There was something enthralling about the world moments before the sunrise.

It was in the way the wind would settle, as though awaiting dawn with bated breath, and the peaceful quiet that would have suddenly befallen the forest, the rosy hues hanging around the horizon. Even the waterfall seemed to allow a moment of silence for the rousing sun, though that may only be Hakyeon’s imagination.

It wouldn’t be long, now, Hakyeon mused. Soon, the sunrise would be upon them.

He glanced down at the weight on his chest, careful to not jostle his dozing partner. With a smile, he reached out to brush his fingers over the wings that were splayed across Taekwoon’s back. The caress drew a soft sigh from him, a puff of breath that tickled Hakyeon’s neck. His eyelashes fluttered against Hakyeon’s skin, but the caress wasn’t quite enough to coax him out of his nap.

A fond look crossed Hakyeon’s features as he cupped the back of Taekwoon’s head with his hand. The faerie was bright in appearance, with a glow that rivalled the brightest star in the night sky and windswept hair the colour of wheat, albeit, Hakyeon mused with an amused tilt to his lips, his personality sometimes seemed better fit for a winter faerie than one of spring.

Years of knowing Taekwoon, however, had changed Hakyeon’s initial impression of him. He had seen him practically melt at the sight of animals, had seen his lips widen in smile after smile, had heard his laughter, soft like the elusive wind sprites. He had seen him lose his temper, had been there when Taekwoon needed someone to lean on, had seen him in his most vulnerable moments, when his tears would fall like gentle drops of rain before Hakyeon drew him into his arms, pressing gentle reassurances and words of comfort into his skin.

Taekwoon, he thought lovingly, carding his fingers through his hair, was the one faerie he had come to cherish the most of all the faeries in his heart, the one faerie he loved more than anyone and anything.

They had left the realm almost two hours ago, relishing the flight and the serenity that came with getting to the waterfall early. It was their thing, something that had started years ago when Hakyeon had first encountered Taekwoon at the waterfall. Watching the sun rise and later retire at the waterfall had turned into a tradition over time, one they both thoroughly enjoyed and hated to miss.

Loath as he was to rouse Taekwoon from his slumber, it was something that had to be done if they wanted to watch the sunrise together. Sometimes, he gave in to Taekwoon’s sleeping face and didn’t wake him in time for the sunrise, which Taekwoon always half-heartedly complained about.

“Taekwoon,” he called gently, Taekwoon’s wings and nuzzling his nose against his cheek. “Woon, the sun is rising soon. Wake up, or you’ll miss it.”

Taekwoon shifted, eyes blinking open to gaze sleepily up at Hakyeon, clearly dismayed at the disruption. Hakyeon chuckled and slid his arms under Taekwoon’s armpits to pull him up, ignoring the noise of discontent from him. Taekwoon’s wings fluttered briefly against his back and then settled back down again, appearing as lethargic as Taekwoon himself.

His hands loosened their hold in Hakyeon’s shirt, only for his arms to snake around Hakyeon’s neck, and Taekwoon hummed as his forehead slumped against Hakyeon’s shoulder. Hakyeon whined.

“You’re being difficult, Woon. I can already see the golden hues!”

Taekwoon grumbled something under his breath, but then he finally lifted his head and glared at Hakyeon; his puffy eyes did nothing but make Hakyeon smile fondly, however.

“There we go,” he cooed, reaching up to ruffle Taekwoon’s hair. Taekwoon huffed, but seemed still too drowsy to object to Hakyeon’s treatment of him; Hakyeon loved sleepy, cuddly Taekwoon, and never failed to take advantage of it.

Taekwoon shifted in Hakyeon’s lap, mindful of his wings as he settled against Hakyeon’s chest, and Hakyeon tucked his chin over Taekwoon’s shoulder. They allowed the silence to settle between them as they watched the sun lazily rise, its bright rays banishing the shadows of night.

Nimble fingers tugged at Hakyeon’s hand, finding their place between the empty spaces. “Good morning,” Taekwoon hummed, and Hakyeon squeezed his hand gently.

“Good morning.”

They sat for a while, basking in the sun’s rays and the warmth of each other, until the sun was hanging low in the sky. Then Hakyeon patted Taekwoon’s cheek, pushing the younger faerie off his lap so that he could get up and stretch his legs. They had started to numb, along with his wings. Taekwoon followed suit, stretching his arms and torso while yawning.

“We should head back,” Hakyeon murmured with a yawn of his own; he shot Taekwoon a mock glare, as it could only be Taekwoon’s fault. Taekwoon didn’t even try to hide his smile, though he nodded his assent.

Neither noticed the keen, dark eyes following them from the shadows behind the trees as they unfolded their wings and took to the air.

~

Their realm was abuzz with life when Hakyeon and Taekwoon returned, tiny faeries weaving mischievously in-between the human-sized ones on the ground, their laughter carrying over by the gentle morning breeze. Mild mornings always seemed to bring out that playful side in faeries.

One such faerie made an excited spin at the sight of them before rushing forward. Taekwoon groaned by Hakyeon’s side as the faerie proceeded to cheerfully circle around them a couple of times before slowing down, shifting, and landing on the ground. The smile he aimed at them was almost as bright as the shine in his eyes.

“Jaehwan,” Hakyeon greeted, amused. Jaehwan beamed at him.

For an autumn born, Jaehwan was remarkably lively, even on a normal day. It had been ages, certainly, since the fae had come to acknowledge that each seasonal faerie was different, as opposed to the initial shunning of the winter faeries in the belief that they were as cold and unfriendly as their element suggested, or that summer faeries were always as warm and kind as their season.

Yet traditional views of each element still remained somewhat in their society, and as a result, Hakyeon sometimes found himself entertained at the behaviour of faeries he’d thought to be a certain way due to their season, or even cautious. Summer faeries and autumn faeries were considered the most temperamental, and Hakyeon knew it held no sway any longer, just like how winter faeries, usually thought to be calm and with an imposing repertoire of icy words ready to be spewed at others, sometimes had the kindest, warmest words to be said.

Jaehwan and Hakyeon were both feisty faeries, emotional and temperamental, but Hakyeon was just as different from a traditional summer born as Jaehwan was from an autumn faerie.

When Jaehwan tilted his head, the brown hair twinkled with red hues in the light, and his smile had softened. He watched them fondly. “You went to watch the sunrise at the waterfall?”

“We did,” Hakyeon hummed and glanced at Taekwoon, who was looking at something off to the side. When he turned to see what had caught Taekwoon’s attention, he saw Sanghyuk floating towards them and lifted a hand in greeting. Jaehwan tittered in delight, and then he was shifting and back in the air, off to circle around Sanghyuk, the winter born shaking his head in wry amusement at Jaehwan’s behaviour. His white hair gleamed with the motion.

“I see the morning has gotten to his head,” Sanghyuk said lightly as soon as he was within hearing range, evoking a laugh from Hakyeon and a smile from Taekwoon.

“He’s easily affected,” Hakyeon mused, eyes trailing Jaehwan as he idly flitted around their heads and hummed cheerfully.

Taekwoon cleared his throat. “Can we go get breakfast?”

Hakyeon cooed, reaching out to gently wrap his arms around a resigned Taekwoon. “You’re so precious.”

Sanghyuk arched a brow and snorted, a slight tug at the edge of his mouth indicating a smile. “You’re both repulsive to behold. Let’s go before I lose my appetite.”

To avoid being smothering by Hakyeon’s display of affection, Taekwoon shifted and left Hakyeon to stare disgruntled at the now-empty space between his arms. Sanghyuk cackled and went to follow Taekwoon, Hakyeon trailing behind with a world-weary sigh and Jaehwan patting his back cheerfully as they left for Hakyeon and Taekwoon’s home to get breakfast.

Breakfast was a loud affair, as it tended to be whenever Jaehwan and Sanghyuk were around. The two stole each other’s food like children and taunted one another with it, which often resulted in Hakyeon shooing them outside to chase each other for a bit until they tired of that and came back inside.

This morning was no different, with Jaehwan affected and Sanghyuk his usual devious self. After their play chase – Jaehwan had won, it seemed – the two settled down around the table to enjoy their meals in a temporary truce and blessed silence. Or, at the very least, an endurable volume compared to the raucous shrieks and cackles from earlier.

Hakyeon didn’t mind much, to be honest. And Taekwoon, well, he may frown and glare at the general noise, but he would almost always observe the duo with a fond smile whenever they broke out into their banter. He had bad days, but so had Hakyeon – so had everyone. There was no shame in that, and Jaehwan and Sanghyuk knew when to keep the mischief at a minimum.

“Jaehwan and I are going to gather berries and nuts for the autumn fest afterwards,” said Sanghyuk, watching Taekwoon steal food from Hakyeon’s plate – for Taekwoon wasn’t above such antics, though neither of them made a big deal out of it like Jaehwan and Sanghyuk. “Would you like to come with us?”

“Sure,” Hakyeon said. “We have no plans for the day, anyway. What do you say, Woon?” He cast Taekwoon an amused glance when he emitted a small, pleased sound after stealing Hakyeon’s last tomato.

“I wouldn’t mind,” Taekwoon said, and Jaehwan clasped his hands and grinned.

“Then it’s settled.”

The forest was stunning with its hues of reds, oranges and browns, autumn settling over their lands and painting everything in bright colours. It was starting to affect the weather, the days growing shorter and colder, but it made nature no less striking. Suffice to say, Jaehwan, as an autumn born, would be more susceptible to certain mornings, now that his season was upon them.

Whilst Taekwoon and Hakyeon stuck to the ground, Jaehwan and Sanghyuk shifted and took to the air, whizzing past trees above Hakyeon and Taekwoon’s heads in a game of catch.

