Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hongjoong walks through the field slowly, admiring every flower he may see. Occasionally he may stop to smell a rose or a lily. 

Hongjoong loves the fields surrounding his palace, but this one is one he loves in particular. 

His late mother and he would walk through this very field for seemingly hours when he was younger before his mother died. 

He never knew the cause of her mother's death, but he had a few ideas. 

Not even a week after the death and funeral of the Queen, a war was waged on the dark land across the river. 

The Dragons. 

Hongjoong assumed that his mother was killed by a dragon and that's why his father waged war on them. 

He had never seen a real dragon, only horrifying photos of them had been shown during school lessons. 

He shakes the dark thoughts from his head, continuing to admire the nature surrounding him. 

He knew he was going to be in loads of trouble once he arrived back at the castle, his father would be furious that he left the castle without a guard, his brother, or even a second word as to where he was going. 

As he walks, he bends to smell a particularly beautiful yellow rose, smiling at the enticing scent, reminding him of his favorite drink back at the castle, nectar tea. 

A loud, pounding of wind sounding almost like thunder, speeds over the head of the prince, the wind blowing his hair and coat astray. 

He looks up, a large, black and leathery winged salamander is flying through the sky, towards the woods. 

Its iridescent scales catch the light beautifully as it glides through the sky. 

Within a moment trumpets bore through the air, arrows flying through the sky towards the flying lizard. 

Why attack such a beau- oh, that's a dragon? He thinks. 

Hongjoong watches in horror as many arrows hit the creature, cries of agony escaping its largemouth. 

It didn’t look like a scary, fire-breathing demon. It looked helpless and confused.

Despite the continuous trumpet playing and announcements for everyone to retreat into their homes, Hongjoong sprints in the direction of the woods where the now injured dragon reside, having been shot down from the sky by the people of his kingdom. 

He reaches the woods, delving into the dense trees in search of the poor creature. 

After walking for a short amount of time, He hears a groaning, but not that of what a dragon would sound like, but of a boy, a human. 

He follows the sound, gasping as he finds a slender, tanned black-haired boy lying almost lifeless on the ground. 

Arrows poked shallowly into his skin, blood falling everywhere. 

“Are- Are you okay?” Hongjoong asks, slowly approaching the boy. 

His weary head shoots up, eyes a glowing green color, features sharp and daunting. 

“ I just got shot out of the fucking sky, I’m perfectly fine,” He snaps, glaring at Hongjoong, looking him up and down, “ dear prince.” He adds in a mock tone of respect and admiration. 

“How-” he begins to ask, then realizing his attire and the jewels adorning his hair, are most likely dead giveaways of his status. 

“ Let me help you, please,” he asks, stepping a pace closer. 

He scoffs, “You want to help me, a Dragon?”

It clicked in his head. They must have two forms. Human, and Reptilian. 

“Yes. I do,” he says coldly, already having enough of this dragon’s snarky attitude. 

“Why?” He asks, attempting to lift his torso from the leafy ground. 

“Because you’re injured and if I don’t help you now and get you to safety you’ll get killed by my people,” he says. 

The boy makes a face of agreement and defeat as he holds his arms out for him to come nearer. 

“Watch the wings though prince, those are my only way home.” He says, flexing the very rough-looking pair of leathery wings on his back. 

“Oh-,” Hongjoong mutters as he steps much closer to the dragon. The wings on his back were a dark black, shining a beautiful violet when the light hits it just right, “They’re fascinating, but they seem to be broken, I’ll have to set them” 

“ First I’m going to remove these arrows and lightly patch the wounds so you will be able to get to the castle,” he says, lightly beginning to pull the arrows from his body. 

“The castle? Why would I be going there?” The dragon asks, wincing as Hongjoong tends to his wounds.  

“So I can properly dress your wounds and you’ll be able to go back to the Isle.” He says as if he didn't have a choice. 

Hongjoong works quickly, using flower petals and leaves to cover the wounds marring the other's body. 

Yells of the castle guards can be heard growing nearer. 

“Come on, We must go to the market and get you some clothes. The bleeding seems to have stopped for now,” he whispers as he looks at the number of flower petals stuck to the boy's tan body and wings. 

They walk for several minutes while also making sure they were safe from the eyes of the castle guards. 

They find the edge of the forest that leads them to the market just outside of the castle gates. 

“Stay here- Wait what is your name?” Hongjoong asks, realizing he never asked the boy. 

“Seonghwa,” The dragon states coldly, “and your name prince?” He asks in return. 

“Hongjoong.” He says, a small smile on his face 

Seonghwa nods and sits down behind a tree, as Hongjoong pulls the hood of his cloak over his head, in a feeble attempt to hide his face. 

He reaches a booth selling clothes, and since the castle had ordered everyone to retreat to their homes, no one was there to sell them to him.

