A/N: Now at last, time for anniversary fic #3. This is based off the Norweigan fairytale by the same name, submitted as a request by an anonymous reader. If you haven't checked out the original story, I recommend it! I took a few liberties here, particularly with the ending, but I hope you'll enjoy my take on it!
Once again, thank you so much for your continued support of my writing! Let's enjoy another year together, GOT7 fans!!
If you haven't had the chance yet, please check out annivery fics #1 and #2, posted earlier today!

Once upon a time there was a man so poor that he had barely a single coin to his name, though he was wealthy in the happiness of his family. He had a strong wife, two beautiful daughters, and a handsome son. Though the family had very little and lived in a house made of mud and straw, the children grew up happy and surrounded by love.

But as the daughters grew older, the man realized the poor state of their lives would keep them from marrying well and being able to have families of their own. He grew desperate for a way to raise up his family, and though he did his best to farm the land and teach his son, who had grown into a fine and strong young man, to collect and sell honey from the abundant bee hives near their home, the money was never enough to change their state.

One cold winter night, the family was sitting around the fire, dipping candles to sell at the market the next day for whatever coin they could get from it. It was windy, and they could feel every cold whip of it in their shoddily made home, but they kept as merry as they could, the three siblings singing a bright song as they worked. Then, right in the middle of the rousing chorus, they heard three short taps against the door and paused their singing. They never received visitors, so they thought at first it was the wind knocking debris into their house, but a minute later, it came again. Knock, knock knock.

The father went out to see who it was. As they waited for an explanation, the children whispered hurriedly among themselves. Was it a traveler from distant lands, lost in the cold and the snow? Was it some lord taking pity on them and offering them a warm place for the night?

A minute later, their father returned, a strange look on his face. "Jinyoung," he said, nodding to his son. "There is a bear outside who wishes to speak to you."

Jinyoung stared at him in confusion. "A bear?"

"A bear. A great, giant white bear."

"And it wants to...speak...to me?"

"Yes, that is what it said."

"But bears can't talk."

"This one can."

Driven more by curiosity than any conviction that this was true, Jinyoung went outside into the cold night. Sure enough, a huge white bear was seated in the snow, its dark eyes fixed on Jinyoung.

"Hello," the bear said. It had a low voice, like a growl from deep in its chest, though not unkind or cruel in its tone.

"Why can you talk?" Jinyoung asked. To him, this aspect more than any other defied explanation.

"Because I'm not a bear," the bear explained. "Or at least I wasn't always a bear. But I'm forbidden to say any more than that. Jinyoung—if I may call you that?"

"How do you know my name?" Jinyoung asked in alarm.

"Because I've heard your father say it. And I've seen you many times before this. At the hives, filling up pots of honey. I was out gathering...herbs... in the forest one day, the first time I saw you—that was before I was a bear. And I've come by every day to see you after that, even when I was a bear, just like now."

That explained why Jinyoung had always had the sneaking suspicion that someone or something was watching him whenever he was working in the forest. He wondered how he could have missed such a lumbering and bright furred bear, but perhaps this one was good at hiding.

"And why did you want to see me?" Jinyoung pressed.

"Because you're beautiful, and looking at you is the only joy I've known." The bear ducked its massive head for a moment, then looked back up. "I want to bring you back to my home with me. I know it's a lot to ask, but I can't bear—ahem—I can't stand the loneliness of never seeing you in the winter. In exchange, I'll repay your family for letting you go with me. I'll make them as rich as they are poor and they will never know another day of hardship. And you would only have to endure living with a beast like me for a single year. After that, you would be free to either stay or go."

"Do you live in a cave?" Jinyoung wondered.

"No, a palace."

"And is that the benefit to me saying yes to this? It seems like everyone benefits far more than I do."

"I understand that." The bear looked at him with a surprisingly deep gaze for an animal—even if he had used to be a man. "I have so little I can give to you. Only love, and that is hardly anything worth having while I'm in this repulsive shape. But anything I can do to make you happy, I will do with all my power."

Jinyoung considered this. A year was a very short time in the scheme of things, and if his family and sisters could profit from just the slightest sacrifice on his part, wasn't it worth it? It would be incredibly odd to live with a bear who apparently loved him, as odd as it was to think of such a massive, fur covered creature as a man underneath it all. But still, it wouldn't be the hardest thing to come to terms with. They could talk to each other, after all, which would keep things from being too dull, and perhaps the palace would have a library to keep him entertained.

"What is your name?" he asked the bear.

"Mark."

"Very well, then, Mark. I'll stay a year with you in your palace."

It was hard to tell, but perhaps the bear showing its sharp white fangs was supposed to be a smile of happiness. Jinyoung gave a strained smile back, wondering if this was wise after all. But still, his choice had been made. He went back inside to pack up his things as Mark nudged a huge chest through their door. Jinyoung's sisters opened it up, and were greeted by an endless sea of gold, gold enough to build them palaces of their own with gold to spare.

Jinyoung hugged and kissed his family goodbye, but it felt disjointed. They were practically beside themselves with happiness and barely seemed to notice he was leaving. He knew in his heart the next time he came back, it would be to different people than those he had left, living in a different world than the one he'd been raised in.

Jinyoung went back outside where Mark was waiting for him. "Shall we go, then?"

"Yes. You may ride on my back, just try not to tug my fur too hard. It's a far way, but I can get you there quickly."

It was stranger than anything Jinyoung had ever experienced before to ride on the back of a bear. It was nothing like a horse, and the world seemed to fly and shake around them as they tore through the fields of snow and up the mountain to where Mark's palace was. The night was even colder than it had been when they'd first been outside, but Mark's thick fur kept Jinyoung's hands warm all through their journey.

"Are you frightened?" Mark asked after awhile.

"No," Jinyoung said honestly. "In awe, maybe."

"Yes?"

"I'm on the back of a bear that isn't a bear, one who can talk, and he's taking me to live in a castle. Of course I don't know what to make of it."

"I suppose it is very strange. But not unpleasant, I hope."

