Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A thin, pale boy with black hair and hollow eyes was ushered through the pristine white halls of a towering palace.

“Welcome to the Jade Palace, Sunless. This is your home now.”

Sunless —or Sunny as he preferred— looked on in awe. Since he woke up, he had been in an unending state of shock. From finding himself in a hospital room he couldn’t afford, to be addressed respectfully by a Saint, and then escorted to the dream realm to meet Ki song.

For an outskirt rat like him, it was a dream. A dream he hoped never ended. Though if it was really a dream, he wished he wasn’t wearing the same rags he wore in the outskirts to meet the queen of the Song Domain.

“My home?”

The unnamed saint offered a soft smile, “Well of course. You’ll find out soon enough, but your life will never be the same.”

The Saint continued to lead Sunny through the sprawling labyrinth of halls, chambers, stairwells, and corridors until the two were in front of the grand doors of the throne room.

“This is where I must leave Sunless. The queen requested your presence alone.”

As if on command the great doors opened, releasing a gust of wind that almost knocked Sunny to the ground. Hesitantly, he stepped forward, unaware of what lay ahead.

***

Sunny still hadn’t found a way to fit in with his new family, even after a few weeks. He was a misfit among misfits, the only boy ever adopted by Ki Song. He was the sole prince of the Song Domain.

Unlike his sisters, who had a plethora of memories from their old lives and their mother, Sunny’s mind was a blank canvas until the incident. The doctors said he had a mild case of retrograde amnesia, and in the end Sunny could only remember three things. First, was his name Second, the faint echo of someone named Rain. Third, that he was alone.

And now, even surrounded by family, that loneliness had never truly disappeared. In that sense, he supposed not much had changed since being adopted.

Even though he lived better than he had ever before —surrounded with servants and watchful guards who provided a life of comfort— Sunny drifted through his princely life untouched and untouched by it in return. He slept on soft, ate meals fit for nobles ten times over, yet inside he was still that hollow boy with no one to turn to.

His teachers were cold and distant, training him brutally as they were instructed. A weapon of death fitting of Clan Song. His sisters were distant from him at best. And his mother — oh, Ki Song — she was the greatest mystery of all.

Beautiful and kind, but so alien to the young Sunny.

So, in the quiet moments with nothing to do, Sunny wandered the Jade Palace. For hours he would walk through the twisting halls with its hidden passages, secret enchantments, and strange locations. He knew the palace better than anyone except maybe his mother. She was the only one who could find him when he wandered in places no one else dared wander.

***

“They say every weapon stands for something. The spear is invention—a sharpened stick made to fight and survive with no claws of our own. The sword is war—made to kill. The dagger is betrayal—small enough to slip through armor or trust, and into flesh. The shield is defiance—to stand and not yield. As for the bow it is the hunt. Used to stalk something from afar, to wait, aim, let the arrow fly, and watch your target die. So, which one do you want?”

Sunny looked at Eunbin confused. As if the mere idea of having to limit himself was blasphemous. Why learned just one? It’s not as if he could choose what memory the Nightmare Spell would give him.

Taking one final look over the table littered with weapons the young Sunny reached for the bow.

“Well Mom always says that if you must fight then you’ve already failed. This is the perfect weapon to rarely fail then. It’s not a fight if they’re dead when I let go.”

“You’re strange you know,” Eunbin said.

“Says the witch,” Sunny muttered only to receive a blow to the head from his elder sister.

Wincing in pain he rubbed the top of his head and glared at the enchantress only for his anger to strangely disappear. What was he thinking about again? Didn’t matter.

“So you’re going to teach me how to use this?”

“Gods no, but mother wanted you to ‘bond’ with us. She said it’d be good for you.”

A warm feeling sprouted in Sunny’s heart.

She does care, he thought with a growing smile.

***

It was finally time for the rest of the world to meet Sunless Song—a horribly ineloquent name if you asked the boy himself— and Sunny could not be more nervous.

Not because of the crowd of people from Clan Valor, House of Night, the government, and from other legacy clans. They were nothing compared to the presence his mother had, not even close. And that was the exact reason Sunny was nervous.

