Their journey was long, tiring but also peaceful. Jeongguk kept his head resting on the prince's back, his arms wrapped around his torso, and he would look at the scenery around them. Taehyung would ask every now and then where to turn and if the warlock was okay. The younger would answer with directions when asked but was hesitant with his response to how he was.
The breeze was light as it flowed through the leaves of the tree. The sun shone through the tree leaves and brought a warmth to their journey. They were getting close to the river side and could hear the running stream; it was calming to hear, but the water was running fast. The bushes around the path that the two males followed were close to the bank of the river.
"We're getting close.." Jeongguk spoke after some silence. "Just up the river more."
"Alright," Taehyung nodded.
"The river is a bit rough today…" the warlock pointed out. "Be careful when getting water from it."
"Thank you for warning me," the prince smiled as he turned to look at the warlock behind him.
Soon, the horse slowly came to a stop, and Taehyung could only stare in shock at how the village looked. He made the horse move to be at the bank of the river and got down off the saddle. He helped the warlock down and was relieved when the younger slid down facing him.
"It should be up the path a bit." Just as Jeongguk was about to turn to look, Taehyung took him by his shoulders and made him stay still.
"Hyungie... What is it?" He questioned.
"You.. You need to prepare yourself for what you're about to see.." Taehyung muttered.
"What I'm about to see? Hyungie, it probably isn't that bad… I hope," Jeongguk sighed. "Let me see," he struggled to turn and look.
"No," Taehyung held him so he couldn't turn.
"Let me see what has happened!" He shouted as he forced his way out of the prince's grip and turned to see how the village looked.
Jeongguk huffed as he turned but soon stood stiff. His lips parted as his jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. He felt tears well up and dripped down his cheeks and jaw. His knees felt weak, and he dropped to them harshly, possibly causing them to bruise. His hands came up his mouth as he cupped his sobs. His body curled into itself as his sobs shook his body. The warlock felt hands wrap around him softly in a comforting manner, and he was pulled to the prince's chest.
The image that he saw kept flashing in his mind. A child's teddy bear lay in the dirt, its eye broken off, and its arm ripped off as if it was held between a parent and a child as they ran but didn't get away. There were ripped tents that had fallen and wood for their fires that had been scattered around the ground. There were burnt walls of tents that were seen; gone was the bright white material and replaced by yellow to black burns with holes in them. Food, either ripped or pushed to the dirt in a hurry and turned to mush from possible crowds, running for their lives. It looked to be of pure chaos, no order, and where were the villagers? Possibly decomposing in the forest on the other side of the village.
"My home.. There's nothing left." He sobbed. "Nothing at all.." his body shook.
"I'm so sorry, so very, very sorry, there is no easy way of dealing with it or for me to make it up to you." Taehyung shook his head lightly. "Even saying sorry doesn't do anything."
The prince felt the younger's body shake in his arms, and the devastation in Jeongguk's cries broke his heart. For once, there was no clear answer for how he could comfort the warlock. Sure he had been in his position before, but not to this scale. Losing a whole village, losing a home. It was ruining. It was like the younger had lost part of himself.
"Baby…" Taehyung muttered as he tried his best to find the words he needed.
"I.. I want to.. make graves for them all… I want to show my respects.." Jeongguk sobbed, tears still fell like big water drops, or at least that's how it felt.
"Of course, of course… I'm sure they would love that" Taehyung replied as he kissed the warlock's forehead and moved his hair out from his eyes lovingly.
Taehyung helped the younger male stand up by holding his waist and arm. They slowly made their way closer to what remained of the village and the sound of Jeongguk's sobbing had mixed with the sound of the river, it may have echoed how he felt in his heart and his physical form.
Jeongguk slipped out of the prince's arms and bent down to pick up the broken teddy bear. It felt almost wet to the touch; it was most likely damp from the elements around it. He brought it up to his chest and held it close as if it would disappear.
"Do you think it would be nice to clean up the village so those who lived here won't feel saddened?" Taehyung asked softly from behind the warlock.
"They'd love that" Jeongguk sniffed as he turned to the older. "..so much"
Taehyung smiled softly but with a hint of sadness in his eyes from how the other was crying. It did indeed hurt his heart. He spotted one of the carts of fruit and walked over, he began to pick up the fruit that hadn't been squashed and lifted the cart back up to make sure the rest of the fruit didn't fall out. The prince looked down at the rest of the squashed fruit and looked around for something that he could use to brush it away.
