#536: spring binds us together, now and forever

[lordchen]

Prompt: #536
Title: spring binds us together, now and forever
Pairing: Chen/Sehun, minor Joonmyun/Zitao, with sprinkles of Chanyeol/Baekhyun, Kyungsoo/Jongin, Minseok/Luhan and Yifan/Yixing on top.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: soulmate AU; historical AU; multiple POVs; star-crossed lovers trope; time skips; coming of age; slight/mild angst; supernatural themes; dark-ish.
Word count: 25.3k
Summary: When Chen is ten, he wakes up in a bed that is not his own, only knowing he is the Oracle. This means he can See past, present and future, but most importantly, he can See the Red Strings of Fate binding soulmates together.
The catch? He doesn’t have one.
Or, the one in which Chen is the Court Matchmaker Extraordinaire, Sehun loves his Chen Chen hyung very, very much and the rest of EXO are there to witness their love bloom like peach tree flowers in the spring.
Author's note: First of all, I want to thank #TEAMFUNKY for being so patient with me. And also, thanks a lot to the prompter because I really enjoyed this universe. I really hope you like it.
This is supposed to be set during the Joseon period, around the 1500s, mainly for certain cultural and technological aspects, but I took some liberties. Also, in Korea peaches and sapsali dogs are believed to chase away spirits.
Please enjoy!

“Do you think the rain will last much longer?” Heejung asks her wife as she tends to the fire.

“I hope not,” Minyoung answers absentmindedly. She’s looking out the window, embroidery forgotten on her lap.

Heejung smiles fondly and stands up. “C’mon,” she says, taking her wife’s hand. “Let´s go to bed. It’s late.”

Minyoung is startled. She turns to Heejung, her eyes wide in surprise.

Heejung giggles softly. “Are you okay?”

Minyoung relaxes into her chair and grins up at Heejung. “Yes, I’m fine. Let’s go to sleep.” She stands up, leaving her unfinished work on the table. She lets Heejung pull her to the bed and take off her outer wear. Heejung finishes readying herself for bed while Minyoung gets under the covers.

Heejung blows out the candles and lays down, wasting no time in tucking herself into the crook of Minyoung’s neck.

As they’re starting to fall asleep, lightning illuminates the room. Thunder follows soon after.

“That’s weird.” Minyoung whispers.

Heejung hums in response. “It’s just thunder. Leave it be.”

Minyoung chuckles and nuzzles her nose into Heejung’s hair. “But the rain’s been pretty mild until now.”

“That happens. Leave it b-“ A branch crashes noisily in through the widow, landing right on the table.

A punishing wind comes in through the open window, snuffing out the fire and putting everything into disarray. Both women jump out of bed to close the window but before any of them can do much more than take a single step a gust of wind bursts the door open.

Lighting and thunder appear at the same time and light and noise persist for longer than is naturally possible. The forest can be seen clearly through the door now.

Heejung and Minyoung are wide eyed witnesses of the scene.

In a matter of seconds two lightning bolts form on opposite sides of the sky, both seemingly striking the same spot in the middle of the woods, tearing down tree tops in their wake.

Before Heejung can so much as open her mouth to speak, Minyoung has already taken off into the site where the lightning has struck. Heejung hesitates for just a moment before running after her, not bothering with sandals nor something to protect herself from the rain.

Minyoung is running like a woman possessed, not mindful of any obstacles in her way and just barely dodging some of them. Neither the pouring rain nor the deafening noise of the still-roaring-thunder seem to disturb her.

Heejung struggles to follow her and trips on a protruding root when her wife makes a sharp turn to the right.

“Minyoung! Minyoung, wait a second!” She calls after her wife, to no avail. Minyoung does not turn around or seem to acknowledge her at all.

Heejung gets back up on her feet as fast as she can and starts running again, her naked feet caked with mud.

She eventually reaches what she knew this morning as a nice and quiet clearing, but is now no more than a scorched piece of land, delimited by a perfectly circular wall of fire, no taller than her waist.

The fire is awfully bright and it blinds her for a moment. It radiates so much heat Heejung has to take a step back and cover her face. The mud on her legs and arms and face has dried off, she realizes, a second later.

“There’s no rain,” she whispers to herself, “Why is there no rain?”

Her head snaps up and as her vision clears she can see the dark storm clouds, lit up by the frozen lightning, but there is no water falling from them.

“Come help me!” Minyoung’s sudden scream brings her back down. In the middle of the circle of fire sits her wife, tending to what seems to be a young boy of no more than ten.

“Minyoung! How did you get there?!” Heejung asks her wife. She’s finding it hard to breath, chest rising and falling in a quick succession.

“He needs us, Heejung! Come help me, quick!” Her wife insists.

“But how do I even get there, Minyoung?!” Her voice is bordering on hysterical.

“Come!” Minyoung orders her, voice laced with an unfamiliar quality. Immediately after, the wall of fire parts, making a gap for her to get through. Heejung rushes into the circle.

Once she’s by her wife’s side she asks, “What do you need me to do?”

Minyoung stares at her for an instant, before cocking her head to the side.

“Min-Minyoung?” Her voice trembles slightly.

Minyoung squeezes her eyes closed and shakes her head, looking down. She takes a deep breath.

“Heejung,” she says with a raspy voice, “Heejung.” She raises her hand, brushing Heejung’s hair out of her face. “We need to get him out of here, alright?”

Heejung nods. Minyoung’s wide, wild eyes are the only thing she can see and their choppy breath the only thing she can hear.

“The thunder’s stopped,” Heejung sighs, not looking away from her wife.

“It hasn’t. And it won’t for a long time.” Minyoung answers with finality.

“Wha-“

“The boy,” her wife cuts her off.

Heejung gulps. “The boy.” She finally tears her gaze away from her wife towards the kid. “He’s small,” she remarks.

With the help of Minyoung she picks him. Together, they carry him home.

XxX

Heejung is cooking a stew while keeping an eye on the boy, checking for any movement. So far, he has done little more than snuggle further into the bed, but she hopes he’ll wake up soon.

“A Gift from the Gods,” Minyoung had said the child was. When she’d asked who he was meant for, exactly, her wife had looked at her strangely and answered “the People”, and that was that.

From the corner of her eye, she can see Minyoung quietly entering the house, carrying the firewood she’d gone out to gather.

Heejung is the first one to break the silence. “Are you ready to talk now?” She asks, not turning away from the pot.

She feels Minyoung’s arms sneak around her waist, hugging her close. Her wife burrows her face into the crook of her neck and presses a feather-soft kiss against the skin.

“So?”

Minyoung sighs, pulling her closer. “Last night the Gods entrusted us with their Gift.”

“The boy.” Heejung stirs the stew in a slow, precise circular motion, trying not to betray how shaken up by the recent events she really is.

“Not exactly. He himself is not the Gift,” Minyoung says.

Heejung stops stirring and turns towards the other woman, frowning. “What do you mean?”

Minyoung lets go of her, instead taking her hands in hers. “He is not the Gift. What he can do, that is the true Gift,” Minyoung answers earnestly.

Heejung gulps and untangles their hands. She hugs herself. “What exactly can he do?” She asks, trying to keep her voice steady.

A wide smile spreads across Minyoung’s face. “He can See, Heejung. He has the Vision.”

Heejung gasps. “Do you know how far his Vision reaches?”

“As far as anyone could ever,” Minyoung answers breathlessly.

Heejung’s eyes open wide as saucers. “Really? Are you sure?” She pants softly.

“Yes!” Her wife cries in joy.

She wets her lips. “Could he be the Oracle?”

Minyoung nods, smiling. Her eyes are mist with happiness.

She wastes no time pulling her into her arms, embracing her tightly.

The moment is broken by a weak whine coming from the bed. Immediately, they rush to check on the boy. Heejung sits herself on the bed beside him, while Minyoung remains standing.

“Do you think he’s waking up?” The latter asks.

“I think so.” Heejung answers, brushing his hair out of his face. She twists around to face her wife. “Do you know his name?”

“I…don’t know, actually. I was told of his Seeing, but not much else,” her wife says.

Heejung hums in acknowledgement, turning back towards the boy.

He wriggles around the bed, occasionally letting out little whining noises. Both Minyoung and Heejung watch him like hawks, barely taking their eyes off him. They spend a few minutes like this until finally, finally, his eyes flutter open.

Heejung hears her wife gasp and take a step back. Instead, she can’t speak, she can’t move, she can’t do anything at all, completely petrified by the sight before her.

Crackling blue lighting dwells where his eyes should be. Little lightning bolts grace his cheeks, threatening to spill out of his eye sockets.

Heejung swallows hard, trying not to wonder if the lightning is simply covering the child’s eyes or if it has replaced them.

“Hello, my name is Hyunji.” The voice that speaks comes from the child. It’s sweet but otherworldly, and certainly can’t be his own. “I am the Oracle. My Master has given me this body, but He hasn’t mentioned this human’s name. Do you happen to know it?” The Oracles asks with a calm smile on their face.

“W-We,” Minyoung begins, “we were not, were not told his name either.” She then puts a hand on Heejung’s shoulder, but the latter dares not move a muscle.

“Very well then.” The Oracle nods. “You shall give him one.”

“We?” Minyoung squeaks.

“Chen!” Heejung exclaims a moment later, trying to cover up her wife’s reaction.

“Chen. Chen, Chen, Chen,” the Oracle says, as if testing out the way it rolls out of their tongue. “I like it.” Then they promptly pass out.

Heejung sags forward in relief, letting out a huge breath.

Minyoung walks around her, coming to face her. She’s got an indignant little frown on her face. “Did you just name the boy after your grandmother’s ghost hunting cat?”

Heejung is at a loss of words, mouth gaping open like a fish’s.

Minyoung raises her eyebrows, motioning her wife to answer.

“Well, look at him!” Heejung finally says. “He looks just like a little kitten. And we had to name him fast! What else could I do? Besides, I’ll have you now it’s a very popular name in China.”

The other woman scoffs. “Well they do have a lot of cats out west.”

Heejung huffs and smiles up at her wife. “They do.”

Minyoung huffs out a laugh and finally lets the tension leave her body. She smiles back. “You’re ridiculous. I’ll go brew some tea. You take care of the boy.”

Heejung nods, watching her wife walk out of the door, teapot in hand.

“Who are you?” A small high pitched voice asks.

Heejung turns to her left. The child is awake and his eyes are, thankfully, back to normal.

“My name is Heejung, and you are Chen,” she answers with a smile, tucking a stray lock of hair behind his ear.

“Why am I here?” Chen asks, looking around the room.

“Because you are the Oracle. You are the Seer of futures and destinies.” She takes his hand in hers.

“Oh,” he says simply, gaze coming to a halt on their joined hands.

“Are you alright, Chen?”

He looks up, smile so wide his eyes have turned into crescents. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

XxX

Later that night, when Chen is already fast asleep, the wives sit down at their little table to have a quiet moment to themselves.

Minyoung seems to be determinately avoiding Heejung’s gaze by giving an entirely uncharacteristic amount of attention to her embroidery.

“Are you okay?” Heejung asks suddenly, unable to bare the awkward and stiff atmosphere any longer.

Minyoung merely purses her lips and keeps embroidering.

Heejung sighs. “Minyoung, please. Tell me what’s troubling you. You’ve been acting weird ever since last night and I don’t know what’s going on or how to help you.”

Minyoung drops the needle and fabric on her lap and balls her hands in fists. “I don’t know what’s going on,” she whispers harshly, still refusing to meet Heejung’s eyes. “Something is still inside of me, guiding my thoughts and actions but it won’t speak to me anymore. It just makes me do stuff and I don’t know if I do the things I do because I want to or because it wants me to.”

“Min-Minyoung,” Heejung says, reaching out to her wife with a shaky hand.

Minyoung tries to bat the hand away but Heejung pays her no mind, cupping her wife’s cheek with her hand.

“Maybe it’s telling you we have to take Chen somewhere.” She takes her hand off Minyoung’s cheek and reaches down to take one of her hands, uncurling her fingers and interlacing them with her own.

Minyoung looks up, surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Well…he’s the Oracle. Exactly how much good can he do around here, so far away from almost everyone and everything? Shouldn’t we take him to the palace?”

Minyoung eyes harden. “No. It is not time. He mustn’t go.”

Heejung is taken aback this complete change in demeanor. “Of course,” she says, quickly dropping the subject and Minyoung’s hand.

She excuses herself and walks over to the fireplace. She simply stands there, hugging herself. Taking care of the Oracle is a great honor, she knows, and the sacrifices it implies don’t seem too big.

But too unsettling? Certainly.

XxX

A few days later, while Heejung and Chen are feeding the chickens she remarks, “You know your way around a farm very well. Did you live in one before coming here?” She’s taking a chance here. Neither of them has asked about his past in fear of upsetting him. There’s no point, they’d figured, he clearly doesn’t know his given name, so there’s little chance he’ll know where he comes from. Still, someone’s got to ask. Just in case.

He shakes his head and throws more grains at the birds. He throws too much, she notices, just like any other little kid. It’s been hard, reconciling the fact that Chen might have an all powerful godly entity living inside of him, while he’s still just a little kid.

“You’re such a cute, little thing,” she gushes, startling the child. He looks up at her wide eyed, only to look back down blushing.

“Thank you,” he mumbles in response.

“So polite, too. I’m glad such a good kid’s got such amazing powers,” she says, before winking at him.

Chen smiles wide. “Really? You think I’ll do a good job?” He asks, eyes shining with the exact combination of hope and excitement only a child could ever express.

“Of course, I do! You’ve already done such amazing things. You’ve helped Sunjung find her cat and advised Old Man Jeon on where to best plant next year’s crops.” She smiles down, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it reassuringly. “And in just under five days you’ve helped more people than I can count find their soulmates. If that isn’t doing a good job then I don’t know what is.”

Chen is clearly embarrassed, flushing to the tip of his ears. She can see a proud little smile tugging at his lips that he’s trying to suppress.

“But, following strings is easy-“he stubbornly insists-“and finding the cat was just a matter of following its tracks.” He pauses, his eyes widening moments later. “Old Man Jeon could starve because of my bad advice!” He whines, shaking the hand holding his with both of his little hands.

“Baby-“ she laughs, crouching down a bit so they can see eye to eye-“no one is going to let Old Man Jeon starve. Besides, you are the Oracle, the First and One True Seer. I’m pretty sure your sowing advice is the best anyone’s ever gonna get. Now stop being silly and close that feed bag or the chickens are never going to leave you alone.”

He does as she says immediately, cheeks pink and a pleased smile on his face. She sees him run off towards the small supplies shack they’d built close to the well. She chuckles to herself, thinking how nice it feels to have a child to take care of, even if one had never been in their plans.

But of course, everything must come to end. She discovers this first-hand a few weeks later, when General Kim stops by their small settlement.

It’s a lovely spring day, the sun up in the sky with only a few clouds in sight. Minyoung is teaching Chen how to harvest tea leaves while she mends some old clothes. Heejung sighs happily, reveling in the peaceful morning.

When she finishes with the skirt she was working on, she folds it and puts it in the empty basket, located next to the one full of holey or torn clothes. Before getting back to work, she stretches her neck, trying to get rid of the crick in it. As she looks up, she notices a huge cloud of dust far down the road, which has strange dark shapes in it.

“What is that?” Minyoung asks, pointing towards the dust cloud. “You don’t think that could be horsemen, do you?”

“I think that’s exactly what they are,” Heejung says, rushing towards Minyoung and Chen .“We don’t know who they are or what they want-“she kneels in front of them-“but I don’t think hiding would be much help.”

Minyoung opens her mouth to answer when Chen interrupts her with a tug of her skirt.

They both turn to look at him.

“They’re coming to get me.” He’s avoiding their eyes, instead looking down at the bag of tea leaves.

“What do you mean, sweetheart?” Minyoung asks, running a hand through his hair.

He hugs himself. “Those men, they’re here to take me away. ”He sounds sad and resigned. “I have to go, but I don’t wanna go,” he says, shaking his head to stress the point.

Minyoung takes him gently by the chin, making him look up. “Chen,” she says, resolute, “you are still young, but you have to understand that it is your duty to honor and see to the fulfillment of the Destiny the Gods have forged for each and every one of us. If you must go with those men, then you must.” She hugs him close to her, kissing his hair.

