Archive of Our Own ^beta

"It started with a peculiar night.

Kyungsoo was sleeping in the castle as he dreamt of walking, and walking and walking towards the horizon, a foreign warmth beside him, the shape of the Sun in his peripheral. But then he was woken up to his advisor's frightened face, yelling at him about the dying moon.

Kyungsoo sprang up from his bed, he ran to the window and saw that the flowers were dying and his people were running around in fright— his kingdom was falling apart. The castle had stopped its movement, and all the fluffy white spiders were hiding away in their cocoon. The sky was pitch black instead of its usual midnight blue. Kyungsoo felt helpless, pulling his hair in frustration, unsure of his next action as it had been five millennium since this phenomenon last happened. He wasn't prepared for it at all. When Kyungsoo asked what was happening, his advisor was at a lost too.

"It must have something to do with the Sun." Junmyeon, his advisor, offered.

Kyungsoo blinked in surprise, "The Sun? What do you mean the Sun?"

Junmyeon then began a long winding explanation about how if the Sun was to die, so would the Moon. There was a reason why the two kingdoms shared a border. However, no one knew why the Sun and the Moon were correlated as it was a secret only the Guardians should know. And as a Guardian himself, Kyungsoo should have a working knowledge of this; it was a tradition to learn all the secrets from the previous Guardian the night before the coronation. But then again, the last Guardian had died unexpectedly, leaving Kyungsoo to take the Guardian of The Moon position before he could even finish his training.

"What should I do?" Kyungsoo asked in dejection. He didn't know anything about the Sun, or the city of Sun, he had never once crossed the border between the Suncity and Mooncity except for that one time when he tried and failed to do so.

☀🌙

Chanyeol kept pacing around the room, thinking how it could've happened. The Sun was gone. It was stolen. When he stopped to sit on his throne, his advisor came rushing in, stumbling a little as he skidded to a stop infront of Chanyeol. The missing case of the Sun left everyone bewildered and confused, even Chanyeol, the Guardian of the Sun himself.

"The Sun is nowhere to be seen!" Jongdae exclaimed, showing the paper scroll he just got from the messenger. "We doubt it's even in the kingdom anymore!"

Jongdae sighed. "Yes, the Guardian of the Sun and the Guardian of the Moon in the past. They once fell in love, and built this door for their easy access, there is a door just like this in the Mooncastle."

"But, all the Guardians were men. Like, me. A man. How is that possible?" Chanyeol asked again, puzzled. Because Guardians only married to continue the lineage, and he had never heard of two men having a baby together.

"No. You're right, they were all men, unfortunately. That's why this door was banned and the border between the two worlds was strengthened. When the Guardian royalties found out about the matter, the door was closed and it was only kept for emergencies. But that was long ago," Jongdae said, a sad smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Why would a Sun date a Moon?!" Chanyeol was perplexed, he couldn't believe a Guardian of the Sun could willingly fall in love with a Guardian of the Moon. He had heard that the Guardians of the Moon were of smaller stature than that of the Sun, and there was nothing Suns worship more than strength and size. The reason his mother accepted his father's marriage proposal was because he was considered the strongest of all the Suns, what with him being the Guardian of the Sun and all. And to be the Guardian of the Sun, his father had to train hard, fight tooth and nail, and go through every hardships the elders could come up with. Just as Chanyeol himself had done so. He belatedly wished that all those training include "what to do" if the Sun ever went missing.

"You have no idea, do you?" Jongdae sighed, "Moons have breathtaking appearance, especially the Guardians. They're much more good-looking than Suns, aesthetically more pleasing and much more wiser, too." Jongdae tsked and as he was about to step in through the door again, he stopped short, pulling Chanyeol back a few steps with him.

"Someone is coming through," Jongdae announced. "Quick! Back off."

Someone was indeed coming through. The door spit out a body on the floor before it abruptly closed itself. The body that was sprawling on the floor twitched once, making Chanyeol hid behind his advisor. It twitched again, and then it lifted its head and blinked a few times to adjust to the bright light. It was a he. A man, and he was really pale, as if he was from the Mooncity. Chanyeol couldn't take his eyes off.

