It had been two hours since Zhang had passed out after calling YiHuang's name and almost the same time since the second prince had run out of options on what to do with the unconscious human in his arms. He had thought about seeking his brother's help, but since he wanted to keep the reason for Zhang's current situation a secret, he had decided against it. The Yuanjian had ruled out using the pond water again as well. Though he didn't know how to proceed, once he had calmed down, he had checked the latter's vitals and found them to be stable. Something told him that Zhang was going to be alright.

As he waited for the human to wake up, YiHuang immersed himself in reading up on the anomalies, if any, found in both Yuanjian and human races by connecting his H_Link to his personal server.

The land air hadn't always been toxic to the Yuanjians. A few hundred years ago, a meteor shower had released a chemical in Earth's atmosphere. Since it did not affect humans, they ignored it. However, when the Yuanjians arrived to for their routine survey, they learned the hard way that the land air had turned toxic.

YiHuang decided to check the records of Yuanjians who could filter out the toxins from the air, making them capable of breathing on land. Unfortunately, he was able to find only two such cases.

Out of the two, the present Emperor was one. The other one the resources had mentioned had died seven decades ago. Not believing them to be the only cases, he dug deeper. He found a file hidden behind a firewall. The case mentioned a lady from the royal family. This woman possessed extraordinary gifts, gifts that no one could imagine in their wildest dreams. They were, however, not documented. The only thing that YiHuang could get out of it was that the woman's eyes glowed a brilliant blue on occasions, and since then, it was considered a bad omen. Mysteriously, she had disappeared all of a sudden, about two hundred years ago. Even her name was struck from the royal registry. It was like she never existed.

'Brother has seen my eyes glow. And now Zhang...' He sighs and reaches for the man's hand. "How long are you going to be like this, hum? It's been hours." He looks for signs of movement but finds none. He rakes his fingers through the latter's messy hair, combing it back. "Who are you?" He asks, pulling the man in his lap yet again and holding him to his chest.

The day's exertion catches up with him, and he falls asleep with his back propped against the cave's wall.

Soon after, Zhang opens his eyes to the steady thumps of YiHuang's heart. The prince's face swims in front of him. Zhang looks at the Yuanjian with eyes full of affection, pulls himself up, kisses the sleeping man's lips, and closes his eyes again.

*****

After calling in every favor he was ever owed, YiYang returns to the groves. He finds the mouth of the cave open, just as he had left it, and once again enters it only to be scandalized. Unlike the last time, however,  he doesn't overreact. 'So what if they are snuggling?' He asks himself. After all, he hadn't he cuddled with Ah-Kun in a similar way?

Instead of feeling embarrassed, he tries to come up with plausible excuses:

They might be feeling cold; not plausible, it's the middle of summer.

The cave is too small; not likely, it can fit ten grown men.

They fell on each other and lost consciousness; that's just stupid.

After many failed attempts at coming up with an excuse that would explain their intimate position, YiYang decides to ignore it. Instead, he clears his throat to announce his arrival.

Zhang is the first to notice the guest, who had his eyes glued to the floor. It takes him a few seconds to take note of the way his limbs are entangled with YiHuang. However, it doesn't make him uncomfortable in the least.

The human sits up; careful not to disturb his companion, he proceeds to bow to the crown prince. "What brings you here again, your highness?"

The crown prince acknowledges the bow. "It seems Ah-Huang did not get a chance to fill you in on the plan." He observes sarcastically.

"He lost a lot of his energy earlier..."

"I am aware." YiYang feels like he was intruding upon newlyweds. He retrieves a few capsule-shaped pills from the front of his robes and a metallic rectangular plank from his long flowing sleeves. Squatting, he places the items on the floor of the cave. "I need to speak..."

"Do you want me to leave again?" Zhang interjects, almost rising to his feet.

The Yuanjian shakes his head. "You can stay. It concerns both of you."

The two men glance at the slumbering man. It surprises YiYang that his brother, a light sleeper, had continued to sleep soundly despite the two of them conversing.

Zhang reaches for YiHuang, but the older man stops him, "Wait. I need to speak with you. Alone." The crown prince raises and gestures the human to follow him out.

