Around a few months ago

Seonghwa tiptoes as he closes the door subtly, face cringing to make sure that he makes no sound. He chuckles to himself as it seems that he's succeeded in making the other person in the room utterly oblivious to his presence. Grinning evilly, he tiptoes again as he approaches the person, who seems to be really absorbed in whatever they're doing. As soon as he stands behind the person sitting, he spreads his arms, intending to hug them before he is halted, the person holding up a hand.

"I could hear you breathing from miles away," Akira comments, looking over her shoulder as she drops her hand. She glances at him, "Trying to sneak up on me?"

Shrugging, he pretends as if he wasn't about to hug her from behind as he takes a seat beside her, peeking at what she's doing. "I wasn't sneaking up on you and tsk," he pushes his lower lip outward, "that's such an exaggeration. Who would be able to hear someone breathing from miles away?"

She makes a face. "I can."

He rolls his eyes, drawling, "Right, the oh-so-great Akira Hwang can do anything."

She smiles before she turns back to the book she's reading, ignoring him as she gets absorbed in the maze of the story again. She doesn't say anything as her eyes flick from left to right, taking in every word as she feels him leaning in, before he puts the side of his face on the book, blocking her view.

"Aish," she complains before attempting to push his face away. "You're blocking my view, I'm trying to read here."

"I am the view," he utters. "Give me attention."

"I can't," she says seriously as she tries to read the sentences under his cheek. "It's the climax of the story; the girl is about to confess to someone she likes."

"Hmph," he breathes as he lifts up his head from the book, crossing his arms and leaning against the chair. He watches from the side as she continues reading, completely staying true to how she said she wouldn't be giving him attention.

She presses her tongue against the inside of her cheek, focusing on reading the last sentence of the chapter. Apparently the girl is about to confess to the person she likes and then... her eyes stop at the period at the end of the sentence. She watches the empty space below and she complains.

"The author made a cliffhanger at the end of this chapter and now I have to read another one. Ugh, I'm dying of curiosity."

"And I'm dying for attention," Seonghwa says, shaking her shoulder lightly. "I came all the way here from the palace to see you but you find the book more interesting."

She chuckles before closing the book, turning to look at him finally. "Okay, I'm not reading anymore." She stares into his eyes, amused by how it's yellow; showing that happiness is his dominant emotion. "Do you have happy news?"

"I'm just happy to see you," he smiles.

She blinks as she tries to digest the compliment; she still feels that it's somewhat awkward to hear someone straight up saying that they're happy to see her. She pushes the book away as she reaches for the mug beside it, but he steals it first.

As he takes a sip hastily, he asks, "What's this, hot choco?"

"It's coffee," she deadpans. "With no sugar."

He looks like he's just swallowed something horrid as he feels the bitter liquid gliding down his throat, his sense registering the taste that he despises. He makes a face as he sets the mug down, regretting his life choices.

"You really need to stop stealing my drink. Last time you did, you got poisoned."

He grimaces, tongue feeling too bitter to give a reply. He just looks guilty before shrugging, "Alright, alright."

"Why are you here?" she asks as she stands up, putting away the book on the shelf. "You just came yesterday and had a feast thanks to Madam Eurielle."

"I missed you," he pouts.

She doesn't answer before she turns around, pretending that she has not heard him say it. As she browses through the array of books, she utters, "I never thought you're this clingy."

"I find one person that I like," he says, "and I give them all my love."

She chuckles, but in truth her heart slightly beats fast when he said it, even nonchalantly. She hums as she browses through the titles, and he stands up to see through the selection of books too.

His focus is directed alternately from the books to Akira, and he finds it endearing how she likes spending most of her time reading now.

"Which one is your favourite?"

"Hmm?" she looks confused by his sudden question.

"A book... or a story. Which one do you like the most?"

Even though confused on why he would ask that, she goes over to another row of shelves in the library, Seonghwa trailing behind her as he looks on curiously. She stops in front of a set group of books, her fingers tapping on each one of them. She takes one out, gives it to him before taking out another, repeating it until he has a pile of books in his hands. She taps the book that's on top.

"All of them?" he asks.

"These are some," she replies. "I don't have only one favourite, but these are a few."

He reads the titles of every book and smiles when he sees that almost all, if not all, are romantic stories. He opens the one on top and flips it over to read the synopsis, chuckling slowly as he would never have thought she'd be interested in these kinds of books. They go over to the table and he puts them down.

She shrugs. "I've read these books at least twice. I can probably tell you each story from start to finish and ooh," she quickly adds, "I can even remember some of their exact dialogues."

He smiles as she keeps on rambling about her favourite books, enjoying how she looks like she doesn't look like she's finishing soon. His eyes change to purple as he places his palms on the book and rests his chin on top of his stacked hands, staring at her.

She stops as she realizes that she's been rambling for at least 5 minutes before sheepishly saying, "I think I just spoiled every book here to you."

"It's alright, I like listening to you talk about your favourite books. You're-"

"Don't say it."

"-cute."

She groans as he laughs, and while she's still cringing at his compliment he pulls her into a hug so tight that she almost feels like she's going to stop breathing.

