Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cale rips off another teleportation scroll.

They materialized a few meters above a lake, so they fall, bathing in liquid of unknown origins.

They heave on the shoreline.

Archie mutters, “I *hate* this place.”

Hans raises his hand, “I... I second that.”

“I third that.”

Luckily, Cale has a drying gadget.

Still, the night is cold so they huddle up together to sleep.

Archie is surprisingly an octopus. He nudged Cale's head onto his chest, arm over Cale's neck and leg over Cale's own.

Hans is not much better. He squeezes Cale's arm like a doll, curling in towards himself. His cheek rest on Cale's shoulder, lips slightly parted.

Cale sighs.

While the others slept, Cale thought back to that lake.

There was something *definitely* wrong with that lake…no wrong isn’t the right word..more like off. There was something off about that lake. Although the two idiots next to him clearly didn’t notice.

Hmmmm now here’s the real question, should he or should he not check it out later when he’s out of this god forsaken forest…. I mean it’s not like he’s dumb enough to come back to this place but something about that lake felt like it was compelling him to come back.

.

.

.

Ehhhh he’ll think about it when he wakes up.

If he even MAKES it to morning with how hard these two are squeezing him.

If the next morning he wakes up and feels sore all over, and they both have to hold his hands to drag him everywhere then that's not his fault.

.~.

Ignoring the humongous serpent carcass next to them, Archie squats down beside Cale.

“How many left of your teleportation scrolls?”

“One.”

Sensing a continuation, Hans joins, “But...?”

“But it's handmade by Rosalyn.”

Hans sighs in relief, “That's good.”

“Untested modified teleportation scroll.”

Hans sighs in resignation, “So fifty percent chance it'll blow up and kill us all.”

“At least that'll spare us from this torture.” Archie adds.

.~.

FUCK THE CONSEQUENCES, Cale rips off his last teleportation scroll before they're eaten by baby chick wraiths. If by baby you mean a two meters height with their mother roughly five.

They drop on a floor. A marble floor.

This place is most likely Roksu’s villa.

Holy shit. Omg. HOLY SHIT they’re finally out.

Cale groans in relief.

Hans curls up beside him, once again holding his arm hostage, clinging onto him so hard he can barely feel any circulation in that arm anymore, making noises that could either be laughing or crying(most likely both).

Archie is on the other side, hiding his face in Cale's shoulder. Holding onto him just as hard, if not harder.

“Get the fuck away from me. I got into trouble every time I fucking met you.” Contrary to what he says, Archie holds him tighter.

Cale only looks up to the ceiling, never been so glad to hear people yapping about.

They were so fucking relieved. They were out of that hell hole. Cale had honestly never felt so relieved before. Being between the two on the floor was uncomfortable and extremely tight, but Cale supposes he wouldn’t have it any other way.

In fact, they were so relieved that they didn’t even bother to check their surroundings. If they did, they would’ve noticed the increasing tension in the room and the group of people slowly surrounding them.

.~.

Roksu

Roksu is decidedly not happy, not in the least. If anything this is probably the most peeved he’s been in a long time.

He has been so worried and distraught over Cale’s disappearance for four whole days. EVERYONE had been distressed when they couldn’t find Cale anywhere.

And then suddenly on the fourth night, when they were holding a meeting to find Cale. Him and those two appeared out of nowhere and landed straight on the floor.

He didn’t know what he was expecting honestly but he certainly didn’t expect for them to look worse for wear. Roksu’s eyes linger on Cale’s clothes and frowns because quite frankly, Cale looked terrible and his clothes were covered in dirt.

Wherever Cale had been, Roksu will make sure to find out, and if Cale is even hurt anywhere he will make certain whoever made his brother like this are now on the top list of people he needs to torture– kill– spare only to make their life a living purgatory– smack.

But before he could even deliberate on what to do, what those three did next surprised him. Actually surprised wasn’t the right word, more like he was dumbfounded by the sight before him.