Sanghyuk was young, still, Hakyeon mused, even if he liked to act older than his years, and Jaehwan was fond of indulging him whenever his actual age shined through, at least when it came to playing around. Hakyeon entertained the thought of joining in on their fun, perhaps even persuading Taekwoon to play with them. They sometimes did, and Sanghyuk would be especially thrilled at the prospects of racing with his elders and ganging up on them with Jaehwan.

However, it seemed Taekwoon was ahead of him.

“Should we mess with them?” he asked, his tone carefully neutral. Hakyeon couldn’t honestly say he was surprised; Taekwoon was competitive and fairly mischievous, when the mood struck. Perhaps the morning had gotten to him, as well.

Hakyeon grinned, side eyeing the other man. “Any bright ideas?”

Taekwoon tilted his head, wings fluttering behind him. “Let’s shift and wait for them to take notice.”

Hakyeon hummed, shifting and following Taekwoon behind a couple of bright red leaves to hide from the couple. “I’ll go for Jaehwan, you’ll go for Sanghyuk?”

A sly smile lit up Taekwoon’s face. “Deal.”

They didn’t have to wait for long before Jaehwan noticed their disappearance. Hakyeon saw the flash of realisation strike Sanghyuk, and then he was yelling for Jaehwan to watch his back. But he was too late, for Hakyeon had already snuck up on the other faerie and collided with him, laughing with glee when Jaehwan dramatically shouted at Sanghyuk to get away before he was caught, as well.

Hakyeon didn’t see Taekwoon attack, but he heard Sanghyuk’s shriek of surprise, followed by boisterous laughter, and first then did he look up from Jaehwan’s wiggling form to see what was going on.

Sanghyuk had managed to escape Taekwoon’s surprise attack, it seemed, two small figures diving through the air in a chase. Sanghyuk cackled each time Taekwoon narrowly avoided the leaves and branches Sanghyuk skilfully navigated through.

And then, suddenly, Sanghyuk disappeared into some thick foliage on the ground, and Taekwoon followed, but on the other side emerged only Taekwoon, who confusedly looked around for the disappeared faerie.

“Aha!” The triumphant shout came from Hakyeon’s left, his only warning before something collided with him. Jaehwan cheered when he was freed from Hakyeon’s hold, and Hakyeon quickly darted off before the tables them and he was the one being held captive by the duo.

“Get him!” Sanghyuk cried, and Hakyeon chanced a look over his shoulder to see Jaehwan already closing in on him, arms out and ready to snatch him. He yelped, trying to move faster, but then he felt something graze his ankle –

Taekwoon appeared, forcing Jaehwan out of course and saving Hakyeon, who laughed and allowed himself to slow down until he was hovering in the air. He looked back, watching Sanghyuk and Jaehwan, who, after his attempt to catch Hakyeon had been thwarted by Taekwoon, had flown back to Sanghyuk’s side. The two were whispering together, eyeing Hakyeon and Taekwoon.

Taekwoon and Hakyeon shared a look, and then they darted off to each side. Hakyeon heard the two excited whoops, and knew they had set off for him and Taekwoon. A glance back confirmed this. Jaehwan was hot on his tail, but Hakyeon wouldn’t let himself be caught that easily.

In-between branches and leaves, soaring high before diving low – Hakyeon made Jaehwan fight for it. Jaehwan called forth tiny winds to try and knock Hakyeon out of course, blowing leaves into Hakyeon’s face, but Hakyeon persisted, and when he saw his chance, he hid between some tall grass and plants. A well-deserved break, Hakyeon thought. To make his cover even more inconspicuous, he grew additional shrubs, eagerly sprouting from the earth with a touch of his magic.

“Hakyeon!” Sanghyuk.

He narrowed his eyes, looking past a petal to scour the sky for the youngest. He found him easily, hovering lazily in the air with a sulking Taekwoon in his arms. Hakyeon couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

“Hakyeon,” Jaehwan crooned, floating on his back a little ways from Sanghyuk, “if you wish to save your beloved, you’ll have to show yourself.”

“And if I refuse?” Hakyeon teased back, rejoicing in Taekwoon’s squawk of protest. “He rejected my love this morning, so why should I save him now?”

“Oooooh, a lovers’ quarrel,” Sanghyuk snickered. “How unfortunate, Taekwoon.”

Hakyeon went back to hide behind the plants, smiling to himself. “I wonder,” he called, “what Taekwoon would do to win back my favour.”

“Who knows,” Sanghyuk mused, “but now he won’t have anyone to save him. Nor will you.”

Hakyeon startled, about to set off the ground, but then there were arms around him and Jaehwan’s joyous laughter ringing pleasantly in his ears. “Got him!”

“We win!” Sanghyuk declared, smiling disarmingly at Hakyeon and Jaehwan as they approached. “You’re getting sloppier.”

“Oh, hush, you,” Hakyeon scolded mildly, hitting Sanghyuk over the head. Sanghyuk’s hands went to his head and he whined, complaining loudly about Hakyeon’s abuse when Hakyeon had hardly even touched him. Taekwoon, now free from his confinement, floated to Hakyeon’s side, a wry smile adorning his face as he circled Hakyeon’s waist with his arms and pulled him against his chest.

“Apology accepted,” Hakyeon hummed, and Taekwoon snorted, but held him just a little tighter.

“Ah, love,” Jaehwan sighed, patting Sanghyuk’s head fondly. Sanghyuk cocked a brow at him, unimpressed, however, when Jaehwan’s lips tugged downwards in a pout, Sanghyuk rolled his eyes and leaned in to place a kiss at the corner of Jaehwan’s mouth.

“Consider it a reward for winning,” he said, seriously, and Jaehwan lit up like a firefly and threw his arms around Sanghyuk, smiling adoringly. Sanghyuk was visibly struggling to keep up his act, and eventually resigned to a happy smile.

“Young love,” Hakyeon mused, laying his hands on Taekwoon’s. “So innocent.”

“Spare me,” Sanghyuk huffed, though he leaned sideways into Jaehwan’s chest, toying with the ring on Jaehwan’s finger. “We aren’t innocent.”

“Ah, no, I don’t want to hear it!” Hakyeon cried, lifting his arms to cover his ears, even if Jaehwan were grinning impishly at him. “Spare me the details. I do not care for them.”

“Spoilsport,” Jaehwan sniffed, laying his chin on Sanghyuk’s shoulder. “You could learn a thing or two.”

Taekwoon cleared his throat pointedly, sharing a look with Hakyeon. “Let’s actually get started with what we set out for, shall we?”

~

Dusk was nearly upon them when Taekwoon and Hakyeon took off to watch the sunset at the waterfall. They had good time, the sun hanging low in the sky, so the flight there was peaceful. They followed the stream, making faces – Hakyeon, mostly – at their reflections in the surface and dipping their hands and feet into the water. Hakyeon loved indulging in this, when the time was to it.

They had spent the day with Jaehwan and Sanghyuk, fooling around in the forest and gathering nuts and berries before taking a break so that Taekwoon could pet bunnies, and even a deer. Sanghyuk and Jaehwan had been excited to join in on the petting, and with Taekwoon there – whilst all animals tended to be friendly with faeries, they flocked around Taekwoon for some reason – they got to pet the bunnies, as well.

Hakyeon had been content just watching those he held dear, but then a hare had approached him, and he had invited her into his lap and her fur, cooing gently at her. Taekwoon had come to sit with him, a little later, after the hare had dozed off, and they had shared a smile and watched Sanghyuk and Jaehwan play with the bunnies.

The water was cool under his hands, but not uncomfortably so, and he laughed when he managed to land a splash in Taekwoon’s face. Taekwoon sputtered, pushing wet hair away from his face to stare at Hakyeon in disbelief – and then he was chasing him, calling after him teasingly.

They were near the waterfall when Hakyeon slowed down. Taekwoon came to hover by his side, a frown replacing his easy smile as he took a closer look at their surroundings.

“It got darker, all of a sudden,” Hakyeon observed quietly. Taekwoon nodded, pursing his lips.

“I noticed,” he murmured. He grabbed Hakyeon’s hand and gently pulled him to the ground so they could shift. If they were about to fight shadows, it would be to their advantage to be the size of humans.

Shadows were curious creatures. Children of the night, they rarely showed in the middle of the day when the sun was at its highest, when its glare caused them most harm. They lurked in the darkness where the sun couldn’t reach, and as such were at their most powerful once night had fallen, their only purpose in life that of extinguishing the light in their smothering darkness.

Usually, however, it was a question of so-called lesser shadows, those that weren’t strong enough to evoke terror in the souls of every breathing being. Lesser shadows couldn’t plunge areas into darkness, and at sunset, as now, they were a simple matter, with the setting sun serving to weaken them. Something indicated that these shadows were just a tad more powerful than the norm, but still, it wasn’t anything particularly taxing.

A burst of magic, and they’d writhe and die, fading into nothing. The main concern here was the sheer number of them.

“There are many of them,” Hakyeon pointed out, eyes trailing the black tendrils slinking over the ground around them. In all too little time, the shadows had surrounded them.

“Let’s split up,” Taekwoon said after a moment’s contemplation. “It’ll be quicker. They may be large in number, but they are essentially harmless. We should still have time to see the sunset.”

“All right,” agreed Hakyeon, and no sooner had he spoken the words than a shadow sprang at him. He killed it with a blast of light, its shrill shriek cutting off abruptly, and turned to share a look with Taekwoon. “I deal with these, you go on ahead?”

With a nod, Taekwoon was off, and Hakyeon turned his attention to the shadows. A brisk survey counted at least ten of them, and whilst they were small, their numbers was still something to factor in when fighting them. These appeared smart enough – though shadows weren’t exactly sentient – knowing they stood no chance unless teaming up. Not all shadows did that, and one lesser shadow was pathetic.

Hakyeon aimed a couple of light bolts at a group of shadows, and they hissed and dispersed as one bolt hit right in the middle, killing a few of them and wounding the rest.

