𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 2,700 words

𝐒𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚

The prince hadn't even meant to walk this route around in the castle but somehow he felt a force against his back, urging him to take this extra way of walking to the served dinner. Somehow Seonghwa already knew that this was not just his straying thoughts making the decision of his body to move up the staircase in the complete opposite directions of the dining hall - but, that would soon be one of his least concerns.

Nyx castle was quiet here, whereas the only steady sound around those corridors came from his own dress shoes landing against the floor, creating a calm pattern of his unhurried steps. Seonghwa decided the silence was his luck tonight. The last few days had come by in a whirlwind of emotions all swallowed up by the all-gracious demon prince. And Seonghwa had been stripped of all his might and power, trolled by such fooleries he had promised himself not to take part in - ever. His current woozy head was the result of losing control and being so brainless. And not only that, he had surely also scared the pretty little fairie. Not that he should be minding the other prince's well-being. But he was concerned.

Well.

Perhaps a little more than concerned. Guilty would maybe be a better word to use.

Seonghwa was feeling guilty.

As part of the royal family of the Phoenixes, and the centuries he has been part of the current disputes between the kingdoms - Seonghwa was no stranger to the fairies' methods of violence against the other species. They fought for the subjective rights to their species' survival in order to be feared by the other kingdoms.

But Yeosang had barely experienced what it meant to be at war against another kingdom. He was so young - so innocent and so extremely indoctrinated to only and no more than that tolerate his own kin's purity and superiorness over all other species.

However, Seonghwa did acknowledge that his own kin had done some horrible things that he did not dare speak of in a place like this. But, that did not mean he would make the same mistake again. The world needed not to be like this and he had dared take up the challenge of a change to past mistakes.

Perhaps he would have had a chance if not Emma had been the one behind their negotiations all this time. It was simply heart-shattering knowing that his chance had been wasted and he could not help but wonder if Emma had done all of this intentionally to ruin everything for him once again.

The phoenix prince had no possible chance to overcome the other prince's trust now. They were all over the place.

Seonghwa sighed, glancing down at his feet as he moved closer to the grand window by his side. The world was at its breaking point right now - one wrong move and they all would be someone's wish to kill.

Seonghwa already was.

The night he had arrived at the castle hadn't been a very pretty sight - he already concluded himself. When his travels had been disrupted by a flock of demons who wanted to hunt him down for the reason of his precious tears. Seonghwa was one of the very few pure-specied phoenixes there were left to freely roam. Since the last war had broken out a whole lot of phoenixes had either been killed or taken as hostages by other species of the reason of how valuable their tears were. Seonghwa's tears could heal any wound no matter how badly injured one may be. 

Which.. also had him suspect what method Emma had used to heal the demon from his nasty wound. The phoenix already knew that she kept a jar full of his tears somewhere hidden in her den, but that far from explained her reasons behind why she would choose to heal the demon in the first place. To Seonghwa, this reeked far away of one of her evil plans.

And Seonghwa was not sure if he wanted to know what they entailed.

When he turned the corner, Seonghwa suddenly halted. His sharp eyes fell on the body lying spread across the floor. First, then, his sight flickered across the unmoving limbs in the middle of the corridor, crossing the floor a little further away before he settled on the golden crown lying upside down on the stone floor.

Mindly daunted by the sudden sight, Seonghwa's body moved on itself, his head far from realising what was happening.

He threw himself down on his knees, hands carefully tracing the outlines of his shoulder and the back of his head before turning the prince around, "Yeosang? Prince Yeosang!"

Holy gracious-

Seonghwa shook his shoulders, trying to stir the fairie prince's eyes open. His heart rapidly picked up its pace in his chest as he bent down and moved his ear above his mouth to listen to his airways. 

Yeosang's breath was shallow and Seonghwa genuinely feared he had come too late.

"How long have you been lying here?" he whispered to himself while letting a soft finger slide across the bruising purple skin over his cheekbone and forehead, partly covered by his blonde curls.

"Forgive me," the phoenix continued before he straightened himself up and pried an arm underneath the fairie prince's arms and knees.

He counted to three before he with a strained face pulled them both up from the floor - but to his stun, soon taken aback by how light the smaller prince was in his arms. Seonghwa could not quite agree with himself if he thought the revelation was to his luck or worrying him even more.