Roksu feels his entire body stiffen. Not only him but everybody in the vicinity stiffened at the unpleasant sight before them.

Did they not even notice them???

When he saw them hugging Cale like that he almost blasted them away because HE didn’t even get to hug Cale like that without any grumbling from the latter.

Where the hell have they been for them to get so close.

If he had been troubled by the sight before…well now he’s livid when he sees that damn whale wrap his arms around Cale’s waist and stuff his head into Cale’s shoulder. He can feel his self restraint thinning and he doesn’t know if he’ll be responsible for what happens next if they don’t let go of Cale soon.

Beside him, he can feel Choi Han’s aura beginning to materialize.

Yea…they are not gonna get away with this.

.~.

Choi Han

Now Choi Han would say that he’s a pretty patient person. When you’re serving Roksu-nim and Cale, you have to be, most especially with Cale.

When Cale had up and disappeared, he and everyone had been worried but they hadn’t thought anything of it until they received no contact from him the next day.

They had scoured the entire Roan Kingdom and more just to find him. Choi Han quite frankly was beginning to feel distressed. Watching Roksu-nim run himself ragged and not be able to do anything to help made him feel so powerless. Choi Han didn’t even know what he would do if Cale was actually gone. Despite how much they bickered, Choi Han felt very relaxed and comfortable with Cale. He doesn’t know what he would do with himself if Cale was gone for good.

He doesn’t even think the others would know what to do.

So when Cale suddenly appeared before them out of nowhere he had been overcome with relief. Atleast he WAS, until he saw how close those two were to Cale. Now he is most definitely worried as to why Cale is so dirty and honestly he looks terrible but when the HELL did they get so close to each other.

Whatever happened in those four days was clearly rough.

Despite all this, when he saw the infuriating sight of that whale practically nuzzling his face into Cale’s shoulder and Hans clinging onto Cale without a single complaint. He almost lost it. He could practically feel Roksu-nim next to him stiffen and he wasn’t any better. Nobody in the room was any better.

He could practically feel his aura materializing and his hands began to clench his hand around his sword’s hilt. He was pretty sure everyone was almost ready to attack Hans and Archie. Before any of this could happen though, Roksu-nim began to speak.

.~.

“Where the hell have you been Cale.”

Right when Cale heard those words he knew he was fucked. The two clinging onto like octopuses also seemed to stiffen when they heard Roksu’s voice.

Oh shit…he sounds mad

Now that he is starting to take notice of his general surroundings. He can now see and feel the tension in the room.

Haha… he’s fucked…

All three of them had never gotten up quicker. Hans besides him began to shake a lot, he was practically buzzing like a bee. And Archie next to him didn’t show it but he also seemed nervous. Cale on the other hand was also just as nervous, he’s in so much trouble…

Maybe acting cute will get him out of this…

Now that he’s looking around, they’re not glaring at him specifically if anything they’re glaring at Hans and Archie. The glowering is especially coming from Roksu. But why???

Now that he looks closer…they’re looking at Archie and Hans’ hands…omg they can’t be for real right now.

Before he could even start laughing in his head, Roksu yanked him out of their grasp.

“Dongsaeng we will talk about what happen and why you were gone after I take care of this…”

He can see his jaw set and Roksu drags Cale behind as if to hide him. His eyes did not leave Archie and Hans, as if daring them to protest.

Ron deems it an appropriate time to sharpen his daggers, Rosalyn fiddles with her newly manicured nails, Choi Han plays music with his sword, and the children somehow makes their way to stand in front of the exit.

Feeling vaguely VERY threatened and trapped, Archie moves closer to Hans but Hans isn’t faring any better.

He peers over the redhead to figure out what to do but that had made the glaring even worse, if anything Roksu seemed to become even more mad and everyone else practically formed a barricade around Cale.

EVERYTIME he’s with Cale trouble always either finds them or they find it.

