the young male’s statement bothered him some, but he said nothing of it. the general’s favourite horse was stuck in a ditch they had so painstakingly dug (neither of them were earth benders, after all) and had conveniently forgotten about. to cain’s defense, he thought that it was a little farther away — imagine his surprise when aeron’s horse suddenly bucked and fell! shallow as it was, it was enough to give the animal a scare, and cain had to hurry to help the little prince off the damn thing before it caused any damage to actual humans.
“yeah…” cain mumbled, feet firmly on the ground, one hand around the reins and the other buried so casually in his pockets. his gaze was as cold as the northern winter, and just about as ruinous. after a moment of what might be assumed as worried silence — except it was anything but, for cain was never really worried about the wellbeing of many things — an excited smile finally graced his boyish features.
“hey, wanna see something amazing?”
his hands found themselves free, and in the air before the younger prince could respond. it was a little hard, detecting the flow of chi in something that wasn’t quite human, especially since cain was so young. it was youth that limited him; it was youth that inspired him to break through these constraints.
the flow of blood was challenging, too, and it might have seemed that nothing would happen —
except it did.
the horse neighed in its physical distress, and twisted its limbs in the air as sweat rolled down cain’s temple. aero watched the show with glee: the way its feet contorted, folded in on its fat stomach; the way its head twisted into itself until no sound could come out of the animal at all. and when cain was done, his hands dropped, breath heaving as if he’d run an especially wonderful marathon. blood streamed out of its open, dumb mouth, full of stained teeth once the useless thing landed upon the ground.
joy scowls at the male standing nearby. “not if i have anything to say about it,” she mutters, closing her eyes and trying to gather the air around her to allow herself to jump high enough to escape the crevasse she’s landed in.
she soon gives up, though, stumbling backwards until she’s leaning against the rocky wall. she pants heavily, sweat beading on her forehead. she’s too tired to bend now, after using all her energy trying to run from the very person she’s stuck in here with.
she had been leading a small group of scouts, trying to figure out the location of the suryan army. they had succeeded, and ended up with pursuers from the army: including one of the princes himself. joy was separated from the rest of her group, and the prince split off from his own to chase her. with the help of his bending, he gained on her and cornered her at the edge of this crevasse, and while the two of them fought, the edge of the cliff they were standing on collapsed under them, sending them both tumbling into this hole.
joy has met this particular prince several times before, mostly on the battlefield. they’ve fought one on one several times before, though almost every time joy has had to run away because she ran out of energy for her bending. aeron is part of the reason she’s been training so much and pushing herself so hard: she wants to expand her limits and make it possible to fight for longer, to maybe have a chance at actually beating him instead of having to run and hide.
now, joy gives up again, slumping down the wall until she’s sitting on the ground and looking up at the fire prince. “fine. i give up. go ahead and kill me.”
aeron raises his brows at her. “why would i kill you? then i’d just be alone and bored.”
“what, and you don’t want to entertain yourself by killing me? i thought that was your thing -- killing people slowly for fun. or are the rumors i’ve heard not true?” she asks, a teasing lilt in her voice. the two of them have always teased each other a lot, even since the first time they met, while they were fighting to the death.
“it almost sounds like you want me to kill you, princess,” aeron replies without missing a beat.
joy shrugs. “i mean, i’d like to stay alive for as long as possible, but i know i’m probably going to die soon anyway. we are in a war, after all. and especially since i’m a cuspian, i accepted a long time ago that i’m going to die young,” she says, and although she sounds flippant about it, her eyes betray the sadness she feels about knowing her life is probably going to be cut short. “and i’m not a princess, by the way.”
aeron stares at her for a moment, then smirks and turns away, looking up at the opening above their heads. “i know you’re not.”
as joy opens her mouth to retort, he raises a hand to stop her. “shh,” he says, and as she starts to protest he insists. “no, i mean it. listen.” joy does, falling silent as she strains her ears to hear whatever’s going on above them. she hears a jumble of male voices, seeming to debate about something.
“who’s up there?” she whispers, though her question is answered almost as soon as it leaves her lips, for a loud shout echoes through the cave from above.
“prince aeron! are you down there?”
“it’s my men,” aeron mutters, quietly enough that the soldiers above them don’t hear. he steps closer to joy, kneeling in front of her and leaning forward to whisper in her ear. “listen very closely. take off your tempestade robes and put mine on instead. you need to act normal and do not, under any circumstances, use your powers. disobey and you’ll be killed, either by me or them.”
“trying to get my clothes off? don’t you think that’s a little inappropriate, your highness?” she says, automatically teasing him without even thinking about it, though she knows this situation is serious.
