Hongjoong woke up in the dead middle of the night in a cold sweat, a howl resounding through the empty land they were camped on. His breath came out shaky and uneven, his limbs shivering as he tried to recall what the fuck his nightmare was all about.

He could still hear the screams from unknown sources ringing in his ears as he tried to focus on a giggle he heard outside that probably came from San. He could almost feel the blood on his hands and for a second, when he looked down, he swore he could still see it; red spots of blood dripping down onto the blanket he was tucked under. He whimpered, rapidly glancing around as he dried to get the images of corpses lying on dusty earth out of his head.

Not too far off to the side, Seonghwa slept peacefully. Hongjoong needed someone to cuddle after that harrowing nightmare that will most likely haunt him for the rest of his days, but he didn't want to disturb the Prince by being a clingy and scared little kid, so he lied back down and closed his eyes...

But he couldn't go back to sleep.

He groaned softly in frustration, nearly pulling his hair out. He heard a hum from next to him, and shuffling. Hongjoong held his breath, thinking that Seonghwa would suddenly wake up, but all the Prince did was turn over so his back was now facing Hongjoong. So, after a whole internal debate, he lied down and turned into his side, shuffling forward and snuggling into Seonghwa's back. He fell back into a dreamless sleep within seconds, not knowing the secret smile Seonghwa shared with himself as he was really only half asleep when Hongjoong awoke from the nightmare.

When the sun rose in the early morning, San entered the tent to wake the sleeping Prince and Hongjoong up, but stopped as he saw the sight of Hongjoong basically curled up into a ball, his back right up against Seonghwa's. At some point during his sleep, Hongjoong had turned over onto his other side, sticking close to Seonghwa as the unconscious fear of having another nightmare entered his mind.

"Hey, sleepyhead, wake up!" San exclaimed after a while, shaking the two.

Seonghwa easily opened his eyes, blinking rapidly and yawning loudly. Hongjoong slept like a brick, and snored a little.

"Hongjoong, get up!" San shouted, roughly shaking him.

Hongjoong groaned, pulling the covers over his head, "five more minutes mum" he whines.

"I'm not your mum! But seriously, you need to get up! We need to keep moving and Hwa and I need to pack the tent and blankets back up" San sighs.

Hongjoong just groans again, but finally opens his eyes slowly and yawns softly.

"Alright, alright, I'm up, everybody calm down" Hongjoong mumbled, pouting.

San shakes his head, exiting the tent as a half asleep Hongjoong and a wide awake Seonghwa exit not long after. Seonghwa and San immediately get to work on packing up the tent and blankets, whilst Hongjoong stumbles over to Elya.

"Good morning girl" Hongjoong pats the horse's head softly, gently running his hands down to her nose.

The horse huffs hit air directly into his face, the blue haired boy shaking his head and grimacing. At least it was still relatively cool, but he knew he'd be sweating buckets later. It was desolate out there and reminded him of a desert but a lot flatter and without any sand.

He yawns once again, before trying to wake himself up. He suddenly feels the need for coffee, but he realises that he's in a completely different world that probably doesn't even have coffee.

"Here, drink this" Jongho hands him a water pouch filled with something that definitely wasn't water.

"What is this?" Hongjoong asks suspiciously.

"It's water from a very special pool in Aurorialis. We have a whole barrel full of it back at mine and Yunho's hut. It'll give you the energy you need survive the rest of the journey to the lake" Jongho explained.

Hongjoong just nods, hesitantly taking a sip. The water was sweet, but not overly sweet. It tasted almost like a cordial, but a very, very light blue coloured cordial, but at the same time it didn't taste like something from his world. It was unique but familiar at the same time.

"You know" Hongjoong starts as he takes another gulp and hands the water pouch back to Jongho, "I'm beginning to not want to leave. Aurora seems like such a vast and amazing place"

"It truly is" Jongho smiles fondly, "but just wait until you see Aurorialis, then you truly might not want to leave"

Hongjoong and Jongho laugh together as Hongjoong feels a pang of guilt deep in his heart. He may not want to leave, but if he doesn't, what will become of his mother? Who knows what she must be thinking right now?

Suddenly, Hongjoong stops laughing and sighs sadly, thoughts of his mother and step father entering his mind.

"But of course, you'd miss your parents dearly, so as much as you would love to stay, it might be best for you not to" Jongho smiles, but it seems a little bit forced.

Hongjoong wasn't the only one who enjoyed their company; they, in turn, enjoyed his company as well. They lived hearing about his life in his world, and wished and steamed of visiting there.

Maybe, just maybe, that would be possible. But, would it be in the way they hoped?

I hope this story is going okay, and i hope the world building aspect isn't too rushed. See, making up your own world is harder than it looks, trust me; I'm still trying to world build for my own bloody novel alchsnbxnbxnx