"i thought i told you specifically to not get into this mess!" said san frustratedly. it was one thing to see wooyoung fighting in the field, but to see wooyoung fighting with his powers? gosh, san was beyond pissed off. he couldn't believe the younger boy. he just promised san not to intervene with the ambush! and now, here he is, eyebrows knitted together like he didn't regret a single bit of coming here at all.
"i couldn't just stay out of it! you literally told me how close their location was to my home, to my friends' and family's home. of course i had to do something about it!" wooyoung argued back, and he had a point, too. who was he to stand out of it when the ones he loved the most were literally a mile away from danger? plus, his soulmate would be in the fight himself. wooyoung couldn't just stand in the palace all day, wondering when san will come home and hope for the best.
san groaned, "didn't you say there were, like, protection charms or something? why are you here if you did that?"
wooyoung scoffed, rolling his eyes and placing his hands on his hips sassily, "it's not going to completely protect them from everything, stupid. plus, a protection charm is a charm. grade 1 magic. it wears off after 24 hours. and if you haven't notice, it's exactly 24 hours now from when i casted it."
"you can't just expect me to know these things." san retorted, "i didn't learn magic. i thought the protection charm was gonna last, like, a week at least!"
wooyoung looked like he was going to argue even more, but he only sighed and pinched the area between his eyebrows, "look, sannie. i don't care if you're mad at me or not. i had my reasons to be here. i brought hongjoong hyung with me as well so that he could look after seonghwa ssi and vice versa. there's no turning back and what happened had happened already. you do have to admit that i definitely helped with the momentum of the ambush, though. without me, your army would've lost more of its fine soldiers. so-"
"are you telling me that i'm supposed to be thanking you right now? i'm sorry, i must've heard you wrong." san scoffed in anger. he was glaring at wooyoung like he had never been before, like wooyoung really, really screwed up this time. well, not gonna lie, the moon dust did walk back from his promise. but that wasn't completely his fault. he had people to protect!
wooyoung sighed. he shook his head, "i don't care. get mad at me. get mad at me all you want. i had my reasons to be here and there's that. yes, i should've listened to you and stayed in the castle, but would you be able to sit still if your family and friends were in danger?"
san didn't talk. instead, he stormed off into the forest, footsteps heavy and mumbling angry words under his breath as he walked. wooyoung didn't bother following him; san needed time to himself and he knew that. so he'll just let him be, let san go off and let his anger cool off before trying to convince him again that wooyoung had his reasons to be here.
san was near a river, sitting down on the riverbank and allowed the river water to caress his feet. it felt calming, it felt nice, and it genuinely felt like he was at peace. san started to think of what wooyoung said and to be honest, the younger was correct. if san's sister or san's mother or jongho or wooyoung were in danger, san would not hesitate to protect them. it was his duty to protect them, and if he just stayed put and sat away from it, he would've killed himself in guilt of it.
"prince choi san. we meet again." a soft, feminine voice came from behind him. san quickly drew his sword and pointed it at the person standing there, only to lower it when he recognised the woman.
"y-you." san muttered out at the sight of the moon goddess. it was still weird to see her in broad daylight when she was supposed to be the personification of the moon itself.