His mother.

If he did something to upset her here —even if she wasn’t in attendance— who knew how she would react. Only three months passed since Sunny was adopted, and he was still understanding who his new family and mother were. What would happen if he were to disappoint?

He looked in the mirror, fixing the suit and his hair. His hands brushed over it gently, almost mournfully. His new sisters made him cut it all a few weeks ago because in their words, “Your hair is in desperate need of new life. It’s horrible.” Now he was bald and nervous. Perhaps not completely bald, but the back of his neck was certainly colder than it had ever been before.

Taking a deep breath in Sunny prepared for his name to be called and walked out.

A part of him wished this banquet wasn’t held in his honor. He always preferred to stay hidden in the shadows; it was safer that way.

***

The bow still felt wrong in Sunny’s hands. Not heavy enough in the grip, too stiff in the draw — subtly off in ways that would sound like madness to anyone who’d never held a weapon before. It wasn’t that Sunny was bad at archery; far from it. His focus, his aim — they were near-perfect, or so his trainers and his Awakened sisters kept telling him.

But this bow wasn’t right. It fought him in small, invisible ways. He pushed the thought aside. It wasn’t important, or at least not as important as the prey in front of him.

Crouched deep in the brush, Sunny let the world narrow to a single heartbeat, a single breath. He raised the bow, slow and deliberate, the rough fletching of the arrow brushing his fingertips.

The forest around him hushed. Leaves stilled. Even the wind seemed to pause to watch.

He released the arrow.

There was no cry — just the soft thud of fur and earth meeting for the last time. The rabbit lay still, struck down before it knew it was in danger. Sunny exhaled the tension from his shoulders and stepped out from his hiding place, boots whispering through the undergrowth.

He bent, lifted the rabbit by its soft ears, and held it aloft as if testing its weight against the world.

A grin tugged at his mouth.

“I wonder if they’ll let me eat this back at the palace,” he murmured. “Maybe I can ask if I can try making it myself. It’s not like they can say no, right?”

***

“Teacher Julius is this really important?”

An old man with messy grey hair, hazel eyes and a pair of bushy eyebrows that were too big for their own good sighed.

“Yes Sunny. Chess is a good game to build the mind. It helps you learn the basics of how to strategize. Now I suggest less talking and more thinking. You’re wasting a lot of time.”

Sunny pouted and muttered something about strict old men. Moving one of his pieces forward he pressed the timer, and it was Julius’s turn.

“Can’t we just go back to wilderness survival. That was at least interesting. Especially the bit about poisons.”

“Not until you beat me.”

Sunny’s face furrowed and he decided that even if it killed him, he would not stand up until he won. He would make his teacher regret those words.

***

Where Sunny’s sisters went out to banquets and important meetings as representatives of his mother, Sunny got to stay home in the Jade Palace. He dreaded the day he awakened and was one day old enough to represent his clan in those moments.

He never cared for politics, no matter how hard they tried to drill it into him.

“I just need to steer away from Clan Valor. I don’t need to know the rest,” he muttered on his way to the garden for target practice.

Setting up the targets, he grabbed his bow and practiced his aim. Aside from training, there wasn’t much to do in the Jade Palace. There wasn’t technology in the Dream Realm, and his sisters had turned from distant to overbearing. He couldn’t deal with them and their constant nitpicks. He preferred when they steered clear of him, even if their new behavior would occasionally warm his icy heart.

It wasn’t until he ran out of arrows in his quiver that he heard a familiar voice say, “If only all of my children were as diligent as you.”

Turning his head, Sunny’s heart stopped. It was the queen. A breathtakingly beautiful women with pale corpse-like skin, lustrous black hair. Her red gown flowing like a river of blood.

“Mom?”

She smiled and walked forward.

“How long had it been since your sisters called me Mom? Always mother nowadays. So heartless.”

Sunny fidgeted nervously. This was the first time the queen had come to him for no other reason than to talk. Usually, if he wanted to see her, he’d have to lose himself in the labyrinth of the Jade Palace and wait for her to find him. Even then, sometimes the princesses would find him and leave him disappointed.

