Whenever Yerim arrived at the house, Sooyoung always felt her presence before she actually saw the girl. It was a soft, cool vibration that gave Sooyoung a sensation of utmost relaxation. It filled her heart with joy, pulling her to the younger girl as if by some intense magnetic force.

    But this time, it was different. It wasn’t Yerim’s unique aura that informed her of her friend’s arrival. No, this time, it was a sound. A shrill, terrible sound that wrenched Sooyoung out of her slumber, sending her half-consciously stumbling to her window, peering out with fear painted on her face, like a frightened child peeking around a corner.

    From the rustling branches of the forest emerged both Seungwan and Yerim. The auburn-haired witch carried a curled up, shivering Yerim in her arms, hurrying forward with uncanny speed. Seulgi and Joohyun were rushing across the lawn to meet the pair.

    Sooyoung tried to swallow the lump in as she remembered the vivid dream she’d had: her delicate, fragile little Yerim lying broken on the grass as thousands of shards of liquid glass sprinkled down upon them. The thought alone was almost enough to make her start crying again, but she steeled herself and pushed it away. Whatever the issue was here, the setting was far too different for this to truly be the end of Yerim. Even Sooyoung’s juvenile deduction skills were able to figure that much out.

    So why was Yerim crying? Had she had another breakdown regarding her fate? If so, why had she gone to Seungwan? Despite herself, Sooyoung was hurt that Yerim hadn’t come to her first, a hurt compounded by the fact that the blonde was now cradled within Seungwan’s arms.

    Outside, the four girls met halfway across the lawn. Up above, the sky had taken on a grey, semi-reddish hue, as if there was a massive lightning storm approaching. Sooyoung frowned. The sky never changed on its own. She wondered who had made it such a forebodingly beautiful color. Regardless, she had to figure out what was going on.

    Sooyoung was always hesitant to use her magic for things; frankly, anything beyond casually changing hair color or the like was scary to her. She was afraid of the capabilities she’d been gifted, and as a result, she rarely stretched them far beyond her comfort zone. But this was a special circumstance.

    The witch blinked. There was a brief half-second where she felt as though she were floating (which she technically was, through space and time) and then her bare feet were planted in the grass, her vision swirling into focus as she found herself inches in front of Seungwan and Yerim.

    Seungwan took a step back in surprise as the taller girl appeared between her and Joohyun, stopping mid-sentence and turning her body away. Sooyoung didn’t care. She was only concerned about one thing.

    “Give her to me!” Sooyoung demanded, holding out her arms.

    Seungwan relented immediately, still in awe from Sooyoung’s sudden appearance, likely because the younger girl so rarely utilized such complex spells. Sooyoung took Yerim into her arms. The blonde was light as a feather, tensed up so that she hid herself from the world as much as possible, whimpering pathetically. The witch nuzzled her face in to get a better look. Yerim’s eyes were shut tight, with tiny tears leaking from beneath them, her entire body trembling as she cried.

    “What happened to you?” Sooyoung whispered, pressing her forehead to Yerim’s.

    “She couldn’t get past the barrier,” Seungwan answered, causing Sooyoung’s head to dart up, her eyes widening.

    “What?”

    “I-I guess she stayed here too long…” from the looks of it, Seungwan was almost as in shock as Yerim was, “And now…”

    “She’s one of us.” Sooyoung finished.

    Truthfully, she had no idea how to feel. She knew that Yerim had a mother, and three little sisters, and a best friend, all who she would miss dearly. She knew that the circle was more of a prison than a home, with bars made of wood and grass rather than steel and concrete. She knew that there was more to life, much more, than sitting in a magical mansion and waiting for playmates to come to her.

    But she also knew that the outside was a scary place. The horrors of the world beyond the circle were, in many ways, worse than the things she would experience here. She’d seen it, felt it, firsthand. At least here, she was invincible, free to live in safety with the knowledge that no one could ever hurt her like that again. Free to do all the things she liked to as a child, to live out the most sweet and satisfying part of her life over and over and over again, to lose herself in the bliss of permanent immaturity.

