[051] The Prince's Tale

theme: o51. Aliens.
pair: Ryeowook/Kyuhyun
rate: G
words: 1736
#: 62/100


He was always so lively, the youngest of them all. He was always full of laughter, always smiling - he was the sunshine in their lives they never realized was missing until he came along. However, the moment he stopped laughing and rarely smiled came; darkness was upon them now.

Ryeowook padded out of the bathroom, dressed for the day, the towel still draped over his head. With a yawn, he walked towards the kitchen for some semblance of breakfast.

“Morning.”

“AISH!” Ryeowook cried, spinning to face the source. There sitting on one end of the couch was Kyuhyun dressed in his - recently habitual - black clothing. He breathed steadily, “Kyu-sshi, you scared me!”

“I apologize, for what it’s worth,” he drawled as he picked up the remote control and flipped the channels on the television;

Ryeowook watched him peculiarly as he backed into the kitchen. “Kyu-sshi… have you been feeling okay lately?” He asked tentatively as, keeping his eyes on the magnae, he grabbed a glass from the cupboard and poured himself some juice,

“I’ve seen better days,” Kyuhyun said dully, “brighter days full of sunshine and happiness and…” He sighed heavily as he propped an arm on the couch’s arm rest, placing his chin in his hand and staring out the balcony doors,

“Kyu-sshi… did something… happen?” Ryeowook inquired as he slowly walked towards the living room, leaning a shoulder against the archway between the two rooms.

“There’s a planet just outside of our own solar system… beautiful; truly beautiful,” Kyuhyun said wistfully,

“A…a planet?” Ryeowook nearly choked on his juice.

“Yes,” Kyuhyun sighed as he stood from the couch, walked over to the balcony and continued to stare outside, “Plants that grow bigger and greener than those here on Earth…”

“P…plants?” Ryeowook gaped,

“And flowers with petals that sparkle like stars with the colours of the rainbow,” Kyuhyun began to trace flower shapes on the glass with a finger tip. He leaned his lips close to the glass and breathed hot air, producing a small circle of fog on the door. He drew a five-petal flower into the fog.

“Kyu-sshi -”

“And they smell amazing, hyung… so amazing,” Kyuhyun muttered as he leaned his nose close to the flower drawn in the condensation and breathed in deeply, “Like no smell this world could ever produce.”

“Kyu-sshi, that sounds like quite the dream,” Ryeowook chuckled nervously,

“IT’S NOT A DREAM!” Kyuhyun exclaimed, spinning around to glare at Ryeowook.

The elder of the two couldn’t help but take a step back; “Kyu-sshi… certainly you don’t expect me to believe you’ve been to a planet other than Earth.”

“I have!” Kyuhyun grounded out, fists clenched at his sides. Suddenly his gaze dropped to the ground, “But all is gone… it’s all… gone.”

Ryeowook stared in disbelief at Kyuhyun for a moment. Something wasn’t right in Kyuhyun’s world and it seemed the only way to find the heart of the matter was to talk to Kyuhyun about it.

“Kyu-sshi… why don’t… why don’t you sit down and drink some tea with me?” Ryeowook offered, pulling out a chair at the dining table for Kyuhyun, “I’ll make us tea, yes? I’ll make us tea and we can sit and you can tell me all of your problems?”

Kyuhyun stared at him suspiciously, but slowly approached the table anyway. He sat down in the chair Ryeowook offered him then grew silent as Ryeowook began to run about the kitchen, preparing a pot of tea for them.

After a few minutes when Ryeowook sat down across from Kyuhyun, a pot of tea between them and a cup for both of them, he prompted, “So Kyu-sshi… how about you tell me all about this… er… planet of yours?”

“I was a prince, hyung,” Kyuhyun began, pulling his cup of tea towards himself, “Close to being king,” he stared into the amber liquid in his cup, “I was so close to being crowned king when everything went to hell.”

“What do you mean? What happened?” Ryeowook questioned,

“War ravaged my world. War not seen by this world for centuries. Blood watered the grass, bodies trampled and buried day in - day out,” Kyuhyun paused to take a slow sip of his tea. After a satisfying sip, he placed the cup back down on the table,

“Why was there a war?” Ryeowook asked, suddenly interested in Kyuhyun’s tale,

“There were four kingdoms - of the North, the East, the South and the West… Out of the four, my kingdom - my family’s kingdom,” Kyuhyun took deep steadying breaths, his fist clenched around his cup as his voice trembled, “My kingdom was that of the North. We were all at peace when something dark and corrupted came to our planet and filled the Southern King with dark thoughts and greediness. Soon, it was the Southern Kingdom versus the rest of us…”

“What… what happened?” Ryeowook stammered, his arms now crossed atop the table, his chin lying on his arms;

“I was in the middle of a battle against the Southern Kingdom’s King. I had him cornered, hyung - had him cornered when…” His fist slammed down on the table as he got to his feet, “Somehow - for some reason, I was transported here. I could’ve ended the war at that moment hyung and before I could - seconds before… I was brought back here.”

