Don't own any but my character! Please review if you like!
Chapter 1
(Shortly after SuWon kills the king and Hak saves Yona,)
Pushing the unresponsive princess deeper into the shadows, Hak risked a quick glance around the corner, pulling his head back with a silent curse when voices echoed nearby. He looked around, pulling the princess closer as he did so, his body tensing in stress. In his rush to get the princess away from his best friend become enemy, and no he couldn't afford to dwell on that betrayal right now, he had to save Yona, but he'd taken a wrong turn somewhere and he was now hopelessly lost within the castle.
Once the voices faded away and it had been silent for some time, he risked taking a look around. They seemed to be in some old part of the castle. An old dungeon maybe? But he didn't see any other exit aside from the direction they'd come from. He looked down at the silent girl at his side and felt sorrow and rage sweep through him at her devastated expression.
"Princess, are you hurt?" He asked softly, giving her a gentle shake when she didn't respond.
"Hak, SuWon, he...he," she whispered, voice choked with tears.
"I know princess," he said softly, pulling her into a hug.
"Is someone here?"
Hak jumped as a voice spoke from the darkest part of the room, heart pounding and pulling the princess behind him protectively.
"Hello?" The same voice spoke again.
Hak felt his eyebrows furrow at how young and how hopeful the voice sounded.
"Who's there?" He demanded, keeping his voice low but threatening.
"Over here, in the farthest cell," the voice, a Male, it sounded like, responded immediately, and after a brief hesitation, Hak headed towards it, keeping the princess close.
"Um, I don't know if this matters any to you, but there are people headed this way, the voice spoke after a second and Hak's heart stopped.
"How do you know?" He asked urgently.
"Spend enough time in the dark and your other senses pick up the slack," he responded, sounding much closer. After a moment a hand brushed against his sleeve and he jumped.
"Quick, in here. The key is on the wall three steps to the right," he whispered, "quickly, they're almost here," he continued urgently.
"Come on princess," hak whispered, making up his mind as he grabbed the key, unlocked the door and ushered the still silent girl inside, following close behind.
"I know a way out," the boy whispered, making hak repress a flinch of surprise. "I'll tell you, but you have to take me with," the other male finished, voice nearly pleading.
Hak felt the princess shake from where she was pressed to his side, listened to the sound of soldiers getting closer and made up his mind.
"Fine, but if you try to harm the princess I'll kill you, got that?" He warned.
"I would never hurt her," the male said softly with such conviction that hak couldn't help but believe him.
"There's a old tunnel over here that should lead us into the surrounding forests," the boy said, reaching out and grabbing Hak's sleeve, leading them across the cell. He stood in the dark as the other male fussed with something,then blinked in surprise when a faint breeze brushed over his face.
"Come on," the boy said, tugging urgently. Hoping he wasn't making a mistake, Hak followed him into the tunnel.
Soldiers flooded into the room just as the wall slid back into place silently.
"How long is this tunnel?" Hak asked after several long minutes of silence.
"Several miles, we should end up near wind territory, actually," the unknown boy answered.
"How do you know about these tunnels?" Hak asked, suspicious, "and if you knew they were here, why were you still in that cell?" He continued.
"Um. I can't climb out on my own, and there were important people who lived in the castle, I didn't want them to get in trouble because I'd escaped," he answered timidly.
Hak digested that information in silence as they continued walking. They stopped a few times to rest and eat some mushrooms that the other boy assured were safe to eat, but finally, the tunnel began to lighten and they came to an opening about 12ft by 12 ft wide and over 15 ft tall. At the top on the far side was an opening just large enough for an adult body to squeeze through. He turned to their companion and got his first look at the other male.
It was like looking at a nearly perfect reflection of the princess, or at least what she would look like in a few years. He was a bit taller than Yona, but still much shorter than him and his hair was longer and a few shades darker than the princess, but the resemblance was unsettling.
"Princess, you got any long lost brother I don't know about?" He muttered, nudging the girl.
At his voice the other boy turned to face him, allowing Hak to get a good look at his face and front. Something a lot like horror twisted through his gut.
"Your hand, and eye...what happened to you?" Yona whispered, speaking for the first time in several days.
Hak had to agree with her horrified expression. The boy's left hand was a mangled mess, as though it had been broken and left to heal poorly many times, and his right eye socket, where there should have been an eye, was simply a dark hole in his face, horrible scars surrounding the wound, as if someone had clawed it from his face. The rest of his body, what little that was visible, was covered in scars as well.
Hak was shocked from his staring when the boy seemed to draw in on himself and quickly averted his face, his hair falling forward to cover his face, and tucking his hand out of sight.
"Sorry," he whispered, voice thick with shame and embarrassment.
"Let's just focus on getting out of here," Hak said, changing the subject and taking the focus off of him and onto himself.
