Kibum still didn’t really understand exactly why Taemin needed him.

It was frustrating to say the least, because he had thought he knew nearly everything about Greek mythology.  But this… this he couldn’t make sense of however much he tried. And Taemin refused to tell him anything other than his presence was needed in order to open Pandora’s jar. He wouldn’t let him touch any of the scrolls in the room Kibum had dubbed as the office either, as Taemin spent most of his time researching there. He claimed they were filled with writings in an ancient language a mere human wouldn’t understand and he didn’t have the time to teach Kibum how to read them. As if he ever planned to do it anyway.

It all led to long, boring days wherein Kibum had too much time on his hands and nothing to do.

Well, truthfully, Kibum didn’t know if it had been days. It could have been only long, stretched out hours or it could have been weeks for all he knew. There was neither clocks nor windows to tell the time. He just slept when he felt tired and explored the castle when he grew bored of watching Taemin read or write. If he counted days by how many times he slept, he should have been in the underworld nearly a week; a thought that made his heart drop and his chest tighten. He had no doubt Minho or Jinki had arranged so that his and Jonghyun's parents wouldn’t remember them being away, but what would he tell Jonghyun? He must think Kibum is dead.

Kibum shook himself to rid his head of depressing thoughts and stepped out of the room he had been sleeping in the past days. He counted his lucky stars that at least he wasn’t forbidden to roam around. There wasn’t much to see, as nearly all the rooms were empty and bare, and he didn’t dare go too far from Taemin's office or his room. There were some very creepy, weird looking creatures walking the halls of the castle.

He stopped counting his lucky stars and drew the line for his exploring when he happened upon a large room filled with weapons. Small, white eyed and bald elves were happily playing with the weapons. They were running around, toying with the weapons, cutting each other up and watching the wounds close again or cutting off a limb and letting it regrow, knives, swords and axes flying everywhere. They chattered in gibberish and cackled hysterically, barely noticing Kibum where he stood staring in astonished horror. He slammed the door shut when a dagger came flying his way and backed away.

After that little discovery he resigned himself to sitting in the quite large and comfortable armchair in the corner of Taemin's office while Taemin continued to spend hours scribbling away on a scroll of parchment or reading another. He would occasionally ask to be taken home or back to the human realm if nothing else, at least twice a day, but was denied every time. Other times he would try asking why Taemin wanted to open Pandora’s jar only to be pierced by cold, granite eyes and receive the silent treatment.

As he sighed for the umpteenth time while watching Taemin work, after whatever amount of days had passed (twelve according to his sleeping patterns), Taemin finally put down his quill and looked up at him.

“Do you require my aid?” he asked, the sarcasm barely noticeable.

Kibum narrowed his eyes at him.

“Yes, actually, I do,” he answered without missing a beat. “Take me home.”

Taemin's eyes hardened and he picked up his quill again, looking back down at the scroll.

“It is not yet time for you to return,” he answered, like all the other times Kibum had asked to be taken home. He didn’t know why he even bothered anymore.

“But what do you expect me to do here?” he exclaimed in frustration, for the first time taking the conversation further instead of resigning himself to pout in his little corner. He was tired of doing nothing. “Sit around and watch you work all day? Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with already?”

Taemin's eyes were sharp as he looked up at him for the second time.

“That is not the purpose of you presence,” he growled. “I am neither unreasonable nor a mindless killer.”

Scowling at the floor, Kibum crossed his arms and pulled his legs up to his chest. Taemin's eyes weighed down on him but he refused to meet them. Taemin sighed and a table appeared beside the armchair. Kibum jumped and looked up to see a pile of books swaying dangerously on the table – a quite familiar pile of books.

“These are my books!” he exclaimed and picked up the one on top, turning it in his hands. “How?”

“I assumed you were quite knowledgeable in mythology,” Taemin mumbled, tone snarky. Kibum looked up at him, annoyed, but Taemin was staring intently at his scroll. “Why are you questioning my powers?”

Kibum opened his mouth to snap something back at him, but then he noticed how Taemin squirmed the slightest and how he still wouldn’t move his intent stare from the scroll. Closing his mouth again, Kibum glanced at the books, running a gentle finger down their spines.

It occurred to him that this might be another one of those things Taemin hadn’t done often, like the smiling. Nowhere, did mythology cite that the god of the underworld was considerate, thoughtful and caring. But maybe he’d just never gotten the chance to show he could be. It seemed Taemin didn’t understand humans as well as his brothers and the other gods, which could have something to do with the fact that every single person had been wary and afraid of him since the beginning of time.

