Laurel Prince

"How are you doing?"

After having a terrible nightmare about his father, Taehyung woke up to notice the Oak Prince kneeling on the floor next to his bed, an I've been caught look plastered across his usually calm features. 

Because Taehyung was so mentally disheveled from his dream and their argument earlier in the day, his brain went to autopilot when speaking. He impulsively asked Jungkook, 'How are you doing?'  instead of, 'Why are you kneeling next to my bed?'

God! I'm so dumb! Why did I just ask him that? Why the hell is he in my room!?

Taehyung watched as Jungkook slowly stood up. The ravenette nervously scratched the back of his neck before speaking. "I-I'm okay...but...how are you? I just came in here to wake you up for the duel, uh...you didn't answer the door, and the--and the door was open s-so I came in here and I--well, you...you were sleeping and I tried to wake you up but right when I was about to you were saying stuff in your nightmare and-"

"Jungkook." Taehyung cut off the blabbering younger prince with a raise of the hand. "I get it. I'm awake now, you can leave." 

Taehyung said this even though his heart wanted Jungkook to stay with him...so he could be distracted from the horrible lingering feeling from his dream. Maybe with the younger there, he could forget about the haunting sensation of his father's hands against his body...

"Oh, um..." Jungkook closed his open mouth and looked back at Taehyung with unsurety in his eyes, as if he wanted to ask something more. "Alright, I'll um, see you at the...duel, Taehyung. Be ready for seven. Goodbye."

And with that, Jungkook took one last glance at the mess that was Taehyung's bed sheets, pillows, and hair before turning to leave. Before the younger could exit the room, Taehyung rolled off of the bed and took a moment to steady himself before he called out to the younger prince.

"Oh, and Jungkook? Whatever you heard me saying before in my dream...if I said anything while sleeping, just forget about it. It didn't mean anything." Taehyung walked over to the vanity and looked at pillow marks crawling up the side of his face in the mirror.

"Yeah...okay." Jungkook gave a confused tilt of the head, but didn't ask about it. When Taehyung started to pull up on the corners of his shirt to get dressed for the duel, Jungkook quickly averted his eyes and sped out the door. Once outside, Jungkook's sigh was audible to Taehyung from within the room. The door closed behind him with a soft thump. That was tense...but his flustered state is cute.

Taehyung smiled to himself a little in the mirror. Both Jungkook and Jimin were flustered with his behavior and Taehyung could tell. Taehyung was used to making normal people excited with his charming personality, but when he happened to fluster another prince...it felt so much better. 

Even though he was still angry with Jungkook from before, he couldn't help but find his embarrassment really endearing. 

Why was Jungkook even kneeling beside my bed in the first place?

Taehyung wasn't too sure. Either Jungkook was watching him sleep because he semi-liked him, or the younger was studying him coldly. Looking down upon his sleeping form, probably coming up with a plan to get rid of him. To dishearten him before the duel.

"No, Jungkook wouldn't do that. He's not like that." Taehyung said aloud to himself, brushing out his tangled blonde hair with his fingers as a knock sounded on the door. 

"Hmmm? Who is it?" Taehyung shouted out loudly to the person behind the door, expecting it to be another surprise visit from Jungkook.

Or from Jimin...? I don't think he'd visit me before we fight.

"Sir, we have a specially fitted body suit from the Oak Armory for you to try on. Prince Jeon's orders." The nasal voice of a servant sounded from outside. 

"Alright, bring it in." Taehyung said, a bit upset that it wasn't Jungkook. He didn't bother to open the door himself. The servant let himself in.

The wooden door slowly creaked open, revealing a small older looking male struggling to hold up the bundle of armor that was in his arms. Seeing his trouble, Taehyung quickly strode over to the door and relieved the man of his burden. 

"Thank you for the armor. You may leave now." Taehyung curtly spoke to the servant, pushing the door shut with one of his feet once the servant had ambled out. 

Carrying the load of bright silver armor to the bed, Taehyung noted how heavy the armor was. That was not going to help his mobility in an hour. He decided that he would refrain from wearing certain pieces of the armor to lighten his load. 

