A/N: Thanks everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I’m going to try and have this fic done soon, hopefully. It’s definitely close to an ending for sure. Please enjoy chapter 8

 

The boat came to a stop just before entering the cave. Yerim looked like she was going to be ill which Joohyun can never get over how the vampire can look ill in the first place. Joy was busy enjoying holding her vampire to her and telling her that everything was going to be fine. Seulgi stands up and takes a deep breath. She isn’t completely ready for this, but she might as well go on.

 

“I’ll be back.” Seulgi tells everyone before transforming into a dolphin and swimming further into the cave. Joohyun tries not to look in anyway shocked by what she just saw. It’ll still take some getting used to seeing her girlfriend simply transform before her very eyes.

 

“I love that dolphin.” Joy says randomly.

 

“I still think she should turn into the lion.” The vampire adds in. Joohyun hopes that she won’t see anything scary at this time. She also hopes that whatever happens in that cave Seulgi will be okay most of all. It’s her that she’s most worried about in this whole situation.

 

“Well, let’s watch tv!” The witch shouts and conjures up a television for them to have something to do while they wait for the shapeshifter to return. Joohyun has no idea how the two of them can simply just watch tv and not worry about what could be happening in there. But when the human looks at how they are laughing together and sitting all cozied up. She can’t help but to smile some, because they are a very cute pair.

 

“Humans are so stupid!” Yerim roars with laughter.

 

Joy smacks her in the arm and gestures to Joohyun. The vampire shrugs because she doesn’t see what the big issue is.

 

“Sorry, Joohyun. We don’t mean you or anything.”

 

“Yeah, sure.” The dark-haired woman deadpans.

 

“Just try to relax, okay. We’re going in there if Seul needs us, but this is something she needed to do alone. I get that.” The witch nods. “She was the one under that curse in the first place.”

 

“I know she needed to go by herself. I just want her to be okay most of all.”

 

“You need to relax. Joy give her some wine or something.”

 

“Excellent idea!” The redhead conjures up some wine for everyone and Joohyun shrugs. It doesn’t seem all that appropriate but it was nicely offered to her, and so she accepts a glass of wine. Seulgi will be fine and Joohyun knows if for some reason she’s not. She will be there for her, as she always is. The monolid woman turns back to human when she reaches the waterfall. Seungwan is normally found here as it’s her favorite spot in the cave.

 

“Wan?” Seulgi calls out for her. There’s no response at first and the shapeshifter wonders for a moment if she’s even here. But then she looks to see the siren swimming through the waterfall to meet her. Seulgi is sure that there is some sort of crevice that leads to where Seungwan probably sleeps or houses something important to her. The cave is pretty large inside and there’s no telling what else is in there outside of the obvious. The dark-haired mermaid looks terrified but smiles sadly.

 

“Hey, Seul.”

 

“It is you this time, right? You’re not that clone.”

 

“It’s me.” Seungwan assures. “We should talk, do you want to sit?” She gestures to some rock formation that is shaped to look like chairs. It’s not anything Seulgi remembers seeing and figures it must be new.

 

“I don’t need to sit, thanks.”

 

“Okay, I’m…”

 

“I know that you’re sorry.” Seulgi cuts her off. The brunette has thought for a while what would she say to Seungwan when they finally had the chance to talk. Seulgi imagined a few different scenarios for this moment. But nothing could prepare her for their actual face to face meeting. The mermaid nods and sighs. This is going to be very hard indeed. Seulgi is such a good friend and it hurts her to know what she did to her, even if unintentional. The worst thing that could happen here is if they don’t be friends anymore.

 

“I never meant to hurt you at all. It was an accident.”

 

“I understand that. I know it was an accident and you never meant to hurt me, but we can’t pretend that what you didn’t cause a lot of damage. I just don’t know why you would do this to me.”

 

“I am so sorry.” The dark-haired mermaid looks down in dismay. Her blue tail turning a deeper blue to reflect her sadness over the situation. Seungwan has to do what she can to make it alright.

 

“Will you come with me for a little while. I want to show you something?”

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“Just somewhere we can talk and I can explain properly.”

 

Seulgi looks hesitant as she isn’t sure if she wants to go anywhere with Seungwan at this moment. The mermaid still creates a portal and turns to the slightly taller woman.

 

“Please come with me. I can better explain myself, and it’s not for you to forgive me. It’s just for me to try to make it right with you if I can, because you’re one of my closest friends, Seul.”

 

“Okay, I’ll go with you.”