More seemed to have appeared, however, Hakyeon noticed, squinting at the wispy creatures. The darkness wasn’t pungent, not quite, but… for lesser shadows, it was surprisingly thick.

The shadows attacked one or two at a time, making it easy for Hakyeon to fight them off, but it quickly became apparent that there was talk of some form of strategy, which took him aback. He had never encountered shadows that knew how to fight tactically.

It was starting to feel wrong. Off. He blasted a group of shadows, and another appeared from behind the trees. He sent a bolt of light at a shadow, and another, and another, but they weren’t dwindling. There were always more. And instead of attacking to kill, they were…

He in a sharp breath, blasting off a single shadow that lunged at him. They were stalling.

But why?

“Taekwoon!” he called, awaiting an answer that never came. He cursed, shouted his name again, but with the same result.

He aimed three bolts at the largest masses, and then he was off running, the dying shrieks of the shadows fading behind him. There were shadows everywhere, and he had to blast off a few that lunged at him, but the rest – the rest just stayed in place. Lurking. Hissing. Abnormal behaviour for shadows. Hakyeon didn’t like it.

The closer he got to the waterfall, the more pungent the darkness became. It was stifling, thick and so wrong, so unnatural, that it grated on Hakyeon’s senses. No lesser shadows, regardless of how many they were, should be able to command this much darkness.

“Taekwoon!” he cried, a bubble of fear bursting in his gut.

Whatever held the command over this darkness, and possibly even the shadows, was powerful, far more powerful than anything Hakyeon had ever fought. And it was frightening. He knew that it partially was the darkness getting to him, this cold hand of fear that closed around his heart, because that was what shadows did. They took a flame and snuffed it out, tarnishing the mind and soul. They evoked terror, made the flight instinct flare up; animals would be long gone by now. Already, he was fighting the urge to turn back, to get away from this unnatural darkness, but he couldn’t, not without Taekwoon.

Who wasn’t answering his cries.

The waterfall gradually came into view, and it spurred him to run harder, ducking to avoid branches and mindful of the roots rising from the ground. He couldn’t evade everything, but he didn’t much care for the slashes and bruises he obtained.

At the waterfall, he came to a halt, chest heaving from exertion. The darkness here – it was almost too much. It hung low in the air, made breathing difficult, and the fear so much more pressing. His body was trembling with it, hands fisted by his sides as he fought his way through the darkness.

And then – he saw it. The creature that had to be the one manipulating this darkness. It had assumed a man’s body, which – Hakyeon swallowed dryly. Shadows didn’t take the form of humans; they couldn’t. It was definitely a shadow and not another creature of night, but what he was seeing should be impossible. Yet here the shadow was in all of its otherworldly beauty, with unembellished skin and pale lips, eyes almond-shaped and dark as the night sky. Its body was sturdy, but slim, its bare arms indicating strength.

And in the shadow’s arms was Taekwoon.

Hakyeon’s breath caught in his throat, and he stumbled backwards when the shadow slowly turned around on the spot to look at him.

There was no warning.

Shadows surrounded him, grasping at his arms and legs and twisting around his body, forcing his wings against his back almost painfully. He fought them, of course he fought them, but they were too many, and with his limbs held against his body, he stood absolutely no chance, despite the many beams of raw light he cast. They subdued him, and he could only watch as the shadow slinked closer, Taekwoon pale and limp in its arms.

“Hakyeon,” it spoke, its voice as unnaturally smooth as the graceful way it carried itself. Hakyeon felt like something had struck him in the gut and stolen the breath right out of his lungs. It spoke. And it knew his name.

“Give him back,” Hakyeon demanded. He wished his voice didn’t shake as much as it did.

The shadow tilted its head, regarding Hakyeon for a moment before its eyes fell to Taekwoon. Taekwoon looked so bright, right there in the shadow’s arms, his glow a radiant light wrapped in dark. He didn’t belong there, no one belonged there.

It hesitated, and then said, slowly, locking eyes with Hakyeon, “No.”

Hakyeon bristled and thrashed in the shadows’ hold. “If you dare harm him –”

“I do not think you are in any position to make demands,” the shadow interrupted, and Hakyeon bit down on his lip in fury. The shadow looked at Taekwoon again, hair as black as the darkness it commanded falling into its eyes like a veil, and it – it touched Taekwoon’s forehead, a single, pale finger, and Hakyeon cried out.

“What did you do to him?” he begged. He could feel the energy draining from his body, a result from the shadows and his panicked thrashing. “What did you do?”

“He is merely unconscious, little faerie,” the shadow said, but it did nothing to soothe Hakyeon’s nerves.

“What do you want with him?” Hakyeon exploded. The shadow raised a perfectly shaped brow, but when it didn’t readily answer, Hakyeon tried to plead with it. “Please… Take me, instead. Take me –”

“Little faerie,” the shadow said, and Hakyeon whimpered when the shadows squeezed him. They were dragging him, backwards, towards the – waterfall. He could hear it faintly in the background through the fear. “It is not you that I want. You cannot take his place.”

“Please,” Hakyeon choked, “no, no, please –”

The water roared underneath him, now, and he gasped desperately for air. He fought the shadows, fought to get his wings free, at least. “Please.”

For a horrifying moment, he could feel himself falling – but then the sensation was gone. When he looked below, he saw the murky water: The one thing between him and the sharp rocks at the bottom was the shadows – or, rather, the shadow.

He met its eyes, soulless orbs, he wanted to say, but what was in there had soul – emotions. If not for the unnatural darkness, it could have passed as a human. How did a shadow become like this? No shadow was sentient. No shadow spoke.

It had moved to stand just in front of him, looking down its nose and cradling Taekwoon’s body closer. Its features twisted, a slight tug at its lips, a smile. It caressed Taekwoon’s cheek, head tilted to the side. And it said, “I will return him to you, little faerie. But first, I need him.”

Hakyeon screamed when he was pulled over the edge, clawing at the shadows and blasting magic in every angle, not caring if they hit their mark or not. He just had to get the shadows off. He needed – needed to get to Taekwoon, before the shadow took him away.

He was falling, the water approaching frighteningly fast, and he twisted in the air, managing to get one arm free to punch at the shadows that shrieked at him. He blasted more magic, their shrieks echoing in the stillness, and still, the water was just below him, coming closer –

He wrestled one wing free and used it to try to slow his descent. It helped very little.

The collision with the water was painful, cold –

The shadows’ shrill shrieks chased him into the black nothing.

~

Wonshik didn’t stay around to watch the faerie’s struggle, or to see if the fall killed him. No, he thought, turning his back to the waterfall and the screams, he had more important matters at hand. He looked down at the unconscious faerie in his arms, and smiled, cradling him closer.

Taekwoon, with his glow so bright and pure, was the most important part of his plan. He was the sacrifice that Wonshik needed, and at long last, he had him.

It had taken two years, but his patience finally paid off.

He was ready.

~

Someone was shouting his name.

It took a lot of effort to fight his way through the haze that surrounded his mind, but the further he got, the clearer the voice became. He picked up on the anxiety, and belatedly realised it wasn’t one voice, but two.

“Hakyeon, please, wake up –”

There were hands on him, and for a moment the touch brought back memories of shadows clinging to his body, and he lashed out in blindness, fear shooting through him. His arms were restrained as a result, and he whimpered, twisting in the hold, needing – He needed to –

“Hakyeon.”

His eyes snapped open, and he jolted at the sight of Jaehwan’s face so close to his, eyes staring intensely into his. His expression, tight with anxiety before, loosened a bit in relief when Hakyeon returned to them.

“He’s awake?” Sanghyuk asked. The hold on Hakyeon loosened, and instead warm hands ran up his arms. That was when Hakyeon realised how cold he actually was. His clothes were clammy, sticking to his form.

It hurt a little to breathe. He was in pain, he was aware, but at the same time, he knew the shock and cold was numbing him some. He didn’t know yet if that were a good or a bad thing.

“Thank Mother Nature,” Sanghyuk breathed. “We thought –”

“What happened?” Jaehwan demanded. Hakyeon dimly noticed that Sanghyuk was the one rubbing warmth into his arms, which he was extremely grateful for. “Where’s Taekwoon?”

Taekwoon.

Hakyeon shot upwards, ignoring the flare of pain at the motion. Jaehwan yelped, reaching for Hakyeon when he swayed in place, a dizzy spell threatening to pull him back into oblivion. It passed, eventually.

“Taekwoon,” Hakyeon whined, making an aborted attempt at prying their hands off him. “There was a shadow – It was so powerful, you wouldn’t believe it, and it has Taekwoon –”

He broke off with a sob, slumping against Jaehwan and his hands in his shirt. “It took him. I need – I need to find him, please.”

“Hakyeon,” said Sanghyuk softly; Hakyeon whimpered, knowing by the tone Sanghyuk was about to say something he wouldn’t like, “you’ve been out here for too long. Everyone has been searching for you when you failed to return before nightfall.”

He swallowed, holding Hakyeon tighter when he tensed. “If it… If it took Taekwoon, he’s gone. We’ve searched everywhere near the waterfall. He isn’t here.”

“No,” Hakyeon choked out, blinking away tears. “No, it cannot – Taekwoon cannot be gone –”

“We need to get you back, Hakyeon,” Jaehwan said, keeping his voice as gentle as Sanghyuk’s. “You’re injured and you’re cold, and your glow is alarmingly dim. I don’t know for how long you’ve been lying here.”

To distract himself from the panic building up inside him, Hakyeon blinked and glanced around to get a sense of orientation. It appeared he had washed up here, by the riverbank. He wasn’t far from the river itself, the rippling water calm compared to the roaring currents he had fallen into.

