I knew when I woke up that it would be a bad day. Most people rejoice on their birthdays, they wake up excited and ready to see who will celebrate with them and what presents they will bring, but that doesn't matter to me. I already have anything I could ever need, or want. And if I had it my way I would celebrate with the only three people I care about.

Being a prince doesn't allow for that kind of small, humble celebration though. As much as I resented it, hundreds of people would flow in and out of the castle today, wishing me hollow birthday wishes and giving me useless gifts in a pitiful attempt to win favor.

"Wakey wakey!" An entirely too chipper voice calls from the entrance of my room. Light footsteps cross the premises to the large balcony window I always keep the thick velvet drapes pulled over. With a whoosh, they were thrown open, silhouetting one of the aforementioned three people I care about.

Her bright red hair lay in unkempt tangles behind her, and her formal attire showed that she was entirely ready for the big day. Unlike me, though I had no real want to to ready at all.

"Oh, come on, Prince." She said, obviously disgruntled now that she had seen my 'sleeping' form. "Do you know how entirely unacceptable it would be to miss your own birthday party?"

I don't respond to my bodyguard's nagging. I had always thought she would have made a much better princess than I do a prince, with her cheerful demeanor, eager-to-please personality, and adorable face. When I told her that she had blushed almost as red as her hair, before stuttering out that those were exactly the reasons she made a good bodyguard. She was 'unexpected' or something.

I think the main reasons she made a good bodyguard is how cute she acts when I tease her, and how beautiful she looks when she smiles. I would never tell her that of course.

Having a relationship with your bodyguard was highly frowned upon.

Speaking of said bodyguard, she was now attempting to pull the covers off my body, a task made hard by the fact I had become a burrito while I slept. She finally managed to tug the blanket hard enough to roll me out of it, a feat that ended with me all but flying off the other edge of the bed. I close my eyes to brace for impact, but it never came.

I opened my eyes to see Yona's threateningly cheerful face inches from mine. "Good! You're awake! Now get dressed. If you aren't in the hall in ten minutes, I will find you." She says as she tosses me out of her arms and on to my feet.

I stare after her as she leaves. It was easy to forget with her adorable features, clumsy demeanor, happy-go-lucky attitude, terrible sense of direction... Ahem. The point is, she's the best at what she does.

Snapping out of my daze, I head towards the closet, which might as well have been another room altogether. When I step in, I'm surrounded my colorful fabrics and sparkling gems. I sigh deeply. Sometimes, I wish that the wind tribe hadn't overthrown the sky tribe all those years ago. All the lavishness felt wasted on me. I could very easily imagine Yona living here instead, air-headed, innocent, free from the corruption I knew nothing about except what she had told me, which wasn't much. I could almost see it, her basking in all the glitz that came with royalty, nothing more pressing to worry about than her hair.

And of course, probably even more cute and receptive to teasing.

"You have three minutes!" Came her voice, breaking me out of such wishful thinking. Sighing, I grabbed the first Yukata that came into reach, a dark silken thing with silver thread holding it together. Perfect. Not so flashy I would be uncomfortable, but regal enough to not invoice the wrath of Mundok. I quickly shrug it on and head out to the hall, where a petulant Yona was waiting.

"You always cut it so close." She sighs. "And what's up with your hair?" She sighs again before stepping closer. I feel my face heat up as her fingers start delicately combing through the black tresses on my head. I duck down instinctively so Yona won't have to stand on her tiptoes to reach. I can feel my eyes starting to slip closed. She's so gentle... I wish this would never end, but all too soon it does. Yona pulls away from me and gives my hair a satisfied look. "What would you do without me?" She asks, obviously pleased with herself.

"Well, for starters, I would still be in my warm and cozy bed." I say, letting accusation slip into my voice.

She sticks her tongue out at me, before turning around and walking away. "Come on! You're going to be late."

I walk after her, purposefully moving as slowly as possible. She gets exasperated really fast, turning around and pushing me from behind before even a minute had past. With my bodyguards help, we arrive only minutes after the gates had been opened to the public. Much to my chagrin, she left as soon as she was sure I couldn't escape, leaving me to look for another familiar face in the crowd of well-wishers.

Salvation comes from a old, scarred face. As soon as he sees me, his eyes start to glimmer with unshed tears. You can always rely on Mundok to make a scene.

"You've grown so big!" He blubbers, stumbling through the crowd with the obvious objective of glomping me. I stop him with a hand before he can complete his objective, a tactic that had proved very useful in the past.