"Princess, I'm gonna go first, then he's gonna give you a boost but then you're gonna have to climb the rest by yourself till I can reach you, ok? Then I'll go back down and help you,ok?" Hak said, looking down. The princess was biting her lip, her eyes large and teary, but she nodded bravely and after a moment the other boy nodded as well.
"We will not abandon you here, I swear," hak murmured to the other male, quietly enough that the princess wouldn't overhear. He noticed the other's body tense for a brief moment before he relaxed and nodded.
"I just realized, we don't know your name. I'm Yona," the red haired girl spoke up suddenly, looking at the stranger with guilty eyes.
"I'm Hak," he said simply.
A strange emotion flitted across the strange male's face before he gave them a strange little smile.
"You can call me Hinotori, it's very nice to meet you both," he said.
Yona and Hak stared at him for a moment, the edges of a memory flying through their heads at the introduction before hak shook it away. They had more important things right now.
Hak scrambled up the wall easily, rocks making for convenient hand and foot holds. He pulled himself out the top and called down.
"Alright princess, your turn,"
"I can't lift you because of my hand, so let's have you stand on my leg, ok?" Hinotori said softly and Yona nodded.
"There are lots of places to put your feet and hands and you should only have to climb 10 or so feet, so you should be able to do it, otherwise, I should be able to catch you if you fall," he added, putting one leg onto a large rock and bracing as the princess clumsily climbed on him and grabbed her first hand hold.
Slowly, nearly falling a few times, she finally managed to get high enough for Hak to grab her and pull her up the rest of the way.
"Now you! I'll climb down..." hak started, but Hinotori interrupted him.
"No, I should be able to climb, I just can't pull myself out with one hand, so you'll need to be up to to help," he called back.
Taking a deep breath, he began to climb, doing his best to ignore the pain in his hand. Just before he reached the top ,though, his hand slipped and he began to fall backwards. Closing his eyes, he braced himself for the pain of slamming into a rock floor would bring, but then there were hands wrapped around his good hand.
"Hinotori, give me your hand!" Yona cried, leaning over the ledge with her hands outstretched. Beside her, Hak was struggling to keep his balance and not get pulled down with him.
He swung his other hand up without thinking, scrabbling to find a foothold so he wouldn't drag them both over.
Small hands wrapped around his injured hand, sending a fresh wave of agony through him and he nearly lost his footing again but gritted his teeth and tightened his hold on the wall two hands holding him and pushed as they pulled.
Together they pulled him up and out of the tunnel and into the cool night air, tumbling back and panting.
After a moment Hinotori realized there was a hand wrapped tightly around his injured one. Pain flooding through him at the tight grip and he instinctively tried to pull away, fear and pain and panichurtshurtshurtsnonopleasestopnomorepleasepleaseplease...
Hak jumped when Hinotori let out a low moan/whine sound and looked over in time to see the other boy's eyes glaze over with overwhelming terror.
He rolled to his knees, sharp eyes taking in how he was struggling to pull away from an oblivious Yona and shot forward just in time to stop him from striking the girl who jumped and made the mistake of squeezing his hand even tighter. Hinotori screamed.
"Dammit! Princess, let go of him right now!" Hak shouted, grabbing his shoulders and forcing him down when he lunged at the princess with a snarl.
Yona flinched back in shock and, thankfully, dropped his hand, backing up in fear as the other boy's screams grew in tone and his struggles became wilder, forcing Hak to put all his strength into holding him down.
"Hinotori! Hinotori, calm down, you're ok. You're safe, she let go, no one's going to hurt you, so calm down!" Hak shouted, struggling to keep the frantic man pinned.
After several long minutes his struggles slowed as he exhausted himself. Hak slowly relaxed his grip as his writhing grew weaker until he was finally still, panting, with tears trickling down his cheeks. When hak released him completely and moved the other boy curled into a shaking ball, tucking his injured hand close protectively.
"Hak...Hak, what was that?" Yona whispered timidly.
Hak looked up, taking in her tear streaked face and sighed heavily.
"I think you triggered a flashback related panic attack when you grabbed his hand princess. I've seen a few soldiers have an attack similar and grandpa said it was because something really bad happened to them in the war. We should be careful not to grab his hand anymore. If I had been a little slower, he would have hurt you," he responded.
"I'm sorry,"
Hak and Yona turned, surprised to see that the other boy was now sitting up, he looked ashamed and a little frightened still.
Yona surprised him by falling down next to the boy and wrapping her arms around him in a hug.
"I'm so sorry for hurting you," she whispered.
"Im fine princess. But could you please maybe let me go?" He asked awkwardly, tensing up before he tried to relax himself.
"I don't really like being touched," he said hurriedly, seeing the princess's face fall.
"Well, we're about a half day away from Fuuga, let's rest here for tonight, then head there in the morning, alright?" Hak suggested, changing the subject and distracting the princess, noticing the grateful expression the boy shot him.
"Ok," Yona said, Hinotori nodding along with her.