It was his third time doing this, surely he's ought to be used to it. Wrong. Taehyung stared down at the portal bitting his lip. After meeting Taehyung's parents for a final time and explaining them the whole situation, Taehyung spilled his tears and said his goodbyes. Even thought he wasn't too attached to them, these people were the ones who raised him up and showered him with much love and support. His mother thought of him as god's way of giving her a child when she couldn't have one, so it was the hardest on her. Taehyung promised them that he'd do whatever he could to bring them back home.

Now, back to the portal situation, Taehyung was terrified. It was the exact same situation with anything involving needles, no matter how many times he goes through, he'll always squirm and scream for the next.

"Here bubba, hold my hand," Jimin said softly, stretching out his arm. With a smile, Taehyung gripped onto it tightly. He then looked at Jeongguk who had his arms crossed, getting a little impatient at how long they were taking.

"What?" Jeongguk asked, raising a brow. "Would you like me to hold your hand too, your majesty?" Note the sarcasm.

"Well, it'd be nice."

Jeongguk rolled his eyes. "Can we go now?"

"Ready, Tae?" Jimin reconfirmed. After getting Taehyung's nod of approval, they all shared a look before jumping together as Jimin screamed, "Elvador!"

The force exerted by the portal was far to strong for Taehyung to be able to hold on to Jimin's hand, and slowly, it started to slip, then finally, lose contact. Taehyung swung his arms around, eyes shut tight, looking for anything to hold onto to feel just a little more safe. When he found Jimin again, he grasped his body tightly. It was a very familiar body, but Taehyung couldn't help but think about how small the waist was.

After what seemed like forever (actually twelve seconds), Taehyung felt his hair come to a pause from flying around. He opened his eyes slowly to be faced to a glaring Jeongguk.

"Hehe, hi there," Taehyung said with a dumb smile.

"How does this keep happening?" Jeongguk grumbled. Taehyung unwrapped his arms from the elf and they got up from the ground. Unlike the first time, they had landed where the portal opened, the palace. Jimin laughed at the two as he had landed on his feet.

His laughter suddenly stopped when he saw who opened the doors. Without another thought, the elf ran and attacked Namjoon in the biggest hug, to which he gladly returned.

"I missed you so much!" Jimin yelled.

"Likewise," Namjoon replied.

After releasing each other from the hug, the two began chatting away.

"You haven't changed a bit, big bro," Jimin started.

Namjoon laughed at their running immortality joke. "My oh my! Have you gotten a few years younger?"

"Yeah, I've been changing to suit the prince's age."

The older nodded. "That's nice. We can talk about this later. I'll introduce you to some special people. Prince Jin was very excited to see you again."

Taehyung and Jeongguk approached the brothers. Jimin smiles towards Taehyung and slung his arm around the boy.

"Let's go, Taehyung Kim!" he yelled.

"Kim?" Taehyung questioned as they walked.

Jimin nodded. "Your name. Taehyung Kim."

Taehyung nodded. The boys walked ahead as they discussed his powers, Taehyung throwing his arms around wild in hope of activating it. Jeongguk just couldn't wait for the actual training process.

"The prince is still a so childish. Can he really do it?" Jeongguk questioned.

Namjoon hummed. "He has to. Start off with having him read through the royal spell books."

•—•—•

"What in the world," Taehyung asked watching Jeongguk pull out stacks and stacks of books. He picked one up, running a hand through the intricate engravings and jewels in the moleskin-like cover. He flipped through a couple pages. He's never seen this type of script before, but somehow the words formed in his head. He was able to understand them.

"Can you read that?" Jeongguk asked, stopping his hunt for spell books.

"Yeah, but it's weird. I've never seen these characters before."

Jeongguk waited for him to flip through a few more pages before he went around to take a look at them himself. He couldn't even make out a single word. No decoder would be able to figure this out, there was no pattern or secret messages behind them.

