[Fic] The Star of Destiny - 1/2
Apr. 7th, 2012 07:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coley_merrinTitle: The Star of Destiny
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Genre: Fantasy, AU
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The Star of Destiny calls the guardians of elements to protect the earth and its princes. But it must be joined first.
Warnings: Fantasy violence
~~+~~
The Water Prince.
People bowed to him, swore their fealty. He commanded respect, was fair and kind. The power he had, he wielded with restraint. It meant he had many allies.
And many enemies.
"Prince of Earth," the Water Prince said, smirking up at him from his blue, crafted throne. Dark hair and stubborn chin. "What brings you to my kingdom?"
"My lord."
"We are equal here."
As prince himself, his kingdom the earth, he did not kneel. But he stood still at the hand against his face, a touch cool like the waters the man before him commanded. Stood as the clearest stone was looped around his neck, joining them.
They did not call each other "Prince." But they did call each other lover.
They were not the first so doomed. Nor the last. No one wrote their story, that they were ripped from the happiness they had hoped.
It was one life that they should have shared, one destiny they were denied.
But no longer.
~~+~~
Awakening
~~+~~
"You were dreaming."
Zhou Mi moaned, and buried his face into his pillow. The dancing bunnies on the cloth almost seemed to mock him through his closed eyes, a gift from someone with a very bad sense of humor. He liked cute things. But he didn't always want to plant his head on them to sleep. But he used it, because it was a gift, and he got some perverse pleasure out of that. But he ignored the comment and tried to go back to sleep.
"Hey!" his mortal enemy yelped at him. "You need to get up. You were dreaming."
"Maybe," he mumbled, lifting his head far enough to get the back of his hand under it. The prince, touching his face. The diamond around his neck. "It was a man. And a diamond."
"Then you're finally remembering." Niqiu's nose poked against his, cool and wet, and smelling distinctly of doggy breath. "You have to find the stone."
Zhou Mi stared into Niqiu's unrelenting dark eyes. Needed to get the dog in for a trim. His hair was getting out of control.
"Whatever," Zhou Mi said, rolling over. "And you're a dog that talks."
He pulled up the blanket over his head, and got a few minutes more sleep.
At least until Niqiu splashed his water bowl over Zhou Mi's head.
~~+~~
Zhou Mi had a perfectly ordinary life, he thought. He was the menswear purchaser for a major store chain, with a lovely apartment, occasional boyfriend, and an extended circle of friends. His weekends were full of shopping - for himself - and being invited to any number of parties and get-togethers. If anything, he was too busy, but his life as it was, was normal.
Except for the talking dog.
Zhou Mi would have been tempted to go for a brain scan, if he hadn't believed what the dog said. He'd tried to ask one of his friends about it, and had gotten a look from Heechul as though he were drunk.
"Talking dogs, now? What next, your jewelry?" Heechul had asked.
"No," Zhou Mi had muttered.
"You spend too much time holed up with those clothes. Good to have some fun," Heechul had said, as though Zhou Mi was locked in some cave. "Don't listen to strange dogs. Unless they tell jokes."
Zhou Mi had just sighed.
Niqiu, the dog's name was. Niqiu who knew things he couldn't know, and predicted things that he couldn't know would happen.
He was not a special breed of dog, Niqiu insisted. He was magic. And he was there to help Zhou Mi remember who he really was.
The rest of his life seemed to be carrying on as normal, no matter what strange pet he'd acquired.
And all Niqiu really wanted was to be fed, and walked, and occasionally bathed. And to invade Zhou Mi's life and subtly nudge that he was missing something.
Then he started waking up with bruises he didn't remember getting.
If it was possible for a dog to look smug, Niqiu managed.
Then the dreams came, and Zhou Mi understood.
"How hard could it possibly be to find a diamond that large?" Zhou Mi asked as he walked, zipping up his long coat and adjusting his bluetooth more firmly in his ear.
"Hard enough," Niqiu said, and panted a little too close to the phone for Zhou Mi's liking. The dog didn't even have opposable thumbs, but he knew how to work the memory buttons on the home phone. Nothing like having a dog call on the way home from work to remind him that it was time for a walk. "How many places have you been to?"
"Three. I have two more."
"Clever making appointments and saying you're a purchaser," Niqiu said. "I'm hungry. Bye!"
The line closed off, and Zhou Mi was struck with the image of Niqiu scampering across the wood floors to skid up to his food bowl. And a talking dog had definite opinions about what he was fed, as well.
Zhou Mi had been to the largest jewel houses in the city. At times carefully asking, and others outright. But none had heard of the Star of Destiny, which Niqiu said was the name of the diamond from Zhou Mi's dream. It had been lost for centuries, Niqiu said. A stone of enormous power.
Zhou Mi slipped in behind a tour being led around the last design house he visited. Displays of jewels, all carefully contained. A taste of what was to come in the showroom, that could be purchased.
"This is a representation of the Star of Destiny," the docent explained. "It is crafted from cubic zirconia to appear—"
Zhou Mi's focus shifted to the display, the large simulated diamond surrounded by other, smaller scattered stones. He nearly shuddered, able to feel it around his neck. But it was not the stone. He would have felt it, if it had been.
He waited until the tour was over, before asking if there was more information on the stone, and the stone it was crafted after. He stood, with his hands deep in his pockets, waiting as the docent checked if there was someone free to speak to him. A man maybe fifteen years his senior greeted Zhou Mi, and welcomed him.
"I was told you were interested in the Star of Destiny?"
"Yes," Zhou Mi said, gesturing at the display. "The name is very familiar to me, but there isn't any information online. Not even a picture."
"Yes, there isn't one. This is a fairly new display. Actually, information about the stone has only recently come to light. One of our staff members uncovered information about it in some old documents. You should speak to him. Even this simulated stone is beautiful, isn't it?"
"It is," Zhou Mi agreed.
And knew that the real one had no comparison.
~~+~~
There had been no answers. Zhou Mi half hoped he would recognize the man's face, as though he might be the prince from his dream. Creating a fake Star of Destiny, to lure in those who would seek it for his power, but also those from his past, as Zhou Mi was.
"Do you know why they describe diamonds as being of the 'first water'?" the researcher asked.
"Clarity?" Zhou Mi offered.
"Yes. Though it's funny, the researcher who brought me this information joked that it was because the clearest diamonds were from the water kingdom."
He said it like it was a joke, something be laughed at, funny.
But it had chills going down Zhou Mi's spine.
~~+~~
Niqiu was a good teacher, for such a hyperactive dog. He had Zhou Mi sitting, meditating, in the middle of a park, where he could feel the earth beneath him. Sending his feelings into the earth and listening to it, as it talked back. Not in words, but in knowledge. Fault lines, underground water, the rumble of subway cars, and excavation of ants. At first it was too much, causing him to gasp and struggle as Niqiu leaped on him and licked his face.
"That is your power," Niqiu said. "You are of the earth, as the prince in your dream is of water. The earth is big, it holds many of you. Guardians to protect it, and to protect the prince."
"How do we protect him, if we don't know where he is?" Zhou Mi asked.
