The storm was loud and disruptive throughout the night. It invaded Jongin's dreams and kept him from ever falling fully asleep. He remained on the verge of awareness for many hours, trapped in restless thoughts and fearful images. And it wasn’t just the storm; his wariness of the curse would have kept him awake without it.

Eventually, all the noise became too much, and Jongin awoke completely. Only, it wasn't the noise from the storm that woke him. It was the groans coming from Taemin.

His friend was caught in dream. Or more likely, a nightmare.

"Taemin," he said groggily as he took his shoulder and shook him.

"No," the word slipped past Taemin's lips. He moved as if to dislodge his hand, but he was still asleep, still trapped in whatever dream plagued him.

"Taemin!" He sat up, now worried for him. He grabbed his shoulders and shook him harder than before. It was enough to finally wake him, and the next thing he knew, Taemin had him by the shoulders. Jongin was thrown onto his back with the elder boy on top of him and his hands around his throat, ready to strangle him before his disoriented mind took in what was happening.

"Hey! Hey!" Jongin said as he struggled to pull his hands from his neck. A few seconds later, Taemin realized what was going on. The awareness came back to his eyes as his hands unclamped from around his neck. For a second, he just sat there, trying to catch his breath and calm his racing heart.

Jongin sat up and Taemin moved off of him, trembling softly as he returned to his spot on the bed. "I'm sorry," he said, looking a little disoriented still.

"Are you alright?"

He took a moment to calm down further before he answered. "I was dreaming."

"About what?"

"I was struggling with a man and he...he was trying to bury me. It was terrifying."

He could only imagine. "It was just a dream," Jongin assured.

"I know," he said. He laid back down on his pillow and stared up at the ceiling, trying to purge the images from his mind. Jongin laid back down as well, though his tiredness was now forgotten. He just watched his friend warily as he lay there, still so clearly bothered by his nightmare. "I've had this dream before," he divulged, "I don't know what it means."

"Maybe it doesn't mean anything?" Jongin suggested. "Maybe it’s just a dream."

"If only this was all just a dream."

The thunder cracked loudly. Lightning flashed outside the window and illuminated the bedroom for a brief moment.

"Did you hear that?" Taemin asked, bolting upright again.

"The thunder?"

"No. Someone called my name," he clarified.

Jongin sat up as well, straining to listen over the sound of the rain and the wind. He heard nothing besides it; the house was as still and as silent as before. "I don't hear anything."

"I could have sworn..."

"Are you sure it wasn't just the wind?"

"No," Taemin said definitively as he grabbed his sword from the bed, "There it is again."

Still, Jongin heard nothing.

Taemin got to his feet and made his way to the door, while fastening his sword to his hip. Jongin was quick to follow after him, re-arming himself as well. "Wait a minute, Taemin."

His friend unlocked the door and opened it just enough to look through. The hall outside was empty, and in the middle of the night, very unsettling. Jongin would have preferred it if they stayed locked safe inside that bedroom until morning, but he knew that wasn't going to happen.

"I think it's Minho," Taemin said.

"I don't hear anything.”

"Come on." Without hesitating further, Taemin was out of the door.

"Taemin, wait!" he called, but his friend didn't listen. He sighed in frustration as he turned back to grab his lamp, then followed him out into the hallway. He barely caught sight of Taemin before he turned the corner, going in whatever direction he thought he heard the voice coming from. He ran to catch up with him, and luckily was able to before he got too far.

Taemin didn't pause once. He kept walking, following whatever voice he was hearing. The farther he went, the more wary Jongin became. He heard nothing but the storm outside, yet something was calling Taemin, pulling him back to the room at the top of the house, the one Jongin had found him in. And he was certain the voice calling him wasn't Minho.

"Wait!" Jongin grabbed him by the arm before he could go inside.

Taemin just stared at him like he was being irrational. "What?"

Jongin didn't know what to say, but he knew in his gut that something was wrong.

Taemin didn't pull away from him, but he reached for the door and pushed it open. It swung on its hinges, opening up to the cursed room that Taemin had fallen asleep in. Nothing had changed about the small space, except that it was occupied.

There was a man inside, sitting at the spinning wheel that had been tucked away in the corner. A man that wasn't Minho.

Surprised, Taemin took a step back. Jongin drew his sword, but the stranger in room seemed oblivious to the sound of the metal being unsheathed. His focus was on the spinning wheel as he pulled the wool through into an even thread.

Jongin had never seen the man before, and it was obvious by the look of confusion in Taemin's eyes, that neither had he.