"Not quite," Jinyoung said. "But it's only just beginning, isn't it?"

They rode a long, long way until they reached the peak of the mountain where a relatively small, but very beautiful castle was situated. They crossed over a short bridge, and Jinyoung climbed off Mark's back to open the front doors and go inside.

It was very beautiful inside, but fittingly bare for its bear master of the house. He apparently didn't need much in the way of furnishing, but the halls were wide and spacious and there were many tall windows that would let in lots of sunlight when it was day. And there were bookshelves, Jinyoung was pleased to see. All the books on them were newly bought and unopened, which made him slightly suspect they were bought just for his use.

A cheerful looking servant boy named Kunpimook came in to take Jinyoung's cloak and him to the dining room. Instead of following, Mark appeared to be lumbering off to a private room where there was a fire lit and a towering plate of meat resting in front.

“You will not eat with me?” Jinyoung asked.

“It's not a pretty sight,” Mark said, ducking his head again. It seemed this was his bearish way of showing embarrassment. “And you must be very tired. Enjoy yourself a good meal and a hot bath, and I will see you later.”

So Jinyoung went to the dining room alone and enjoyed a nice hot meal of roasted pork and steamed vegetables before Kunpimook returned to take him to the bathing room. A hot bath had been drawn for him, and some soft robes to wear to bed had also been prepared. He'd assumed he wouldn't be going to bed right away since Mark had said they would meet again, but apparently he was.

After his bath, Jinyoung was led to his bedroom, where there was a massive bed with down pillows and silk blankets waiting for him, and a beautiful desk for him to sit and read at beside a towering bookshelf with even more books than the one at the castle entrance. Compared to the room he shared with his sisters where they slept on thin cotton mattresses on the floor, this was the most lavish room Jinyoung had ever been in. Perhaps he was benefitting from this bargain far more than he'd realized when accepting.

He wanted to grab a book and read for awhile, but he was exhausted from the unexpected journey and knew he needed to go to bed. He blew out all the candles and snuggled comfortably under the soft covers, ready to spend a peaceful night in a deep sleeep.

But as soon as he was about ready to drift off to sleep, he heard the door to the room open and someone slip inside from the dark hallway. He sat up, wondering if it was Kunpimook bringing him some water or more pillows, but whoever it was did not light any lamps or say anything as he crossed the room. The unseen figure simply slipped into bed beside Jinyoung, setting his head on the pillow next to him.

It couldn't be Mark, Jinyoung thought. Mark would have had the floor rumbling with his heavy movements, and the bed would have sunk underneath his weight. But who else could it be? Surely Kunpimook, as a servant, would not sleep beside a guest. Or was there someone else in the house Jinyoung had not yet been introduced to?

He extended his hand, feeling the shape of the person beside him. It was indeed a man, a slender one wearing a robe very much like Jinyoung's own. Jinyoung ran his hand up to his hair, which was soft and thick, just like Mark's fur had been. Touching it made Jinyoung feel for certain that this was who this was, but at the same time, he couldn't understand how it could be so.

“Mark?” he whispered.

“Yes,” Mark responded. His voice wasn't as deep now as it had been before, but there was something similar in the quality, something still very raw and powerful.

“You're not a bear.”

“I told you I wasn't. And now I'm especially not a bear.”

“Why?”

“Because it's night. That's how this works. I can't really say anything more than that.”

“Oh.” Jinyoung rolled over so that he was the slightest bit closer to Mark. “So you're a man at night. Maybe you can't explain to me, but is there a reason why it's now and not during the day? Something that you have to do?”

“More like something I want to do.”

“Which is...?”

He reached out to grab Jinyoung and pull him against his chest. “This.”

“Ah.”

“...is it OK?”

It certainly wasn't bad, Jinyoung thought. Mark had strong arms and a warm body, and it felt so much better than all those nights Jinyoung spent freezing on the floor. He wanted to burrrow into these arms and fall asleep right away, but curiosity got the better of him. Instead, he ran his fingers across different parts of Mark's face, trying to get a feel for what he looked like since he couldn't see anything in the pitch dark of the room. The nose felt a little wide at the bridge, but other than that, his features felt small—his lips, his eyes, his ears, his face in its entirity. His skin was soft and smooth.

“Can I light a candle?” Jinyoung asked. “I want to see you.”

“No,” Mark whispered. “It's a rule. Not until the year is up. You can't.”

“Then what can I do?”

“You could sleep. Or...”

“Or?”

Abruptly, Mark rolled them over so he was on top of Jinyoung, very gently pinning down his body. “You could kiss me.”

Jinyoung remembered, then, why Mark had brought him here in the first place. Because Mark had fallen in love with him as a human, before the whole bear thing had happened for whatever reason. Jinyoung had no idea why. Surely there was nothing particularly alluring about watching him gather honey day by day and manage unruly bees, but it still stood that Mark had loved him enough to give a fortune to his family just to have him in the castle for a single year.

It was a strangely heart fluttering thought. It had all seemed rather silly coming from the mouth of a bear, but now that bear was a man, a man enveloping Jinyoung in his arms and still very much in love with him somehow and wanting to kiss him, Jinyoung suddenly felt like this was all a very tempting thought, being wanted by someone for the first time in his life.

So he did it. Mainly to satisfy his curiosity as to what it would feel like, but also because it seemed like the least he could do as a brief thank you for his host's kindness that day. But once he started, it didn't stay brief. It didn't fully satisfy his curiosity either, because once their lips were touching and he knew what that felt like, he wanted to know more.

It felt like heaven, kissing him. Mark's lips were soft but devoured him so strongly, and his arms were strong, but touched him so softly. Their bodies coiled into each other and their tongues tangled, and Jinyoung's fingers trailed all over Mark's body, and Mark's fingers slid into his hair and down his neck and to the collars of his robe. An overpowering, never felt before fire burned its way through every part of Jinyoung's body, leaving him flushed and panting to the point where at long last he had to pull away from the kiss that was fueling it all.