"You didn't know who you were at first," Niqiu said, pausing to scratch at his ear with a hind paw. "But now you do. So perhaps you needed to be ready, before you found him. Look, there's this itchy spot…"
Zhou Mi sighed, and scratched Niqiu's ear, and felt the earth beneath him tremble.
~~+~~
The name of the researcher was proprietary, of course. But Niqiu wasn't satisfied with that. Getting the name was top priority. Until Niqiu got word that someone in the city was buying up large diamonds, and not all of them legal.
"The network of dogs is very informative," Niqiu said, sniffing.
Zhou Mi left that one alone.
They walked by the building the diamonds were being held in, one afternoon, and Niqiu strained at his leash, scenting the air. "Do you feel it?"
He did.
And it was with Niqiu trotting beside him, that they broke into the warehouse together. The first truly illegal thing he'd ever done, he though, barely breathing as he followed Niqiu down the hall. And he felt as overdressed as a man dressing for winter in the Bahamas. A tuxedo, from his personal closet. Top hat, naturally. A walking stick for protection, and a mask, to preserve his identity. Though Zhou Mi wasn't sure from who.
His power - magic Niqiu called it - got them through the locks. Urging the bolts to slide, and knobs to turn. Forcing link to fall from link, as they slid through another closed door. Everything was silent. Almost too silent. There were no state-of-the-art burglar alarms. Just a lot of barriers.
"This way!" Niqiu demanded. And ran ahead of Zhou Mi. "You, stop!"
The words came out as a half bark, and Zhou Mi turned the corner to see who Niqiu was speaking to. A man, in a cape of blue and silver, face half covered with a shining mask, and an icy crown on his head.
"Get back," the masked man warned. "Stay away!"
"What are you doing here?" Zhou Mi asked, focusing on the soft cloth pouch in the man's hand. "Who are you?"
"Ask him to shake your hand next," Niqiu suggested. "Hit him!"
But before Zhou Mi could think to lift the walking stick, the man turned and fled.
Not like it was hard to follow with the cape fluttering out behind him. Apparently those things could be a downfall.
Niqiu grabbed it first, growling and catching it between his teeth. The weight caused the man to stumble, and allowing Zhou Mi one, precious second to reach out and grab it himself.
They rolled, floor and the man's angles making the fall harder than it had to be, as they rolled in a tangle of cloth. His hat flew off, stick abandoned.
"Let me go!" the man demanded. "Let me— Hey!"
"Goph it!" Niqiu said, dancing away from them with the cloth bag in his teeth. Got it, Zhou Mi translated. And then he dropped it, pawing at it. "It's the Star, I can feel it."
"That dog can talk," the man said, frozen against Zhou Mi.
"You can hear me?" Niqiu asked.
Zhou Mi's friends just thought of him as yappy.
And Zhou Mi freed his hand.
Fingertips brushing the edge of the man's mask, somehow almost afraid. Even as the man squirmed, trying to free an arm, a knee, anything to get Zhou Mi off of him.
The string holding the mask snapped. Breaking beneath Zhou Mi's thought. And the mask came away.
The man squinted hard, turning his head away. But it was too late. Zhou Mi had seen him.
Not just any man. A prince.
~~+~~
Zhou Mi leaned back against the wall, cautious, as Niqiu investigated the man sitting across from him. He didn't take off his own mask, just watching. Until Niqiu was satisfied.
"You're right," Niqiu said. "He is the Water Prince. You owe your fealty to him."
The man's lips only pressed tighter together.
"You were looking for the Star of Destiny?" Zhou Mi asked.
At that, the man seemed surprised. "You know about that?"
"I know there was a researcher passing along information about it. A researcher who wanted to know its location, and had a fake displayed prominently. A researcher who mentioned the Water Kingdom. What's your name?"
"Just call me Prince. Or Your Highness, will do."
"I once called you 'my lord,' and you said I didn't have to. We are equals here as well."
It seemed as though that forced a decision.
"My name is Kyuhyun," the man said, begrudging every word. "And the Star is mine. It is the only thing that can help the guardians protect earth if we continue being attacked. There aren't enough of us, yet."
"Not everyone has awakened," Niqiu said. "Water, Earth. Who else?"
Kyuhyun shrugged. "I've been doing what I can. But the enemy is getting stronger. The Star in the wrong hands would be bad. You have to let me take it."
"No," Zhou Mi said, and took the cloth bag from Niqiu's offering teeth. "Niqiu and I have been looking since my memories began to come back to me. This stone is of the earth. It is mine to command."
And Kyuhyun made to protest, Niqiu's growl warning him back, as Zhou Mi dumped the bag into his gloved hand.
The Star. Glorious, clear, catching the overhead light and shining.
But it was also wrong. Terribly wrong.
"It's only half there," Niqiu yelped, as Zhou Mi showed him.
The diamond had been neatly sliced in half. And though the half Zhou Mi held was large, and full of power, it was only a fraction of the power the full stone had held.
"Where is the rest?" Zhou Mi demanded.
Kyuhyun shook his head. "It was split in two. Centuries ago. Each half hidden, so that no one could use it to start destroying things."
"Do you have the other half?"
"No. But I knew it was only a matter of time that the Coalition found it. I knew it was in the city. I've been tracking it for months, never getting close enough. Until now."
"Until we could find you!" Niqiu said. "This is how it was meant. You have to find the other half of the stone. Together!"
"I work alone," Kyuhyun said quickly.
"You're a dog, and you tackled him before I could," Zhou Mi protested at the same time.
Niqiu spoke very quietly, as though he were speaking to two children in dire trouble.
"The stone speaks to me. It yearns to be reunited to its other half. It was hidden safely, long ago, in a place of legend. Another place of destiny."
"Where is it? Where can we go?" Kyuhyun asked, leaning forward. Apparently he was willing enough if it got him to the stone, Zhou Mi thought, mentally turning up his nose.
"It doesn't exist any longer," Niqiu said, whining a little to get Zhou Mi's attention. "You must go back to when it was old, but yet still new."
"Is that a riddle?" Kyuhyun asked.
"No. But you're not ready. You have the stone. You must train together, and protect it, until you can join it and make it whole."
"I don't work with guys in masks," Kyuhyun said. "Or tuxedos."
"I thought you worked alone," Zhou Mi shot back. It was only a pitiful disguise, because he couldn't transform yet, as Kyuhyun had clearly learned to, even if he couldn't use his powers yet. But he reached up and pulled off his own mask.
If Kyuhyun had the same dreams Zhou Mi had, then he had to have known who Zhou Mi was, from his admitting of wielding the Star once before. But was still a bit of a victory to see the shock on Kyuhyun's face.
~~+~~
The Star
~~+~~
The sound of quiet clucking woke him, and for a moment he wondered if Kyuhyun was watching some farm show on TV. But when he opened his eyes, a feather was moving in time with his breath, and there was dirt and who only knew what else under his cheek.
And it stank.
He froze, barely breathing as something sharp, yet simultaneously light and solid landed on his head. Multiple points poking at him, and a strange ruffling sound.
"Kyuhyun?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"Yes?"
And Kyuhyun's voice was so amused, so trying to hide it, that Zhou Mi closed his eyes.
"There's a chicken on my head, isn't there?"
"There is. I don't have a camera, so I'm trying to write it into memory. Shoo."
