Krystal’s pulse quickened as her dizziness made her head light at the sight of Kai, who was hanging lifelessly in the middle of the air. She can’t really feel her fingers, and her knees weakened before she could slowly take a couple of steps closer towards the torn man. She placed her fingers under Kai’s nose, feeling for a sign of breathing. “Kai?”

Her eyes gazed upon the soft flutter of Kai’s eyes—which almost seemed like he was using all his energy just so he could show her that he was still alive—and weakly stared straight into Krystal’s trembling orbs. A pair of glittering eyes, which were anticipating his response in concern, was ignored as a range of syllables escaped his cracked lips, “Where’s Kyungsoo hyung?” His hollow eyes caught the grim change in Krystal’s expression, though features still remained soft.

Despite the tight squeeze which occurred from somewhere inside of her heart towards Kai’s first question, Krystal dismissed all of her growing feelings as she shuffled lowly towards the rope above him and strained to keep her balance with half of her figure, trying to unsettle the knot. The pain in her hips pierced her and she glanced over her arms, registering the blood staining her shirt. But Krystal chose to ignore the pain—just like how she ignored Kai’s weak whinging from time to time about his Kyungsoo hyung.

Almost immediately, Kai’s torn figure fell onto her as she had successfully freed Kai from hanging in the mid-air. A loud groan escaped her lips as her face crumpled in the unbearable pain of having Kai on the top of hers.

Somehow, Kai had stopped straining with himself as he slowly sat back up with eyes darted towards the unmoving person below him. “Krystal?” His palm touched her shoulder, before he was slightly taken aback by her act, who abruptly supported herself up. Still, Kai found no effort to stand up as he remained on the cold tiles of the grey room as his energy has been drained out from Kyungsoo’s doings, hours before.

Noticing the man who became immobilised by something—which Krystal could predict as a torture from Kyungsoo before, Krystal held in an urge to collapse in exhaustion as she placed one of Kai’s arm  around her neck, before she put all of her energy into half-carrying the werewolf, and half-carrying her own burden. When they almost made it to exit the room, Kai has begun with his endless question of Kyungsoo’s whereabouts, which really frustrated the vampire, before she snapped up at him with one question. “Tell me, Kai. Who did this to you?” Though her question could be considered as vague, Krystal knew that the wolf boy was smart enough to interpret her question wisely.

Which was the reason why Kai remained quiet a second after the question left her lips.

That was, until they eventually had made it out of the room, and almost reach the living room, when Kai spotted a lifeless figure lying on the floor of a room at the opposite way of his own gaze. “Krystal… did you killed Kyungsoo hyung?” Between the crack of the door 3 meters away from him and the flickers of the dim light bulb, Kai’s voice appeared as a squeak than it was supposed to be.

Krystal’s silence, however, triggered something inside of Kai as he began to shout and struggle out of Krystal’s grip uncontrollably, demanding to be let go and to run towards the same person who had tortured him before.

As hard as the girl had tried to keep him in her arms—without to actually fight him back for the first time in her life as a vampire—Krystal eventually was forced to give in when Kai knocked onto her massive wound with his elbow, hard.

The girl collapsed onto the cold ground beneath as her blurry vision watched the quiver of Kai’s legs, trying to support his whole weigh including that invisible weigh on his shoulders—in each of his wobbly steps. Soon, Krystal’s gaze faded into black, and the last image that registered in her mind was Kai’s falling figure that she was unable to catch.

Sharp breath was taken at the moment the darkness engulfed his unconscious mind. Kai shot up into a sitting position as his chest heaved up and down in a rapid manner, trying to register the night surrounding around him. Somehow, his adrenaline rushed down his temple, eyes were wide with the memory of Kyungsoo… and maybe a dash of Krystal whom he could barely remember—

“You okay, lad?” Out of nowhere, Kris’s deep voice interrupted his thought. The alpha crouched just beside Kai, surprising the younger one a little.