“Mark,” he sighed, in a voice that didn't sound like his anymore. There was a weak, sensual quality to it that sounded more like a provocation than anything, and it clearly registered with Mark, too, since the next thing he did was hoist up Jinyoung's legs around his waist before roughly grabbing his wrists and pinning them above his head, his breathing borderline wild as he did so.

Jinyoung knew what was on Mark's mind, and was shocked by what was on his own. I want him to, it was informing him. This day has been crazy and I'm barely even sure how much of this was real, but this...this...animalistic lust is incredibly real, and if I don't do anything about it, I'm not going to make it through the night.

But Mark was now releasing his wrists and slowly backing off. “I'm sorry,” he said. “I didn't mean...I mean, I didn't bring you here for that. The kisses were enough. We should stop this now. Go to bed.”

“No,” Jinyoung said.

“No?”

“I want you to continue.”

“...why?”

This was a question Jinyoung truly had no idea how to answer yet. “It's aching,” he said at length. “Everything is aching. For you.”

And that answer seemed good enough. Mark's body sank back onto him, their lips rejoined, their fingers tangled together then tore at each other's robes, and touch after touch and kiss after kiss was exchanged until—

Bliss. That was the word for it. Pure, untouched bliss. Like his body was being worshipped by someone who understood it intimately, like his every sense was being like a cat behind its ears, purring, purring, arching, right there, a sharp mewl of satisfaction, bliss.

He went to sleep clinging to Mark's sweaty skin, the sheets a jumble around their bare bodies, and it was the happiest night of his life, until the next one came.

But before that next night came, first there was morning. Jinyoung woke up alone in the bed, the evidence of the night before all over his body, but the evidence of Mark himself beside him was gone. Jinyoung tore out of his bed as quickly as his weak hips would allow him, pulling on the luxurious clothes he found for him in the wardrobe. As soon as he was dressed, he ran downstairs and into the dining room. A hearty breakfast awaited him on the table, but Mark was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is he?” Jinyoung asked when Kunpimook entered with a pot of tea. “Where is Mark?”

“In his study. But please take a-”

Jinyoung didn't allow him the time to finish. He ran for the room Mark had gone to the night before and threw it open. A giant white bear rested on the floor, head resting sleepily on its giant forepaws.

He looked up when Jinyoung entered the room, eyes gentle but otherwise unreadable. “Are you well, Jinyoung?”

Jinyoung nodded, his heart thudding with conflicted emotion. Maybe some of it was disappointment that Mark was not still a man and he could not see the form of the one who had loved him both so tenderly and so fiercely the night before. And it was strange to think of that man existing inside of the hulking beast in front of him. But he was not repulsed or regretful of what he'd done. He just wished he could understand.

He knelt down beside Mark, burying his face into his white pelt. “What can I do?” he asked, Mark's fur.

“Stay for a year,” Mark said simply. “That's all.”

“It can't be faster than that?”

“No.”

“Who are you, Mark?”

“Someone who loves you. There is nothing more I can say.”

“But why do you love me?”

“Because my life has been like a long, dark, and endless winter, and you're the only one who brings the summer and the sun with every breath you take.” He turned his head, nuzzling his wet nose into Jinyoung's palm. “I wish only that I could give you a tenth of the joy you've given to me without even knowing it.”

With that said, he nudged Jinyoung back into the dining room to eat his breakfast. It was delicious once again, but it felt like it couldn't fill Jinyoung, like nothing could fill him again but having Mark a human again and at his side. Would he really have to wait a year to have him in the daylight? It seemed intolerable, but he knew he had to wait. And perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. In his own way, Bear-Mark was just as kind and sweet as Human-Mark had been when they'd lain together.

The day passed slowly and pleasantly. He spent the morning working through the bookshelves to build himself a stack of books he wanted to tear through first, and started one while nestled against Mark's warm fur in front of the fire. When they were both incredibly warm, they went outside to play in the snow. Jinyoung had worried playing would be dangerous given Mark's massive size, but it wound up being delightful. Mark laid his body flat and made himself a sled to take Jinyoung on a wild ride down some of the mountain slopes, and used his large maw to help Jinyoung roll snowmen to put together and decorate around their castle.

When evening came, they separated for dinner, and rejoined again after for a quiet chat. There was much it seemed Mark was unable to say, but he asked about Jinyoung and his family and how it had been in their home. He told Mark about the struggles of poverty, but also the joys of having a loving family to look after him. If he wasn't mistaken, he thought Mark's eyes looked a little bittersweet at that, like this was something he wanted to understand, but couldn't.

Kunpimook drew another bath for Jinyoung, and after the bath, Jinyoung retired to his room. True to his word, he blew out all the candles before Mark arrived and joined him in bed. This time, they didn't wait before taking each other in their arms. They'd been together all day, but it still felt like a reunion of sorts, and their bodies were just as hungry as they had been last time, aching in such a strong way that they couldn't leave it alone.

And so they took each other again and again and again until they could scarcely move or breathe anymore. Jinyoung wanted to stay awake until the daylight so he could see Mark's face for a single moment before he transformed, but his body was too exhausted for it, and he again fell asleep in his lover's arms only to wake up alone in the morning with a great white bear waiting for him in front of the fire when he made it down the stairs.

Things passed in this way for the first four months, and though Jinyoung was incredibly happy, he was also incredibly sad. The weight of all that Mark couldn't say felt like a wall between them, preventing them from connecting their souls as intimately as they connected their bodies. He understood that Mark was kind and loving and good, but he knew nothing of his past or his family or why and how he was enduring such a strange curse. So many conversations started between them ended with "There's nothing more I can say about that" and Jinyoung felt increasinly frustrated by his inability to know Mark as well as he was known by him.

It was also inevitable that he became very homesick to see his family after so many months had passed with no news from them. Mark realized Jinyoung had been a bit gloomy and asked what was wrong, so Jinyoung admitted to him how he felt. "I know I promised to stay with you for a year, but is it impossible for me to see my family for just one afternoon?"