"You're- taking- my- breath- away-" she utters one by one as she elbows him to let go. "And it's not because of a good thing. I'm going to die.."

He gasps as he hears her say that. "Don't say that. I don't like hearing that word."

She falls back into the seat, gathering all her favourite books as she utters, "We're going to die one day, it's just a matter of time." Then she glances at him from the corner of her eyes, "And how we die."

He frowns, pinching her arm lightly, but she doesn't flinch. "You always talk about death like it's normal."

She pushes the books away, leaning against the table as she puts her elbow on it, pushing her palm against her cheek. She faces him. "That's because it is." When he looks like he's about to complain again, she continues, "I find that when I remind myself that one day I'm going to be gone from this world, I tend to appreciate the things," her eyes gaze softly upon him, "and the people around me more. I don't want to have any regrets later, like I did when I had to send away Emira."

"But you know-" he grins.

"You're going to say something that's going to make my toes curl, aren't you?"

Seonghwa clamps his lips but still with his shameless face on, he blurts it out anyway in one breath. "I'll make sure I'll spend all the time I have with you until you're begging for me to go away. So we'll have no regrets."

She rolls her eyes but says nothing, failing to hide her smile.

"See? You love me and you can't get rid of me."

"Who says I want to get rid of you?" she says casually as she lifts the books up, looking to put them back.

"Wait." He puts out a hand to stop her from going back to the shelves. "I still haven't asked you a question about why they're your favourite."

She looks away, refusing to answer before she wriggles out of his grip, looking to put away the books. "It's nothing, really. Just some lame reason."

"I'm just curious why; I won't judge."

"I know you're already judging my choice of books."

"I'm not," he exclaims. "It's adorable how you used to swing your sword around, slashing your enemies like they're nothing but now you get occupied with romantic stories." He says it in baby talk while trying to pinch her cheeks, but gets stopped when she glares at him.

"I still can swing my sword around if someone bothers me," she says threateningly.

"Sure," he says through a pout. "So what's the reason?"

She sighs as she sits on the table, crossing her feet as she swings them back and forth. "They all have happy endings."

He looks taken aback by her answer because it's not any of what he had expected. He's genuinely surprised by her answer that he remains quiet as she continues talking.

"They're all fiction, so it's nice to read something that ends on a happy note. That's why I keep rereading them. It's nice to read something that doesn't have many conflicts," she chuckles, "Yunho said they're boring though; he falls asleep halfway through reading one of them."

He looks at the stacks of books, his heart somewhat feeling melancholic at her reason. He takes one of them randomly, reading the title in brief. "All of them? Happy endings?"

She nods eagerly. "It's something hard to imagine but in the end everyone gets what they want."

"Even the bad guys?" He smiles as he reaches out to pat her head.

"The bad guys get what they deserve," she utters. "Will our world turn out to be like that in the end? That we get our happy ending and those who need to be punished get what they deserve."

"Hmm," he hums. "It could be." There's a slight blue dusting his irises as he looks at her, "But sometimes, those who are innocent get punished instead."

She agrees. "Because that's how our world is; not everyone can get their happy endings. I want a happy ending," she chuckles, "but that means we have to see the end. I don't want to see the end, but I don't think we'll ever escape that."

---

He opens his eyes, feeling lightheaded as he feels his wet cheeks. Automatically his hand flies to his eyes as he dabs them and he sits up straighter. His body feels like it's been beaten up mercilessly, his mind flying back to the embarrassing stuff he said and did while the two witnessed him. He cringes both because of his headache and embarrassment, and he hits his head with the heel of his palm, scolding himself.

"Why on earth did I do that?! That was so embarrassing and you did it in front of not one, but two people? Park Seonghwa..." He buries his face in his hands, "Where will I ever put my face? I can't even look at them in the eyes now, and-" He stops as the vague memories of what Yunho had said to him before he passed out came to him.

He presses his lips together, the bitter feeling in his mouth not leaving him as he recounts slowly what Yunho said. He sighs and leans against the sofa; it looks like whoever had brought him to the bedroom decided to lay him down there, as Akira is occupying most of the bed as she lies unconscious. It's not like he minded, since he barely slept properly since she fell unconscious anyway. His eyes wander to the bed subconsciously, hoping that maybe she has woken up and is sitting there, smiling at him.

His heart drops as he sees that she's still there in the same position, her chest rising up and down slowly as her body is supplied with nutrients and medications through a needle injected on her arm. He gets up, the effects of him drunk still remaining in his body so he shakes his head, hits it a few times to clear his mind. He staggers towards the bed, almost diving face first as he trips over the edge of a carpet, but manages to save himself as he holds on to the bedsheet.

Now on the floor, he peeks over the edge of the bed as if playing hide and seek with Akira, trying to see if the chaos managed to wake her up. But still, everything remains the same with the exception of the blanket, in which he accidentally pulled as he fell down.

"Ah, sorry," he utters to the empty room, his voice sounding pitiful as it bounces off the walls with no reply. "You must be cold."

