun said.
The soldiers laughed, nudging each other, and one muttered something about silly peasant superstitions.
"Can you produce these 'ghosts'?" the leader asked.
"I've never seen them, fully," DongHyun said. "But the bowl is full when I go to sleep, and empty when I wake up."
The guard shook his head. "That is unimportant," he said, reaching to grab onto DongHyun. "You will come with…."
Black flowed from under the bed, solid and hissing in fury, growing as it - he, DongHyun knew suddenly - emerged fully. DongHyun gaped at the dragon, black - his first ghost? A red followed the black from under the bed, blue and purple climbing up from the back of the bed to flank DongHyun, and the last, green and smaller, curled up in his lap. All five of them hissed at the guards, who drew back a step.
"I-I didn't… they were just ghosts!" DongHyun protested.
The guard waved him to silence. "The Emperor will want to speak to you. Come with us."
Slowly DongHyun stood, cradling the small green dragon so it wouldn't fall. It - he, again - climbed DongHyun's sleeve and settled across his shoulders, tail loose around his neck. "Okay," he said.
The black dragon paced behind them, occasionally hissing his displeasure. The red ranged farther until news spread and people began to line the streets to stare. Blue and purple, the twins, stuck close to his sides, and he kept a hand on each head to try to keep them calm. And some, to calm himself.
It got worse in the city, red and black flanking the twins, creating a larger buffer between DongHyun and the crowd. These people looked openly hostile. DongHyun didn't understand, but he also didn't ask. He didn't dare.
DongHyun slowed as they approached the gates to the palace, the dragons slowing with him. The EMPEROR wanted to talk to him. By the time the soldiers reached the gate, he'd dropped back significantly.
"Come on," the guard said, and DongHyun sped up to pass through the gate behind the guards. All of the dragons shuddered the same as DongHyun when the gates closed behind them.
The black dragon and the red dragon ranger wider now, exploring the place they'd apparently come from. The green dragon's tail tightened around DongHyun's neck, his claws digging into his shoulder. "They can't take you," DongHyun said softly. Both of the twins hissed, and DongHyun patted their heads, repeating the words to them.
Ahead of them, a couple of men stood on the steps of the building the guards lead them toward. The black and red dragons squeezed in again, pacing next to the twins, watching the two men warily. DongHyun realized who one of them was when the guards split to let the dragons through.
The other man spoke first. "He stole them."
"I did not!" DongHyun protested, then blushed and bowed, feeling the green dragon's claws dig into his shirt as he did so. "My apologies, Your Majesty."
The Emperor smiled. "Come inside," he said. "Yes, they can come in. This is their house."
The dragons didn't seem too enthusiastic to go in, but DongHyun followed the emperor into the building. It did look like a place the dragons would enjoy if they lived here. Open spaces, climbing rails, toys to play with spread out on the floor. They didn't move from his side as they emperor led them to a room built against one wall.
Not a room, a suite. Lushly appointed and warm, the room gave the impression of wealth. The emperor sat in one of the chairs, and gestured DongHyun toward the couch. DongHyun sat, the dragons swarming up and around him settling down so they surrounded him. The other man had followed them in and took the other chair, a scowl on his face.
"Tell me how you got these dragons," the emperor said.
DongHyun took a deep breath and started his tale. When he ended, the Emperor nodded his head. "So you didn't know."
"No," DongHyun said. "Until your guards came into my house, I thought they were ghosts."
"And their names?"
DongHyun stared at him. "I don't… how would I…"
The black dragon nudged his knee, and he looked at it. "Um," he said, blinking in surprise. "This is HyunSung. The red is JungMin," he continued when the red dragon touched his shoulder. "The blue is YoungMin and the purple is KwangMin, and YoungMin is the older. This is Minwoo." He touched the green dragon on his shoulder.
The emperor looked at the other man. The man looked back at him. "What?"
"Did you know that?"
The man's scowl deepened. "No," he said grudgingly. "They didn't tell me."
DongHyun glanced between them, confused, not sure what he'd stepped into. The Emperor turned back to DongHyun. "You say they will protect you?"
"They did when your guard would have grabbed me," DongHyun said.
"Would they do it again?"
DongHyun stared at him. "I… don't know," he said. "I'd rather not test it."
The emperor looked interested. "Why not?"
"It frightened Minwoo," DongHyun said. "YoungMin and KwangMin have only just calmed down."
The black dragon - HyunSung, DongHyun had to remember their names - looked at the emperor and hissed.
"I see," the emperor said, and stood. "We will leave this man to his home, and find you a place to stay."
Of course the emperor turned DongHyun over to a servant, who helped him pick a place in the larger room to sleep. Exhausted, starving, and overwhelmed by everything that happened, DongHyun decided on a nap before anything else.
The servant - his servant, he discovered - brought him some simple food. DongHyun ate gratefully, and left rice on a plate next to his mattress. With a last, disbelieving look around, he lay down, pulling the blanket up over him, careful not to lay on Minwoo. The dragons got comfortable around him - the way they'd slept since the news of his mother's death - and fell asleep.
DongHyun woke to roars and shrieks, the weight on his bed gone. He sat up, trying to make sense of the noise, rubbing his eyes to clear them. The dragons stood between DongHyun and the man who lived in the house built into the room. He glared at DongHyun with such hate that DongHyun barely noticed the knife held in the man's hand. "What do you want?" he asked and rubbed his face to try to wake up.
"You are ruining everything!" the man yelled. "I will not lose without a fight!"
DongHyun tried to make sense of that, without luck. "What am I ruining?"
The man stepped toward him, and HyunSung darted forward and knocked him back. The man swung wildly, and his knife scored along the black dragon's head, under his eye, before HyunSung bit it and tossed it away.
