Dive Into You

Chapter 8: The Curse: Flower Prince

Seung-kwan blinks awake, seeing a blade of grass in his vision path. He groans and pushes himself into a sitting position. He finds himself in the middle of a vast meadow. In the distance before him is a treeline and when he glances behind him, he can see the coastline of Jeju Island.

"Where am I? What happened?" he mumbles to himself.

He gets up slowly to his feet and spins around. One name is on his mind, someone he was just getting super close to. "JAE-MIN-AH?!" he shouts out to the crisp, cool island air. A breeze blows at him, buffeting his hair.

Seung-kwan begins to walk a few feet forward and finds a bare patch in the meadow, where there is a small lake. He gazes at his reflection and startles, jumping backward. His hands shoot up to his head.

There atop his head is a white flower crown like the kind that is given to various idols at fan-meetings.

Seung-kwan proceeds to try and remove it from his head. But he finds that it is glued in place and won't budge. Frustration and horror floods him and he throws his hands down to his sides in a flustered fury.

At once, a jet of purplish-pink energy shoots from his fingertips and then a variety of different colored flowers spring up before him.

Seung-kwan screams, unable to keep the shock and fright down any longer. And then he runs off, darting away in the opposite direction from the flowers and the lake. He heads for the coastline, hoping that answers (or Jae-min) are there.

Kyung-hwa, Shin-won, Tae-il and Haechan are walking along the coastline, when they hear Seung-kwan's piercing scream of fright.

At the same time, Tae-il spots a purple-blue scaled fin disappearing below the surface of the ocean waters to his side. "Donghyuckie...!"

Haechan hisses and spins around at once, zeroing in on hearing the distress in Tae-il's tone. "What?!"

"Nothing's wrong. It's just...well...I think I just saw a mermaid's fin..." Tae-il says, watching the waves crashing into the shore a few feet from them. "It was purple and blue and speckled with fish-like scales."

Haechan looks at the water, just as the same fin appears from the water and then slaps down, vanishing once more. "No way..."

Before the two of them can say anything about it to Kyung-hwa and Shin-won, Seung-kwan, wearing a ridiculous white flower crown, bursts from the grass ahead of them and skids to a stop in the sand, staring at them with wide eyes full of horror. He gasps out a breathless noise.

"Seungkwanie?!" Kyung-hwa gasps. "What the--?"

Seung-kwan suddenly drops down to his hands and knees in the sand.

The group rushes toward him, Kyung-hwa dropping down to check on him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Kwanie, are you okay?"

Seung-kwan looks at her with shimmering eyes. "It won't come off and...and..."

Kyung-hwa looks up at Shin-won and then immediately back down at Seung-kwan. "What won't come off...?" Her eyes land on the pretty white flower crown on his head. Probably that...

"The flower crown," Seung-kwan and Kyung-hwa say in unison.

"If it makes you feel any better," Haechan says. "I'm a vampire."

"Correction," Shin-won says, "He's an over-the-top protective gay vampire. Meet his subject, Moon Tae-il."

"Lover," Tae-il says.

Seung-kwan giggles. "Guess that dragon-guy cursed everyone..."

"Except us, because we HAD to make sure that there were potatoes," Kyung-hwa says, shooting Shin-won a playful glare.

"Oh, so that's where you two were. Potatoes. Of course," Haechan remarks, sassily tossing his eyes.

"You dislike potatoes?" Shin-won growls at him.

Haechan's eyes narrow and he takes a step forward, earning a smack on the arm from Tae-il.

Seung-kwan gets up to his feet. "The non-detachable flower crown isn't the only thing...watch this!"

Kyung-hwa steps back as Seung-kwan throws his arms out before him.

Just like in the meadow, purplish-pink energy blasts from his fingertips and the variety of colored flowers spring up from the sand.

"WHOA!" Tae-il remarks in shock, taking a step backward. "Cool."

Seung-kwan puts his hands on his hips. "I don't know if it's cool. What if I accidentally trap someone in these flowers or worse...turn someone into a flower?! What if Jae-min doesn't like me like this?!"

Kyung-hwa cocks an eyebrow. "Jae-min? II thought you were shipped with Vernon?"

Seung-kwan shrugs. "Vernon's not here. I have to cling to someone!"

Haechan bares his teeth at Seung-kwan. "No thoughts, Boo!"

Seung-kwan glances at Tae-il and shakes his head. "I don't think Tae-il and I would pair well. No offense. Back down, Full Sun."

Tae-il places a hand on Haechan's shoulder and opens his mouth to say something, but instead Haechan speaks.

"I'll bite you if you bat your eyelashes at him," Haechan grumbles.

"And I'll transform you into a bloody flower," Seung-kwan retaliates, lifting up a hand into the air. "Try me."

"Alright, Boo and Sun, stop it," Kyung-hwa says, waving her hands before her. She moves to stand between Haechan and Seung-kwan.

Seung-kwan folds his arms. "The curse made him more of an ass."

"So we found Kwanie the Flower Prince," Shin-won says, looking around him and surveying the ocean waters hungrily lashing the shore next to him. "But...what about the others?"

Tae-il finally speaks, "Did anyone else see the mermaid fin?!"