 

Seungwan nods and goes through the portal first. Seulgi follows after her and when she comes out of it. She finds herself in the middle of an ocean but safely inside a boat. Seungwan is sitting there with her but she has legs, and not her tail. She looks like a human and Seulgi wonders where they are.

 

“Where are we?”

 

“It’s like no place you’ve ever been before, right?”

 

“No, it’s…” The shapeshifter pauses. She takes a look around at the quiet and calm atmosphere. They are in a middle of an ocean but there are islands too with tiny little houses. The sky is such a clear and pretty azure with sparkling stars, and then Seulgi looks at her legs were her tail was. It makes sense now where they are.

 

“We’re in your creation?”

 

“Yes,” Seungwan nods with a small laugh. “I sometimes come here when I feel lonely and it brings me peace. I never meant to hurt you, Seul. But you see I’ve been alone for such a long time. The only place I could have was my cave as there’s really but so many places I can swim to. I can’t exactly leave and go as I please to the human world like you, Joy, and Yerim. I just wanted to know what it’s like to be free like you.” She turns to Seulgi with eyes full of unshed tears. The brunette does understand to some extent.

 

“I understand wanting to be out of that cave, but what you did was not the way to do that. Do you think I’ve had it easy being a shapeshifter, I haven’t. Wan, I know I look free to you now because I can shift at will, but this wasn’t always the case. When I was a kid, it was difficult, and sometimes all I wanted to do was hide as much as I could. Humans can be cruel when you’re a kid and can’t control your transformations.” Seulgi closes her eyes and remembers the true difficulty in being a shapeshifter who couldn’t yet control her ability.

 

(Flashback)

 

A small bear cub was running for her life from the human hunters that were trying to kill her. She had turned into this form without wanting to, and it was at the most terrible of times. Seulgi wished her parents were alive still. They would have been able to help her and teach her to transform appropriately. Without anyone to help she has to figure out ways to survive for herself.

 

“Where did that bear go!”

 

“This way I think.”

 

Seulgi is currently hiding in some bushes. But she knows that she can’t stay here for long. They will kill her if she’s not careful. She wishes that she could turn into a bird right now, that way she could fly away. Her paw hits some of the branches and makes a sound.

 

“Shoot it!”

 

Seulgi runs off as fast as she can and bullets are so close to penetrating her skin. She has to get out of here somehow.

 

“Think about a bird, Seul. You need to think about a bird.” She tells herself as she tries to run as fast as she can. There’s an opening in a hollowed out tree that Seulgi finds refuge in. The bear cub holds her breath and tries to quiet her breathing. The hunters are still around. Seulgi only settles down when she doesn’t hear the humans anymore. The small bear lays down on the ground. It looks like she will be staying here for the night.

 

(End)

 

Seungwan looks sad when she hears her story. She never thought about what Seulgi had to really go through before finally gaining control over her abilities. She just saw someone who was free and wanted to imitate that.

 

“I never thought about all the things you had to have gone through, Seul. I’m sorry.”

 

“I understand wanting to be free, Wan. It must be difficult not being able to go new places. You just should have spoken to me first before attempting to be like me, and what you did not only affected me it affected my girlfriend too. But Joohyun loves me and did all she could to overcome her fears. We’re going to be okay because we love each other, and I’m free of this curse now.”

 

Seungwan is relieved that the curse is broken and that Seulgi is free from it. She is glad to know that her relationship will not further suffer because of her mistake. She tries to reach for the brunette’s hand in apology. Seulgi slowly reaches out her hand back to the siren.

 

“Do you remember the first time you shook my hand after we met?”

 

“I do.” Seulgi promises.

 

“It was the first time someone ever shook my hand, and I felt like I had another friend when meeting you. I would never hurt you intentionally Seulgi. I hope you know that I would never hurt you on purpose. I understand if you want to end our friendship and not talk to me again, even if it will hurt to lose you and our friendship. I will understand.”

 

Seulgi sighs and runs her fingers through her brown locks. She can hear how genuinely sorry the mermaid is. This was a mistake and Seulgi understands it. She just needs a little time.

 

“I’m not going to end our friendship, Wan. I just need you to understand that I need some time, alright?”

 

The siren smiles some in gratitude. “Yes, I understand. Take whatever time that you need, Seul. I am grateful that you heard me out. Are you ready to go back?”

 

“Yeah, let’s go back.”

 

“Alright, follow me.”