Once outside, the duo squats down by the pond. YiYang doesn't beat around the bush, "When we met for the first time, I told you that I never wanted to see you again, yet, here you are...Why did you come here?"

"You told me that my home was lost. I had caught a glimpse of this place when I entered orbit." Zhang pauses and looks into the distance, "I went to find my people," He hesitates, "well, if I can call them that. Your highness, what I saw made me think about whether we could co-exist...on land, peacefully. Living like this," He says, referring to the islands in the sky, "I am sure, must have its limitations."

"Humans are beyond saving, officer. Do you think we haven't given them chances?" The crown prince's voice drips with anger. "It is in their nature to self-destruct. They never learn; they don't want to learn. By letting them live, we are already doing them a favor. I told you this, didn't I?" He rakes his fingers through the soft blades of grass, "What we have here, do you think we got it handed to us?" He snorts mirthlessly, "If you knew how fragile what we have here is, you would never have suggested co-existence." He waves a hand in the air, "Enough of that. There is something of much greater importance I need to discuss with you."

"Please, ask away."

YiYang purses his lips and turns to look at the cave, "My little brother is bent on protecting you at all costs. He never does anything half-heartedly. You are an anomaly, officer. And I have a feeling that this, whatever you have got going on, won't end well."

"Your highness, care to elaborate?"

*****

"Hey, you are finally up! I thought I would have to go hungry tonight." Zhang teases, making YiHuang look around the dimly lit cave.

"The night has fallen." The latter observes, blinking away the remnants of sleep from his eyes. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I didn't have the heart to do it," Zhang replies, offering water to the Yuanjian. "You looked so at peace that I didn't want to take it away from you."

YiHuang averts his eyes and clears his throat; he gulps down the water like a man lost at dessert and feels warmth spread through him. He notices the new but familiar items stacked neatly at the edge of the bed. "Did my brother drop by?"

Zhang nods, "He came over a few hours ago and left a few things he feels we would need when we leave here." He picks up the disk: the thing that he had addressed to as 'the charm' and wraps it in a piece of cloth he had torn from his uniform earlier. It is then that YiHuang notices that Zhang is dressed in traditional Yuanjian attire. The radiant pale blue gab looked exceptionally elegant on him, accentuating his slim waist and long legs.

"His highness told me that we will be taking a trip. Are we going somewhere?" Zhang's question pulls him out of his musings.

"Mn," YiHuang nods, "We need to go to Kynlun. The grove needs inspection." He gives the human a once-over, "You look well. How are you feeling?"

A small, secretive smile plays on Zhang's lips, "I am feeling...good like I belong."

"Belong?"

Zhang takes a deep breath. "His highness was kind enough to gift me a new identity." He hands over the rectangular strip of metal to his companion, "Junior assistant, Zhang Xiao, at your service." The human bows exaggeratedly and wiggles his brows comically, "I am officially yours now. Please, take care of me. I will try my best to be useful."

YiHuang blinks, confounded.

Zhang facepalms, "Oh," he scans the pile next to the bed and hands a translucent grey container to YiHuang. "Your brother said that you will find all your answers here."

While YiHuang gets busy going over the contents of the container, Zhang continues, "He gave me flying lessons. So, that's one less thing I have to bother you with."

YiHuang glances up, his brows crawl closer to each other, "It's not... you can't...it would not have bothered..." he huffs, "Nevermind." He shakes his head and goes back to inspecting the contents.

"When are we leaving?" Zhang asks excitedly.

YiHuang massages his temples, "Officer Zhang, how much do you know about Intex-dimension manipulation?"

"Em?" Zhang cocks his head.

"Thought as much." The Yuanjian shakes his head, "Trust brother to pick the most difficult to understand and master department as a cover for you."

"Oh, that. Don't worry about it. I am a fast learner."

"Even if you are, there are ten years of text you need to memorize just to understand the basics. If anyone decides to question you, we will be caught."

The human nods, "That may be, but prince, there are things you don't know about me. Trust me, we won't get caught." He takes the prince's hand between both of his, "I won't disappoint you, Ah-Huang, I won't let you down." With that promise, Zhang stands up and offers his hand to the prince, and pulling him to his feet, declares, "Just tell me how to access the information and leave the rest to me."

{Author's Note :- Word count 1766

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