"It's possible" Mark said, though a little reluctantly. "You could visit and see how they are living now. But now that they've had time to think about your situation, they'll have questions. They may ask you to try and figure out my secrets, so I must ask you not to give in. All you need to do is make it through one year for all to be understood, Jinyoung. Nothing else."

"Of course," Jinyoung said. "I give you my word."

So one afternoon, Mark took Jinyoung down the mountain and through the forest until they reached the house where his family now lived. It was grand, so much grander than their mud and straw hut from before. It wasn't as big as Mark's castle, but close, and when his parents and sisters came through the door, they were dressed in beautiful finery and looked as healthy and content as Jinyoung had ever seen them.

"I will give you time alone with them," Mark said lowly. "But remember: don't allow them to convince you to break our promise."

As he turned away to lumber back into the forest, Jinyoung was swept up into a joyful hug from his family and was smothered in kisses from each. Their joy was so great it was as if it would never run out. They were full of praise for all his sacrifice had done for them, and for what it still would—his sisters had suitors, his father had a wider and more successful farm, and his mother could share some of her hard burdens of running the house with an industrious household servant. They were all so very well, and they wanted to hear that he was well too.

Jinyoung told them that he was very happy and that Mark took good care of him and had given him all he could possibly wish. He told them about the good times they'd had, the kindness Mark had shown, and the ease and simplicity of their everyday life. He did not tell them everything, but he told them enough.

He and his family spent a happy day together, but when it came closer to evening when Jinyoung would return to go home, Jinyoung's mother pulled him aside. "My dear son, I'm glad you've been well, but I do wonder if something is wrong. There is a sad look in your eyes at times, and as your mother, I want to know what is causing it."

Trusting in his mother, Jinyoung explained how Mark turned into a man each night in the dark, when Jinyoung could not see him. He did not explain what they did on those nights, but revealed that he longed to see Mark and to help him, but was at a loss as to how to properly reach him when there was still so much left in secret.

Jinyoung's mother loved him very much, and she wanted to do anything she could to help. "I'm sure there is some amazing story behind what your bear companion is," she said gently. "Give me time, and I can research it for you—any men who have gone missing, any rumors of curses or wicked creatures like goblins or fey folk meddling in human affairs. But it would truly help if I knew what he looked like so I could match his description to someone. Even something as simple as the color of his hair would do."

Jinyoung was about to protest that he was not allowed to look at Mark's face, but paused suddenly. His hair was not his face, after all. Jinyoung could shield his eyes and avoid looking at his face, and look only at what color his hair was—black or gold or brown or white, like his bear fur. Surely that would not spoil any secrets, and if it helped him find a way to help Mark faster, surely it could only be a good thing.

"I think I can try to look at his hair," Jinyoung said slowly. "I will send word to you as soon as I know."

Mark returned in the evening, and Jinyoung climbed on his back and they journeyed back up the mountain and to the castle. Mark asked after his family and seemed delighted that they were doing so well. "Did they have many questions of me?" he asked.

"No," Jinyoung said. Or at least not so many as he thought they might. His sisters had seemed minimally concerned that their brother was now living with a bear, as long as said bear was kind and had no interest in eating him. Aside from his mother, not one of them had asked why his bear companion could talk. "They seem to trust your good intentions."

"And so, I hope, do you."

When they reached home, Jinyoung had his bath, and all was the same as before. When the candles were blown out, Mark came to him and they made love to each other passionately in the darkness, exhausting their bodies on each other. When they were too tired for more, Jinyoung laid at Mark's side and listened to his breathing. When he heard that he was fast asleep, he got up, pulled a candle from his mantle, and lit it. Shielding his eyes, he crept closer to where Mark was sleeping and slowly lowered his hand to look at his hair.

He truly meant only to look at the hair. But it was so beautiful, like spun fire, red and gold with threads of bright white like his bear pelt. Jinyoung had touched it nearly every night, running his hands through it, and now he wondered that he had ever touched something so beautiful so easily, without even knowing it. And yet he wanted to it again and again, to bury his nose in it and inhale the sweet scent.

And he knew in that moment that such fine hair must belong to the most beautiful man in the world, and the ache to see him grew too strong and the temptation too much for his weakness to overcome. Jerking his hand from his eyes, he let the light shine on him, and saw that he truly was the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid eyes on before. His face was smooth and sweet, his cheeks flushed a pleasant pink, his features small and gentle, his neck long and covered with the evidence of Jinyoung's lips. The lust flared up in Jinyoung once more, stronger than it had ever been before, and it felt like he might die if he wasn't rejoined with him as soon as he could be. Without thinking, he leaned in to kiss Mark's sweet lips, but as he did, a drop of hot tallow from the candle dripped onto Mark's robe, and he woke up.

It took Mark a moment to register what had happened, but when he did, the look in his deep brown eyes was not one of her anger, but one of raw and wrenching heart break and disappointment. "Why have you done this?" he cried out in a wounded voice that raked its claws against Jinyoung's conscience. "Is your love so weak that you could not trust me, not even for one year? Had you endured for just one single year, Jinyoung, I would have been forever free of this curse, but now that you have broken your promise, we will never be together. With this action, you have just gambled away our entire future together.”

The words whipped against Jinyoung's heart, leaving his entire body throbbing in a pain unlike any he'd ever felt. “No,” he whispered. “It cannot be true.”

“It is. And now you will hear the truth I would have told you the morning you woke up in my arms after the year had passed and I returned to you as a man and only a man. My stepmother is a sorceress who loathes me with every cell of her being. From the moment my father died, my life has been a torture with no end, and I lived every day being treated as less than dirt, an outlet for her to exercise her cruelty. I told you the truth, Jinyoung: seeing you every day in the forest as I went to pick her poisonous plants and the nettles that tore my hands open was the only light of beauty in my life. You were so sweet and kind, posessing the kind of gentleness I had never known in my whole life, and I wanted so badly to know it and have it chase the way the darkness I endured that thinking of it was the only thing that helped me survive in those moments that hurt so much I could have died from it.”