JungMin darted forward, knocking the man further back and off his feet, then turned to check on the black dragon. DongHyun moved toward HyunSung as well, worried, but stopped at a hiss from YoungMin.
The man had gotten up, and he skirted the red and black dragons, moving toward DongHyun with eyes narrowed. "This is my position," he said, voice low and ominous. "You cannot take it,"
'I don't…." DongHyun said, and stopped when everything finally snapped together. "You're the Dragon Keeper," he said slowly.
"Yes."
KwangMin hissed and shifted closer to DongHyun. "Why are they coming to me, then?" DongHyun asked.
"I don't know," the Keeper growled. "But you're in my way."
Minwoo hissed, right by DongHyun's ear. "I wish you'd stop," he said, noting that HyunSung and JungMin had moved and now followed the man toward him. "I don't want them to hurt you."
"You don't want them to hurt me?" the man demanded, incredulous.
"No, I don't," DongHyun said.
JungMin glanced at the door abruptly, but none of the others did, their attention focused on the Dragon Keeper still advancing on DongHyun. Whatever he saw apparently didn't register as a threat, because he went back to the man he and HyunSung stalked in ghostly silence.
"Why not?"
The man stopped short. "You don't know?" he demanded.
"Know what?" DongHyun asked, confused all over again.
"That he killed your father for this position," a voice said, and both humans looked toward the door. DongHyun recognized the guard captain that had collected him that morning. He stared at the guard. "He what?" he asked.
"It is why the dragons came to you," the guard said. "And explains why we had no new dragons for… many years."
The Dragon Keeper sputtered. "The woman was pregnant?" he demanded.
"Yes," the guard said.
Minwoo moved, scrambling down DongHyun's arm to leap to the floor. He joined the twins, hissing softly. With a sudden shock, DongHyun knew what they wanted to do. "No," he said quietly.
All five dragons went still, and he felt their attention shift to him. Anger, confusion, and frustration crashed in on him. "I don't want you known as killers," DongHyun went on. "He'll be taken care of, he'll pay for what he's done, but I don't want his blood on any of you."
HyunSung hissed, and the dragons backed up to surround DongHyun, the message obvious. If he came at them, they would defend DongHyun. The Dragon Keeper stared at DongHyun in fury.
"You are just like him," he sneered, and lunged at DongHyun.
Minwoo screamed. YoungMin and KwangMin moved to block the man, crossed in front of DongHyun so he couldn't get any closer. Guards appeared from nowhere - at least, DongHyun hadn't seen them come in - and took the man away, raving and screaming threats.
As soon as they left, DongHyun scooped Minwoo up, trying to find out where he'd gotten hurt. The little green dragon lay still in his arms, still breathing, eyes closed. YoungMin and KwangMin stuck their noses close, trying to see. Minwoo stirred, then opened his eyes and hissed, swatting at KwangMin's nose. KwangMin reared back and snorted in disgust, and his twin hissed a laughed as he backed up. DongHyun smiled. "Does that mean you're okay, or that you're a lousy patient?" he teased.
Minwoo hissed and moved, but his movements seemed slow and stiff. DongHyun set him down on his bed, then went to check on HyunSung. The black dragon stood patiently as DongHyun examined him. DongHyun found only a small scrape across the scales under his eye, no blood, and it didn't even seem to hurt.
"Are they all right?"
DongHyun looked up in surprise to find the emperor walking toward them. He did his best to not look threatening, and stopped immediately when YoungMin moved to block him.
"HyunSung got a scratch, but I don't think it penetrated his scales or skin," DongHyun said. "Minwoo…." He glanced back at the small green dragon. "I think he'll be okay, but I'm not sure, and I don't know how to tell."
"Thank you," The emperor said. "I would like you to stay here, with them. Will you?"
DongHyun stared at him. "But. I'm just…."
The emperor smiled. "You are the Dragon Keeper," he explained. "A hereditary position, usually. The dragons," he nodded at YoungMin, still guarding DongHyun, "choose. They cannot speak any louder than they have."
DongHyun looked at him, then at the dragons, who all looked back at him, except YoungMin, who still stood on guard. "Okay," he said slowly. He had nothing at home to worry about, so…. "What do I do?"
"First, introduce me formally to the dragons," the emperor said. "I have missed having them around."
"Introduce…. What happens when I do?"
The emperor smiled. "They will know I'm allowed near you. I can visit you, and them when you aren't here."
DongHyun frowned. "Will that happen a lot?"
"No. But it has happened."
DongHyun nodded slowly, still reeling from everything that had happened that day. "Um. I think I need your name?" he said.
The emperor bowed. "Kim Jongwoon," he said.
DongHyun walked toward him, stopping next to YoungMin. "My friends," he said, and the other dragons gathered around, even Minwoo, riding on KwangMin's head, "this is our benefactor. Kim Jongwoon. Sire," he went on, blushing slightly, "my friends." He named the dragons again. Each one stepped forward to touched the emperor's shoulder with his nose. That finished, the dragons relaxed, and DongHyun watched as they wandered off to explore.
"The building there is for your use, your personal quarters," the emperor said. "I will have men come to clean it out. You may decorate as you want. It is for you and your family."
DongHyun opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again. Hereditary, he'd said. So he had to have a family. But he also had time. "Well," he said after a moment. "I don't need much, so… I'll take you up on that when I find a wife?"
Jongwoon laughed softly. "You're a smart man," he said.
It didn't take DongHyun long to settle in, and the dragons took less time than he did. DongHyun grew used to palace life, mostly, but he always remembered to place a small bowl of his favorite food next to his bed. After all, his mother had said that it wasn't the food. It was the sacrifice. He never woke to a full bowl, or an empty house.