Seonghwa hurried off with the limp body safely tucked in his arms, leaving the golden crown abandoned in the gloomy corridor.

_____

The grand doors snapped open with a loud creak and Seonghwa flew down the stairs.

"Someone," he roared at the other princes having turned their heads startled at the powerful sound, "Find Emma. Now!"

A chair scrambled across the floor with a shrill sound, and the werewolf's golden eyes caught his awareness right away.

"I don't care who! Just someone!"

Suddenly orders were barked around as the dining room once more erupted into chaos. Seonghwa dared only step a little closer to the table before he was swarmed by heat.

Prince Wooyoung stared down at Yeosang's head hanging from his limp neck, his mouth gaping as he must be trying to take in the happening with caution. He gently reached to support the back of his head until Seonghwa adjusted his arms around him and took over the support Wooyoung provided Yeosang with.

"W-what happened to him?" he whispered, obviously shocked by the sight of the limp fairie prince in his arms.

"I do not know," Seonghwa answered.

Wooyoung's hand moved to rest against Yeosang's forehead for a moment before he gasped and lifted his other hand to gently wrap around the prince's neck.

"He's so cold!" he whimpered.

Seonghwa knew.

Something was drilling into his forehead, and he lifted his glaring eyes to the very one being the root of this issue.

Seonghwa turned on his heels the moment a servant waved him over: "Your Highness, follow me."

"Wooyoung," he said, looking at the dragon prince's worried expression, "I think it is better if you stay here with the others."

"But Prince Yeosang-"

The phoenix gave him a firm smile, "He will be fine, I give you my word."

Without further ado, he quickly turned around and dashed after the servant showing him the way out of the dining hall.

Seonghwa did not know where they were going - only that he somewhat made himself trust that the servant was showing him the right way to Emma. After having moved quite a long way down one of the wings of the castle, the servant stopped in front of a door. 

He placed a hand on the sturdy material as he told him to wait in here, "The Great Sorceress will be here in a moment."

Seonghwa chose to believe his words when he darted off down the corridors. Instead, he turned to the door, reaching for the handle while still struggling with the body in his arms. But when the door bound and would not open, Seonghwa turned around and bumped his back up against it. Doing the trick, it went open and Seonghwa stumbled inside the room revealing what could only be a greenhouse there had run wild.

A gasp slipped from his mouth when he turned around and stared up at the thick verdures crawling up the walls and branching out over the ceiling. Greeneries and floras twirled around every piece of furniture in the room and Seonghwa spent a moment wondering what had happened here. The fairie prince's magic must have run out of his control.

Slowly, Seonghwa moved further into the room, carefully stepping over the plants as he tried not to tear anything. His eyes quickly calculated a way to the bed where he laid the prince down. Seonghwa heaved in a deep breath. Then he moved to slowly adjust the prince's head on the white pillow, proceeding to his legs and his feet, pulling off his boots.

A hand grabbed his own and Seonghwa stopped all of his movements. He let one of Yeosang's boots fall to the floor as he watched how the hands pulled off the other boot. When they retreated again, the phoenix reached for the wrists, pulling them around as he looked right into the demon's face.

"No you will not - this is exactly why I told you not to touch him!"

Seonghwa's eyes trembled with so much fury, heat dancing down along his arms and into his hands that he was holding around Hongjoong's wrists. The demon groaned in pain, making a face.

"I haven't touched him since then!" he said through his clamped teeth, "Listen you stubborn bird, I can help him."

Seonghwa sneered at him, "Hongjoong, he's dying! He is not an immortal being like some of us - You are killing him!"

At his outburst, the demon seemed to crumble underneath him for a fleetly passing second before he hardened his expression, much unlike his usual amused self.

"Stop fighting you two. I need the both of you alive."

The phoenix prince let go of Hongjoong the moment Emma entered the room and skipped to the side of the bed. "You don't need me for anything," Seonghwa loathed when she took up the spot beside him, attention only directed at Yeosang.

"There, you are very wrong, sweetheart. Now, move a bit back. I will start tracing him with my magic and see if I can find the source of his vague body," the sorceress said, making both him and Hongjoong step back.

A moment later a faint glow bloomed around her hands, drawing white strings down there bound to the fairie prince's body as she silently chanted a spell. Steadily she let her hands move from his head and chest further down his stomach and legs as if chasing something.