Heejung looks away from them, strangely judging the scene too intimate for her to witness. She watches the rapidly approaching horsemen, instead. They’re still too faraway for her to properly identify their uniform, but the royal standard clearly labels them as men from the King. She wets her lips.

“I trust you as our Oracle, and I’ve also come to care about you like a son,” she hears Minyoung say, as the child begins to sob. “Take care, Chen.”

Moments later, Chen untangles himself from Minyoung and wraps his arms around Heejung, startling the latter. She embraces him tightly, not wasting any of her last precious seconds, wishing they didn’t have to part. She rocks him back and forth, whispering “I love you, I love you,” into his ear. Soon, she begins to cry, too.

Minyoung then hugs them both, and they remain this way, huddled behind the tea bushes, until the horsemen stop in front of them.

XxXxX

“Hyung, where are we going?” Sehun asks sleepily as his brother drags him through the palace’s hallways.

“Mother’s library. I told you that already, Sehun-ah,”Joonmyun answers, exasperation cutting through some of his excitement.

“I know. But why, hyung, why?” Sehun whines, trying to shake off the hand gripping his wrist.

His brother groans in annoyance. “You’ll see, Sehun-ah, now shut up.”

“But, hyung!” Sehun tries again.

“No, buts,” Joonmyun says and that’s that.

Sehun grumbles under his breath the rest of the walk.

The servants are unusually active that morning, scurrying across the palace carrying pillows and blankets, all the while gossiping and whispering non-stop.

Sehun huffs and purses his lips. Why does everyone else know what’s going on while he remains clueless?

“Hurry up!” His hyung demands, tugging at his arm when Sehun gets distracted glaring at four servants carrying a heavy iron heater.

He almost falls down the stairs but Joonmyun manages to steady him.

“Hyung, you almost killed me!” He whines.

Joonmyun just shushes him

Eventually they reach the Queen’s library. It’s the smallest one on the palace by far, but it’s also Sehun’s favourite one by just as much. Soft cushions are littered all throughout the room and it’s the fastest room to warm up during winter, making it the best place to take a midday nap.

Not that Sehun still naps.

Two guards open the door and Joonmyun practically hauls Sehun inside.

“Mother!” Joonmyun exclaims, forgoing all formalities (and just plain manners).

“What is wrong with you?” Sehun asks, aghast.

He hears his mother’s laugh. Sehun turns to face her, embarrassed.

“It’s okay, Sehunnie. Today is no ordinary day, though it would be good if neither of you forgot your manners from now on,” she reprimands gently, sitting down at the table.

“Yes, mother,” both brothers answer in unison.

The woman smiles and beckons them closer with her hand. “Come sit.”

“Why are we having breakfast here, mother?” Sehun asks, plopping down on a cushion.

“Well, I did say today is a special day, didn’t I, Sehunnie?” She teases, before taking a sip from her tea.

“Yes, but why is it special? Nobody wants to say!” He protests, waving his arms around wildly.

The queen chuckles, while Joonmyun glares at him for almost hitting him in the face. Sehun isn’t the least bit sorry for that, he deserves it for keeping him in the dark.

“Do you know about the Oracle?” The queen asks.

Fast as lighting, a very smug Joonmyun says, “I do!”

Sehun huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t know stuff, mother. That’s the whole problem.”

The corners of her mouth quirk up but she makes no other acknowledgement. Instead, she motions Joonmyun to continue.

She lets Sehun get away with so much stuff.

“The Oracle is a minor deity at the service of the Great God. Their name is actually Hyunji and they were created as a gift for the people’s good behavior. They’re the only one who can See the full destinies of the people.” His brother recites.

Sehun snorts and Joonmyun throws him a murderous look.

“What else, Joonmyunnie?” The Queen asks, aiming to stop a fist fight from breaking out. “What do you mean by ‘complete destinies’?”

Joonmyun doesn’t immediately turn to her, taking a few moments to compose himself before answering, “There are people, common folk, who’ve been gifted with the Vision, but they can only See bits and pieces of Fate and none of them can see the Red Strings.”

“Red strings?” Sehun asks, in spite of himself. He flushes bright pink at the incredulous look Joonmyun gives him.

“Inquiring about things we do not know is nothing to be ashamed of, Sehun. The unknown is something we can never escape from and its most effective weapon is arrogance,” she says with appointed look to his brother, who looks away embarrassed. Sehun feels slightly vindicated, but not quite. “You must always be humble at the face of knowledge, for it always will be greater and vaster than you.”

Sehun squirms uncomfortably on his cushion for a second, avoiding his mother’s gaze. He appreciates her wisdom, he does, but sometimes she can get a little…intense.

“So, Joonmyunnie, Red Strings?” She asks softly, but cheerfully.

“Right!” Joonmyun exclaims, clearly startled, voice squeaky. He clears his throat before speaking again. “Everyone has one end of a Red String tied to their right pinky, with the other end being tied to their soulmate. Following the Strings is very difficult and requires a lot of soul-searching and sacrifices to the Gods, which makes it more or less impossible to do. That’s why the Oracle is so important, they’re the only one who can see them and follow them without having to burn a year’s harvest.” Both Joonmyun and his mother chuckle like this is some weird, historical inside joke (which it probably is, Sehun reasons), while he is left frowning in confusion.

“Did someone really burn an entire year’s harvest just for a chance to meet their soulmate?” His brother starts to quietly giggle, while his mother puts a hand over her mouth to stop the laughter from bursting out. He gives them his best scowl and decides stuffing his face as sullenly as possible is the best course of action.

The Queen decides to take mercy on him. “No one’s ever really burnt a year’s harvest, Sehunnie. You’ll understand in a few months’ time. Be patient,” she replies, beaming at him with sparkling eyes.

He swallows, wiping his mouth after. He tries to keep his scowl on but he is truly no match for her. Slowly, a small smile forms on his face.

Suddenly, a thought occurs to him. “I’ve got a question, though.” His mother nods encouragingly. “If the Oracle is a deity, does this mean that every time they come down here they go around, in like, their godly form? Because I thought Gods couldn’t do that anymore.”

“They can’t,” Joonmyun is quick to answer, “The Great God chooses someone, traditionally a mudang, to be a host for the Oracle.”

“So, the Oracle basically possesses someone?” Sehun asks uneasily.

“Kind of.” Joonmyun shrugs. “That person maintains their personality and control over their actions but they now gain the Oracle’s abilities. And well, to be fair I think that some of their thoughts and actions are influenced by the Oracle, but just like, a very small part.”

Sehun hums skeptically. “If you say so.”

Joonmyun rolls his eyes at him and turns towards the Queen, who’s watching their exchange, clearly amused. “When are we going to meet them?” His hyung asks, the previous excitement returning to him.

The Queen sets her cup down. “In a few moments. He’s still being introduced.”

“So it’s a boy! A man?” Joonmyun cocks his head to the side.

Moments like this are really unfair, Sehun thinks, he is supposed to be the cute one.

“It’s a boy. About a year younger than you actually.” She replies.

Joonmyun hums in reply. “That’s weird. There’s never been an Oracle this young before.”

The queen nods. “You are correct, but this means that the Oracle will be around for a much longer time. Oracles live long, long lives, as you know.”

Something downs on Sehun, “Wait! You mean to tell me the Oracle is actually here? Like here here?!”

Joonmyun covers his face with his right hand and Sehun pretends he didn’t hear him talking to himself, wondering about Sehun’s intelligence.

Sehun is very smart boy, thank you very much.

“Is this what has everyone all over the place? And why no one thought to tell me?” He asks indignantly.

His mother smirks. “Well, I’m telling you now. Aren’t I, Sehunnie?”

He groans in annoyance. “You’re the worst.”

As expected, they both laugh at him.

Breakfast goes on as normal from then on, when the queen changes the topic to something more mundane.

Now though, the food and tea are gone and both Sehun and Joonmyun are wriggling in their seats with anticipation.

Naturally, Sehun is the first one to break, “Mother,” he whines, “can we go meet him now? Please?”

The queen sighs deeply as she rests her chin on her hand. “Oh, I don’t know. Could it be time already?” She frowns, acting as if she’s thinking long and hard on the matter.

But two can play this game.

“Mother, please!” Sehun whines cutely, giving her his best pout.

His mother drops the act and grins, clearly defeated. “Oh, alright. I guess you win this round.”

She motions to a servant and stands up, swiftly fixing her robes. She steps around the table and engages in a whispered conversation with the woman before asking the boys if they’d like to go for a walk in the gardens.

Needless to say, both princes almost trip over themselves trying to get up.

The walk through the palace hallway seems eternal to Sehun and this is not helped by the fact that walking with the queen implies being surrounded by her personal guard and having to stop every five seconds so all sorts of people can bow to her and she can speak to this court member or the other or invite them to seat beside her in today’s or someday’s Daily Tea Ceremony or whatever. The absolute worst, though, is when they try to include Sehun or his brother in the conversation. Thankfully, barely anyone acknowledges Sehun’s existence past the due bow, but Sehun winces in sympathy every time his hyung is addressed. Honestly, can’t anyone see just how much of a hurry they are in?!

Sehun rolls his eyes for the umpteenth time, barely resisting the urge to stomp his feet and demand they go to the gardens right now, immediately. He looks longingly out the window, the sunny and bright spring morning a sight for sore, winter weary eyes.

When an obnoxious lord begins a tirade about some Chinese classic Sehun hasn’t read and has no real interest in, he groans quietly, screwing his eyes shut. He takes a deep breath and slowly releases the air through his nose. One of the perks of being the invisible prince is that no one notices your obvious annoyance and general impolite conduct while in public.

Obnoxious no-name lords with nasals voices and tacky robes are really going to be the death of him.

Deeming watching out the window to be too painful, he lowers his gaze to the floor. And guess what: the obnoxious no-name lord with a nasal voice and tacky robes is also in possession of a very ugly pair of shoes.

He snorts, rather loudly. He becomes aware of this fact and freezes, waiting for admonishment. Which never comes.

He really is invisible prince. Sehun bets he could sneak around all these people and out of the palace and no one would notice. He could grab provisions and reach the river by foot before anyone even went looking for him. He could go talk to the Oracle and…He could go talk to the Oracle. He could go right in that instant out to the gardens, meet the Oracle and no one would ever notice or even care.

Sometimes, Sehun really does wonder why all his brilliant plans come to him after much, much suffering.

He takes a look around to make sure truly no one is paying attention to him, before slipping into a servant’s hidden passage. Once inside, the light is much dimmer, so he takes a moment to adjust his vision. As soon as it clearsenough, he sets off to the gardens.

It’s a little sad really, that it’s only when he’s walking under the shade of a peach tree orchard, a good distance away from the palace that he realizes he has absolutely no idea where the Oracle is.

He stops walking and contemplates going back to the palace, but decides against it soon enough. His mother and brother are probably still where he left them and he has no desire to be in the presence of that man ever again.

He pouts and continues on.

In no time, he’s out of the orchards and out in an open field. From where he’s standing he can see the tree line of the forest, though it’s still a few good miles away.

A soothing breeze gently sweeps by, making Sehun sigh in relief. It’s quiet there and silence is something that’s been severely lacking from the palace in the last few days. The lack of peace had been aggravated by him not knowing what was going on.

He plops down on the grass without any grace, uncaring of his silk robes. He lies down on his back and closes his eyes, enjoying the mild sunlight.

A loud bark startles him awake. He sits up not a second later, panting heavily. He looks around searching for the source of the noise.

A second bark is heard and this time Sehun recognizes it as coming from the King’s private gardens.

He looks up to the sky to see if much time has passes, but the position of the sun shows that he hadn’t been asleep for more than a few minutes, which means that his father couldn’t possibly be taking a stroll through his garden with his dogs. No one outside the royal family is allowed to be there, unless that someone outranks the king. But, obviously, there’s no one who out-

“A deity!” Sehun exclaims out loud, a wide grin breaking out on his face.

He takes off running towards the king’s garden without a second thought. He runs past fountains and benches and cherry and peach trees unaware of his surroundings, but when he reaches the wide stone archways he stops abruptly. A soft gasp leaves his lips.

A few feet ahead there is a flower bed full of small, pretty pink flowers, protected from the sun by a few large oaks. In the middle of it, there is a small boy with a very pretty smile. He is playing around with one of his father favourite dogs and her two young pups.

Sehun can’t look away and he doesn’t know why. The sight of the boy in the flowers is simply…mesmerizing.

“Hi!” A voice greets and Sehun quickly realizes it belong to the boy, the Oracle.

“Hello,” Sehun greets back, giving the boy a small wave.

The boy beams at Sehun, standing up and running towards him. Sehun inwardly panics but manages to keep cool on the outside. He hopes.

“My name is Chen,” the boy, Chen, says once he reaches him. He’s holding a puppy in each arm and Sehun is surprised to notice that their mother hasn’t at least followed them.

“How did you manage to steal them?” Sehun blurts out, unthinkingly. A moment later, he realizes what he’s said and turns bright red from his cheeks and down his neck.

Chen giggles at him. “What do you mean?” He asks, clearly amused.

“I, well, I…” Sehun trails off, distracted by Chen eyes.

“What is wrong with you?” Chen laughs. Sehun can’t believe he is cute even when he is insulting him.

“Nothing!” He squeaks out, flushing a darker red when Chen laughs harder. “Stop it,” Sehun whines, despite himself.

This causes Chen more laughter, but he makes the effort of muffling it against the puppies. Eventually, he manages to stop laughing, but his eyes still twinkle with amusement.

All the while Sehun has been alternating between looking down at the ground and staring at Chen.

“What’s your name?” Chen asks, plopping down on the grass. He sets the puppies down on his lap and begins to pet them. The puppies wriggle around trying to be the one receiving more affection.

Sehun can relate.

“I’m Sehun,” he says, sitting down in front of Chen.

Chen smiles at him, gentler, and Sehun feels his heart skip a beat.

Mindful of the Oracle’s reaction, he reaches out to pet one of the puppies, softly stroking its little head with a brush of his fingers. Chen beams at him, his eyes turning into cute crescents. He grins back.

“Her name is Ji,” Chen tells him, as he tenderly lifts her up from his lap and puts her in Sehun’s own.

Sehun feels himself smirk. “And the other one is called Hyun?”

Chen laughs, nodding enthusiastically. “I wanted to name them Honey and Pepper, because of their fur,” he explains, running his fingers through the puppy’s golden coat, “but the king insisted it was tradition to name the male puppy Hyun and the female one Ji.”

“Why don’t you name them Hyun Honey and Ji Pepper?” Sehun suggest, absentmindedly rubbing Ji’s belly.

Chen opens his mouth to reply but nothing comes out. Merely seconds after he closes his mouth and seems to be thinking it over. “That’s actually a really good idea, Sehun-ah!” He exclaims, finally. Chen’s face is soft and relaxed and he’s got a little, sweet smile on his face and Sehun’s just realized the corners of his mouth are upturned. He would be lying if he said a kaleidoscope of butterflies didn’t start Bakjeopmu-ing all over his stomach right in that instant.

Naturally, he blushes from head to toe. “Thanks,” he mumbles, turning all his attention towards the squirming puppy on his lap.

“Who are you?” Chen asks out of the blue.

Sehun looks up, surprised. “What do you mean? I’m Sehun, I told you that.”

Chen rolls his eyes at him and sighs dramatically. “I know, but why are here? I mean, you know I’m the Oracle, so my question is what are you? If that makes sense,” Chen explains, cocking his head to the side.

Cutest thing ever.

“Oh, I’m the second prince,” Sehun says. “Why else would I be in this garden?” He smirks smugly.

A short, breathless laugh bursts out of Chen. “You’re very cute, did you know that?” He asks, reaching out to ruffles Sehun’s hair. “Besides, technically you’re not in the king’s garden.”

Sehun is frozen on the spot, unable to retort. Ji starts wriggling around trying to get out from the trap he’s inadvertently made his hands into.

Chen bites his lower lip but this does nothing to hide the endearing little smile he’s sporting. The Oracle grabs Hyun and shuffles over until he’s right in front of Sehun. Once there, he takes Ji from the other boy’s hands. Now, with the two puppies back in his arms he stands up and says, “I’m supposed to go back to the palace for lunch. Would you escort me?”

