A house divided can not stand

Introduction

The royal families of the 7 kingdoms always met each other for a month's holiday in the summer. It was a time to relax, forget the responsibilities on their shoulders and enjoy spending time with their children. They had introduced the boys to each other when the youngest was barely a year old, and they had been inseparable since.
Smiles graced the faces of the adults watching their boys playing. Young boys in frilly shirts and velvet waistcoats ruining them with their games outdoors. They would grow up to be strong, allied rulers through their friendship. They watched in mirth as the seven boys tumbled around, played with their toys with not a care in the world. They were as close as brothers. They looked after their own, dreamed and roleplayed, believing they could do whatever they wanted when they grew up; the oldest ,being 7 at this time, only had an inkling that they had a predestined career. If you could call it that.

The holidays continued, but became shorter and shorter after the years as tensions rose between the families. Despite this, their friendship held, the binding force between them never diminishing.

Then the lands were plunged into war.

It was long and bloody, their lives were ripped apart. They were hidden from the truth of war until they were old enough to understand, their parents choosing to leave them in blissful ignorance while training for kingship until they begin working towards commanding when they were deemed mature enough. The families didn't ever speak of the boys, even those who were on the same side as them. They tried to make their children forget about their long lost brothers.

They never forgot. They couldn't remember their age, the place, the times, the names...but they remembered the smiles, the eyes, the games with these mysterious memories that their parents claimed were random people or figments of their imagination.

After 15 years of war that lasted most of their upbringing, the fighting stopped. There had been too much bloodshed, too many rebellions, too many corrupt politicians to continue. They were ripping the world apart.

---somewhere else---

A handsome man sat in a luxurious chair. The slight quirk in his lips grew to a full on grin as the trembling man in front of him told him the news that the 7 warring countries, and needed help rebuilding their governments. He turned to the woman beside him.

"It worked. An ingenious plan my love. Now we can offer our services"

"But of course my dear. Let us begin the integration. We can bring them down from the the inside."

---The Kingdom of Heoland---
Hoseok was overjoyed. This new state from far away had helped end the fighting and suggested marriages to secure ties between the kingdoms. Simultaneously, he was terrified. He had found out that he would be seeing his old friends soon to try and mend the severed bonds between the states. The old friends he barely remembered and may as well have been strangers if they didn't all have an inkling of familiarity.

They had all decided to meet in Hoseok's land since it remained neutral during the war, but being a smaller land hadn't been able to prevent the overwhelming casualties.

One thing he was actually looking forward to was seeing his best friend after all these years. Unbeknownst to their parents, Hoseok and Yoongi had kept in touch, continued sending each other letters, remained best friends.
'I wonder what he will look like?' Hoseok mused 'we are both matured now, he's no longer the short, weedy, emo kid. Likewise, I am no longer the horse faced, lanky dancer...'

He heard a knock on the door and a quiet "your highness? A letter for you"

"Thank you, miss" speak of the devil. A letter from his cynical and secret best friend, baring the icy blue seal of Yujica.

Dear Horse Face
I cannot believe I have to come to your grotty country to meet some whiny princes who were all so-called 'old friends', and spend ages there being awkward and overheated.
I look forward to seeing you though. Will my irritating dosaeng be handsome? Have you grown into your nose and personality?

I know I would usually write pages and pages but we can catch up when I arrive and we shade everyone else in the castle. Please look after yourself Hobi, I know it will be stressful, I think some scheduled gossiping may relieve some of it.
See you soon!
Love,
Your grumpy turtle accomplice

Hoseok smiled. At least he would have one companion when they all arrived. He proceeded by scribbling down his excited reply.

Dear grumpy turtle

Shading sounds good to me. My country is not 'grotty' , as you so eloquently put it, I'll have you know.

I agree, I cannot wait to laugh at how unattractive you are next to my next level handsomeness. I think we can schedule some gossiping while we're shading. We will need to so we can relieve tension after the awkward events of the upcoming days. Look after yourself, by the way, first priority is health.
I wonder who you will be married to?

See you very soon in my lovely country, lots of love,
Your horse faced and handsome best friend

He put a lime green stamp with the Heoldan insignia on it, and continued grinning.

But inside, his instincts told him that he should be wary. Unhelpfully, they didn't warn him who or what he was to be wary of.
'Damm I need clairvoyance...' he thought to himself, telling himself not to worry and to look forward to tomorrow evening when he would see the long-lost childhood best friends. Hoseok wondered how they would all get along...

---somewhere else---

A map hung on the wall, with the majority of it grey. Some islands remained different colours, and had red pins where the castles were.

"We have only them left to annex now. This strategy is undefeated at this time - see that the plan is carried out"
And the figures in front of him bowed with a unified "yes sir"

He threw a knife at the figure on the far left, and swept out of the room