Jinyoung's heart clenched. He had realized none of this. He had known that Mark loved him, but perhaps he had dismissed it as half a dreamer's idealistic romance, not something so potent and deep as it apparently was.

“Months ago, my stepmother decided she was going to sell me off as a husband to a cruel fey princess,” Mark continued. “The fey are beautiful, but they a far more dangerous than any sorceress. Even the kindest among them has the capability of out a man's soul and making him a mindless slave to her every whim who remembers nothing of the man he was before. And I would be married to her now if my stepmother hadn't been obliged by a promise she'd made me on my birthday when my father was still alive that if I was a good and obedient son, she would grant me just one wish I asked of her. And I had been very good and obedient, so I staked everything on that one wish, Jinyoung. That instead of marrying the fey princess, I would be able to marry you, if you would have me.”

“Then why didn't you?” Jinyoung cried, wringing his hands in agony. “Why did you appear at my door as a bear and not a man offering his heart and life to me?”

“I was a man offering his heart and life to you, Jinyoung. I'm always a man, even when I wear the skin of a bear. And that skin was how my stepmother chose to respond to my wish. If you could live with me for one year with me in my repulsive form with nothing more than a beautiful home to offer you and still learn to love me, we could be free to marry at the year's end. She even did me the one kindness of letting me be a man at night so I could show you that my love was not a creature's for a human, but a man's for the one he adores beyond anything else. But perhaps that wasn't a kindness, seeing how this ended. Perhaps she knew that human curiosity would never be able to survive not knowing the secret of who I was.” He sighed deeply. “And now that your curiosity has not survived it, it must be ended between us. I am bound to return to my stepmother to where she lives in a castle east of the sun and west of the moon, and to marry the fey princess."

“Go?” Jinyoung wailed, his heart ripped into pieces. “How can you go? I do love you, I swear it on everything precious to me. I was weak, but I loved you as a bear and as a man!”

“It doesn't matter,” Mark said, shaking his head. “You may have love, but if you cannot trust me, that love will die. And even if not, I'm bound to go.”

“Can I not go with you and plead my case to your stepmother?”

“No, I cannot bring you with me. I must go alone.”

"Tell me the way to her castle, then" Jinyoung begged. "I will look for you on my own. Surely there isn't a rule against that."

Mark hesitated for a moment. “There is no way,” he said at length. “No path in the world will take you there. As I said, it is east of the sun and west of the moon, in a place no one may ever reach.”

And with that, he rose from the bed and went to Jinyoung, kissing him once on the forehead. “I will not forget you,” he said in a strangled voice. “No matter what I forget, it will never be you. I wish you could have loved me as deeply as I loved you, but that was always too much to ask. My love is fathomless, and someone so rich in happiness can never comprehend the thirst for happiness and love of an unhappy and unloved man.”

He stepped out of the room and was gone. The beautiful room and the walls of the castle dissolved around Jinyoung, and he was left collapsed on the ground on the peak of the mountain, the only thing left to him being the bag of old clothes he'd brought with him from home.

Jinyoung then wept with more tears than had ever flowed from anyone's eyes, for his sadness was far greater than most for having been entirely of his own making. He who should have been salvation to the one who loved him had only condemned him instead, and taken away the last light of hope in his life in a single moment of weakness and greed. And now Mark was going to somewhere no one could reach to suffer more cruelty after having known only cruelty for so long, and it was Jinyoung's fault because Jinyoung had broken their promise and had not been patient for the short year that could have set Mark free for the rest of his life. Mark had loved him deeply and truly, and Jinyoung's love had been shallow and false in comparison.

He wept until his body was starved for water, and he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Kunpimook, the servant, staring down at him in pity.

“Come now, you can't be giving up already,” Kunpimook said, hauling him to his feet. “You're not as weak as that. If you do nothing, you'll never see him again and everything will truly be lost.”

“But what can I do?” Jinyoung asked. “There is no way to a castle east of the sun and west of the moon. I cannot reach it.”

“Alone, you couldn't. But you are not alone. I will help.”

Kunpimook brought them both horses, and together they journeyed to the bottom of the mountain. Jinyoung asked if they could call on his family for help, but Kunpimook shook his head. There was no time to waste. They had to go to the house of the east wind where they would find one who would help Jinyoung find the castle.

They rode east for many days, many miserable days where Jinyoung wept each morning and night and his heart ached with both love for what he had lost and anger at his own foolishness. At long last, they reached a remote cottage, and Kunpimook rapped on the door twice with his knuckles. A moment later, a man dressed in rich green robes open the door.

“Whoa, Kunpimook, long time no see,” the man said, slapping the servant on the back. “Coming to ask me for another favor for a friend for the billionth time in your life?”

“Yup,” Kunpimook said with a shrug. “You know Mark, the stepson of the sorceress in the castle east of the sun and west of the moon?”

The man shuddered. “Heard of him, yeah, but I've heard far more of her.”

“We're looking for her castle. Have you ever gone there, Jackson?”

“Nah. For one, it's pretty damn far away, and I can't reach it on my own. For two, I don't want to mess around that area. That woman's a terror.”

Kunpimook put a hand on Jinyoung's shoulder. “This is Mark's sweetheart. If he doesn't make it to the castle in time, Mark will be given as a husband to an evil fey princess. There must be something we can do to help him.”

Jackson's expression softened. “Then I'd love to help. I really would. But I can't do it on my own. I'd have to call the west wind for help, and you know how he is.”

“What do you mean? I love the west wind. He's a great guy!”

“He's a brat who does whatever he wants, that's what he is. But if I tell him you're here, maybe he'll come.”

Jackson grabbed a thick bag from his table and took it outside with him. He opened the bag just the slightest bit and murmured something into it, and Jinyoung felt a gust of wind sail past him and out to the west.

“And now we wait,” Jackson said. “Come inside and tell me your story.”