Using that logic as a base, shouldn’t she be happy that Yerim was here with them? That Yerim had become a witch too, and would spend the rest of eternity here, safe and sound and unable to die like in Sooyoung’s dream?

    If that were the case, then why did Sooyoung feel so bad? Why did she want to do everything she could to try and release Yerim from the magical shackles that had been placed on her? Why was she so willing to part with someone who meant so much to her? The sentiments she held for the girl before her were so novel and pure. They filled her with life, illuminating her existence like a thousand tiny lightning bugs. Shouldn’t she want to keep Yerim forever? Shouldn’t she want to cherish and love and lose herself in the blonde in every way possible?

    “How long?” Seulgi suddenly stepped up, placing a rough hand on Sooyoung’s shoulder as she scrutinized Yerim.

    “How long what?” Sooyoung asked, pulling Yerim away slightly, shielding her from Seulgi’s intense gaze.

    “How long has she been a witch for?” Seulgi’s voice urgent. Clearly, she knew something that Sooyoung didn’t.

    “Not sure. But it couldn’t have been that long… she probably doesn’t even have powers yet.” Seungwan answered, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

    Seulgi turned to Joohyun. Sooyoung stared at the couple: the shorter woman had a scowl on her face, one that spoke of apprehension and fear. The taller looked as if she was ready to sprint away, her pupils quivering in excitement and jitteriness.

    What was going on here?

    “Then she can still do it. We just need to act fast-”

    “Absolutely not!” Joohyun yelled.

    Sooyoung instinctively took a step back, allowing Seungwan to take her place. Yerim whined and covered her ears, so Sooyoung kissed her on the temple in an attempt to quiet her.

    “Joohyun…” Seungwan cut in awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and avoiding eye contact, “This may be the only chance she has of leaving. I think we should suggest it to her, if nothing else.”

    “Suggest what?” Sooyoung inquired, head darting back and forth as she looked at each of the other witches in turn.

    “Do we even have time to explain it all to her?” Seulgi was practically jumping up and down now, “We need to get this in motion as soon as possible.”

    “But the danger-” Joohyun seemed as though she were close to tears at this point.

    “That’s something she should decide on her own, Hyun,” Seulgi said, taking both of her lover’s hands, “We can give her a brief, expedited version of what this entails, and see if she’s open to it.”

    “‘A brief, expedited version’?!” Joohyun threw Seulgi’s hands away, stomping on the grass and creating a massive thunderclap.

    Under normal circumstances, Sooyoung would be cowering behind Seungwan, allowing the shorter girl to handle Seulgi and Joohyun’s fight as she fought off her terror. However, this time, Yerim was at stake. She had already let her friend down once before. She wouldn’t allow that to happen again.

    “HEY!” Sooyoung half-screamed, causing all three girls to turn to her in disbelief, “Stop it. You’re scaring Yeri.”

    Joohyun blinked, glancing down at the sniffling blonde, who was now shaking harder than ever. The senior witch then took a deep breath, composing herself before she continued speaking:

    “I won’t allow you to drag her into your selfish scheme, Seulgi. She’s just a child… what if she gets hurt? Or worse? I would never forgive myself, or you.”

    “But you know she doesn’t want to be trapped here,” Seulgi hissed, “She wants to get out. Just as badly as we all do, if not more. What’s the issue if we all get what we want?”

    “The issue is that it’s extremely dangerous, and that she has almost no chance of making it out alive. Even if she does manage to break the barrier, we have no idea what will happen to her next. Will she be transported here with us? Or thrown into the darkness of another world, with no one to help her?”

    “Well,” Seungwan interjected, raising both arms in an attempt to keep Seulgi and Joohyun away from each other, “Then maybe we should explain it to her. Sooner rather than later, of course. Then, we let her decide.”

“What’s happening, guys?” Sooyoung repeated her question.

After her previous outburst, it seemed as though the other three girls were more willing to listen to her, as they addressed her immediately this time around.

“We’ll explain it all to you when we explain it to Yerim,” Seungwan said, “Which needs to be soon, if we’re actually gonna go through with the plan.”