Sehun can’t do anything but nod and stare dumbly at Chen’s pretty, mischievous eyes.

He won’t be inheriting any kingdoms. This means he could marry the Oracle, right?

XxXxX

The Oracle’s Room, as it is called, is located at the very top of a tall tower that stands alone at the very center of the palace’s central courtyard.

The tower itself is one of the strangest constructions Chen has ever seen; it possesses a perfectly cylindrical shape and it lacks the ostentatious eaves pagodas are known to have. Made of smooth stone and ending in a dome-shaped roof with the appropriate demon-arrester on top, to allow the Great God an easy way to bestow his servant with his grace without frying everyone.

Teacher Cho had actually laughed at him when Chen managed to gather his overwhelmed thoughts enough to ask him what he meant.

Apparently, Hyunji is also the deity of lightening and a demon-arrester attracts lighting, which prevents it from causing strife through the whole palace and, as said above, frying everyone.

Teacher Cho had laughed, again, when he’d asked if that meant Chen would be the one getting fried. He’d stopped when he noticed Chen’s terrif-slightly scared expression.

The teacher had hurriedly explained that the lighting travelled through the finial, down the walls of the tower and into the ground. What reassured Chen the most though, was the fact that even if lighting were to directly strike him, he’d only suffer from a headache and some mild burns and, if they were lucky, as said by Cho, maybe a short visit from the actual Oracle, the godly one.Who just so happened to be the deity of lighting. Lighting tended to be good for its master.

(Of course, Chen had asked how it was possible for him to know so much about a lightning-striking-the-Oracle situation and insistently asked if it had happened before and how many times and had someone died?

Unfortunately, Teacher Cho is a worthy opponent and with a soft reprimand and a subtle, but meaningful, subject change had rebuffed Chen’s skillful attack.)

Climbing up the stairs all the way to his room had been particularly tiring to Chen due to the fact that he’d just had lunch and he’d been carrying two squirming, impatient puppies.

Now however, Chen is thankfully resting on his very big and very soft new (circular) bed.

Everything in his room is circular for some strange reason Chen didn’t care to listen to, being too distracted by the amazing view from the arches placed along the wall.

Nevertheless, while the view is certainly striking, Chen loads to think about the sun spilling early every morning, mercilessly waking him up, or about the rain wetting all his stuff. He quite literally shudders when he remembers winter and snow are a thing.

He needs to seriously speak with the king about getting him some curtains. Well, maybe not the king king. Speaking with Teacher Cho should be about the same thing. Probably.

Chen sighs exasperated, burrowing deeper into his blankets. His many, many blankets. He smiles at the thought, giggling when Hyun buries his little head into his neck, tickling him.

“Stop it you,” he admonishes softly.

Of course, the puppy pays him no mind and soon his sister joins him. The two puppies end up curled up around each other against the place under his jaw. Chen pouts at the loss of mobility but makes no move to place them elsewhere.

“Sweet dreams,” he says instead, closing his eyes to go to sleep himself.

Before drifting off, his mind goes back to the strange but cute kid he’d met that day. It’s hardly believable that Sehun is a prince, but he of all people is the Oracle, so really, who is he to judge?

Hours later, he is woken up by the sound of servants lighting up the three iron heaters surrounding his bed.

When one of the servants realizes he’s awake they quickly bow and apologize, the others following suit. Chen absentmindedly waves their apologies away, along with a whispered “it’s fine”.

Night has fallen already and the temperature has dropped. He sneezes, letting out a sigh of relief when he is covered with a woolen cloak. He smiles gratefully at the servant behind the deed.

“Thank you,” he says, pulling the cloak closer around himself. The servant seems taken aback, but he decides to pay that no mind.

He turns his attention to his puppies. Ji is awake and sniffing around the bed, while Hyun remains asleep. He chuckles at the black puppy’s antics and takes her in his arms, hugging her close to his chest.

“You’ll be the best ghost chaser there ever was, isn’t that right Ji Pepper? You’ll keep all the weird dreams away.” He kisses her head softly. The puppy lays plaint in his arms. Chen sighs happily. “That was the best sleep I remember having, did you know that Ji Pepper?” He smiles sadly setting the puppy down next to her brother. “Can you believe I don’t even remember how my sleep used to be like?” He asks with a sad chuckle.

His eyes swipe the room for any remaining servants and slumps forward in relief when he finds himself alone.

“They’re really quiet, I should be more careful,” he whispers conspiratorially to his puppies. “But you’re not gonna tell on me are you? You’re going to be my best friends.”

Ji just yawns, while Hyun remains sleeping.

Chen smiles at the cute scene.

“I miss them,” he says in a small voice, “I hope they’re okay.”

“Who are you talking about?” Sehun’s voice resonates throughout the quiet room.

Chen squeaks in surprise. “What are you doing here?” He shrieks.

“I asked you first,” Sehun says, climbing into the bed despite Chen’s weak protests, with a hand suspiciously behind his back, “who are you missing?”

“What are you hiding there?” Chen asks, poking Sehun in the chest. He’s not one to back down from a challenge.

But Sehun, the brat, simply smirks and says “I’ll show you if you tell who you were talking about.”

Chen huffs, looking away. He knows he could just convince Sehun to show him anyway, without revealing anything himself, but something about the boy makes him want to speak.

“Come here,” he says finally, moving towards the center of the bed and motioning Sehun to do the same, “I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone, okay?”

Sehun nods excitedly. “I promise.”

“I don’t know where I came from,” Chen begins, “I…was found a few weeks earlier, by a couple. Heejung and Minyoung.”

Sehun hums encouragingly.

Chen gulps. “I don’t remember anything before that. Not even my name; Heejung named me,” he explains. “They’re truly the only people I’ve ever cared about, I, I don’t have anyone else. Well, I don’t have them anymore but-“

“You can have me,” Sehun says, with a serious look in his eye.

Chen feels warmth spread all over him. “Okay,” he whispers.

Sehun beams at him and with a sudden movement, presents Chen with a bouquet of peach tree flowers. “To keep the bad spirits away!” He exclaims, every bit of childish innocence sparkling in his eyes.

This kid is going to give him whiplash, Chen thinks. Still, he beams back, a bit flustered. “Thank you,” he says, grabbing the offered flowers.

Given that they’re peach tree flowers, the bouquet is more of a flowery branch bouquet tied together with bright pink ribbon, complementing the flowers. Chen bites back a grin.

“Can I ask you a question?”

He glances back at Sehun. “You just did, Sehun-ah, but go for it.” Chen smirks.

“How does the soulmate thing work?” Sehun asks.

Chen is shocked into speechlessness. His eyes are wide open and much too quickly his breath becomes much too shallow.

“Chen? Chenhyung, are you okay?” Sehun is panicking and Chen knows that he has to fix it but he doesn’t know how.

A tiny bark breaks the building tension. Chen feels himself relax instantly after hearing it. Hyun and Ji try to climb into his lap and he hugs them both to his chest as soon as he notices.

He feels Sehun crawl over to him, but doesn’t acknowledge him until the other boy tickles him with the peach tree flowers, making Chen giggle.

“I’m sorry I upset you, hyung. I didn’t mean to,” Sehun whispers.

“It’s okay, Sehunnie, it’s not your fault,” Chen reassures him, running a gentle hand through the prince’s hair.

“Are you sure?” Sehun insists, with guilty eyes.

Chen nods, forcing a small smile on his face he’s sure looks more like a grimace. Nonetheless, Sehun seems to buy it because he sighs in relief and smiles, before taking both puppies from Chen’s arms, replacing them with the peach tree flowers.

A real, albeit confused, smile forms on Chen’s face. “Why did you do that?” He asks, watching Sehun build a makeshift bed for Hyun and Ji out of one of his many pillows. “What are you doing?” He laughs at Sehun futile attempt at getting the puppies to stay still.

“Well, it’s late,” he explains with a pout, “I thought they might like to go to sleep.”

Chen erupts in laughter; maybe more than the situation really warrants, but he doesn’t want to think about that.

Luckily, Sehun doesn’t seem to be genuinely offended. But the mock scowl Chen is treated to is certainly adorable.

“You’re so cute!” The Oracle squeals, squishing the younger boy’s cheeks.

“I am not!” Sehun whines, grabbing Chen’s wrists and getting his hands as far away from his face as possible. Chen lets him, laughing even more.

Sehun continues to whine at Chen, trying to get him to stop laughing but Chen cannot stop laughing, even when Sehun gets too fed up and decides that wrestling is the fastest way to get him to stop.

Eventually they tire themselves out and simply lay on the bed, one on top of the other.

Chen sighs contently, snuggling further into Sehun’s neck, making the younger boy giggle.

“Ticklish?” Chen asks with a mischeavious smirk.

Sehun hums his agreement.

The Oracle bites his lip contemplating the pros and cons of starting a tickle war. Ultimately, he decides against it, deeming the truce they’re currently in much more enjoyable.

The prince grabs Chen’s left hand in his right one, absentmindedly playing with it. Chen’s eyes can’t help but be drawn to the thin, red string tied to Sehun’s pinky. The string is completely still, even though the hand is moving, signaling that in that precise moment Sehun’s energy is complexly aligned with his soulmate’s.

Chen bites his lip to stop a sad sigh from leaving his mouth, closing his eyes and firmly pressing the curve of his nose into the place where Sehun’s neck and shoulder meet.

“Hyung, are you crying?” Sehun asks, breaking the silence.

Chen opens his eyes, confused at first, until he brings a hand to his cheek and realizes he is crying. He tries to explain the situation away but the only thing that comes out of his mouth is a sob.

Sehun surprises Chen by hugging him close to his chest, without saying anything, simply holding him. In a matter of seconds, Chen is ugly sobbing into the prince’s chest. Getting snot all over his expensive, silk clothes. Chen gives a breathless laugh at the thought.

“Hyung, I just want you to know that even though we just met I’m always going to protect you, okay? I promise I’ll make sure you won’t ever cry again,” Sehun promises, earnest and sincere.

Chen’s heart constricts in his chest and he takes in a shuddering breath. “Thank you for the sentiment, Sehunnie, but I don’t think that’s possible,” he replies, playing with the ornaments along the princes waist.

“Don’t you worry, Chen Chen hyung, I’ll find a way,” Sehun says, adamant.

“You’re too stubborn for your own good, Sehunnie,” Chen mumbles into the other’s neck.

“You are ten times more stubborn that me, hyung, so really, I don’t know why you think you have a right to tell me off for it,” the princes teases, as he starts running a hand through Chen’s hair.

“What are you doing?” Chen demands playfully, but Sehun still halts his movement and returns his hand to Chen’s shoulder. “Well?” The Oracle probes further.

“Uh, I, I just…thought you might like it?” Sehun sounds so unsure and Chen is having way too much fun with this.

He lets Sehun squirm uncomfortably for a while, before finally taking him out of his misery. “You are so cute, Sehun-ah,” he says, muffling his laughter on Sehun’s shoulder.

The younger boy relaxes instantly, making a relieved sound.

They remain like that for a few more moments, until Chen finally feels Sehun’s hesitant hand climbing upwards again.

“It’s okay,” Chen whispers against Sehun’s skin.

The prince resumes playing with his left hand, forcing Chen to look elsewhere to stop the waterworks from returning.

“Thank you,” he sighs.

Sehun doesn’t reply nor ask what he’s thanking him for.

XxXxX

It’s been two weeks since Chen arrived at the palace and Sehun still hasn’t found a way to know if they are soulmates or if there’s a way he can make them be.

Joonmyun thinks both of his missions are stupid, which is why Sehun has taken to calling him by his complete title. Somehow, that annoys him a hundred times more than not being addressed as hyung. Maybe it’s the fact that Sehun’s being perfectly polite and can’t be punished for annoying him.

His brother is absolutely ridiculous, Sehun thinks, rolling his eyes. It is in times like this when Shun is most grateful for Minseok. He ensures Sehun doesn’t have to deal with Joonmyun’s annoying existence all the damn time.

Sehun is currently combing through the King(dom)’s library for information to be used in his quest. So far, the only really useful information he’s found has been the diary of the Oracle before Chen.

(Apparently, his parents were the last couple matched by her before her death. Go figure.)

Shiah had been very thorough with her descriptions of the “Middle World” as she called the place where prophesies and future visions where. It was called that way because it was literally situated between the Earth and the dwelling of the Gods and it seemed to be the home of Hyunji. When they weren’t possessing some poor human, obviously.

Thanks to that, now Sehun has a much better understanding of Chen and what he must be feeling. And Seeing. But that’s too scary and distracting for Sehun to think about when he’s on a quest of such importance.

In a book titled “Strange Occurrences in the History of the Kingdom of Joseon, Goryeo and Beyond” he’d read the story Joonmyun and his mother where referencing weeks ago. It’d had Sehun laughing for a long, long time. He couldn’t wait to tell Chen about it.

However, there appears to be no other recorded story of someone finding their soulmate without the Oracle. Which does not help Sehun at all, seeing as soulmate stuff seems to send Chen into a panic without fail.

There are also doesn’t seem to be anything about a way to become the soulmate of someone, except for some very gory fables obviously meant to discourage the search for one.

Sehun lets himself fall on a cushion, groaning in frustration. He stares at the ceiling, resining himself to the fact that if Chen and him aren’t already soulmates, they most probably never will be.

He chuckles to himself. It was pretty stupid of him to think that could be possible.

Of course, not all hope is lost. Sehun has never felt more attune with a person other than Chen. That has got to count for something.

He smiles, pleased and readies himself to take a mid-afternoon nap on the cushions he’s lying on.

Now, he only has to find a way to make Chen talk.

XxXxX

“Why do you have so many flowers in here?” Prince Joonmyun answers as soon as climbs into Chen’s room.

Minseok laughs heartedly at Joonmyun’s lack of a filter while Chen flushes from head to toe.

“Sehun has been giving them to me,” he mumbles in response, too embarrassed to say it out loud.

“Ha!” Minseok exclaims, startling both Chen and his puppies, but Joonmyun remains unaffected, clearly used to it. “I told you Sehun-ah was in love with Chennie here.” Minseok sounds as smug as he looks.

“No, he’s not!” Chen blurts out.

Minseok raises one very unimpressed eyebrow at him and Chen quickly looks away, trying (and failing) to disguise his pink cheeks.

“Stop teasing Chen, hyung,” Joonmyun scolds. “Besides, I never said Sehun didn’t like Chen, I just said I didn’t think it was gonna last.”

Minseok snorts. “Oh, really? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Joonmyun, but these days Sehun’s been spending most of his free time at the library. Reading. Of his own free will,” he deadpans.

Joonmyun looks shocked, eyes and mouth wide open.

Chen can’t help but laugh at his ridiculous expression. Though, when the prince turns to glare at him he quickly covers his mouth with both hands to stop the sound.

Joonmyun turns his glare on Minseok, in a very dramatic fashion, making a new wave of laughter threaten to spill out of Chen.

“That still doesn’t mean Sehun’s going to be in love with Chen forever. Remember when Lady Choi smuggled that special Emperor’s only tea from China? He-“

“Wait a second! A lady of your court stole the Chinese Emperor’s tea?” Chen asks incredulous.

Minseok burst out laughing while Joonmyun scrambles for an answer. The most he can muster is a weak and long “eh”.

“Yeah, she – oh Gods, she,” Minseok tries to say between laughs, “it’s kinda complicated, because she – oh Gods – she was a special guest, y’know? And-“

“Why did you say special like that, hyung?” Chen frowns.

Minseok’s eyes go wide as saucers and he laughs so hard he drops to the floor.

“You’re useless,” Joonmyun grumbles, watching the eldest out of the corner of his eye. “A disgrace to your heritage. You must be the most undisciplined son of a General I’ve ever met.”

Minseok looks up at the prince with a wide, dangerous grin. “But that’s why you love me,” he says with a wink.

Joonmyun makes an offended little sound at the back of his throat, sending Minseok into incontrollable laughter again. Chen muffles his giggles into his sleeves.

“Stop it,” whines Joonmyun, with a pout on his face.

The Oracle takes pity on the prince and walks over to Minseok, trying to get him to calm down. “C’mon, hyung, you wanted to take me somewhere, right?”

