Jongin found himself traveling that overgrown road again. He was headed for the cursed estate once more, only now with different company.

Taemin was silent for most of the journey. He was very determined about what he had decided to do, but Jongin could tell that beneath all that determination, he was afraid. And how could he not be? There was no guarantee that curse wouldn't grab hold of him again the moment he stepped through the gate.

"You know my father is probably going to come after us the second he realizes we're gone," Jongin pointed out.

Taemin only shrugged. He wasn't as wary of his father. Then again, he didn't grow up with him. He didn't know just how overbearing the man could be.

The sun was just starting to brighten the cloudy sky when Taemin's estate came into view. The trek through the over-grown shrubs was difficult, so by the time they reached the opening in the gate, the sun was visible over the horizon. Jongin was glad too. He didn't like the thought of going back in there in the dark.

The sunlight didn't seem to help Taemin though. For a moment, his friend just stood before the gate, staring inward. He could tell the young man wasn't as confident about their mission as he pretended to be.

"Hey," Jongin said softly, touching his arm to offer him some strength. "I'm here with you."

Taemin acknowledged his statement with a nod. He took a deep breath and gathered his courage, before stepping into his home.

As Jongin hoped, nothing happened when they stepped onto the property. Everything remained still and quiet in that cursed place. Everyone was just as unconscious as they had been before.

Taemin surveyed the property and was saddened by its condition. He took a moment to let it all sink in, before gathering his determination again and heading for the main house. Jongin followed at his side.

They entered the door that had been left open and were greeted by the same sight as before - sleeping servants covered in thorns. The only difference that time was that the plants didn't draw away from Jongin. They remained stationary as he stepped through them. Even as he drew his sword to hack away at some which stood in their way, they remained lifeless.

Jongin hadn't thoroughly explored the mansion before. He had only followed the path that led up to Taemin's sleeping place, but that wasn't where the young master was leading him that day.

He took him to a grand bedroom and cut through the over-grown vines so they could step inside. Jongin was faced with elegant furnishings, beautiful tapestries, and a library fit for an entire village. Despite the condition of the house, there was still a pleasant fragrance in the air - one that was distinctly feminine. Jongin had an idea of what room they were in long before Taemin confirmed it.

"This was my mother's bedroom," he said sullenly, as he ran his hand over the wardrobe and went through his memories of her. He walked the expanse of the room, before he stopped in front of one of the bookshelves in particular. He suddenly put aside his feelings and memories in order to deal with his current predicament.

"Here," he said as he grabbed one of the leather bound books sitting on the shelf. He handed it to Jongin as he approached.

"What is it?" He flipped through the pages briefly and noted the delicate script that covered the paper.

"These are my mother's journals," Taemin explained, "I think if I'm going to find any answers, it'll be here."

"Where do we even start?" he asked, overwhelmed by the volume before them.

"As early as we can. What date is that one?"

"It doesn't say," Jongin answered as he looked for any indication on the front or back or corners of the pages. He decided to stop and read a few of the sentences in the middle of the book, "'Taemin is worrying me again. I don't know where that boy gets his curiosity from. I don't know why he thought it was a good idea to stick his hand in that hole in the kitchen. A spider bit him and it doesn't look good.'"

Taemin could only laugh when he finished reading it. "I remember that. I was eight."

Jongin skipped ahead a few pages. "'Daevy left me here alone again. He went to Wastelands in hopes of finding some trace of Jonghyun. That man has been missing for so long, I'm starting to fear that we'll never find him. Minho said he's still alive, because as his brother and as a mage, he would feel if it was otherwise, but I still can't help wondering. I can't help wondering if he's dead. And if he isn't, what happened to him? What did Kibum do to him?'"

Taemin lifted his head at the mention of his enemy's name.

"It seems Kibum had quarrels with other people besides you," Jongin commented.

Taemin closed the journal he held and exchanged it for another. Jongin also set his aside and pulled one from the lower levels on the shelf, from the set he thought looked older than the rest. He opened the worn pages and skimmed through the neatly written text.

"'I still don't believe it. I still don't know if I should even tell Daevy. What if I'm mistaken? What if I'm not really pregnant?'" He skimmed ahead again. "'Minho acts like he's ignorant, but I know he had something to do with this. We had been trying for so long, I was starting to give up on having a child, and then the moment I confide in him, I get pregnant? Seems like too much of a coincidence to me. But I know Minho will never admit he had anything to do with it. And he doesn't need to. I know the truth.'"