Thankfully Kyuhyun said the last bit to the chicken, not to Zhou Mi, and he sat up, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "Ugh."
"At least we didn't land in the pig pen," Kyuhyun said, nodding to his left, where Zhou Mi could just make out a couple of rooting pigs.
It made the chicken pen look positively clean.
"Where are we? Besides with the chickens," he said, before Kyuhyun could crack a joke. "Some kind of village?"
"Or something. A few people passed by. You okay, though?"
Zhou Mi stood, checking his limbs, and stretching. Looking from their little pen against the side of some kind of shack, to the little path between it and another shake. A village, then. He could hear conversation, the sound of animals, and moving wheels, somewhere beyond where they were.
It felt different to where they had come from. Not just in location. They were not in a poor part of the country, some rural place. Everything was wrong. Thatched roofs, wooden posts. Nothing plastic. No power lines.
"Is your next question going to be 'when are we?'" Kyuhyun asked, nudging away a chicken that was trying to get friendly with his shoe.
"Or something," Zhou Mi said.
He didn't know how long it had been. One moment, he'd been sitting cross-legged in the park near his apartment, Kyuhyun to one side, and Niqiu on the other. They had finished their training for the day. Weeks of training, after they had found half of the Star. It hung in a secure pouch around Zhou Mi's neck, and it had taken days for Kyuhyun to stop complaining bitterly about that fact.
At least until the first time they were attacked. The Coalition, Kyuhyun had said. Breaking into Zhou Mi's apartment.
He'd used his power to knock a shelf onto one of them, but was pinned by the other.
Until Kyuhyun had come in, the cavalry, to the barking Niqiu.
Kyuhyun had felt something was wrong, he'd said. That Zhou Mi was in danger. The Coalition was drawn to the Star's power. Nowhere Zhou Mi was would be safe.
It had been lucky that Kyuhyun's building accepted pets. But what was luck had also brought him dreams, more of them as the weeks passed, of a thousand years before. When Kyuhyun had whispered in his ear, trusted him. It was painful waking up to that, to find Kyuhyun asking him what kind of cereal he wanted, almost sullen. Almost as painful as knowing that as Kyuhyun grew stronger, harnessed the power of water, Zhou Mi still was waiting his own power to catch up with his memories. Niqiu told him to be patient.
Zhou Mi knelt again in the chicken pen, brushing away some of the garbage. The earth trembled, but he wasn't sure if that was just his fingers. Tracing symbols in the dust and watching it swirl for him. The roots giving until it felt like he could plunge his whole arm in, deep into the heart of the earth.
"There is great power here. Can you feel it?"
"No." And after a moment, Kyuhyun tugged on his arm. "Get up. You're scaring the chickens. We need to move, before someone finds us here and accuses us of being thieves."
~~+~~
The weather, at least, was the same. Zhou Mi tugged his coat closer around him. Cool, but not truly cold yet. And they tarried, staring toward a pathway that was filled with people, all but hidden against the side of a small shack.
"Do we just walk out there?" Zhou Mi asked, staring between his own clothes and the clothes of the people passing. It wasn't like they were in sequined dresses and feather boas, but the difference was noticeable. Not only that, the people passing were very fair. They were clearly not in Asia.
"We can't find the Star of Destiny lurking in an alley," Kyuhyun said, jostling his arm. "So they stare. We keep walking."
So they walked. Merging into foot traffic, and keeping their heads down. A few open stares, but no one tried to stop them. He walked close behind Kyuhyun, keeping his eyes open. And they made it partway, that way. At least until the guards stopped them.
They didn't blend in so well after all.
Nothing the guards said, Zhou Mi could understand. And from Kyuhyun's head shake, he couldn't either. Body language was all they had, shrugs and head shakes, trying to convey that they couldn't understand as a crowd gathered.
An older man intervened, tall and in well-worn clothes. But the guards listened to him, letting Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun pass as the man waved them along after them. Off of the wider path where people and the guards were still staring after them.
"Why have you come here?" the man asked them, staring at their strange clothes.
But Zhou Mi looked to Kyuhyun, startled. It wasn't like the words of the others, hard to understand. But very clear.
"We are searching for something," Zhou Mi tried, but in their own tongue. "Thank you for helping us."
"I felt something strong. A disturbance. Your language is foreign to me, but I understand. You have magic?" the man asked.
"In a way. My companion here is a— A guardian. I am guardian of the earth. We can use power to transform and protect ourselves and others. It is… it is old magic. Older than this time."
Or he assumed, It sounded good, as long as the man could understand him as well.
All or nothing.
"We're from the future," Zhou Mi said, stepping forward even as the man stepped back. He stopped, hoping not to get himself run through if the man was armed. "Our planet is in great danger. The only thing that can stop it is the Star of Destiny. A stone of great value, but also of great power. In searching for it, we were brought here."
The man considered them, their certainly strange clothing, to the words he spoke. He had to know it to be true.
"This Star is what you seek?"
"Yes," Zhou Mi said. "All we know is that it rests in a place of destiny."
Niqiu had been able to tell them that much. No matter how much Kyuhyun had pressed Niqiu for more, there hadn’t been any more information to give. They were how many hundreds of years in the past, and blind with it.
"I may know the place you speak of," the man said.
The man began to walk, gesturing them along.
And they had no choice but to follow.
~~+~~
Following the man made them no less conspicuous but it did keep them from being stopped. Dodging horses and carts, through heavily fortified places. Zhou Mi was very glad he hadn't decided to wear a bright red jacket that day, or they would have had to cover him with a blanket to even reach the outskirts of the city. They stopped once, at a cart selling wares, before continuing on.
The man thrust a bag into Kyuhyun's hands at the edge of a bridge, and stone wall. "There is some bread and and fruit in here. It is not far. If you go quickly, you may reach there before nightfall. But the roads are not always safe."
"Thank you."
"There is only one place I know, that would hold a destiny like what you speak. It is the beginning of all things. The Lake of Avalon. Do you know it?"
Zhou Mi swallowed, catching Kyuhyun's eye, who shrugged. Maybe Kyuhyun didn't know, but Zhou Mi did. The lake, where Excalibur would be placed. More than just a grave of weapons, but what some believed to be the gateway to Avalon itself. Guarded by the Lady of the Lake, it was a story he had grown up with, as familiar to him as the round table, and the sword in the stone. He had to stop himself from asking if that were true, if it had already happened. Who was king, and when exactly it was, made little difference to their quest.
But it also told him where they were, give or take. Somewhere in Britain. Maybe they had even landed in the famous Camelot, or whatever its true name had been back then. More than just a simple jaunt back into the past.
As the man told them how to go, Zhou Mi sketched the map on his palm to help cement it in his mind. They could not get lost. Neither of them were dressed for hiking, or prepared to spend a night in the forest. Maybe Kyuhyun had some fire making knowledge, but he certainly hadn't ever made one without the benefit of matches.
"If you return this way, ask for me," the man said. "I would be interested to learn of your quest, and if you succeed."
Zhou Mi's back still shivered as they left the long path at the fork and moved again into the trees. It had taken a man with magic to understand their quest, to understand their words, and give them guidance on their path. Kyuhyun had dragged him away as he stammered, as they had said their thanks, but he could see the surprise in Kyuhyun's face as well. Even Kyuhyun had known that name.