This seems to get Minseok to stop, as he takes a series of deep breaths, attempting to stop the laughter. Eventually, he manages to go back to normal, though he still has a mischeavious little smile on his face, which Chen deems to be unsafe.

He searches the room for Joonmyun, finding him sitting on his bed petting Hyun and Ji, a pout still on his face.

“Let’s go, Joonmyun hyung.” He takes the prince’s hand, tugging him out of his bed.

Reluctantly, the prince follows, holding onto Hyun with his other hand.

“Minseok hyung, could you grab Ji for me, please?”Chen requests, moving towards the fenced hole on the other side of his bed.

He doesn’t check if Minseok is doing as he asked, instead leading Joonmyun down the stair into the antechamber of his bedroom.

Once there he notices Hyun’s started to wriggle around trying to get away from the prince’s arms and into his. Chen chuckles, taking the puppy from a grateful Joonmyun.

“What is he doing there?” The older boy wonders out loud, looking upwards and through the whole in the roof of the antechamber, into Chen’s room, where Minseok seems to be puttering around if the sounds they hear are any indicative.

“Hyung! Stop messing with stuff that isn’t yours!” Chen yells. “Now please get down here.”

A few seconds later, Minseok’s head appears through the opening. “You’ll be thanking me later for messing with your stuff.” He smirks. “Now, what did you ask me to do?”

“If you could take Ji down with you,” Chen answers.

“In a moment.” Minseok’s head disappears.

Soon after he’s climbing down the stair, holding Ji to his chest. Once standing on the floor he wordlessly hands her to Chen.

“Have you opened any of the trunks yet?” Joonmyun asks out of the blue, gesturing to the twelve trunks placed at even distances along the wall.

“Not yet,” Chen says, shaking his head.

“Why not?” Joonmyun is already tinkering with one of the chests, trying to open it.

“I don’t know how,” Chen replies, looking down at his shoes.

“Oh. So you’ve tried to open them, right?”

He nods. “But they’re locked and I haven’t found a key, yet. I’m not sure they open with a key anyway.” Chen shrugs helplessly.

Joonmyun hums, lost in thought.

“Maybe Sehun will know. He’s been reading a lot about the Oracle, lately,” Minseok suggests.

Chen feels that now familiar warmth spread through him. “He’s been reading about me?”

The eldest snorts. “Of course, he’s in love with you. Nothing short of that could make him go to the library to actually read. And if he’s in love with you, the Oracle, he’s not going to be reading about horse-riding, now is he?”

(Minseok should really stop looking so smug all the time, it makes him look ugly.)

Chen swallows hard. He knows he’s now blushing, can feel the heat on his cheeks. The thought of Sehun being in lo- caring that much about him is exhilarating, but dangerous. He glances at the red string on Minseok right pinky, watching it gently swing around, before looking down at his own string-less hand. He can’t have Sehun having those kinds of feelings for him, especially not when he’s going to have to announce his soulmate to the whole kingdom in a few years’ time.

He sighs, suddenly much, much sadder than before. He turns to his hyung, making his best to smile at him.

Minseok is looking at him with a concerned little frown. Chen sees him open his mouth, mostly likely to ask him what’s wrong, so he does his best to reassure him shaking his head with the small, awkward smile he managed to put on his face

“Are we not going to go ask Sehun about this?” Joonmyun asks, breaking the tense atmosphere.

“Sure!” Exclaims Minseok, grinning.

Chen knows that cheerful expression is not real, but Joonmyun seems none the wiser, probably too distracted by the matter of the trunks.

He feels himself relax little by little and wonders if as time passes he’ll become as good an actor his Minseok.

XxXxX

Sehun is halfway to the Oracle’s Tower when he notices three distinctive figures exiting it. He narrows his eyes at Minseok, who is too close to his Chen Chen hyung.

With steel resolve, he begins to power walk over to them, with the full intent of rescuing his Chen Chen hyung from his evil brother and his evil friend.

Only, when he’s almost reached him, they call him over.

“We were just about to go get you!” Joonmyun sounds much too eager for this to be a good thing.

Sehun motions him to continue.

His brother rolls his eyes but keeps talking anyway. “You’ve been reading the last Oracle’s diary right? Well what did she say about the trunks in Chen’s room?”

“The ones in the antechamber?” Sehun asks, cocking his head to the side in faked confused. He’s playing dumb and Joonmyun knows it, Minseok and Chen probably know it, too, but his aim is to annoy, not deceive.

“C’mon, Sehunnie!” His brother straight up whines. Joonmyun must be more interested than he’d originally thought.

Countless humiliating scenarios he could potentially put Joonmyun through cross his mind in rapid succession. When he’s down to the top 5 a small, gentle hand on his forearm brings his mind to a halt.

“Could we talk in private, Sehunnie?” Chen is standing right in front of him, his big, anxious eyes focused on a point around the area of Sehun’s left cheek.

“Of course,” Sehun agrees unthinkingly.

“But what about the trunks?” Joonmyun sputters.

“Chennie will tell us later, right Chennie?” Minseok interjects, putting himself back on Sehun’s good list in a single action.

Chen gives Minseok a grateful smile before letting himself be pulled by Sehun back into the tower.

They don’t talk much, is at all, on the way up. Still, while Chen is definitely tense, the silence between them isn’t an uncomfortable one.

They stop at the antechamber, instead of continuing upwards into Chen’s bedroom.

Sehun watches quietly as Chen sits himself down directly under a window, boxed between two chests. He sets the puppies on the ground, letting them roam free, but they never stray far from the Oracle. They never will.

“You’re going to get really muscly arms if you keep carrying them everywhere.” Sehun comments, attempting to defuse the tension.

One corner of Chen’s mouth quirks up and Sehun pats himself in the back.

“Come sit, Sehunnie.” Chen looks and sounds much too somber for his taste.

With slow, deliberate steps he walks closer to the Oracle. He sits down once he’s a safe, but comforting distance from Chen.

The other boy licks his lips, “Remember the first night I spent here? When you asked me about soulmates?”

Sehun nods. “You, you got really nervous.”

“Yeah,” Chen breathes out.

“You’re gonna tell me why,” He states, looking the Oracle right in the eye. Strangely enough, Chen doesn’t look away.

“I don’t have a soulmate,” Chen says in a too even voice, ripping Sehun’s heart right out of his chest and carelessly throwing it out of the window behind him.

“What do you mean by that? Everyone does!” Sehun cries, reaching out to take Chen’s hands in his.

Chen flinches back, curling into himself, heaving an awful sounding sob.

“Hyung!” Sehun insists, struggling to be heard above the shrill barks of Hyun Honey and Ji Pepper. “Hyung, talk to me!”

Much as he tries, Chen seems to be too far into the Middle World for him, or Hyun and Ji for that matter, to get his attention.

Thinking quickly, he hurries into Chen’s bedroom. He’s momentarily taken aback by the strange new placement of the flowers, in a circle around Chen’s bed. He shakes himself out of it, grabbing two bouquets of wilting peach tree flowers and going back to the antechamber.

Chen is still in the same position he left him. Though, the puppies are now whimpering and crying, rubbing themselves against the Oracle.

Sehun maneuvers around the little dogs, trying to get close to Chen. Once close enough, he hugs the older boy from behind, pressing the flowers against his face.

It takes a little while, but Chen starts to calm down, his breath slowly evening out.

He turns in Sehun’s arms, sneaking his arms around his middle and burying his head on his shoulder.

“Thank you,” he mutters.

“Hyung, why do you believe you don’t have a soulmate?” This is probably the only time Sehun will get to ask and he is not wasting it.

Chen holds him tighter, but doesn’t say anything.

“It’s okay, hyung, you can tell me. I promise I won’t tell.” runs his hand up and down Chen’s back like his mother has done to him countless time.

Tension leaves the Oracle in small bouts, but he keeps crying.

Sehun starts to feel guilty. He never, ever should’ve pressured Chen like that. He has to fix this.

“Hyung, I-“

“I don’t have a String, Sehun-ah. I’m not connected to anyone,” Chen interrupts him.

Fuck.

“I don’t care,” the prince says, wasting no time.

“Sehun-ah, this isn’t li-“

“I don’t care. I’ll love you and marry you. You’re my Chen hyung and I don’t care what a silly String has to say about it,” he insists. He knows he sounds more like the brat he is than anything else, but he’s being sincere.

Chen pushes Sehun back, breaking their embrace. “Sehun, you can’t just go against the Gods’ desires like that,” Chen whispers harshly. “Besides you’ll get over this eventually, Sehun. And are you going to do when I have to tell you and the whole kingdom who your soulmate really is?”

“That’s still really far away. We could just run away, like Junhong and Haesung.”

Chen sighs. He puts his hands on Sehun’s cheeks and looks at him with sad, teary eyes. “Those are just stories. We’d never make it, Sehun. You have to trust me and trust the Gods. You’ll live long and prosper with your soulmate.”

Sehun gulps. He lets himself fall from his kneeling position, defeated.

“Why do you sound so much like my mother?” Sehun asks, voice small.

Chen raises his eyebrows in surprise. He then smiles wistfully, but the expression seems misplaced on his face somehow.

“You’ll know in due time. I have to go look for something upstairs, wait for me here, please?”

Sehun glares at the boy in front of him. “Only if you bring Chen back,” he demands.

Hyunji gives him a full-tooth smile. “What a smart gal Shiah was.”

Sehun grates his teeth, trying to keep all his confusing and overwhelming feelings in check.

With newfound determination, he pushes himself off the ground and walks over to the trunk marked as twelfth. He takes Shiah’s diary out of his pockets and whispers a blessing against the cover, before putting the book on top of the wood. He clenches his jaw as the diary disappears into the trunk.

“I’ll protect you, Chen Chen hyung, even if I have to protect you from yourself,” he says in a low voice.

Or me, he thinks.

XxXxX

Chen’s fingertips brush the peach tree flowers on his lap, trying to stop thinking about the nightmare he’d had the night before. It’s not such an easy task.

Chen quietly huffs in frustration.

Even now, a year later, the Incident in the Antechamber, as Sehun insists on calling it, still haunts Chen.

From a logical point of view, he knows it shouldn’t. He can barely remember any of it while Sehun can recall every single detail about it and hasn’t had a single nightmare about it. And Chen would know if he had.

Instead, he’s the one suffering from awful nightmares every other night.

He runs a grateful hand through Ji Pepper’s fur. If it weren’t for her and her brother he’d probably be having bad dreams very single night. Petting her along her spine, he sighs wistfully, thinking about how much they’ve grown. His puppies are not puppies anymore.

“Oracle, what do you think I should do about this?” The king’s voice halts his contemplation.

Chen whips around to his right. He unhesitatingly meets the king’s gaze, ignoring the by now familiar grumbles and whispers. He may be young but he’s the Oracle, dammit.

At Chen’s lack of verbal response, the king lightly purses his lips in amusement. “Do you think we should let Ambassador Huang arrive as scheduled? Or perhaps we should send someone to delay his party?” He asks with a teasing tilt to his voice.

Chen frowns at the king. “Zitao should be here no later than the morning of Sehun’s birthday. I tough we’d talked about this already.”

The king looks taken aback. Had they really not gone over this?

“Prince Zitao? The Ambassador’s son has to be here for Prince Sehun’s birthday?” The king’s mind seems to be coming to conclusions Chen does not like.

“I’m fairly certain that Sehun and Zitao are not soulmates if that’s what you’re thinking about,” he says dismissively. “Sehun’s soulmate still feels much too far away. And if you say the Ambassador’s party is merely two days away, it can’t possibly be him. Zitao is tied to this place for reasons I do not yet know, but if he isn’t here for Sehun’s Birthday Ceremony things will not be able to go as planned.”

The king nods, already lost in thought. Chen knows he is a wise king, but sometimes he gets too ahead of himself. Thankfully, he gets ahead of himself in pursuit of peace and not war.

After that, Chen goes back to his musings. He chuckles at the complete disarray of Hyun’s sleeping form.

Ji whines, nuzzling his hand with her snout.

“I know right,” Chen answers, scratching behind her ear.

As the king and his advisers discuss the last details of the Ambassador’s welcome, Chen thinks that he really ought to dig deeper into Zitao.

XxX

“What is the sound of this one, hyung?” Sehun asks, pointing at one of the chinese characters written in a long scroll.

“Sehunnie,” Chen whines, tugging at the prince’s arm. “I already know Hangul, what do I need learn Hanja for?”

“Hyung!” The Sehun scolds him. “You are the Oracle; you have to be as educated as Joonmyun hyung or I. How are you supposed to read the classics if don’t know hanja?”

Said Oracle groans in annoyance. “I’m merely a peasant, Sehun, who just so happens to be the Oracle. I’m never going to catch up with you. Ever. So why don’t we drop this useless stuff and go take a nap?” He gives Sehun a cute, little pout, hoping that’ll get him what he wants.

Sehun sighs, taking Chen’s hands in his. “We’ve talked about this, hyung. You’re probably the smartest one out of all of us. If anyone can do it it’s you, hyung.”

Chen bites his lower lip. “It’s just, I’m not interested and I don’t need it. I’m the Oracle; people respect me for that, not because I know the classics. Besides, I’m doing fine in mathematics.”

“But not in history,” the prince counters.

Chen purses his lips. “Wanna know about Zitao?” He asks, smirking when Sehun’s eyes light up with curiosity.

“Maybe.”

“Come take a nap with me!” Chen exclaims with a sweet smile on his face.

“Hyung!” Sehun whines.

Chen rubs his cheek against one of Sehun’s hands, trying to look cute. “Please, Sehunnie, I promise I’ll tell you all I know.”

The younger boy narrows his eyes at him and stands up abruptly, releasing his hand from Chen’s hold. “Fine, but we’re going to my room.”

“Sure!” Chen beams.

XxX

“So, you mean to tell me Prince Zitao is hyung’s soulmate?” Sehun asks incredulously, for like the umpteenth time.

“Yes, Sehun. I think Prince Zitao might be Joonmyun hyung’s soulmate, so I need you to help me get close to the kid,” Chen repeats himself slowly, rolling his eyes.

“I’m not dumb,” Sehun mumbles. “What do you want me to do anyway? This is my party, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

Chen narrows his eyes. “Cut the bullshit. You sneak through the servant’s corridors all the time and no one has noticed yet. You could dance naked on top of the table, even piss on everyone’s tea and no one would notice.”

The prince snorts. “You’re such a confidence booster, hyung.”

The Oracle smiles sweetly at the other boy, softly pinching his cheeks. “You know it, Sehunnie,” he says in a cute voice.

Sehun glowers. “Why are so mean to me?”

Chen can’t help but giggle into his sleeves. He can never keep an act up for too long with Sehun. The younger boy is simply too adorable.

“If you bring me Zitao I’ll help you swipe flower cakes from the kitchens.” He smirks at the young prince’s indecisive expression.

With a grumble, Sehun turns his gaze back to the party. “Why are you in such a hurry to know, anyway? Isn’t hyung’s revealing ceremony in like six years?”

“General Jeon doesn’t trust Ambassador Huang,” Chen explains. “If Joonmyun hyung and Zitao really are soulmates then I’m going to have to make sure Huang’s position here is safe. Otherwise, chaos would probably unfold.”

Sehun raises an eyebrow. “Chaos?”

“General Jeon is pretty damn inflexible. I may be the Oracle, but if he manages to rile up enough people against me and, therefore, the king, a lot of very, very bad things could happen. So if you want to be happy-“

“I should go bring you Zitao, I know. Gods.” Sehun gets up and dusts off his robes. “You owe me so many flower cakes, hyung.”

“Sure thing, Sehun-ah!” Chen knows he’s got a stupidly fond smile on his face but it’s not like anyone can actually see him right now, so he doesn’t care.

He settles down more comfortably on their little corner, hidden away from everyone else, flanked by Hyun and Ji on either side of him.

A few minutes later, Sehun returns with a Zitao in tow. They seem to be bickering about something.

“What’s up with you two?” Chen asks as soon as they’re close enough.

“He’s a damn brat, that’s what’s up,” Sehun complains, wedging between Hyun and Chen, cuddling up to the Oracle.