Jongin smiled. "Minho has been with your family a long time, hasn't he?"

"He's been with me my whole life," Taemin said, "Like an obnoxious uncle."

"From these journals, it sounds like you wouldn't even be here without him."

"I'm getting that impression," he concurred absently, with his attention more focused on looking for his answers.

Jongin picked the next journal in the sequence, hoping that they were in chronological order and hoping that one covered Taemin's time as an infant, when the whole problem began. Taemin seemed to have that idea too, and started pulling the journals from the bottom shelf to look through. He opened one and smiled when he read it.

"'Victoria gave birth today to a beautiful baby boy. I'll be honest, I was hoping she would have a girl, but I am glad that Taemin will have someone to protect him. That is the most important thing to me.'"

Jongin couldn't help smiling, too. It was so strange reading all those accounts. It was like taking a glimpse into the past, into what their lives had been before they could remember them.

Jongin opened the other journal he held and his mood dropped when he found just what he had been looking for - the journal entry from that fateful day. "'I'm so afraid,'" he read, "'I don't know what to do. Kibum came to the party today. I knew I shouldn't have let Daevy invite him, but I believed him when he said everything would be alright. I believed him. But Kibum cursed our son! The brothers did their best to counteract the curse, but I'm still so scared. What if it's not enough? What if my dear son is taken away from me? Why him? Why did Kibum have to curse my son? Does he hate me that much? He's just a baby. Why?'"

Jongin lowered the journal and turned to Taemin. It seemed reading that entry had depressed him too. "I guess not even your mother knew why you were cursed," he said.

"What else does it say?"

Jongin turned back to the writings. '"Jinki was able to use Victoria's child to counteract the curse. He said that by simply blessing the child to love Taemin, it would be enough to save him. I hope he's right. I really hope he's right.'"

Jongin paused his reading. He had been blessed to love Taemin. What an odd gift to bestow on a child.

Taemin took the book from him so he could read the rest himself. Jongin looked back to the shelf, but he realized there weren't many journals that were earlier than that one. "I have a feeling we're not going to find out why Kibum cursed you by looking through these journals. It seems to me that he's been fighting with your family before you were even born. Maybe you were just a way for Kibum to get to your parents."

"I'd still like to know why."

"Will that help us free these people?"

"I don't know, but right now it's all we have. We need to keep looking for answers, if not about why I was cursed, then about anything. About Kibum, about his magic, and about where we might be able to find him."

Jongin paused, surprised, "Do we want to find him?"

"You may not, but I do," Taemin answered sternly, "I want to make him pay for robbing me of six years of my life. My life and all of theirs."

He could have argued with him about how foolish such an idea was, but he refrained. "How about we just focus on trying to find a way to break the curse? We can worry about revenge after that."

Taemin didn't answer. He stared at him for a moment, before also deciding that the subject wasn't worth arguing over. He turned his attention back to the journal, and Jongin had nothing else to do but follow his example.

A few hours of reading through the journals had left Jongin mentally exhausted. Taemin was still going through them when he decided he needed a break. Jongin wandered around the late mother's bedroom for a few minutes, before inevitably finding himself back out in the hallway. He examined the large mansion that had once been beautiful and busy. Now it was nothing but a dull tomb.

He kept his studious friend within view, even as he walked a little further. He happened upon one of the servants who had fallen asleep right in the middle of the hallway. There was a tray and an empty tea pot on the floor beside her, which she no doubt dropped when the curse took her over. She, like the rest of the estate, was silent and serene. Jongin only prayed her dreams were as peaceful as they looked to be.

Curious, and thinking that he had nothing to lose, he stooped down and kissed her. It was just as awkward as when he had kissed Taemin, only that time, there was no response. Unlike Taemin, she remained fast asleep.

So Minho had been right. His blessing was entwined with Taemin alone. If they were going to wake those people, they needed to find a different way to do it.

“I'm surprised no one has come after us yet," Jongin said thoughtfully as he stared out the bedroom window, looking in the direction of the over-grown road. It was well into the afternoon now, and his father had had plenty of time to realize they were missing and mount a travel party. At the very least, he assumed Kyungsoo and Naeun would attempt to follow him. But no one came.

It was very strange.

Taemin didn't reply to his statement. He sat on the couch, fully engrossed in his mother's journal. Jongin left the window to join him, grabbing his bag of supplies on the way. When he sat down beside him, Taemin finally pulled his attention away from his reading.

