(A/N: P.S Please read the A/N at the end)

Kibum was standing at the opening of the cave. He clutched onto the heavy sword (in its sheath) in his hands contemplating about going in, alone. He had come on this journey after getting answers out of a very sleepy KyuJong and enraged YoungSaeng – it was the wee hours of the morning by the way, and you do not want to find out how scary a disturbed-from-sleep-and-cuddling-with-lover vampire is.

Anyhow, he managed to get out of their room alive and made his way to the cave. By the time he had reached the cave, it was already daylight. Even so, from the outside, you could not see what was in it at all, it was still pitch black.

Yes, he was alone with no backup whatsoever. He had left the palace without anyone knowing as he feared what would happen if his appa and umma were to find out – preventing him to go on his own and all, it would only waste time.

He had left a confused KyuJong sitting on the bed, still groggy from sleep, as to why he would be so eager to ask out-of-the-blue questions in the first few hours of the morning.

Anyway, he had found out that the reason why Kevin was not exactly “Kevin”, was because his heart was taken away. Sure his body was there, physically, but his heart, mind and soul wasn’t. Apparently, this usually happens when someone wants to extract powers from the person. Kibum had found out all of this out without naming names, of course.

He tightened his grip onto the blood sword and stepped inside. Immediately, he felt the goosebumps on his skin rise as he felt the coldness of the cave when it was so darn hot outside. He heard the sudden flapping of wings as bats flew around the cave in a frenzy, as their initial peace was disturbed.

Suddenly he felt a not-so-gentle nudge on his back, followed by a low growl. He turned around, trying to look through the darkness but only saw a dark tall figure behind him. He felt another nudge and took it as a cue to walk forward.

As he walked, the entire walk was quiet, except for the heavy breathing of the beast behind him, and the sound of his footsteps against the slightly moist ground.

Finally, he halted, when the surroundings felt even colder. “Master. He’s here.”

Just then, the torches lining the cave flickered on and there it was floating in the air. He could somehow feel his menacing glare on me.

“Go check whether any of his friends are laying in ambush outside. Comb the area thoroughly.” It ordered. The creature grunted which seemed to be a “yes” and left.

Then, he saw a huge metal cage with an unconscious figure inside of its confinement.

‘Kevin!’ Kibum screamed in his mind.

“Let him go!” Kibum grit his teeth.

“Prince Kibum,” it said in a mocking tone. “Indeed, you were born to achieve great heights. Too bad that because of this, you have to die. I can’t have anyone in my way.”

Just then, the creature from just now came back, with a few others. “There are no suspicious persons in sight, master.”

“Good. Capture him.”

“Urgh- Let me go!” Kibum fought against their grip. Each of them held him back and he couldn’t even budge. However, he still had the sword and he clutched it tightly in his left hand.

“I wasn’t expecting you this early and I hadn’t completed my preparations. Oh well, you could watch me take the boy’s essence…” He chuckled sinisterly.

Magically, a small shining blood-red ball appeared in roughly what seemed like his hand. He watched as it made the necessary preparations, blood boiling inside of him with its every move.

“No!  Stop it!” Kibum growled through grit teeth. If not for the creatures holding him back, he would have lunged forward already. He struggled forward and the veins on his neck strained against his skin, popping out a little.

At that moment, the Blood Sword in his hand started to glow bright and shaking again. At that, the darkness’ underlings let go of him quickly and backed off. They backed into a corner and whimpered and howled in pain. Taking this chance, Kibum lunged forward towards the darkness.

Taken by surprise, the darkness dropped Kevin’s essence in a haste to get away. Glancing at the small ball on the ground, he could tell that it was slowly getting dimmer.

‘.’ He thought. He had completely forgotten one last – and very important- point that KyuJong had told him. If the essence of the heart isn’t put in any body within a certain time frame, the essence will vanish and the owner of that essence will be without a soul and will never wake up. One sign was that the essence would slowly lose its glow.

Time was running out.

Kibum immediately bent down to reach for the essence but was beaten to it by the darkness. He tried to snatch it over, but it dodged every time. Finally, as the darkness was distracted, Kibum stabbed the still-glowing and burning hot blade into the floating figure. 

“AHHH!!!” It screamed in excruciating pain as the heat started eating into it. It screeched in pain as it flailed in the air, the essence flung out of its grasp. Kibum immediately stole back the essence of the heart. The darkness burst into flames and when the fire died out, it was not in sight anymore. The glow in the small ball was almost out, except for a faint flickering glow that resembled a dying flame.

In the meantime, its underlings all burst into ashes as well. Suddenly, he saw something shimmering among the ashes underneath where the darkness was earlier. He picked it up and brushed the ashes off. It was a key.

Running over to the cage, he fumbled with the lock and turned the key. He heard a slight “click” sound and the cage door swung open. Looking at his unconscious lover looking so weak and pale, he felt his heart clench.

He knelt down beside the figure and carefully lifted Kevin’s torso to lean into his chest in a sitting position. With one hand tenderly pulling his lips apart by holding onto his chin, he slowly slid the small ball of essence of the heart into his mouth.

Minutes passed which felt like hours and eternity with Kibum expecting at least one little sign of consciousness but to no avail. He held the boy’s small frame as if it was the most precious and fragile thing in the universe. He felt like his heart fell as he wondered whether he had been too late.

He clenched his fist, feeling the anger rise inside of him. The anger, sadness and disappointment of probably the biggest loss he had ever suffered.

Just when he thought everything had ended, a soft hand caressed his cheek.

“Bummie…”

Kibum looked down to see his lover leaning into his chest, looking up at him with big bright eyes.

He hugged Kevin tightly from the back, nuzzling his face into Kevin’s neck. No words were said but both of them already knew what was to be said. Some things didn’t have to be said to be felt by the heart.

---------------------------------------------------THE END-------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Well this story is officially finished, but there will be one last EPILOGUE! :D 

Also, in that chapter where i would be posting my epilogue, i will be accepting QUESTIONS from you guys about this story in case some parts may be a bit confusing (is it?). And also your comments for this fic in general :D 

Last chapter~ please comment everyone? /pouts :3/