"Who are you?" Jongdae asked, shaking off Chanyeol's hands on his shoulders. "How can you use the door of Dream Awake."

The man stood up on unsteady feet, swaying a little as he squinted at the two men in front of him. He's so tiny and squishy, Chanyeol's hands were twitching, wanting to pinch the man's cheeks.

"I... I am the Guardian of the Moon. And, I presume this is the Suncity?" The man muttered and Jongdae was quick to be on his knees, Chanyeol only nodded once. "My name is Kyungsoo, and please stand up, you're making me uncomfortable."

Jongdae stood up in a swift movement, "This servant's name is Jongdae. May I ask if the Moon is completely gone?"

Kyungsoo shook his head, "Almost. It's rapidly dying, and I'm here to ask if a problem befall the Sun."

"It was stolen." Chanyeol blurted out, still awestruck by Kyungsoo's appearance, he had never seen someone as breathtaking as him before. Kyungsoo was subtly glowing, Chanyeol swore he could see the same stars he saw in the Mooncity sky on Kyungsoo's skin. He was pale in an almost blue-ish hue, soft and tender, his hair was blue, too, to compliment his skin. He didn't look anything like how Chanyeol had imagined the Guardian of the Moon would look like.

"Behave." Jongdae pinched Chanyeol on the arm. "Excuse him, my liege, the stress might have gotten to him." He bowed his head at the guest.

"I understand, it is a stressing matter. My advisor told me that I've to seek help from the Guardian of the Sun, and I assume it must be him?" Kyungsoo asked, politely not commenting on the way Chanyeol was ogling him.

"Yes, of course, I am. Name's Chanyeol" Chanyeol proudly said as he stepped forward. Expecting a handshake Kyungsoo stuck his hand out but instead he was gathered in a warm and stuffy embrace. Kyungsoo tried his best to breathe through the heat and the tight hug, he had never felt such warm temperature in his life as the weather in Mooncity was always cool. And Chanyeol's skin was really hot. But it wasn't unwelcomed.

Jongdae cleared his throat. "Erm, excuse me, sires. But the worlds are dying."

"Right."

☀🌙

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were walking and walking and walking, alone, through the dense forest, trying to navigate their way through even though they have no idea what path they were supposed to follow. Jongdae had informed them to follow the lightball when they set out, but the lightball was long gone, and the forest was dark and stuffy. Simply known as The Border, it was a thick forest that parted the Suncity and the Mooncity, a place where even the Sun rarely shone, and the Moon hardly illuminated, and since the Sun was gone and the Moon was dying, it was darker than usual; not to mention neither of them were familiar with the place. The only light they have was the torch Chanyeol was feeding with his power, but it too was dwindling slowly as they walked deeper into the forest. They were on the search for The Master of the Light. Kyungsoo wasn't sure why they thought he stole the Sun, as it was to his knowledge that the Master of the Light was long dead, murdered in his own home. He was prepared to return empty handed, but out of respect for Chanyeol he hadn't said anything, not wanting to appear as if he was doubting the Guardian of the Sun.

"So, when we find the Sun..." Chanyeol started, but just as that a sound came from their left, as if someone fell from the tree and on a pile of dried branches. Chanyeol went rigid instantly and pulled Kyungsoo behind him. "Did you hear that?"

Kyungsoo nodded tightly, he had never walked in as dense a forest as this without the light of the Moon to illuminate his path, and every sound was like a possible threat to him, his only consolation was that he wasn't alone. Kyungsoo gripped Chanyeol's arm firmly, trying to signal that he'd like to leave the forest as soon as possible.

"Who are you?" Chanyeol shouted and his voice echoed loudly throughout the forest. "Show yourself!"

There was loud crackling of branches and dried leaves, as if someone was walking on them. At last, a tall, young man in a ragged clothes came out from the trees, taking out leaves and twigs from his hair. "Sorry if I scared you there. People hardly come here, so when I heard your footsteps I thought it was... someone else. Fell from the tree trying to see who it was," he said sheepishly.

"Who are you?" Chanyeol asked, covering Kyungsoo's hand with his own, as if to reassure himself that he was still there.

"Me? Oh, my name is Sehun. May I ask who you are?"