Jongin reached into his bag and retrieved the small cakes he had taken from the kitchen before their departure. Taemin's eyes lit up when he saw the food, as if he had forgotten he needed to eat and just realized how hungry he was. He thanked him and immediately started eating, though his attention inevitably went back to the journals.

"You know," he began over a mouthful, "Throughout the years my mother did mention Kibum. Mostly in passing and mostly when my father was away traveling. A few times she's mentioned that he went to Wastelands. I wonder if Kibum lives there."

An evil mage living in the Wastelands. It was a little cliché, but at that point, Jongin didn't know what to think of anything. Maybe mages hanging out in the desolate wastelands was completely normal.

"Maybe we should go see if we can find him."

"You can't be serious," Jongin said in disbelief, "You can't possibly want to go to the Wastelands."

"Why not? We could find Kibum."

"Exactly!" he said, getting into the argument he had avoided earlier, "He's a mage. And even if he weren't, it's dangerous going into the Wastelands no matter what. We'd never make it out of that place alive, with all those wild creatures running around."

"I've been trained to fight. Haven't you?"

"Yeah, but I still don't think that'll be enough. Everyone knows that place is a death sentence."

"But the key to freeing my family could be there," Taemin argued.

"It could also be here. It could be me. It could be you. We don't know. We can't just go running off into dangerous territory. If we get killed, then what? Then who's going to wake these people?"

Taemin started to say something, but Jongin cut him off.

"And don't say anything about me being afraid! This isn't about fear. It's about logic."

"Well then what do you suggest we do?" Taemin asked, frustrated and desperate, "There's only so much we can accomplish here. I think the only thing useful we learned is that Kibum hated my parents, Minho helped my mother conceive, and you're supposed to love and protect me. That's not much to go on."

"But it's a start," he said optimistically, "We're doing something. It may not seem like much, but it's something."

"I want it to be more."

Jongin leaned in a little closer in order to capture his full focus. "It will be. We'll find our answers. Don't lose hope."

Taemin looked like he wanted to argue, or that his pessimistic attitude was telling him to, but he stopped himself. He let Jongin's words sink in and considered them. "How can you be so certain that everything will be alright?" he eventually asked.

"Because it has so far," Jongin explained, "You woke up, didn't you? We're here and you're still awake. And we're finding some answers. We'll find a way to break this thing. Trust me."

A storm was rumbling in the distance. Jongin could spot the clouds coming their direction. They made the waning daylight that much weaker. It would be night soon, and that estate would find itself under siege from a nasty storm. Jongin didn't want Taemin to realize it, but he was a little nervous.

He hadn't wanted to spend the night on the property. He wanted to set up camp outside the gate, like he and his friends had done before, but there was no way they could do it if a heavy storm was coming. They would be forced to stay inside, just the two of them, alone with a bunch of sleeping servants.

He still didn't understand why his father wasn't there yet. Was he that frightened of magic that he was willing to let his son face it alone? He was certain he would have followed him. He would have expected him to be there with him now. He knew he wouldn't feel so afraid if there were other awake people there with them in that house.

"Will you be okay staying here for the night?" Jongin asked his friend.

"Why wouldn't I? I've lived in this house all my life. It's my home," Taemin said as he hacked away at some of the vines that were encroaching on the hallway and the poor people trapped there. They had spent the better part of the evening trying to clear the area and move the cursed into more comfortable places.

Jongin didn't reply to his statement. He knew by Taemin's response that he was just as nervous as he was, and that he also pretended not to show it. He let his anger over the situation hide whatever vulnerabilities he struggled with at that moment.

He eventually gave up with his hacking and paused to catch his breath, still obviously frustrated over the situation. He sheathed his sword and turned back to Jongin, who began lighting a few lamps for the approaching night.

"I guess I should see what condition my bedroom is in," Taemin said.

Jongin gestured down the hall. "Lead the way."

Taemin took one of the lamps and led him down the hallway, past the many doors and sleeping occupants. The end of their walk brought them to a set of wooden doors, where Taemin paused briefly, before making his way inside.

It was a simple and appropriate bedchamber. It was also surprisingly untouched by the curse around them. There were no sleeping attendants inside. Not even the thorns had pushed past the doors into the room. It was dark and dusty, and little creepy, but it was quiet and normal.

Taemin set his lamp on the bedside table and looked over his room quickly, making sure everything was in order.