The thought left a bad tingle in Kibum's limbs and pulled at his heart.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

Taemin raised his gaze slowly to look at him, eyes astonished, as if he had never heard such a phrase. They stared at each other for a quiet moment before Kibum snorted.

“You’re supposed to say ‘you’re welcome’,” he added, but smiled the slightest.

Taemin blinked.

“Oh,” he mumbled, looking a little embarrassed. “I… you’re welcome?”

Kibum couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him, but bit his lip as he watched confusion spread across Taemin's face.

“Has no one ever thanked you before?” he asked.

He had only been joking, but the way Taemin's face went blank and body stilled made his heart sink, all thoughts of teasing gone.

“Really?” Kibum breathed. “Not even Persephone when you let her go?”

Taemin's expression darkened and he turned away. He took a breath, as if preparing to say something, but then shook himself and disappeared, leaving Kibum to stare at the spot where he had stood, confused.

He contemplated trying to find him, but thought better of it when the memories of elves playing with weapons replayed in his head. He shuddered and settled deeper into the armchair, leaning the book he had picked up against his legs and opening it to the dog-eared page to read while he waited for Taemin to return.

Thirty-two pages and a whole lot of pondering about his current predicament later, Taemin came back, sending a small breeze of air Kibum's way and ruffling the pages of his book. Kibum looked up at him inquiringly, but Taemin simply went back to his scrolls without a word or any acknowledgement at all. After dog-earing the current page, Kibum carefully put the book away. Taemin looked up at him.

“Why won’t you tell me why I’m here?” Kibum tried asking again, softly. “You’re clearly not as evil as mythology states.”

Taemin looked away, his fingers flicking at the edges of the parchment.

“I would rather you remain unknowing,” he muttered. “I give my word I will return you to your world unharmed. However, you are needed here until I can open the jar of Pandora.”

“Why would it matter if I returned to my world or not if you’re going to open Pandora’s jar anyway?” Kibum wondered.

Taemin didn’t answer. Then it dawned on Kibum and he drew in a soft gasp.

“Wait,” he began slowly. “This is the realm of the un-dead, right?

Taemin glanced up at him and nodded.

“How do you travel between this realm and the others? There’s a rift connecting the realms of gods and humans, I know that, but I don’t know what connects this realm to the human’s or god’s.”

Taemin studied him for a moment, his gaze contemplative.

“It is impossible to travel to this realm if I do not approve of it by creating a passage,” he answered. “And it is equally impossible to leave.”

“Meaning, whatever is here, stays here,” Kibum clarified and Taemin nodded. “So, if you opened Pandora’s jar here… it would stay here? Destroy everything in the underworld, but not spread to the realms of humans or gods?”

Taemin nodded again and Kibum hesitated for a moment.

"Are you planning to open Pandora’s jar here?”

Once again, there was no answer from Taemin, but something in his eyes left Kibum feeling cold and afraid. Logically, it shouldn’t, since it meant there had never really been any danger to begin with.

“Why would you do that?” he whispered.

Taemin shrugged listlessly.

“I have nothing to exist for,” he murmured. “No one finds me worthy, the creatures here will never leave as they have no purpose and only exist because they were created to spread chaos. My own purpose is lost as the land of souls is open to every human soul, good or bad.” He turned away. “Even the future I fantasise of with the human I love is impossible.” He laughed hollowly. “As all those other gods in Olympus has said time and again; who will ever love me willingly?”

Kibum didn’t know what came over him, but he found himself leaving the armchair and approaching Taemin. He stepped around him make him look at him, bending down a little to catch his eyes as he was staring at the floor. Taemin met his gaze, the emotions tumbling behind his eyes piercingly vivid and more than Kibum ever thought a god capable of.

He stepped closer, hesitant, and when Taemin didn’t move away, he put his arms around his waist in a tight hug, like he often did when Jonghyun felt down.

Taemin went completely still, but after a few long moments his arms came up to rest around Kibum's shoulders, uncertain and awkward.

They stood hugging for what felt like an eternity and Taemin didn’t seem to want to let go, his arms tightening around Kibum's shoulders every now and then. Kibum let him hold him, simply because there was something so naïve in the way Taemin behaved. As if he had never truly learned how to act in front of or with another being, rendering him unable to react properly when unexpected things happened.

“Did you ever try to actually talk to the person you love, or did you just decide on your own they wouldn’t love you?” Kibum murmured when he finally pulled back.

Taemin wouldn’t meet his eyes and his arms fell limply to his sides, so Kibum assumed he had hit close to the target. He sighed.

“I,” Taemin started softly, “abducted him.”

Kibum frowned.

“Oh?” he asked hesitantly. “Like you did with Persephone?”