Although Sooyoung knew that the answer provided wasn’t nearly enough, she was satisfied to hear that she would at least know the truth soon.

“I can’t believe you support this!” Joohyun threw her arms up, as if in defeat, her tone both angry and betrayed.

“I don’t, for the record,” Seungwan said evenly, “I support the fact that Yeri can do whatever she wants in this situation, and she deserves to know everything. Just like she deserved to know everything from the start.”

“It’s a good plan,” Seulgi said, sounding much happier about the recent turn of events than she should be.

Joohyun bit her lip, arms crossed over her chest, posture withdrawn and tense like a cornered animal.

“Fine, it, fine,” Joohyun’s use of such a strong expletive nearly caused Sooyoung to gasp in surprise, “We’ll explain it to her. We’ll tell her as much as we can. But just know this.”

Joohyun moved up so that she was inches from both Seungwan and Seulgi’s faces, a reprimanding finger pointed at both of them.

“If she goes and doesn’t make it back in one piece, you’re both going to pay.”

Sooyoung swallowed as a chill crawled up her spine. This was the most menacing she’d seen Joohyun in a long time. Since the night she’d killed the man chasing Yerim, in fact.

“Then we have a deal,” Seulgi said without hesitation, striding around Joohyun with the air of someone who’d just won a great battle, “Let’s meet in the kitchen. So if she does decide to go, there won’t be any delay.”

Seulgi sauntered away back to the house, tracked by three pairs of eyes: one weary, one furious, one concerned. Joohyun followed shortly thereafter, seemingly waiting for the sole purpose of not having to walk beside Seulgi. It hurt Sooyoung’s heart to see Joohyun and Seulgi fighting like this. They were usually such a loving couple.

“Hey, Yerimmie,” Sooyoung murmured, glancing down at her forlorn friend, “Did you hear all that? We’re gonna go to the kitchen, okay?”

Yerim nodded, her face still tucked into the muscle of Sooyoung’s shoulder. The taller girl glanced up to see that Seungwan was staring at Yerim with a soft expression, one that she rarely ever displayed. Jealousy at Sooyoung again like a dancing flame as Seungwan came forward, leaning in close in order to speak directly to Yerim.

“Seulgi can probably use a spell to calm you down. Are you okay with that? We need you to have a clear head for all the stuff we’re about to relay to you.”

    Seungwan’s voice was sickeningly coddling, and Sooyoung found that she almost hated the high-pitched, gentle tone it conveyed.

    “Okay…” Yerim spoke her first words of the conversation, peering up at Seungwan and smiling weakly.

    Those same flames bit at Sooyoung, hotter this time, fueling a quick shot of anger that burst through her veins.

    “Alright,” Sooyoung said, inadvertently raising her voice, causing the other two girls to snap to attention, “Let’s go inside. Like Seul said, we don’t have much time.”

    Seungwan nodded seriously, reverting back to her stoic self as she backed away. She remained in place, waiting for Sooyoung to lead the way.

    She’s probably afraid I’m going to drop her.

    Sooyoung hurried into the home, crossing the lawn with long, powerful strides, holding Yerim close and ignoring looks Seungwan kept giving them.

    The taller girl was, mentally, elsewhere. She was rehashing every event that had occurred since Yerim had arrived at the house. All of the times she’d lost control of herself, or been too overwhelmed to help. All of the times she’d been too scared to do something that would help the angel that she carried in her arms. Within her, something was changing. An invigoration that sparked and sputtered at the very core of her being. She couldn’t be scared anymore. Whatever came next, regardless of how much she feared it, how much she dreaded having to deal with it, she had to face it head on. She had to brace herself and jump directly into the fray, confront the issue rather than running away or hiding behind someone else, as she’d done countless times before. Because she was no longer simply living for herself anymore.

    She was going to be strong. She was going to brave. She was going to do what she had to do.

    For Yerim.