I wonder what Jimin's going to wear. According to rumors, he barely wears anything when fighting...even if it's risky.

As he thought about the battling  with the gray-haired male, he noticed something lying on the ground next to his bed. He bent down to pick up the object, smiled, and held it to the light. 

Lo and behold, Jungkook's pocket watch. He shoved the pocket watch in his pocket.

Taehyung would have to wait until the battle to give it back to Jungkook, since each one of the three princes were traveling separately to the duel spot. They didn't want to draw attention to themselves, so their carriages would leave at separate times.

Putting on only half of the armor he was given and ignoring the shin guards and arm guards on the bed, Taehyung glanced at himself once again in the mirror. He looked a bit more refreshed from his nap and the anger within him before had died down a bit.

Now, he was only slightly mad. Excitement dominated his the greater portion of his body. 

I'm ready for this fight.

Stone Prince

When seven o'clock came around, Jimin was the first prince to show up promptly at the battle site, his sword securely attached at his hip. Jimin hardly wore any armor on his lithe body. He wanted to be sure he was able to move around properly, since his grace and speed needed to surface during the fight. If he wanted to win against someone who was bigger than him, he had to be faster.

But deep down, he already knew...he was going to win. 

The Laurel Army in the north is mine to control.

Jimin had an idea that Jungkook believed that point too, which is why the Oak Prince didn't necessarily oppose the duel when it was suggested. Jimin wanted this fight to be over with quick but also had to consider how Taehyung felt; he knew that Taehyung would be very upset if he lost the duel to Jimin instantly. Jimin would have to start easy on him so Taehyung could experience some sensation of a battle. I need to give him some hope that he could win, otherwise he'll be embarrassed. I don't want that.

Hopefully Taehyung wouldn't get too emotional during the fight and actually try to hurt Jimin. Because then Jimin would seriously do damage to protect himself. And he didn't want it to come to that.

Jimin sighed as he pushed the thought out of his mind and observed his surroundings. The place where they were going to fight was a mid-sized area, about the area of the library in the Oak Castle. It was relatively open save for one small, dying tree that boredly stood hunched over in the center of the field. Grass stuck up in thick tufts, and the distant drone of a bird chirping could be heard over his soft breaths.

Jimin's guards were waiting by the carriage down a dirt path about a quarter of a mile away, so he was completely alone. Jimin took the time to walk around the land, planning out attacks in his head. 

Since the princes didn't want each other to get hurt too badly, they decided on fighting until fatigue. A winner would be determined if one price gained an obvious upper hand over the other and were in a position to severely injure the other if it were a real battle. Jimin reflected that he would have to try hard to curb his bad habit of fighting to the death.

Maybe bad habit wasn't a good phrase for it...good habit? Shit, how is fighting to the death good? For enemies, sure. For Taehyung? Not.

Right as Jimin finished a circle around the field, he heard the sound of two voices approaching on the path. 

Jungkook and Taehyung. 

The Stone Prince glanced up, surprised to see Taehyung walking amiably next to the ravenette...instead of strangling him. The Laurel Prince pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Jungkook, who appeared greatly relieved and smiled gratefully at Taehyung.

"...looking everywhere for this! Thank you." Jungkook attached his pocket watch back onto his waistband and lifted his head back up to meet Jimin's gaze. 

"Hey Jimin." Jungkook walked up to him with a polite smile on his face, saw what the gray-haired male was wearing, and frowned. "Where's your armor? You can't seriously fight like that!"

Jimin was wearing nothing but thickly padded leather armor around his vulnerable areas. Arms, legs and crotch. No chain mail, no breastplate, no helmet. Nothing else remotely close to normal metal armor was on him. 

Taehyung also seemed to be in shock. The Laurel Prince wasn't in too much armor either, but he at least wore a helmet and some chain mail around the middle parts of his body. Compared to Taehyung, Jimin was naked. 