Well either way trouble did come, and Archie is implicated, hence facing Cale's family is really not a preferable option.

Not to mention he was supposed to meet Witira a couple days ago.

Well shit.

He really REALLY needs to get out of here. And clearly the redhead is gonna be of no help.

Inciting the wrath of Young Master Roksu is only what insane people do. Archie is still sane, thank you very much.

“Are you two gonna get out of here or do I have to kick you out myself.”

This seemed to kick Young master Roksu’s companions into gear and he is not stupid enough to not go.

The whale glances at Hans, patting him on the back in half consolation, half pity. He then books it out of there. As he’s running he hears Cale yelling from behind him as he’s on his way out of the door.

“-ey! HEY REMEMBER TO KEEP A COMMUNICATION ORB ON YOU! WE STILL NEED TO KEEP IN TOUCH!”

Despite all the trouble Cale brings, Archie can’t help help but laugh fondly. He really can’t stand that guy…

“GOT IT!”

.~.

Hans cannot believe this. His young master has abandoned him and Archie also abandoned him. HE DIDN'T EVEN LOOK BACK.

I’m going to start crying.

When he tries to look at Young master Cale everyone seemed to glare at him even more. Now despite loyalty being a trait needed for servants.

He booked it the hell out of there. Young master Roksu is scary when he’s mad but Young Master Roksu AND his companions…well let’s just say he’s too much of a coward to even imagine it.

I’m so sorry young master Cale..good luck he thinks as he continues running away.

.~.

Cale cannot believe those two up and abandoned him with these people. Tbf he wouldn’t want to deal with them either right now. He has never seen them look as vicious as now. Not even when the Henituse territory was at war.

Roksu’s head immediately snaps to him once those two were gone.

“You…”

“Where the hell have you been?!”

Now here’s the thing, Cale could tell him the truth but that would mean he would get grounded. That’s not to say he won’t get grounded either way based on how vicious they all look but he may be able lesson how long he’s grounded. He may even be able to not get grounded AT ALL.

This is gonna crush his dignity but he has no choice. Everyone else also seems to have become less tense since those two left so…

Plan:act cute is a go!

“Are you gonna keep remaining silent? Where have you been? What were you doing with those two—“

Without a warning, Cale slumps on Roksu, hiding in the crook of his neck.

Instinctively, Roksu holds him, adjusting his position as Cale drops all his weight.

Roksu stays there, stunned. Nobody in the room moves. They cannot even believe their eyes right now. There is no way that CALE of all people is hugging Roksu in front of them.

"Dongsaeng, what's wrong?"

Cale remains silent, leaning further in his hold.

Roksu is concerned. What happened that made Cale act like this? Don't get him wrong, this is nice, very nice—

He holds Cale tighter.

If they weren’t concerned before they are now all concerned. What could’ve happen for Cale to become this defeated. They all look at eachother and mentally agree to find out what exactly happen. But first…

Roksu lets out a deep sigh and tells Cale to take a bath and then they’ll talk.

.~.

After the bath, Instead of sitting a distance from Roksu like usual, Cale curls up right beside him, knees up.

Mostly everyone had retreated back to their room on Roksu’s orders but a few stayed like Ron, Choi Han, Rosalyn, On, Hong, and Raon.

Although they were just standing silently to the side.

"Cale, what happened?"

Once again, he remained silent.

"Dongsaeng—"

Suddenly Cale plopped his head on Roksu's arm.

Roksu turns speechless.

He peers at Cale.

His brother is sullen. He pouts, and looks… soft. In no universe should Cale and soft and cute be in a sentence because he's very much adorable and Roksu feels his dam breaking.

No one else around them can process the sight before them. At all.

Choi Han is contemplating his entire existence from the sight of Cale looking so unguarded and dare he say soft.