Nervously he said, “Why are you here?”

“A mother should make time for her children every so often. I regret not having shown you as deep of a love as I was able to with your sisters. I hope you don’t resent me too much in the future. Rest assured, I love you just as I love your sisters. Each one of you is special to me.”

Bending down she kissed Sunny’s forehead and gently tussled his hair.

“Especially my only son, whose so well behaved and thoughtful. Eunbin told me why you chose the bow. It warmed my heart.”

Sunny blushed in embarrassment, wondering how much Eunbin had told their mother. He often sung his mother’s praises. If Eunbin had told her everything then…Sunny only got redder at the thought.

Though this sense of embarrassment didn’t feel so bad.

Weirdly, it made Sunny feel warm of fuzzy inside. Reaching forward he hugged her to the shock of the queen. How long had it been since she’d been hugged? With a small smile she returned the hug and held Sunny close, glad she could experience this before supremacy took away her emotions and hid them somewhere she could never find them again.

Chapter Text

Princess Hel drifted into the kitchen. Her voice was soft and unbothered.

“I see death in your future, little brother.”

Sunny let out a weary sigh, reaching for an egg the size of his fist. Its shell shimmered a dusky teal, marked with green spots. He cracked it against the counter, the yolk spilling into a bowl. He began to whisk.

“Yes, Hel. You’ve been saying that for years,” he muttered. Then he spoke up,  “Death is always in my future. You might as well tell me the sun will rise. At this point, we’ve agreed it follows me around like some mangy stray.”

He turned sharply, whisk still in hand, to meet her gaze. What unsettled him wasn’t the prophecy. Instead it was Hel herself. Blood slicked her pale fingers, dripping to the stone floor in a slow, deliberate trail that marked the hallway she’d emerged from. The girl’s face was too serene, innocent, and utterly wrong.

Sunny exhaled through his teeth. “Get over here. I need some of that blood. You butchered a toad this time, didn’t you?”

Hel gave the faintest nod. When she offered her hand, Sunny grabbed a spoon and carefully coaxed the blood into the mixture. Only when the yolk had been properly covered by the blood did he release her, letting her arms fall back limp to her sides.

He turned to the stove, poured the concoction into a small iron cauldron, and stirred. The scent of what could only be described as death rose into the air, curling into the smoke that drifted lazily.

“What are you making?” Hel asked, tilting her head.

“A poison,” Sunny said, reaching for a long wooden ladle and plunging it deep into the cauldron. “Teacher Julius wants one strong enough to cripple an awakened beast. This is just the latest attempt in a long list of failures. Though this time I don’t know how to test it because Eunbin’s sick of escorting me into the wilds to test them. Mom won’t let me travel alone without a master, no matter what I say.”

“I can take you,” Hel replied without hesitation. “When you’re done.”

The ladle stilled. Sunny looked up, confusion flickering in his dark eyes.

“You… want to take me hunting?” He narrowed his gaze. “What’s the catch? The last time you offered to help, I ended up cooking for you until midnight.”

Hel’s lips curved into a smile.

***

A hulking shape laid beneath a tree, chewing on an enormous bone from what could only have been another dreadful nightmare creature. The creature was broad-shouldered and barrel-chested like a gorilla, scales in places where skin should be, a long snake tail twitching at every change in the air. 

“That is not an awakened beast,” Sunny whispered, almost too loud, before a hand clamped over his mouth before he could speak again. 

“Exactly,” Hel whispered back. “You asked for an awakened beast. I brought you an awakened demon. Let’s see if your poison works.”

Sunny’s pulse huddled at his throat. He looked at Hel and muttered a prayer. He didn’t know which dead god might be listening, so he was as vague as possible

Please. Save me from this crazy sister of mine before she drives me into an early grave. Damnation, spare me from this lunatic.

Hanging his head in defeat, he reached into a pouch attached to his hip and produced a blow dart Eunbin had given him: pale bone of an ascended beast sharpened to a deadly point. Eunbin had given it on Sunny’s last birthday. In addition, he pulled out his vial of poison.

