(A/N, warning: some violence in this chapter. You know, it's fantasy... some monsters are getting killed and stuff.)

(A/N: I'm sorry...)

“Cool, does anybody have an idea how to destroy this freaking thing now?”, Jooheon asked as he came to a halt right behind Hyungwon and Minhyuk, and looked up at the curse. They all had been so busy thinking about finding the curse that they hadn't spend much thought on how to actually destroy it. Only Hyungwon seemed to be prepared. He picked up one of the arrows that had missed their marks and fished a small bottle out of his pocket. Carefully he dipped the weapon into the dark red liquid that the bottle contained, trying his best to ignore the knights that were quickly closing in.

“There is a potion, that destroys curses?”, Changkyun asked in a resigned voice, “Of course there is.”

“Well, technically it's not a potion”, Hyungwon replied and blushed furiously, “If one of you can hold me up, I might get close enough to stab the curse with this.”

“Then what is it?”, Minhyuk asked, while letting Hyungwon climb onto his shoulders.

Hyungwon giggled shyly. “Well, a curse is about the most evil thing in the entire universe. So it can be destroyed by getting into contact with the purest and most innocent thing in the universe. It would be like poison for a curse.”

Changkyun nodded. “Uhu… so what exactly is that red stuff?”

“My blood”, Hyungwon mumbled, “you know… blood of a and stuff.” And with that he buried his red tinged cheeks into his hands and cringed in embarrassment, before he pushed those feelings aside and fixed his eyes on the curse again.

“Hold me up”, Hyungwon asked and began standing up on Minhyuk's shoulders.

“Okay, my little ”, the older boy teased and grabbed Hyungwon's ankles, helping him finding his balance.

“Shut up!”

Minhyuk struggled a little under Hyungwon's weight, leaning against Jooheon for support and just as they could hear the swords cut through the air right next to them, Hyungwon rammed the arrow into the curse.

The curse began pulsating more and more violently, cramping around the wound. The knights dropped their swords and bows, looking around in terror, before vanishing into thin air as the curse got paler, its colour leaking out of the wound and onto the ground.

Hyungwon climbed down from Minhyuk's shoulders and they looked at the dying curse in a mixture of fascination and alerted nervousness.

“Is that it? Is it over now?”, Kihyun asked.

“I guess so”, Changkyun said and hugged his boyfriend, “We did it.”

Minhyuk glanced at Hyungwon. “That means I can finally…”, he began but Jooheon interrupted him.

“Look…”, he said in a stutter and pointed back to the forest. The others followed his gaze and their hearts sank. Back there under the last trees leading out into the meadow, they saw Hyunwoo crouching, holding Hoseok in his arms.

“Oh no, what happened to them?”, Minhyuk said quietly and his steps picked up speed, so that he was practically flying over to the edge of the forest. The others followed just as quickly.

Hyunwoo's shoulders were shaken by sobs as he knelt on the ground and held Hoseok, still trying to somehow stop the blood from spilling out of Hoseok's chest although the younger boy was already gone.

“H… Hoseok…”, Minhyuk mumbled as he dropped to his knees next to Hyunwoo, not able to hold back his own tears at the sight of his lifeless friend.

“Hoseok, Hoseok, wake up”, Hyunwoo muttered between sobs, “Wake up, wake up, wake up, please, I am begging you. You have to wake up. You said you'd be fine, remember? You promised! Wake up! Please…”

“What happened, Hyunwoo?”, Jooheon asked in a shaking voice, carefully placing a hand on the older boy's shoulders in a poor attempt to comfort him.

It took a moment for Hyunwoo to collect himself and to be able to speak clearly. “He was, uhm, he said he would hide here and rejoin us later after we had destroyed the curse and then… then… one of the knights… he just… stabbed him. Hoseok-ah”, Hyunwoo cried again and hugged the boy's body close to his chest, hiding his tears in the crook of Hoseok's neck.

“Please, Hoseok. I love you and I never got to tell you that, so please wake up and just let me tell you. I need you.”

He kept whispering the boy's name until Hyungwon gently but urgently pulled him back.

“Hyunwoo, we have to leave”, he said in an alerted voice, his gaze flickering over the trees a little to the right, “The wolves are back.”

“Looks like they didn't give up on us as their prey but just left to get the rest of the pack”, Jooheon stated bitterly. Kihyun agreed. There were more of those creatures than there had been before.

“I guess, we have to run again. Maybe we can outrun them. At least until we reach the portal. They won't follow us to our own world, right?”, he asked and looked at Hyungwon who shook his head.

“I doubt that they would follow us. But I also doubt that we can outrun them.”

“We have to try at least”, Minhyuk said and began slowly backing away as the wolves started to approach.

Changkyun tugged at Hyunwoo's shirt, since the older boy was still on the ground holding Hoseok's body. “We have to go, hyung.”

Hyunwoo shook his head and hugged Hoseok tighter. “We can't just leave him here.”

Kihyun pulled Hyunwoo up and forced him to let go of the body. “We have to, Hyunwoo. Hoseok wouldn't have wanted you to die because you wanted to save his body. I don't like this either, but let's just go.”

Hyunwoo was still reluctant but let the younger boys pull him with them and finally began to run too, when the wolves jumped at them. He forced himself to look ahead, keeping his gaze fixed on Jooheon's back, even and especially when he heard two wolves behind him fight over their meal.

Tears were still running down his face and his mind was occupied with thoughts and memories of Hoseok. All this time he had been in love with the other boy and it had taken a trip to the damn Magic World for him to finally realize that. Was this really how everything would end? It was so frustrating and the loss of his friend and love of his life was tearing his soul apart. But they were right, Hoseok wouldn't have wanted him to die here. So he ignored the tightness in his chest and willed himself to run even faster. Yet he kept falling behind.

“Hyunwoo! Watch out”, he heard Hyungwon cry out when he finally left the forest, but it was too late. The wolf had already reached him and threw him to the ground. He didn't even try to get back up, just closed his eyes and waited for the wolf to finish what it had started but instead of sharp teeth digging into his muscles, he felt Hyungwon's strong hands around his shoulders pulling him upright again, while the others were throwing stones at the creature.

“What the hell do you think you are doing, Hyunwoo?”, Hyungwon snapped at him, completely dropping the honorifics in his anger. He turned around, pulling Hyunwoo with him.

They kept running but it really didn't matter much. Once again they found themselves surrounded by the wolves but this time without any trees nearby. Back against back the stood there facing the creatures, throwing stones at them whenever they tried to come nearer. But it was only a matter of time before they would run out of things to throw.

“Kihyun, I love you”, Changkyun murmured and stood closer to the older boy.

“Yeah I love you too”, he answered and slung an arm around Changkyun's waist. For a moment he shifted his attention from the wolves to his boyfriend and cupped his cheek softly with one hand.

“We'll get out of this alive. I promise you, babe”