"Took you long enough," the stranger commented casually while still focusing on his wheel. "I was beginning to think I’d be here all night."

"Who are you?" Jongin asked, raising his sword yet remaining outside the door.

The spinner finally lifted his eyes. He moved aside the long black hair as he took Jongin in, examining him critically. "What kind of a stupid question is that? Gosh, Jinki really picked a bright one." He laughed shortly as he stood from the wheel and faced them directly, maneuvering around the heavy cloak he wore. "I'm Kibum of course. I'm sure you must have heard about me. And I'm sure Taeminnie here remembers me."

Taemin unsheathed his sword, stepping past Jongin and into the room, where he faced Kibum directly. "What have you done to my house?" he demanded, "Lift this curse before I run you through!"

Kibum only laughed, apparently unafraid of his threat. "I see you have your father's temper."

"I'm not joking, you witch. Undo this!"

"Witch?" He laughed again.

"Taemin, we need to be careful," Jongin said cautiously, stepping closer to him and keeping himself aware of their surroundings. He might not have known much about magic, but he knew a mage usually had many powers - powers that could crush them.

"I'd listen to him," Kibum said, "Believe me, you don't want to test me, Taeminnie."

The use of the name only seemed to anger Taemin further. He pressed closer, putting the point of his blade to Kibum's throat, forcing him to back up to the wall. He cringed as the cold blade pressed into his skin enough to break it. "Release my family," Taemin ordered.

And Kibum's coyness all but vanished from his expression.

Movement on the floor caught Jongin's eye. The pile of thread at the foot of the spinning wheel was suddenly moving, snaking closer to the mage. "Taemin, look out!"

He turned just as the thread leaped into the air, reaching out for him. A layer several coils strong suddenly grabbed his sword arm, yanking him away from Kibum. He was pulled to the floor and struggled futilely with the thread that was now winding itself further up his body, attempting to restrain him. Panicked, he dropped his sword and grabbed at it, as it travelled closer to his neck.

Jongin was at his side in a second. He sliced at the end of the thread, severing it from the spindle. It didn’t stop it, but Jongin was able to grapple with it, managing to unravel the severed end from Taemin's arms and legs.

Taemin yanked the loosened cord from around his throat as Jongin helped him to his feet. The magic in it seemed to die as they both backed away from Kibum, who was wiping the blood from his neck.

"Don't you know what you're dealing with?" Kibum said to Taemin, calm despite his small injury, "Didn’t Minho warn you? Didn't your parents warn you about me?"

"What the hell do you want with me?” he asked, “What did I ever do to you to deserve your hate?"

"Hate? I don't hate you."

"You tried killing me! You cursed me!"

"Twenty years ago, maybe. Now I want something much more satisfying than your death, Taemin."

"What?" Jongin asked.

Kibum smiled and took in a deep breath, as if savoring the moment. "You," he answered simply.

Jongin didn't know what to make the answer, but he knew one thing: He wasn't about to let Kibum get anything he wanted. "You'll have to go through me first," he warned while standing protectively in front of his friend, pretending to be braver than he actually was. Inside, he was terrified - of the insane man and his magic.

"I fully intend to," Kibum said, extending hand toward Taemin's abandoned sword. It leaped from the ground just as the thread had done before, and landed in Kibum's hand. The mage took a threatening step toward them.

"Go," Jongin said to Taemin, pushing him back out of the room, away from the crazed mage. He followed after him, and the two of them ran from that room, back down the stairs into the hall.

"You can't run from me!" Kibum shouted as he stepped out of the room at a slower pace, "You're mine, Taemin! From the day you were born, you were mine!"

Neither of them paused to ponder what the mage meant. They ran as fast as they could down the hall and past Taemin's bedroom. They didn’t stop till they were several stories from Kibum, and were confident he hadn’t followed them.

They paused to catch their breath, while Jongin warily watched for any sign of the mage or his magic. "We need to get out of here," he said, "We need to get back home."

"We can't leave!" Taemin said, "We have Kibum right here!"

"Are you kidding? We can't fight him! We need to get out of here and find Minho. There is nothing the two of us can do against a mage!"

"But Jongin--"

"No, we're not arguing about this. We're leaving. We'll find a way to stop him, but we can't do it now, and we can't do it alone."

Taemin looked like he wanted to say more, but that he knew Jongin's logic was sound. For a brief moment, he battled what his heart wanted him to do, and what his mind knew needed to be done. "Just promise me we'll come back," he said, trembling from his grief.

"We'll come back," he assured him.