"This is all I need..." Jimin spoke quietly, not wanting to come off as cocky to Taehyung who he was afraid might get angry. Jungkook gave him a strange look. Taehyung just studied at the battle grounds, probably mapping out his own strategy in mind.

"Al-alright, then." Jungkook shook his head and cleared his throat. "You both know the rules for this duel, correct? No serious injuries here; if you see an opening where you would normally hurt an opponent badly, don't take it. We can't afford injuries at a time like this. You'll have to think of a different way to subdue your opponent..." Jungkook gazed at the clearing, biting his lip. "I'll time the duel on my pocket watch. If neither of you can subdue the other in ten minutes, then I'll pick the winner based on fighting ability."

Taehyung gave Jungkook a sour look but said nothing. Ah, so he is a bit mad at Jungkook.

"I will be paying close attention to you both at all times...and I'll stop the fight if you break any of my rules. If you walk on thin ice with the fighting--are a bit too violent or reckless--I'll give you one strike. If either of you accumulate three strikes, you automatically lose the battle. Remember, the goal isn't to maliciously hurt the other one got it? I'm serious." Jungkook directed most of the speech towards Taehyung, Jimin noticed. He smiled internally. Jungkook recognizes that the Laurel Prince is a loose canon. He thinks he needs to protect me by warning Taehyung, but I don't need the protection.

"Alright, I'll give you both one minute to prepare yourselves however you want before the duel starts.  Also, I forgot to mention...if you go out of bounds--into the tree line over there--then you'll get one strike." Jungkook shifted his eyes to both princes in turn. "Now, good luck to both of you, okay? Remember, we still have a larger battle to fight. Keep that in mind."

And with that, Jungkook turned away from the two princes, walked to the edge of the clearing, and glanced once at his stop watch, still biting his lip.

Oak Prince

Jungkook saw both princes glance at each other one last time before walking over to opposite sides of the small field. Taehyung stood proudly on one end of the field, slightly smirking, helmet placed tightly over his golden locks. Opposite him, on the other side of the dying plum tree stood Jimin, still as a stone, reminding Jungkook of the statues in front of his own castle. Jimin's posture was perfect, his shoulders slanted downward in a calm yet confident pose, and his face showing nothing. 

Absolutely nothing. It freaks me the fuck out.

Jungkook quickly looked away from the blank slate who was Park Jimin and checked his pocket watch again. Ten seconds left. 

Jungkook raised his voice, making sure that both princes could hear him. "THE DUEL WILL START IN..." He paused as both princes unsheathed their swords. "FIVE!...FOUR!"

"THREE! TWO!"

 "ONE!"

"DUEL!" 

Adrenaline rushed into Jungkook's heart as he spoke the word. He paced along the sides of the battle field, anticipating each prince's first move. No one moved for a while, and the field was dead silent. Come on...come on...

Suddenly, Taehyung began yelling while sprinting full speed at the unmoving Stone Prince. "MY ARMY WILL ONLY OBEY ME!" His loud battle cry scared a flock of crows out of the treeline and into the evening air. Woah...he's intense.

Despite the strong, quick man sprinting angrily at him, Jimin stood still. His feet were stuck to the ground, planted to the grass. He held his sword upright in front of him, gray eyes watching. Waiting. Taehyung raised his sword, ready to strike.

Jungkook almost yelled out for Taehyung to stop, as Jimin's head wasn't protected by anything. Right before Taehyung could slash at Jimin, the gray-haired male swiftly spun around so he was behind Taehyung. Jimin lifted his leg up fast, kicking Taehyung's back hard.  

Taehyung flew forward, catching himself with a couple large steps before he could faceplant into the ground. Gradually, Jimin slinked backwards, giving himself space between the now angry blonde prince in case he tried to swing again. 

Taehyung grunted as he spun around, doing exactly what Jimin expected him to do. His sword met with thin air as the Stone Prince disappeared from sight. Jimin took the opening offered him to make a move for Taehyung's open side. However, the sharp clank of sword against sword revealed to Jimin that Taehyung wasn't as slow as he appeared. Wow...Taehyung is holding his own!