The man had been Merlin.
~~+~~
Listen for running water.
If there was anything Kyuhyun was going to be good at, it was that, Zhou Mi thought with a sigh. He'd escaped twisting his ankle once, stepping into a hole filled with leaves, and barely catching himself on a tree and Kyuhyun's shoulder before he rolled right over.
"I can’t believe that this is where we ended up," Zhou Mi said. "We just talked to Merlin. We're going to the Lake of Avalon! If the Star is in the lake, who knows what we'll see down there. Do you know the story of the Lady of the Lake?"
"Let me guess, you read a lot of books growing up," Kyuhyun said, pushing past a bush.
"I did. But it makes so much sense that this is where the Star came to rest. In some forms of the legend, Excalibur would rest there, too. Where better to keep a stone with that much power protected?"
Kyuhyun just shook his head. "This story won't have a Disney ending."
"But I loved that movie!" Zhou Mi said. He stopped, touching a tree as though it was the famous stone. He grabbed a branch, the hilt of the most famous sword of legend. "I will be king of—"
The branch, much as the sword would not have, did not budge. And Kyuhyun's eyebrow rose at him.
"King of your closet? I don't remember there being any lore about there being a diamond hidden under the sword."
"At least you know the story," he said, poking at Kyuhyun’s shoulder. "Are you sure there wasn't a subway stop close enough?"
He stuck close to Kyuhyun, trying to keep an eye out. Even if they joked, he had no idea what animals were in the woods. Deer, probably. Wolves, bears, he didn't know. Animals hadn't been what they'd been warned against, but men. Of course his mind was fertile, imagining robbers and highwaymen.
Or even the Coalition. When they'd broken into his apartment to find the Star, they hadn't been willing to back down until Kyuhyun had forced them. Even the thought had him looking back over his shoulder, like someone was following them.
Kyuhyun saved him from running into a branch.
"Eyes ahead," Kyuhyun reprimanded. "Look. I think it's just up there. You feel anything?"
Warmth, when Zhou Mi wrapped his hand around the Star's pouch.
"Yeah, I do," he said, grinning and getting a smile back. Urban warriors, conquering history.
And what they saw was a lake. Beautiful and bordered by trees. There was the sound of a creek gurgling somewhere, feeding into it. The warmth he felt in the stone told him they hadn't found the wrong lake. But how to find the other half of the Star was something else.
"So, how do we do this?" Zhou Mi asked.
"I have no idea," Kyuhyun said, kneeling down and poking his fingers into the water. "I can't make the water give it to us. Can you call the stone to you?"
"No," Zhou Mi said. Though he could have led them to it if it had been on solid ground, he couldn't call for it.
"No one here to bring it to us?" Kyuhyun joked. But he sighed. "So I'm guessing the diamond is actually in the lake. I bet that's cold. Water is my element, I should go."
Kyuhyun started to remove his jacket, just as Zhou Mi did the same.
"I'm the only one who will feel the stone move," Zhou Mi said, stepping out of his shoes. "It has to be me."
His clothes were next. He wanted to have something dry to put on after coming out of the cold water, or else catch cold. And there was no one there to see, save for Kyuhyun. He left his underwear on. Not so much as for propriety as for protection. He had no idea what was under the water's surface, whether it was fish, or rocks, or dead trees. A layer of cotton wasn't going to do much, but it was still a comfort.
But he was bracing himself for the cold, and he hadn't even taken a step into the soft lake edge.
Kyuhyun grabbed his arm before he could barely take a step. "Be careful."
The man he had been once would have turned, and hugged Kyuhyun. The man he was right then wanted it. But he nodded, and promised himself that if he succeeded, he'd do it then.
Like all the times he'd put a cup of tea down beside Kyuhyun's hand waiting for a smile. Waiting for some sign, some spark, looking away when he thought the want showed too much on his face. Waiting.
The cold water had his whole body tensing, and he moved as fast as he could to keep his mind off of it, until the bottom was too deep to touch. He swam as far as he dared, stopping to feel the heat, the vibration of the Star in its pouch. His ears were already hollow with water, and the lake was still cold. But the diamond still sang, and louder. Where he swam, he had not forgotten its place in legend.
He drew in a long steady breath, and without looking to shore - to Kyuhyun - he dove.
The water was clear, clear enough. Not enough to see a diamond discarded on the lake bed without clear direction from the half of the Star he held. And maybe not enough for his endurance in the cold water, or his air supply.
He saw movement, and thought a fish, until it swirled. And he realized it was hair. Long hair.
A woman's hair.
Had he been above water, he would have inhaled.
He struggled for the surface, exhaling and feeling the strain. Fingertips reaching, as though he could breathe with them, legs kicking.
The woman reached him first. Her hand was icy cool against his chest.
You are not of Water, but you belong to it. As does the stone.
Kyuhyun.
The bubbles rose from his mouth. The last he had left to give.
You may stay. I will give you what you seek. Stay.
Zhou Mi's eyes closed as the woman's mouth pressed to his. Strength leeched from his limbs, and his hand was guided down, down.
And everything fell into darkness.
~~+~~
The water burned.
But the air seared through him like fire.
Choking, gasping, fingers digging through rocks and dirt.
Spitting out water after the first deluge, coughing.
Turned onto his side.
Trying to drag the whole atmosphere right back in if it didn't hurt so damn much.
"Easy. Just keep breathing."
Zhou Mi's eyes were blurred with hot tears and cold lake water. Shaking too hard almost to blink as he focused on the air getting into his lungs.
Kyuhyun. Stroking his shoulder and supporting his head.
He swallowed several times, trying to get the aching tightness out of his throat. Like he'd vomited half the lake. Just thinking about it almost had him sick again.
"What happened?" he croaked.
"You tell me," Kyuhyun said. "I went after you, found you just floating on the lake bottom like some kind of merman in Dolce & Gabbana briefs. I should've gone."
"There was a woman," Zhou Mi said, as Kyuhyun helped him to sit, and he noted that Kyuhyun was nearly as bare as he was. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his dry clothes that Kyuhyun brought to him. Maybe he'd almost died, but he wasn't dead. He could appreciate Kyuhyun's back, the way the wet cloth of Kyuhyun's undershirt clung to him, and his underwear under that. Kyuhyun must have kept stripping, as Zhou Mi swam out. Maybe he'd done that for caution, or because he didn't trust Zhou Mi. Whatever the reason, he appreciated it. "When I dove, there was a woman there. Did you see her?"
"No," Kyuhyun said. "You think it was your Lady of the Lake? She drown you to keep you away from the magic land?"
"No, she—"
I will give you what you seek.
The Star. That it, and Zhou Mi, belonged to Water. A diamond of the Water Kingdom, a stone of earth.
She had not drowned him. She had helped him.
"Kyuhyun," he said, staring at his clenched right hand.
His arm was supported on Kyuhyun's, as his fingers unfurled from how tightly they had been held. Silt, from the lake bottom, weeds.
Zhou Mi forgot the cold, the hurt in his throat and chest.
All for the gleam that showed through the dirt.