His hands were stiff from cold and sported various nicks and bruising; he had no doubt, from the feeling of it, that the rest of him donned similar injuries. He was horribly sore all over, and his head was throbbing, as well as his ankle. Perhaps it was sprained, or broken. His wrist ached. He suspected he might have broken a rib or two. It would explain why each breath hurt.

He glanced over his shoulders at his wings – and immediately froze solid, eyes widening at the dreadful state of them. They were ripped, drooping uselessly, and where they used to be transparent with nuances of vivid colours, now they were – blackened. The shadows had infested them. He wouldn’t be able to fly.

“My wings,” he cried, his voice unnaturally shrill and broken. Jaehwan grabbed one of his hands tightly, but Hakyeon hardly noticed. “My wings, my wings.”

“It’ll be all right,” Jaehwan tried to soothe, the back of his hand. “It’ll be all right, Hakyeon. We’ll – We’ll find Taekwoon, and we’ll get him back. But first you need to visit the infirmary – Hakyeon, breathe. Come, now, breathe with me.”

Hakyeon drew in short, sharp breaths along with Jaehwan, who was watching him in concern as he tried to calm him down. Usually, Hakyeon would be loath to cause that kind of expression, but right now he couldn’t care. There were too many other things gnawing at him, eating away at his heart, Taekwoon couldn’t be gone. And his wings, his wings –

Jaehwan shushed him, which was when Hakyeon became aware of the tiny sobs he was emitting, the tears trailing hotly down his cheeks. They almost burned against his chilled skin. Sanghyuk leaned in, brushing them away and grazing his mouth. His hand came back with drops of blood.

The edges of his sights were getting fuzzy, and the cold was seeping into his marrows. The air he breathed in was too thin, like it had been when the darkness had surrounded him.

This time, when consciousness slipped from his grasp, instead of shrieking shadows and pungent darkness, he was surrounded by the worried faces of his friends.

But Taekwoon wasn't amongst them.

~

When Hakyeon came to next, he knew immediately by the scent and the warmth that he was in the infirmary back in their realm.

The pain was like an echo in his body, a distant memory. Someone had healed him, probably made him drink a couple of draughts in his dreamless sleep. He was on his stomach – because his wings were torn and should be given room to heal, he realised with an odd sense of detachment. Lying on them would only make everything worse and prolong the recovery. He didn’t have time for that, not with Taekwoon out there with some shadow holding him imprisoned.

The thought of why the shadow took Taekwoon made his stomach churn, and he shuddered. Shadows only ever snuffed out the life, killed on the spot – they didn’t abduct faeries. But this shadow wasn’t like the rest of its kind. This shadow took the form of a man, showed emotions, however indifferent they were, looked every bit like a remarkably handsome human. This shadow had learned to understand and express itself in the language of fae, which spoke of intelligence that was rather unnerving.

This shadow was dangerous, and it had Taekwoon. And Hakyeon didn’t know why.

I will return him to you, little faerie. But first, I need him.

He couldn’t trust a shadow. But it was what gave him hope. Taekwoon was in mortal danger, and Hakyeon needed to get out there to save him before the shadow snuffed out his glow. It couldn’t be too late already.

Jaehwan’s voice broke through his thoughts. “It’s going to be a while before your wings can carry you again.”

“I do not need them to find Taekwoon,” Hakyeon said, slowly, wanting Jaehwan to know there was no holding him back from trying. He was seated by his bedside, watching him carefully as he spoke. Hakyeon didn’t know for how long he had been out, this time. “I will use my legs.”

“Hakyeon –”

“No,” he snapped, lifting his head to aim a hard glare at Jaehwan. Jaehwan frowned disapprovingly, mouth twisting downwards. “I am not going to stay here whilst that – that monster has Taekwoon, oh, Mother Nature knows where!” He kicked at the sheets covering his body, intent on getting up from this bed. “Shadows don’t kidnap faeries, but this one did, and this one is terrifying. Jaehwan, you have no idea. Its powers are greater than anything we’ve ever heard of. And it was one shadow.

“We used to laugh haughtily when a single shadow dared to show itself, because they’re no match against us, but this. Jaehwan,” he huffed in disbelief, “this shadow can extinguish our entire realm with a snap of its fingers. We won’t even be able to put up a fight.”

Jaehwan closed his eyes briefly, letting out a slow breath. “And yet you’re telling me I can’t stop you from going after it? Alone?”

“I’m not leaving Taekwoon in its hands!”

“And we are not leaving you to mindlessly follow Taekwoon straight into death!” Jaehwan shouted.

Death. The word felt like a slap.

“Don’t say that,” he whispered. Pleaded.

Jaehwan softened a bit, reaching for Hakyeon’s hand and squeezing it between his palms. “You don’t know, Hakyeon. No one knows if he’s still alive.”

“We won’t know if we don’t try,” Hakyeon choked, eyes b with distraught tears. “I can’t do nothing, Jaehwan. You know you would do the same if it had taken Sanghyuk instead.”

Jaehwan abruptly drew back, arms folding over his chest and looking pointedly away from Hakyeon. His stature was rigid, a frown tugging at his mouth. Hakyeon gnawed at his lips, upset about this, but he also knew he was right. Jaehwan would jump headfirst into a blazing inferno if he thought Sanghyuk was trapped behind it. They both knew.

“Promise me you’ll rest for two days,” Jaehwan spoke, stiffly. Hakyeon was about to protest, but then Jaehwan continued, “Sanghyuk and I will search for him, and others are looking as we speak: Namjoon and Seokjin, Hwasa, Yoojin, Sandeul. All our friends are out there, helping us. And if we haven’t found him after two days, I’ll let you come with us. You’re still affected by the darkness, your wings especially. You need rest.”

Hakyeon aimed a withering look at Jaehwan and threw his legs over the edge of the bed. There was no way he would just lie down and wait it out.

Jaehwan narrowed his eyes when Hakyeon went to stand, determined to show Jaehwan that he was perfectly capable of going out there to search for Taekwoon. But the second he was out of bed and supported by nothing else but himself, the world tilted dangerously and swam before his eyes, a spike of pain shooting up his foot. He emitted a tiny sound of alarm, before hands caught him and he was lowered back onto his bed.

“I told you,” said Jaehwan softly as Hakyeon’s sight slowly returned. “I’m sorry, Hakyeon, but you’re only going to be a liability to have around. We cannot give it our best if we’re going to have to supervise you, as well.

“Besides,” he said, giving Hakyeon a small smile, “Taekwoon would kick all our asses if we let you go in your current state. I value my life and my backside. Two days is all I ask for, Hakyeon.”

Hakyeon wanted to tell Jaehwan that he had no right to make decisions for him, but the fight left him as soon as it had flared. He needed to rest, he knew. Faerie magic and strange concoctions might have healed most of his injuries, but his ankle would require more time, unless he wanted to stumble around and re-injure it, which would only slow him down further. And his wings… Jaehwan had said it would be a while before he could fly again. He couldn’t do anything about it.

Two days. That would be all right, wouldn’t it? Someone would be out there, looking for Taekwoon, and while Hakyeon would prefer that someone to be himself, it was better than no one. And he wasn’t stupid; if he found Taekwoon, he would find the shadow, and in his weakened state, he would stand no chance against it.

He doubted the shadow would let him live, this time. Revolting as it was to acknowledge that fact, that was precisely what it had done. It could so easily have smothered his glow in its oppressive darkness, or let the shadows have him. Instead, it had tossed him down the waterfall, and whilst that had undoubtedly hurt and caused its fair share of bruising and broken bones, it hadn’t killed him.

The shadow hadn’t cared whether he lived or died. Not when it had already gotten its filthy hands on Taekwoon.

He wanted to tell Jaehwan yes. He could stay in bed for two days. But the thought of his friends out there, with the shadow roaming free – it sent a chill down his spine. He looked at Jaehwan and asked, “What if it finds you?”

“Taekwoon is our friend,” Jaehwan replied, holding Hakyeon’s gaze. “If we find him, and the shadow is there, we will fight until our last breath.”

“You won’t,” insisted Hakyeon. “You will fight, and you will defeat it, and you will get Taekwoon and yourselves out of there. And if you are losing –” he took a breath, the air sharp in his lungs, “– you will run, even if that – if that means leaving Taekwoon. You will run and get help, you hear me? I love Taekwoon, but I love you, too. And I cannot lose all of you to that monster.”

“We’ll bring him back,” Jaehwan promised. “Even if we have to choose flight, we’ll know where the shadow keeps Taekwoon. We won’t leave him.”

Hakyeon smiled brokenly, feeling teary with the emotions pulling him in every possible direction, stretching him thin. He was so afraid; of the shadow, for his friends. For Taekwoon. Even if he tried to be brave, to face this danger alone, he was afraid.

“We’ll save him,” Hakyeon echoed, praying it wouldn’t turn out to be but empty words.

~

The faerie had fought, twisting in Wonshik’s hold, biting at his hands and clawing at his flesh, screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs. He was brave, fearless, which was something Wonshik could admire. But it served no purpose. In the end, he had fought for naught.

The makeshift bed of dry leaves crackled under Wonshik’s weight, and Taekwoon, stubbornly clinging to the edges of consciousness, pried his eyes open to glare weakly at him. His body was under the effects of nightshade poison, steadily stealing away his strength, though his fire remained, reduced to glowing embers waiting for the chance to catch fire.

“This isn’t going to bring him back,” Taekwoon whispered, much too exhausted to make as loud a spectacle as he had before Wonshik had forced the poison between his lips.

“You speak of things you know nothing of,” said Wonshik, unmoved by Taekwoon’s words; he knew the faerie wouldn’t see it the same way he did. No one would. He couldn’t fault Taekwoon for that.

Taekwoon eyed him warily as he prepared the poison, careful to always administer it at set times of the day and night, to make sure Taekwoon remained in this state until Wonshik had what he needed.

