Pairing: SKZ & Felix (mild JiLix focus)

Genre: Royalty AU, Hybrid AU, Soulmate AU

!!TW!! : implied abuse (kind-of), there's some crying, I don't really know how to tag this

(requested by @... & @deceitedspades)

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"—sung... Ji... JISUNG!"

"I'M NOT SLEEPING!"

A moment of silence followed the sudden outburst of the Crowned Prince, before all of his soulmates facepalmed as one. Count on the young quokka prince to fall asleep smack in the middle of an important political discussion, of all things...

Chan cleared his throat. "As we were saying, Your Highness, the Kingdom of Silence has grown overzealous and has started encroaching on our territory. They are open to peace talks, but we are unsure of whom to send to discuss such an important matter."

"Right, right, right..." Jisung cleared his throat and spared an awkward smile for the rest of his advisors. "Erm, how about everyone here picks three potential envoys, and I'll make my decision based on your opinions. Sounds good, right?"

"Sounds perfect, Your Highness," assured Minho, sending a sharp smile to the rest of the advisors and daring them to oppose to the idea.

The members of the council quickly mumbled their assent, and the meeting was finally adjourned. The moment the last of the advisors left the room, Jisung slumped in his chair with a groan, rubbing his temples.

"Ugh, I hate those meetings..."

"Those meetings are important, Jisung," sighed Chan, gathering some papers. "You can't just keep falling asleep in the middle of them. How can you expect them to take your ideas seriously if you don't even pay attention to the matters at hand?"

"Well, how can they expect me to not fall asleep when all they keep talking about is adding taxes, opening trades, or making me marry a random Princess—"

A faint growl escaped Chan at that. The wolf hybrid was quite protective of his pack, and it wasn't a secret for any of their soulmates that he was quite displeased whenever the subject of a political marriage was brought up.

It wasn't his fault, or anyone's, really. The Kingdom of Ainmosni was quite old-fashioned in regard to its monarchy, and the current King, Jisung's father, refused to give up the throne until Jisung married someone of noble blood.

(It didn't matter to the old coot that Jisung had already six soulmates by his side, no – all that mattered to him was the fact that not a single one of them was someone of equal status with his son, meaning they weren't eligible for the throne.)

Jisung considered himself quite lucky. He had been born under a good star and, as the only child of the late Queen, he was the only heir capable of ascending the throne of Ainmosni – so needless to say, he was quite literally born with a silver spoon up his ass.

And yet, despite his privileged upbringing, the quokka hybrid – he took much more after his mother in terms of appearance and character – was a gentle, kind soul. He wasn't fazed by someone's social class or status, and worked really hard to become a Prince his people could be proud of.

And his people were proud of him. Hell, they adored him! But as long as the current King refused to abdicate, that adoration didn't amount to anything – the King wasn't the type to listen to the demands of mere peasants, after all.

Which led them to a rather serious issue: Jisung wouldn't get married to anyone, because he already had six soulmates, and none of them answered to the King's standards. In fact, many theorized that it was merely a ploy for the King to keep the throne for as long as he could, because what he was asking of his son was simply impossible to do.

When Jisung turned fifteen, he received his Soul Mark, like everyone else. What was different about his mark, however, was how big it was. He'd watched in awe as the black, almost shiny ink had spread all over his left forearm to draw a an intricate design of vines and foliage, with six buds scattered all over it.

And, barely an hour later, the moment he reunited with his personal guard Changbin, one of the buds bloomed into a beautiful violet – and it's only when that happened that Changbin revealed his own mark, which was exactly like Jisung's, except his now had a sunflower blooming in the crook of his elbow instead of a violet. 

It's then that the two of them realized that they still had five other soulmates, since they still had five buds that had yet to bloom. They'd been both terrified and overjoyed at the prospect, because having many soulmates could go one of two way: either they never found them and they lived in eternal sorrow, either they did find them and lived on in eternal bliss.

But, as Jisung's luck would have it, it didn't take long for him to run into his second soulmate – Chan. He was a wolf hybrid, and a newly appointed Knight. The moment their eyes met, Jisung had felt the shift in the air and, when he had looked at his Soul Mark, he found a beautiful edelweiss blooming under Changbin's violet.

Minho and Seungmin had already found each other when they dropped by the capital for a festival. Minho was a witch, and Seungmin a seer – they intended to sell Minho's potions and Seungmin's services to make some money and, coincidentally enough, Jisung had stumbled across their stall after having escaped Changbin's watch.