The other half of the Star.
~~+~~
To part two
~~+~~
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Genre: Fantasy, AU
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The Star of Destiny calls the guardians of elements to protect the earth and its princes. But it must be joined first.
Warnings: Fantasy violence
~~+~~
The Water Prince.
People bowed to him, swore their fealty. He commanded respect, was fair and kind. The power he had, he wielded with restraint. It meant he had many allies.
And many enemies.
"Prince of Earth," the Water Prince said, smirking up at him from his blue, crafted throne. Dark hair and stubborn chin. "What brings you to my kingdom?"
"My lord."
"We are equal here."
As prince himself, his kingdom the earth, he did not kneel. But he stood still at the hand against his face, a touch cool like the waters the man before him commanded. Stood as the clearest stone was looped around his neck, joining them.
They did not call each other "Prince." But they did call each other lover.
They were not the first so doomed. Nor the last. No one wrote their story, that they were ripped from the happiness they had hoped.
It was one life that they should have shared, one destiny they were denied.
But no longer.
~~+~~
Awakening
~~+~~
"You were dreaming."
Zhou Mi moaned, and buried his face into his pillow. The dancing bunnies on the cloth almost seemed to mock him through his closed eyes, a gift from someone with a very bad sense of humor. He liked cute things. But he didn't always want to plant his head on them to sleep. But he used it, because it was a gift, and he got some perverse pleasure out of that. But he ignored the comment and tried to go back to sleep.
"Hey!" his mortal enemy yelped at him. "You need to get up. You were dreaming."
"Maybe," he mumbled, lifting his head far enough to get the back of his hand under it. The prince, touching his face. The diamond around his neck. "It was a man. And a diamond."
"Then you're finally remembering." Niqiu's nose poked against his, cool and wet, and smelling distinctly of doggy breath. "You have to find the stone."
Zhou Mi stared into Niqiu's unrelenting dark eyes. Needed to get the dog in for a trim. His hair was getting out of control.
"Whatever," Zhou Mi said, rolling over. "And you're a dog that talks."
He pulled up the blanket over his head, and got a few minutes more sleep.
At least until Niqiu splashed his water bowl over Zhou Mi's head.
~~+~~
Zhou Mi had a perfectly ordinary life, he thought. He was the menswear purchaser for a major store chain, with a lovely apartment, occasional boyfriend, and an extended circle of friends. His weekends were full of shopping - for himself - and being invited to any number of parties and get-togethers. If anything, he was too busy, but his life as it was, was normal.
Except for the talking dog.
Zhou Mi would have been tempted to go for a brain scan, if he hadn't believed what the dog said. He'd tried to ask one of his friends about it, and had gotten a look from Heechul as though he were drunk.
"Talking dogs, now? What next, your jewelry?" Heechul had asked.
"No," Zhou Mi had muttered.
"You spend too much time holed up with those clothes. Good to have some fun," Heechul had said, as though Zhou Mi was locked in some cave. "Don't listen to strange dogs. Unless they tell jokes."
Zhou Mi had just sighed.
Niqiu, the dog's name was. Niqiu who knew things he couldn't know, and predicted things that he couldn't know would happen.
He was not a special breed of dog, Niqiu insisted. He was magic. And he was there to help Zhou Mi remember who he really was.
The rest of his life seemed to be carrying on as normal, no matter what strange pet he'd acquired.
And all Niqiu really wanted was to be fed, and walked, and occasionally bathed. And to invade Zhou Mi's life and subtly nudge that he was missing something.
Then he started waking up with bruises he didn't remember getting.
If it was possible for a dog to look smug, Niqiu managed.
Then the dreams came, and Zhou Mi understood.
"How hard could it possibly be to find a diamond that large?" Zhou Mi asked as he walked, zipping up his long coat and adjusting his bluetooth more firmly in his ear.
"Hard enough," Niqiu said, and panted a little too close to the phone for Zhou Mi's liking. The dog didn't even have opposable thumbs, but he knew how to work the memory buttons on the home phone. Nothing like having a dog call on the way home from work to remind him that it was time for a walk. "How many places have you been to?"
"Three. I have two more."
"Clever making appointments and saying you're a purchaser," Niqiu said. "I'm hungry. Bye!"
The line closed off, and Zhou Mi was struck with the image of Niqiu scampering across the wood floors to skid up to his food bowl. And a talking dog had definite opinions about what he was fed, as well.
Zhou Mi had been to the largest jewel houses in the city. At times carefully asking, and others outright. But none had heard of the Star of Destiny, which Niqiu said was the name of the diamond from Zhou Mi's dream. It had been lost for centuries, Niqiu said. A stone of enormous power.
Zhou Mi slipped in behind a tour being led around the last design house he visited. Displays of jewels, all carefully contained. A taste of what was to come in the showroom, that could be purchased.
"This is a representation of the Star of Destiny," the docent explained. "It is crafted from cubic zirconia to appear—"
Zhou Mi's focus shifted to the display, the large simulated diamond surrounded by other, smaller scattered stones. He nearly shuddered, able to feel it around his neck. But it was not the stone. He would have felt it, if it had been.
He waited until the tour was over, before asking if there was more information on the stone, and the stone it was crafted after. He stood, with his hands deep in his pockets, waiting as the docent checked if there was someone free to speak to him. A man maybe fifteen years his senior greeted Zhou Mi, and welcomed him.
"I was told you were interested in the Star of Destiny?"
"Yes," Zhou Mi said, gesturing at the display. "The name is very familiar to me, but there isn't any information online. Not even a picture."
"Yes, there isn't one. This is a fairly new display. Actually, information about the stone has only recently come to light. One of our staff members uncovered information about it in some old documents. You should speak to him. Even this simulated stone is beautiful, isn't it?"
"It is," Zhou Mi agreed.
And knew that the real one had no comparison.
~~+~~
There had been no answers. Zhou Mi half hoped he would recognize the man's face, as though he might be the prince from his dream. Creating a fake Star of Destiny, to lure in those who would seek it for his power, but also those from his past, as Zhou Mi was.
"Do you know why they describe diamonds as being of the 'first water'?" the researcher asked.
"Clarity?" Zhou Mi offered.
"Yes. Though it's funny, the researcher who brought me this information joked that it was because the clearest diamonds were from the water kingdom."
He said it like it was a joke, something be laughed at, funny.
But it had chills going down Zhou Mi's spine.
~~+~~
Niqiu was a good teacher, for such a hyperactive dog. He had Zhou Mi sitting, meditating, in the middle of a park, where he could feel the earth beneath him. Sending his feelings into the earth and listening to it, as it talked back. Not in words, but in knowledge. Fault lines, underground water, the rumble of subway cars, and excavation of ants. At first it was too much, causing him to gasp and struggle as Niqiu leaped on him and licked his face.
"That is your power," Niqiu said. "You are of the earth, as the prince in your dream is of water. The earth is big, it holds many of you. Guardians to protect it, and to protect the prince."
"How do we protect him, if we don't know where he is?" Zhou Mi asked.
"You didn't know who you were at first," Niqiu said, pausing to scratch at his ear with a hind paw. "But now you do. So perhaps you needed to be ready, before you found him. Look, there's this itchy spot…"
Zhou Mi sighed, and scratched Niqiu's ear, and felt the earth beneath him tremble.