Taehyung stood up straight and with all his strength shoved his sword against Jimin's. The elder couldn't hold up against the blow, forcing him backwards. Jimin quickly regained his balance. 

Taehyung pushed forward, swinging with all of his strength at the gray-haired male who hadn't even broken a sweat. Jimin parried off each attack centered on him easily. He could tell that it was tiring Taehyung out, since the heavy armor the Laurel Prince was covered in took plenty of effort to move.

Clink. Clank. Clink. Clank. 

Jungkook closely watched the two fighting in case he needed to step in at any time. From the way it was looking, Jimin handled Taehyung's ferocity very well. If it were Jungkook dueling against Taehyung's rage...

I would be dead by now. 

The Oak Prince momentarily peered at his pocket watch. Two minutes had passed already, and both princes hadn't really done much. 

As they checked each other over and over, Jimin grew bored and decided to try something new. As yet another one of Taehyung's swings came down, Jimin ducked and rolled to the side in the blink of an eye. Taehyung's face showed confusion, as his visibility was a bit hampered with the helmet covering his face. Taehyung was still trying to find Jimin when the northerner made his move. 

With pure agility and a flexibility Jungkook didn't know the Stone Prince even had, Jimin's leg lifted up to kick the hilt of Taehyung's lowered sword right out of his hand.

The sword flew through the air, reflecting the setting sun off of it, temporarily blinding the only speculator to the duel. When Jungkook was able to see again, he watched as Taehyung ran forward for his sword while grabbing his right hand in pain from being kicked. 

But Jimin was too fast for him. They both sprinted towards the sword but Jimin got there first, picking it up with his left hand.  Right when Jungkook was about to announce that the battle was over, that Jimin had the upper hand and that he would command the northern army-

Taehyung made a cheap move. 

Taehyung ripped off his helmet and threw it hard at Jimin in a last resort to get his sword back. The elder didn't see it coming, and Jungkook gasped as the thick metal helmet made its mark. The harsh thump of metal on leather was painfully audible, the helmet hitting Jimin's right shoulder. Jimin dropped the sword in his right hand as the muscles in his arm spasmed. 

"TAEHYUNG!" Jungkook called from the sidelines, clearly riled up from the blonde's sudden cheating action. "ONE STRIKE! THAT WAS A CHEAP SHOT! NO MORE OF THOSE!" 

Taehyung hardly paid the Oak Prince's shouting any attention. He moved towards his foe with a predatory rage.

Stumbling backwards, Jimin tried not to show his pain as he regained his footing again. By then, a helmetless Taehyung had lunged forward and already picked up Jimin's sword. 

Now, they were both sweating, panting-

And holding each other's swords.

Taehyung smiled sickly, revealing a row of blood covered teeth, as if he had bitten his tongue while fighting. Jimin didn't want to give Taehyung the pleasure of a pained reaction, so instead he turned and jogged away to the tree in the middle of the battle field.

Jimin had a new idea. 

Taehyung, with a new wave of confidence, followed Jimin to the tree without thinking twice about what the gray-haired male was doing. 

Jimin completely turned to face the tree, putting himself in a vulnerable position to be attacked from behind. Jungkook checked his pocket watch again. Five minutes remaining.

What is Jimin doing?

Taehyung didn't seem to mind the fact that he was given a perfect chance to attack. The Laurel Prince picked up his pace, lifting his sword up above his head to strike as he got a bit closer to the Stone Prince. 

Jungkook watched as Jimin slowed down his pace until the tip of Taehyung's sword was just inches behind him. Almost to his desired destination, Jimin picked up his pace and strode in large bounds directly toward the half-dead tree. 

Taehyung was closing in on him, tan cheeks flushed from adrenaline and the effort of the fight. Right as Taehyung was about to make his move on the running prince, Jimin suddenly wasn't in front of him anymore. 

Jimin was flying above Taehyung. 