Zitao gasps, clearly offended. “Well, excuse me for being honest.” He sits down on the floor with a grace Chen has never seen before.

Sehun goes to retaliate, but Chen stops him with a hand on his knee.

“My name’s Chen. I’m the Oracle,” he says, waving to Zitao.

Naturally, Zitao looks absolutely blown away. Chen suppresses a smirk.

“Really?” The kid’s voice goes an octave higher.

Chen hums in agreement. “You’re going to be staying here for a long time, so we want to be friends with you!”

He feels bad for lying, but if you really think about it, Zitao is going to be staying in the palace for a long time. Also, ever since that Jongin kid was brought to the palace as a junior court dancer, Sehun has completely husband-zoned him and given that Minseok and Joonmyun are way too attuned with each other to be a viable option, Chen is in dire need of actual friends.

Zitao smiles cutely at him and shuffles closer.

Too. Cute.

“Want to go get some food?” Chen suggests.

“Sure!” Zitao agrees.

“Sehunnie, could you go find Joonmyun hyung for me? You can take Hyun and Ji with you,” Chen says with a meaningful stare.

Sehun snorts. “Sure, hyung.”

“Is he always this unpleasant?” Zitao asks, watching Sehun walk away, closely followed by Hyun and Ji.

“Kinda,” Chen answers with a shrug. “I think he’s just jealous.” He takes Zitao’s right hand and starts tugging him towards a table.

“Of me? Why?”

Zitao is honestly too cute for words. Innocence has been severely lacking around the palace these days.

“Because Sehun’s convinced we’re gonna get married someday and he’s kind of a brat, really,” he says around a laugh, only a little bit embarrassed, “so he gets very jealous when I’m around other people our age. I’m trying to train him out of that, but I haven’t been very successful yet.”

Zitao nods in understanding. “You know, it’s cute how you pretend you don’t like him back.”

Chen makes a strangled noise at the back of his throat and stops dead in his step. He looks at Zitao with wide eyes.

Zitao gives him an unimpressed look. “C’mon, I can’t be the first one to tell you that.”

Correction, innocence is still severely lacking around the palace.

Chen tries to retort but Zitao doesn’t let him, shaking his head with a smile. “It’s okay, ge. You don’t have to say anything.” With that, the boy starts pulling Chen along to their original destination.

Chen chances a glance at Zitao’s string. It’s swinging wildly all over the place. He chuckles. Joonmyun definitely has his work cut out for him. Or maybe Zitao does.

Sneakily, he wraps the string around his pinky finger. With a deep breath he lets himself be sucked in. Time stops and the only he can see is red. Red is everywhere and red is everything.

Abruptly, it stops and he comes back to himself with backwards jerk of his head. He breathes in and out slowly through his nose, trying to slow down his heartbeats.

He smirks in satisfaction.

(Two down, a bazillion more to go.)

Zitao thankfully hasn’t noticed his strange behavior, too busy holding back laughter at the spectacle Lord Choi is making of himself.

Chen snorts.

“I know,” Zitao says, without taking his eyes away from the scene.

“C’mon, let’s go eat something.” Chen smiles and links their arms together. “I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”

XxX

“Are you sure we can spend the night here, Sehunnie?” Chen asks, taking in Sehun’s bedroom.

“Of course, hyung!” Sehun smiles sweetly.

Chen pouts, poking on of Sehun’s cheeks. “Why can’t you be this cute with everyone else? You’re lucky Jongin knows better than to be offended by your bratty

act.”

The prince huffs, turning his gaze away.

“You don’t have to behave like that all the time. None of us is out to get you.” Chen grabs his hand. “Let’s go to bed.”

He starts to lead the other boy to bed, when Sehun stops him with a tug of his hand.

“What is it, Sehun-ah?”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles.

Chen smiles and after a moment of hesitation pulls him into a hug. “I know.”

“Hyung?” Sehun whispers against his shoulder.

Chen makes a questioning sound.

“Are you really sure Joonmyun hyung and that Zitao kid are soulmates?”

Chen pulls back from the hug, an expression of shocked amusement on his face. “Are you still hung up on that? They are soulmates, Sehunnie. That Zitao kid is going to be your queen, eventually, so you better warm up to him.”

“But, hyung!” Sehun whines dejectedly, lightly Chen by the shoulders.

“Sehun-ah! There’s nothing I can do!” The Oracle laughs, trying to stop the other’s earthquake attack. “Stop that, you brat!” He squeals. “Let’s go to sleep, you’re annoying me.”

Sehun makes a keening sound at the back of his throat.

“C’mon, Sehunnie, let’s go to sleep. Please for me, you know I’m tired. Really, really tired.” Chen bites his lip, making puppy eyes at the prince.

Sehun groans in defeat. He hangs his head in defeat and extends a hand by which Chen can drag him into bed.

Chen takes and locks their fingers together, beaming. In a split second decision, he leans down and presses a swift kiss on Sehun’s cheek. The prince blushes bright red and Chen beams wider.

“Sehunnie?” Chen calls in a breathless voice.

Sehun looks up, making Chen gasp. The younger boy’s eyes hold more affection in them than he could’ve ever dreamed of.

“Let’s go to bed, hyung,” Sehun says, voice soft.

Chen can only nod his assent.

Later, when it’s well into the night and Sehun and Hyun and Ji are all asleep, Chen revels in the feeling of all three of them wrapped around him, keeping him warm. He wants it to last forever, but knows it won’t, it can’t.

Dwelling too much on his feelings for Sehun is always painful, so he just doesn’t. But tonight the fact that Sehun’s soulmate could show up and take him away at any time had become much more real. Sehun’s soulmate still feel too far away, but that could change any second and Chen is hyper aware of that.

Sehun’s right hand, which is resting on his stomach, suddenly feels a hundred times heavier. He has two options now: 1) he bites the bullet and finds out who Sehun’s soulmate really is, potentially making things awkward between then and ultimately ruining their friendship, or 2) finding out at Sehun’s String Ceremony like everyone else, risking falling completely and unconditionally, totally past the point of no return, in love with Sehun, only for his hopes and dreams and life to be absolutely destroyed.

Chen may be a bit overdramatic, but doing it now while they’re still just kids and his love for Sehun is not that deep is certainly the most sensible option.

He slowly moves his left hand to Sehun’s right, interlocking them when they’re close enough. He can feel the heat exuding from the string. He resists its pull for a second, giving himself a chance to back out, before letting it pull him along.

The world becomes red again, but this time, the string spits his mind out into the Middle World, instead of giving him the knowledge of Sehun’s soulmate.

He looks around confused and more than a little panicked. He sees heavy storm clouds in front of him and to his back, to the sides and up and down. He’s undoubtedly in the Middle World, with the familiar images and sounds and smells invading his mind and the occasional bout of bright blue lighting shining through the clouds and the ghosts wondering aimlessly through the realm.

Even if Sehun’s soulmate was dead or unborn he should not be here. He should know the name of his soulmate, and yet…

With practiced ease, he goes back to Earth. He glances at Sehun’s sleeping face, a small, affectionate smile tugging at his lips.

Sehun has a string; he is tied to someone, no doubt about it. However, Chen can’t get to them, which would mean they do not exist, in any form. This would make both Chen and Sehun anomalies.

Chen bites his lower lip, desperately trying to stop hope from swelling in his chest.

XxXxX

“Alright, let me get this straight, Zitao,” Jongin says pinching his brow, “after four years of stalking Prince Joonmyun and, most importantly, being stalked back, you’re still unsure whether you should confess? And don’t come at me with that soulmate bullshit because Chen hyung totally gave you the okay, which is subtle political savvy Oracle speech for ‘yes, you’re fucking soulmates, dumbass’,” Jongin grumbles, finishing his speech by shoving an entire flower cake in his mouth.

Sehun is, of course, gracelessly rolling on the floor, laughing to his heart’s content.

Zitao kicks him on the side with an indignant cry. “Stop it, you! I have an honest to the Gods life or death situation here!”

Jongin snorts.

“Yeah, sure keep telling yourself that,” Sehun replies.

Zitao whines and starts hitting him with a pillow.

“Zitao, are you sure you’re the hyung here?” Jongin questions.

The aforementioned boy stops his vicious attack on Sehun to glare at Jongin. “Yes, I am. And that’s ge to you, brat!” He answers, throwing the pillow in his hand at Jongin, though it misses.

The dancer smirks. “Is that all you’ve got…ge?”

Sehun groans loudly, dreading the chore of breaking the two of them up. He lives for drama, but not in his room.

“Stop it you two!” He exclaims, in his best bratty prince voice.

As expected, neither of his friends pays him any mind. Instead, they stay locked in their weird dead stare + most fab eyebrow movements contest thing.

Sighing, he stands up and walks over to the low table. He grabs the teapot on it and with light steps he climbs onto the table.

“If you don’t break it off in five seconds I’m going to pour hot tea all over you!” Being the invisible prince and all, Sehun has had to learn how to grab the attention of those close to him.

Both Zitao and Jongin stop short and turn to look at him with fearful eyes.

Sehun would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it just a little bit.

“Well then,” he says, stepping down from the table and putting the teapot down. He gracefully sits down (or as graceful as he can manage to be with his new long and gangly limbs), his back straight and his hands on his knees, as if he were his father holding court.

He clears his throat before speaking in the most serious tone of voice he can muster, “Zitao, much as it pains me to say, you should go make out with Joonmyun hyung. I’ll endure your cheesiness if it means your happiness.”

Jongin is covering his mouth with his hand to stop his laughter from being heard. Meanwhile, Zitao has a blank look on his face.

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me in four years. And it was said in the most condescending tone possible. When I marry hyung I’m going to banish you into the fucking ocean, you brat,” Zitao says keeping the straight face and in an even tone, not breaking character once.

Really, Sehun should give him more credit.

“Very well then,” he nods at the other prince, keeping up with the charade. “Kim Jongin!” He calls out.

Jongin tries to compose himself, sitting up straight and biting his lips avoid laughing, but as soon as Sehun opens his mouth to speak, he loses it. Normally shy and bashful court dancer Kim Jongin is unashamedly guffawing in the middle of a very serious, very important council meeting.

Zitao sighs in disappointment.

Jongin takes deep breathes, gradually stopping the laughter. “I’m sorry,” he says, trailing off into soft laughter.

Sehun rolls his eyes. “Don’t you have to go anyway?” He grumbles.

This seems to snap Jongin into action. “Right!” He exclaims, standing up.

“Go where?” Zitao asks curiously.

“Yixing ge and I have to set up the new guy’s bed in my room,” Jongin answers while putting his shoes on.

“New guy?” Zitao frowns. “There’s a new dancer?”

“Nope,” Sehun says, waving Jongin out the door. “You know how Lady Jung went away to get married?”

The other prince nods in understanding. “So it’s the new main court singer.”

“Yup. He’s probably gonna have it hard, though.”

Zitao merely raises a questioning eyebrow.

“He’s barely a few months older than Chen hyung and his first performance’s going to be at my brother’s birthday,” Sehun explains.

The other boy winces. “He should be thankful for Yixing ge. They’d eat him alive otherwise.”

Sehun hums.

They stay silent for a while afterwards, sipping their tea in comfortable silence.

“Do you really think I should confess?” Zitao asks shyly. “Don’t you think there would be trouble with the court? I mean, hyung hasn’t had his String Ceremony yet, so we’d be breaking tradition and, are you guys even allowed to hook up outside of the bond?” He prattles on, running his hands through his own hair.

“Zitao, calm down. If Chen told you to go ahead then you can do it without worry.” Sehun licks his lips. “Zitao, what is really going on?”

The other boy purses his lips.

“You don’t-you don’t think hyung’s going to reject you or anything, right? Because hyung’s absolutely crazy for you.” Sehun tries to catch Zitao’s gaze.

“Are you sure?” The latter whispers.

Sehun smiles reassuringly. “Yeah.”

“Should I go confess now?”

“Yes, you should.” Sehun stands up, pulling Zitao with him. “C’mon, I’ll help you find hyung.”

XxX

After (quite literally) dumping an anxious Zitao on Joonmyun’s lap, Sehun decides to go look for Chen in the gardens, where he usually spends his free time after the morning court meeting.

He wanders around his father’s garden in confusion for a few minutes. This is the garden Chen favors most, so he should be here, relaxing under the shade after a stressful morning spent dealing with the king’s advisors and generals. But he is not.

Sehun huffs in frustration and starts walking towards the exit. When he’s almost at the archways, he hears a familiar laugh coming from one of the tall oak tress beside them.

With careful, silent steps he gets closer to it. He peeks at the hollow of the tree and sure enough, Hyun and Ji are napping inside of it.

He smirks.

Sehun looks up and is met with the sight of Chen’s smiling face. He feels his heart swell in his chest. Rarely does he see Chen smile so freely, so-

An unknown voice crashes into his musings. “You really think I can do it?” It asks, small and unsure.

“Of course,” Chen reassures it, well him, the voice come from a boy around Chen’s age.

It’s the new singer, Sehun realizes.

“Right, I’m sorry. It’s just…never in my life could I’ve imagined I’d be the Main Court Singer. I mean, I’m going to be living at palace,” the boy says awestruck.

Chen laughs again, but it’s softer. He’s laughing the fond little laugh Sehun thought was only reserved for him.

“I know how feel,” the Oracle says, taking the singer’s hand. “But, you’ll be fine. You have Yixing ge to take care of you after all.” Chen wiggles his eyebrows.

The boy turns a pretty pink and Sehun realizes just how intimate a conversation he’s been eavesdropping. He looks away, ashamed at himself.

After careful deliberation, he clears his throat attraction the attention of the two boys up on the tree.

“Sehunnie!” Chen exclaims, clearly pleased to see him, and the prince feels himself relax.

“Hey, hyung.” He lifts his hand in a lazy wave.

Chen jumps down from the tree, with the singer following behind.

“Baekhyunnie, this is Prince Sehun!” He introduces them.

The Baekhyun boy is visibly stunned, his eyes and mouth wide open. He recovers quickly though, his knees bending to fall into a bow in merely moments. Though, Chen grabs him by the arm and yanks him up, preventing him from actually bowing.

“Let me try that again. Baekhyun, this is Sehun. He’s a brat and a prince, but if he likes you enough maybe someday he’ll actually call you hyung.” He squeezes Baekhyun’s hand. “Better?”

“So I don’t have to kneel?” The singer asks instead.

Chen shakes his head with a grin. “You should bend over at the waist when we’re in public, but if it’s just us you can just ignore if you want. The same goes for Prince Joonmyun, though you should address as Joonmyun hyung. He gets mad if you use his title.”

“He’s the real brat around here,” Sehun remarks.

Chen snorts. “Keep telling yourself that, Sehunnie.”

“Oh!” Baekhyun exclaims suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” The Oracle asks concerned.

“Nothing, nothing,” the boy answers quickly, vehemently shaking his head.

“You sure?” Sehun presses on.

“Yeah, completely sure.” He grins impishly. “I should get going, though. I’ll see you later, Chen!”

“But I wanted to tell you something!” Chen protests.

Baekhyun is already walking thought the stone archways. “We’ll talk later!” He promises with a wave.

Chen keeps on watching Baekhyun walk away but Sehun is too busy string at Chen.

“You were going to tell him? About your string?” Sehun accuses, not beating around the bush.

Hurt flashes in Chen’s eyes and he bites his lower lip. “Well, yeah.” He shrugs. “You’re the only one who knows and every time I try to express myself on the subject we end up fighting. I need another friend who knows. I need another friend, period.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Besides, he told me one of his secrets. I should tell him one of mine.”

Sehun clenches his jaw. “Fine.”

A slow smile spreads across the Oracle’s face. “Thank you.”

The prince nods at him, unsure of what to do.

“So how’s your morning been?”

“Zitao confessed to Joonmyun!” The prince announces loudly, desperate to break the building tension.

Chen’s eyes go wide as saucers. “Really?!” He exclaims.

Sehun smiles, relieved. “Yeah,” he says a bit sheepishly, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

Chen doesn’t seem to notice, though, too distracted by the good news. He’s smiling free and happy and beautiful again.

Sehun wishes he would never stop.

(Two weeks later, on the night of Joonmyun’s seventeenth birthday, everyone finds out exactly why the king personally picked Baekhyun to replace Lady Jung.