Rosalyn immediately whips out her orb to take plenty of photos and videos. While she is most certainly worried about Young master Cale, she also needs to capture this once in a lifetime moment. She can’t believe she managed to get such a rare photo of him. She’s definitely gonna show this to Alberu she thinks as a wicked smile begins to appear on her face.

Ron is mildly shocked because his puppy young master doesn’t usually display such blatant affection towards his twin but he remains silent as he watched the scene unfold before him.

Cale then hugs Roksu’s arm.

The dam bursts and Roksu feels his heart melting.

Roksu struggles to go on with his nagging.

Wait, no. There's no way he's this helpless against his brother, Roksu refuses—

"Hyung…" Cale mumbles.

Everyone in the room can see Roksu’s resolve completely crumble. They really can’t blame him, they also feel their composure crumpling just from this sight.

Roksu sighs. He pats Cale's head again, "At least tell me if you're okay. I– we were worried."

“Young master Cale we stayed up for multiple nights!”

“Cale-nim you had us anxious since you didn’t even contact us…”

"That's right, nya! We looked everywhere for you!"

"Rude Human, you shouldn't disappear like that ever again!"

The children and the others chime in while the children begin nestling beside Cale.

Cale seemed to shrink into himself even more and started to appear distressed. Now this made them even more worried. None of them thought they would ever see Cale like this. Cale was stupidly brave, abrasive, aggressive, not one to cower down to anyone. So what happen to him for him to be acting like this???

"Hyung, I'm scared." (Cale is never gonna recover from this…)

Everyone within vicinity visibly goes ??????

No way did Cale Henituse just say that. Cale who slandered a royalty right in front of him, who spat directly at an ancient dragon's face. Who could he possibly be scared of? A god?

Choi Han can feel his jaw drop. There was no way. Rosalyn next to him even lowered her orb and seemed just as shocked as him. Ron, was smiling benignly but there was an eerie aura around him.

They're all ready to throw hands with anyone who dared to have mess with Cale.

"Sleep with me, hyung." Cale mumbles, tugging on Roksu's shirt.

"Ha?"

"You don't want to?" He pouts, turning even more crestfallen. Roksu feels someone stabs his heart with a knife. Cale huffs, turning away from him. "Fine. I'll go ask Hans—"

Roksu frowns, Hans?

At the mention of Hans name, everyone in the room tensed up.

He quickly grabs Cale's hand to pacify him, "Wait, wait."

Cale peers back at him.

Ah, shit. Since when is his brother this cute?

"Okay." Roksu agrees.

For a moment, Cale smiles, radiant and tender, and Roksu is ever so glad to have Record always running in his head.

Rosalyn upon seeing this IMMEDIATELY whipped her orb back up to record this. She is so glad to have been here to see the look on Cale’s face. She’s never gonna see it again.

Choi Han can feel himself heating up at the sight. He never thought he would ever see Cale have such an expression on his face. Choi Han is determined to see that look on Cale’s face again.

Wait, wait, he's getting distracted!!!

But then Cale gets up and holds his hand and pulls him over and ah, surely that can wait until later. They have all the time in the world.

At the sight of the brothers, they all collectively smile fondly at the sight and decide to leave the room. They could always interrogate Cale tomorrow. Make no mistake, they will not be letting Cale off the hook so easily nor have they forgotten the sight of those three together.

For now, they both will rest, surrounded by comfort and safety of their family.

(Roksu will make sure to figure out the relationship between those three… and whoever did this to his brother will pay for it but that’s for tomorrow, he thinks as he pulls Cale closer.)

.

.

.

(This is blatant manipulation, On thinks, staring at the sleeping Roksu but couldn't really judge him because she's not sure if she can resist Cale if she's ever in that position.

Any further thought is pushed away when Cale cuddles her closer.

At least the reward of the manipulation is really, really nice, so On will let this go, just this once.)

Ron takes one last look before shutting off the lights. The sight is very much heartwarming.

While that might even be heart-melting, Ron will still make sure the puppy young master gets his punishment the next day.