“No more,” Taekwoon pleaded when Wonshik leaned forwards, breathing in hard through his nose, possibly in a futile attempt to kick his body into obeying him.

“I’m sorry,” Wonshik murmured, and meant it.

Already, Taekwoon was glowing a little less brightly.

~

Nothing. There was nothing.

It was the fourth day, yet no one had found any trace of Taekwoon, as if he’d just upped and disappeared from the face of earth. Hakyeon was starting to fall apart in the face of this lack of progress. His hope was diminishing a little bit for each day that went by.

The moment he was released from the infirmary, he was off into the forest to search for Taekwoon. As promised, Jaehwan and Sanghyuk went with him.

“We’ve already scoured the forest, Hakyeon,” said Sanghyuk, shaking his head despondently. “Here’s nothing.”

“What if you missed something that only I would catch onto, being the only one who’s seen the shadow?” Hakyeon knew, deep down, that when Sanghyuk said they’d searched the forest, they had, leaving not even the smallest stone unturned. But there had to be something. Somewhere close, that had been his guess, his prayer, but the shadow could be days away.

He was grasping at straws, and he knew it. This was desperation talking. “At the waterfall – there must be something, or – perhaps at the valley, it might have gone there –”

“It could be anywhere,” Jaehwan said softly, and oh, didn’t Hakyeon know it. “We won’t give up, not ever, but…”

Hakyeon let out a slow breath to calm himself. It didn’t work. He raised his hands to his temples and massaged them, trying to think. “All right. Shadows. Where do we find a shadow?”

“Somewhere light cannot easily get to,” Sanghyuk was quick to say, the words familiar to all of the faeries as it was what they were taught by the time they could go wandering by themselves. “The sun must be blocked from view.”

“So a cavern, somewhere with thick vegetation, a house…” Hakyeon trailed off. “But what if this shadow doesn’t care about any of that? I told you about how powerful it is. Perhaps light won’t be enough to kill it.”

“How else do you kill a shadow?” Jaehwan whispered.

The only weapon known to defeat a shadow was light. Everything else would just pass right through it or do little to no damage. But this shadow… Hakyeon his lower lip between his teeth to worry at, shaking away the thought. He didn’t need to think about that. Not now.

“We’ll rake through all caves in our area,” Sanghyuk suggested, glancing at Hakyeon for approval. “Also those outside of the forest.”

Hakyeon nodded, satisfied with their plan. However, there was somewhere he needed to go first. “You two go ahead without me. I’m –”

“No,” Jaehwan cut in immediately, sending Hakyeon a firm look. “We’re not splitting up. There’s strength in numbers, and if the shadow comes back for you for whatever reason, someone must be with you to help fight it off.”

“It won’t come back for me,” said Hakyeon, feeling cold. He looked down at his hands, wringing them together helplessly. “It made that pretty clear when I begged it to take me instead.”

“Oh, Hakyeon,” Jaehwan whispered, face twisting with sympathy. “I’m so sorry.”

“It said it’d bring him back when it was done with him,” Hakyeon said brokenly, burrowing his face in his palms and in a rattling breath. He felt arms wind around him, pulling him against a broad chest – Sanghyuk – and he whimpered. “All I have is its words, and a shadow’s words are worth nothing. They’re deceitful creatures, all of them, malicious and cruel, and one has gotten its filthy hands on Taekwoon and I don’t know what it wants with him. A shadow kills. It doesn’t snatch faeries at random and make off with them –”

“Hakyeon,” Jaehwan cautioned, but Hakyeon ignored him, his breathing coming in short gasps.

“It knew our names,” he whispered. Sanghyuk’s arms tightened around him. “It must have been following us, keeping an eye on us from the shadows. It has been watching us, who knows for how long, and if I hadn’t let Taekwoon go on ahead – If we hadn’t split up, perhaps I could’ve saved –”

He cut himself off with a sob, so tired of crying all the damn time like a child when instead he should be actively doing something. Not breaking down like this.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Sanghyuk said softly, rubbing Hakyeon’s back comfortingly. “You couldn’t have known. No one could.”

“I could have realised that something was off about the whole thing right from the start,” Hakyeon moaned.

“There’s no use lamented what you could’ve done but didn’t do,” Jaehwan reminded, not unkindly. His hand fell onto Hakyeon’s shoulder, squeezing. “There’s nothing we can do about the past, but we can do something now. We won’t lose faith, Hakyeon.”

Not until they found Taekwoon, dead or alive, was what went unsaid.

“I know,” Hakyeon sniffed, backing away from Sanghyuk’s embrace to wipe away his tears. He tried to focus on his breathing, on clearing his head. “I wanted to have a look at the waterfall and its surroundings. I know you said you looked already, but I –”

“We get it,” Jaehwan said, smiling encouragingly at him. “Let’s go. We’ll check.”

They followed the stream, Hakyeon hardly able to look at it without remembering his last time with Taekwoon, the look on his face when Hakyeon had hit him with water and the laughter that followed, when they hadn’t known what lay in wait for them up ahead. He clenched his jaw, bracing himself for the sight of the waterfall. If the stream affected him like this, the waterfall would probably be even worse to behold, memories tainted by the shadow and its darkness, and the memory of Taekwoon unconscious in the shadow’s arms.

He wondered how Taekwoon was doing. If he were still alive.

The waterfall came into view, and something in Hakyeon revolted, but he pushed on. The fear from that time was like a distant echo, sinking into his bones, and he shuddered, rubbing his arms instinctively. There was nothing to be afraid of, he told himself.

A hand closed around his elbow and he looked up briefly to meet Jaehwan’s kind smile, before the faerie left his side to start looking. Hakyeon shook himself out of it, feeling the cold touch of fear ebb away, and followed Jaehwan.

He wouldn’t let the memories tarnish this sacred place forever.

~

The glow diminished a little bit for every drop of poison Wonshik dipped between Taekwoon’s lips, each sliver Wonshik stole, joining forces with the darkness around them to further weaken his body and mind.

“I did not want to take away your glow,” Wonshik murmured, brushing some hair away from Taekwoon’s eyes. The faerie was too exhausted to keep them open. “It makes you so beautiful that it almost takes my breath away. But it is a necessary evil. I am certain you will look just as stunning, if not more so, without your glow, instead bathed in night’s shadows.”

“I will die,” Taekwoon breathed out, too drained to protest Wonshik’s caress, the most recent dose of poison threatening to take him out for a while. He fought against it bravely. “If your aim is to take away my glow, you will kill me.”

Wonshik was aware of that.

But it was a price he was willing to pay, if it could get him his beloved back.

~

Taekwoon had been gone for thirteen days, now, and Hakyeon felt his hope slip away with each passing day, taking a sliver of his sanity every time. It was unbearable, this ignorance, this lack of any progress whatsoever. They’d already searched every cave in vicinity, and he, Jaehwan and Sanghyuk had gone for a five-day trip to the mountain chain to scour it and its surroundings out, hoping against hope that the shadow would have taken refuge there, but there had been no trace of it or Taekwoon.

They’d reached a dead end, and several faeries had given up on ever seeing Taekwoon again, at least alive. It drove Hakyeon mad, shedding furious tears into his pillow at night. There was only a handful left willing to help him find Taekwoon, and two of those were Sanghyuk and Jaehwan, both so loyal it brought Hakyeon even more misery.

Accept it, the others said, pity marring their expressions as they looked upon Hakyeon. They all hurt at the loss of a fellow faerie, a friend, but it was nothing compared to Hakyeon’s grief. He isn’t coming back, Hakyeon. He’s gone. It’s time to give up.

He had let out his anger at Jaehwan and Sanghyuk last night, exhausted after scouring the forest for the third time, but he had to do something, lest he withered away like a flower after a dry spell. He couldn’t just stand by and wait for the shadow to hand over Taekwoon. He wouldn’t accept it.

He regretted lashing out due to his own shortcomings, his desperation and anger and fear. It was wrong of him to do that, he knew, but it hurt so much to always come back home empty-handed, to a home that was devoid of Taekwoon’s presence, his scent steadily growing fainter as the sun set and rose routinely. It hurt that Taekwoon was still in the shadow’s possession, and that Hakyeon could do so very little to change it. It hurt that his wings were still useless, darkness still staining them despite everything that had been done to try to bring them back to what they used to be.

They would be all right, he had been promised. Just give it time. That was easier said than done when he wanted nothing more than to get out there and scour the sky.

“A few days,” the lithe faerie said, her voice soft and pretty. Almost like Taekwoon’s. Along with Seokjin and a couple of others, she ran the healing house. Few faeries were born with an affinity for healing, and those who did usually grew up to become healers.

She touched his wings – he could hardly feel it, which evoked a feeling of emptiness in him – lips tugged downwards in a thoughtful frown. “You took a lot of damage. I’ll be honest with you and admit that I’m surprised they’re not ruined for good.”

Hakyeon shuddered at the thought of never being able to glide through the air, feel the wind caress his skin.

“But not to worry,” she chirped, backing away to smile down at him. “It will take a while, as they can’t start to heal until the darkness is gone from them, but you will be able to fly again, eventually.”

“I’m glad,” he murmured, looking down at his hands folded demurely in his lap. “Thank you, Naeun.”

“Say,” she started hesitantly, gaining a little courage when Hakyeon gestured for her to continue. “The shadow that took Taekwoon… What is it like?”

Hakyeon frowned, glancing up at her in question. “The shadow?” At her small nod, he pursed his lips, brows pulling together tighter. “You should’ve heard it by now.”

“Not that,” she said, dipping down onto the bed beside him. She aimed an imploring look at him. “I meant… its behaviour. The way it spoke. You didn’t happen to catch its name?”

He couldn’t help but sneer. “Does a shadow have a name?”