"It's enchanted so that only direct royal family members can read it, but the language is the same. Hmm, we'll start with the basic spell book first." Jeongguk tossed a more simple yet thick book in front of Taehyung. "Try casting one of them."

Taehyung flipped to a random page. He saw one with an illustration of a fireball, assuming it was what the spell beside was for. He lifted his arm and read out slowly, "singia labal elaf!"

The two stared at the boy's palm as nothing happened. Jeongguk sighed. "As expected. Keep reading through and get familiar with the words and pronunciation. I'll ask one of the chanter elves to make sure you're saying them right."

About an hour or so later, Jeongguk returned after dealing with some royal affairs. Entering the small royal library, laughter was all he could hear. He approached the table hidden with stacks of books, arms coming in a cross seeing the scene in front of him.

"–and then Jimin ran out with spaghetti hanging from his nose," Taehyung said in between laughs.

"Oh my, I've got no clue what spaghetti is but that is quite a funny story, your majesty," the older woman replied, covering her mouth with her hand as she tried to control the laughs. Her eyes shot up hearing a somene clear his throat. Immediately at her feet, she bowed. "Sir Jeon."

"Mary, I've told you, Jeongguk is fine," he said. He bowed as well. "Thank you for your assistance, I can take it from here."

She scurried out the room, excited to gossip about her first encounter with the prince with the rest of the helper elves in the palace. Jeongguk took a seat and looked at the book, seeing it was the same one he was on and only a few pages in.

"The council won't be pleased hearing their Prince can't even say the basic spells. Are you trying to get you head rolled off the throne?" Jeongguk asked, obviously annoyed.

Taehyung's eyes widened. "What now?"

Jeongguk sighed. "No matter. The high council wants to meet the long awaited heir for a cup of tea, which is just a cover up. They want to access you, see how weak you are, how easily you can submit to them. You currently being as useful as a dragon isn't helping."

"Are you comparing me to a chicken?" Taehyung yelled back, offended as ever and ignoring all the other new information.

The younger closed his eyes and began to massage his temple, his body beginning to emit a sort of white smoke. "A drag– nevermind. Read all of these to me."

Taehyung's lips came in a pout. He picked up the book, looked at for a few seconds, then back at Jeongguk who was doing his best to wait patiently. Taehyung shut his eyes tight, his body beginning to tremble from all the strain he was putting on himself.

With knitted brows, Jeongguk watched the boy confused. "What're you doing?"

"Trying to summon an apple strudel."

"Strudel?"

The elf finally stopped whatever he was doing and slumped his shoulders. "I want a snack. Let's go down to the kitchen and request for something!"

"You're not going anywhere until you finish reading this book out." Jeongguk said. He then whisked up a glass bowl and spoon out of ice. Then a small cloud formed right above and produced a fair amount of snow into the bowl before disappearing. From his trinkets, he enlarged a bottle of what seemed to be a red syrup and poured some of it over the snow. Once he finished, he stuck the spoon into the treat and looked up at the prince.

"Shaved snow?" Taehyung questioned.

"Enjoy it while you read, your majesty. The spoon and bowl shouldn't feel cold, melt, or stick to your lips or tongue."

Taehyung puffed out his cheeks as he shoved a spoonful of the treat into his mouth. "Fuck, this is delicious. Your gift is sick, man. You can literally make anything!" Taehyung said, scooping more bites.

"Mhm, now read."

"There's really no escape from this, huh?"

Jeongguk shook his head, a pleased grin peaking through. Taehyung finally admitted defeat and began reading out the spells and Jeongguk correcting him if necessary. Jeongguk also refilled his treat whenever it emptied, finding the prince absolutely adorable whenever his lips curved into a pouty frown when his spoon hit the bottom of the bowl. It almost felt like taking care of a child.

About three spell books later, Taehyung became exhausted. He slammed the book down, startling the other elf. On his feet, he stretched out his arms and legs.

"What now?" Jeongguk questioned, getting up as well.