Yet as perplexed as Kai was, his muscle immediately shifted away, and eventually stood up and was ready to storm away from Kris like he had always meant to do ever since the beginning. It was as if his mind had another form of reflex, which was to run away from Kris without thinking of anything else behind him.

Well at least, that ignorance only remained until Lay’s voice entered his eardrums from the corner somewhere behind him. “Wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

It was not Lay’s stern advice that had stopped Kai. It was the fact that the wizard will only be present if… Krystal was in pain. So Kai spun his figure around, scanning Kris’s crestfallen expression in the process, and darted his gaze over Krystal’s unmoving body—looking almost lifeless. With upmost concern, Kai scrambled over Krystal with ragged breath. “W-What happened?”

Lay sent the wolf boy a glare, as if saying “this is all your fault and you can’t even remember it”, before he gestured for him to move closer. Gently, the wizard placed his palm on the top of Kai’s head, slowly gaining an access into his memory as Lay tried to make him remember.

For some reason, Kai’s breathing softened at the brotherly contact—as if he had known Lay for a long time already. But then again, he did knew Lay ever since Kris had lost his claws off his memories. And Kai knew more than anything that Lay is, indeed, his old friend who was like a brother to him. No wonder why he could easily trust him to handle a wild girl like Krystal even when he could not remember Lay before.

“Be silent when I am looking through your memory, Jongin.”

No matter how tense the atmosphere was—with Kris’s eyes intensely staring at them—Kai couldn’t help himself but to let out a small chuckle, realising the fact that Lay could read his thoughts with a glowing palm on the top of his head.

Truth to be told, Kai missed to be called as his real name. He missed their playfulness. He missed his friends, his family, and… he missed the old Krystal. In the midst of their journey to find a way to bring back Ji Hye, Kai couldn’t help but to feel like everything had gone terribly wrong. He had messed it all up.

“Jongin…” There came a groan from Lay, demanding Kai to be focused on his memories instead of his thoughts. “Seriously.”

Then Kai stopped his thoughts at the raising tone of his hyung, knowing the best for not to make Lay mad. That was when the scene of last night registered into his mind, engulfing his vision. As if Kai had been brought back to the scene where he could finally see Krystal’s injured hips, his childish whinging about Kyungsoo, and that familiar glint in Krystal’s eyes.

Soojung.

A hit of nostalgia brought back Kai to the present as he opened his eyes wide, staring back at Lay and then at Krystal. “Lay, did Krystal—”

“It is Lay hyung for you… if you still refuse to call me Yixing.”

“—no listen. Did Krystal finally remembered us?” With an annoyed tone at the beginning of Kai’s question, he asked as his eyes refracted a genuine concern for the girl.

Lay flattened his eyes at the dismissal of his honorific, before he shifted his palms away from Kai’s head and hovered it on the top of Krystal’s hips. “You mean if she has actually remembered everything?” A pause. “No. She didn’t.”

Kai’s expression fell when that tiny hope within him was crashed by Lay’s honest answer. His gaze was thrown down towards the girl, staring intently at her pale face. “Do you know what have caused her to forget?”

“Well what has caused you to forget?”

“Kris.”

“Then, maybe someone who turned Krystal like this, is the one who had a hold of Krystal’s past memory.” With a wise finishing line, Lay spoke up as his eyes searched for Kai’s—trying to read the younger one.

“Are you even sure about this?” There came a hint of hesitation in Kai’s voice as he stared straight into the wizard’s eyes.

Yet Lay only shrugged, moving his attention to Krystal. “Who knows?”

“Can you just… not be mysterious for once and give me the answer?” A groan escaped Kai’s lips, irritated with his friend’s personality. The corner of his eyes caught the sight of Kris, who currently was sitting at the corner against an old tree, looking rather tired.

Lay smirked lightly, somehow finding Kai’s frustration funny yet challenging at the same time. “Well, it wouldn’t be interesting if I just tell you the whole thing, is it?”