***

    Yerim was pulled out of her pseudo-catatonic state by a rush of what can only be described as fresh, spring air pumping through her veins. It erased the thick mental fog that came with the realization that she was trapped, allowing her to think clearly. Yes, she was still acutely aware of the consequences of being transformed into an imprisoned spellcaster, and while they did cause her some distress, she was much more able to grasp this concept, to work it out in her head rather than allowing it to dominate her. In short, she’d been gifted with some sort of temporary emotional resilience.

    The first thing she noticed was that most of her limbs were dangling freely, which was enough to jolt her into alertness, attempting to sit up in the odd, cradle-like hold she was held in. As she did, her head bumped against something as solid as a rock, sending her comically crashing back down to her original position, even more disoriented than she previously has been.

    “Yerimmie, it’s okay!” Sooyoung’s voice called from close by, “You’re safe! I have you.”

    At the smooth sound of Sooyoung’s voice, Yerim relaxed, properly getting her bearings despite the throbbing ache on her forehead.

    She was being supported by Sooyoung’s arms, with Joohyun and Seungwan to either side of her. Seulgi stood behind them, rubbing her forehead with both hands.

    “Sorry Seulgi,” Yerim said with a grin, “Thanks for snapping me out of that.”

    “No problem,” Seulgi said, smiling through gritted teeth.

    Yerim noted that Joohyun seemed to be ignoring Seulgi entirely, instead looking the blonde up and down with a tunnel-vision-like concern that was immense and infectious.

    “Yerim…” Seungwan said carefully, “Do you remember what happened before?”

    “Yep, pretty much,” the blonde replied, “I’m a witch now, right? When do I start learning magic tricks?”

    Yerim’s joke fell almost completely flat: Joohyun looked even more worried, Seungwan closed her eyes and shook her head, and Seulgi ignored it in favor of nursing her reddened temple. Sooyoung at least let out a small laugh, likely just to break the awkwardness.

    “You can probably put her down now, Sooyoung,” Seungwan said, and Yerim couldn’t help but agree. This was by no means a comfortable position.

    “But I like holding Yerim!” Sooyoung said indignantly, seeming more annoyed than she really should be at such an innocent suggestion, “She’s like my little baby!”

    Sooyoung punctuated her sentence with a long kiss on the crown of Yerim’s head. The blonde couldn’t help but enjoy it, though she tried not to display this.

    “That’s fine, but I’m sure she doesn’t want to be hanging from your arms during this whole conversation.” Joohyun cut in before Seungwan could speak.

    “Fine…” Sooyoung grumbled, carefully lowering Yerim to the ground.

    When the shorter girl was safely back on her own two feet, Sooyoung wrapped both arms around her waist from behind, pressing their bodies together and slouching over Yerim so that her chin rested at the top of the blonde’s head.

    “Someone’s feeling intimate,” Yerim remarked, snuggling back into the softness of Sooyoung’s chest.

    “Anyway,” Seungwan said, taking Seulgi by the arm and pulling her over, “We have a lot of things to explain to you, Yerim. All of us. It’s something that we should have told you awhile back, but some of us didn’t agree with that. I want to preface it with the fact that you’re completely free to say no, and that none of us will hold ill will against you for it.”

    “And,” Joohyun said loudly, stepping in front of Seungwan, “I highly recommend you say no.”

    “Uh… okay,” Yerim could feel another bout of anxiety creeping up on her, but she focused on the situation at hand. She’d reserve her judgements for after everything had been explained.

    “So,” Seulgi said, nudging Joohyun out of the way, “We know of a way to get you out of the barrier.”

    Yerim’s heart leapt into , her eyes widening as she was shocked in to speechlessness. A million questions bombarded her: Why hadn’t they done this before? What did it exactly entail? Why did they all seem so solemn about it (barring Sooyoung)?

    “But it’s very dangerous. Nearly impossible. You’d probably be-”

    “Joohyun, shush,” Seungwan interrupted, “This is already confusing enough as it is. How about I tell the story from the beginning, and you guys give your arguments after. Sound okay?”

    Both girls nodded obediently, though neither seemed particularly thrilled about this arrangement.