 

The dark-haired mermaid opens the portal back and they head to the cave again. The very second they appear Yerim is pointing her blade at the mermaid’s throat, and Joohyun practically runs to Seulgi’s side. The three of them decided to head into the cave when it felt like too much time had passed without hearing anything. They grew worried especially when they didn’t see Seulgi or Seungwan.

 

“Vampy!” Joy shouts. “You stop that. You said that you wouldn’t attack her.”

 

“She just opened some freaky portal and who knows what she would have done to Seul.”

 

“Yerim,” Seungwan sighs. “I wouldn’t hurt Seul. I only took her somewhere we could talk.”

 

“That’s what you say.”

 

Joy simply grabs the shorter woman to her and caresses her cheeks some in an effort to help calm her down.

 

“Sweetie, Seungwan is our friend. She didn’t mean any harm.”

 

“Ugh, fine. You live for today, fish!”

 

Joohyun simply hugs Seulgi immediately. She can tell that her girlfriend isn’t fine and they probably had some serious talk.

 

“Seul?”

 

“Let’s go back to Joy’s. I need to figure stuff out. Wan, I’ll talk to you soon.”

 

“Thank you again, Seul.” The mermaid nods to her. She is glad that they will still have a friendship. She will respect whatever space Seulgi needs until further notice. Joy nods to Seungwan and Yerim simply sighs.

 

“Later, fish.”

 

Seungwan chuckles because at least Yerim doesn’t sound hostile at this moment. She has always appreciated Yerim because she has a certain charm about her, all the hostility aside.

 

“Yerim, you know I’m not a fish.”

 

The witch shakes her head. “No, she really thinks you’re a fish, sorry about that. I promise to work on that, Wan.”

 

“Oh, my goodness.” The siren looks concerned. This is news to her as she just always thought Yerim was kidding. “I never thought she didn’t know.”

 

“We’ll return,” The witch promises. “Seul needs time, but we’ll come back to talk to you and figure it all out.”

 

“I understand, goodbye everyone.”

 

She waves goodbye to them and feels hopeful. Perhaps, with time things will be alright. Joohyun sits with Seulgi on the boat and holds her hands into her own. The shapeshifter isn’t talking at all, and that worries the human.

 

“Baby, talk to me. What happened?”

 

“She apologized for what she did. It was an accident, but I do still need time to process everything.”

 

The raven nods in understanding. She didn’t expect for Seulgi to simply be over it right away. She kisses her hands and caresses her face.

 

“I know, you take whatever time you need, Seul. No one’s going to tell you how to feel here. We just want you to be okay, baby.”

 

Seulgi smiles in gratitude and thanks her girlfriend. She appreciates Joohyun’s presence here more than anything. Whenever Seulgi thinks about them possibly having to break up because of that curse it hurts her all over again. Bae Joohyun is the only person she has ever loved and will ever love. This woman is her soulmate and they belong together.

 

“I’m going to be okay, Hyun.”

 

Joohyun nods and kisses her. “Yeah, you’re going to be more than okay.”

 

Joy knew something was wrong with Yerim. She has spent more than 100 years with this woman, and knows her like the back of her hand. Yerim was too quiet and much too distant, even for her. When they returned to the house she sat out in the back gardens alone for so long that even the other couple grew worried. They asked Joy what was troubling the vampire. Joy looked out to the back of the house with concern.

 

“I don’t know. She won’t talk to me.”

 

“Shouldn’t you go see what’s wrong with her?” Joohyun wonders.

 

“No, she needs time right now. She’ll come to me when she’s ready.”

 

Joohyun and Joy thought that if anything shocking would happen it would come from Yerim first. But the thing that took them by surprise was Seulgi.

 

“I am going away for a little while. I’ll come back when I’ve cleared my head.”

 

“Where are you going?” Joohyun wants to know. Seulgi is really springing this on her out of nowhere. They had all night together and all day to discuss her feelings. Joohyun wants Seulgi to know that she doesn’t have to face this all alone. She wants to be with her through anything.

 

“Are you going back to where you were born?” Joy asks knowingly. The shapeshifter nods. She’s going to go back there to sort herself out. She needs things to make sense again for herself. Joohyun is concerned and worried. The monolid woman doesn’t like that she feels this way.

 

“Hyun, please understand. I’m not doing this to hurt you or because I don’t need you. I’ll always need you, sweetie. This is just something I need to handle alone.”