“Lay-whatever-Yixing—”

“Hyung”

“—hyung! Are you trying to say that you already knew everything ever since from the start?” Flabbergasted, Kai asked as he noticed the return of his irregular breathing, perhaps upon anticipating Lay to give him fast answers. If only he knew that this wizard was his old friend whom he could get ‘benefits’ from—instead of being jealous over his little interactions with Krystal—Kai wouldn’t have act all awkward whenever Lay appeared from the portal before.

Upon seeing the werewolf’s memory that had finally return, Lay raised his index finger up before he jerked it against Kai’s forehead. “Don’t think too high of me.” It was all that lingered around the air as Kai surprisingly keep quiet with his never-ending thoughts, instead of flicking back the wizard’s forehead like he would always did in their immature days back then.

Even in the silence, the air had never lost its tension as Kai slowly dropped himself down onto the ground not too far away from Lay. “Who brought me and Krystal here?” His question came out softly, as if those spinning thoughts of a way to get out of the mess he had created, have swallowed down his demanding side, thus leaving Lay with his mysteriousness alone.

“I did.” Came an answer from Kris, who then received a glare from Kai. “I sensed your flesh at the moment your friend tortured you.” His eyes caught the act of Kai, who was about to throw his temper on him, but then Kris cut him off quickly with a rather stern voice. “I would have not done it if you didn’t save my mother before.” And those words have managed shut the younger wolf up. “So don’t look at this as a help from me. I know you are not going to return to my pack… since you’ve got back your memories. But Kai—I—uh—” He rubbed the back of his neck in awkwardness at the thought of the upcoming sentences “—I just want to apologise, really.”

Perhaps Kris’s genuine tone had caused Kai to accept the apology in silence.  Or perhaps it was the fact that he remembered how close they both used to be back then in their werewolves day—long before Ji Hye came into the picture along with Krystal. When he thought that everything messed up, and when he felt like there was no hope left… Kris had always been there, guiding him to put everything back to its places.

So no matter how much Kai hated Kris for taking his human memories before, he had to admit that Kris was also one of his brothers. Just like Lay and Kyungsoo – they were all that he had left and were his only family after his parents have passed away.

It didn’t take long for Krystal to wake up.

For some obvious reason, none of the boys have fallen asleep as they all scrambled up when the girl shuffled lightly in her position, trying to sit against the tree behind her. Without thinking much about his guilt, Kai immediately offered a hand for Krystal to take.

But as expected, the female only spared him a sharp glare and took Lay’s hand instead.

A rather long sigh escaped the young wolf’s lips as he raked his fingers through his brunette. “Look—I’m sorry.”

Knowing Krystal, who had an ego as high as the sky, Lay gestured for Kai to say more, causing the younger one to struggle since Kai was clearly not used to speak out his feelings. “I’m sorry for my behaviour before.”

Still no response.

“Krystal…” Softly, he took her wrist into his grip. And to his surprise, the girl did looked at him straight in the eye, less intensely. “Kyungsoo hyung was my closest friend before. I was just really taken aback when I saw him lying lifeless—”

“He almost killed both of us.” And to that cue, Krystal yanked her wrist away from Kai. “I still don’t understand why you love that human-being so much even when I know that you knew about the other side of him!” There came her irregular breathing; her madness was slowly creeping up into her veins. Her eyes travelled downwards, noticing the warm clothes that Kai was wearing—perhaps Lay had picked it up somewhere from Kyungsoo’s house where he had found them unconscious.

Kai sighed, again. If he was still that one clueless werewolf with no memories of the past, then Kai would have probably barked back at Krystal for losing her temper so quickly. But he has changed now; everything was in the reach of his memory. “Kyungsoo hyung has a dissociative identity disorder.” His eyes registered the distinct look in Krystal’s dark orbs, as if taken aback by the revelation. “I don’t know if you know what it is—but I’m sure you do.” He lowered his head to Krystal’s eye-level, hinting at their pasts of Kyungsoo’s health issue, which Krystal would probably not even remember.