“Can’t… Can’t you go back!?” Ryeowook cried, also getting to his feet,

“I’ve tried - OH how I’ve tried!” Kyuhyun grounded out as he began to pace before the couch, “I’ve even tried to find others who may have been left here like I was… If I was able to be brought here - a prince of the Northern Kingdom - then surely, others must be like I.” He threw his arms into the air with exasperation, “But it was no use! No one knows how to get back, most of them have given up even trying to get back…”

“Others? Like… like… aliens?” Ryeowook inquired,

“WE ARE NOT ALIENS!” Kyuhyun exclaimed as he came back to the table, his palms making fierce contact with the wooden surface. Eyes narrowed, he glared at Ryeowook darkly, “We. Are. Not. Aliens.” He spun around and walked towards the balcony, “We’re more human than those on this Earth are.” His finger tips grazed across the glass, “We had thousands of years of peace and happiness and the only reason - the ONLY reason it was destroyed was because of some foreign entity that corrupted the Southern King.” Suddenly, Kyuhyun stared over his shoulder at Ryeowook, his eyes dark and peculiar, “It’s been said that the entity came from this world… From. Your. People.”

Ryeowook stared at Kyuhyun with wide eyes as the magnae began to approach him like an animal stalking its prey. He stumbled backwards as Kyuhyun got closer. And closer. And closer still.

“Kyuhyun… Kyuhyun are… are you okay?” Ryeowook stammered, moving on the other side of the table, putting the large piece of furniture between them,

“I was until I was cast away to this world - for all eternity it seems,” Kyuhyun said darkly, his eyes wide, almost maniacal. “Ryeowook… I need to get back…” He took a step around the table.

Ryeowook took one more step back, “I’ll - I’ll help you- I’ll-”

“I’m home!” Yesung announced as he burst through the door.

“Yesung-sshi!” Ryeowook cried, practically throwing himself at Yesung,

Yesung stared back and forth between Kyuhyun and Ryeowook, “Is… something wrong?”

Ryeowook stood behind Yesung, staring over his shoulder at Kyuhyun, “He’s gone crazy!” He whispered,

“Aren’t we all a little crazy sometimes?” Kyuhyun countered, tilting his head.

“Some more than others,” Kibum’s drawl came as he came in through the door, closing it behind him, “Sorry to burst in but my mother wanted me to buy a bag of sugar-”

“And there’s five different kinds at the store,” Yesung interjected,

“And when I was at the shopping centre, I ran into Yesung-hyung” Kibum explained,

“So I offered him our sugar instead,” Yesung added as Kibum walked past Kyuhyun to the kitchen and began perusing the cupboards for a bag of sugar.

“If only everything could be solved by a cup of sugar,” Kyuhyun sighed forlornly as he plopped down in a chair, throwing his arms atop the table and lying his head against the wooden surface,

Kibum came out of the kitchen, a bag of sugar in his arms when he stared at Kyuhyun, “Hyung, maybe it’s time you give it to him.”

“Ah, I forgot!” Yesung said as he pried himself away from Ryeowook’s death grip and walked over to Kyuhyun. He pulled out a small CD case from his pocket and laid it on the table beside Kyuhyun, “I bought this while I was out.”

Kyuhyun turned his head on the table to stare at the case. Suddenly his eyes grew wide, “Oh. My. God.” He sat up immediately, taking the case into his hands, “Hyung!” He immediately got to his feet, hugged Yesung and then disappeared into his room.

Ryeowook gaped, staring at Kyuhyun’s door, “What… what… what just happened!?”

“Have you noticed lately how Kyu-sshi’s been depressed?” Ryeowook nodded as Yesung explained, “Well, that’s because a virus got to one of his games and completely destroyed the game before he was able to finish it.”

“But… but he spoke as if… as if-”

“He came from another planet?” Yesung offered,

“Yes!” Ryeowook cried, “And that… he was… he was-”

“A prince of said planet on the brink of becoming king?” Yesung interjected,

“YES!” Ryeowook exclaimed. Suddenly, his expression dropped as he gasped, “Don’t tell me-”

“It’s all about the game,” Yesung finished; Kibum behind him also nodding knowingly.

“But… I thought…” Ryeowook stumbled towards the table and collapsed into a chair, grabbing one of the tea cups from earlier and draining it in one shot, “He was really depressed… and then… he got crazy!”

“He does have a flair for the dramatics,” Kibum drawled as he headed back towards the door, pulling on his shoes, “Well, I have to get this sugar to my mother.”

“But… I don’t…” Ryeowook stared at his hyungs then at Kyuhyun’s door then back at the other two members, “I don’t… understand.”

Yesung and Kibum glanced at one another before shrugging and stating in unison, “That’s GameKyu-sshi for you.”

Ryeowook swooned at the thought.