"Let's take a break, my eyes hurt. Isn't there a royal garden or something?"

Jeongguk thought over it, concluding that it wasn't good for the prince to stay bound up in a room for this long. "Very well, I believe you deserve a breath of fresh air. We shall take a walk in the garden as you wished."

Taehyung excitidely followed after Jeongguk, only stopping his excitement from showing when met with another elf. The walk was long, especially with Jeongguk walking as slow as a turtle, saying patience is key. When they finally arrived to the doors leading outside, Taehyung didn't waste a moment to open them. He ran in, absolutely speechless looking at all the beautiful plant life this universe held. He couldn't recognize any of them, but that made him even more excited.

Jeongguk did his best to make sure Taehyung didn't touch anything he shouldn't, once again feeling like a royal babysitter. He couldn't help but stifle out a laugh when Taehyung became all sad for a fallen flower on the grass. The elf picked it up carefully, softly whispering words of pity to the blue and white flower. He turned to Jeongguk.

"Can we re-plant it?" he asked, showing the flower to him.

Jeongguk took a closer look. "It's a Koal flower. Nope."

Taehyung pursed his lips. He looked at the flower for some more time before bringing the flower to Jeongguk's head, tucking it nicely behind his ear.

"What're you doing?" Jeongguk asked, reaching up to take it off but was stopped by Taehyung.

"No keep it, it looks nice there. Brings out your pretty blue eyes."

Jeongguk stayed still for a few moments, looking at the prince who looked serious as ever. He's never heard anyone call his eyes pretty, people would usually say his eyes felt like they pierced through them, cold and menacing. Jeongguk cleared his throat. "But still–"

"It's an order, then!" Taehyung exclaimed then walked away, exploring some more.

Jeongguk shook his head watching Taehyung spin around. "He's ordering me around foolishly already." He continued walking towards the pond in the middle, taking a look at his reflections. A smile spread to his lips as he crossed his arms and continued looking at the prince.

•—•—•

"Do I really have to wear all this?" Taehyung whined as he was getting dressed up.

Jeongguk, leaning against a table in the closet, nodded. "If you want to be Elvador's king, you surely have to dress the part, your majesty."

Taehyung sighed. He really wasn't looking forward to the meeting he was about to have. Usually, he would've loved meeting new people, but when it's a group of people who were so keen on pinning out his strengths and weaknesses, he couldn't help but think of it as an interview and become so tensed up and nervous.

"Stop frowning. Chin up. Shoulders back. A good posture is important," Jeongguk said once all the helper elves left the room. Seeing Taehyung not listening to him and just fiddling with the material covering his arm, he stepped up and did it himself. While lifting his chin up, Jeongguk got close to the elf.

"If you show them you're weak from the beginning, you can't survive in this palace, okay? Fake confidence if you have to, but don't put your guard down for even a second. You'll be alright," he reassured him. Taehyung stared back, but when he nodded, Jeongguk stepped back.

"The rest of Leonava is waiting for you outside. Shall we go, your majesty?"

"Hmm, give me a good luck kiss first," Taehyung said, smiling wide. Seeing the silence from Jeongguk made him let out a huff. "Fine. Maybe next time then. Let's go!"

Jeongguk felt like rolling his eyes, but of course he couldn't in front of royalty as it would be considered treason, and even thought it didn't matter in Taehyung's case, he shouldn't be getting to comfortable. He was also glad that the prince was at least back to acting like he usually would.

Leonava guided the young prince to the grand room where all important meetings are held. Taehyung looked at Jeongguk one last time with puppy dog eyes, asking him to come in with him but even if he wanted to, he couldn't. Not even Prince Seokjin could stand in. He was glad that at least Namjoon would be there for him.

At entry, Taehyung felt the atmosphere completely shift. He recalled what Jeongguk repeated over and over again, do not show them weakness. He walked in, his stride careful and confident, and took a seat while Namjoon stood next to him. The elves gathered around looked at him with a pleased smile before getting up and bowing down. Taehyung looked at Namjoon, not knowing what to do, but the man just signalled him to remain quiet. Once everyone was seated again, helper elves began bringing in tea for everyone.