Call him heartless, but he's old now. It's excusable if his heart isn't working properly. Hoho.

.~.

The next day, Cale was scolded a lot by multiple different people. Maybe next time, he’ll learn to immediately contact them if anything happens. Cale regrets his entire plans but it seems that they’re all dead set on making sure he doesn’t get into anymore trouble.

They also have been weirdly against him seeing or even contacting Hans or Archie. Eh they’ll get over it soon enough…hopefully…

A sudden thought appeared in his head.

“Ah that’s right…”

Cale should go check out that lake again…but how?

Cale had an idea that just might work…

Unknowingly, Cale had on his face what Raon would say looked like his human’s scammer smile.

.

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Chapter Text

After a while of knowing Cale and Roksu, Alberu can confidently say that they are a bunch of pain in the asses. And even that is an underestimate of how much of a menace they are. Why he still talks to them? He has no idea….ok well they are very useful…and he supposes theyre comfortable to be around.

Currently instead of being practically chained to his desk and doing paperwork, yknow the same old same old. He’s at Roksu and Cale’s villa. Not intentionally of course. No! BECAUSE nothing is ever planned out if it involves the Henituse twins! Instead of sending a letter, they barged into his room and got Raon to teleport him all the way to their villa.

Why you may ask? HE HAS NO IDEA?! Now he’s sitting in their garden with Cale,Roksu, and the children. Everyone else was more dispersed with Choi Han training in field and Rosalyn practicing her magic far away from them(they didn’t want another accident occurring again…). Roksu started speaking in that moment, breaking him away from his observations.

“I’m gonna take a nap guys…don’t wreak too much havoc, I’m talking to you Cale.” Roksu tiredly pointed out. HAH would you look at this punk, casually lounging in the grass when the crown prince was right in front of him.

Cale felt offended, ROKSU of all people was saying this to HIM??? Rolling his eyes, Cale argued “I never even cause that much trouble!”

Everyone instantly whipped their heads in Cale’s direction excluding Choi Han and Rosalyn. They cannot believe he said such a OBVIOUS LIE.

“Rude human…why are you lying…”

“It’s not good to lie Cale!”

“EVERYTIME you go somewhere you always either cause trouble or trouble finds you!”

Cale, ever the shameless person, just shook his head at them as if THEY were the ones being ridiculous?!

Roksu seemed to give up and just laid down and took a nap. The kids just sighed and continued playing around in the fields.

Alberu couldn’t help but sigh, how did he end up with this strange group…

Cale seems to become bored of doing nothing so he found the next best thing. Bothering Alberu of course!

“So our beloved crown prince, what’s your hobby nowadays? Other than paperwork of course.” Cale cheekily added as if it was needed.

Now that Alberu thought about it, he supposes he doesn’t do much other than paperwork. But if it had to be something he supposes it would be…

“Baking. I suppose I enjoy baking.”

“Really?!”Cale gasped as if it was the most shocking thing in the world. “Hey no judgment! I just didn’t expect it from you!”

Now Alberu wouldn’t say he’s defensive about his hobby but he feels the need to explain the wonders of baking!

“Baking is a science Cale. A SCIENCE! It’s satisfying when you get the desired result!” Alberu didn’t know why he was defensive about this especially since it’s to Cale of all people but he couldn’t help the feeling of impending doom when he saw Cale start smirking.

“So what I’m hearing is since you can’t control every aspect of your life, you’ve resorted to baking?”

What an absolute punk.

Before he did something he would possibly regret, like possibly smacking the punk in front of him. He asked what Cale what his hobby was.

Cale seemed deep in thought for a moment before he seemed to come to a decision.

“I enjoy making flower crowns.” Of all the things he expected Cale to say, that was not one of them. Like REALLY??? CALE??? This chaotic bastard likes to make flower crowns???

Alberu thought he hid his surprise pretty well until Cale, like the bastard he is, started laughing at him.