“trust me, princess, if i wanted to be inappropriate, i would have used actions rather than words,” aeron responds, and they soon hear more shouts from above “there’s someone down there, i see them! prince aeron, is that you?”
aeron looks up at the opening, then turns quickly back to joy. “you’re going to wear my clothes, because yours were....terribly ruined. i’ll order them to give you a uniform of your own. your identity....you can’t be my consort, for the repercussions would be too great later. you have that accent....you will post as a mute sergeant. you are under my command alone, because you are going to stay by my side at all times.”
joy blinks at him, watching as he removes his robe and then his shirt. “why are you even doing this?” she asks, honestly confused. he knows who she is: a cuspian, an officer in the enemy army. “aren’t you supposed to want me dead?” she voices her thoughts, still whispering in case their voices echo up to the surface.
aeron sighs, sending her what joy interprets as a slightly exasperated expression. “you do ask too many insignificant questions. does it even matter how i want you?”
“well considering i’m about to be surrounded by the suryan army and you’re the only one who can keep me alive, yes, it does matter,” joy retorts, perhaps a bit more aggressively than she should have. she winces at how her whisper has grown in volume, and lowers her volume back to a normal whisper as she continues. “there aren’t many people i would willingly trust with my life. you’re not one of them, but i don’t have much of a choice right now, do i?”
“tsk,” aeron scoffs, handing her his clothes. joy begins to quickly take off her own, turning her back to the prince to hide as much of her body from him as she can. he continues whispering, though, and she listens as she pulls his shirt on in place of her own. “i could care less if you trust me or not; however, i am the only one who can keep you alive. they learn that you are what you are, and you will have a safe trip to a wonderful resort known as the badlands. also...” as joy turns back around, pulling the suryan robes on, he turns his face away. “you are a female. this army is mostly composed of men. i hope i do not have to elaborate on what i am trying to imply. stay quiet and stay with me. that is what matters.”
joy bites her lip and looks away as well, crossing her arms over her chest. “i understand.” after a brief pause, she clears her throat and raises an eyebrow at him. “so, your highness,” she says, saying the title sarcastically. “are you going to call your men to get us out of here or are we just gonna wait here forever?”
aeron sends her a look, then shouts up to the men above. “i’m here! there’s someone with me -- throw us a rope!” noise echoes from above them as the soldiers scramble to help their prince, and while they wait, aeron turns back to joy. “remember, don’t say a word. you’re mute. and no bending. stay by my side and take orders only from me.”
joy nods, and within a few minutes she’s being pulled out of the hole and into her enemy’s arms.
it’s...it’s so cold, he thinks. he wonders if that is because if it is dark, so very dark that he’s sure that the light must have been sucked away by some otherworldly means - he’s always been unable to tell if his eyes are open or not, even in the darkest parts of the castle in the middle of the night. and yet now he finds them indistinguishable, unsure if he’s asleep or awake, whether or not he’s been trapped into his own mind.
he should make a flame, he thinks, but then immediately discards the idea. no, he cannot, he cannot do such a thing - that is out of his ability and it’s so dark and so cold that to mar it with the broken light of his fire would be a disservice. and even then - he isn’t so sure he is able to do so, for the heat he normally feels beneath his skin is gone, dissipated into the cold of the air. he doesn’t dare try, for he knows in his failure the voice will return to gloat gleefully, for they know, they’ve always known, just how afraid jungkook is of his own weakness. just how ashamed he is.
it’s quiet. it has been quiet for a while but he cannot be sure for he’s been told he’s been in this dark, dark, place for but a short time now and yet he feels like he’s always been here, that this is where he should be and he cannot even fathom to try and escape now. his actions do not seem to be in his own hands any longer; though he is dimly aware that this is simply a closet, that he’d been locked in here with his older brother but an hour or so before. the quiet is maddening for he can imagine all the things they want to say, all that they should be saying and the anticipation is awful in itself - not to mention it does little to ease the sting when the words do come. he’s pulled his knees up to his chest, eyes squeezing shut - forcing a tear down his cheek, “please, please don’t say it, i know already, don’t make me --- ! please let me out now, it’s so cold, aeron.”
aeronrg
(*) The type of fear Hikari had known all her life came in forms of beautiful unforgettable faces and expensive cloths of red and gold, not the usual descriptions associated with fear.
The first type of fear, she had already learned to appropriately react to for her father’s worsening illness had the queen pretty much occupied with caring for him thus leaving her very little time to dwell on Hikari’s affairs. But nothing could make Hikar’s blood run cold quite like the sight of her second eldest brother with his mismatched colored eyes that had been a fixed figure in all of her nightmares-- he was her second type of fear come to life.
Shaky hands gently put down the glass of wine in her hand as she tried to keep her face void of any emotion. The nearest exit was fifty meters away from where she stood in the grand ballroom of the Duuri palace and she could only hope that she’d manage to walk the distance undetected and unnoticed by him. She gathered her skirt and walked with her head down low, her heartbeat running so wildly that she was sure he could hear it from he stood mingling with the other nobility.
She had expected to see him here for the last she heard, he was involved in the Suryan conquests at the border and that was a far distance from Duur. It had been months since she had seen him last and she could only hope that she would succeed in prolonging it. She would fake a fever and ask that Daehyun and Seulgi allow her to head back to Surya alone-- anything to keep her away from him, she’d do.
But fate had never been kind to Hikari, that much was known but it became even more obvious in the cold fingers that tightly gripped her wrist as she walked out of the double doors leading into a dark hallway.