Hongjoong grabs an outfit for Seonghwa that he hoped would sufficiently hide his wings for the time being. 

He lays a large amount of money on the salesperson's table for when they return to the booth. 

He runs back to the forest where He finds Seonghwa still sitting. 

“Here, put this on.” He hands him the clothes and turns his back as the dragon begins to dress. 

“Okay, I’m done,  Seonghwa says, Hongjoong turning back around, impressed at the speed he dressed. 

He nods and leads him towards the entrance of the castle. 

He smiles sweetly to the guards, “I tried making my way back as quick as possible, I found a villager who wasn’t able to get home, He lives on the other end of the island and needed somewhere to stay while the kingdom is on lockdown, I wish for him to stay here until he can make his way back home.” They look him up and down before smiling at the prince and letting him pass. 

He removes his cloak as they make their way through the castle. 

“Hongjoong! There you are! There was a dragon spotted flying around the castle, the guards managed to shoot the wretched thing down. They are out searching for it now, until they find it, no more leaving the castle.” His father, the King, says, approaching the two men.

“Who is this?” He says, eyeing Seonghwa, who is nervously standing behind the prince. 

“This is Seonghwa, he's a villager. He lives on the other end of the island and I brought him here for protection until he can make his way back home.” He says, scurrying to the boy's side, linking his arm in his, noticing his amount of nervousness. 

“ Ah well, alright.” He smiles, approaching the boy. 

“It's a pleasure to meet you Seonghwa.” The king says, bowing his head. 

Seonghwa throws himself into a bow, smiling softly at Hongjoongs father, “I thank you for accepting me in the castle for the time being your majesty.” 

Hongjoong looks rather appalled at the way the dragon was acting towards his father, seeing he was the one who waged war on Seonghwas entire species, the one who signed the order for any dragon spotted on our side of the river to be executed. 

The King accepts the gesture from his ‘town folk’ and turns his attention back to Hongjoong. 

“Dinner will be ready promptly, please go get cleaned and changed, grab some clothes for Mr.Seonghwa from your brothers, we would love to have him for dinner, we have an important meeting tonight,” he says, smiling before walking off. 

Hongjoong grabs the boy by the hand, dragging him to his bedroom. 

“Wait here,” he says, running out of the room for a moment. Seonghwa walks around the vast room, admiring the many small trinkets Hongjoong had scattered around. 

The prince seemed to be into making his clothing, piles of fabric scattered around the room. 

He finds a paper lying on the ground, lifting it, a letter. 

‘Hongjoong, 

Father may have already told you but the king from the Isle is coming for dinner, no need to be startled, all will be safe, My men and I will be sure of it. 

Regards, 
   Yunho.’

The letter falls from Seonghwa’s hands, this is not good. Not at all.

Right then, Hongjoong returned, carrying very fancy, but dark-colored clothes. 

“Hey, what's that?” he asks, laying the clothes down, walking up, and grabbing the fallen letter. 

He reads it then looks at Seonghwa, faces pale. 

“I- I can’t eat dinner with you, I’m sorry but I can’t.” he stutters, looking deep into the shorter man's eyes, his own eyes now back to the glowing green they previously were. 

“Why not? My father formally invited you,” he says, laying the letter aside. 

“ The mas who is coming from the Isle is my father.” He says, looking out the window. 

Hongjoong gasps, Seonghwa is the prince of the Isle? 

“He will see me here with you and your father will be enraged, I should have never come here with you.” He says, collapsing on the bed, holding his head in his hands. 

“I’m sure all will be fine.” Hongjoong says, smiling softly, “Let’s not worry about that now, let's get you patched up with something other than rose petals and leaves.” 

He pulls his shirt off, untucking his vast wings, Allowing Hongjoong to remove the flower petals. 

Hongjoong begins to clean and patch the wounds, trying to be gentle around the dragon's wings. 

They finish quite quickly and he redresses into a set of the clothes He had brought from his brother's room. 

“Well, Prince Seonghwa, you look quite dashing.” he smiles, as he begins putting away some of his first aid materials. 

Hongjoong excuses himself to the bathroom so he can change himself. 

The clothes he chose for himself were complementary to Seonghwas suit, dark purple with a black accent. 

He steps from the bathroom to see a curious Seonghwa looking around his room. 

His black hair and tan skin shining from the sunlight peeking through the window. 

“You look quite stunning Prince.” He smiles, purely. 

The two make their way to the dining hall, Seonghwa shaking from the nerves of seeing his father in such a manner. 

They walk in, His father, brother, and a few staff members are already seated. 

“Ah, Hongjoong, You look dashing, and Seonghwa, you clean up quite well, welcome.” His father greets, standing from his position at the table. 

The two men smile, bowing in return to the King’s complements. 