"Wait," Kyungsoo stepped forward. Chanyeol reluctantly let go of his hand. "Sehun, you said? Are you the great Master of the Wind?"

The stranger, who called himself Sehun laughed nervously. "The great..." He shook his head, "Thanks for the compliment but, seriously, I'm not that great."

"It was said that you hid away from the Master of the Light before he was murdered." Kyungsoo added, making Sehun frown.

"I wasn't hiding. I was just... on a vacation, you know. Just chilling out here in the forest. Moreover, why would I be afraid of that guy? He doesn't even reach my shoulders." Sehun scoffed. "Wait, murdered? What a bunch of bull! The day that guy died, all the worlds would burn down with him!"

Chanyeol frowned, stepping forward to stand next to Kyungsoo and look up and down at the newcomer as if he was sizing him up. "Would you help uu to take back the Sun from him?"

Sehun's eyes brightened, he looked much more interested than before. "He stole the Sun?" When Chanyeol and Kyungsoo nodded at the same time, Sehun continued, "And I suppose you two are the Guardians of the Sun and the Moon?"

"Yes," The two said in unison.

"You two know where he lives?" Sehun raised his brows.

They both shook their heads.

"Then, you met the right person. Let's go, I'll lead you to the End of The Light."

☀🌙

Kyungsoo looked down at the dark pit just beside his feet, it seemed to him that there was nothing darker than that pit. He picked some pebbles and dropped them inside the pit, he waited for a moment but no sound came through, no sound to indicate that the pebbles hit the ground. Was the pit endless?

"Are you sure this is the only way?" Kyungsoo asked, looking back at Sehun who was having an animated conversation with Chanyeol.

"Yes, of course, it is. Unless you know another way?" Sehun quickly replied, taking a step forward.

"No." Kyungsoo shook his head. "But, why would the great Master of Light hide in as dark a place as this?"

"Because..." Sehun trailed off as he stepped forward and stood before Kyungsoo. "There is no light without darkness." And he pushed Kyungsoo inside the pit.

Kyungsoo felt like he fell for hours, maybe the pit was really endless. He was prepared to fall for eternity when a noise hit his ears, a noise that suspiciously sound like a giggle. Suddenly, the dark retreated and there was light directly shining in his eyes, so he closed them tightly and he felt himself suspended in the air before he lightly fell on what seemed to be a really soft couch. He blinked his eyes open to take on his surrounding— it looked like a lived in home.

"Hey, there." Came a voice, Kyungsoo whipped his head towards the source.

There was a man, a really short man, who might even be shorter than Kyungsoo himself. Kyungsoo took a moment to appreciate that he had finally met someone shorter than him. And then he realised that the man was wearing nothing but a bathrobe, a bathrobe that was barely hanging onto him with its neck opened wide to show his left nipple and the belt loosely tied around his slender waist. If he moved a certain way, Kyungsoo was sure the man would flash him; in case of that happening, Kyungsoo averted his eyes, a light blush high on his cheeks.

"Where am I?" Kyungsoo asked, he saw the man pouring tea into a teacup in his peripheral.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Baekhyun." The man said, smiling as he approached the couch and put the teacup on the small table beside Kyungsoo's leg.

"Kyungsoo." Kyungsoo coughed, looking at anything but the man's chest.

Baekhyun laughed, "As if I don't know. Nice gifts you got me." He showed the pebbles Kyungsoo had threw in the pit on the palm of his hand.

At once, the room was filled with panicked shout and yell and scream, Kyungsoo couldn't pinpoint where exactly they came from. It just came from everywhere. And then his two travel companions promptly fell from the ceiling and on the floor in front of his feet. No soft landing for them, it seemee. Kyungsoo quickly looked up, but he couldn't find any hole where the two men could've fallen through, and that made him all the more curious about where exactly they were.

"There you are!" Chanyeol exclaimed as soon as he got to his feet. "I was worried about you."

"That was such a long fall," Sehun complained, "I don't remember ever falling that long before."

There was a mocking laughter coming from the back. All of their attention was instantly on the changing screen, and the silhouette of what seemed to be Baekhyun changing his clothes. "And whose fault is that?"

