Author's Note: I just finished rereading the manga, and remembered why I love it so much! As a hardcore HakxYona shipper, I couldn't resist writing this. This is my version of the aftermath of what would happen if the team met with Soo-Won again. Hope you enjoy.

Warning: Contains mention of characters that haven't been introduced to the anime.

She sat in silence, clutching her knees next to a small alcove of trees. Their branches draped over a pile of collapsing boulders, settled in a haphazard mound and puckered from the landslides and windstorms that afflicted these parts of the woods. It had been a long time since she had acclimated herself to sleeping outdoors under the milky moonlight to the hum of buzzing mosquitoes and rushing river currents, or gotten used to living through treacherous conditions.

The night froze over with the arrival of twilight, and she could hardly keep her fingers from shaking and turning a pale blue. Hak offered to keep the young princess warm, but she refused to rely on him, because she knew she would grow dependent on that warmth. There was little doubt she held that if he were to coddle her even through the long nights, she would soon require it, and she was already a burden.

Yona stared into the icy pond, and cursed her haggard reflection. Scars etched across her flushed cheeks, and bruises swelled along her shaking arms. All she saw was a pathetic, fragile little girl. Closing her eyes, she swiped a shivering hand across the crisp crystal surface and stirred the worn image. Visions of Hak flashed behind her lids, the dulled memories swirling in the darkness. She remembered the flurry of flesh and the screams that carried across the treetops and silenced the birds. Soo-Won was long gone into the clearing, but the thirst for blood in Hak's clouded slate grey eyes remained, as he fought desperately to catch him. Kija struggled to stop and calm him, but the Thunder Beast lived up to his infamous reputation and cut him down with little effort. Even Jae-Ha's attempts to bring him back to the crippling reality they faced had failed.

"Let me go!" he roared. "Let me kill him!"

"Hak." She placed a single, small hand on his. "That's enough."

His eyes bulged wide from his face unblinking, like a wild animal that had come face to face with death itself. And then, he fell to his knees. She had never seen him look so broken. This man who had teased her mercilessly through her childhood, and maintained his dismissive, apathetic humor throughout their dangerous journeys, was now ravaged and sobbing into the moistened earth, freshly damped from the coming rain as the sky cried with him. So much raw sorrow was painful to behold.

She folded over, to dip her hands and splash the crisp water in her face as she returned to the cold of the present. Another reflection flickered uncertainly behind hers, and she turned to see him. He had closed himself off once again, his arms crossed tightly against his broad chest and his face turned away, hardly daring to look at her.

"Princess." He addressed her quietly and sat several feet behind her, to keep watch but not so much as cause a disturbance. The sword was sheathed closely beside him, and he kept a cautious hand hovering atop the menacing weapon.

"Hak." She responded softly and held a delicate and gentle fingertip on his arm. He brushed it away quickly, and stared into the upturned dirt, mulling over the memory himself.

"I should have killed him. I had every opportunity." He drove the hilt of the sword deep into the earth, splitting the soil. "But I couldn't do it. I wouldn't. I knew I'd grown complacent." The blaze in his eyes from that day flashed once more. "I'm so weak."

"Wouldn't?" The words rolled off her tongue. She drew her hand back towards his, and rested it on his throbbing knuckles whitened from his tight grasp on the blade. His hand relaxed at her touch. "You aren't weak. It's not that you weren't able to kill Soo-Won. You chose not to. Isn't that right, Hak?" He froze in shock for a moment as he saw the wisdom of the former king reflected in his daughter's eyes. Pursing her lips, Yona held her breath for a moment and stared up at the stars. "I've wondered for a long time what I would do if I met again with Soo-Won. If I would exact my revenge, or attempt to reclaim my rightful place on the throne. But to be honest, I wouldn't do any of that. I belong here, protecting the people directly. And regardless of what he's done, Soo-Won's proved to be the king that Kouka deserves. The country needs him. You know that just as well as I do. It was the right choice."