One of these days Alberu is gonna smack him.

“Omg our dear shining sun, is this your way of asking me out?” Cale mockingly gasped. “I didn’t know you were so interested in me!” Cale mischievously added.

Hoh…would you look at this punk…two can play that game.

“Who wouldn’t be interested in such a beautiful person such as yourself Cale. Won’t you accept my proposal to be my wife?” Alberu jokingly added. Now he thought Cale would back down after this but clearly Cale was not one to be outdone.

“Oh of course I would love to be your wife! Who wouldn’t want to be with you, your highness!”

“Oh I might as well start calling you my husband then, right your highness!” Now Alberu knew he should have stopped here but…there was no way he was losing to Cale!

“Of course my dear beloved wife!” For added effect, Alberu even smiled happily towards Cale. That seemed to do the trick, Cale visibly shuddered until he steeled himself and kept going.

“Oh, honey, will you be my knight for the rest of my life? Will you cook and hunt for me? My hero". He continued to mock in a dramatic and squeaky tone, pretending to be an innocent lady.

Alberu felt annoyed, but he didn't care. It was too funny to stop now.

There was a moment of silence between them before they both started laughing. Alberu could not remember the last time he was able to laugh so freely before. Cale also seemed like he was struggling for air from how hard he was laughing.

From far away, they missed how the kids and the others stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the duo fondly. They were glad that Cale and Alberu were enjoying themselves. Lord knows Alberu needed a break from the palace.

From there, the duo continued talking comfortably while making occasional jokes that would end with both of them laughing.

Cale’s lips stretched upwards without his consent, but he honestly didn’t care. Who knew he would end up having a good time talking to the crown prince.

.

.

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All is Found

[“-weetie, it’s time for bed!”

A much younger Cale seemed reluctant to go to bed but ended up giving up when his mom picked him up.

“But mom! It’s so early still!”

His mother chuckled at his adorable protests before kissing him on the cheek and laying him down on the bed.

“It’s quite late already sweetheart. You can continue playing tomorrow.” Jour smiled sweetly at her beloved son.

“Wait mom can you sing me the lullaby again?!” Cale even employed his puppy dog eyes which worked as his mom seemed to indulge him.

“Hmmm Of course I can!” Cale visibly brightened up and quietly laid on his bed waiting for his mother to start singing! He loved his mother’s voice!

Where the North wind meets the sea

There's a river full of memory~

Sleep, my darling, safe and sound

For in this river, all is found~

His mother’s voice has always been so nice to listen to. The moonlight shining through his window made his mother look even more beautiful than she already was!

In her waters, deep and true

Lie the answers and a path for you

Dive down deep into her sound

But not too far or you'll be drowned

His mother suddenly gazed sadly at him. He couldn’t understand why but he didn’t know what to do. So he just reached for her hand to hold.

Yes, she will sing to those who'll hear

And in her song, all magic flows

But can you brave what you most fear?

Can you face what the river knows?

As his mother sang, she seemed to become more somber but she still had a smile on her face. Cale wondered why?

Where the North wind meets the sea

There's a mother full of memory

Come, my darling, homeward bound

When all is lost, then all is found~

As his mother finished the song, Cale felt himself drifting to sleep. Ah….he never got to ask his mother why she looked sad…he’ll ask her in the morning.

When Cale fell asleep, Jour let her smile fall off. She felt indescribable sadness, her child wouldn’t be able to live an easy life. She hoped that with this, it could perhaps help him in the future.

She leaned down to give him one final kiss and held him closely.]

.

.

.

“-ale! Cale! Wake up!” Someone was shaking him awake. But who?

Cale started opening his eyes and looked around him. Ah..did he fall sleep while talking to Alberu?

“I’m AWAKE! Stop shaking me?!”

The primary offender was Roksu but his accomplice seemed to be the kids and Alberu.

“Cale nya you took a while waking up!”