Sehun smirked. "I'd assume it's the same man who lure people into his bed, just to break their heart and leave them in the dark."

"Who are you calling a whore, mister? You seem to forget whose realm you are in." Baekhyun sneered as he stepped out from behind the screen, wearing a bit more appropriate attire than before.

Sehun looked like he was about to reply, so Chanyeol decided to interject before it turned into a full blown argument and they'd be too late to restore the worlds back to their natural state.

"Enough!" He yelled. "Now, Baekhyun, we need the Sun back."

Baekhyun frowned in confusion.

"The Sun?"

"Yes, the sun."

"I don't have the Sun..." His eyes, then, widened comically. "Wait, someone stole the Sun?" Baekhyun stepped forward, looked at Chanyeol's face before he got all personal in Kyungsoo's. "Who stole the Sun?"

"You didn't steal the Sun?" Chanyeol asked in confusion.

"No!" Baekhyun huffed, offended, "Why would I do such thing? I don't need the Sun, I have my own light." And, when Baekhyun opened his palm, a white ball of light appeared on it, casting the room in a bright light.

"You're the great Master of Light." Kyungsoo mumbled, entranced.

"Not that great, but, yeah, thanks." Baekhyun blushed, scratching his neck. So he could get embarrassed too.

"Wait, then who stole the Sun?" Chanyeol asked, looking around the three men. Right, who stole the Sun?

Baekhyun shrugged, "Think about it... who would want to go out of his way to stole something as inconvenient as the Sun. Someone who would have enough space to keep the sun, someone who wouldn't mind the heat."

Chanyeol's face darkened, "Yifan."

"Yifan?" Sehun asked, from the far corner where he had wandered off to take a look at some equipments he could not remember being there during his last visit. "The great Dragon Lord?"

"Yes." Baekhyun sneered, stalking towards him to rip the archaic clock out of Sehun's hand and put it back on the table. "Who's much more handsome than you, by the way."

Sehun grinned, "You miss me, don't you?" He teased, putting his hand next to the clock and leaning his whole body on it as he crosses his ankle. "You could've just said so."

"Enough, please. We need to find this Great Dragon before the two worlds fall!"

☀🌙

The path they followed led to a deserted place that used to be a savannah for all types of animals but since the Great Dragon came and claimed it as his realm there wasn't any living organism as far as the eye could see. The few trees that survived were parched and burnt, the ground scorched and cracked. Kyungsoo had a tight grip on Chanyeol's arm and Chanyeol's hand covered Kyungsoo's, leaving Baekhyun and Sehun to watch each other's back.

"Here we are." Chanyeol said, looking up at the great mountain standing tall over them. "And, there he is. Waiting for us."

Kyungsoo looked up to see a man standing tall on the mouth of a cave that was right in the middle of the mountain, dressed in all black he had a black cape clapped around his long neck that flapped around his long legs even though there was hardly any wind there. He looked especially threatening as he put his hands on his hips, looking at the four men who dared disturb his slumber. Kyungsoo stood taller, and he felt Chanyeol flexing his bicep under his hand.

The man flew down from where he was standing to land right in front of them.

"Hello, there." He grinned, and out of nowhere came two dragons who circled them from above, flapping their wings as if to mock the four visitors.

"Hey, Yifan! How are you?" Baekhyun smiled in excitement, hugging the Great Dragon. "I supposed you're the one who stole the Sun?"

Yifan looked offended for a second, "What? I did not steal it! The Sun was dying on the hands of these morons, so I took it away for a little furbishing."

Chanyeol stepped forward, offended, "Who are you calling morons?"

Kyungsoo quickly pulled him back before shushing him. They couldn't take any chances, if something went wrong and the Great Dragon refused to return the Sun, the worlds would collide and everything would be doomed.

"So, why don't you give them back, now. Look at them," Baekhyun waved his hand in the general direction of the two Guardians, "They've come this far to retrieve the Sun. I'm sure they're worthy enough to take it back, after all the trouble they went through."