"I will never acknowledge him," Hak spat venomously. "Soo-won killed King Il in cold blood. He's a liar and a murderer. He betrayed my trust. And he betrayed yours." He bowed his head in bitter silence. Clumps of wild grass waved in the softening breeze, and Yona ran her fingers through the mossy trails that clung to the masses of granite at her side. His following words were so quiet; the whispers were nearly lost in the wind. "He was still once my friend."

The whistle of the whirring air sang out into the night, and the birds responded with their own cheery tunes before retiring to their straw beds in the trees. He stared out into the distance through the curtains of shrubbery and continued. "I always thought that the three of us would continue that way. That we would always be together. That he would marry you and become the rightful king, and I would serve as both of your right hand for the rest of my days. He was the only one that I didn't mind losing you to. Because I knew he would take care of you, that he would make you happier than I ever could. I was so naive." Hak paused as the words sank deeper. "I've destroyed my impulses for you time and time again. And what was it for?" He trailed off, and listened to the chatter of crickets in the brush. Hak turned to face Yona and his gaze burned holes in her. He stroked her face with the side of his hand, his fingers tracing her jaw and to the nape of her thin pale neck. "I'm so tired of always holding back."

"Hak?" Yona murmured, as he leaned closer. His lips inched forward towards hers as his eyes slowly closed. Her body tensed for a moment, as a deep crimson raged through her blushing cheeks. She let her eyes flutter close as well as she anticipated the moment.

"Just kidding." He grinned, and flicked her nose. He leaned back onto his elbows and sighed. A shadow danced across his brow as his eyes deadened. "I'm only rambling. Just forget it."

"Don't do that," she sputtered. "Don't pass it off as a joke." Her voice cracked with a strange rush of emotion that was foreign to Hak, at least when it came to their relationship. He was accustomed to shouted insults and rebuttals to his own affectionate mocking. This honesty seemed to be reserved only for moonlit nights beneath a blanket of stars and muddy blotches of silver galaxies.

"Princess?" His own tone was hoarse as he felt the space between them grow thick and heavy. He reached out to touch her, but hesitated. Their skin seemed to repel and draw the other simultaneously.

"Could you call me Yona?" she asked, and pulled a handful of dirt from the ground and let it sift through her fingers.

"But-" he began to protest, but she clasped his hands. He felt her fingers intertwine with his own and a shiver ran down his back.

"Just for tonight. Tomorrow, I guess everything will be back to normal. But tonight I want to be Yona. Maybe it's a selfish wish, but right now I don't want to be the lost princess or the escaped daughter of King Il. I just want to be another person sitting beside you, and pretend that things are peaceful for one second. That things are normal." She stared back into the sky, and tightened her grip on his hand with a soft saddened smile. "But I suppose it's a ridiculous idea." She carved patterns on his rough callused palms. "It's just as Ik-Soo said. My destiny will be a difficult path to walk if I live on. Normality is a thing of the past." She let the idea fester before venturing to another brighter topic. A crooked grin pulled at the corners of her lips. "But it's funny remembering those days. You know, in the past, when we'd roam the palace together. And my biggest problem was taming this impossibly wild hair. You'd tease me for being so vain. And Soo-Won would-"

Her voice faded abruptly at the sound of his name on her tongue and he knew what she was thinking of. That man would easily compliment her hair and compare it to the rising sun, and she'd hang on his every word like the words were oozing lumps of caramel.

"He thought your hair was beautiful,'" Hak finished for her emotionlessly, and her face flushed at the mere fleeting remembrance as if she were still in the palace fussing over her unruly crimson locks with a broken comb, teeth missing from vicious strokes through disobedient tangles. Bitterness quickly replaced the emotion as the memory completed itself, and she took in her surroundings and recalled what brought them there.

"He would be the only one." Yona chuckled bitterly and studied the backdrop and how the trees silhouetted the horizon. It looked like a painting she'd once seen atop polished marble walls next to golden threaded tapestries that depicted legends of all ages. She would probably never see any of it again.