Instead of replying, the vampire decided that it was the best to shove Kai’s-dangerously-close-face away from her, and earned a soft chuckle from Lay, who was supporting her by the arm. “Let’s just continue this journey so that we can get away from each other quicker. I’m starting to lose my control in killing him.” The last sentences, though, was spoken towards Lay beside her with a clear emphasise of Kai.

“About our journey…”

Krystal halted in her track, annoyed, before she spun around and registered the images of Kai along with Kris from behind. When did the evil alpha got here? “What is it about our journey? And why is your enemy tagging along with us?”

Glancing over his shoulder with a smirk, Kai then shook his head upon seeing Kris’s annoyed expression. “That alpha really wants to be a sidekick.”

“Kai, should I remind you that I am still stronger than you are—”

“Anyway, about our journey… I think we should cancel it.”

Silence.

Krystal shifted closer towards the wolf boy, shock was evident on her face. “What are you talking about?” Her voice appeared lighter than usual, as if she was doubting with the words that had just left Kai’s lips.

The boy hesitated for a second, throwing his gaze to the ground momentarily before he locked his eyes with hers. “I think… it is unnatural to bring back Ji Hye to life—”

“What are you talking about?! She is your girlfriend!”

“Ji Hye was my girlfriend! She is dead now, and I don’t want to change that!”

“Oh really?! Why then?! Why after everything that we’ve been through to get to this stage?!” A push was given towards Kai’s chest by Krystal, ready to start a fight.

Growling lowly, Kai messes with his hair as he threw his head up, not wanting everything to get tensed than it already was. “You won’t understand the reason why even if I say it.” His tone softened, gaze was being thrown somewhere else.

“What is it that I don’t understand?! Say it!”

“Dammit Krystal, stop shouting at my ears!”

“Say it!”

Yet Kai remained silence, his eyes fell onto the ground, as if reminiscing their past. The two audiences exchanged gazes, before Kris patted Kai’s shoulder from behind, and then Lay placed both arms around Krystal to turn her back to the front, which did not ease the girl’s anger as she spoke up her final words, “Fine, if you’re giving up on this—then I’ll do it myself.”

The air couldn’t get any colder, at least not after the vampire had lead them to the front gate of a towering castle, standing proud alone on the top of a hill. Even though their ‘conversation’ has ended in a bad position, both Kai and Kris did tagged along from behind, catching up with Krystal’s fast pace.

Lay stared up in awe before he glanced at Krystal who was just beside him, mirroring his previous act with a sigh escaping her lips. “We are here.” In a clear yet light tone, Krystal stated out. The shuffling noise from behind caused the lady to stiffen up her body, knowing what was coming up.

“Krystal, you don’t have to do this.” Kai stepped closer towards the stubborn creature, already tapping gently at her arm. At the side was Kris with eyes filled in concern, alarmed with each steps that the vampire could take to hurt them.

Slowly, Krystal spun around, trying hard to not lose her temper at Kai’s drastic change of plan after all the hardships that they have been through to even stand there. “Give me one smart reason why I should stop this. Then I will.” The giving-a-chance part had made Krystal to gulp away her ego as she stared sharply towards the wolf boy.

Kai gritted his teeth hard, trying to find the willpower to speak up for his actual reason. He gave Kris a glimpse, yet the older one seemed clueless of what he was about to say. “Krystal, you see…” his palms began sweating in nervousness as his eyes were thrown downwards, then up again; staring deeply into the girl’s soul “…actually I am in love with you.”

Suddenly, the gates to the castle shifted open at Kai’s last words. All of the attention had gone to the loud creaking of the gates, yet it couldn’t cover the racing hearts of both Krystal’s and Kai’s.

“Cool. Was that all a part of a spell or something, Kai?” Flabbergasted by the abruptness, Kris blurted out his insensitive thoughts as his head turned to face the younger one.