He'd been delighted when Minho's bittersweet and Seungmin's bluebell joined the growing array of flowers on his forearm. It had taken a little while to convince the pair to come live with him and the others in the castle, though, neither of them too keen on living their cottage behind until a few more months passed.

Changbin was the first to find Hyunjin. The ferret hybrid had just started working as a maid in the kitchens to try and earn some money so he could buy medicine for his sick mother, and he'd accidentally dropped an entire cauldron of lukewarm soup on Changbin's head when throwing it out the window without looking.

(Needless to say, all of their soulmates still laughed when recalling that particular story.)

Once Hyunjin's peony was added to Jisung's growing collection, everyone started growing a little restless. They knew they had one more soulmate out there, like an itch they couldn't quite scratch, and they wanted nothing more to find them.

Eventually, though, it was Jeongin who found them.

At first, they thought he was a hybrid, but the sneaky thief was actually an animagus – contrarily to hybrids, he could not only hide his animal side completely, but he could also fully shift into his animal form. Chan was the one who caught him trying to make a run for it after robbing the royal vaults – he still had a scar on his hand from when Jeongin had bit him in his Artic fox form to try and free himself.

Jeongin was a bit more of a free spirit. After the last bud bloomed into a beautiful daisy, he started coming and going as he pleased. They all knew he was still stealing from the vaults but, after Changbin had followed him and found out he was actually giving out his spoils to an orphanage on the edge of the city, they all commonly agreed to simply let him do as he pleased – it's not like the King was going to notice, anyway.

Eventually, Jeongin took a genuine liking to them. He stopped stealing of his own accord, and instead went directly to Jisung and asked him to fund the orphanage – which the Prince did without hesitation, because he was just that nice and didn't care much if caviar was suddenly taken off the daily menu.

And that was that. Jisung had found his six soulmates, and they all loved each other very much, and they were all very happy together. The entire kingdom was aware of their existence and identities, and the people were more than happy to have someone "blessed by Fate" as their future leader.

Which... brought everyone back to square one. Because even though Jisung had been "blessed by Fate" with six wonderful soulmates, his father wouldn't let him marry any of them and, unless Jisung found a partner to occupy the second throne, he wasn't considered ready to take up the mantle of King.

Hence why his advisors were now pushing for him to find himself a royal bride, if only on paper, so the current King could finally be forced to abdicate. But of course, Jisung wasn't about to marry someone who wasn't his soulmate, let alone do it for any reason other than genuine love.

"In any case, let's just focus on the task at hand, now," cut in Changbin another groundless argument could break out. "Before sending an envoy, we should at least know what we're dealing with. We've been at peace with Silence for many decades, now – why the sudden aggressiveness?"

"The King died a little over two years ago, and the Crowned Prince went missing, so an Intendant has taken over the throne until the Second Prince comes of age to claim it," explained Hyunjin, looking through some papers.

"So the Intendant's the problem," summarized Jeongin, clicking his tongue. "How much do you wanna bet he's not going to give up the throne so easily?"

"Let's not make hasty assumptions," frowned Chan. "It's common knowledge that the late King had been sick for many years, and that the Crowned Prince loathed his title – let's not assume the worst of the current monarch based on simple hearsay."

The young offered an apologetic nod, properly chastised. He tended to be rather cynic when it came to those in power, which wasn't too much of a surprise considering his upbringing, but he was slowly starting to learn that there were rulers who genuinely wanted the best for their people, like Jisung.

"Well, there's no point in mindlessly speculating about the how or why," remarked Minho. "The mere fact that they agreed to peace talks shows that they're ready to go through with an all-out invasion attempt, but are still willing to try and get what they want without bloodshed. With that being said, this can end in one of two ways: either they set reasonable terms and we can come to an agreement, either they don't set reasonable terms and the envoy will return with a declaration of war in hands."

A cold sweat ran down Jisung's temple. "That- that's looking a little far into it, isn't it? Surely the conflict hasn't already grown this out of proportion."

"I'm afraid Minho's right, Jisung," sighed Changbin, rubbing his temples. "There's a high chance the peace talks are nothing more than an excuse to blame our kingdom for a falling out and use that opportunity to end the alliance between Ainmosni and Silence. We have to be ready for the worst eventuality."

"But that's—"

"Seungmin!"

