Rapunzel (Seventeen JeongCheol story)

Chapter 20 - Jihoon

A/N: HAPPY 8TH ANNIVERSARY SEVENTEEN <333333333333

I have so much I want to say to them but I wouldn't be able to put it into words how much they mean to me... so you're all getting another chapter for the crappy LGBTQ fairytale I'm writing lmfao

I tried writing some action here again and I'm still not that satisfied with my action/fight scenes (even though someone in my Four Musketeers book mentioned that they are good so it kinda gave me some confidence) so I'm sorry about them in advance :))

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'Your Highness' called out one of the palace staff members. Seungcheol turned to her questioningly in the crowded ballroom. The girl bowed and looked up at him. 'Someone's looking for you. They asked me to tell you to meet them in the castle garden.' Seungcheol smiled widely and thanked her. This has to be Jeonghan.

He quickly adjusted his suit and the crown on his head before walking out of the ballroom towards the garden. His steps echoed through the hallway, then he stepped out of the castle. He shivered at the feeling of the cool night air and his eyes scanned through the garden as he was standing on the top of the staircase. Where could he be?

He decided to walk to the place where he asked Jeonghan out and he made his way down the stairs. He still kept looking left and right, looking for the blonde with rapidly beating heart.

As he stepped between the bushes, he didn't see Jeonghan. Instead a woman was standing in front of him, wearing a mask, long dress and a scarf in her neck.

'Excuse me' he called out to the lady. She turned to him. Her mask covered most of her face so he couldn't tell whether he knows her or not. 'Didn't you see a boy with long blonde hair around here by any chance?' he asked hopefully. The woman just hummed and slowly took off her mask. From her motions Seungcheol expected some big surprise, like realizing that he actually met her before or something, but she was still a stranger to him. She was middle aged, had grayish hair and a long nose. She must've been pretty when she was younger. Her bitter facial expression distorted her looks.

'You mean... Jeonghan, by any chance, Your Highness?' she asked. Seungcheol's eyes lit up.

'Yes! Do you know him?' he asked. The woman's mouth twitched into a smirk.

'Actually, yes. I'm sorry to inform you that unfortunately he couldn't come here tonight' she said. Seungcheol's smile dropped.

'W-What?' he stuttered. The woman slowly reached in the pocket of her dress and as she pulled her hand out, she showed up a fistful of blonde hair that she dropped on the ground. Jeonghan's blonde locks fell on the fluffy grass. The scarf in the woman's neck suddenly moved and the prince realized that it wasn't actually a scarf. It was a weasel. The animal jumped off of the lady's shoulder and landed on the ground gracefully, looking at the strands of hair in satisfaction.

Seungcheol widened his eyes and took a step back.

'His hair' he whispered. 'What have you done to him?!' he glared at the woman. 'Who are you?!'

'The one who will teach you not to ruin others' plans, young man!' shouted the lady.

Suddenly bright yellow light shot out of the woman's fingers and Seungcheol could only thank his quick reflexes that he managed to jump to the side, the witch's spell avoiding him just by centimeters. He landed on the ground and rolled over before standing up again. The bush behind him was smoking where the magic hit it. It could've been him. He contemplated grabbing his sword but he quickly realized that it is worthless against the woman's powers so he decided to run instead.

'You can't escape!' shouted the witch after him and aimed her power at the prince again.

Seungcheol quickly turned the corner and continued running, this time towards the castle's arcades. He had absolutely no idea of what the actual fuck is happening, he only knew that the woman has powers that are out of this world and he has no choice but to run. He could constantly hear the clicking of the lady's shoes behind himself. He quickly peeked over his shoulder and saw that the witch was ready to attack again with a raised hand. He ducked his head, but instead of the spell hitting him like how he expected, only a loud shout was heard. He looked back.

The sleeve of the dress on the witch's right hand was pinned to the wall by an arrow, and between the pillars of the arcade there stood his 12 year-old brother, Jihoon, with his small bow he used for practicing. Seungcheol quickly hid between the pillars too.

'No one hurts my hyung!!' shouted Jihoon at the woman, his eyes clouded by fury and his cheeks red.

Even though that was probably the bravest shit Seungcheol had ever seen Jihoon do, he was still concerned for his younger brother, especially seeing that the witch spotted him too and definitely wasn't happy about getting disarmed by a kid. She was about to raise her other hand to curse Jihoon when all of a sudden from behind her random objects started hitting her, including food, paper crumbs and a puppy plushie.

Seungcheol gasped seeing the 5 year-old triplets attacking the witch with everything they could possibly find. The woman angrily pulled the arrow out of the sleeve of her dress and threw it away, turning towards the triplets.

'And there are people who love kids! They have lost their minds!!' she yelled, seemingly being the only one out of her mind. The three little boys screamed and turned around, Minghao scurrying Mingyu and Seokmin in front of himself and the three of them successfully ran through a door. Seungcheol heard the door shut behind them and he sighed... until he saw that the witch now turned towards Jihoon who was backing away in fear, holding onto his bow tightly. The woman raised her hand again.

'Jihoon!!' yelled Seungcheol and he threw himself at his brother, successfully pulling him with himself and protecting him with his body as both of them fell to the ground hard just when the witch's spell hit the place were Jihoon was standing just a second ago, burning a hole in the ground there.

Seungcheol looked up, desperately searching for something on the hallway that could help him unarm the witch. His eyes fixated on the huge flags that were hung up on the ceiling. The flag above them was hanging on a few strings. The staff worked almost all day on the decorations, but he knew he doesn't really have any other choices now.

He grabbed the object closest to him which was a candle holder and aimed it towards the hanging of the flag, then threw it as hard as he could, just at the same time when Jihoon, sensing what he was about to do, aimed with his bow at the hanging too and shot an arrow.

The candle holder and the arrow both hit the hangings perfectly and they let go. The flag started falling from the ceiling and the thick material landed on the witch right when she was about to attack again, covering her completely. They could hear her swear under the fabric as she was trying to get out.

'Quick!' yelled Seungcheol and grabbed Jihoon's hand, turning around and starting to run. They didn't have much time.