"It is very nice to finally meet you, your majesty," a man spoke, he looked to be the eldest among the group.

"Likewise," Taehyung answered calmly with a short smile.

"When will we be officially announcing our King's return?" another spoke.

"Ah, he's still a prince. We must also plan the coronation to immediately follow."

"Is the prince ready to take hold of the throne, he still seems quite young. His cousin and aunt could keep filling in his place until he is ready."

"What do you mean! The late King took reign when he was even younger. Age doesn't matter, we need someone with his gift on the throne and now."

"Speaking of his gift, has he fully mastered it? We surely hope the process won't grant any difficulties."

"The villagers have already been frightened with the weakening of the barrier, once we announce his return the next step must be stabilizing the shield."

"His gift must be to the extent to do such a task."

"Exactly. The shield took every bit of the late King's life!"

"It was a sacrifice that had to be made."

"The shield is only weak, not broken, it won't require as much."

"Then the prince can help."

"Your majesty, can you do it?"

"Huh?" Taehyung felt overwhelmed. He felt so lost in all the talk. He couldn't keep up with anything anyone was saying, as they spoke so fast and one over another. "Well, I– uh..."

Namjoon quickly stepped in. "The Prince has just returned from Earth. It will take him some time to completely recover. We may announce his return to the public soon, but if possible, push the coronation as much as we can. Only a the king can take action regarding the barrier, the villagers know that. Prince Taehyung will be ready by then. We should also be as silent as we can about this, especially with Zorock having a possible set of ears around here."

The elves around nodded, becoming quiet at the mention of the particular name. They all began taking sips from their tea, just not with hands. Taehyung watched as their cups floated. He then looked down at his own, not knowing if he should pick it up with his hands or just leave it. He looked at Namjoon for a help once again, who gave a nod of reassurance. Taehyung's cup then also began floating and brought to his lips, but without his own control, he couldn't drink it properly, spilling the hot drink on himself.

"Ah!" he yelled in pain, helper elves rushing to his side. "No no, it's alright. Thank you."

"Seems like you have much work to do, your majesty," the eldest said, a bitter smile forming to his lips.

"Yes, it's been a while," Taehyung said, forcing out a laugh.

After a while of sitting through the awkward meeting, Taehyung was finally granted freedom. They bid goodbye to one another and the Prince was to leave first. Namjoon lead him to Leonava's chamber where the other elves excluding Jin were. The prince had some urgent meeting to handle.

"God, it felt like walking on thin ice in there!" Taehyung exclaimed as soon as the doors closed. He took a seat on their couch.

Hoseok laughed. "Walking on thin ice. Never heard that expression before. Gguk!"

Jeongguk raised a brow before waving his fingers towards Hoseok, forming a floating platform of very thin ice. The elf then began trying to walk on the ice and of course, as soon as all his weight was on the ice, he came crashing down. The elves laughed at his attempt.

"Very dangerous indeed," Hoseok said, getting back on his feet.

Taehyung stared blankly at the elf for a few seconds before finally pointing at him. "I like you."

Hoseok bowed, purposefully exaggerating it. "Why, thank you."

"Did I have magic before I was sent off to Earth?" Taehyung asked no one in particular.

"Elves usually develop their gift as they grow older. There may be a few little slips, but they become capable of using it usually after the age of ten. I don't recall seeing you use yours ever," Namjoon answered.

"Hmm, what if I don't have a gift?" Taehyung asked, his head hanging low.

"No," Jeongguk cut in, shaking his head lightly. "He used to enchant things so that they glowed. And he'd float treats from the kitchen. He even fixed a vase be broke."

"Did he?" Namjoon said out, laughing a little. "Our little prince was a quite sneaky, I see."