Jinyoung did, still feeling miserable, but Jackson listened to him kindly enough. “The point of making mistakes is learning from them,” he said softly when Jinyoung had finished. “You're no fool, and you're not cruel, not in the slightest. If you brought joy to his heart in the darkness once, I have no doubt you may do it again.”

The next morning, there was a knock on the door and a very tall and baby faced man in beautiful purple robes arrived to the house. The first thing he did was sweep Kunpimook up and twirl him in his arms yelling “You're here! You're here!” like an overexcited puppy. While being twirled, Kunpimook told the bare bones story of why they were there, asking about the castle east of the sun and west of the moon.

“Oh, I know it,” the man, who was called Yugyeom, said, his shoulders slumping. “I've never blown so far, and I really don't want to. That woman is the worst in the world.”

“But if it saved someone from a terrible fate and reunited two lovers, you'd do it, right?” Jackson asked. Yugyeom shrugged, but there was a spark of interest in his eyes. “Do you think with our powers combined, we could get Jinyoung there?”

Yugyeom shook his head. “No, I'm still young and not that strong. But the south wind is very strong and he owes me a favor, so I'll ask him.” He took out a bag much like Jackson's, and released a gust of wind which headed south. Then he too listened to Jinyoung's story solemnly.

“You're an idiot,” he told Jinyoung bluntly when the story was finished. “But if you're brave enough to go to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon and challenge the sorceress and the fey princess, perhaps you're worth something after all.”

The next day, a handsome man with deep blue robes arrived at the cottage looking incredibly annoyed. “This had better be extremely important to have called me all the way here,” he said.

“It is, Jaebum,” Jackson said. He and Yugyeom both latched on to his arms, looking up at him adoringly. “We need to take Jinyoung over here to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon to save someone suffering from a terrible curse.”

“There?” Jaebum grimaced. “Why would I want to take someone there? We all know who's there, and she's the worst of the worst.”

“Because I said so,” Jackson said, squeezing him tightly.

“Because you want to make us happy,” Yugyeom said, snuggling into his back like an overgrown koala.

“As if I...UGH, just cut it out you two, FINE!” Jaebum shoved them both off. “But even combining my power with yours, it's not enough. If you want someone with enough wind in them to blow anyone anywhere, we have to summon the north wind. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help.”

Jaebum also took out a bag like the others', and sent a gust of wind to the north.

After, they went inside the cottage and again Jinyoung told his story. He thought Jaebum would be harsh, but Jaebum merely patted him on the shoulder. “Just because you lost against yourself once doesn't mean it will happen again. No man on earth is without flaws, but no man is without the potential to change and do better either.”

The next day, a very sweet looking man in yellow robes arrived to he cottage like a ray of sunshine. He spent ten minutes each hugging Jaebum, Jackson, Yugyeom, Kunpimook, and even Jinyoung, and without even hearing their request, promised with all his might to help them.

“Even if it's to send someone to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon?” Jaebum asked.

Youngjae's face clouded for just a moment, but at length he nodded. “Yes, I will even do that,” he said. “If it's for a good reason, I will use all of my strength to make it happen.”

So Jinyoung told his story one final time, and Youngjae clasped his hands encouragingly when it was over. “Mark said someone rich in happiness could never understand the thirst for it, but now that you are so very unhappy, I think you understand. Now that you know his pain, you'll never make him endure it again. Go to him, and bring only love with you.” Youngjae turned to all the others. “Combined, we alone have the strength to take him. Let us rest well, and in the morning, we will send him to the castle and let him rescue his lost love.”

Early next morning, Youngjae woke Jinyoung and took him outside where all the others were assembled with their bags. “Are you prepared for this?” each asked in turn. “Are you sure you're strong enough?” Jinyoung nodded and said, “Yes, I am ready” each time. And he was sure he was. He would not leave Mark to suffer a second time. He would not abandon his love when it was too precious a gift to be thrown away now he knew how bleak the world was without it.

He went to Kunpimook last, and instead of asking him anything, Kunpimook handed him a golden hand mirror. “This was the only thing left to me when the castle disappeared,” he said. “It was a gift from Mark to pay for my services, a valuable and magical item. The mirror takes on the powers of the person who owned it before you and influences you with those powers. Mark had a power of endurance, which saved my life from a sickness that would have killed me if he hadn't intervened. Now I'll pass the gift along to you. I have no powers, so it won't do anything now, but maybe you'll find a way to use it in the castle east of the sun and west of the moon.”

Jinyoung accepted it graciously, throwing his arm around Kunpimook and thanking him sincerely for everything he had done.

As soon as his goodbyes were said, he stood in front of the four winds. All of them opened their bags and unleashed the full force of their winds on Jinyoung, blowing him up and up, and then sailing him through the sky with force enough to take him all the way to the ends of the world.

The winds took him long and far, over seas and mountains and forests and beyond any place where mortals dwelled. He felt the east wind slipping from him first, then the west wind, and at very long length the south wind until he was carried by the north wind alone to the far reaches of the world.

At long length, after what must have been days of being carried by the wind, Jinyoung saw the black castle in the distance as the north wind slowly began to weaken and drop him lower and lower. “You've done well, Youngjae,” Jinyoung murmured. “Just a little longer.” And with the last of his powers, the north wind dropped Jinyoung safely on the shore of the isle where the intimidating castle was situated before disappearing in an exhausted puff. Here at last was the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. Exhausted himself, Jinyoung collapsed on the beach and spent the night sleeping in the sand, preparing himself for tomorrow, come what may.

The next morning, Jinyoung went to the castle and rapped on the door over and over again, but no one answered. He approached the castle from every side looking for a window, but none was within reach. He screamed Mark's name, he cried, he pounded his fists on the stones, but no one came.

At long length, he collapsed against the side of the castle, exhausted once again. He pulled out the golden mirror and studied it, hoping for some clue as to what he could do, but seeing only his pallid face and sunken eyes in the smooth glass.

As he turned it over again and again, the gold of the mirror caught the sunlight, and someone threw open the window above him. A woman more beautiful than any woman had ever been peered down at him, her sky blue eyes bright with excitement as she saw the mirror in his hands. Jinyoung had a feeling that this was the fey princess who would be taking Mark as her husband.