The boy sings a heartbreaking song of longing…and he sings it well. Sehun almost cries and he’s pretty sure he saw Chen wipe his eyes at the end of the piece. They don’t look nor talk to each other for a while after that.

Sehun is now mature enough to understand that the deep bond he felt with Chen when he’d first met him had not been love. However, it’s in moments like this where he wonders just how young is too young to know love).

XxXxX

He’s in the Middle World and there’s more lightning that usual. It’s a brighter blue than normally is, too.

There’s a feeling of dread building up on the pit of his stomach.

Someone is behind him, watching him. He whips around to look for them, but the only thing he finds is storm clouds for miles and miles and miles.

He frowns, taking a more thorough look around. There’s nothing more than storm clouds and lightning and that’s just not right. The lost souls are nowhere in sight and there’s no information trying to cram itself into his brain.

However, before he has to time to really dwell on the strangeness of the situation, he feels something pulling him down. Back to Earth he assumes, taking a deep breath to clear his mind and make the ‘landing’ easier.

But seconds later, he’s free falling into a vaguely familiar forest. He flails around, desperately trying to slow down the fall or stop or just get out of there, dammit!

Two sharp, distinct barks wake him up. He sits abruptly, trying to catch his breath. He quickly scans his surroundings, confirming that he’s actually back in his room and this isn’t another weird trick.

Chen lies back down, still panting.

Logic says this whole experience was just a very realistic nightmare, but logic also says that Oracle stuff never has a simple explanation.

He sighs, pressing his face closer to Hyun, who’s licking his cheek, while Ji presses her nose against his jaw. With their help, he calms down enough to go back to sleep.

Chen wakes up again hours later, without nightmares this time. With a groan, he gets up, knowing he won’t be able to fall asleep again.

He slips into his shoes and drapes a cloak over his shoulders. He grabs an oil lamp and turns it on. Then, he looks back to the bed, where Hyun and Ji are lying still, waiting for him to tell them if they’re needed.

“I’m just going to go see Sehun. Want to come with me?” Chen asks, chuckling when both dogs simply go back to sleep.

He begins the long, long descent.

His mind keeps going back to the memory of the forest. He knows that forest, but doesn’t remember from where. Doesn’t think he really wants to.

He sighs for probably the umpteenth time and tries to think about something else, like how he’s stumbled into Joonmyun and Zitao making out about three times that week.

He snorts, shaking his head. So much from keeping their bond a secret. The whole court probably knows by now.

His friends are really ridiculous.

And talking about friends, he really needs to decide if he’s going to encourage Baekhyun’s crush on Yixing or nip in the bud. Both of their soulmates still feel very far away, though that could change very soon.

But they’d be cute, he reasons. And really, Yixing’s been really stressed since Lady Jung left the palace, he needs to make out with someone.

Eventually, he reaches the bottom of the tower. He exits it through the small, servant’s door to the side of the heavy main doors.

A cold breeze hits his face, making him shudder and curl up into himself. Moments later, he starts walking across the courtyard to get to the palace.

It’s the hour before down, where the veil between worlds is thinnest and he really shouldn’t be out and about without his dogs or the peach tree flower crown Zitao had weaved for him two days ago.

The palace hallways are eerie and quiet and dark. From the corner of his eye he can see ghosts spilling into Earth from the Middle World. He gulps, making a mental note to tell someone to put out some peaches tomorrow morning.

The souls seem to ignore him, like they always do and he reminds himself Hyun and Ji wouldn’t have let him go out on his own if he wasn’t perfectly safe.

Still, he speed walks the rest of the way to Sehun’s room, cursing whoever thought about putting the princes’ chambers so up high. What if there was a fire, huh? What then?

Once in front of Sehun’s door, he quietly pushes it open, before stepping in and softly closing it behind him. He slips out of his shoes.

He glances at the sleeping figure on the bed. As always, Sehun sleeps like the dead.

Chen smiles to himself, putting out his oil lamp and setting it down on a table. He takes off his cloak and puts it down next to the lamp.

He pads over to Sehun’s and silently climbs in, cuddling up to Sehun as soon as he has he chance.

He sighs, burying his head further into Sehun’s neck. He shouldn’t take so much comfort in Sehun’s company, he knows, it’ll only hurt him in the end. But tonight, when he’s feeling small and vulnerable, he can he’ll allow himself to. Just tonight.

Sehun’s arms sneak around Chen, holding him tight to the prince’s chest.

He dozes off, eventually, lulled by the steady beating of Sehun’s heart.

XxX

Chen is all dolled up in full ceremony attire. He’s even got a heavy headpiece on. The design on it is ridiculously extravagant.

He’s waiting for his cue to enter the temple’s worship room, to begin with Joonmyun’s String Ceremony.

He’s nervous. This is going to be his first time officiating an important ceremony and he doesn’t want to mess it up. Joonmyun would probably cry, but tell him it’s okay and then Zitao would cry, because it’s his ceremony, too. All this would result in Chen crying, curled up into a little ball, while hiding under the Great God’s statue.

So yeah, he’s nervous.

The doors at the end of the stone staircase open up, letting a tenuous light into the tunnel he’s currently in.

He gulps and closes his eyes. With a deep breath, he straightens his back and lifts his chin. He lets some of the Middle World blend in with his vision, making his eyes unnervingly blank.

He starts climbing up the stairs, with only half his conscience on the task. He trusts Hyunji will make sure he doesn’t fall flat on his face or burns his very expensive, very pretty robes.

On the worship room of the temple, there is Prince Joonmyun kneeling in the middle of a candle circle. He’s reaching out with to Chen with his right hand, while the left one holds the other one up, so it doesn’t get too tired. This gives the Oracle prime access to his String.

Not that Chen actually needs to follow it.

Everyone else is bowing to him, placed in a semicircle behind Joonmyun.

With slow, deliberate steps and grace he normally doesn’t possess, Chen walks to the kneeling prince.

He’d thought stepping into the circle would’ve been trickier, but Hyunji simply makes the candles disappear and then reappear once he’s inside the circle.

Looking over the people gathered there, he proclaims, “Today, we are here to unify Crown Prince Joonmyun the 4th with his one true partner and equal, as chosen by the Gods!” He looks down to Joonmyun. “This bond is to be honored and cherished until the end of your lives,” he says, in a much softer voice.

His eyes flicker for a moment to Zitao, pleased to see that his and Joonmyun’s string is straight and unmoving.

With gentle hands, he takes the string tangling it between his fingers. All this is just for show, as he has no intention of getting sucked into a godsdamned string this early in the morning.

He closes his eyes and makes a little jerky movement of his head. He lets the anticipation in the room (and in the string) stew for a few moments, before letting his head fall back into place, opening his eyes.

He opens his hands and immediately the string falls from them, as if it was made of water.

“Crown Prince Joonmyun the 4th is bound to Prince Zitao, grandson of the Great and Honorable Chinese Emperor!” He announces.

Zitao jumps Joonmyun as soon as Chen closes his mouth, not wasting a second.

Everyone knows already, but they still react as if this is the most surprising thing they’ve ever heard.

Probably because of the intensity of the ceremony, Chen thinks smugly. He knows this feeling comes from Hyunji, as he is still too shook up to feel anything of the sort. But this doesn’t bothers him as much as it normally would, because, well, he agrees. The ceremony was perfect.

Although, that might also be because Chen decided to shorten it by like, two hours. But whatever, Hyunji clearly agreed and they’re the Deity around here.

He can see Joonmyun and Zitao lying on the floor smiling and laughing and looking so in love his heart hurts. He looks away, silently thanking Hyunji for making the candles disappear.

As he does a sweep of the room his eyes lock with Sehun, making his breath hitch.

For as long as he’s known the younger boy, Chen has thought Sehun was cute, but now, looking at him standing there all regal and elegant, he realizes just how handsome Sehun is going to turn out to be.

He is so not ready.

XxX

INTERLUDE 1: SUMMER

The following summer, a new musician and a new singer arrive.

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.

Yixing introduces them to the boys one rainy afternoon they’d decided to spend at the queen’s library.

As soon as Baekhyun locks eyes with Chanyeol all thoughts of Yixing flee from his mind.

“You’re ears are stupidly big,” is the first thing to leave Baekhyun’s mouth.

Chen giggles from his hiding place behind a bookcase.

Chanyeol flushes bright red.

Baekhyun’s hands fly to his mouth. “I’m sorry,” he squeaks out. “But they kinda are,” he adds.

“You, you’re r-really pretty,” Chanyeol manages to stutter out.

Now it’s Baekhyun’s to blush. “Thank you,” he whispers, shyly tucking a lock of hair behind his ear.

Chen smiles to himself. He loves the easy couples.

Turning his head to the side he’s met with the sight of Kyungsoo and Jongin making out against the wall, their string a tangled mess between them. And around them. Particularly, around Kyungsoo’s neck.

Thank the Gods the strings are not actually part of Earth.

With a chuckle, he looks at Baekhyun and Chanyeol again.

They are now sitting on the floor, whispering back and forth, while Chanyeol’s thumb rubs gentle circles on the back of Baekhyun’s hand. Their string is perfectly straight and immobile.

Chen smiles wistfully.

“It gets hard sometimes, doesn’t it? Watching all these happy couples,” Yixing comments, startling the Oracle.

“You scared me, ge,” The younger whines.

Yixing smiles impishly. “Sorry,” he says, not really sorry at all.

“Ge?” Chen calls.

“Yes, Chen Chen?”

“Why haven’t you ever asked me about your soulmate?” He asks.

A small smile appears on Yixing face. “I’m not too hung up on the soulmates stuff. Of course, I’d like to meet them, but I’m not in any rush. Besides-“he shoulder bumps Chen-“you’ll tell me if the show up, right?”

“Yeah,” Chen says, grinning.

He turns his gaze towards the window, under which Sehun is sprawled on a cushion, combing through a book he clearly doesn’t like. Joonmyun probably recommended it to him, so that’s why he hasn’t thrown it out of the window yet.

Chen chuckles at the mental image. Though really, he ought to give Sehun more credit. The boy has matured a lot over the past years, much more than he’d like to think about.

He wonders when he’s going to be free of his feelings, if ever. He’s tried multiple times through multiple ways, but nothing has worked. It hinders his relationship with Sehun completely.

Thinking about Sehun is always painful one way or another, so Chen hasn’t really let himself notice just how tall the younger boy has gotten, or how he’s starting to fill out, or ho-

Chen groans and buries his head between his legs, hugging them closer.

Thinking about Sehun is always a risk, but sadly, soon he’s going to have to do it a lot. In less than three years’ time he going to announce to the world who Sehun’s soulmate is and he can’t exactly say: “Congrats Sehun, your soulmate is another fucking realm!”

Chens snorts. Oh yeah, that would go over well.

He should probably do some research. There’s nothing useful in the libraries, though; Sehun would already be babbling away about anomalies in soulmate bonds if that wasn’t the case.

He sighs resigned, knowing that if he wants to work this out he’s going to have to give Yoomi’s scrolls a more thorough read. Those scrolls are meant for him anyway, so if he’s supposed to solve that issue the answers should be there.

Hopefully.

INTERLUDE 2: WINTER

He lets the winter pass and most of the one after that, before getting the courage to find out, lying cozily in front of the fire in Baekhyun’s bedroom.

The small, ornamented wooden box containing the scroll is sitting in front of him. It looks shiny and new now that he’s dusted it off. He’s of the opinion that it was much less scary when it was still dirty.

With shaky hands, he takes the necklace holding the key off his neck. Holding onto the little box, he unlocks it. Slowly, he takes his hands off of it and puts the necklace around his neck again.

He breathes in and out deeply to calm himself down. He considers not doing it just yet; he’s still got sometime left. But really, who knows when he’s going to get another moment like this, when he’s warm and safe and comfortable in a room that isn’t tainted with meaning of all sorts.

Biting his lip, he flips the lid of the box open with a sudden movement.

After so much anticipation, he’s a bit underwhelmed. While yes, he knew there were only scrolls in the box he was expecting something else, something grander.

With two hands, he reaches into the box and takes out the scrolls. There are at least thirteen of them.

This is going to be a long afternoon.

After reading and reading and reading some more, Chen still hasn’t found anything truly useful that could help him solve the issue at hand. Instead, he’s treated to a long, detailed description of Yoomi’s life as an Oracle and while learning about the early days of the now extinct Silla Kingdom is certainly interesting, it’s not giving him any answers.

Still, he keeps on reading as it is the only thing he can do about it.

In the last scroll, he finds something meant for him, though not exactly what he was looking for.

The fifteenth scroll details the last days of Yoomi. It says there that as his Grand Deathbed act, he’d made a prophecy:

”Again, the universe will be aligned

When the young man with the lightning String is found.”

The prophecy make absolutely no sense to Chen and it seems the scribe was not any better off because the scroll ends with Yoomi’s day, time and cause of death.

He groans in defeat, throwing himself on Baekhyun’s bed, intending to rest his sore back and neck, leaving the scrolls sprawled all over the floor.

he knows the young man of the prophecy can’t be Sehun nor him nor anyone he knows. They all have the normal Red String of Fate, except for him, but he doesn’t have a lightning string. He doesn’t have a string at all.

So it has to be someone he hasn’t met before. But is probably going to appear soon, because he’s been getting more and more strange nightmares and so have Yixing and Minseok.

Finding the guy is probably not going to be enough to actually align the universe, but it’s quite obviously the place to start.

He turns on his side and covers himself with a blanket. There’s nothing he can do about it right now and a nap wouldn’t hurt.

He falls asleep wondering when is Baekhyun going to finally come back from his (frigid, insane) walk with Chanyeol. And whether or not realigning the universe would actually help him with Sehun’s problem. And if it does, would it help his? Maybe.

(Hopefully.)

XxX

Chen is nursing yet another That-Choi-Fucker-caused migraine, patiently waiting for his turn to speak to tell him that “No, the chinese are not out to get us. Yes, having a strong army is very, very important. But China is a fucking empire and could end us after two seconds of combat, so we should be friendly with them and that includes welcoming the Crown Prince’s firstborn with open arms. And may I please remind you it was the king’s idea to invite him to Sehunnie’s String Ceremony and you should listen to the fucking king.”

Yeah, he should say something like that.

Joonmyun, seated on the other side of the king, lightly clears his throat, snapping his father out of a daydream.

Chen chuckles, knowing they’ve all done it at least once. Joonmyun is such a rookie.

The king, seemingly taking mercy on his subjects, raises his hand saying, “Lord Choi, I understand and share your worry. But relations with China have been good for at least a century. May I remind you that both Ambassador Huang and his son have integrated very well into our court. That is why I thought it wise to further our friendship with the chinese by inviting Prince Yifan for Prince Sehun’s String Ceremony next week.”

He places both of his hands on his knees. “Besides, his party is already one its way. There’s nothing I could do to stop them that wouldn’t warrant war. And if there was, I wouldn’t.”

Chen smirks smugly. It’s nice when the king deals with his council for once.

XxX

He’s falling into the forest again. Has been falling for what feels like hours now and he’s ready for it to stop.

The tree tops are all he sees now. Hyunji doesn’t bother taking him to the Middle World anymore, simply dropping him here and letting him fall and fall and fall.

The roar of thunder startles him. He looks up, noticing the sky is filled storm clouds. But these are not normal storm clouds. What he’s seeing is the Middle World bleeding into the Earth.

Hyunji’s lightning is everywhere, as always. Given that it’s the dream lightning it’s brighter and hotter and it compels Chen to it.

He resists easily, looking down at the forest.

He gasps. Suddenly, he finds himself miles closer to the trees, so much so, that now he can actually see what’s going on down on the ground.

What seems like a family of four is running from or towards something. Again, deafening thunder appears and the family slipts up, each parent taking one child.

Chen struggles against the wind, trying to follow the mother, who is carrying the youngest child. He feels like he should be there with them.

(Of course, Hyunji doesn’t let him).

He wakes up with a start and both Hyun and Ji whimper at him in apology for not being able to help.

They stopped being able to get him out of night mares a long time ago. Their powers come from their namesake, so if Hyunji wants him in the nightmare, in the nightmare he stays.