However, just before Kai could part his mouth open to speak, Krystal brushed past his shoulder harshly, clearly saying, “fair enough” – obviously buying Kris’s assumption, and dumping Kai’s confession in the process.

The poor boy shook his head in the turn down of event, as he sprinted towards Krystal who was entering the castle along with Lay beside her. Surely, Kai was not going to let the chance to slip by his fingers again. Especially not when they were just a step away from committing the biggest mistake in their lives. “Krystal, wait…” When his hand reached out for the vampire from behind, Kai could felt his foot sunken down along with the tile he was stepping on.

Before Kai’s mind could even process the oddness of the moving tile, Kris was already shouting at the top of his lungs, commanding Kai to move away. And when the younger wolf did not even seem to budge a muscle at his warning, Kris threw himself towards Kai, literally shoving him away from whatever was coming.

Curses escaped Kai’s lips and Krystal let out a loud gasp at the sight which appeared just an inch away from her nose. With eyes widened and body stiffened, Krystal breathed out, “spears…” shock was evident on her face along with everyone else’s. Without noticing, Krystal gazed over Kris’s figure, making sure that Kai was still in one piece.

The first one to recover was Lay, who immediately grabbed the girl’s shoulder from the side, turning her around to face his anxious expression. “Jung Soojung! Did you have something that you forgot to tell us before we entered this castle?”

Krystal’s eyes travelled towards the wizard’s face momentarily, still in shock. “Before—well when I last visited the witch—she used to place traps everywhere around her castle so that no humans will be able to intrude her lair.” She could feel something dropped down her temple – adrenaline. Why would she be the one to feel like that when Kai was the one who almost got killed by the spears?

“Right. We need to be more careful with our steps from now on. When you happen to see something odd, do not touch it, everyone clear?” Kris’s tone of authority echoed through the long corridors of the castle as his arms supported Kai to stand back up.

“You are not my leader, Kris.” Harshly yanking off Kris’s grip from his elbow, Kai spoke up before he dashed away from the dumbfounded alpha. Yet again, Kai’s ears picked up a sharp sound and just before he could get anywhere near Krystal, the walls started to move and the ground beneath began to vibrate vigorously.

Despite the panic in the air, Kris maintained his cold façade towards Kai with arms crossed and a dismal expression. “See what you have done again?” The others darted their widened gazes toward him, clearly not going to play along with his sarcasm, and were asking for the next move instead. Something triggered inside of Kris as he forced down an urge to grin at the thought of directing them like a leader he would always be. “Run.”

And so they ran.

To their luck, the walls have stopped shifting just when they’ve ran into a massive indoor garden with maze trees nearly everywhere. A faint sound of water, flowing down slowly thus creating a soft melody, could be heard from somewhere around the place. Despite the calmness, Kai creased his eyebrows in anxiety, hoping that he wouldn’t trigger something else in that seemingly peaceful garden.

The first one to speak was Kris, snapping the rest of them out of their dazes of the untouched garden. “It’s a maze.” His eyes wildly scanned the entire place, ears perked up as he used his wolf senses to find the right way to pass the maze without getting lost. “I suggest we follow the sound of the water and—”

“I can fly through the maze.” Spontaneously cutting off Kris’s sentence, Krystal spoke up as she gave Lay a glimpse. “He can fly too.” The wizard nodded in agreement and Krystal sent him a small smile.

Holding in an urge to groan at the younger one’s disrespectful manner, Kris only return her comments with a stern gaze. His eyes caught the look in Kai’s eyes, and immediately—as a former alpha Kris was—he could clearly understand Kai’s current thoughts. “Then what about us two?”

Raising up her eyebrows, Krystal stated out in confusion, “You can use your wolf senses to find the way.”

“But we are not familiar with this place like you are.”

“I am not that familiar too. It has been a while since I last visited the witch.”

