My sudden worry for Minki wasn’t nearly as strong as the pain vibrating through my rib cage. Before I could stop myself, I started coughing. It felt like something was stuck in the back of my throat and I soon saw why. Red drops scattered across the snow in front of my face and I could taste my salty blood lubricating my mouth. My breaths were heavy and hurt my chest. My vision was starting to cloud and I blinked several times, trying to focus on the two figures in front of me.

Dongho slowly turned around and his eyes were in my direction. I couldn’t see his face very well and I feared for a moment that he would strike his sword and finish me off in this second. But instead he turned back around, bent down, and picked Minki’s limp body off of the snowy ground, draping him roughly over his shoulder. Then he started to walk away.

I tried to move my mouth, tried to call out to him, but only more blood came shooting out as my coughs made it feel like my chest was getting stabbed multiple times. My vision failed me and my eyelids slowly closed. All feeling left my nervous system and I fell into a dreamless, black slumber…

It wasn’t until an unknowing amount of time later that I started sensing my surroundings again. I could hear the soft wind blowing and the bangs on my forehead getting ruffled slightly as a result. The image of Minki getting taken away immediately covered my mind.

“Minki…” My mouth barely moved and saying only his name hurt my chest and throat.

“Minhyun!” Another voice called out to me.

I shifted slightly and tried to open my eyes. I knew that voice too well. “J-Jonghyun..”

“Don’t move!” I felt his hand quickly grab my shoulder. “You’re hurt very bad.”

I squinted up and looked around for his face. “H-how bad?” I flinched from the pain in my throat.

“Well I managed to subdue the most of the bleeding, but there’s no way of knowing how much internal bleeding you still have left.” He responded quietly. “What happened to you? Did someone attack you?”

Internal bleeding…? “… yes.” I let out a small sigh. “I was attacked by… a bewitched man…”

Jonghyun didn’t respond.

“… we must leave now.” I tried to sit up and nothing but pain overtook my whole body.

“You have to rest!” Jonghyun quickly pushed me back down. “Why do you want to set out in such a condition!?”

“My friend is in trouble!” I breathed, staring at Jonghyun hard. “And if I don’t find him soon, he could end up like…”

“Like who?”

“I must explain everything to you later.” After a lot of struggling and pain that could bring tears to one’s eyes, I managed to sit up.

“I’m not letting you stand up until you explain now.” Jonghyun said sternly, glaring at me.

I glared back. “…Jonghyun…the two of us, we were deceived.”

Jonghyun said nothing.

I lowered my head. “The queen we worshiped so deeply…she’s nothing but a witch…she never truly respected us like we did her…and now she’s got her filthy hands on a friend who I made a deal with.”

“What kind of deal?”

“I help him, he helps me. He helped me find the queen…so now I must help him. Do you understand?” I looked at Jonghyun hard.

He was silent for a moment. “…I know that we were deceived.”

I blinked. “What?”

"The castle fell. Crumbled down to the ground. I barely escaped with my life if it wasn't for Sir Aaron!"

"But...you impaled him the instant after his palms pushed the queen out of the room window."

Jonghyun nodded. "That's correct, and I felt terrible about it. I started doubting my mind and if I was really the same person or not. Then I heard a draft sift through the room and it made me turn to the door. Then the walls started to crumble and fall to the floor. So I fled as fast as I could to come and find you. Then...I heard his voice."

"Sir Aaron's?" My eyes widened.

"Yes. He told me why he pushed the queen so adamantly, and then the truth dawned upon me."

"He was trying to save us. From that queen's selfish plans." I answered.

Jonghyun nodded. "Correct."

I nodded. “Now that we both understand that, you must let me finish my part of the deal with my friend.”

“I’ll help you. We’re still partners, remember?” Jonghyun smiled.

I was about to question him, but once I realized how much I wasn’t going to be able to fight once we came across the queen and her bewitched minion, I silently agreed and let him carefully pull me up and drape my arm across his shoulder.

“Do you know where they are now?” Jonghyun asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t…we just have to set out and look. I fear we don’t have much time…” My thoughts shifted to Minki and my heart only grew with more worry. I didn’t want him to become like his friend, lost in the queen’s control and possibly unable to escape…

Jonghyun set the pace of our walking in a way that wasn’t nearly as painful for me, which I greatly appreciated. I still felt an occasional stab of pain in my chest which made my anxiety grow and my desire to find the queen more intense. The only thing I wanted to do once in her presence was impale her on the spot, despite any kind of sweet talk she would try to land on me.

The atmosphere around us became very blizzard-like once more. The winds howled softly and the snow fell like hail, sending shivers down our spines. I had flashbacks of almost freezing to death in the previous blizzard and became uncomfortable as a result. It dawned on me that neither me or Jonghyun knew the exact location of the queen’s new castle and it felt like we were just wandering around aimlessly.

“Surely Sir Aaron must have told you something about the queen’s new castle location!” I shouted, trying to make my voice heard above the strong wind.

“…not exactly.” Jonghyun’s voice was quiet but I could hear it.

“Then what can we do?!” I shouted. “Minki could be gone by now and all of our searching could be for nothing!”

“We will find her!” Jonghyun shouted back. “She won’t get away with her selfish plan! Do you understand?”

I didn’t answer, too bitter-hearted and low on hope. I was tired of shivering and the constant stabs of pain in my chest made me want to rip them out with my hands and break them into tiny pieces. I started to wonder if the two of us were going to die out here and the thought of being in a painless, warm place started to sound a lot better to me than this moment…

Suddenly, Jonghyun stopped walking.

“What?” I shouted.

He didn’t respond.

I slowly lifted my head up and squinted through the thick snowfall. I saw a shadowed figure standing a little distance in front of us. I couldn’t make out his face or even if he was male or female.

“C-could it be…?” Jonghyun whispered.

I glanced at him for a moment then back at the figure, who turned around and started to walk away.

“Follow him!” I said, not really sure why I was suddenly so trusting to someone we couldn’t recognize. But for some reason, and I think Jonghyun felt it too, there was something to trust about the figure.

Jonghyun did as I said and moved a little faster, making the stabs of pain to my chest more frequent. At this point there were tolerable but annoying to me, but keeping focus on the figure was the only thing I cared about.

After countless seconds, Jonghyun gradually came to a stop. My head was lowered at that point from fatigue but I managed to pull my head up to see what he was looking at. We were stopped in front of a large, hollow cave, much bigger than the one Minki kept his reserve supplies in. Jonghyun and I stared at the entrance for a long time before he started to move toward the inside. Once we could stop feeling the cold wind rustling our snow-filled hair, Jonghyun stopped once again.

“Let’s keep going.” I breathed, reaching my arm up to brush snowflakes out of my hair.

“You’re still hurt, let’s just rest for a minute.” Jonghyun must have noticed the pained look on my face.

I shook my head. “We can rest after I know that Minki and his friend are back to their senses and the queen is buried somewhere out in the blizzard to freeze for all eternity.”

Jonghyun was taken aback by my brutally honestly statements but hoisted my arm back around his shoulder anyway. The two of us continued walking into the dark, soundless cave for what felt like an eternity…