“Yes rude human! We were trying to wake you up for quite a while!”

Alberu and Roksu seemed to agree with the kids’ statements and questioned if he had a nightmare.

Cale seemed lost in thought before he answered their question.

“…I wouldn’t say it was a nightmare…just a memory from a long time ago…” Cale smiled bitterly as he spoke. They all exchanged looks and agreed to not question him further.

The kids ended up distracting Cale by asking him to teach them how to make a flower crown. At Roksu’s curious look, Alberu told Roksu about Cale’s hobby.

In the end they all ended up making flower crowns and this time Choi Han and Rosalyn joined them.

Everyone finished up their crowns. When they were done, they all wore their hard work on their heads as they enjoyed the snacks and drinks brought out by Ron and Hans.

Their group ended up laughing a lot as they told stories to each other. Some are about stories in books. Some are about the ridiculous rumors flying around the villa.

Cale seemed to forget about his earlier sadness and continued enjoying his day. All in all, they had a wonderful day, with each of them leaving with a smile on their faces. It was a good idea to drag Alberu to have a picnic with them today!

.~.

Despite what you may think, Cale did not forget about that lake. He actually managed to convince the others to join him to go to the forest.

He didn’t have to convince them. There was no way they were letting him go alone.

Although Hans and Archie bailed out cause Hans was too much of a coward to go back there and Archie was too busy. He did send him a video message tho. He said and I quote “I hope you die in that forest!”

Cale wouldn’t accept that level of disrespect so he sent a video message of him sticking out the middle finger at Archie.

So here they all were, following him as he led them around trying to find the lake.

“Cale what exactly are we looking for?” Roksu inquired, he was honestly confused on what Cale could possibly be looking for in the forest of darkness. Roksu thought that Cale was talking about the black swamp at first but Cale dismissed it as he said that the lake they fell into had a lot of rivers.

They fell into a lake???

God Roksu hated this forest, there was always so much monsters. Although it’s not like they were that difficult to fend off. Choi han didn’t even break a sweat the entire time.

“Cale do you really know where we’re going?” Choi Han questioned, he was honestly confused too as the entire time he had been living in the forest of darkness, he had never once encountered this lake that Cale was talking about.

Suddenly they all collectively felt a chill go down their spine. Everything was suddenly extremely quiet. There were no monsters in sight.

“Human this area feels weird…”

Cale seemed to stop walking altogether in front of them. He stood frozen there for a couple of seconds.

“Cale..? What are you doing?”

As if possessed, Cale didn’t even seem to register his question. Everyone else started asking Cale questions too but it seems like their questions fell into dead ears. Just as they were gonna approach Cale. He started running rapidly further into the forest.

“FUCK! RUN AFTER HIM?!” Their entire group began running after him. Rosalyn even tried shooting some spells towards Cale to slow him down but none of it seemed to reach him properly. Even Choi Han couldn’t catch him.

“Human why is the rude human running from us?!”

“Raon I have no idea…Do you think you can cast a spell to slow him down?”

At that, raon tried to fire off a spell but for some reason the spell deflected off of Cale and he still didn’t seem to register their screams. He was running like he was possessed.

“this Great and mighty dragon can’t cast the spell! I’m sorry human…”

“It’s fine, we can figure something out Raon.” Roksu was starting to get out of breath. Something was wrong. Especially if Choi Han, Rosalyn, AND Raon and the kids couldn’t catch up to Cale.

Cale you better be ok you punk

All of a sudden, mist started to fill the area and they could hear a faint singing voice. Immediately Roksu asked On to clear the fog but unsurprisingly, it didn’t work. He began to order the group to stay close together.

This situation was getting bad. Hastily they started looking around for Cale. One moment, he was there, running in front of them, and now he was gone.

Fuck

.~.

Cale slowed to a stop.

Hah he found it

Cale started smirking, could this even be considered a lake?