Hyunjin's startled exclamation instantly drew the attention of the others, and they instantly realized why he'd shouted of the sort. A white veil had spread over Seungmin's now glassy eyes as he stared into nothingness, completely frozen. For the seer to receive an unprompted vision was quite rare – they were usually extremely important, basically prophecies. The last time he'd had one, an entire village had been burned to the ground by bandits!

The worry grew tenfold when a single tear rolled down the seer's cheek and, a moment later, the veil lifted to revealed watery brown irises. Seungmin lurched forward, wheezing out a strangled sob as he clutched his heart.

"Seungmin!" Minho was the first by his side. "Take deep breath, love, you're back now, it's over. Just focus on your breathing, okay?"

Hyunjin brought him a glass of water, and it took a few minutes for Seungmin to completely reconnect with reality. Once he'd calmed down, though, a grim expression settled on his face.

"What did you see?" asked Chan, worried.

"A boy – an hybrid. He looked like he was hurting, and his sadness ran so deep, I could feel it...!" He let out a shuddering breath, trying to remember more. "He was... wearing a crown, and there were mountains with snow on top in the background... I think- I think he's the Second Prince of Silence..."

A heavy silence followed as everyone slowly pondered over his vision. For Seungmin to See the Second Prince of Silence and future heir to its throne when they were just discussing the political state of the kingdom...

"Too many coincidences," huffed Jeongin, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't like this. And if Minnie saw the guy, then he's probably in danger."

"We'll help him," assured Jisung, the uncharacteristic determination in his voice instantly earning his soulmates' attention. "Cancel the request I made to the council members – I'll act as the official envoy."

"That's too dangerous," instantly protested Hyunjin. "If they truly seek a reason to start a war, then they might try to kill you so as to provoke Ainmosni. That's—"

"Anyone who acts as the envoy puts their life at risk. As the Prince, they won't be able to outright harm me, and I know I can count on all of you to keep me safe from the assassins they might send after me." Jisung obviously wasn't going to back down on this, and he rose to his feet. "There's something about the Second Prince of Silence. If Seungmin saw him in his vision, then that means he's important – and that means I need to speak with him, as soon as possible."

"We can make arrangements to leave as soon as tomorrow morning," assured Chan, well-aware that they wouldn't be able to change his mind.

"Good. I'm not forcing any of you to come with me—"

"Shut up, we're coming," snorted Jeongin, cracking his neck. "Changbin has to because he's your personal guard, Chan will because he's the best Knight around, Seungmin will because his seer abilities might very well save your sorry ass, Minho will because he's the only healer in the group, and Hyunjin will 'cause he doesn't want to get left behind."

"And what about you?" huffed Hyunjin, a tad annoyed at being called out so blatantly.

Jeongin's grin simply widened. "I'm coming out of the goodness of my heart."

"Uh-huh. And you're sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Silence is renowned for its market of pure crystal and rare gems?" deadpanned Chan.

Jeongin's grin turned into a smirk. "Maybe there's a bit of that, too."

"At least he's honest about it," snorted Changbin, shaking his head.

"Honest? That little tsundere is just looking for excuses – he's really coming because he cares about us," taunted Minho.

"Ah? I don't want to be called a tsundere by you, of all people!"

As the rest of the groups started playfully bickering, Jisung heaved out a sigh. He was a little worried about acting as an official envoy, since he'd never done anything of the sort before, but the need he felt to go to Silence and find the mysterious Second Prince simply couldn't be ignored.

Like an itch he couldn't quite scratch.

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It took them a little over three weeks on the road to finally make it to Silence. The moment they reached the frontiers, they were greeted by an escort party, and immediately guided to the city where the royal family of Silence resided.

As soon as they entered the castle, a man came to greet them.

"Welcome to Silence, Your Highness!" he greeted cheerfully. "I am Taeyong, the current Intendant. I hope the journey wasn't too difficult on you and your companions?"

"It was pretty great, thanks for asking," beamed Jisung. "Also, this might be a little sudden, but I would like to request an audience with the Second Prince."

"You wish to speak with Prince Felix?" blinked the Intendant, a tad taken aback with the sudden request. "Well, that certainly can be arranged... How about you all get settled down in the guest quarters, and we can all share dinner tonight? I'll make sure the Second Prince joins us."

"Thank you, for accommodating us. We appreciate your hospitality, and shall take you up on your generous offer," instantly agreed Chan before Jisung could start making a scene.

"Very well! I'll have a servant show you the way, then. See you tonight!"

As he walked away with an almost amusing bounce in his step, Jisung clicked his tongue.

"I wanted to speak to him now," he huffed, crossing his arms impatiently.