He heaves himself up, his mind clearing up little by little as he looks at her sleeping face. He grabs the blanket, spreading it carefully so that it covers every inch until her chest. His hand trembles as he lets the blanket go and lightly touches her face, choking back a sob. He traces a finger on the small scars on her face as he sighs.

"You said you don't want to see the end, but I never thought it meant that you're going to keep closing your eyes. It's been a few days..." A sad smile comes, "When I made a wish because I didn't want to be lonely, gaining the ability to talk to animals and plants wasn't when it was fulfilled. I remembered wrongly when I told you about when I gained the ability; it wasn't after I made the wish at the fountain, it was before. So I still don't have the answer to when I gained the ability," he chuckles painfully, "I don't even remember it now; my memory is failing me, it seems."

Silence accompanies him as his head drops down.

He takes a deep breath. "I never really told you this, but since you can't hear me anyway it's less embarrassing, really. Before we met for the first time two years ago at the central forest, I made a wish at the fountain. I made a wish because I felt like my life was a bane; my heart was too full of hatred for people even though they did nothing wrong to me. I made a wish to have all this hatred removed from me because I had only known how to live in misery after my parents' deaths. I wanted peace; I wanted to move on from their deaths. 24 years, and I didn't expect that my wish would be fulfilled after meeting this general from Lucida. How do you..." he utters as he puts a palm over his mouth, "...keep your heart from hating anyone even though they've done nothing but hurt you?"

He wipes the tears away as he stands up. He makes sure that she's properly covered before he goes on to freshen himself up. He glances at the clock, noting that the analogue clock is showing how it's 4 o'clock. He goes over to the window, pulls apart the blinds and sees that the sky is dark; the moon isn't even nowhere to be seen. He doesn't think too much of it as he grabs his towel, jumps into the shower and cleans himself up. As soon as he's done he takes some comfortable clothes, unsure of whether he should be changing into his sleeping wear or not.

He decides to forgo his sleeping wear since he thinks that he's not in any more need for sleep, so he takes a loose linen shirt with a darker coloured pair of pants. Looking back to Akira for one more time, he steps out of the room after making sure that she's covered up well with the blanket.

What he senses as he steps out of the room is something unusual and different; if it's three in the morning he wouldn't see the palace staff walking about like it's the day. Everyone is up and about, going on as everything is normal. He doesn't question it as he tries to look for Yunho or Jongho; the first thing he'd like to do is probably to set things straight with them and hoping that their mouths aren't so free to tell the story of how he acts when he's drunk.

When he's about to enter the dining hall, he sees Jongho passing by, feet hurriedly going somewhere as his face looks serious.

"Jongho," Seonghwa calls him out.

Jongho looks startled when his name is mentioned, as if he's too deep in his own thoughts that he didn't even realize the king is there.

"Your Majesty, you're awake. I'm glad to see you able to walk straight after yesterday," but he doesn't sound like he's truly glad, like there's something wrong. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling slightly hung over but I'm better," he grimaces, "you see, about yesterday-"

"Your Majesty," Jongho's voice is grave, "I'm really sorry to interrupt you, but there has been an emergency."

"Is that why everyone is up and about at three in the morning? Argh," he massages his temples, "I'm really sorry, I can't handle alcohol well. I should've been of help."

"Your Majesty," Jongho looks hesitant, "it's not three in the morning; it's three in the evening. You were passed out for at least half a day after you drank yesterday night."

The king frowns, "You're saying it's three in the evening."

Jongho doesn't falter. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"But it's... dark. Not even dark like it's going to rain. It's as dark as the night."

Jongho takes a deep breath. "And that's the emergency we're trying to deal with. We thought it was normal early this morning but it continued until now. Several people from town have been reaching out to us too, saying that it seems like the condition is the same for all over the kingdom." He pauses, "They worry that the world is seemingly coming to an end."

"Anything else out of the ordinary?" Seonghwa says hurriedly, following Jongho as they burst into one of the meeting rooms, where several of the ministers are gathered. He looks at them awkwardly; it's the first time he has officially faced them alone, without Akira by his side.

"Your Majesty," they echo as they stand up, bowing to him.

He reciprocates the action, feeling so out of place now that he sees how they're all dressed up; he's the only one wearing something so casual. Again, he doesn't feel like he's of the highest position there; it is as if he's only a toddler learning how to walk. As they're all settled down, Jongho starts the meeting by reporting everything that he missed while he was knocked out.

"Nothing else is out of the ordinary, but it has started to worry us since it's been going on for a few hours. No sign that it'll return to normal."

Seonghwa is about to open his mouth to propose a solution, but gets cut off as the meeting room is suddenly knocked on hastily, yet the knocker doesn't wait for an answer as the door is pushed open.

They turn their attention to the general who has his sword on his left side, his chest rising up and down. He looks panicked as he searches for Seonghwa among the crowd, looking to deliver the alarming news as quickly as possible. He grips the handle of his sword as he spots the king, who has risen up from his seat.

"Your Majesty," Yunho breathes, "The palace is under attack."

---

[A/N:

Most likely Seonghwa when he heard that the palace is under attack

]