Seeing Yun Seung happy again brought weird feelings to the surface. Her smile was familiar and kind, the kind of smile the twelve mages -eleven excluding Yifan- had almost no recollection of seeing in their past. To know that they had brought the smile to her face after they had taken it away, it was an amazing feeling to all of the mages, including Kyungsoo.

It was kind of weird, since Kyungsoo had been hard on her since they first met, but now that he knew the truth about her, he treated her the way he treated Jongin. Yeah, it's kind of weird, since Kyungsoo and Jongin almost acted like they dated in the past. But with the way he was acting towards her now, well, the others didn't seem to appreciate it much.

"You treat someone wrong and you get in trouble. Treat them right and you get in trouble." Kyungsoo muttered to himself, glancing down at the pot containing their next meal. He was told to do the cooking and the remaining mages had gone off to do who knows what. Yifan, on the other hand, had simply trailed after the mage of earth with his head bowed.

That was another weird thing, the silence that Yifan created. Kyungsoo remembered when Yifan had given up his powers, and how he had been silent until Jongin forced him out of his shell. This time, however, it was completely different. Yifan's eyes were dull, and his lips hadn't even curved, either upwards into a smile or downwards into a frown. They had wanted to ask, but it seemed like Yifan had no energy to comply.

"Pass me the salt, would you?" Kyungsoo asked, lifting his head from the pot to glance at Yifan. He didn't actually need the salt, but wanted Yifan to do something, rather than sit around lifelessly.

Yifan did pass him the salt, but as Yifan began pulling his hand away, Kyungsoo gaped at him and grasped onto the taller male's wrist. Yifan's hand, the one that had been used to give his memories to Yun Seung, had turned completely blue.

"What is this, Yifan?" Kyungsoo asked in horror, the little container of salt slipping out of his hands. 

In defense, Yifan tried desperately to remove his hand from the younger male's death grip. Not only did Kyungsoo see his wound and decide to use force to deal with it, Yifan could tell Kyungsoo was about to scream.

"Don't... don't tell anyone." Yifan whispered, dropping his head in shame as Kyungsoo finally let go of his wrist. Now that he spoke, Yifan sounded absolutely exhausted.

"Don't tell anyone?! Yifan, your hand is blue. BLUE!" 

Kyungsoo turned in the direction the other mages had gone off to, his heart constricting in both fear and anger, because Yifan should have told someoen what was happening rather than let his hand turn blue without the others knowing a single thing.

"I had to do it, Soo. I had to, or she would die much sooner." Yifan choked out, and Kyungsoo whipped his head back to their second leader, his anger forgotten and replaced with surprise,

"The practice of necromancy, the lot of you might not be too experienced with it, but I am. The longer Yuna is allowed to roam this earth, the more of Yun Seung's memories she wipes away; the more of Yun Seung's life she wipes away. What I did was merely share my emotions, my memories, my remaining power with her."

"Why did you have to do it? Why not one of us?" Kyungsoo demanded, his hands clenching at his sides. Yifan knew a lot about magic since he was made of magic, but now that he didn't have powers to rely on, any sort of magic he tried to perform would be nothing short of dangerous.

"It's easier for me, since my body is made of magic. Even though I sealed my powers away, there's still the magic that runs in my veins. Any form of physical contact between me and Yun Seung would be enough. For the rest of you, though, your magic is through your lips, with the spells you chant. The only way..."

Kyungsoo wanted to demand that Yifan continue, but Yifan had dropped to the ground in exhaustion, and Kyungsoo hurried forward in order to help Yifan sit up. The tall mage let his eyes drop in exhaustion, but he pressed his fingers to Kyungsoo's lips, and before Kyungsoo could ask why, Yifan had fallen asleep in his arms.

"My lips..." Kyungsoo muttered, pulling one hand away from Yifan in order to brush it against his lips. Yifan's words were a puzzle, no doubt, and Kyungsoo turned his gaze to the now overflowing pot of their former dinner.

"Kyungsoo! Yi- Fan?" An energetic Jongdae had run over to the pair of them with the other mages following him from the distance, but when Jongdae glanced down at Yifan, his expression had grown worried.

"Yifan! What happened?" Joonmyun, having seen the unconscious Yifan from the distance, had hurried over and threw himself onto the ground

Kyungsoo immediately hid Yifan's hand within his own, forcing a smile onto his face as Chanyeol walked around them to stop the fire under the pot. Their meal wouldn't be edible by this point, but burning flames might spread if not eliminated.

"He was so tired he dozed off." Kyungsoo lied easily, and he could tell they didn't buy it. They could see his aura, after all, and he's not as good at lying as Jongdae is. 

"I'll take him to the bunk." Zitao offered, and before Kyungsoo could stop him, Zitao had gotten Yifan into his arms and with Jongin and Sehun, the trio of the youngest mages disappeared.

"Ah, the whole dinner is ruined." Baekhyun whined, grabbing a stick and using it to whack Chanyeol as if it were all the mage of fire's fault that the dinner had been ruined.