"Intendant Taeyong assured we would meet him tonight. Insisting would have only looked suspicious," replied Chan, gently poking his forehead. "Be patient, Jisung – we'll figure this out soon enough."

"He looked nice enough," then remarked Hyunjin. "And friendly. He didn't even hesitate before confirming the Second Prince's presence tonight..."

"He's very accommodating," nodded Seungmin, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "Maybe a tad too much, even."

"Let's just stay on our guards while we're here," decided Minho. "Until we've spoken with the Second Prince, we shouldn't trust anyone."

The others nodded in agreement at that and, as if on cue, a servant came to fetch them so as to show them the way to the guests' quarters.

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When dinnertime finally came, Jisung was practically bouncing from anticipation and excitement. He couldn't wait to meet the mysterious Second Prince and, hopefully, find their worries unfounded. The Intendant had seemed nice enough, after all—

"Seungmin!"

The entire group paused as Changbin caught Seungmin, who'd just lurched forward from the strength of yet another vision. They instantly crowded around him, hoping no passing servants will have noticed, and they patiently waited for him to snap back to reality.

When he did, he had tears in his eyes.

"He's hurting...!"

"Who?" instantly asked Chan. "Who's hurting?"

"The- the Second Prince... He's hurting so much... He's- he's scared and- and in pain and alone, and it- it's dark..."

This wasn't good. There was no way of knowing if it was a vision of the present, or the future – they'd only know once they got to the dining hall. While Changbin half-carried a still-shaken Seungmin, everyone started walking again, grim expressions on their faces.

Whatever was going on, it was bad.

"Oh, good evening, gentlemen!" greeted the Intendant the moment they entered. He was the only one sitting at the table, though. "Ah, I must apologize – the Second Prince has fallen ill yet again, and won't be able to join us tonight."

They all instantly tensed up, and Chan cleared his throat.

"Again? He falls ill often, then?"

"Ah, yes, all of the time," sighed Taeyong, seemingly saddened by the thought. "Our Second Prince doesn't have a very solid constitution – he gets sick every few weeks or so, and all we can do is look after him while he's bedridden."

"I'm a healer," then stated innocently Minho. "Maybe I could take a look at him, see if one of my potions might help?"

"O- oh, that's very generous indeed." The Intendant's smile had twitched just the slightest bit, and it was enough to let them know that he was hiding something. "How about we discuss the matter further, after dinner, hm? We should—"

"Argh!"

Without warning, Jeongin violently lurched forward, cradling his head. He appeared deeply in pain, and his soulmates were instantly set on edge.

"What's wrong, Innie?" murmured softly Hyunjin, rubbing his back.

"My head's killing me..." groaned Jeongin. "It's another of those stupid traveling migraines... I- I'm sorry, but I think I'll just go lay down in our room."

"Ah, I'll take you," instantly volunteered Jisung, coming to support him. He shot an apologetic look at the Intendant. "I'm terribly sorry for the trouble, but do you think you could send food to our room, instead?"

"Of course, of course! It's no problem at all!"

"Thank you. Minho, we'll take one of your potions – don't worry, I know which one."

"Alright, just come fetch me if it gets worse," nodded the witch.

Waving the entire group goodbye, Jisung then guided Jeongin outside. The moment the doors closed behind them, the Intendant glanced at them curiously.

"Traveling migraine...?"

"That's what we call them, yes – he gets them every time we travel somewhere," sighed Chan, offering a sheepish smile. "We thought he'd be alright since it didn't hit earlier, but it looks like we were a little too hopeful."

"Oh, it's okay, I understand," assured Taeyong. "I'll have some food, and also some medicine sent, just in case."

"We appreciate it, thank you."

As the Intendant started ranting about the nutritional value of the vegetables they grew in Silence, the five remaining residents of Ainmosni did their best to hid their smug grins. Jeongin was certainly a good actor – it was a good thing they knew each other so well, else they wouldn't have been able to pull that stunt so smoothly.

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"And you're sure you can find him?" asked Jisung, frowning.

"Absolutely," assured Jeongin. "You know I always find what I'm looking for – and I won't get caught, either. I'll be careful."

"Alright. I'll stay here in case someone comes looking for us. But if it gets too dangerous, come back right away!"

With a firm nod, Jeongin then promptly switched into his Artic fox form. He nuzzled Jisung's hand, before taking off down the hallway. Jisung closed the door with a sigh, simply praying that everything would go well for everyone.