    “So, even since before you arrived here, Joohyun, Seulgi and I have been working on a way to break the barrier around the house,” Seungwan began, “It’s been mostly a futile effort. The only things we really were able to ascertain were that the barrier around the house, and everything within it, were part of the same ‘entity’. Not a sentient being like you or I, but something from another dimension, with a completely different concept of reality and existence than we have. An anomaly, essentially. We’re not sure what it’s purpose is, why it chose us specifically to be in here, or what it even does, but we know it exists. We’ve tried multiple times to communicate with it, but it either never understood, or chose not to answer. So we kept working. The details of what we did are… complex. Kinds of magic that are barely within our own comprehension. It took a lot out of us. We worked tirelessly, searching for answers, until we came to the ultimate conclusion that the house’s main source of energy comes from down there.”

    Seungwan paused, turning and pointing to the boarded-covered trap door in the corner of the kitchen. Yerim felt Sooyoung bristle against her.

    “No!” the taller girl half-yelled, “No! Yerimmie can’t go down there, she can’t, it’s too-”

    “Sooyoungie,” Yerim turned her head and looked up, planting a kiss on Sooyoung’s collarbone, “It’s okay. Let Seungwan tell the story.”

    “O-okay…”

    “Now, the basement is, admittedly, a pretty terrible place,” Seungwan continued as if Sooyoung’s outburst hadn’t occurred, “It’s a converging point for several dimensions… a kind of inter-spacial ‘junkyard’. Down there, magical beings from this dimension aren’t able to get through, so we used corporeal projections of ourselves in order to see what was down there. There are horrible things down there, all of which are pretty much harmless against our images. When you travel in the basement, the deeper you get inside, the worse things get. However, at a certain point, there is a door. A door that, no matter what we try, cannot be opened. Not by force, not by key, nothing. There’s not even a lock. Just a regular doorknob that refuses to turn. It was at this point that Seulgi and Joohyun took over the brunt of the work down there. I personally thought it was useless, that there was no point in wasting our efforts in trying to open this door. We spent an immeasurable amount of time trying, with absolutely no headway. I thought it was impossible. Turns out, I was wrong. While Seulgi and Joohyun weren’t able to open the door, they were able to assess its properties enough to understand that the reason we couldn’t pass the door was simple: we were witches. Magical beings, projections or not, could not open it.”

There was another pause then, one in which a bubbling silence brewed. Yerim’s full attention remained fixed on Seungwan, her heart racing, her brain working relentlessly as it processed this information.

“That’s where you come in,” Seulgi spoke up, “You, having no magical abilities whatsoever, should in theory be able to open it up. And once you’re inside, you can either negotiate with the being to let us out, or…”

“Or somehow incapacitate it.” Seungwan finished, her expression grave.

“Incapacitate it?” Yerim said incredulously, “How am I supposed to do that? Isn’t this thing some ancient monster? If it has you guys trapped, how do you expect me to even put a scratch on it?”

“Because our research didn’t stop there,” Seulgi said with a grin, “Because we tried harder and harder to figure things out, to fully comprehend the entire situation. If we were gonna send you - or any other human, for that matter - in there, we’d need to make sure that you could succeed. If it was a suicide mission with no hope of victory, there’d be no point.”

Joohyun’s head whipped around and an accusatory glare burned at Seulgi. The older girl remained silent, however.

“We were able to figure out that whatever is in there is fragile. It’s the reason there are so many monsters in the basement, and why there’s a magic-blocking door around it. We don’t know exactly what’s in there, but we assume it can be broken by conventional means. Non-magical means.”

“So… let’s just say I happen to kill this monster,” Yerim spoke slowly, the words rolling out of her with little thought, “What happens next? The barrier falls?”

Joohyun’s expression somehow became darker, her fists trembling with contained rage as she stared daggers at her significant other. Seungwan appeared speechless, sad, and tired all at the same time. Sooyoung remained silent and still. Seulgi shook her head vigorously.