"How do you float treats without going unnoticed?" Yoongi asked, taking a break from tidying his desk. He was quite the neat freak when it came to his own things.

Taehyung shrugged. "I don't know, I don't remember. Ugh, these chains are so heavy." He began taking some of the very expensive jewelry off carelessly, Jeongguk rushing to his side quickly to catch them and lay them down carefully.

"Is there no way to return his memory?" Jimin asked. "Jillian should have a potion for him, no?"

Namjoon shook his head. "A master spell was used on him. I wonder why though, it wouldn't make a difference if he got his memory back now." 

"Master spell?" Taehyung questioned.

"Spells from the strongest spell book we know to exist in all eight nations. It was locked in a secret room in the palace by your father after he got what he needed for the shield. It's hard to break spells from there."

Taehyung nodded. Your father. It felt weird hearing everyone speak of his father or mother, especially when he's thought of them as someone else his entire life, not to mention they are no longer alive. Maybe Taehyung would've felt a little more for them if he actually remembered who they were.

"Can I see them? My parents."

Namjoon took a few moments. "Of course. I'll bring you to them tomorrow, you should relax a little today. Jeongguk."

Jeongguk nodded. He lead the prince back to his room. Once he entered, he really noticed how much of a mess all the spell books were, some sprawled out on the floor, others opened to random pages, and some just stacked as if they were building blocks. Jeongguk sighed and began cleaning the mess up, a quiet hum leaving his lips and Taehyung plopped onto his bed. He offered to help, but Jeongguk just told him it'd help if he just continued practicing his pronunciation. 

"Wait!" Taehyung yelled, lifting his body.

"Is something wrong, your majesty?" Jeongguk asked, stopping his clean up.

"The song your humming! What is it?"

"The song?" Jeongguk repeated. He then realized he was humming subconsciously, becoming a little nervous.

Taehyung nodded aggressively, repeating the hum. He got off his bed and went closer to the shocked blue-eyed elf. "What is it?"

"It's a lullaby the late Queen used to sing."

"A lullaby..." Taehyung echoed. "How does it go?" he continued, a little to eager.

"Umm... it's been a while, I don't quite know."

"Please, just sing what you do know," Taehyung pleaded.

Jeongguk sighed. He began humming, and finally sang the words he recalled. As each word left, Taehyung felt something weird go on in himself. He was absolutely mesmerized hearing the elf sing. Even when the other stopped, he couldn't stop staring with his mouth wide.

Jeongguk coughed, covering it with his hand as well as hiding his cheeks and moving back. "I think that's how it went. How do you remember it?"

Taehyung shook his head as he sat back down on his bed. "I've been humming it for as long as I can remember."

"The Queen sang it to you every night," Jeongguk said, continuing to clean up.

"I guess that spell isn't as strong as it should've been. But even Jimin didn't know it, how did you?"

Jeongguk went silent, ignoring the question and continuing to organize. Of course, Taehyung repeated his question. And seeing no reply once again, he thought he was just bothering the elf and left it be, picked up the spell book and resumed his practice. After Jeongguk finished stacking all of them in his temporary ice bookshelf, making a note to himself to bring in an actual shelf in, he approached Taehyung.

"I'll take my leave then. Rest for today, we'll continue training tomorrow. Goodnight," he said.

"Thank you. Goodnight," Taehyung repeated.

At the door, Jeongguk paused and looked back. "Your mother sang it to both of us." With that, he closed the door, leaving the poor prince a little more than confused.

—•
Okay yes imma continue this fic ahhhh i'm sorry it took so long my loves!!! (it's also 2am pls excuse any of my mistakes i may have not caught)

Issa little weird writing minjoon has bros after control but ehhhh I'll get used to it, we love a good broship !!

alSo ik no one's probs gonna think this and i tried to make it clear but just in case, Tae's mom is noooot gguk's mom okay! it wouldn't even make sense to the plot but it just came to mind while i was writing so yeah

Bye<3