“Then what if Kai and I get lost?” His question seemed to strike Krystal momentarily as her eyes darted over Kai, who was standing right behind the alpha. Kris stared at the younger wolf as he observed the way Kai and Krystal locked their gaze together for a second longer. Perhaps from there, the alpha eventually understood that the actual reason why Kai has left the pack was not because of his frustration with the restriction of being in a wolf pack—it was because of her.

“Let’s just race to the end then.” Interrupting Kris’s trailing thoughts about the past, Lay stated out, earning a few questioning looks from the others. “Krystal and I will fly from above, you and Kai can run through the maze.”

Feeling challenged, Kris crossed his arms on his broad chest as he asked, “And what will the winner gets?”

“Anything.” And for the first time in history, Lay smirked.

Kai held up his palms in the air as he walked in between Kris and Lay. “I am not signing up for this. It’s unfair. Obviously the ones in the air will win. Right, Krystal?” His gaze shifted to the side, gesturing the vampire to go along with him in order to stop the childish game.

Dismissing Kai’s hopeful eyes from her, Krystal stepped forward towards Lay with a poker face. “I’m in.” The wizard besides her grinned widely and Krystal held in an urge to chuckle at Kai’s crestfallen reaction. She wondered why she found it funny teasing along like this. It all felt too familiar to her. And strangely enough, it did not scare her for having the sense of openness towards Kai—whom she used to hate before.

“Then we’re all set. Oh, and playing it dirty counts.” It was all that left Kris’s lips before he stormed into the maze in his wolf form, missing out Kai’s disapprove glare for leaving him behind along with Lay’s groan and Krystal’s grin.

Given a head-start and superhuman speed, Kris was sure that he already was far ahead than the others. He didn’t always act like this. But the fact that Kris could get anything that he wanted if he’s the winner—triggered something called courage to spark inside of him. Obviously, today’s main point was to help Kai to stop Krystal from bringing back Ji Hye, but he had always wanted something to come back to him. To be exact, someone—

Thud!

“Oops. Sorry.”

A growl escaped Kris’s lips as he stared up at the owner of the voice.

Lay.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Kris’s arms supported his weigh as the painful impact of tripping over Lay’s foot slowly crept into his veins. His eyes registered a smug grin across Lay’s face, clearly enjoying seeing the weak sight of the mighty alpha.

Staring down, Lay showed off his deep dimple at the moment the werewolf growled lowly at him. “Playing it dirty and stopping you from winning.” He stood still on the spot as he watched Kris getting up on his feet, dusting off dirt from his clothes. “Why did you took my suggestion seriously anyway? You knew that it was only a joke since Krystal and Kai were really tensed up back there.” Eventually, his grin faded away as his eyebrows furrow in curiosity.

Letting out a soft sigh, Kris turned his head to the side and looked Lay straight in the eyes. “Because I want to do the deal so bad.” Contrasting with the tone of his voice earlier, it actually appeared firmer right at the moment—as if he was speaking of something deadly serious.

As a wise man Lay was, he clearly knew what was coming up, but he chose to swallow away his emotion at the sight of Kris’s intense gaze. “This moment is not for you, Kris. Let Kai wins and then he can ask Krystal to stop the whole plan.” His head tilted upwards upon trailing after Kris’s steps, who was shifting closer towards him.

“Then when will it be our moment?”

Kris’s words struck Lay harder than it should be as the older one gently held the wizard’s chin up, locking their gazes together as Kris slowly spoke, “why everything had to go so wrong, even for us?”

“Kris, stop this.”

“I knew you remember me. Don’t pretend like you don’t.”

“Wu Yifan!” And to that cue, Lay trashed Kris’s warm grip away from him, causing the alpha to stumble back in surprise.

Despite Lay’s cold rejection, Kris didn’t give up as he continues stepping closer towards the younger boy, steadily speaking in a louder tone. “You knew it yourself that the reason why I took Kai’s human memories was to avoid him from facing something like this!” His hands grabbed Lay’s shoulder harshly, demanding to be looked straight in the eye.