She frowned at him disapprovingly, arms folding over her chest. “Tell me. I have… heard things, and I’m starting to suspect it may be linked with this.”

Hakyeon sat up straight, abruptly, obviously startling her, but he cared very little. “What do you know?” he demanded.

She glared at him. “If you would just do as I say –” She puffed out her cheeks, and then seemed to calm down a little, softening. “I’m not – sure, but… I wasn’t born here. I came here a couple of years ago, after leaving my old realm. It just wasn’t the same…”

Hakyeon didn’t speak, and she nodded a little to herself, continuing. “There was a faerie, there. I didn’t know him personally, as he tended to stick to his closest friends, but I’d seen him around. He was… peculiar, and nobody really understood him, especially not when he started to stay out throughout the entire night, despite the dangers lurking in the darkness.

“He seemed… happy,” she said softly, “after that, smiling at everyone, but keeping under wraps what was the reason behind his happiness. There were rumours of him having fallen in love with some other faerie from another realm, which he didn’t outright deny, so everyone began to for it, not that it ever seemed to bother him.”

Naeun sank a little in her seat, sorrow taking over her expression. “But then he started to change. He remained cheerful, but his glow was fading, weakening. No one knew what was happening, so suspicion turned to his secret. They demanded to know who she was, that he bring her to them to assure she wasn’t the one killing him, for whatever reason, but he always stood firm. He would never let them meet the one who had his heart, he said.

“And then, after that, he stopped coming back to us. We looked for him, I think for a few weeks, at least, before someone saw him again. His glow had almost died out by then, but still he refused to lead them to his lover, and when they tried to take him back, they said – they said tendrils of darkness had creeped across the ground towards him, and before their eyes, a man had risen, hair and eyes as black as the darkness he’d come from. And the faerie had smiled, had taken its hand and allowed it to lead him away from the others.”

She fell silent, so quiet that Hakyeon thought she would be able to hear his heart beating, threatening to burst out of his ribcage.

Naeun cleared , looking up to meet his eyes. “They said a lot, but few believed them… They said he had fallen in love with the shadow. They had watched them walk away. He never came back and no one saw him again. I am one of the few who believe he might have actually fallen in love with a shadow, but that means the reason he never came back was because the shadow’s smothering darkness became too much for him and eventually snuffed out his light. After all, light and dark cannot co-exist. One is fated to end the other.”

“And you’re saying this shadow that took Taekwoon might be the same shadow this faerie fell in love with,” Hakyeon breathed, thrumming with this revelation.

“I think so,” she said. “After all, how many shadows have been known to take human form?”

And how many shadows had been capable of love?

~

“His name was Hongbin.”

Wonshik held the leaf to Taekwoon’s lips, watching him lap up the water as he talked quietly. He had weakened considerably over the past days, rarely giving Wonshik any kind of verbal response, the struggle he put up whenever the poison neared his mouth – when he was aware enough to notice – half hearted, at best. Wonshik quite liked him like this.

“We fell in love,” Wonshik hummed, heart aching at the memory of what had once been – but would soon be again. If it worked. And it had to. It had to. “Hongbin… He was radiant. He was of spring, like you. And he loved me. He stayed with me, even if his glow started to fade, even if I begged him to leave me – he stayed.”

Wonshik carded his hand through Taekwoon’s hair, taken by the golden hue. Almost like Hongbin. Taekwoon had his head in Wonshik’s lap, and it appeared he was done drinking, eyes closed, listening with one ear, probably, if listening at all. Wonshik put the leaf aside, laying his fingers against Taekwoon’s neck instead and feeling his pulse thrum beneath his fingertips. Weak, but steady.

“He died in my arms, like this.” Wonshik frowned at the memory of what had once been so bright – snuffed out, like water poured over the glowing embers left from a fire. Hongbin had been in his arms, and he had smiled, eyes heavy with fatigue, but he had smiled, never once blaming Wonshik. Instead, he had spoken his last words, I love you still ringing loud and clear in Wonshik’s mind, like a ghost, and his eyes had dropped – and they hadn’t opened again.

Cradled in the embrace of darkness, his glow gone, Hongbin had still looked so beautiful. Wonshik had cried over his body, his tears dripping into Hongbin’s hair and onto his skin, growing colder against Wonshik’s touch. Death was final, Wonshik had been told, and it had hurt so much, with Hongbin no longer smiling at him, loving him.

“But I’m going to get him back,” Wonshik whispered, looking down at the faerie in his lap. Glassy eyes were looking up at him, drooping, and Wonshik smiled, caressing his cheek. “It will be all right, Taekwoon.”

“If I die,” Taekwoon said breathily, “you will cause the one I love the same grief as you suffered. You’re taking me away from him.”

“If that is what has to be done,” Wonshik said, closing his eyes, “then I’m sorry, to Hakyeon, and to you.”

Taekwoon tried to lift his head, but dropped back onto Wonshik’s lap almost immediately. He huffed out a breath. “You can’t bring him back. It cannot be done.”

“I can,” whispered Wonshik. “I have to, or I will lose myself.”

He cradled Taekwoon closer, feeling his chest just barely rise with each shallow breath he took. It seemed he had finally given up the fight this time, submitting to the exhaustion. He had a dreamless sleep ahead of him.

It wouldn’t be long, now, before he had Hongbin back in his arms, at whatever cost.

“I’m sorry, little faerie.”

~

At long last, they had something, but what good did it really do? Taekwoon was still out there, Mother Nature knew where, with a shadow that might – do what, exactly? It had been well over two years, if he were to believe Naeun, since the faerie, Hongbin, had followed the shadow into the darkness, and hadn’t re-emerged.

If Hongbin had left to be with the shadow, and his glow had already been frail, then… he shouldn’t have been able to survive more than a few weeks, at most. Darkness festered, slowly out the light like a leech, and if Hongbin’s glow had been as weak as Naeun described, perhaps he wouldn’t have stood a chance anyway, even if he’d been exposed to the sun and faerie magic.

Perhaps it had already become his fate, the last time their people saw Hongbin, to burn out and die.

But what did that mean for them? For Taekwoon?

Hakyeon didn’t know what to believe. He hadn’t heard of a shadow like this one before, capable of love – or manipulation, a voice whispered – and, perhaps, grief. And if that were so, if it had mourned Hongbin’s death, if it had truly loved him, what had the loss done to its mentality?

It was sentient where other shadows acted out of some basic instinct, it was calm where they were wild and vicious, and it, seemingly, was capable of complicated emotions. It was chillingly powerful, and yet its aim didn’t seem to be to kill everything in its path, like a regular shadow. It had only wanted Taekwoon. And what for?

Hongbin had, almost certainly, died two years ago, so why make a move now, after so long? What could it possibly have to gain from taking Taekwoon? The similarities between Taekwoon and this other faerie were the only things that stood out; they were both faeries of spring, preferred the company of only a selected few they held close to their heart and by strangers thought to be aloof, and had a glow to outshine the sun when it was highest on the sky.

Was Taekwoon a replacement for what the shadow had lost? It made Hakyeon nauseas to think about, but he had to. As repulsive as the notion was, it was one he had to consider. However, it didn’t add up with what he knew.

The shadow could have struck anytime, so why now? Why wait two years before doing anything? What was there to gain from that? Was it that it had simply been searching for someone with enough resemblance to Hongbin, or was there more to it? And even so, its parting words to Hakyeon – I will return him to you, little faerie. But first, I need him – they haunted him every waking hour, and followed him sometimes into dreams. If he really were to believe the shadow, that it would actually keep to its words and deliver Taekwoon back – the question remained. For what did it need Taekwoon?

Not to forget that if the shadow had manipulated Hongbin into falling in love with it and giving his life, which made it even more dangerously cunning, the reason for taking Taekwoon and keeping him somewhere, well – Hakyeon didn’t understand. It couldn’t hope to make Taekwoon fall for it, like Hongbin had, not after taking him from his home and loved ones. Hakyeon doubted the shadow would be that stupid, after everything it had done up until now. It would know that wouldn’t succeed. And again the words it had said just didn’t fit in. Distrustful of the shadow as he was, he couldn’t figure out why it would say such a thing to him, unless it was taunting him. But even that seemed far-fetched, for some reason.

Perhaps because of the look in its eyes when Hakyeon had looked into them.

One thing was certain, Hakyeon thought. It was no coincidence that it had taken Taekwoon, who shared so many of Hongbin’s alleged traits. The shadow had declared, clearly, that it couldn’t use Hakyeon, after all.

It had been three weeks.

He was under strict orders not to strain his wings now that the darkness was gone from them. You should hold off on flying completely for a few days, Naeun had advised. But Hakyeon could no longer stay on the ground when he could look from the sky. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk had looked disapprovingly at him when he shook his wings, testing their strength, before taking to the air, but they hadn’t said anything.

They knew he would turn a deaf ear to their objections, and instead stayed close by, insisting on breaks every so often. It irked Hakyeon, but he acquiesced, taking the time to scour the ground from a treetop or on foot. In the end it made for a more thorough search, so he held back his complaints.

Jaehwan and Sanghyuk never once mentioned ceasing the search for Taekwoon, like everyone else had done, but he saw the looks they shared, sometimes. The sympathy, the hurt, the dejection, the hopelessness. He saw it in their eyes when they looked at him, in spite of the valiant smiles on their faces and encouraging words that regularly left their mouths.

He knew they were losing hope. He was, too.

But he wouldn’t let it get to him. He would search every nook and cranny in the world, if he had to, until he died with Taekwoon’s name on his lips or was reunited with his beloved – dead or alive. He would sooner forgive the shadow than give up.

“I won’t blame you, you know,” he said under his breath, looking away when Sanghyuk frowned at him. He closed his eyes, leaning against the trunk of a tree; his wings were protesting, a dim ache, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

“Blame us for what?” Jaehwan asked, tone carefully neutral. Cautious. Probably expecting the words that left Hakyeon.