“Hold this,” he said, and put both objects on Hel’s hands.

He climbed the tree without thinking about the heights, and hid in the shadows of the canopy. From the branches he could see the demon and the area better. Sniffing the air, he couldn’t help but notice how clean it smelled. The pungent odor of his poison would give him away before he could use it.

Sunny frowned but continued forward, determined to find any weak spots in the demon’s body. However, there were no signs of any gash or cut that left enough exposed skin for his dart. His frown etched itself onto his face as he returned to where he was.

He climbed down soundlessly and crouched beside Hel, who watched him with an expression that could have been sympathy if she were less dangerous. He pulled a handful of small rubber balls from his pouch, ugly little things he had been forced to make by hand that smelled faintly of rot.

“What’s that?” Hel asked.

“A stink bomb,” he said, grabbing his dart and poison back. “Teacher Julius taught me to use them. These are mostly decaying odors from the DreamTeacher Julius taught me to use for ambushes like this if I create a poison that has too strong of a smell. It contains some sulfur but mostly decaying smells common around the Dream Realm. Nightmare beasts won’t bat an eye at it, but it covers your scent.”

Hel nodded, not skeptical, only practical. “So you throw them.”

“No.” Sunny held one up. “If you throw them, the creature will notice. So instead I do this….” He eased a pinprick into one ball with the dart. Air hissed out, thin and slow, carrying its rotty perfume into the leaves. “It releases gradually, making it more natural. Such scents aren’t uncommon in the Dream Realm afterall.”

He worked methodically, pricking and placing the balls in a loose ring. Around the perimeter he arranged traps of all kinds. Some he might never need but a hunter must always be prepared.

They waited. Hours passed, and finally it was time for Sunny’s plan to start. 

Pulling out his ivory dart he coated in poison and pulled out a simple blowgun from his pouch. Loading the dart, he dropped to the floor and laid on his stomach, eyes reflecting the image of the nightmare creature. Raising his blowgun into the air, he took a deep breath and suddenly the world around him went eerily still as if it was frozen in time. 

Right now nothing except the hunt mattered. Not his name, not his sister, not even the world. The only thing that mattered was killing the beast in front of him. The thrill of seeing it fall without even giving it the chance to fight back.

Taking a deep breath in, he connected the blowgun to his mouth and the dart flew true. Its path was one of certainty, it would not be allowed to miss. 

Once it pierced the nape of the creature, it flew into a wild frenzy.

Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the helm of Hel’s dress and whistled sharply.

The beast turned with blood-shot eyes and stared into Sunny’s eyes before lunging with its clawed hand reaching for his neck. The young boy’s knees almost buckled and had he been alone it would have been the end right there and then. However, he was not alone. 

Hel grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him over his shoulder. In an instant, Sunny found that the world in front of him blurred into a kaleidoscope of familiar colors. A shaky grin found itself on his face. 

Now they just had to run and see if the poison worked.

“Right!”

Without decelerating Hel took a sharp turn, causing the beast to slide into a marked spot. The ground gave way and the corrupted creature found itself falling. Roaring in anger, it leapt out of the hole in the ground and continued its chase. 

The game of cat and mouse continued as the beast grew more and more enraged from the growing lethality of Sunny’s traps. 

‘Yea get even angrier you stupid ape. I’ll be the last one laughing.’

Sunny turned his head and found that the veins of the creature had become black and its moves more sluggish. The traps were meant to be nothing more than inconveniences meant to make the creature exert more force, putting its body into overdrive and increasing the spread of poison.

After what couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, the creature collapsed. 

Hel stopped hesitantly and set Sunny down somewhere safe. She slowly approached the fallen creature whilst summoning a dagger type memory. She plunged her dagger into its skull, eyes widening when there was no notification from the Nightmare Spell.

She turned to look at her younger brother who had a grin of satisfaction stretching across his face and up to his ears.

Death had arrived for the beast, but not from the arc of  a sword but the woosh of the wind.