“Well, we’re not sure. Maybe that’ll happen. Maybe the entire house will collapse. Maybe we’ll all turn to dust. Maybe the whole world will turn to dust,” Seulgi honed in on Yerim now, her monolidded eyes growing frantic, as if she were possessed by some unstoppable force coursing through her veins, “But the fact of the matter is, it’s your - no, our - only way out of here. And we need to do soon, while you still don’t have powers. Because once you can do magic, you won’t be able to get through that door.”

“Yerim,” Joohyun said desperately, half-shoving Seulgi aside, snatching the blonde out of Sooyoung’s hold and embracing her, “You can’t do this. You can’t. I can’t let anything happen to you. You’re like a daughter to me.”

Joohyun rocked the younger girl back and forth, sniffling childishly as she did so. It seemed as though the hug was more for Joohyun’s comfort than Yerim’s.

“You do whatever you choose, Yerim,” Seungwan said from over Joohyun’s shoulder, “I’ll support you either way.”

The auburn-haired witch attempted to muster a reassuring grin, but she merely appeared as though she were fighting back a scowl.

Yerim unconsciously s her way out of Joohyun grip, turning her body around so that she faced the final member of the witches coven: the member whose opinion perhaps mattered the most to her, Sooyoung.

The taller, baby-faced girl stood with her arms wrapped around her torso, pupils shifting between each individual in the room. Her gaze finally settled on Yerim, locking their similarly-hued irises in an intense hold that neither of them could break. To Yerim, it felt as though every sentiment that Sooyoung was experiencing at the time - melancholy, confusion, frustration, some odd sense of decisiveness - were flowing into her. Rather than dominating her own emotions, they instead helped to assuage the fears that Yerim had conjured in her own head. The loneliness, the sensation that she was doing this all by herself with no support, left. The camaraderie alone of sharing such intimate feelings with someone was enough to soothe her.

“What do you think, Sooyoung?” Yerim’s tone became a whisper as she motionlessly regarded her partner.

    “I think… I think that I love you, Yerim. I love you with all of my heart. And that to see you in danger, or to even imagine that you’re in danger, destroys me on the inside. The idea that you could stay alive forever and play with me and be mine for the rest of eternity is the greatest thing to me. I never want you to leave me. If you’re here, you’ll never die.”

    The room was starkly silent. Not even the sound of a breath could be heard.

    “But you wouldn’t be happy with that, will you? I know you by now. You won’t abandon your family, your friends… you’re too kind. You’ll fight to get back to them, because you know it’s the right thing to do.”

    Tears rolled down both girls’ cheeks, almost entirely in tandem, like twinkling dew drops on a summer morning.

    “And there’s no part of me that can tell you to stay. Because I love you, Yerim. Even if it means letting you put yourself in danger, I have to support what makes you happy. What you want to do. So go. Do what you think is right. Just know that I’ll be rooting for you the whole way, and that you’re never alone in this. And should a time come where I can help you, that I can support you physically rather than just emotionally, I’ll be right there by your side, giving you everything I have. Now that I’ve met you, I don’t think I can live without you. Life would be far too dull.”

    Yerim was on top of Sooyoung before she’d uttered her final syllable. To the blonde, nothing else mattered anymore. Nothing mattered at all in the world besides her and the amazing, beautiful, caring, kind, sweet, youthful woman in her arms, the woman who could be playing dress-up one minute and reciting poetry the next, the woman who’d been through such hardship yet retained her innocence and character, the woman who truly supported Yerim with every ounce of her being.

    Their lips met as they cried, holding one another so tightly that it hurt.

    “You’re forgetting one thing,” the shorter girl whispered, the side of her nose still pressed to Sooyoung’s, “I’m doing this for you, too. Because I love you, Sooyoung. I love you too.”

    Sooyoung, fully at a loss for words, was only able to make a choked noise of sadness before she was pulled in for another kiss by Yerim.

In the background, the other girls watched on, shocked into silence by the sudden outpouring between the two lovers.

---------------------------

Very dialogue-heavy, setup-centered chapter. Sorry, it had to be done. Don't worry, next one will be pretty actiony.

Only 3 chapters to go.

Thanks for reading<3