Though this particular nightmare had been different. For four years, the dream hadn’t changed, but now it had and he’d been shown so much more.

With newfound resolve, he gets out of bed and bundles up, before flying down the stairs and into the stables.

Going out at night like this is dangerous, but he needs to reach Minseok before sundown.

Mounted on Sehun’s mare, Rice Cake, he rides into town.

He sneaks into Minseok’s stbles and leaves Rice Cake in the stall next to Tea Bush, Minseok’s own horse.

Chen lets himself into the house through the open window in the sitting room and makes his way to Minseok’s bedroom.

He doesn’t bother knocking the door, simply opening the door and getting inside. He finds Minseok meditating in front of the fire.

He licks his lips, contemplating how to best get his attention.

“I know you’re there, Chennie,” Minseok says, with a little quirk of his mouth. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Oh, did your dreams change, too?”

“Yes,” the older one sighs, his shoulders slumping.

Chen sits down beside him and take his hand.

Minseok opens his eyes. “Does this means what I think it does? Your lightning person is near?” He asks.

“Yeah, I think so,” Chen answers.

Minseok nods. “Well then.”

XxX

Later that day, Chen is lying on the grass with his head on Sehun’s lap, trying to take a nap. This is very hard to do when Sehun keeps insisting they should run away.

“We’re not kids, Sehun-ah. Stop saying stuff like that,” Chen whispers.

“I’m serious, Chen, you know I am,” Sehun whispers back, combing his fingers through the older one’s hair.

“Call me hyung.”

Sehun scoffs. “I’m in love with you, Chen. And you’re in love with me, too, don’t pretend otherwise.”

Chen licks his lips. “S-Sehunnie…”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, I know you can’t find my soulmate,” Sehun says harshly.

Chen rolls on his back and opens his eyes. Sehun is staring at him, eyes black and intense.

“Baek told you?” He asks, trying for a playful grin but ending up with an awkward little twist of his mouth.

Sehun’s knuckles stroke his right cheekbone. “Who else?”

Chen closes his eyes and takes a shuddering breath. He sits up.

“That’s going to change soon,” he states.

“What do you mean?” Sehun asks, turning Chen’s head to face him with gentle finger on his chin.

Chen looks over Sehun’s face, taking in his handsome features, burning it in his mind while he still can. His eyes begin to fill up and he looks away. Chen tries to blink back the tears, but they fall anyway.

“Chen,” Sehun whispers against his neck, while his arms circle Chen’s waist.

“Tomorrow,” the Oracle begins, “the young man with the Lightning String is going to get here with Prince Yifan’s party. Then everything’s going to right itself and I’ll know who your soulmate is and you’ll get married and be very, very happy.”

“Fuck,” Sehun mutters. “We have to get out of here tonight.”

Chen turns around to look at the other boy. “Wha-Sehun!” He exclaims. “Don’t you listen to me when I talk? Or it’s just that you want to get eaten by a forest fire?!”

“I’d never let anything happen to you,” Sehun promises fiercely.

Chen will forever deny his heart skipped a beat. Or two.

“Yeah, great! Then I’ll get to watch you die a horrible death and become a widower!” Chen sneers.

“That won’t happen!” Sehun insists.

“Sehun, if we run away tonight the universe will be off balance until who knows when. What about your family? Our friends? Both of us have been chosen by the Gods to fulfill a specific role, we can’t runaway. Not tonight, or tomorrow night, or ever, Sehun,” he says, with finality in his voice.

Sehun clenches his jaw and looks away.

“We’re just not meant to be, Sehunnie,” he whispers in a broken voice. “Please, don’t make this any harder for me.”

“I love you. I’ll always love you,” Sehun declares, still not meeting his eye.

“Yeah,” Chen breathes out, defeated. “I know.”

XxX

Prince Yifan and his party arrive much later than expected, barely a day before Sehun’s birthday.

Chen is out by the river with Baekhyun, because the other boy had thought a distraction would do him good, so he doesn’t find out until they got back to the palace on the late afternoon.

They haven’t eaten anything since lunch, hence why Chen is trying to sneak into the kitchens while Baekhyun keeps watch. When he’s just about to get in and grab some sweets for the two of them, Minseok calls for him, totally revealing their evil plans.

Quickly, he gets away from the kitchen door and grabs both Minseok and Baekhyun. They hide behind a column Baekhyun points out.

“What’s so important, hyung? I’m hungry!” Baekhyun whines, but Minseok doesn’t pay him any mind.

Instead, he looks at Chen and says, “Prince Yifan is here.” HE stays silent afterwards, biting his lip anxiously.

Chen raises an eyebrow, prompting Minseok to go on.

The eldest clears his throat. “Luhan is with him. I don’t know how or why he survived, but he did and now my dreams make much more sense.”

“Who is Luhan?” Baekhyun asks, timidly.

“He was, well he is, I guess,” Chen corrects himself, “the son of the ambassador prior to Ambassador Huang . She got sick so they had leave a few weeks before I arrived here.”

“Okay, but you just said you thought he’d died. What’s up with that?” Baekhyun insists.

“There was a really big storm some days before they left, but we thought the roads where dry already. We were expecting to hear back from them when they reached the border, but we the message never came,” Minseok answers. “My father and the Ambassador were great friends, so he offered to go look for her, but they never found them. Just their carriage and…Chen.”

“Chen,” Baekhyun repeats.

“Yeah,” Chen says, getting lost in his memories.

He hasn’t thought about Heejung and Minyoung in literal years, but now images of his short time with the assault him leaving a bittersweet taste in his mouth. He remembers Heejung’s cooking and Minyoung’s laugh and the green, green woods behind their little house and the-

“Hyung, what are your dreams about?” Chen asks, startling both Minseok and Baekhyun.

“Luhan. Well, I think. In my dreams I just see his carriage climbing up a road in the mountains, but I know he’s in it,” Minseok trails off with a faraway look in his eyes.

“What happens next?” Baekhyun asks curiously.

“For the longest time nothing else happened,” Minseok continues. “Last week, though, the dream changed, but it wasn’t anything spectacular. The curve was too narrow and the carriage simply…fell.” He shrugs. “The weird thing is, just like I knew it was Luhan in that carriage, I also felt like he hadn’t been killed by the fall. That he was still alive. And it turns out he is.” Minseok’s eyes are as tender as he’s ever seen them and a sweet smile is slowly spreading across his face.

“He’s your fucking soulmate,” Chen blurts out, unthinkingly.

“What?!” Baekhyun screeches.

Minseok’s cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink. “You think so?” He sounds uncharacteristically shy and unsure of himself.

Chen shrugs awkwardly. “Kinda? I mean, I’d have to follow either of your strings or get you two in the same room to know for sure, but I think so. It’s a bit like what I felt with Joonmyun hyung and Zitao.”

“Luhan was totally your first kiss!” Baekhyun exclaims suddenly, hitting Minseok’s arm repeatedly.

“Shut up! And stop hitting me, Baekhyun!” The eldest whispers-yells, looking around to see if Baekhyun has attracted any unwanted attention.

Chen rolls his eyes at his friends’ antics. There is a serious issue at hand, dammit!

He clears his throat, bringing his friends attention back to him. “First of all,” he says holding his pointer finger up, “I cannot believe you haven’t told me the story of your first kiss, hyung I feels so betrayed.” He points said finger in Minseok’s direction. “Second of all, we should get a fucking move on because there’s about a 99% chance Luhan is the young man with the Lightning String. And third of all, Baekhyun stop hitting. We’re not Chanyeol. We’re not into that,” he deadpans, before gracefully standing up, leaving Baekhyun spluttering on the floor.

Minseok is muffling his laughter with his hands, as usual, it’s not working all that well for him

Chen rolls his eyes and walks away, not turning back to check if his friends are following him.

It’s in moments like this, when he’s walking through the palace hallways trying so hard to be intimidating that he misses Hyun and Ji the most. They’ve gotten old, so they can’t follow him around everyone anymore, preferring instead to spend their days napping on Sehun’s bed. Soon enough he’s going to have to start carrying around a pair of puppies all over again.

He’s about to go out into the courtyard connecting the service building with the business building, when Baekhyun catches up to him.

“Where’s Minseok hyung?” Chen asks.

“His father came looking for him. Probably to talk about Luhan and stuff,” Baekhyun answers. “Where are we going anyway?”

“The king’s sitting room.” He steers his friend away from the main doors and to a service one.

“You know, Sehun’s probably going to be there,” Baekhyun comments, in what he probably believes is a casual, subtle manner.

Chen snorts. “I’m aware of the possibility, Baek.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe you actually agree with him,” he grumbles. “I can’t believe you told him, you’re such an awful best friend.”

“Hey! I said I was sorry for that! And he deserved to know!” His friends defends himself.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” he says, dismissively. “You still suck.”

Baekhyun scoffs and mumbles some very uncharitable things about Chen, but he ignores them, slowly getting into Oracle headspace.

Soon enough, they’re out of the tunnel and into the grand hallways of the palace. In silence, they walk towards the sitting room.

When they are a few feet away from the room, Baekhyun stops walking, forcing Chen to do so, too.

“Chen?” He asks uncertainly.

“I’m okay. You should walk behind me now,” he answers with a small quirk of his lips.

Baekhyun nods with a relieved smile. “Sure, thanks for letting me tag along.”

“Any time.”

Once they’re right outside the double doors, two servants open them for them.

All four people in the room look up to see who has arrived.

The king rises at once, greeting Chen with a nod of his head, which the Oracle returns, while Baekhyun bows deeply at the waist.

Sehun, Joonmyun and the other guy, who he guesses is Prince Yifan, by his elegant clothes, stand up next. They bow to him and with a not so well suppressed groan Baekhyun bends at the waist again. Chen smirks, not bothering to give further acknowledgement of the princes.

It’s good to be the Oracle.

Chen takes a seat to the left of the king, while Baekhyun sits down in front of him, keeping a respectful distance away from Prince Yifan, who is sitting beside him.

He opens his mouth to introduce himself, but stops short when he notices the bright, blue string tied to Prince Yifan’s right pinky.

“You are the young man with the Lightning String,” he whispers, not looking up from the limp string.

“So you really are the Oracle,” Prince Yifan says, making Chen look up.

“How did you know you had to come here?” Chen asks, not missing a beat.

“I was planning to run away, actually. In fact, I was two miles east from the inn when Luhan came out of nowhere and insisted I go back, because I had a, and I quote, destiny to fulfill,” Prince Yifan answers.

Chen frowns in confusion. Going over what the chinese prince said before, a thought occurs to him.

“You can see your string,” he states.

Expressions of surprise spread across the table. Most notably being the king’s eyebrows which seem to have taken residence along his hairline.

Pince Yifan nods. “It’s part of the curse, I guess.”

“Curse?” Baekhyun asks incredulously, momentarily forgetting his place.

Chen can see the exact moment the other realizes what’s he’s done, but Baekhyun doesn’t back down and Chen loves him a little bit more because of it.

Prince Yifan just looks a bit awkward, though, not offended or angry.”

“Uh, well that’s kind of the tricky part,” he replies, in the same manner as before, looking Baekhyun in the eye.

Chen bites back a groan, wondering how the hell he is going to keep Baekhyun from stealing the son of China’s godsdamned Crown Prince.

Joonmyun hums thoughtfully. “What do you mean by that?”

“I was not cursed, per se. That’s just what my grandfather calls it.” Prince Yifan shrugs, fidgeting with his tea cup. “It nothing serious, really. I just see my string and have weird dreams sometimes, but besides that…” he trails off.

Chen bites his lower lip, pondering over Prince Yifan’s words. He lets his eyes wander over to the Lightning String. It’s bright and blue and beautiful and so Hyunji - so Chen - it’s almost painful.

“Your highness,” he addresses Prince Yifan.

“Please, just call me Yifan,” he requests.

Chen smiles slightly, before nodding. “Yifan, have you ever dreamed you were in a place made of storm clouds?”

Yifan’s eyes widen. “Yeah, all the time. Why?”

“I need you to come with me to the temple,” he says, standing up. “Sehun, you should come, too.”

Sehun nods and immediately stands up, unlike Yifan, who takes a little bit more to react.

Chen takes a moment to nod goodbye to the king and then steps out of the room, not waiting for Sehun and Yifan.

They catch up with him soon enough, anyway. With Sehun on his left and Yifan on his right, Chen realizes they’ve made an Oracle sandwich out of him.

He pouts despite himself and, as expected, Sehun notices and takes his hand, but doesn’t comment on it.

Things have been weird between them ever since they had that conversation at the gardens. Not awkward or bad, but weird and maybe just a little bit painful. Chen guesses that’s what he gets for bottling all his feelings up instead of dealing with them like Minseok told him to. It all comes out in the least convenient moment.

Sehun squeezes his hand and he squeezes back, fighting back a sigh.

Being confronted with his deep love for Sehun in such a direct way and by the boy himself, no less, had been a hard hit to take. After that, he can’t go on still pretending being with Sehun doesn’t make him feel loved and safe and free. He can no longer keep pretending Sehun isn’t the most important person in his life and that if the consequences weren’t so dire, he and Sehun would be halfway across the kingdom by now.

Yifan’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts. “Are you going to tell us why we’re going to the temple?”

Chen stops walking for a moment. He frowns, trying to process what’s been asked of him. “Right!” He exclaims finally and starts walking again, pulling both princes closer to him. “Yifan, that place you’ve been seeing in your dreams in called the Middle World; it’s the Oracle true home. You can see it because you’re bound to it,” Chen reveals.

“Bound to it? You mean to tell me the Oracle’s realm is my soulmate?” Yifan raises one of his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Kinda,” Chen replies sheepishly. “I mean, your string leads there right now, so technically you are bound to it. And, that means-“ he licks his lips, taking a moment to gather his thoughts into something resembling a coherent theory and not the mess of hypothesis he’s been spouting-“that means we have to go there. You, the young man with the Lightning String; Sehunnie, who’s technically bound to the Middle World, too; and me, have to go to the temple, so I can take you to the Middle World and resolve all our issues,” he finishes, pleased with himself.

Yifan nods in understanding, his mind clearly racing thanks to all the new information.

Sehun tugs on his hand, plastering Chen to his side. “What do you mean I’m technically bound to the Middle World?” He whispers against the Oracle’s ear.

Chen suppresses a shiver.

“Every time I tried to follow your string I ended up in the Middle World. You have a normal red string, so there’s no actual reason for that to happen,” he whispers back. “I think it might have to do with your soulmate.”

Sehun tenderly runs his thumb over his knuckles, making his stomach swoop and a light blush to appear on his cheeks.

“What’s with my soulmate?”

Chen takes a deep breath, hoping to relax his tense everything. Sehun knows just how to put his nerves on edge.

“They don’t exist. If they were not alive anymore or yet - like it’s happened in some creepy cases - I would still know who they are, or were, or will be,” he answers, rambling because of the nerves.

Sehun chuckles, his warm breath tickling Chen’s forehead. “I think I get, hyung.”

Chen’s chest constricts at the word, it feels really weird to have Sehun address him as such when he hasn’t done so for such a long time. It feels both right - because it’s familiar and safe - and wrong – because that’s not what he wants Sehun to call him.

He sighs, resting his head against Sehun’s shoulder. “When did you get so tall?” He mumbles, but Sehun hears him anyway.

“I didn’t get tall, you just stopped growing too early. You’ve had this height for about five years now,” Sehun teases.

“No, I haven’t,” he grumbles in response.

“If you say so.”

Chen glares at the ground, cursing Sehun for knowing him so well.

Yifan stops walking, startling both Chen and Sehun, who almost stumble into him.

“Is this it?” He asks, pointing towards the big stone doors of the temple.

“Yeah,” Chen sighs. “C’mon, let’s get inside.”

The Oracle unlocks the mechanism on the door, opening it. He lets both princes through first entering himself. He reactivates the mechanism and the doors immediately close by themselves with a rumbling sound.

“We need to light up candles around the circle over there,” he instructs, gesturing in the general direction of the circle carved into the stone in front of the Great God’s statue.

He’s rummaging on the stone box under Hyunji’s statue, searching for a suitable offering.

“Hyung!” Sehun calls. “How many candles do we light up?”