Yifan seemed to contemplate Baekhyun's words for a second before he sighed and snapped his finger. Then slowly, the sun came out floating from behind the mountain. Chanyeol's hands were itching to finally have the Sun back in his possession but Kyungsoo smelled something fishy. Now, why would the thief give up the loot so soon? Something just didn't add up. Shouldn't Yifan tried a bit harder to keep the Sun? At the very least, he should've tried to bargain, if he really took the Sun because he believed the two Guardians were not worthy of it. The villain shouldn't be convinced that easily by a few words from the Master of Light. Something wasn't adding up.

"Wait," Kyungsoo said, just as Chanyeol hooked his chain around the Sun. "Stealing the Sun wasn't your intention. There's something more, something I couldn't put my finger on. But I know there is more."

Chanyeol looked at the smaller Guardian, wondering if he had knocked something loose in the head while they were falling, back in Baekhyun's place. They've got the Sun back, couldn't they just go home and put the damn Sun back in its original place? "What's wrong, Kyungsoo? We have the Sun, we gotta go back before everything falls apart."

"No," Kyungsoo stood his ground. "Tell me, Mr. Yifan The Great Dragon, what did you take along with the Sun?" The area became silent, all eyes were on Yifan now, who shifted his legs in discomfort, even the two dragons seemed to hold their breath.

Yifan folded his arms and looked to the side with his nose in the air, but before he could say anything to save his ass, someone shouted the name of the Guardian of the Moon from the cave up in the mountain.

"Junmyeon?" Kyungsoo gasped. "You took Junmyeon?"

"Who's Junmyeon?" Chanyeol asked, confused.

This is how to story went: The Great Dragon Lord fell in love with Junmyeon from the first moment he laid his eyes on him. But, Yifan was the Dragon Lord and Junmyeon was born to become the Advisor of the Guardian of the Moon. And while Yifan understood that it would be impossible to ask for his hand in marriage, he couldn't just give his heart up. So he had devised a plan to get what he wanted. He knew that if the Sun went missing, the two Guardians would leave their castles to go and find it. And if the Guardian of the Moon left his castle, he'd have the perfect chance to take Junmyeon from there. And, when the two Guardians came and found him, he'd give them back the Sun, and keep Junmyeon to himself. Nevermind that upon his return the Guardian of the Moon would soon realise his advisor went missing while he was away, it would be too late by then anyway!

It was a rather excellent plan, except he had forgotten to inform Junmyeon of this plan beforehand, who was happy to live with him but not without Kyungsoo's blessing and acceptance. But, in the end, Kyungsoo allowed Junmyeon to stay behind anyway, if he so wished.

So, again, the four men returned and followed the same path back home, albeit now with the Sun floating behind them, secured with the chain Chanyeol coiled around his waist.

Kyungsoo ignored the Master of Light and the Master of Wind alternating between bickering and flirting behind them as he held Chanyeol's hand tightly, and, well, Chanyeol was simply happy that he had the Sun and the Guardian of the Moon in his hands.

☀🌙

The returning of the two Guardians and the reappearance of the Sun made the two worlds celebrated in triumph and significantly restored the somewhat broken relationship between them. It resulted with the people of both Kingdoms joining hands again, metaphorically of course, as it was still dangerous to cross the border for either side. But now they would meet up at The Border, passing food and..."

"Stop right there." Kyungsoo said, massaging his temple with his fingers. "I don't want to hear any more of it."

Chanyeol pouted, "But I think this is really great!" He whined, making Kyungsoo's headache throbbed.

"It's the worst story I've ever heard." Kyungsoo said as he stood up and left the room.

"You haven't heard about the kiss yet!" Chanyeol shouted after him.

Kyungsoo returned, kicked Chanyeol on the ass and left the room again.

"The kissing part was good though," Chanyeol grumbled as he laid back down on the bed.

☀🌙

"Kyungsoo, did you read Chanyeol's latest story? It's called Shine—"

Baekhyun was hit right on the face with a pillow as soon a he opened the door, he immediately regretted barging in without knocking when he saw that Kyungsoo was sitting naked on Chanyeol's laps and fuckingmotherofJesus Chanyeol had his hands on Kyungsoo's naked ass.

"CAN'T YOU LOCK THE DOOR!" He screamed as he ran out of the room.