“For giving up.”

There were hands grasping at his arms, and he looked up at Sanghyuk’s determined face. “We would never.”

“But it’s starting to look a little hopeless, isn’t it?” Hakyeon said with a small voice, looking past Sanghyuk’s shoulders, past Jaehwan. He didn’t want to see the hurt reflecting in their expressions. “You’ve barely slept through the nights, and at day, you’re busy helping me find Taekwoon –”

“He is important to us, too,” Jaehwan broke in. “Don’t ever think that we would readily leave him with that despicable creature. We’re not backing out, Hakyeon. We’ll find him.”

“I just wish we weren’t flying in circles,” Hakyeon whispered as he was pulled into a hug. The young faerie was being exceptionally touchy these days, and Hakyeon couldn’t help but take immense comfort in it. Their reassuring touches and embraces encouraged him, convinced him he wasn’t utterly alone in this, that someone was by his side.

That someone would be there for him, if – if worse should come to worst. If he never saw Taekwoon again, or found him, cold and still. He wasn’t so sure he would ever be able to move on, but at least he would have someone by his side to remind him that he wasn’t alone, that someone would hurt if he left, too. Someone who would remind him that sleep was essential, nutrition something he couldn’t be without, that he was loved, if not in the way he was loved by Taekwoon.

It stung, having to consider such things, but he couldn’t close his eyes to reality. That wasn’t how life – or death – worked.

“We’ll find him,” Sanghyuk murmured into his ear. “We will, so don’t lose hope, all right? No one of us will.”

“I won’t,” Hakyeon swore, and that, at least, was a promise he could keep.

“Let’s move on,” said Jaehwan, his hand falling onto Hakyeon’s shoulder and staying there for the moment. Just a comforting weight, a reminder. “We still have some time before sunset.”

And by that time, when the sun was sinking below the horizon, Hakyeon knew he should have taken Naeun’s words seriously. His wings hurt, and at some point, he had dropped from the sky, managing only to right himself terrifyingly close to the ground; Jaehwan had cried his name, struggling to get to him in time. Sanghyuk, alerted by Jaehwan’s distress, had emerged from between a couple of shrubs, but by that time Hakyeon had already landed on the ground, on his feet, and Jaehwan had reached him, hands in his hair and skin pale from fright.

“I don’t care,” Jaehwan hissed, following a resigned Hakyeon into the infirmary, “what you might have to say in objection; you are not flying again until Naeun or whoever says you can. Mother Nature, you scared me.”

“Us both,” Sanghyuk added sombrely.

“Us all,” Hakyeon quietly admitted.

When Naeun appeared, she took one look at Hakyeon and sighed. “You flew, didn’t you? Despite my specific orders to rest.”

“Well,” Hakyeon said, “I do think your exact word was probably –” He shut his mouth at the glare she threw him.

“I’ll coat them in my magic,” she said, stiffly, still glaring, and Hakyeon shifted on his feet, avoiding her eyes, “and then you will refrain from flying the next three days, do you hear me?” She blew out a huff. “If you ignore my words again, I fear the repercussions. You wings could possibly be damaged beyond healing, magic or no magic. So, please, Hakyeon, listen to me.”

“I understand,” Hakyeon sighed, moving to stand before her when she gestured for him to come closer. “I’ll give them time to heal.”

“Good,” she said.

Hakyeon would try, at least.

~

Taekwoon’s glow flickered. Wonshik watched him sleep with his lips tugged down in a frown, reaching out with a hand to run his finger down Taekwoon’s cheek. The faerie just breathed.

His glow was faded, a mere dusting where it before had been radiant and so very bright. And it had flickered, briefly casting their surroundings in thick darkness. Wonshik had stolen too much, the poison even more, but this was it. It was time.

Taekwoon hadn’t been awake for over a day, hadn’t talked for three, and when Wonshik leaned down to whisper into his ear, there was no response.

“I will take you home now, little faerie.”

~

The days were passing by in a blur. Every morning, before the sun was up, Hakyeon got out of bed and prepared for the day. He contemplated the locations they had already searched through, whether to try again or go somewhere else. He ate, a little, usually with Jaehwan and Sanghyuk, and after deciding on somewhere, they set out, sometimes for the daylight hours, sometimes with enough supplies to stay a night or two away from home.

They had encountered various children of night on their trips, but compared to the shadow that had Taekwoon, those lesser shadows and a few tribats were nothing. Sanghyuk had reported hearing singing somewhere, but one look at each other and they had unanimously agreed not to go anywhere near there. They remembered tales told to them when they were children about monsters using their song to lure unsuspecting victims into death. There were few sightings of such creatures, but Hakyeon suspected it was because only few escaped to tell others.

Sleep didn’t come easily to him, and when it did, it always brought night terrors, visions of Taekwoon’s cold body and the shadow laughing over him, flinging taunts after Hakyeon when he broke down at the sight. Other times, he found Taekwoon, alive and bright, and Hakyeon would forget the horrors, embracing Taekwoon and scattering kisses over his skin.

He couldn’t decide what was crueller: The nightmares of Taekwoon dying or the dreams of them uniting, because he would always wake up, bathed in sweat or smiling, only to realise that still they were stuck.

Some nights, he didn’t sleep. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk never mentioned it, but he sensed their concern, felt their eyes on his neck when he had his back to them. They worried for his health, and Hakyeon, sometimes, did, too. But nothing was more important than getting Taekwoon back, not even himself.

It was the twenty-eighth day. Hakyeon felt a little numb. Sometimes he forgot himself for hours, until he woke up from his stupor and realised he was searching in a forest or at the riverside, or somewhere else entirely. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk were always close by, in case something happened. Always in sight. It was reassuring, truth to be told.

It was unlikely, but Hakyeon was terrified of the shadow coming back for him. He just wanted to find Taekwoon, and never meet the shadow, ever again. One time was one too many.

He couldn’t understand what about the shadow was worthy of being loved, by a faerie, no less. Sometimes, he thought Hongbin must have been mad.

It was the twenty-eighth day, and dusk was soon. Reluctantly, Hakyeon began the trek back home, flanked by Sanghyuk and Jaehwan, also on their feet. They insisted on keeping Hakyeon company on the ground, and Hakyeon didn’t object.

On their way home, they passed the waterfall. Hakyeon was careful to not linger there too long, aching at the sight of the sun hovering just above the horizon. He didn’t want to watch the sunset without Taekwoon; it was their thing. He wished so deeply it weren’t tainted by that day, but he had hope that when Taekwoon returned to him, they could work on that. They could vanquish the darkness that clung to the place, together.

For now, however, he could not bring himself to stay.

Hakyeon bid Jaehwan and Sanghyuk goodnight at his doorstep, and went inside when they were out of his sight.

His home, too, their home, wasn’t the same without Taekwoon, and he didn’t actually like staying there, but he also didn’t want to impose on Sanghyuk and Jaehwan every night, even if he knew they understood. They were allowed time to themselves, to not constantly stand tall because Hakyeon was with them. They needed to breathe, to let go, perhaps to cry. Hakyeon knew they had cried a couple of times since that day. He tried to save it for the long nights.

He hadn’t been home for long before a sense of unease came over him, and he fiddled anxiously with the mug of tea in his hands. Something passed by in the corner of his eye, and he spun around, wide-eyed, to see a black wisp hovering in the air. It was waiting, he realised – and he dropped the mug, which landed with a thud on the floor, sending sprays of tea across the ground.

I will return him to you, little faerie. But first, I need him.

His breath caught in his throat, and he scrambled to follow the wisp when it moved, out of his home.

It was dangerous. It might be a mistake, to follow the wisp, but it was a chance he couldn’t pass up. It could be a trap, the shadow waiting for him, and he didn’t care. He just wanted Taekwoon back.

The wisp led him out of the realm. Hakyeon didn’t know for how long they flew, but it wasn’t many minutes, likely countable on one hand. It didn’t matter. The wisp took him further into the forest, and then it slowed down.

Before his eyes, Hakyeon saw the wisp take on the form of a man – the shadow. The one that had taken Taekwoon. It looked just like it had twenty-eight days ago.

“Where is he?” he asked, fervently. He looked around anxiously, but snapped his gaze to the shadow when it cleared its throat.

“He is here,” it said softly, taking Hakyeon past a few trees – and there he was. Taekwoon.

The noise that left Hakyeon didn’t sound like himself, too small and too high. “What did you do?” he demanded, horrified, darting to Taekwoon’s side and touching his skin. Cold. “What did you do?”

“I needed his glow.”

Taekwoon was so pale, almost translucent beneath Hakyeon’s hands. He didn’t appear physically harmed, but that didn’t matter when his glow was so weak. Hakyeon hardly dared to breathe, afraid the faintest brush of air would snuff out Taekwoon’s glow like a flame.

“No, no,” Hakyeon gasped, fumbling to take Taekwoon’s hand – cold, cold, too cold – and squeeze it. He tried to rub warmth into in, whipping around to aim a fierce glare at the shadow, which just looked on impassively – or was that a flash of regret in its eyes? It didn’t change anything.

“He’s going to die!” Hakyeon screamed. Despite the burning desire to throw himself at the shadow and throttle it with his bare hands, he ultimately decided to turn his back to it. Taekwoon was dying. Tears slipped from his eyes as he leaned over him, rubbing his hands against his skin. Too cold.

“I’m sorry,” the shadow spoke behind him, and that – that was too much. Hakyeon lunged at it, thinking with his fists rather than his wits, but before he could land a punch, the shadow had dispersed. Hakyeon staggered, catching himself before spinning around, frantically searching for the shadow – and saw it in its previous form, hovering above Taekwoon. He lurched forward, a flash of faerie magic shooting straight through the wisp. It caused absolutely no harm.