"Here" Jeongguk stood beside him with a rake made of sticks in hand. "It may help just move the dirt on top, the rest will decompose into the ground"
Taehyung took the rake softly from the other. "Thank you baby," he said with a smile.
Jeongguk nodded before going back to picking up the burnt and fallen tent material. He moved the wood out of the way and slowly pulled the poles down that still stood. The warlock thought it would be nicer to take down the tents as inside had probably gotten raided by that evil woman's followers. Jeongguk took a deep breath to calm his thoughts and emotions as he didn't want to cause a fire by accident. He kept his eyes closed before opening them as he let out a breath.
"Alright, a few more-" Jeongguk turned to see that the other male had started to take down the other tents too. "Oh… so just a couple more then"
Jeongguk did the same thing twice more with the other two tents near him and once they were down, there was just the ground to rake, he looked to the ground and noticed that the prince had already done that. He felt some relief, but also more sorrow that he had to say goodbye for the last time so soon.
"How do you want to make their graves?" Taehyung asked softly, he was worried about setting the younger off and him crying again.
"We could use the wood from the tents to make the crosses…" Jeongguk replied but looked around. "But.. I don't know how we would tie them"
"We could rip the tent material into long rope like strips and tie it that way," The prince suggested.
"That would work," The warlock nodded.
The prince ripped the tent material, doing his best to avoid the burnt areas and handing it to Jeongguk who got the wood and tied two of them together to make a cross shape. After what felt like many hours, it was slowly getting closer to sunset and they had moved the crosses to be placed in the dirt where the entry to the village once stood. There were over fifty that stood in the dirt all placed so they were lined up. Though there was one left.
"She used to love watching the sunset by the river side.." Jeongguk sniffed softly. "Can we place her one there?" He asked.
"Sure baby, she'll be happy there" Taehyung smiled sadly as he lifted the cross and carried it over to the river side. He placed the cross down and wiped the sweat from his forehead before the younger gave him a hammer they'd been using that was in the village to hit the crosses into the ground.
"She'll love it" Jeongguk muttered before falling to his knees yet again and crying into his hands.
"Hello, Miss Jeon, I'm Kim Taehyung, Prince and soon to be King and I would've wanted to gain your blessing of our… your sons and I's relationship thus far" Taehyung spoke to the makeshift graves as if he were talking to the younger's eomma.
"I know we never properly met, but I will inform you that your son is always safe with me, that I can promise" he continued.
Jeongguk looked up at the prince who stood in front of him as he felt his tears continue to fall down his cheeks. He heard every word that fell from the prince's lips and watched with astonishment.
"Now, I may be saying this to your son a tad bit early" He chuckled. "But I wouldn't want it another way than to say this in front of you to Jeongguk"
Taehyung turned to the younger man who still sat on his knees and put a hand out for him to grab. Jeongguk took hold of the prince's hand and was pulled to him in a comforting hold. Taehyung placed a kiss on the warlock's forehead and cheek quickly before he took a deep breath.
"I Kim Taehyung, love you, Jeon Jeongguk and I would love to be your boyfriend if you'll accept me" Taehyung held the warlock by his waist loosely, just so that if the younger wanted to walk away he could.
"Of course!" Jeongguk exclaimed as he took hold of the prince's cheeks and pulled him into a knee buckling kiss, that made himself almost fall down but the prince held him close so he wouldn't.
"Of course I accept you, I love you too," Jeongguk said as he broke away from the kiss as they placed their foreheads on each other's.
"Did you hear that?" Taehyung turned to look at the grave and saw how the sunset made the water look warm with colour.
His eyes widened slightly as they felt the breeze that was once cool; turn warm and brush past them. Almost like a mother's hug would feel in support for her child.
"It was her; I could feel it," Jeongguk muttered.
"How?" Taehyung asked softly.
"I'm not sure, it just felt like it" Jeongguk explained.
"Thank you" Taehyung smiled as he turned to look at the eomma's resting place. "Thank you, I'll treat him right"
"Of course you will!" Jeongguk giggled.
The sun set light was that of a dead mothers warmth. Hopefully it will be something more in the future, but we will never know what path the river may take as it is made.
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Sorry this took a week longer to get out
I wanted to make sure it was put together nicely and I hope you enjoyed it!!
Make sure to read the next chapter as it's a double update to make up for lost time!!
I purple you 💜💜💜💜💜💜