Not that useful this time, as it turns out. Before I knew it, my arm had been flung out of blocking range, and I was engulfed by Mundok's crushing embraced. The floor flew out from under my feet as he picked me up and began to twirl me. Ah, yes, the punishment for attempting to avoid one of Mundok's hugs. Public humiliation.

After what sees like an absurdly long time, he sets me down. His face changes, shifting from about-to-cry to serious. He gazes at me with an intensity I had only ever seen rarely. "You've become a fine young man. I have full confidence that when the time comes, you will lead this country to greatness."

His words catch me off guard, and in stare at him, wide-eyed and gaping like a fish, for a good few seconds before settling my face into a smile. "Thanks. It means a lot."

He returns my smile, before turning back to the crowds surrounding us. He easily falls into exchanging pleasantries with a passing diplomat, leaving me once again alone in a sea of people vying for my favor.

This time, my savior sneaks up on me. Hands close over my eyes before I can figure out who the owner of them is. They're too big to be Yona's, too soft to be Mundok's, and that just leaves one person I'm close enough to for this kind of contact to be acceptable.

"Soo-won!" I call out triumphantly, entirely too pleased at how quickly I figured out who it was.

I'm rewarded by a pleasant laugh of the man who might as well have been my brother. When I turn to look at him, he's grinning like he's got a secret. "You look even more uncomfortable than I expected. What do you say we go outside for a bit?"

I agree readily, thankful for an excuse to leave the oppressive crowd of people. We sneak down an empty hallway and out a side entrance, where thankfully no one is hanging out. I step out into the cool night air, relaxing immediately now that I've eft the throng of people.

"Leaving so soon?" The voice makes me jump, which I immediately curse as girly giggles ring out. Soo-won steps into her line of sight next, making Yona, who was sprawled on a support beam above us, sigh. "I go through all the trouble to get him up and presentable, and you steal him away before an hours past."

"It's not my fault it's boring as all get-out in there." Soo-won replies. "And don't even try to argue about it being boring, after all, why else would you be hiding out here?"

"I'm guarding, you idiot. That's my job. But I can't argue that's it's pretty boring in there. That's what you get when you throw together a bunch of stuffy old men and suck-ups."

"Well," there was the trademark mischievous Soo-won smile, "I have a way to make it interesting." From inside the folds of his traditional Yukata, a sizable bottle of saké is produced. A grin is shared between the three of us, before Yona jumps down from her perch.

"Come on, I know where we won't be disturbed." She says as she walks away, her hips swaying.

We follow her to the very edge of the castle grounds, to a place I had completely forgotten about. One look at Soo-won's face reveals that he had also forgotten about the treehouse the three of us had spent a long summer building all those years before.

Yona smiles brightly at our faces. "What do you think? I thought it would be the perfect place to celebrate the princes 16th birthday."

"You're amazing, Yona." Comes Soo-won's breathless whisper. His voice holds a hint of sadness. He's probably remembering all the days we had spent up there, playing, dreaming, conversing.

"Haha, thanks. You go first, Prince. I got to be able to catch you if your clumsy ass falls."

"You think I'll fall? Yona, I think you need to get your memory checked."

"That was one time!" She yells, much to my pleasure. Her face reddens, making a smirk grace my face. I listen to her though, and climb up first, surprised to see the the treehouse looking virtually untouched by the time that had passed. It had been at least three years since we came here, but it looked as clean as it had the last time I set foot in here.

Soo-won came up behind me, followed by Yona. She noticed my questioning stare and looked away, her cheeks tinting a dull pink. "I might have been taking care of it." She mumbles, obviously embarrassed.

"Really!? Wow Yona, you're so cool!" Soo-won says excitedly. Yona blushes a darker red, making me examine them carefully. Could they...? Nah.

Soo-won takes the bottle of saké out of whatever hidden pocket he's been keeping in it, along with three saké dishes. Yona stares at them. "You knew I was coming?"

"It's not like you ever let the Prince go anywhere on his own." Soo-won teases gently.

Yona pouts a bit, before arguing back. "Well, the one time I accidentally let him wander off on his own, he managed to get kidnapped, sold, drugged, and almost shipped away to the Kai empire."

Now it's my turn to blush. "Hey! I was like 5!" I say in my defense.

Soo-won shoves a cup of alcohol into Yona's hands before she can say anything back at me. He gives me one too, before pouring his own.