 

“Will you be careful?” Joohyun hugs her then. She doesn’t want for Seulgi to leave at all. She knows she has to be a supportive girlfriend here more than anything else. If Seulgi needs to go to be fine then she will support her. Seulgi nods against her and holds her close.

 

“I’ll be careful.”

 

“I’ll be able to reach you right? I need to know I can still contact you, because I will worry about you out there if I don’t hear from you.”

 

The monolid woman tries her best to hold back any tears that feel like they want to come.

 

“You can’t reach me where I’m going, I’m sorry Hyun.”

 

Joohyun pulls out of her embrace enough to be able to stare into her eyes. She wanted to be able to at least contact her girlfriend. Joohyun isn’t comfortable not being able to hear from Seulgi at all.

 

“That’s not fair, Seul. You’re really going to go somewhere that I can’t talk to you at all. I honestly don’t think you should be going alone anyway.”

 

Joy agrees with Joohyun. The witch does understand where Seulgi is coming from and understands why she needs to go alone. At the same time if Joohyun wants to be of support to her then she should also be allowed to do so.

 

“Hey, Seul. Why not take her with you? She wants to be there for you, and you can still have time to process your thoughts. Joohyun can give you space as needed right?” She asks Joohyun who nods right away.

 

“I’ll give you whatever space you need, Seul. I would like to go with you. It would mean a lot to me to see where you’re actually from, and know more about your life you couldn’t share with me before.”

 

The brunette feels touched and that’s when the tears do come down her eyes this time. Joohyun gently wipes them away from her eyes. She touches her cheeks and leans her forehead to the taller woman.

 

“What’s wrong, honey? Why are you crying?”

 

“I’m lucky to have you and I love you so much.”
 

“I love you too, will you please take me with you.”

 

“I don’t know if I can honestly.”

 

The redhead conjures up an amulet and hands it over to Seulgi. The shapeshifter knows what this is for. It will grant any wish and need of the wearer. Joy only would give this to someone she cared about. Seulgi looks at her with slightly wide eyes and Joy shrugs.

 

“You need this right now, the both of you. She wants to know more about your life, Seul. You hid a lot of your life from her before, so why not show her now.”

 

Seulgi nods and thanks her friend. Joohyun thanks her too with an arm wrapped around her girlfriend. The human is glad that now she can go with her girlfriend, and know even more about her. They spent many years together, but there was a lot Seulgi couldn’t personally tell her before. This means a lot that they can now spend time together on this sort of personal level.

 

“Okay, Hyun. You can come with me, and I’ll be able to show you more of myself.”

 

The raven nods and thanks her. “You can still have any space you need to sort yourself out too. I just want to be with you and help you out in anyway I can.”

 

Joy can’t help but to smile at the pair. They make a great couple and she likes to see this sort of partnership between them. Seulgi doesn’t need to be alone and Joohyun made sure her girlfriend knows that. The witch leaves them to get ready for their trip and thinks about Yerim. Deep down she knows that the vampire needs to be alone right now. It doesn’t mean she wants to leave her alone. She would much rather be holding her and letting her know she’s here. The redhead sighs and thinks about what to do.

 

“No, Yerim will come to me when she’s ready.”

 

The blonde vampire had moved from the outside gardens to the rooftop. She sits against the ledge with her legs hanging over. Yerim has been thinking about something and has given it a lot of thought. For so long Joy has been there for her and with her. She didn’t know for such a long time that the redhead loved her. Yerim always thought Joy was simply kidding.

 

(Flashback)

 

It was the 50th year of Yerim knowing Joy. The vampire never imagined she would know the woman this long, but it’s been 50 years and Joy said they needed to celebrate their anniversary or something. When she met the witch at her house the taller woman was excited to see her. Joy grabbed her into a huge hug and led her inside.

 

“Today is our anniversary.”

 

“What?” Yerim deadpans.

 

“It’s been 50 years, sweetie. Can you believe it?”

 

“No, I could never believe I still know you.”

 

“Haha, you’re so funny!” Joy smacks her in the arm hard. “I knew we would still be together. You and I are always going to be together.”

 

Yerim shakes her head. She has no idea why Joy seems to think anything as ridiculous as that. Just because it’s been 50 years, it doesn’t mean that they will know one another even longer than this. However, seeing the smile on the witch’s face makes her smile some.

 

“Happy Anniversary, sweetie.” Joy hands her over a glass of wine. Yerim accepts it and then flicks her fingers over the witch’s head.

 

“We won’t know one another any longer than this, you know that.”