They take their seats at the table, Seonghwa pulling the chair for Hongjoong to sit, causing the Prince to blush. 

After a few moments of sitting and talking with each other, a group of men enters the room, dressed in dark red suits. 

“I now introduce, the kind and all mighty, Dragon King Youngmin.” One man speaks, everyone at the table stands, other than Seonghwa, who hesitates, but stands. His hand grabbed at Hongjoongs, hoping for the best. 

The Dragon King enters, a blank face as he walks across the marble floor. 

“Greetings your majesty, I apologize for being late.” He speaks, voice sending chills down Hongjoongs spine. 

He looks across at the table, eyes stopping on Seonghwa, a small smile creeps across his face, eyes flashing a vibrant yellow, Seonghwa’s flashing that mesmerizing green. 

He nods, not acknowledging his son's true identity. 

He sits at the table, as the food is just being brought out. 

They sit and eat in silence, the food being delectable. Soon after the table is cleared, King Kim speaks up. 

“So, King Park, my son is coming to the throne soon, and I brought you here so he could speak about his views on the war.” He states, glaring to his son as if persuading her to say what he pleases. 

Youngmin nods, smiling at the young prince as he shivers away from his father's eyes. 

“I want it to end,” he says bluntly, his father and brother both choking on their teas.
 
“It’s a pointless fight. I feel as if we should try to bond with the Dragon race,” he says, looking to the King, and then to the undercover Prince at his side. 

“Father, call back the guards, they won’t find the dragon in the woods,” he says, looking at her father, boldness in her voice. 

Seonghwa looks at him like he was crazy, tapping her thigh crazily. 

“I met the dragon boy. He was quite sweet. He was scared. He was simply flying around and yet you had to shoot him. Why do you hate them father?” he asks, voice cracking.

“Your mother fell in love with a dragon she had met. She moved away to the Isle to live with him.” His father sneered. 

His mother wasn’t dead. She was alive and well, living with someone she loved in the Isle. His father, overthrown with jealousy had waged a war on them. 

“I think I may end up following in mother's footsteps then, I may want to let myself fall in love with a dragon.” This time it was King Youngmin and Seonghwa’s turn to choke on their drinks. 

He laughs crazily. “You? Falling in love with a dragon? Where is he then? Let's meet him.” 

He holds down her head, King Youngmin taking the reins of his confession. 

“Oh dear King, You already have.” He speaks, smiling to the Prince softly, kindly. 

“I have?” He asks, inquisitively. 

The King nods, “That boy down there, That's my son. Seonghwa. The one who is also rising to power soon.” he says, pointing to the boy. 

King Kim holds a face of anger. 

“You brought a dragon into my castle, without my permission?” He yells at his son, grabbing a half-full glass, chucking it in his direction.

A vast black wing blocked the attack, soon retracting as soon as it appeared. 

Hongjoong smiles softly at Seonghwa, his silent thanks prominent in his eyes, then turning to look back to his father. 

“In 6 months, I will be King, the war will end, and the Kingdoms will unite,” he says boldly. 

Seonghwa finally speaks up during the argument, “ And I will take his hand in marriage, further uniting the Kingdoms, ” smiling at his now teary-eyed father. 

“Don’t you think six months is long enough for you to fall in love with me Prince?” Seonghwa asks, laughing tenderly. 

Hongjoongs father had no say in this. He was going to be King, he would have no power over what he chooses to do within his reign of the throne. 

Defeated, he nods, storming out of the Dining hall. 

“Hongjoong you sure this is what you want?” His brother asks. 

“Yes Yunho, it is. I don’t want this cruel division anymore,” he says boldly, “I thought my mother was killed by a dragon, but she simply fell in love.  I thought they were gigantic beasts who breathed fire and caused chaos, but after meeting Seonghwa I don’t think that’s the truth anymore.” 

Yunho simply hummed with a smile.

People file out of the dining hall, King Park approaching the two. 

“You will make an amazing King, Prince Hongjoong. On behalf of the Isle and everyone who inhabits it, we thank you for your efforts in choosing to end the war.” King Park says with a smile, before walking off to return to the Isle. 

Seonghwa nudges Hongjoong with his shoulder, smiling happily. 

“What was all of that in there? Falling in love with me? Ending the war? What’s gotten into you, Prince?” Seonghwa asked. 

Hongjoong simply shrugged, “I’m not sure really, I feel a strong connection with you, and you aren’t the most painful thing to look at so, it all works out in the end doesn’t it?” 

Seonghwa laughs, “I presume it does, until next time dear Prince.” Seonghwa bows, turning to follow his father.

Hongjoong smiles, waving goodbye to the other Prince, hoping to be able to visit him on the Isle, and maybe even find his mother while he was there. 

The war will end, peace will come, and happiness will once again grace their nations. 

Together.