Jungkook watched awestruck from the sidelines as Jimin ran up the side of the tree, back flipping off to fly gracefully above Taehyung's head. Time seemed to stop as Jimin's lithe body floated back down to Earth light as a feather, landing directly behind Taehyung. Jungkook made a mental note not to cross Jimin in the future; cleary he was the same highly feared swordsman that the rumors from all over the kingdom mentioned. 

The Laurel Prince, on the other hand, did not look half as graceful as the Stone Prince. Caught off guard by Jimin's sudden gymnastics showcase, the blonde crashed into the dead tree hard. Sticks and twigs rained down upon his upturned face, getting into his eyes and panting mouth. 

Taehyung tried to wipe them off of his face quickly and turn around to stand his ground against Jimin, but the gray-haired male was already upon him. Jimin clasped onto Taehyung's hand and dug his fingernails in, ripping backward until his true sword was out of Taehyung's grasp. The Laurel Prince let out a cry of pain as Jimin forcefully shoved him back into the tree with his elbow.

Taehyung gave Jimin one last hard shove with his backside in an attempt to leave the trap he was in, swordless and half-blind from tree bark dust. Jimin was only knocked backward for a second before bringing up both swords in a cross on either side of Taehyung's neck. Jimin clenched his jaw in satisfaction. Holy shit...holy shit.

"Yield." Jimin demanded, hardly showing signs of exertion give for the small sweat beads forming at his forehead. "Yield now, Laurel Prince. You've lost."

Taehyung eyed the swords that were dangerously close to his face in denial. His eyes met Jimin's grayish ones, which showed no sign of any emotion. 

While Jimin waited for the blond prince to say the words, Jungkook came running from the sidelines. Both prince's eyes were intensely locked as Jungkook opened his mouth to speak.

"Taehyung, you've lost fair and square. Yield to Jimin so that we can go back to the castle...you two deserve to rest after that fight-"

"Say it." Jimin spat at the man under his swords, both ignoring Jungkook completely. Taehyung scowled. "Say you yield to me."

Taehyung's tan hands came up to the swords that encased his neck and he grabbed them, not caring that his hands were getting sliced open from the sharp edge. What is he doing!!

And so the swords came down from Taehyung's face, doused in a deep maroon. Jungkook watching in horror as Taehyung's blood covered hands wrenched his personal sword out of Jimin's tight grasp.

"I yield to no one." Taehyung said flatly before sheathing the sword and walking away in the direction of his carriage.

By then, the sun was almost all the way down, the shadows of Jungkook and Jimin stretching  long against the field. Jungkook's mouth hung low as he watched Taehyung slowly limp away with hunched shoulders, hands dripping alarming amounts of blood on random spots of grass. Jungkook glanced over at Jimin, who had sheathed his own sword and retrieved Taehyung's thrown helmet. His face was empty--no sign of victory touched his face.

"Let's get back to the castle, why don't we?" Jimin said casually, as if he had just been on a pleasant morning stroll with Jungkook and it was getting late. What. The. Hell. How can he be so nonchalant about it?

Jungkook said nothing, just stared at Jimin with a look of fear, awe, and another feeling that the ravenette couldn't put his finger on.  As if Jimin sensed Jungkook's obvious shock, he took Jungkook's hand in his without a second thought. 

Is...is he...holding my hand?

Jungkook didn't even try to pull away; he was actually admiring the fact that Jimin hadn't lost his cool after such an event. Intertwining their fingers (which put a little more color back into Jungkook's pale cheeks) the winner of the duel led the gaping ravenette out of the clearing. 

Back to the carriage, which lay a little ways down the dirt path. Which would bring them back to safety.

Back to the castle.

~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR'S NOTE

WOAH. 

That fight was intense, yeah? :)

Sorry to anyone who thought that Taehyung was going to win. HAH, NOT!

Although the Laurel Prince has the banner of strength and victory--sometimes emotions get the better of you in the worst of times. He let his emotions get him this time! RIP his hands :(

I hope you enjoy what's happenin' in Noirwood so far...cause there's much more to come! 

THANKS FOR READING! :) LUB U