Satisfied - at least a little bit - Taemin nodded. He let Jongin grab his hand and lead him the rest of the way through the house, down the last flight of stairs and through the foyer still filled the remnants of all the thorns. He almost felt Taemin's reluctance as his own, as they pushed through the entrance of the house and stepped into the storm outside.

Immediately, they were barraged by the wind and rain. Jongin squinted through the darkness to try to see the gate from that distance, but between the nighttime and storm, he was blind. He could barely see the ground at his feet, and his lamp had been forgotten in their scuffle with the mage.

"This way!" Taemin said over the wind, now leading Jongin, as he better knew the lay-out of his home.

They made their way as fast as they could in those conditions, while Jongin still tried to stay aware of everything around them. It was all wind, rain, and darkness, but he could have sword he felt something besides Taemin tugging at his arm.

He nearly fell when something bumped into his side.

"Do you see that?" he asked, trying to catch sight of the shadow that moved in the corner of his eye. Lightning flashed, and in the momentary light, he caught sight of a figure. But it was gone just as quickly as the flash of light.

"It's over there," Taemin said, pointing in the opposite direction he had been looking.

Something besides the wind brushed over his shoulder and made his sword quiver.

Lightning flashed again, but that time, all Jongin looked for in the light was the gate. He was able to get his bearings and immediately started moving again. Despite the shadows and the wind pulling at them, they managed to reach the gate. Only now, it was closed, and the thorns that had been hacked away were once again blocking the way, creating a gate more impenetrable than the iron bars.

Jongin raised his sword and hacked at the thorns, only they didn't draw away as they had before. New, fresh vines grew to replace the ones he damaged, and within a matter of seconds, they grabbed hold of his sword. They reached for him just like they had done to Naeun before, attempting to swallow him up.

He tried to hold onto his blade, but he was inevitably forced to relinquish it to the thorns. The two of them watched as their only defense was swallowed up by the curse.

"Now what?" Taemin asked. As if he was the one to know. As if that journey was his idea. As if he was the one who had all the answers.

He pulled Taemin back from the gate, afraid it would lash out for them next. A sound other than the wind came from behind, and the two of them turned to face whatever dangers were out there for them.

Perhaps it was their eyes adjusting, or simply the mage making himself known to them, but the shadows that pursued them were more visible now. They all swirled before them, before converging into one mass in the center of the courtyard. Jongin watched in wonder as they melded together and morphed, forming into a body with arms, legs, a long neck, a massive head, teeth, claws, and wings.

A dragon stood before them.

He had been afraid before; now he was terrified. He grabbed onto Taemin's hand and he clenched his in return, as the both of them tried to draw strength from each other.

There wasn't enough strength in the world.

Jongin was frozen in place. He could only stare in shock at the large creature and its flame-filled eyes. That time, Taemin was the one to move. He pulled Jongin from his frozen state just as the creature opened its mouth and let out of a torrent of flame.

Jongin felt the heat even from several feet away. The flames collided with the thorns, but did no more to harm them than Jongin's sword had.

The two of them were running before the stream of fire ended. The dragon's attention followed them as Taemin led him to the nearest house. He burst through the door and shoved Jongin inside, before following after him and kicking the door shut.

He jumped back just as the dragon unleashed the next bout of fire on the house. Hot steam filled the room from the rain mixing with the heat, but luckily everything was too wet to catch any flame.

The both of them remained on the floor until the fire stopped. Taemin was first to move again. He grabbed Jongin's collar and pulled him to his feet, not saying anything as he led him into another room of the house, past the people who still slept unawares.

It was pitch black in there, so Jongin had no idea where they were going, but he trusted his friend enough. Taemin found a table and pushed it aside, before he went to his knees on the floor, pulling up the carpet that was there.

"Help me!" he hissed quietly.

Jongin could still hear the dragon outside, stomping on the ground and screeching. He went beside Taemin and felt along the floor with his hands, till he found Taemin’s hands, which were holding a metal latch. A little more exploring and he realized just what it was he was grasping for: a trap door.

He helped him to pull it open and they were a hit with a cool, damp draft from below.

"There's a ladder. You go first," Taemin said.

"No, you," Jongin replied.

"Jongin--"

"Go!" he said too loudly. The dragon screeched again, and he saw light and felt heat as it unleashed another stream of fire onto the house they occupied.

Taemin was smart enough not to argue with him further. He leaped down the hatch first, not even bothering with the ladder. Jongin was a little less reckless. He scrambled down the ladder and pulled the door shut above them, closing them inside the underground cellar.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated. <3