 

“Shut up, we’re going to be together always. Don’t you worry, we’ll have plenty more anniversaries.”

 

(End)

 

Yerim smiles some as she thinks of Joy. It’s been 100 years and they are still together. Now that she knows how Joy feels and how special Joy has always been to her. She knows that it’s time to do something drastic for her.

 

“I know what I need to do.”

 

Joy was in the kitchen and making herself some tea. Seulgi and Joohyun had just left maybe ten minutes ago. As she is pouring the tea from the kettle she feels Yerim’s presence.

 

“Hey, did you finally decide to come and talk to me?” Joy asks with a small smile that shows how worried she actually is. It doesn’t surprise Yerim that Joy would know her so well. After all these years and everything they’ve been through. There is no one who would know her more. There is no one that the blonde cares for more than this woman here.

 

“I need to go.”

 

“What?” Joy nearly drops her tea. The redhead wasn’t sure what to expect when Yerim finally came to talk to her. She simply didn’t expect for this at all. Why is Yerim leaving?

 

“What do you mean you need to go?”

 

“I have something important to do, Joy. I will come back.”

 

“First Seul has to go and find herself, and now you’re leaving me too.” She sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. “I’m going to start taking this personal soon.”

 

Yerim smiles and comes over to hug her. The hug is accepted right away and she wraps her arms around the shorter woman. If her vampire is leaving her then she will surely hold her tightly first.

 

“Why are you leaving me, hm?” Joy kisses the top of her head.

 

“It’s not leaving you. I will come back, but there’s something I have to take care first.”

 

“I can’t go with you at all?”

 

The vampire shakes her head. She is going to a place that Joy can’t follow. As much as she would like to have the witch by her side, this is one thing that Joy can’t be there for.

 

“It’ll be okay, Joy. I’ll return for you.”

 

“Ah,” Joy smiles and feels better when Yerim tells her she will return for her. The redhead feels better knowing she’s going to come back to her. It makes her feel better about letting her go.

 

“You’re being so sweet now that you know I love you. I almost don’t know what to say or do. Well, I can tell wherever you need to go is important. Please go and come back soon.”

 

“You won’t even have time to miss me.”

 

“You liar, I always miss you.”

 

Yerim slowly touches her hand with a soft squeeze before letting go completely. She starts to walk away to head outside. Joy follows after her because she must see her love off. Before Yerim can fly away the redhead pulls her into a hot kiss. Yerim returns the kiss and when they break away Joy looks down into her eyes.

 

“Come back to me soon.”

 

“I will, witch.”

 

“You’d better, vampy.”

 

Joy watches as her vampire turns into a bat and flies away. She waves from the ground with tears in her eyes. Joy misses her already.

 

“Yerimie!”

 

The bat stops and turns to look at the witch and waits for her to speak.

 

“You better bring your winged- back to me!”

 

The bat nods and flies off. Joy stands there and watches until she can’t see the vampire any longer. She hopes to see the woman she loves sooner rather than later. Yerim said that she will come back to her and she believes her.

 

Joohyun opens her eyes when she sees it’s a lake in the middle of a serene and peaceful forest. It’s not like any forest she’s ever seen before. The trees are so tall and full of bright colors. The lake is a bright color similar to what Joy has in her backyard with its own crystals. The human doesn’t see Seulgi at first and it worries her. The amulet was so bright when the monolid woman activated it. She only remembers holding on tightly to her girlfriend, but now she doesn’t see her.

 

“Seul!”

 

“Hyun, hey.” Seulgi speaks from across the lake. Joohyun gets up to make a run for her and Seulgi meets her with a warm hug that the shorter woman leans into. Joohyun was worried for a moment that something happened to her.

 

“I’m okay, baby.” The monolid woman tells her and lets her go some to be able to look at her. The raven nods and kisses her.

 

“I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried when I didn’t see you next to me.”

 

“It’s a powerful amulet, Joy is a very good witch. How are you? Are you alright?”

 

“I’m fine, but is this…” Joohyun looks around at the forest. Seulgi gives a nod and squeezes her hand.

 

“This is where I was born. Welcome to my original home, Hyun.”

 

A/n: Okay, so chapter 9 will be the final chapter and ten will probably be an epilogue. Next chapter we’ll see Seulgi showing Joohyun more of her life and original home. Yeri and why she needed to go and when she comes back for Joy. Plus everyone talking to Seungwan and the mending of friendships too, so lots to look forward to. Thanks for reading, and I hope to have chapter 9 up soon.