Taemin grimaced and glanced at him.

“Yes,” he breathed.

“But you let him go too?”

Cold dread formed in Kibum's stomach as Taemin swallowed harshly.

“Don’t tell me it was Jonghyun,” he whispered. “You know he’s–”

“It is not your friend,” Taemin interrupted and turned away. “Please refrain from asking anything else.”

Kibum stared after him in confusion as he started on his scrolls again, leaning on his arms, palms flat on the surface of his desk, his head bowed. It took Kibum a moment to move back to the armchair and pick up his book, but he could only stare at the pages without seeing the words, mind far away.

How come Taemin was so misunderstood? He wondered. Even his own brothers hadn’t seemed to realise he wanted to end himself and his realm, rather than their realm. Well, Jinki had seemed set on believing Taemin wouldn’t even try to open Pandora’s jar, but Kibum wondered if he had known about Taemin's plan to self-destruct.

It occurred to Kibum that he still didn’t know how the jar opened and why Taemin needed him to do it.

He glanced at his books, thoughtful. There was nothing there about opening the jar of Pandora, he was sure. He had read them enough times to be certain. From what he knew, the jar had only been opened once. But its security system must have been updated, given all the damage it had caused that one time.

It was too bad gods didn’t have Internet. He could really use it at the moment.

Kibum huffed dejectedly and Taemin looked up at him with a frown, clearly disturbed from his reading. He wrinkled his nose at him and Taemin picked up reading again only to push the scroll away with a small sigh after a second.

“You are the key,” he mumbled.

Kibum raised his eyebrows at Taemin's bowed head.

“Excuse me?”

Taemin sat down in his chair and laced his fingers together on the desk before meeting Kibum's eyes.

“You are the key to the jar of Pandora, and I am the lock,” he said slowly, voice completely void of emotion.

Kibum gaped at him.

“Which in turn means that if you leave, the jar of Pandora will open,” Taemin explained, which really didn’t make any sort of sense.

“I’m – what?” Kibum asked, more confused than ever.

“To open the jar of Pandora, a great force in the form of a tragedy is needed, as the jar holds all that is bad and should never be released,” Taemin said.

Kibum blinked at him, still not seeing the point.

“And one such tragedy is me… leaving this realm?” he asked.

Taemin hesitated, averting his eyes.

“One of the greatest tragedies in the universe is the broken heart of a god,” he said so softly Kibum barely caught the words.

His jaw fell open.

“Me?!” he asked incredulously. “The human you fell in love with is me? I don’t even– When?! How?! Why?!”

Taemin gave him one of those blank looks he was so great at and Kibum tried to compose himself enough to string together a sentence that wasn’t incredulous outbursts.

“I just don’t see…” he took a deep breath. “I don’t see how this is even possible. We didn’t meet until recently.”

Guilt flickered across Taemin's face.

“It is no surprise you cannot recognise me in this form,” he muttered. “I spent some time on earth to escape this realm a few years ago. Do you by chance remember a book vendor by the name of Olympus?”

Kibum frowned and thought back, searching through his memories. He’d been to many bookstores and he usually didn’t pay attention to their names.

Then he suddenly recalled a small shop he’d been to three years ago, books piled like skyscrapers from floor to ceiling instead of properly placed in bookcases. There had been a man there – a little older than Taemin, who actually looked the same age as Kibum, maybe younger? Kibum had accidentally bumped into him while trying to step around a dangerously crooked pile of books and the man in turn had crashed right into a book-scraper. They had both profusely apologised to each other and the owner and then helped stacking the books back up, making small talk the entire time. The man had been extremely knowledgeable in Greek mythology, which had impressed Kibum greatly, and he had found himself hanging onto every word falling from his lips.

Figures that man had actually been a Greek god of all things.

“The man I knocked over was you?” Kibum gasped and Taemin nodded.

“I watched you for a few days,” he mumbled, looking embarrassed. “You were quite interesting, wise for someone so young.”

Kibum opened and closed his mouth a few times, at a loss for words. How in the world had he ended up the love interest of a god? What were the chances?

Then another problem hit him and he stilled, breath caught in his lungs.

How would he ever find it in himself to leave the realm of the un-dead now, when he knew what it would entail? He didn’t think he could live with the knowledge of essentially killing someone, be it a god or anyone else, much less an entire realm of beings.

So, where did that leave him then?

A/N: Hi! Part two of this little interlude :) As always, nothing's proofread (this should really be a disclaimer in the foreword of all my stories, haha) but I'm too tired and I should actually have studied, but I felt like writing this chapter instead xD

I hope you like it!

Love, love, love <3

Bye~!