~~+~~
The name of the researcher was proprietary, of course. But Niqiu wasn't satisfied with that. Getting the name was top priority. Until Niqiu got word that someone in the city was buying up large diamonds, and not all of them legal.
"The network of dogs is very informative," Niqiu said, sniffing.
Zhou Mi left that one alone.
They walked by the building the diamonds were being held in, one afternoon, and Niqiu strained at his leash, scenting the air. "Do you feel it?"
He did.
And it was with Niqiu trotting beside him, that they broke into the warehouse together. The first truly illegal thing he'd ever done, he though, barely breathing as he followed Niqiu down the hall. And he felt as overdressed as a man dressing for winter in the Bahamas. A tuxedo, from his personal closet. Top hat, naturally. A walking stick for protection, and a mask, to preserve his identity. Though Zhou Mi wasn't sure from who.
His power - magic Niqiu called it - got them through the locks. Urging the bolts to slide, and knobs to turn. Forcing link to fall from link, as they slid through another closed door. Everything was silent. Almost too silent. There were no state-of-the-art burglar alarms. Just a lot of barriers.
"This way!" Niqiu demanded. And ran ahead of Zhou Mi. "You, stop!"
The words came out as a half bark, and Zhou Mi turned the corner to see who Niqiu was speaking to. A man, in a cape of blue and silver, face half covered with a shining mask, and an icy crown on his head.
"Get back," the masked man warned. "Stay away!"
"What are you doing here?" Zhou Mi asked, focusing on the soft cloth pouch in the man's hand. "Who are you?"
"Ask him to shake your hand next," Niqiu suggested. "Hit him!"
But before Zhou Mi could think to lift the walking stick, the man turned and fled.
Not like it was hard to follow with the cape fluttering out behind him. Apparently those things could be a downfall.
Niqiu grabbed it first, growling and catching it between his teeth. The weight caused the man to stumble, and allowing Zhou Mi one, precious second to reach out and grab it himself.
They rolled, floor and the man's angles making the fall harder than it had to be, as they rolled in a tangle of cloth. His hat flew off, stick abandoned.
"Let me go!" the man demanded. "Let me— Hey!"
"Goph it!" Niqiu said, dancing away from them with the cloth bag in his teeth. Got it, Zhou Mi translated. And then he dropped it, pawing at it. "It's the Star, I can feel it."
"That dog can talk," the man said, frozen against Zhou Mi.
"You can hear me?" Niqiu asked.
Zhou Mi's friends just thought of him as yappy.
And Zhou Mi freed his hand.
Fingertips brushing the edge of the man's mask, somehow almost afraid. Even as the man squirmed, trying to free an arm, a knee, anything to get Zhou Mi off of him.
The string holding the mask snapped. Breaking beneath Zhou Mi's thought. And the mask came away.
The man squinted hard, turning his head away. But it was too late. Zhou Mi had seen him.
Not just any man. A prince.
~~+~~
Zhou Mi leaned back against the wall, cautious, as Niqiu investigated the man sitting across from him. He didn't take off his own mask, just watching. Until Niqiu was satisfied.
"You're right," Niqiu said. "He is the Water Prince. You owe your fealty to him."
The man's lips only pressed tighter together.
"You were looking for the Star of Destiny?" Zhou Mi asked.
At that, the man seemed surprised. "You know about that?"
"I know there was a researcher passing along information about it. A researcher who wanted to know its location, and had a fake displayed prominently. A researcher who mentioned the Water Kingdom. What's your name?"
"Just call me Prince. Or Your Highness, will do."
"I once called you 'my lord,' and you said I didn't have to. We are equals here as well."
It seemed as though that forced a decision.
"My name is Kyuhyun," the man said, begrudging every word. "And the Star is mine. It is the only thing that can help the guardians protect earth if we continue being attacked. There aren't enough of us, yet."
"Not everyone has awakened," Niqiu said. "Water, Earth. Who else?"
Kyuhyun shrugged. "I've been doing what I can. But the enemy is getting stronger. The Star in the wrong hands would be bad. You have to let me take it."
"No," Zhou Mi said, and took the cloth bag from Niqiu's offering teeth. "Niqiu and I have been looking since my memories began to come back to me. This stone is of the earth. It is mine to command."
And Kyuhyun made to protest, Niqiu's growl warning him back, as Zhou Mi dumped the bag into his gloved hand.
The Star. Glorious, clear, catching the overhead light and shining.
But it was also wrong. Terribly wrong.
"It's only half there," Niqiu yelped, as Zhou Mi showed him.
The diamond had been neatly sliced in half. And though the half Zhou Mi held was large, and full of power, it was only a fraction of the power the full stone had held.
"Where is the rest?" Zhou Mi demanded.
Kyuhyun shook his head. "It was split in two. Centuries ago. Each half hidden, so that no one could use it to start destroying things."
"Do you have the other half?"
"No. But I knew it was only a matter of time that the Coalition found it. I knew it was in the city. I've been tracking it for months, never getting close enough. Until now."
"Until we could find you!" Niqiu said. "This is how it was meant. You have to find the other half of the stone. Together!"
"I work alone," Kyuhyun said quickly.
"You're a dog, and you tackled him before I could," Zhou Mi protested at the same time.
Niqiu spoke very quietly, as though he were speaking to two children in dire trouble.
"The stone speaks to me. It yearns to be reunited to its other half. It was hidden safely, long ago, in a place of legend. Another place of destiny."
"Where is it? Where can we go?" Kyuhyun asked, leaning forward. Apparently he was willing enough if it got him to the stone, Zhou Mi thought, mentally turning up his nose.
"It doesn't exist any longer," Niqiu said, whining a little to get Zhou Mi's attention. "You must go back to when it was old, but yet still new."
"Is that a riddle?" Kyuhyun asked.
"No. But you're not ready. You have the stone. You must train together, and protect it, until you can join it and make it whole."
"I don't work with guys in masks," Kyuhyun said. "Or tuxedos."
"I thought you worked alone," Zhou Mi shot back. It was only a pitiful disguise, because he couldn't transform yet, as Kyuhyun had clearly learned to, even if he couldn't use his powers yet. But he reached up and pulled off his own mask.
If Kyuhyun had the same dreams Zhou Mi had, then he had to have known who Zhou Mi was, from his admitting of wielding the Star once before. But was still a bit of a victory to see the shock on Kyuhyun's face.
~~+~~
The Star
~~+~~
The sound of quiet clucking woke him, and for a moment he wondered if Kyuhyun was watching some farm show on TV. But when he opened his eyes, a feather was moving in time with his breath, and there was dirt and who only knew what else under his cheek.
And it stank.
He froze, barely breathing as something sharp, yet simultaneously light and solid landed on his head. Multiple points poking at him, and a strange ruffling sound.
"Kyuhyun?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"Yes?"
And Kyuhyun's voice was so amused, so trying to hide it, that Zhou Mi closed his eyes.
"There's a chicken on my head, isn't there?"
"There is. I don't have a camera, so I'm trying to write it into memory. Shoo."