It looks so out of place here…the lake had multiple rivers connected to it spreading out throughout the forest. The lake also seemed to glow a blue light strangely enough.

Ominous noises!(I couldn’t figure out what to name this)

All at once, mist started surrounding him but the lake was the only place that didn’t have mist. Something was compelling him to walk towards the lake. Vaguely he could feel his body start to move. His mind felt especially foggy.

Someone was humming…

Mhmmm…mhmm.

A haunting melody that echoed in his mind, pulling him towards the unknown.

Mhm…hmmmhmm…

He slowly walked into the lake, half his body was already in the water.

“-ALE! CALE GET OUT OF THE WATER!” Cale felt himself snap out of it. What was he doing???

Before he could swim back, a voice spoke up.

        ~~"Found you, i can finally meet you"~~ 

Cale now heard the voice clearly, but rather than feeling uncomfortable….he felt warm...a familiar feeling.

Cale's eyes were still closed he couldn't see anything but he could feel someone was there with him, in the water.

Cale could feel a hand on both of his cheek and a soft kiss was planted of his forehead.

''I wish you well on your journey, oh Descendant of the Thames"

Cale was sinking…where was he..? Where was everyone…? He needed to swim back up…

Breaking the surface, Cale coughs out water, panting and grunting as the current sends him back, his head going under unexpectedly. He coughs again, expression annoyed and he looks around, finding the group on the shore.

There’s water in his eyes so he can’t make out Rosalyn and Choi Han’s pale expression or the stiff way both the children and Roksu are staring at him. He curses when the rough water sends him off to the side.

“-AON GRAB—-IM!”

“HUM—-ITS LIKE—-A BARRIER”

“-IS IT—-ANCIENT POWER—-TEST?!”

“FUCK! CALE!”

The wind began howling loudly, water sloshing around. Cale cursed and grunted as he was pulled under, hacking when his head came back up again.

The water sloshes and Cale gets pulled under.

When Cale’s head went under, he just barely managed to take in some air before the water yanked him down. The currents swirled around him glowing that blue light.

Now that he could finally think properly…this was an ancient power test.

Shit

The power of water is its ability to take any shape…

The water began to swirl around him, creating a sphere of water with him in the center. He narrowed his eyes, taking in the words.

Coveting the shapes of the living, pure water can take on many forms.

The light shone and the current shoved him back slightly. Air felt like it was sucked from his lungs and Cale felt his head smash into something solid, pain erupting from the back of his head and his vision blurred. His mind drifted back to his mother’s lullaby…

[Dive down deep into her sound

But not too far or you'll be drowned—-]

[But can you brave what you most fear?

Can you face what the river knows?]

Ha…This was bad. Was this what his mother meant..?

Cale’s vision went dark and his chest compressed.

I can’t wait to see, how you deal with the memories of the past…Child of Jour…

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Chapter Text

Hey Guys! So as you know it’s been quite a few months since I updated. When I first updated this in January, I had been completely free of school work and decided to try writing. It wasn’t until I started getting stacked with a bunch of work that I even realized how much time has passed.

I’m so sorry I haven’t updated in so long. This fic is in no way abandoned. Now that it’s summer I have started think about what to write for chapter 3 and realized I had a lot to plan for😭. I will try my best to write continue writing the chapter for you guys but I don’t know when it will come out. Currently I am taking a class and it is beating my ass💀…literally.

With the way that the story is going, I’m trying to think of how the next few things are going to play out. Thank you to those who have been so patient so far. I will be trying my best to get a chapter out by the end of this month hopefully!

BUT this fic is most definitely not abandoned! I do want to mention that our dear Cale will be going through it soon! Once again, thank you so much for reading my fic and for your patience!

Oh and thank you to those who have been commenting! This was my first time writing and I had been super nervous about actually posting it. Your comments genuinely helped motivate me so much and I’m always so happy reading your comments!!

Also if you guys have any ideas regarding my fic feel free to comment. I love to hear people’s ideas!