Minseok, after glancing down at Kyungsoo once more, turned to the bickering mages and then to Jongdae beside him, who watched on in amusement. Releasing a sigh, the eldest mage had caught everyone's attention,

"Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae. You three are on duty to make dinner. I'd stay to babysit, but Joonmyun and I need to head over to the bunks to help BAP and SHINee with the civilians."

"Are you sure the three of us making dinner is something you want?" Chanyeol asked, an eyebrow lifted. He himself knew that the three trouble makers would be nothing but... well, trouble.

"Kyungsoo can go with Luhan and Yixing to visit Yun Seung. Is that okay, Soo?" Joonmyun continued on as if he hadn't even heard Chanyeol, and after getting a nod of acceptance from Kyungsoo, the pair of elders left.

"Wait, are you really leaving us alone to do this?" Jongdae sputtered, and Kyungsoo ignored him, brushing dirt off himself as he trailed away with Luhan and Yixing.

"You think they'll be okay?" Luhan asked quietly, making sure they were out of hearing range before turning to glance at the trio of trouble makers.

After letting out a chuckle, Yixing leaned over and draped an arm over both Luhan's and Kyungsoo's shoulders, "I'm more worried about us, when it comes to eating their cooking."

The three mages snorted in agreement, and soon enough, they had come across Yun Seung. She wasn't alone, as there were several warriors in a field training. The mages had been asked to help with their training, as they knew how to fight them, but even the violent Jongin had decided it was best to keep away from fighting until they had a plan to attack the sorceresses.

"Zi told me that when they first met, Yun Seung couldn't even aim properly." Luhan hummed, and the three of them watched Yun Seung practice. So she wasn't as good as the elites on the other side of the field sparring against one another, but Yun Seung did well against the training dummy in front of her using Yifan's pistols.

"I still can't believe Yifan lets her use those. He would never let us even hold them." Yixing didn't sound bitter, though, and it was because Yun Seung's only chance of protecting herself without the mages around would be because of those pistols.

Kyungsoo zoned out the rest of their conversation in order to watch Yun Seung. She hadn't seen them yet, but Kyungsoo could see her perfectly, as well as the smile on her face. It was a smile that was slowly cracking, but it was a smile and it was Yifan's memories that made her smile like so. Kyungsoo wondered what Yifan's memories were like, if they caused her so much joy.

"Soo?" Yixing asked, placing a hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder. The mage of earth snapped his head in their direction for a moment, and when the other two had returned his gaze, Kyungsoo could see the fond worry in their eyes.

"We're going to head back and help the idiots with dinner. Are you coming?"

Kyungsoo merely shook his head, and the two of them left him behind so that he could continue watching Yun Seung. She had noticed him by then, her eyes following the mages as they faded away before focusing on Kyungsoo. She was still a little afraid of him, and he could tell by the way her lips twitched. When he smiled, however, her lips returned the smile, and she slowly made her way over to him.

"What brings you here?" Yun Seung asked, wiping her brow of sweat and sitting on the grass with her back pressed against the trunk of a tree.

Silently, Kyungsoo sat beside her, his eyes roaming over the remaining warriors. Some of them had glanced over to Kyungsoo and Yun Seung, but the majority were focused on their training and Kyungsoo couldn't help but admire their dedication to fight a war they had no part in.

"We were told to check on you." He finally responded, and when he turned to her, he could see that her face was slowly starting to lose the glow it had when Yifan had given her his memories. It was at least a week ago, but was her memories already starting to fade again?

"Yifan's memories... they're incredible." It was like she knew he was thinking of the memories Yifan had given her, for her hands wrapped around her waist as if to give her additional warmth,

"The freedom he felt every time he flew through the clouds, the fear he felt when he was captured here, the joy he felt when he met all of you, the love he felt when the twelve of you formed a bond, the anger he felt when you were locked away, the desperation he felt when you were separated... there's so much more, but everything he let me feel... it's starting to slip away again."

Her voice had started to crack at the end, and though Kyungsoo had felt his own heart soar at the description of Yifan's memories and emotions, he couldn't help the sympathy he felt for the girl. She didn't even know what was going on, only that because of her, Yifan had given up something important to himself and it wasn't even something that could last.

Kyungsoo turned his head to watch her, reaching forward to wipe some tears from her face. Startled, her eyes locked onto his and remained frozen there as he pulled his hand away. It wasn't expected, obviously, since Kyungsoo hadn't been too fond of her from the start, but he was being open with her and for that she was grateful.

"Yun Seung, will you allow me to kiss you? Just this once?" Kyungsoo muttered, his eyes falling to her lips. If she had been surprised by his act of kindness, she was now absolutely baffled by the way he was staring at her lips. She never said anything, though, so Kyungsoo took her silence as an agreement and pressed his lips against hers.

It was magic. With their lips pressed together, Kyungsoo transferred his memories and emotions to her, but this felt so much more intimate than it was with Yifan and Yun Seung; and for that reason, Kyungsoo was frightened. The kiss had gotten deeper with every passing moment, with Yun Seung's eagerness to have more of Kyungsoo's memories and Kyungsoo's desperation to save her. When they pulled back for air, Kyungsoo didn't feel the exhaustion that Yifan held, but he was excited to have been able to help someone who meant to much to them. 

And then she smiled again, that same smile that brought weird feelings to the surface.