Chapter Text
YOONGI
Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away, there lived a prince named Yoongi. Yoongi was the middle child, between an elder brother and a younger brother. Growing up, the three brothers got along quite well and looked after one another, with a general air of respect and joviality in their lives.
But things can never remain as they are, as happened with these poor brothers - when Yoongi was 16, his father gathered him and his brothers in a room together and said he had a special announcement. Rather than the throne automatically going to the eldest son, it would be open to whichever son best proved himself worthy of the throne. As the three brothers got older, talks swirled in the air around who would be chosen to lead the kingdom and assume the most powerful position among them.
Yoongi, not shying away from his dream of being king one day, took every effort to show his father how responsible and kingly he could be. He even still got along with his brothers, up until the night his elder brother invited him out for drinks and he had passed out after taking one sip from his soju. The next day he woke up in his room alone, late in the afternoon. He learned from the palace doctor that if he’d had a sip more, he would have died. After that day, he and his brothers avoided each other and generally regarded each other with cold, disgruntled interactions.
As time went on in the kingdom, dragons began attacking the land and destroying the tomatoes that the townsfolk relied on to survive. Dismayed, the king asked his three sons to fend off the three dragons that were most responsible for these attacks.
Yoongi’s elder brother very bravely hunted the first dragon, cornered it, and sliced its head clean off. He brought the head back to the king amidst cheers from the kingdom.
Yoongi’s younger brother chased down the next dragon, approaching it stealthily. As he crept closer, he realized something seemed strange about this dragon’s mannerisms. He approached the dragon and learned that it was actually a woman who had been cursed to live the rest of her days in the form of this beast. He broke the spell for her and became king of the kingdom she was the princess of.
But Yoongi was not like his brothers. He was wise, and calculating. He approached the last dragon and demanded that it tell him why the dragons were attacking the food supply of the kingdom.
The dragon calmly answered, “We mean your kingdom no harm. In fact, those tomatoes are very dangerous, and when grown incorrectly they are poisonous to humans. We are simply trying to protect your kingdom from a terrible tragedy.”
Thrilled to have uncovered the mystery behind this, Yoongi crowned the dragon an honorary protector of the kingdom and went home satisfied. When he arrived, however, he found his father had already crowned his elder brother the king for his valiant takedown of the dragon. The image of the dragon’s head staked to the wall next to his brother’s throne burned in Yoongi’s mind, stoking his desire for his own success.
With both his brothers now kings of their own kingdoms, Yoongi resolved to forge his own fate. Little did he know, his future was fast approaching.
HOSEOK
Hoseok was one of 12 children, a mixture of brothers and sisters. They were raised by their single father, after their mother had tragically passed when they were all relatively young. Unfortunately, their father was incredibly scarred by his wife’s passing, in addition to his own sister being comatose for most of the past decade, and resolved that his children would never know such unpleasant circumstances.
He fitted each of his children with magically enchanted shoes. The shoes, designed with only the best intentions, ensured that no child was ever in harm’s way. If they stepped onto a busy street, the shoe would pull them out in time to avoid an oncoming peddler. If they were meant to be walking to their next classroom for daily lessons and started turning down the wrong hallway, the shoes would dutifully pull them back to where they needed to go. The children, including Hoseok, quickly grew to despise these troublesome shoes that prevented their freedom and resolved to destroy them.
And so every night, instead of sleeping, the 12 siblings would sneak into the land of fairies and dance the entire night away, until the soles of their shoes broke and they could feel the enchantment fade away as their sense of freedom flooded back into their bodies. Joyfully, they danced until they couldn’t anymore and would always stumble back into their beds in the faint light of dawn, carrying the torn shreds of their slippers in their hands. Every morning, their father would bemoan the tattered shoes while the children feigned innocence, claiming they had no idea how they ended up that way. And every morning, their father would produce 12 pairs of brand new magical shoes that he’d slip onto their feet with love, content with knowing his children were safe again.
Despite this treatment, Hoseok and his siblings couldn’t bring themselves to hate their father. They knew he was coming from a place of love, but Hoseok still longed for the day he could escape the kingdom and finally be free to live his life however he wanted.
It seemed his ticket out was closer than it seemed.
For it turns out that when Yoongi’s older brother took over the kingdom, their father promised to wed him to whichever princess he desired. One day, the king came across Hoseok’s eldest sister and declared she was the most beautiful woman he had ever encountered. Smitten with each other, a wedding date was quickly set.
It was at this wedding that Yoongi and Hoseok met for the first time. Through the course of that night, they became enraptured with each other and decided that they too wanted to be wed.
Yoongi’s father responded by saying, “My son, I cannot promise you my kingdom as you already know. But there is a nearby kingdom that you could rule with your to-be king. It is called Love’s Keep, and you may have it as your own but you must know it comes with a caveat. Only a royal pair that is truly in love with each other can remain in power in that kingdom.”
Yoongi, knowing that what he felt for Hoseok was true, declared, “Father, I am completely certain that Hoseok and I will be in love forevermore. We will gladly take reign of Love’s Keep!”
Intent to not let the wedding extravagance go to waste, Yoongi’s father had the two of them wed the next day, and the very day after that the couple found themselves in the palace within Love’s Keep. They had nearly 24 hours of pure bliss with each other before tragedy struck.
Yoongi walked out into their garden where Hoseok was waiting for him, only to find Hoseok collapsed across the grass. Letting out a cry, Yoongi rushed over and found one of those damned tomatoes in Hoseok’s hand. Yoongi rushed Hoseok to the kingdom’s healer only to feel his heart give out when he was told there was nothing that could be done. Yoongi was sobbing into his hands when he heard the tell-tale buzz in the air of nearby magic.
He looked up and a beautiful witch stood before him. She gave him a coy smile before walking to Hoseok’s resting body, his skin now a sickly gray, and dragged a finger across his chest. “I can cure him, you know. I can bring him back to full health without a problem.”
Yoongi fell to his knees. “Please! I beg of you, I’ll give you anything if you would just save him.”
She laughed, and the sound felt mocking to him. “Your payment will be that the two of you will lose your love for each other. In fact, you won’t even remember meeting or falling in love in the first place.”
Desperate for Hoseok to live, Yoongi sacrificed their love and in return, Hoseok was restored to full health. Since they no longer loved each other, they were informed that they must vacate the palace one year from the day they got married. The year passed uneventfully, both of them mostly ignoring each other if they ever crossed paths within the giant house they took separate wings of.
It was now the day they were forced to leave the palace. And that is where our story truly begins.