"That is a valuable object,” the fey princess said, dropping herself down from her window and landing elegantly beside Jinyoung as if it had been a mere leap and not a long fall. “Too valuable for the likes of a man in rags. What will you take for it? I have gold enough to pay whatever price you will ask.”

"It's not for sale, not for gold,” Jinyoung said carefully.

“I am fey, you know. I could compel you to give that to me.” She fixed him in her blue eyes, but Jinyoung steeled himself against her for long enough that she eventually gave up. “Very well. If you will not give it up for gold, what will you sell it for? You may name your price.”

“I will give it to you if you take me to the prince who lives here and let me see him tonight.”

“Oh, that's simple enough,” the fey princess said, grinning widely. “No matter what you say to him, he can't go with you. And one day, very soon, he will listen only to me, and what a good, obedient slave of a husband he will make!”

Jinyoung ignored her taunts, extending the mirror to her. The fey princess took it, and as her hands touched it, little by little her wicked smile turned into something much softer and almost trembling.

“Oh?” the fey princess gasped, pressing her hand over her heart. “What is this? This...this...happiness inside of me? I've never felt this before, it's...oh! It's so sweet, so good, and I...I've been so wicked, haven't I?” She burst into tears, and Jinyoung stared at her in shock. What had happened to her?

Soon her tears turned into a smile of delight, and she took Jinyoung's hand. “Come! Now that I've tasted this happiness, I know I can't do it anymore. I can't steal the soul of a good man and put him through the suffering I've so cruelly put others through. I must bring only joy with my life...yes, I must find a real love, that's the only thing that can make my happiness deeper! Thank you, thank you, kind mortal, for showing me the way!”

She pulled Jinyoung into the castle and took him straightaway to a bedroom at the top of a winding staircase. She threw open the door, and there Mark was standing in all of his glory, his resplendant hair shining in the remains of the sunlight, his face still beautiful even with a thousand lines of sadness and exhaustion carved into it. Jinyoung's heart pounded, and he wanted both to throw himself into Mark's arms and kiss every line of worry away and to fall on his knees and plead with all his strength for forgiveness.

Mark's eyes met his, and for a moment they lit up before darkening upon noticing the fey princess with him. “Get your hands off him,” he snarled like a bear. “If you try to wield your influence over him, I will kill you where you stand.”

“Oh no, none of that anymore,” the princess said brightly. “I don't know by what, but my heart has been changed, and I will never do something like that again. Control doesn't matter to me anymore. I just want to give others happiness, starting with you. And this is your happiness, isn't it? So I will give him gladly back to you.” She nudged Jinyoung forward and set the golden mirror on the vanity. “Now, I'd better return to my own realm and teach my brothers and sisters what I've realized and see if I can change them, too. Farewell, good sirs! May we meet again in happier times!”

And then, with the snap of her fingers, she was gone.

Mark turned to stare at Jinyoung in utter confusion. “How are you here? This place cannot be reached.”

“But it can, and only with the strength of the east and west and south and north winds,” Jinyoung said. He held Mark tenderly in his eyes, imprinting his glorious face in his memory and worshipping every exquisite detail. “I have come long and far to have you back with me, to make an ending where we can be together to replace the one I stole. There is no way for me to apologize enough, and I know I've disappointed your trust and that I may never regain it, but for you there is no distance I wouldn't go, no danger I wouldn't risk to keep you safe and give you happiness. I promise that from here on out, I will love as deeply and as truly as you love me, like a man starved for love and happiness whose fathomless thirst and want will only be satisfied by you.”

Mark studied him for a long moment before his sweet lips broke into a happy smile. “Oh, Jinyoung, you need not ask for forgiveness, because you have it already. I will always bear—ahem—have love for the one who was summer in my months of winter and sunshine in my days of rain. I would have never known happiness if not for you, so you will always be my happiness. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for not leaving me when I needed you most.”

With that, he threw his arms around Jinyoung, covering his wet face in kisses and whispering promises of a lifetime of happiness that would never be stolen away from them again.

But all of a sudden, a sharp chill swept through the room and they leapt apart, shuddering in the sudden cold. A woman dressed all in black with hair like fire tumbling down her back strode into the room, staring at them in contempt. “Forget about me?” she asked in a voice that was like ice freezing its way through their veins.

“Stepmother,” Mark said through clenched teeth. Jinyoung felt his entire body seize in both anger and terror. This was the woman who'd brought so much pain to Mark. And now that she was here, she was going to try to bring pain down upon them both.

She turned her amber eyes to Jinyoung, narrowing them coldly. “You think I would just hand over my stepson to you to have you undo years worth of very carefully executed damage?” she hissed. “Little Mr. Perfect who could do no wrong, the sun and the moon and the stars who made the hateful boy smile in such a way that no hurt or abuse could take it from him? Oh, but you weren't so very perfect, were you? Couldn't even last a single year of waiting for one who would have waited a thousand years times a thousand for you. Pitiful. But I had you pegged from the start. You would be yet another disappointment to him, and he would learn there's no such thing as truly painful as hope in this world.”

“Why?” Jinyoung asked her, his voice like steel. “Why do you do this to him?”

“Why? Does one need a reason? He has only himself to blame, I think. If he had just shown one single second of weakness, a single tear or a single shard of true brokenness, I would have let up. But no, he just endured and endured. He refused to break and instead kept lifting his head high and showing me those stubborn eyes, and it made me angrier than anything ever has, that defiance. It hounds me to this day. I will see him break, I swear it. And you waltzing in here has given me the power I need to do it.”

Before any of them could move, she was flying at Jinyoung, winding her arms around him and placing a knife to his throat. She held him right where Mark could see him perfectly, and cackled in delight at the look of utter fear that crossed his face as she pressed the tip of the knife into the edge of Jinyoung's throat.