“Twelve around the circle and one for each of us, too. Those go inside the circle along with us,” he answers a little distractedly.

He glares the wilted cherry blossoms that refuse to get out from under his ceremonial headpiece.

“Need a hand with that?” Yifan asks.

Chen jumps in surprise. “You scared me,” he whines, not quite realizing who he’s talking to.

Yifan’s got on a little amused smile, though, so Chen figures everything’s cool.

“Sorry,” Yifan says around a laugh. “What do you need to get from this trunk?”

“The cherry blossoms under that stupidly heavy headpiece.” Chen pouts.

Yifan chuckles. “I’ll grab the head piece and you get the flowers, okay?”

Chen sighs dramatically. “Fine.”

From the corner of his eye, he sees Yifan rolling his eyes. For the first time in over a week he feels truly calm. Ever since he and Sehun had that discussion he hasn’t had one interaction that wasn’t weighted down with ’meaning’ .

Yifan lifts the headpiece and Chen quickly grabs the cherry blossoms. Then, the chinese prince carefully places the headpiece back inside the box.

Chen gives him a grateful smile, which Yifan returns with one of his own, looking a bit flustered.

Chen opens his mouth to tease him when Sehun says, “The candles are in place,” in a rather clipped tone.

Chen is baffled at Sehun’s change of attitude, before realizing Sehun is jealous. He’d thought Sehun had gotten over his jealousy issues a long time ago. Apparently, he was wrong, he thinks with a fond smile on his face.

“Let’s begin then,” he says, walking over to the circle and stepping inside it.

He waits until the other two are inside, too, before sitting crossed legged on the floor. He divides the flowers in half, handing one to each prince.

“It’s an offering. You need it in order to go into the Middle World,” he clarifies at their questioning looks.

The both nod in understanding.

“The other candles, Sehunnie?” Chen asks, looking around for the three missing ones.

“Right!” Sehun exclaims, getting the candles out of his pocket.

He lights them up one by one, handing the first one to Chen. The prince blushes bright red when the latter grins at him in thanks.

Pink blooms in Chen’s own cheeks as he uses some wax to glue the candle to the floor.

Once everyone has stuck their candle to the stone, Chen clears his throat. “You just need to burn the flowers and think about the Middle World to get there. Don’t forget to thank Hyunji when you do. Also, I don’t know what we’re supposed to do when we get there, so we might not be together. I need you to stay focused,” he pleads, giving Sehun a pointed look.

Sehun’s eyes harden and he clenches his jaw, but still he nods.

Chen gives him one last smile, before closing his eyes. He takes deep breaths, relaxing his body as best as he can. Soon enough he’s slipping away into the Middle World - or something like it.

His eyes snap open and he realizes he’s falling into the forest, again.

Heejung and Minyoung’s forest.

It’s time to find out the ending of the dream, he supposes.

XxXxX

Sehun finds himself floating in what he assumes is the Middle World. The storm clouds surrounding him from all sides are a pretty good indicative of that.

“Thank you, Hyunji,” he mumbles, getting that over and done with.

He takes another look around, searching for Chen and Yifan. He finds the latter a short distance away, behind a cloud formation. With a disappointed frown he realizes Chen isn’t anywhere to be found.

He sighs. He should’ve known, really.

He begins to wave his limbs all over the place, trying to figure out how to move in the Middle World. Eventually, he settles into an ‘air swimming’ technique, that allows him cross big enough distances in a short time.

“Prince Yifan!” He exclaims.

Said prince turns around, flailing a little.

Sehun suppresses a chuckle and catches up to Yifan.

“So you know what we’re supposed to do?” He asks his elder.

“Yeah,” Yifan answers. “I have to go there.” He points to a huge, light blue beam of light to Sehun’s left.

“What about me?”

Yifan shrugs. “You just have to wait. You can come with me if you want.”

Sehun rolls his eyes, annoyed. Of course Hyunji would drag him all the way over to his realm just to have him wait around feeling useless.

“Let’s go,” he mutters.

It takes a lot more time than they’d expected to get to the beam. When they finally get there, thought, they realize it is much, much bigger than what he’d first assumed. It looks to be about the same diameter as Chen’s tower and he thinks that the tower was probably constructed with this in mind.

“So, what do you have to do?” He asks, not looking away from the light.

“I have to get in there,” Yifan answers, pointing at the beam.

Sehun gives him a skeptical look. “You realize that thing is made from lightning bolts, right?” He gestures to the top of the beam, where lightning is going in and out of it.

“Yup.”

Sehun’s about to asks him how the fuck he plans to survive that, when he realizes “Right, Middle World. It’s just our minds here.”

“Aw, you were actually concerned for my wellbeing?” Yifan teases.

“Don’t be dumb,” Sehun says meanly.

The older one simply brushes it off with a smirk. “It shouldn’t take too much time, I’ll be back soon,” he says, as he begins moving towards the light.

Sehun watches him go, wondering how he can be so calm about this. Group hallucination or not, he’s still rushing towards a giant tower of lightning. He sighs as Yifan enters it, right hand first.

He wiggles about until he’s comfortably floating on his back, staring at the lightning bolts rushing away from the tower and through the whole realm. It’s a pretty sight, but Sehun just wants to be back home, cuddling with Chen on his bed, where he can keep him happy and safe from all harm.

”But you can’t protect him from nightmares, can you?” A sickly sweet voice says, startling him.

He ends up floating in a sitting position, his hand clutching his chest. He franticly looks around from the source of the voice but finds nothing.

”I’m right behind you!” The voice singsongs mockingly.

Sehun whips around immediately, only to be met with the sight of a humanoid form made entirely out of lightning. He gulps.

”Hyunji,” he whispers, anger quickly wining out over shock.

”You are such a smart boy, Sehunnie,” the Deity praises, a hole resembling a grin opening up on what Sehun guesses it’s supposed to be their head.

”Don’t call me that,” Sehun growls.

”Oh, but Sehunnie, Sehunnie, I thought we were friends,” Hyunji says in a childish voice.

”Chen might consider you an ally out of necessity, but we’ve known each other for too long to pretend we can be anything other than enemies on a temporary truce. And stop it with the games, you are not a trickster and I know you don’t enjoy pretending to be one, either,” he sneers.

Their hollow grin becomes impossibly wide. “My dear Sehunnie, you are right.”

Sehun clenches his jaw and looks away. “Why am I here?”

”Well you see, a Deity such as myself needs some company to watch a performance of the likes of this one,” they answer, spreading their arms grandiosely.

The prince blinks, astonished. “Prince Yifan is over there-“he points angrily to the light beam-“doing who knows what; while Chen is hidden away in one of the disgusting little pockets of your realm, probably relieving all his worst nightmares, both trying fix what’s most likely your mess and you dare call their sacrifice a ‘performance’?!” Sehun is fuming by the end of it.

Hyunji makes an angry noise and their face quickly knits itself back together, at the same time their body starts to thin out, becoming brighter and brighter. They shoot up into the lighting running above him, towards the tower of light. Little by little, the Deity becomes one with the lightning, turning light blue into hot white.

Sehun’s eyes widen with fright and he has barely a moment to cover his eyes before a sea of hot white light covers everything.

With a sharp intake of breath, he opens his eyes. His mind is back in his body. He is back on Earth. With a quick glance he realizes he’s the only one awake.

His shoulders slump in disappointment. He lets out a breath as drops his head into his hands, roughly fisting his hair. He growls in frustration.

XxXxX

Chen falls through the clouds and the tree tops, landing brusquely on the ground.

Two gentle hands lift him much too easily, considering he’s a full grown man.

”Jongdae, you have to be more careful,” the woman who helped him up admonishes softly. “C’mon on now, we have to go.” She takes his hand, urging him to start running beside her.

It’s at this point that Chen notices that he barely comes up to her waist. Alright, so maybe Chen is not a full grown man anymore.

They woman holding his hand is the same one he saw in his dream the week before, he realizes. So that means he is in the body of her son. The thought doesn’t sit right with him somehow and he wonders why that is. Hyunji doesn’t need to share a body with him on this realm, so it can’t be them influencing his thoughts.

They keep running, getting wetter and wetter by the rain. It’s not the storm promised by the clouds from the Middle World, but it’s no joke either, making the ground mushy, muddy and overall difficult to run on. Specially on such short legs.

Why the fuck is he the one that gets to be tiny kid all over again? Sehun could certainly do with being taken down a peg or two.

Lightning illuminates the sky, while thunder roars soon after. The relatively light rain turns into a heavy downpour. As a result, neither of them hear their pursuers getting closer, until it’s too late.

The woman turns around and gasps, alerting Chen to the horsemen, who are almost caught up with.

She drops to her knees and grabs Chen’s shoulders. “Jongdae, I love you, please don’t ever forget. I’ll always be with you,” she promises, letting her hands drop from his shoulder. “Now go!” She yells over the cacophony of the unending thunder and the raindrops noisily hitting the ground.

”Go?” He asks afraid and small. “Mom, I don’t want to leave you, let’s go together.”

Chen doesn’t know what’s taken over him. It doesn’t feel like an actual external life force has taken over his body, but instead like he’s playing a part in a play he knows by heart yet hasn’t performed in a long time.

Calling this woman ‘mom’ feels right and true.

”Jongdae, you have to go!” She cries desperately, bringing him back from his musings.

He doesn’t know where or why they started running, but he knows where and why he has to run now.

Chen – no - Jongdae nods determinedly. After one last look at her face, he turns away and begins to run towards his destiny.

He rushes past familiar trees and shrubs and sights that make up his earliest memories. He’d spent countless hours here with Heejung and Minyoung, the three of them trying to piece his life back together.

They’d been so good to him.

All the memories he’s hasn’t let himself dwell on for so long are arising in his mind, making tears fall freely from his eyes. He doesn’t feel sad, though. He feels happy and light, like the weight of the world has just been lifted off his shoulders.

He sees the clearing, his clearing, ahead and runs faster. He closes his eyes just as he enters it, trusting Hyunji will not let him fall.

He feels the electricity saturate the air, surrounding him. Suddenly, two lightning bolts strike him at the same time, one from each side. With a sharp intake of breath and a backwards jerk of his head, he falls face forward onto the ground.

Next thing he knows, he’s staring down at his ten-year-old-body lying on the scorched ground, as a circular wall of fire starts to surround him, keeping him from harm. He smiles fondly at himself.

With a sigh, he clears his mind, readying himself to be sent back home. Except, that doesn’t happen. Instead, he feels himself being sucked into the lightning bolts still lurking around in the storm clouds.

Jongdae knows Hyunji is lightning. Has seen them ditch their humanoid form in favour of being shapeless energy many times. But Hyunji has never taken him along for a ride. Until now.

What stands out the most to Jongdae from the experience is the feeling of shapelessness, how fluid and free and endless his movements become.

”I’m glad to see you’re enjoying it,” Hyunji says.

Jongdae smiles. Well, he can’t actually smile in this form, but he intends to and he supposes Hyunji can feel it.

”Jongdae,” the Deity says. “I must apologize.”

”What for?” Said human asks, baffled.

”An Oracle should never be as young as you were. At ten, you were much too young to be able to handle the responsibility of the role, but somehow you did. I’m extremely proud and relieved the future I chose to believe in was ultimately made true by your actions,” Hyunji explains, sounding sincerely sorry.

Jongdae could’ve never imagined this happening. Hyunji was actually apologizing to him?

”I’ve cause you much unnecessary pain, Jongdae,” the Deity continues. “During Shiah’s time the Middle World was in balance and so the universe was aligned. During her lifetime, both Gods and humans lived good and prosper without war nor conflict. Because of that, I became cocky, so much so that I came to neglect my duties, becoming my own self-fulfilling prophecy.” Hyunji sighs, sounding ashamed of himself.

Wrapping his head around it is very hard for Jongdae, so he decides to ignore it for now. Instead, he asks “You mean Yoomi’s prophecy, right? About Prince Yifan.”

”When we first made the prophecy I took it seriously, but by the time Shiah had died I had seen a future in which the prophecy would be nulled. I was so blinded by that bright and happy future I let the enemies of my master disrupt the Destiny I was supposed to keep safe…” the Deity trails off.

”O-kay,” Jongdae begins. “So you’re telling me some other gods messed up with the Middle World when you weren’t looking and that’s why my life turned out the way it did?”

”I should’ve been paying more attention to you and to my realm, but I neglected both,” Hyunji clarifies. “The enemies of the Great God wreaked havoc in the Middle World, putting everything into disarray. I was not prepared to deal with, so when they turned people against your parents, I could do nothing to prevent tragedy. I barely managed to save you you. I’m sorry, Jongdae, for the harm I’ve caused you.” Their voice is full of regret as it floats away, drowned out by the sound of two heartbeats.

XxX

Jongdae wakes up to find himself siting on the floor between Sehun’s legs, his back to the prince’s chest. Sehun is holding him by the waist, drawing silly patterns on it with the pads of his fingers, while his face is tucked into Jongdae’s neck.

The Oracle squirms around, alerting Sehun of his wakefulness.

“Chen,” the younger one says breathlessly, almost like a prayer.

“Where’s Yifan?” Jongdae asks, his eyes scanning the room for said prince.

“He went to get a physician for you. And Yixing ge, too, for some strange reason,” Sehun answers, loosening his grip on Jongdae.

“Oh,” the latter says, making Sehun chuckle.

Jongdae smiles, turning himself around so his side is against Sehun’s front, facing him. He reaches out with his right hand to tuck a stray lock of hair behind the prince’s ear, but freezes when he catches a glimpse of his pinky.

With shuddering exhale, he brings the hand closer to himself. There’s a red string tied to his pinky with a pretty bow, swaying softly. His brain goes into overload: there’s a red string on his right pinky finger.

He gulps and takes the string with delicate fingers, tangling it in them. He stares at it in wonder.

“Chen Chen?” Sehun asks, softly stroking his cheek.

Jongdae look up at him. Sehun’s eyes are soft and vulnerable. There’s so, so much hope in them Jongdae has to look away.

He clutches his right hand to his chest, blinking back tears. This is the moment that’ll make them or break them, there’s no in between. No more of this strange limbo they’ve been living in, in which Sehun had a string and he didn’t, but in truth, neither of them actually had a soulmate.

Jongdae’s being unreasonable, he knows, as he’s sometimes wont to do. All the signs point towards he and Sehun being soulmates, but for ten years he’s survived by denying what was obvious to everyone, even himself, and squashing hope whenever it arose.

The things is, though, that however much he tried hope never really left him. The uncertainty of the situation kept him hopeful, so finding himself in a completely hopeless situation, where he knows for sure that he and Sehun can never be, it’s terrifying.

“Chen Chen, please look at me,” Sehun pleads.

Jongdae doesn’t, instead keeping his eyes on his lap. He breathes in an out deeply, willing himself to calm down. Slowly, he uncurls his hands, letting them rest on his knees.

Sehun sighs and he hears the soft thump of his head against the wall.

Jongdae licks his lips, steeling his resolve. With wet eyes, he follows his string from his hand, across the floor and towards-

He strangles a sob, relief crashing into him like a tidal wave. He laughs, loudly and freely, while tears spill from his eyes.

“Hyung,” Sehun says, tone desperate and hopeful.

Jongdae finally meets his eye. “Don’t call me hyung,” he says, shaking his head and beaming.

Before Sehun has any time to respond, Jongdae takes him by the nape of his neck and crashes their lips together. Their teeth collide almost painfully, too desperate and too inexperienced. They pull away for a moment and then they’re kissing again, but slower, sweeter than before.

Jongdae moves his hands to cup Sehun’s cheeks, while the latter pulls him onto his lap. Jongdae sighs into Sehun’s mouth as the younger’s hand buries itself in his hair, while his other arm tightens around Jongdae’s middle.

Soon enough, their emotions get the better of them and their kiss becomes sloppy and wet and perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Jongdae’s in love, so, so in love.

Eventually, they pull away to breath. Sehun presses their foreheads together and they stare deeply into each other’s eyes, their breath mingling together.

“I love you, Sehunnie,” Jongdae whispers.

“I love you, too, Chen. So fucking much,” Sehun says fiercely.

Jongdae smiles, softly and fondly. “Call me Jongdae,” he requests, before kissing his soulmate again.

The End.

---

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