Thankfully Kyuhyun said the last bit to the chicken, not to Zhou Mi, and he sat up, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "Ugh."
"At least we didn't land in the pig pen," Kyuhyun said, nodding to his left, where Zhou Mi could just make out a couple of rooting pigs.
It made the chicken pen look positively clean.
"Where are we? Besides with the chickens," he said, before Kyuhyun could crack a joke. "Some kind of village?"
"Or something. A few people passed by. You okay, though?"
Zhou Mi stood, checking his limbs, and stretching. Looking from their little pen against the side of some kind of shack, to the little path between it and another shake. A village, then. He could hear conversation, the sound of animals, and moving wheels, somewhere beyond where they were.
It felt different to where they had come from. Not just in location. They were not in a poor part of the country, some rural place. Everything was wrong. Thatched roofs, wooden posts. Nothing plastic. No power lines.
"Is your next question going to be 'when are we?'" Kyuhyun asked, nudging away a chicken that was trying to get friendly with his shoe.
"Or something," Zhou Mi said.
He didn't know how long it had been. One moment, he'd been sitting cross-legged in the park near his apartment, Kyuhyun to one side, and Niqiu on the other. They had finished their training for the day. Weeks of training, after they had found half of the Star. It hung in a secure pouch around Zhou Mi's neck, and it had taken days for Kyuhyun to stop complaining bitterly about that fact.
At least until the first time they were attacked. The Coalition, Kyuhyun had said. Breaking into Zhou Mi's apartment.
He'd used his power to knock a shelf onto one of them, but was pinned by the other.
Until Kyuhyun had come in, the cavalry, to the barking Niqiu.
Kyuhyun had felt something was wrong, he'd said. That Zhou Mi was in danger. The Coalition was drawn to the Star's power. Nowhere Zhou Mi was would be safe.
It had been lucky that Kyuhyun's building accepted pets. But what was luck had also brought him dreams, more of them as the weeks passed, of a thousand years before. When Kyuhyun had whispered in his ear, trusted him. It was painful waking up to that, to find Kyuhyun asking him what kind of cereal he wanted, almost sullen. Almost as painful as knowing that as Kyuhyun grew stronger, harnessed the power of water, Zhou Mi still was waiting his own power to catch up with his memories. Niqiu told him to be patient.
Zhou Mi knelt again in the chicken pen, brushing away some of the garbage. The earth trembled, but he wasn't sure if that was just his fingers. Tracing symbols in the dust and watching it swirl for him. The roots giving until it felt like he could plunge his whole arm in, deep into the heart of the earth.
"There is great power here. Can you feel it?"
"No." And after a moment, Kyuhyun tugged on his arm. "Get up. You're scaring the chickens. We need to move, before someone finds us here and accuses us of being thieves."
~~+~~
The weather, at least, was the same. Zhou Mi tugged his coat closer around him. Cool, but not truly cold yet. And they tarried, staring toward a pathway that was filled with people, all but hidden against the side of a small shack.
"Do we just walk out there?" Zhou Mi asked, staring between his own clothes and the clothes of the people passing. It wasn't like they were in sequined dresses and feather boas, but the difference was noticeable. Not only that, the people passing were very fair. They were clearly not in Asia.
"We can't find the Star of Destiny lurking in an alley," Kyuhyun said, jostling his arm. "So they stare. We keep walking."
So they walked. Merging into foot traffic, and keeping their heads down. A few open stares, but no one tried to stop them. He walked close behind Kyuhyun, keeping his eyes open. And they made it partway, that way. At least until the guards stopped them.
They didn't blend in so well after all.
Nothing the guards said, Zhou Mi could understand. And from Kyuhyun's head shake, he couldn't either. Body language was all they had, shrugs and head shakes, trying to convey that they couldn't understand as a crowd gathered.
An older man intervened, tall and in well-worn clothes. But the guards listened to him, letting Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun pass as the man waved them along after them. Off of the wider path where people and the guards were still staring after them.
"Why have you come here?" the man asked them, staring at their strange clothes.
But Zhou Mi looked to Kyuhyun, startled. It wasn't like the words of the others, hard to understand. But very clear.
"We are searching for something," Zhou Mi tried, but in their own tongue. "Thank you for helping us."
"I felt something strong. A disturbance. Your language is foreign to me, but I understand. You have magic?" the man asked.
"In a way. My companion here is a— A guardian. I am guardian of the earth. We can use power to transform and protect ourselves and others. It is… it is old magic. Older than this time."
Or he assumed, It sounded good, as long as the man could understand him as well.
All or nothing.
"We're from the future," Zhou Mi said, stepping forward even as the man stepped back. He stopped, hoping not to get himself run through if the man was armed. "Our planet is in great danger. The only thing that can stop it is the Star of Destiny. A stone of great value, but also of great power. In searching for it, we were brought here."
The man considered them, their certainly strange clothing, to the words he spoke. He had to know it to be true.
"This Star is what you seek?"
"Yes," Zhou Mi said. "All we know is that it rests in a place of destiny."
Niqiu had been able to tell them that much. No matter how much Kyuhyun had pressed Niqiu for more, there hadn’t been any more information to give. They were how many hundreds of years in the past, and blind with it.
"I may know the place you speak of," the man said.
The man began to walk, gesturing them along.
And they had no choice but to follow.
~~+~~
Following the man made them no less conspicuous but it did keep them from being stopped. Dodging horses and carts, through heavily fortified places. Zhou Mi was very glad he hadn't decided to wear a bright red jacket that day, or they would have had to cover him with a blanket to even reach the outskirts of the city. They stopped once, at a cart selling wares, before continuing on.
The man thrust a bag into Kyuhyun's hands at the edge of a bridge, and stone wall. "There is some bread and and fruit in here. It is not far. If you go quickly, you may reach there before nightfall. But the roads are not always safe."
"Thank you."
"There is only one place I know, that would hold a destiny like what you speak. It is the beginning of all things. The Lake of Avalon. Do you know it?"
Zhou Mi swallowed, catching Kyuhyun's eye, who shrugged. Maybe Kyuhyun didn't know, but Zhou Mi did. The lake, where Excalibur would be placed. More than just a grave of weapons, but what some believed to be the gateway to Avalon itself. Guarded by the Lady of the Lake, it was a story he had grown up with, as familiar to him as the round table, and the sword in the stone. He had to stop himself from asking if that were true, if it had already happened. Who was king, and when exactly it was, made little difference to their quest.
But it also told him where they were, give or take. Somewhere in Britain. Maybe they had even landed in the famous Camelot, or whatever its true name had been back then. More than just a simple jaunt back into the past.
As the man told them how to go, Zhou Mi sketched the map on his palm to help cement it in his mind. They could not get lost. Neither of them were dressed for hiking, or prepared to spend a night in the forest. Maybe Kyuhyun had some fire making knowledge, but he certainly hadn't ever made one without the benefit of matches.
"If you return this way, ask for me," the man said. "I would be interested to learn of your quest, and if you succeed."
Zhou Mi's back still shivered as they left the long path at the fork and moved again into the trees. It had taken a man with magic to understand their quest, to understand their words, and give them guidance on their path. Kyuhyun had dragged him away as he stammered, as they had said their thanks, but he could see the surprise in Kyuhyun's face as well. Even Kyuhyun had known that name.