We all share a glance and smile.

"Cheers." Three voices say in unison.

"Hey..." My voice sounds weird to me, but I continue, "Won... Can I call you *hic* Won? Soo-won, is like, so hard."

Soo-won, who was currently laying sprawled across the floor, rolled over to look up at me. "You can *hic* call me whatever you want." He says huskily, winking at the end. Giggles make me look over at Yona, who's leaning against the wall by me. She's offering the saké to me, which I gladly take. The saké cups lay abandoned in the corner.

I lift the bottle to my lips, taking a small sip, before passing it to Soo-won. Despite the fact he was laying face down and he didn't look at me, he still takes the bottle. The guy must have some kind of third eye or something. "Can't.. Get up..." He moans.

This, for some reason throws Yona into another giggle fit. This one only lasts a few seconds, and then she's over by Soo-won, attempting to pull him up. Eventually, through the combined effort of two smashed teenagers, Soo-won is sitting up. Well, he was, until Yona fell on him.

"Hakkk," Yona whines. My face heats up when I realize she actually used my name, instead of 'Prince'. I have no time to contemplate if this means anything other than that she's hammered, because she's continuing. "You *hic* should, like umm." She pauses for a moment, apparently forgetting what she was asking. She gives the area around her a suspicious look. He eyes come to rest on Soo-won, and they widen in realization. "Oh! You should help us up!"

I groan and grumble, but manage to get to my feet and stumble over. Yona is sprawled out across Soo-won. It enrages me for a second before I remember I can't have her. And, if anyone deserves someone as amazing as Yona, it's Soo-won.

She rolls over to face me, her face flushed. She reaches up and I grab her hands, pulling her up maybe just a bit too hard, on accident of course, so that she falls into my chest. She leans against me and I wrap my arms around her. She's soft and warm against me, and it's calming.

"Ey! You can't hog someone as cute as *hic* Yona all to yourself!" At Soo-won's voice, Yona stumbles backwards, out of my arms. She falls back down on her butt with a soft oof! And I sigh. Back to square one, I guess.

"Soo-won, you think I'm *hic* cute?" Yona asks Soo-won, who has returned to lying in the face down position.

"Yup!" Came his muffled reply. "In fact," he continues, peeling himself off the ground, "you're so cute, I could," now, he lauches himself at Yona's face, pressing his mouth to hers. I stumble forward and let out a strangled noise, aiming to break them apart, but then I remember. I can't have her.

"Kiss you." He finishes, before promptly passing out.

Yona looks at him, then at me, then back at him, her face flushing ever deeper shades of red.

"Um. " she says eloquently after a few moments.

Wordlessly, I pass her the bottle, which she takes gratefully. In a few moments, it's like nothing even happened. Me and her pass the bottle between us amidst our usual cheeky banter, albeit with much less intelligence in it.

Eventually we both lie down and reminisce the memories we've made together in the darkening light. I don't even register when I finally fall asleep.

Shuffling wakes me up. The world is still spinning, just a bit, but I can tell it's been a few hours. I crack open one eye warily, but no bright light assaults me. Still night, then. I forced open the other eye, and turn my head carefully, looking for the noise that had awoken me. I was just in time to see the bright blond hair of Soo-Won disappear below the entrance. A quick glance assures me that Yona is still here. She's curled up, cuddling the saké bottle.

Huh?

I push myself up to follow him, but I have to stop when the world starts spinning once again. By the time I've pulled myself out of the treehouse and onto the ladder that connects it to the ground, Soo-won is long gone.

I wander the grounds, getting more and more nervous as I go. Everything seems so quiet and... Empty.

I stop with sudden realization. There are no guards. That's why it feels so empty. My objective changes quickly from finding Soo-won to finding Mundok to see what's up.

I head down the twisting corridors until I reach the hall his room is in. When I get close to the door alarm courses through me.

Its open.

I run the last few steps and fling the door back, staring desperately into the dark room.

I see the silhouette of my father and... I see someone else, and there's a sword and it's not going through Mundok, it's definitely not, it's behind him or in front of him or...

A sickening, wet noise echoes through the room as Mundok's body slides off the sword and hits the ground with a lifeless thump.

"Oh."

A/N: heyyyyy guys. Doing an actual thing with an actual plot, what is this. Also, you guys should review and tell me if you want Hak or Yona to be the center of the four dragons myth in this, cause I can't decide. Pretty please! Oh, and constructive criticism is loved and appreciated.