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Kim watched his reflection in the mirror. His hair looked ruffled as he quickly gathered some of the strands into a ponytail. One of the assistants in the room placed a crown on his head, the amethyst crystals on it shimmering in the low light, matching the ones carefully sewn into his overcoat.
“You look good Kimhan. Proper for once,” he heard a voice say behind him. The voice belonged to his father, his piercing eyes coloured a dark shade of brown, his son sharing the same eyes. But whereas Kim’s gaze showed internal defeat, his father had a gleam in his own.
This was it. Today he would face Lord Porchay, but not for the reasons Kim wished. Today was the day to prove to the people that he was worthy of being their King. That he puts the safety of the Satss Kingdom above anything. Above their rivals.
Today was the day he would let his father ruin the only good thing in Kim's life.
It was just his luck to be born into the family each kingdom feared. To be the son of the man who made an enemy of everyone whom he came across. And now Kim was forced to eliminate the heir to the Unit Kingdom.
"Don't disappoint your people and your family Kimhan. Don't disappoint me," his father said, locking eyes with Kim in the mirror before leaving the room, followed by all the assistants.
Kim sighed, smoothing out his justacorps as he caught sight of the sword laying on the table behind him. It was freshly sharpened and polished, the family herb etched into the handle.
Porchay should be at the location soon, surely fuming after reading the letter Kim had sent him. Good. Angry Chay meant that everything would go easier.
He took the sword off the table and made his way down to the stables. He had managed to convince his father that Kim would be capable of taking care of the task at hand alone, without any knights going alongside him.
That meant he wouldn't have to put on a show for anyone.
"Hello Sunshine," he said entering the stall of his beloved companion. "Today is the last time we will go to the flower field. I know you like that place, so do I, but after today it will be too tainted to ever enter again."
Kim smiled sadly, petting the stallion on his head before mounting the horse.
The way to the riverside was uneventful as it often was. The day was lovely, sun high in the sky and not a cloud to be seen. Kim welcomed the gentle breeze against his skin as he rode further away from the town. The closer Kim got to his destination the more he dreaded what was to come.
And then he saw him. Kim watched as Porchay paced on the grass, stomping over all the flowers they once upon a time would pick out together. In his hand he held a crumpled piece of paper - the letter from Kim. His horse lay in the shade beneath a tree, he had been there for a while.
Porchay was someone Kim had grown up to hate. They've been pitted against each other since childhood. Their fathers were enemies and so they have taught their children to be rivals as well.
But then the unexpected happened. Kim and Chay met each other and feelings blossomed between them. It was sudden, beautiful but oh so dangerous.
And now here Kim stood, with the intention to kill the one person he truly loved. The consequence of his own irresponsibility.
He didn't want to do it. Of course he didn't, but he knew his father too well. He knew if he let Chay walk away, if he told him to hide, if he faked his death or if they ran away together like he so badly wished, his father would find Porchay and the fate he would face was something Kim didn't want to think about.
Kim could make it fast, painless. He could save Porchay from the tortures he would undoubtedly be a victim to otherwise.
Kim observed him for a moment longer before finally approaching, a sinking feeling in his stomach.
“Chay,” he said, leading Sunshine to Porchay’s horse.
Chay didn’t say anything, instead turned around to face Kim, unshed tears brimming his beautiful eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Kim said and he meant it. He was sorry for what happened between them, for the way things had to end, for the letter, and for the task he was sent out to complete. He was sorry for the fact that his father had somehow found out about them.
“You’re sorry?” Porchay scoffed, throwing the letter at Kim’s feet. Angry Chay meant things would be easier, Kim kept repeating to himself. “You played with me, chewed me out and spit me when you got bored and you’re sorry? You don’t get to be sorry Kim, you don’t get to send me some stupid letter and think everything will be finished."
The tears he had tried to stop fell down, staining Porchay’s cheeks causing Kim's heart to squeeze painfully. He wished there was a way to prevent all of this. To go back in time. He wished he had the courage to stop his father, to save Chay.
But Kim didn't have what it took and instead, with guilt eating him up on the inside, he was nothing but a puppet in his father's world.
"I've had enough of you Kimhan!" Korn's voice echoed through the room. "You are a disgrace to the family name, getting involved in such a way with the enemy. I'll give you one chance and one chance only to redeem yourself."
"I don't need to redeem myself in any way. I love Porchay and I won't be a part of your stupid games anymore. I'm done," Kim threw the crown on his head at the feet of his father.
But just as he was about to leave the room, Korn's next words froze him on the spot.
"No Kimhan, I don't think you are. You will kill Porchay yourself or I can promise you that your lover will suffer in the worst ways possible. And don't try to play any tricks. You've already caused enough trouble."
He drew his sword from his belt, watching with regret as Porchay took a step back.
"What are you doing P'Kim."
"The letter was a lie, Chay. A lie to ruse you here. To bring you here and to make you hate me. But you will never hate me more than I hate myself for what is to happen now. I love you Porchay, but that love should have stayed hidden. I love you Chay and I'm sorry that I did, that I do. And now because of that love I have no other choice."
Kim choked on his words and lifted his sword up. He had been trained since he was a little kid on how to use weapons correctly. Where to attack to make his opponent suffer, bleed out with no death to come. How to ensure someone said what he needed to know or how to make the damage fatal.
He knew that an accurate stab to the heart would make a person die before they hit the ground. And whose heart did he know better than Porchay's.
"I love you," he wanted the words to be the last Chay heard, and more than anything Kim hoped at least a fragment of Porchay believed him despite the unforgivable, deathly way Kim would now betray him.
Tears finally spilled down his face, his knees hitting the grass as Porchay’s body soundlessly slumped to the ground, Kim's sword plunged into Chay’s chest before the younger could react.
Kim gathered the lifeless shell of his lover into his arms, apologies gasped out between sobs.
He stayed like that, kneeling amongst the flowers with Porchay on his lap for what seemed like eternity but couldn't be more than a couple of hours, the sun on its way down.
Kim didn't want to leave, didn't want to abandon Porchay's body, face his father or the kingdom. He didn't want to think about existing or continuing his life without Chay in it. With the knowledge that he was the cause of all of this, that he was the one to kill the young heir.
Kim looked at the sword he didn't have the courage to pull out and contemplated his next move.
However his thought process didn't last long, it didn't have to. Staring at the sword stuck in his lover's heart he knew what he needed to do next.
He had done the unthinkable and broken Porchay’s heart not only figuratively but physically too but the truth was that the heart wasn't just Porchay's.
It was Kim's too.
And without Chay, his life no longer had sense as his heart had too been broken.
So with newfound determination in his eyes, Kim did the only thing that now needed to be done.
He pulled his weapon out of Porchay’s body, the blood of his partner tainting the blade, and with few last words, Kim struck the sword into his own chest, his hand in Chay's as they lay together in the summer grass to be found dead in each other’s embrace.
"Please let us meet in the next life, this time on the same side, no longer as rivals."