Slowly, Lay began to lose his calm demeanour when he stared deep into the werewolf’s brown orbs. He wanted to say something so badly, but then again, he knew that he was at the fault. So he remained quiet in guilt.

“I was turned into a werewolf, and I begged you not be afraid of me! But what did you do?” Kris’s grip tightened that it started to hurt Lay a little, but the younger one held it in—for the sake of Kris who had went through something more painful than this. “You left me alone there in the dark!”

“Kris…”

“You left me!”

“Yifan, I…”

“You… left me.” Choked by the sudden fall of tears, Kris’s hands weakly fell back onto his side, slowly distancing himself from Lay. “How could you do that?”

Waves of emotion flooded the younger one as he watched Kris struggling to stand there with tears flowing down his cheeks. “I’m sorry, Yifan…”

“I’m so sorry.”

Somehow the flow of the water fountain, which came from somewhere in the massive indoor garden, gave calmness to Krystal as she casually fly through the thickness of the maze; almost as if she had nothing to worry about. Truthfully, Krystal didn’t plan to win the race at all since she had nothing to wish for.

However, Kai’s confession earlier kept repeating on her mind like a broken record.

Even though the word, “I love you” was the right spell to get into the castle, Krystal couldn’t deny the fact that Kai might have actually meant it straight from his heart.

She let out a sigh at the thought of it. Oh boy, has she really fallen for him?

Shaking away her thoughts, Krystal blinked her eyes twice as her mind registered the end of the maze just a meter away from her. However, just before she could move a muscle to fly towards the finishing line, a tug could be felt from her legs. Curiously, Krystal gazed down and was instantly met with Kai’s tired eyes. Must have been using all his speed to find the end of the maze, she thought.

“Krystal—wait.” Breathlessly, Kai pleaded as his eyes stared up straight into hers, refracting his real emotion which had just made Krystal feel even more confused with the state of relationship that they have got themselves into. “Krystal…” Kai’s grip around her ankle tightened, demanding her to step down onto the ground.

Still in daze of her trailing thoughts about Kai’s confession, Krystal slowly stepped down, eventually feeling her feet met the earth beneath. “What is it?” A hint of anxiety could be heard in her tone as Krystal stared into his eyes, observing the way he was hesitating to speak up.

“Actually… I didn’t know anything about the spell to enter this castle.”

“So…?”

“Well—” Kai brought his palm onto his nape, it nervously “—I meant what I said.”

Startled by the werewolf’s words, Krystal felt herself frozen in the moment before she took a step closer towards Kai. Clearly she knew what he was talking about—hell she had been thinking about it all along—but something inside of her wanted Kai to say it all over again. So she asked, “What are you talking about?”

“I know it sounds crazy but… I love you.” To his surprise, he felt the warmth of Krystal’s lips on the top of his just a second after the confession.

And with that, he knew that Krystal still feel the same even after the dreadful tragedy.

“What took you so long?”

Lay lifted his head up upon hearing Kai’s questioning voice as he sighed softly at the sound of Kris’s footsteps from behind. “We… I mean—I got some things to sort out back there.” His eyes trailed after Kai’s hand that was wrapped around Krystal’s waist, which have caused Lay’s eyebrows to crook up at the sight. “Who have won the race?”

The couple exchanged their gaze together, before Kai parted his grip away from Krystal with a winning smirk. “I did.”

“No you didn’t. I did!” With a teasing scowl, Krystal snapped up with a playful glare at Kai, which have caused Lay to be even more confused by the sudden change of interaction between them.

Even Kris who stood behind Lay looked puzzled. However, just before he could part his lips open to ask, a rather firm voice interrupted their moment, which seemed to be coming from behind.

“Who dares intruding my castle?”

Dark attire, pale skin, and furrowed eyebrows.

It was the owner of the castle.

The witch.

Krystal spun around and knitted her eyebrows upon meeting the aging woman who stood less than a meter away from her. “They are my friends.”