"No, he wouldn't," Hak murmured, and followed her gaze silently. He might not have been able to speak such tender words as easily as Soo-Won, but that didn't prevent them from constantly living in his thoughts and in the unnoticed looks he cast at her from across the palace grounds.

She let the words go unnoticed, and stared at the ground, too lost in the memories to return to the world. Her hand drew away from his and raked through her hair in slow circles. Her hair, which was now cropped short and filthy, caked with mud and threaded with broken twigs and leaves. "He said it looked like the dawning sky." Her eyes glazed over beneath the glow of light pouring from the stars.

"I don't see it," Hak stated bluntly as he crossed his arms once more. Yona attempted to shoot him a sarcastic glare from the corner of her tired bloodshot eyes, but could hardly muster the energy. A pile of pebbles came undone and tumbled to the ground as he shifted his position to find one more comfortable. He closed his eyes and took in the atmosphere. "To me, it looks more like a fiery, red star. One that shines brightly in a sea of darkness. That guides and watches over the people with a dazzling brilliance." Leaning over, he rested his forehead on her shoulder." I'll probably follow that star till the day I die."

"Well you're not going to die anytime soon." She avoided the very thought of it, and bowed her head down to hide the water in her eyes from mere consideration. "I won't let you."

"Would you cry if I were gone?" He grinned, and lifted a lock of hair to see the beautiful face veiled beneath it. He narrowed the space between their noses in mischievous flirtation. He braced himself for her to call him stupid or an idiot or another default insult that came from his teasing, but she looked up at him boldly. Her eyes were still swollen, though he couldn't tell if it was from crying or sleep deprivation from their encounter with Soo-Won.

"Of course I would," she responded and squeezed both hands against his cheeks with a pout. It faded quickly and was replaced by a strong and reflective glimmer in her eye. "You're important to me. I need you by my side." Her hands softened and her thumbs drew tender circles on his stubbled skin. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

The attack took him by surprise, as he felt the blood boil in his veins. He didn't even stop another second to think as he closed the short distance between them and took hold of her. At first it was gentle, as if he didn't want to grip too hard because she would break. He drew away and looked at her supple damp lips, parted with expectation as her eyes glittered from the crumbs of moonlight that fell through the trees.

"Yona," he whispered.

They both pulled back to each other in a new desperation. Their lips crushed together passionately as he pried hers further apart with his tongue, flicking anxiously against her teeth. Her arms searched for the ground as her fingers tightened, ripping blades of dewdrop-speckled grass out of the soil, fire bubbling underneath her skin. Hak gently combed through her hair with a broad palm. He trailed his palms down to her waist and gripped it firmly as he pushed her to the ground and she wrapped her arms around his back. Several rough fingers slipped beneath her cloak in search of bare skin and she moaned.

Reality hit with striking intensity as the image of King Il flashed in Hak's mind. The kind king that had asked him to protect the princess no matter the cost. His fist clenched and fell to his side, as he wrenched at his hair with the other hand and groaned.

"What am I doing?" He buried his head into his knuckles.

"What's wrong?" She asked inquisitively and stroked the side of his face between soft pants.

"I'm sorry." He pressed his hand onto hers and held it for a moment before removing it with a sigh. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"Ah." She furrowed her brow and a strange pang swirled through her stomach. A thousand thoughts pressed against her brain as she struggled to sift through them. The wind gurgled a cry through the trees as their branches violently churned. Her resolve cemented silently as she tried to force a smile, but it came out twisted. "You're right. How could I be so foolish?" Her eyes teared but she pushed it back with a false sense of composure. She didn't want to worry him anymore. "I can't forget who I am. Otherwise the memory of my father will disappear." The cracks in her voice stood out more than she wanted them to as she drew the invisible line before he had the chance. She quieted to a whisper, as she choked the words. "You can't forget either, Hak."

His body shook with each syllable as he watched her. There she was, the beautiful princess hunched in a shivering bundle. He reached out to touch her but caught himself. It would only be cruel. "I won't."

Hak lifted off the ground and his silhouette disappeared through the woods. She crumbled. The wind cried once more.