The man had been Merlin.
~~+~~
Listen for running water.
If there was anything Kyuhyun was going to be good at, it was that, Zhou Mi thought with a sigh. He'd escaped twisting his ankle once, stepping into a hole filled with leaves, and barely catching himself on a tree and Kyuhyun's shoulder before he rolled right over.
"I can’t believe that this is where we ended up," Zhou Mi said. "We just talked to Merlin. We're going to the Lake of Avalon! If the Star is in the lake, who knows what we'll see down there. Do you know the story of the Lady of the Lake?"
"Let me guess, you read a lot of books growing up," Kyuhyun said, pushing past a bush.
"I did. But it makes so much sense that this is where the Star came to rest. In some forms of the legend, Excalibur would rest there, too. Where better to keep a stone with that much power protected?"
Kyuhyun just shook his head. "This story won't have a Disney ending."
"But I loved that movie!" Zhou Mi said. He stopped, touching a tree as though it was the famous stone. He grabbed a branch, the hilt of the most famous sword of legend. "I will be king of—"
The branch, much as the sword would not have, did not budge. And Kyuhyun's eyebrow rose at him.
"King of your closet? I don't remember there being any lore about there being a diamond hidden under the sword."
"At least you know the story," he said, poking at Kyuhyun’s shoulder. "Are you sure there wasn't a subway stop close enough?"
He stuck close to Kyuhyun, trying to keep an eye out. Even if they joked, he had no idea what animals were in the woods. Deer, probably. Wolves, bears, he didn't know. Animals hadn't been what they'd been warned against, but men. Of course his mind was fertile, imagining robbers and highwaymen.
Or even the Coalition. When they'd broken into his apartment to find the Star, they hadn't been willing to back down until Kyuhyun had forced them. Even the thought had him looking back over his shoulder, like someone was following them.
Kyuhyun saved him from running into a branch.
"Eyes ahead," Kyuhyun reprimanded. "Look. I think it's just up there. You feel anything?"
Warmth, when Zhou Mi wrapped his hand around the Star's pouch.
"Yeah, I do," he said, grinning and getting a smile back. Urban warriors, conquering history.
And what they saw was a lake. Beautiful and bordered by trees. There was the sound of a creek gurgling somewhere, feeding into it. The warmth he felt in the stone told him they hadn't found the wrong lake. But how to find the other half of the Star was something else.
"So, how do we do this?" Zhou Mi asked.
"I have no idea," Kyuhyun said, kneeling down and poking his fingers into the water. "I can't make the water give it to us. Can you call the stone to you?"
"No," Zhou Mi said. Though he could have led them to it if it had been on solid ground, he couldn't call for it.
"No one here to bring it to us?" Kyuhyun joked. But he sighed. "So I'm guessing the diamond is actually in the lake. I bet that's cold. Water is my element, I should go."
Kyuhyun started to remove his jacket, just as Zhou Mi did the same.
"I'm the only one who will feel the stone move," Zhou Mi said, stepping out of his shoes. "It has to be me."
His clothes were next. He wanted to have something dry to put on after coming out of the cold water, or else catch cold. And there was no one there to see, save for Kyuhyun. He left his underwear on. Not so much as for propriety as for protection. He had no idea what was under the water's surface, whether it was fish, or rocks, or dead trees. A layer of cotton wasn't going to do much, but it was still a comfort.
But he was bracing himself for the cold, and he hadn't even taken a step into the soft lake edge.
Kyuhyun grabbed his arm before he could barely take a step. "Be careful."
The man he had been once would have turned, and hugged Kyuhyun. The man he was right then wanted it. But he nodded, and promised himself that if he succeeded, he'd do it then.
Like all the times he'd put a cup of tea down beside Kyuhyun's hand waiting for a smile. Waiting for some sign, some spark, looking away when he thought the want showed too much on his face. Waiting.
The cold water had his whole body tensing, and he moved as fast as he could to keep his mind off of it, until the bottom was too deep to touch. He swam as far as he dared, stopping to feel the heat, the vibration of the Star in its pouch. His ears were already hollow with water, and the lake was still cold. But the diamond still sang, and louder. Where he swam, he had not forgotten its place in legend.
He drew in a long steady breath, and without looking to shore - to Kyuhyun - he dove.
The water was clear, clear enough. Not enough to see a diamond discarded on the lake bed without clear direction from the half of the Star he held. And maybe not enough for his endurance in the cold water, or his air supply.
He saw movement, and thought a fish, until it swirled. And he realized it was hair. Long hair.
A woman's hair.
Had he been above water, he would have inhaled.
He struggled for the surface, exhaling and feeling the strain. Fingertips reaching, as though he could breathe with them, legs kicking.
The woman reached him first. Her hand was icy cool against his chest.
You are not of Water, but you belong to it. As does the stone.
Kyuhyun.
The bubbles rose from his mouth. The last he had left to give.
You may stay. I will give you what you seek. Stay.
Zhou Mi's eyes closed as the woman's mouth pressed to his. Strength leeched from his limbs, and his hand was guided down, down.
And everything fell into darkness.
~~+~~
The water burned.
But the air seared through him like fire.
Choking, gasping, fingers digging through rocks and dirt.
Spitting out water after the first deluge, coughing.
Turned onto his side.
Trying to drag the whole atmosphere right back in if it didn't hurt so damn much.
"Easy. Just keep breathing."
Zhou Mi's eyes were blurred with hot tears and cold lake water. Shaking too hard almost to blink as he focused on the air getting into his lungs.
Kyuhyun. Stroking his shoulder and supporting his head.
He swallowed several times, trying to get the aching tightness out of his throat. Like he'd vomited half the lake. Just thinking about it almost had him sick again.
"What happened?" he croaked.
"You tell me," Kyuhyun said. "I went after you, found you just floating on the lake bottom like some kind of merman in Dolce & Gabbana briefs. I should've gone."
"There was a woman," Zhou Mi said, as Kyuhyun helped him to sit, and he noted that Kyuhyun was nearly as bare as he was. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his dry clothes that Kyuhyun brought to him. Maybe he'd almost died, but he wasn't dead. He could appreciate Kyuhyun's back, the way the wet cloth of Kyuhyun's undershirt clung to him, and his underwear under that. Kyuhyun must have kept stripping, as Zhou Mi swam out. Maybe he'd done that for caution, or because he didn't trust Zhou Mi. Whatever the reason, he appreciated it. "When I dove, there was a woman there. Did you see her?"
"No," Kyuhyun said. "You think it was your Lady of the Lake? She drown you to keep you away from the magic land?"
"No, she—"
I will give you what you seek.
The Star. That it, and Zhou Mi, belonged to Water. A diamond of the Water Kingdom, a stone of earth.
She had not drowned him. She had helped him.
"Kyuhyun," he said, staring at his clenched right hand.
His arm was supported on Kyuhyun's, as his fingers unfurled from how tightly they had been held. Silt, from the lake bottom, weeds.
Zhou Mi forgot the cold, the hurt in his throat and chest.
All for the gleam that showed through the dirt.
The other half of the Star.
~~+~~
To part two
~~+~~