Somewhere beneath the thick layer of the witch’s dark demeanour, her eyes immediately softened ever so slightly at the sight of Krystal. She exhaled a breath like she had been holding it for years and stared deeply into the young lady’s eyes. “You are finally home.”

Purposely avoiding the witch’s motherly gaze, Krystal threw her stare at the maze behind with crossed arms. “I came to ask you a favour.” She tried to keep her posture and not to act as rude as her ego wanted her to be. Besides, that witch was the one who has looked after her after everything shattered apart. “A very close friend of mine was dead—”

“No actually—it’s not her who wants to ask you for help. It’s me.” Almost too abruptly, Kai interrupted as he bravely stepped forward. His fists were clenched with a firm decision on his mind.

Lifting up her head in a challenging manner, the witch raised up her eyebrows as she spoke, “and what is that?”

“Please help me to get things back to how it were before.” His voice almost trembled along the line as his mind flashed out all the good memories from the past; long before everything went horribly wrong.

Snapping her gaze up at Kai’s request, which was different from what they have discussed, Krystal furrowed her eyebrows in confusion with a sense that Kai’s wish was not as what they have agreed on. “What do you mean, ‘back to how it were before’?”

However, the boy refused to spare her a word of reply as he remained still on the spot with a cold façade towards the witch. So Krystal faced him and shook his shoulders roughly, desperate for a response. “Kai, what do you think you are doing?”

The young lady’s manner in trying to grab Kai’s attention has attracted the witch as she observed the determined look in his eyes, and even without needing him to explain his wish in further detail—she already knows. “I usually chop off an intruder’s head, but I guess your wish could be considered as a tough punishment.”

“What do you mean?”

“To return things that were truly yours, a life needs to be spared.”

Surprised by the turn of event, Lay jumped out of his silence with anger on his side. “No, you can’t do that!”

“There’s no other way.” Shaking her head with dark vibe creeping out from the surrounding, the witch exclaimed.

“Then just take my head.” Taking a step forward, Kris interrupted. His façade remained tough like a leader he was, with eyebrows furrowed and composure hardened.

A second too quickly, Lay responded to Kris’s intention to sacrifice with a loud, “no!” His steps were coming towards the leader and the worried look that was written on all over his face didn’t leave his eyes. “I’m not going to lose you again.”

Just as Kris was about to reason out to Lay, a sharp groan came from the side and immediately, all attention was diverted towards the source of sound. To their utmost surprise, they have just witnessed the sight of Krystal’s long bloody nails in her vampire appearance along with Kai’s scarred chest.

“Tell me what you are wishing for—or else… or else I will kill you—right now.” Her voice trembled roughly, her breathe quicken, and her heart wrenched at the scene that she has caused to happen.

Bending his body with hand against the scars, Kai slowly fell onto his knees as his face crumpled at the pain. A long pause filled the air before his words came stumbling out of his lips one by one. “Kill me.” Eyes shut at the feeling of his tears as he began struggling to breathe. “At one point—it is going to end anyway, so kill me already!”

A tear slipped out of Krystal’s eyes as she lowered her fist down and turned her head sideways; finding it difficult to fulfil her own wish for revenge.

“I rather have you kill me before I die of losing everything again.”

Another tear made its way out of Krystal’s eyes as she stared at the witch. True, she had no clue in things that Kai had just said, but she trusted him for the better. “You said you wanted a life—”

So she snapped Kai’s neck.

“—there you have it.”

The sound of Lay’s piercing scream and Kris’s profanity were muffled to Krystal’s ears as she watched Kai collapsing onto the ground with a twisted head. Everything began to be a blur to her with stream of tears flowing down her cheeks mixed with blood coming from Kris’s brutal force as he tore her apart with his sharp claws.

Just when she no longer could feel her body in one piece and when her mind was starting to shut down, she could see Lay trying to stop Kris from committing another murder, along with the witch’s gloomy figure towering above them.

It wasn’t the end of the story.