“Oh, I'll do it too, you know I will, my stupid son,” she sighed happily. “You should have screamed the first time I struck you. You should have wept. You should have raged and snivelled until I grew bored of you. But you will now, won't you? You'll make up for all the years you wouldn't. I'll do this slowly, too. I'll make this hurt.”

Jinyoung held Mark's eyes for a moment. He couldn't die. He knew that the sorceress was right, that this would be the thing that would at last break Mark after all of his long endurance, his patience, his gentleness that never turned into anger or rage. And all that bottled up and ignored rage would be destructive unlike anything. He would destroy everything, if he gave into it. He'd destroy himself. And Jinyoung could not allow that to happen.

There was only one thing left to take a chance on: the golden mirror. It had somehow changed the fey princess, and based on what Kunpimook had said, perhaps it had taken Jinyoung's powers of finding and giving happiness and effected it on the princess when she'd touched it. Which meant that the fey princess's powers were now held by the mirror: the power to ensnare and control a soul. All he needed to do was get the sorceress to touch it.

He took a deep breath. He was going to take a gamble on this woman's capacity for needless, senseless, and almost petty cruelty. That she was the type of woman who would destroy whatever was precious to someone, no matter how small. That she would take any opportunity to injure, even when she was moments away from taking her final victory.

“Mark,” Jinyoung murmured, holding his eyes and trying to tell him not to lose himself just yet, to trust in him. “The golden mirror on the vanity. Take it when I'm gone. Use it to remember me. I'll always be with you.”

The reaction of the sorceress was immediate. “HA!” she shrieked. “Trying to make this a heartwarming, sweet moment to the very last? You dare try to diminish my best and most fatal strike? No, there will be no tokens, nothing to remember you by. Everything about you will die when you die. Just see what I think of your precious little trinket!”

And with a single , she fell straight into Jinyoung's trap. She grabbed the golden mirror to dash it onto the ground, and in an instant her eyes were clouded over as the fey princess's power claimed her soul. “Release me,” Jinyoung said, testing the effect. And release him she did.

“W-What?” Mark stammered in disbelief. “What did you do?”

Jinyoung nodded to the mirror, not wanting to touch it in fear of what powers from the sorceress it would give him. “Remember that? The payment you gave to Kunpimook? The fey princess was the last to touch it.”

“Oh,” Mark said dully. A moment later, he'd sunk to the ground, his body tremoring with desperate and aching sobs. All the strength he'd hoarded before collapsed and the pain he'd endured silently flooded out. He grabbed onto Jinyoung's hands like a drowning man struggling for a grip on the surface and held him close as he cried.

“It's OK,” Jinyoung said softly. “You tried to be too strong for too long, as strong as a bear when you're just a man, after all. But it's OK. I'll carry your burdens with you, this time. I'll also be strong for you.” He let Mark weep on his shoulder until there were no more tears, then kissed his forehead and rose to his feet. “You,” he said to the sorceress. “You cannot hurt us anymore. You can't hurt anyone. You are to go far. Farther than the castle east of the sun and west of the moon and farther still. Farther than any of the four winds can travel, a place where truly no one can reach. And when you're there, when you're truly alone with no one there to hurt or to help you, I want you to feel every stab of pain you've delivered to Mark over the years and take your share of the burden of what you've done. Now go, and never come back.”

Like someone bespelled, she wordlessly swept from the room, taking all her ice and terror with her. She would never be able to hurt them again.

Jinyoung turned to Mark and lifted him to his feet. “Now, I hope there's a way for you to get us out of here,” he said gently, his hair and wiping the last of his tears. “I'll stay by your side always, but I'd rather it not be here. I don't have anymore winds left to command, so I'm not sure what to do.”

“There's a portal,” Mark said. “One that leads to the forest where you tended to your bees. That's where I would gather herbs and nettles...where I first saw you. It should still be here, I think.”

“Then let's find it. Let's go home.”

“You'll really stay by my side always?” Mark asked softly. “Me, with all this darkness in my past?”

“Yes, I will,” Jinyoung said. “The darkness in your past, the joy in your future...I'll accept both. But only if you accept the foolish me along with the one who tries to do good.”

“I will. I love one half of you as dearly as I love the other.”

“And so I will accept that your past still formed you into the man I love, as sad as it was.” He took Mark's hand and squeezed it. “I never made it to the end of the year I promised, and I'm sorry for that. But I'm choosing to stay. Long beyond a single year. I'm with you forever.”

And so the two went through the portal and returned to the forest, leaving the castle east of the sun and west of the moon forever, never again to return.

Though both were happy to leave the scars magic had left on their lives for good, they now had nothing to their name, no money and no home. This time it was Jinyoung's family who rallied and supported them, remembering the sacrifice Jinyoung had made and the generosity Mark had shown them. With their remaining gold, they built them a lovely house on the peak of the mountain, smaller than the palace had been, but cozy enough to suit the two lovers who longed simply to be together and have no tricks and rules set between them.

Side by side, it was not long before the hurts in their hearts were healed and they were able to share the happiness that they brought to each other's lives. To make up for his nearly catastrophic lapse in trust, Jinyoung devoted everything to soothing the wounds of Mark's mistreatment with tenderness and kindness, and Mark, in turn, treasured Jinyoung deeply for the courage and strength of will he had shown. They lived their lives quietly and happily in their cottage, Jinyoung tending to his bees, and Mark bottling honey and making sweets for them to sell in the market. They were often visited by Kunpimook, and, according to now long forgotten stories, the mountain peak was the only place in the world where all four winds would mingle together before blowing out to their different corners of the world.

The two never spoke of their story, and it was not long before even the castle east of the sun and west of the moon was forgotten. The man-who-was-a-bear and his lover never became legends or even wive's tales told to sleepy children, but to each other, their love held a power far greater than any in the world: the power of giving happiness, and the power of endurance. With both in their lives, they lived well and happily, and that, more than anything, is what truly counts.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this year's anniversary project :D I seriously enjoyed writing all three stories~ Thank you for another beautiful year, dear readers! Until next time!