"It's hard to believe this hasn't been slept in in six years," he commented as he pulled the dusty covers from the bed and shook them out on the floor. The layer of blankets beneath it looked less worn and little more inviting.

Thunder cracked outside the window. As if keep out the storm, Jongin pulled the curtains shut. Perhaps they could also keep out the curse.

With a heavy sigh, Taemin laid down on his bed, sprawled above the covers. He seemed in deep thought, as if analyzing the feeling of the room around him and trying to determine if it was the same as before.

"We're sleeping here then?"

"It’s as good a room as any," Taemin said as he unstrapped the sword from his belt. He kept it beside him though, easily within reach if he would need it.

"It's a nice room. I like it," Jongin said to lighten the mood. He tried picturing what it would look like under normal circumstances, when his view of it wouldn't be tainted by his fear.

"I never really liked it."

"Why not?"

He shrugged as his eyes traveled over the cobwebs on the ceiling. "It was always too empty."

"What? No pretty girls to share your bed with?" Jongin teased.

He was glad he was able to make his friend smile, even for a brief moment. "The whole house always felt too empty. There was my family and the servants, but it wasn't like your place. My parents didn't throw grand parties like your dad. They spent more time trying to keep people away from me."

"Maybe they were afraid for you, because of Kibum and the curse?"

"I would have understood if they had told me. Fifteen years and not one mention of the curse. Not from my parents or Minho. Did they think that by ignoring it, they could protect me from it?"

"I don't think they ignored it. It seems to me that they tried battling it without your knowledge."

"That turned out real well."

Jongin set his lamp on the table on his side of the bed, before taking a seat beside him. He wished there was some way he could cheer him up, but he didn't think that would be possible as long as the curse remained. For a moment, the two of them just sat in silence while listening to the rain beat against the roof.

"Would you believe that after my parents died, I was actually relieved?" Taemin said, speaking while caught up in his memories and emotions of the past. "I thought I could finally live my life the way I wanted to. I wouldn't have to worry about my mother smothering me anymore. Not long after she passed, I was at the nearest village. I was making friends, I was enjoying my freedom. Until Minho found me and dragged me home. That was what we got in a fight over. That was when I told him to leave."

Jongin didn't comment on his story. He listened to it all and understood Taemin's choices, and why he made them. He himself wasn't much different. He had done the same thing by running away from home with his friends. He wanted to escape his father's grip just as much as Taemin longed to be out of his mother's. Only his parents were gone when he broke free. Jongin's father was still very much alive. And very much had a hold on him.

"I wonder if Minho had stayed what would..." Taemin began, but let his words die away.

"I wonder if we had been allowed to be friends, what would have happened," Jongin said instead.

Taemin lifted his eyes to him and smiled. "We would have had fun, I'm sure."

Jongin took to watching him as he lay there, still trapped in his thoughts, absently touching his sword.

His 'true love' as Minho had said. He still couldn't believe that mages had the power to make people love each other. He couldn't believe that a blessing said over him as child in his mother's womb could somehow guide his feelings.

That blessing must have been what drove him to Taemin in the first place. It was also probably the reason why he felt so enamored with him, and why he wanted to help him.

He wondered what other feelings that blessing affected. Perhaps that was why he could never feel a romantic connection to his fiancée. Because as far as magic was concerned, he was destined for someone else.

Maybe no one intended for them to actually be lovers, but he had a feeling that blessing had affected him in ways that were irreversible. He wondered if his mother ever considered that while agreeing to it.

Taemin noticed his prolonged staring and Jongin looked away, feeling a little awkward that he had caught him.

"I would have liked to be your friend," Taemin said, with heavy eyes and slow speech. Jongin could tell by his look that he was tired and drifting off into sleep.

"We're friends now," he replied, "That's all that matters."

"Yeah."

He knew Taemin would be asleep in a matter of minutes. While he was a little nervous, he tried to remind himself that he had the power to wake him. There was no reason for the young man to deny himself a good night's rest, even in that eerie bedroom.

Jongin rose from the bed and went back to the door. Taemin watched him close it and lock it, to keep out the curse and anything else that might be there, and to keep them safe where they were. He then took off his sword and laid it beside Taemin, before climbing into bed. It was the pretty boy's turn to share with him.

"You'll wake me in the morning, right?" Taemin asked, just to assure himself.

"Yeah. I'll be here."

A/N: Their friendship is finally progressing! And the story is about to get a lot more exciting, so stay tuned. ;-)

Comments are appreciated. <3