The strings disappeared when Emma leaned back, "He's tapped from his energy," she said with a sigh. Then she turned around, her eyes locking at the demon, "And I wonder why."

Seonghwa pursed his lips as he did his best to keep the flaring heat inside him under control.

Emma folded her arms, "If he had not been so dependent on his magic from his homeland it would have been far easier for him to regain his strength, but.." she bit her lip as she trailed off.

"I could try and transfer some of my energy to see if that will help.."

"Then do it," Seonghwa pressed, "Whatever will work."

She nodded firmly at him, turning to Yeosang again. A hand reached out and spread across the fairie's forehead. Magic burst out of her palm, buzzing in the air as it surrounded Yeosang's body in a matter of no time. Seonghwa tensed in his spot, ready to interfere with the channeling energy.

His sharp eyes were drawn to every little movement of the sputtering particles wrapping themselves around the other prince. But the magic didn't seem to seep into his body, bouncing back every time it tried. And making Emma try another time, only stronger than before.

However, it did not work.

Seonghwa jumped in, grabbing the sorceress's shoulder as he furiously turned her around. Her cat-like eyes fluttered when her magic slowly retreated. "I..I think he's been practicing magic on himself. He must have used a spell on him that protects him against all foreign magic."

"And what do you then suggest we do? We can't let him die like this," Seonghwa growled, giving her shoulders a firm push.

"I know," she said just as serious in her tone.

The demon then smugly slid into the frame, moving Yeosang's legs over before plunging himself down to sit on the bed.

"Fairies live and breathe for their nature, right?" he smirked as he nodded over at the sorceress.

Of course; if Yeosang went home, the magic from the fairie's land would surely heal him and let him regain his energy.

Seonghwa turned his head to look at her surprisingly fretting facial expression, "It's impossible to do; he can't leave this castle before the prophecy has been-"

"What prophecy?" the demon beat Seonghwa to ask, squinting his eyes, as they both stared at her with such heed.

Seonghwa noticed the way she gathered herself before speaking, "Before you have solved the curse. You cannot be let out until then. Not even I will be able to break the spell on this castle even if I so wanted to!"

"That's bullshit and not very convincing - of course, you can break the curse. You're the one who made it, therefore you know how to unwind it again. Come on, ain't you the mightiest being alive?" Hongjoong goaded while stretching a little further on the bed.

"I can't. Now move."

The Great Sorceress darted around him and out of the room, disappearing into nothing before she even reached the door.

Seonghwa did not take her words too lightly - especially not when she just had been mentioning a prophecy.

"Chill, you're gonna set fire to a branch and burn the entire building down if you continue raging like that."

The prince snapped his eyes to the demon sitting in the bed, a smicker around his lips as if he enjoyed the sight, "Are you still so certain about not letting me try to have him regain his strength?" he said while hovering a teasing hand above Yeosang's leg.

"Get out of here."

Hongjoong giggled as he left the chamber too. The lingering weight of his suggestion pulled at Seonghwa's thoughts for not having figured anything out yet. For Yeosang was going to die if nothing was done very soon.

The prince found a stool nearby and sat down on it by the bedside. His eyes flooded with worry.

 "Little dove," he muttered as he caressed his fingers down the fairie's bruised cheek.

The bruise.

It reminded him of something. Something which his pocket always was full of, yet he did not know if it would work. Not when Yeosang's body had been so rejecting to Emma's magic.

But this was not the same kind of magic. This was not dark magic trying to pry its way into the fairie prince's fragile body.

Seonghwa hooked his fingers into his pocket, pulling the little container he always carried on himself in case he should be injured.

Quickly, he opened the lid and let a few drops of his tears drip down at Yeosang's slightly parted lips, watching how they eased their way into his mouth. Seonghwa held his breath all along, anticipating the liquid would be pushed out of his system the instant moment. But instead, the exact opposite happened.

The bruises on his face started healing. Seonghwa parted Yeosang's lips with a finger the slightest more and emptied the bottle into his mouth.

Then he leaned back while gathering his hands underneath his chin, "We are holy beings for our immortality that makes us undying whatever you will do to us. But I am not a creature of the darkness; I will heal you instead," he whispered as fresh tears filled in his cupped hands.

Prince Yeosang would be safe, he promised himself while giving him more of his tears. His warmth radiating from his body warped itself around the fairie prince like a cosy blanket.

♛