The shadow left Taekwoon, moving closer to Hakyeon before turning into its human form again, catching Hakyeon’s fists in its hands as they came down on it. Hakyeon struggled, screamed at the top of his lungs, but he was outmatched, which was – a chilling thought, or would have been, had Hakyeon not been blinded by the rage boiling through his blood.

“You did this,” he cried, trying to kick the shadow and hitting nothing. “He’s not going to survive –”

“Quiet down, little faerie,” the shadow cautioned. Hakyeon screamed into its face, louder when all it did was to bat its eyelashes.

“You lost your love and now – and now you’re taking Taekwoon from me?” His voice cracked. “Why?”

“You know,” the shadow said, and there was a frown marring its face, some sort of hesitance. “You know about Hongbin.”

“You killed him, and now you are the reason that Taekwoon is dying, he’s –”

The shadow’s hands tightened around Hakyeon’s wrists, briefly, before loosening again. The frown hadn’t left its face.

“I am going to bring him back,” it said evenly, and Hakyeon laughed, loud and shrill.

“What’s dead is dead.”

It pushed him away. He stumbled, the momentum sending him tumbling to the ground. It watched him, wordlessly, and before Hakyeon could lunge at it again, it was gone.

He crawled to Taekwoon’s side, almost collapsing across him but catching himself and laying his hands, gently, on Taekwoon’s cheeks. His tears fell onto Taekwoon’s face, looking so serene even if he were dying, fading by the second. His glow flickered, right then, and a sob tumbled from Hakyeon’s lips.

“Hakyeon?”

He burrowed his face against Taekwoon’s chest, briefly comforted by the heartbeats his ears picked up, until he was reminded of how short-lived they would be.

“I’m so sorry,” he moaned, Taekwoon’s shirt and looking up to meet Taekwoon’s half-lidded eyes, looking drowsily up at him. “I searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find you –”

“It’s all right,” Taekwoon whispered, and Hakyeon felt a new wave of tears hit him at the breathless – fragile – quality to his voice. He couldn’t even lift his arms to hug Hakyeon, and it hurt, Mother Nature, it hurt. “You’re here. I’m here.”

Hakyeon whimpered.

~

Taekwoon wouldn’t live through another day, Seokjin had announced, tone heavy with sorrow. Sympathy. Hakyeon had someone fetch Jaehwan and Sanghyuk while he made Taekwoon comfortable in their bed, covering him with every blanket they had lying around and then burrowing closer, sharing his body heat. Too cold. He was keenly aware of every breath Taekwoon drew in, every sigh, his pulse thrumming beneath Hakyeon’s fingertips, reminding him of the seconds ticking away.

Taekwoon had fallen back asleep not long after he had woken up, as if just rousing himself to say eight words to Hakyeon had been too exhausting a task. Taekwoon’s shirt was damp with Hakyeon’s tears.

Jaehwan and Sanghyuk burst into their home, later, and Hakyeon told them what had happened in-between sobs, cradling Taekwoon close.

“No,” Sanghyuk said, distraught, voice thick with tears. Jaehwan was faring no better by his side. They sought out each other’s hands, and Hakyeon looked away, tucking his face away against Taekwoon’s collar.

Only Taekwoon slept that night. The others watched his glow flicker, fading in and out, his life flickering with it. Each time Hakyeon held his breath, only letting it out when Taekwoon’s glow remained, wane as it was.

The last time he woke up, he was barely aware, but he called out Hakyeon’s name, hardly audible, and Hakyeon was there, right by his side, kissing his lips and his cheeks and his forehead and his nose, tears soaking his kisses.

“I love you,” Hakyeon whispered brokenly, and Taekwoon managed to say it back. His eyes landed on Jaehwan and Sanghyuk, both openly crying, and his mouth tugged down in a slight frown – and then the dark pulled him back into the abyss, and his eyes slipped closed.

It took two hours, and when it happened, the sun was just peeping over the horizon.

Taekwoon’s glow had flickered, had burned out. Hadn’t returned. Hakyeon hadn’t known what to do, seeing his love fade away, just like that. He hadn’t been prepared. He could’ve never been prepared. He didn’t even cry, feeling too cold, too empty, too numb.

He should cry, he thought, grasping Taekwoon’s hand tightly. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk – they were crying. They were hugging him, Jaehwan pulling him against his chest, but Hakyeon only had eyes for Taekwoon. His glow was gone.

It was gone. Taekwoon was gone.

~

Faerie funerals were simple.

The faerie would be taken to the Circle, a place thrumming with faerie magic, in the air as well as the ground beneath their feet, in everything. It was overflowing with vibrant flora and plants, Mother Nature’s way of taking care of Her people, reminding them that She was there with them in these solemn times.

Taekwoon was laid out on the ground, beautiful flowers untouched by the chilly autumn day blooming everywhere around him. But his eyes were closed, his breath stolen away by the forces of darkness, and Hakyeon could never forgive that.

Faeries stood around them, heads lowered in grieving. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk were by his side, one on each, a reminder that he wasn’t alone. He didn’t know what to do with that, yet. He felt alone. He felt like his world had crashed down around him. It was as though there was a hand locked around his neck, squeezing every so often and cutting off his breath. A constant lump in his throat. It all seemed so unreal. He found himself waiting to wake up from this nightmare.

There were no words spoken. It was a short ceremony, lasting no more than ten oppressively minutes spent in utter silence. And then people started leaving, some coming to give their condolences to Hakyeon, who hardly acknowledged any of them. They understood, and left with a pat on his shoulder.

Eventually, there were only Hakyeon, Sanghyuk and Jaehwan left. And Taekwoon.

Soon, Hakyeon knew, Mother Nature would take back Taekwoon. He would simply just fade away, become nothing. But he would be in Mother Nature’s embrace, so caring and soothing, and Taekwoon would be well, with Her. It was an empty comfort. If Taekwoon could’ve been in his arms instead, that would have been better. Not this.

“Hakyeon…” Jaehwan hesitated. He shared a look with Sanghyuk – Hakyeon saw it, out of the corner of his eye.

“Can you leave me?” he asked, voice choked up with tears. “I need – I need to see him disappear. It’ll be… I need to see him return to Mother Nature.”

His friends didn’t answer immediately, but then Sanghyuk mumbled something under his breath, and with a last hug, Hakyeon was left alone with Taekwoon. He looked so peaceful in death, without his glow, and the tears spilled over.

Hakyeon walked backwards until his back met the trunk of a tree, and then he sank down, sobbing in grief as he waited for Mother Nature to come for Taekwoon. Waited for Taekwoon to disappear. He would be truly gone, then.

This pain he felt was unbearable, and he wished to claw out his heart, be rid of it, so that he didn’t have to suffer through this. It was too much. But as much as it pained him, he couldn’t be without it. After all, it was in his heart that he kept Taekwoon.

Had Hakyeon not been so taken by grief, he might have sensed the shadow slinking towards him from behind. It crouched by his side, out of sight, silent as night, and lifted its hand to blow black powder into his face. Hakyeon, never once looking away from Taekwoon’s still form, wasn’t aware of his consciousness leaving him and his eyes slipped closed, a shuddering sigh passing through his lips.

~

Wonshik caught the faerie before he hit the ground and gently arranged him against the trunk of the tree. When he straightened again, his attention was on Taekwoon.

Wonshik moved slowly towards the lifeless faerie on the ground, and sank onto his knees once by his side. He tilted his head, the nearly unbearable ache in his heart starting to ebb away when he brushed Taekwoon’s hair.

“I was right,” he murmured, smiling despite himself, despite everything that had gone wrong. He really had believed. Hope was such a fleeting thing. “You look lovely cradled in darkness. But…” He leaned down, mouth a hair’s breadth from Taekwoon’s. “… You are of light. You have to glow.”

He pressed their lips together, breathing into Taekwoon’s mouth – and when he pulled away, the faerie’s glow was flickering to life, like a smothered fire being given air, its embers reviving the flames. Taekwoon remained asleep, but his glow was back, weak, still, but there, and he was breathing.

Wonshik hefted him into his arms, the faerie’s head lolling against his collarbone with the motion.

Wonshik smiled.

~

Hakyeon awoke to someone shaking him gently, and when he pried his eyes open, he saw Sanghyuk and Jaehwan, both frowning concernedly down at him. Their eyes were red from crying.

“Let’s go home,” Sanghyuk whispered, as if raising his voice would shatter – something. Perhaps Hakyeon.

Hakyeon blinked slowly, looking past them to look at the place where Taekwoon lay. Or should have lain. He sprang to his feet, eyes frantically searching the empty space. Taekwoon had been there – He had wanted to see Mother Nature take him back, but he –

He fell asleep. He missed it.

And now he would never see Taekwoon again.

Arms wound around him from behind when a sudden sob tore from his throat, and he collapsed into the embrace, crying out miserably, not wanting to believe that Taekwoon was really gone, that he would never see him again, oh, Mother Nature, he would never see him again.

Hands were on him, turning him around in the embrace, and he pushed his face into someone’s chest, Jaehwan or Sanghyuk, he didn’t know, didn’t care.

He had missed it, and now it was too late. Taekwoon was gone, and he was alone, he was utterly alone, and he missed Taekwoon, he wanted him back, he hadn’t been ready to let him go.

His love wasn’t here any longer. Taekwoon was gone.

And Hakyeon shattered.

I bet you're happy there's a part two, eh? ... Time will tell when I finish that one.

Right. While I'm mostly happy with this, I'm still worried about the pacing and the world and . If you have questions, ask away and I’ll answer. Also, if you catch any typos neither my beta nor I have caught, or have other forms of constructive critique, please let me know so I can edit and improve my writing!

Upvotes and comments are worth a fortune for me, and may save characters in future works <3

I think that's it? Until whenever, dearies!