"Yixing? Can we talk?"

Immediately, Yixing turned around from where he was standing at the store front, looking out into the gloomy city.

"Sure."

He looked at Luhan with an expectant expression that only added to the anxiety in his stomach.

"In the back?" he added, hating how small he sounded. The concern grew on the other's face, and Yixing shot another, fleeting glance out of the window, before he nodded.

"Of course."

They moved to the backroom, sitting down on the sofa and small armchair, respectively. The counter was only a few steps away, really, but without the backdrop of the store window, everything felt more private already. Not that there were many people outside - the sky had been a dark, smudgy grey for days now, and the rain hardly ever stopped, soaking through everything but the increasing number of spells littering walls and lampposts.

'It's Jongdae's way of being extra attentive,' Minseok had sighed earlier, when he'd slipped under the covers shortly before dawn. Recently, he'd hardly seen Minseok. It was a pity, considering that they'd just decided to take their relationship to another level, but Luhan wasn't petty enough to bemoan that. Not when Minseok kept patrolling the streets until late into the night. Not when he had his nose buried in complex spells, tracing them out and carving them into necklaces. Not when the number of protective charms and accessories on him grew as much as the shadows under his eyes.

Luhan was worried, and maybe it was this kind of worry, this lingering feeling of dread and helplessness, that had pushed him to this decision.

He took a deep breath, both hands on his knees as he looked into the face of the most meaningful person in his life.

"I'll have to quit my job here. I'm sorry."

He saw the way Yixing inhaled, composed, serious... and not at all surprised.

"Are the witches forcing you to?" he asked evenly.

Luhan's eyes widened, he couldn't help it. He hadn't meant to mention witches in any way, but Yixing hadn't even given him the time to attempt and spill the nonsense explanation he’d come up with earlier.

"What? No, it has nothing to do with witches-" he began, but Yixing only shook his head, clearly unhappy.

"When did you start lying to my face so casually?" he asked, and instead of anger, there was lingering disappointment - easily worse than any kind of rage the other could have shown him.

With his head dropped in shame, Luhan swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to put you in danger."

He hard the other sigh.

"Luhan, I'm not blind. Did you really think I wouldn't notice what's going on? That the person you're living with is a witch? The way you stopped going to the library so often, the way you hesitate whenever I'm asking about your day, the spells sticking to our storefront way before they started to spread throughout town? Did you really think I wouldn't notice any of this?"

Crying would be really counterproductive right now, so Luhan bit his lips and drew his shoulders up just a little, hands digging into his thigh to stay tense.

For a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, it was silent, an Luhan couldn't bring himself to meet the other's gaze.

Finally, Yixing spoke up first, voice quiet and devoid of accusation.

"You're going to become one of them, aren't you? Is that what's going on?"

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" Yixing asked evenly, and Luhan deflated, feeling like the worst person in the world.

"For lying to you," he admitted quietly, but Yixing remained unfazed.

"That was hurtful indeed, but that's not what I want to hear right now."

When Luhan could only respond with a quizzical look, Yixing leaned forwards just a little, voice growing more urgent.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me that you felt like you're missing something? That this, all of this, isn't enough for you? Did you really think I was going to be mad?"

Luhan blinked.

"What? No," he breathed out, shaking his head in disbelief. "What are you talking about? You know I feel nothing but gratitude towards you, no matter how many years have passed - yes, things are routine and safe, but never have I ever felt like something was missing. I was happy here, Yixing. Always-"

"Then why, Luhan?" Yixing prodded further, the worry still etched deeply into his features.

"I didn't- it was an accident, at first," he burst out. "And now apparently, I’ve got the talent to become one of them. They told me I have the potential."

"So what?" Yixing asked, crossing his arms. "So have I."

Every single thought of Luhan came to a screeching halt.

"What?"

Unfazed, Yixing shrugged.

"I've always had it. I simply chose not to act on it."

Suddenly, he remembered the way Minseok had talked about Yixing, and it all made sense.

There were so many questions on the forefront of Luhan's mind, but the other didn't give him the chance to voice out even one.

"That world is dark and full of madness, Luhan. It may look dazzling, but the flip side is grotesque-"

"I know-” Luhan began, but Yixing was shaking his head already.

“You think you do, but when it turns around to try and consume you, nobody will be able to help you. Not even me. Certainly not the rotten people who dirtied their hands and hearts already.”

“It’s not a dirty thing,” Luhan argued, because that one thing he was fairly certain about. “And I’ll be careful.”

“Do you realize how naive that sounds?” Yixing asked, and he didn’t sound derogatory, which was the reason why Luhan felt nothing but the urge to make him understand.

“They’re not all rotten, terrible people,” he began, realizing that yes, he did sound naive, but that didn’t make him believe it any less. “And there’s someone watching over me. He’ll make sure it doesn’t consume me. I trust him. And one day, I’ll be able to watch over him, too.”

With how Yixing was looking at him, all gentle and sad, Luhan knew that there was no way for them to leave this conversation with a smile on their face.

After a long pause, Yixing could only shake his head, resignation thrumming in his voice.

“I can’t stop you. If that’s what you truly want, then I wish nothing but the best for you. Just know that you’ll always have a home here.”

The lump in his throat was back, too hard to talk around, so Luhan just nodded.

“Thanks,” he whispered, getting to his feet. He should leave now, before he started sobbing or doubting himself.

For a moment, he stood there, shoulders drawn up as he took in deep breaths.

Then he looked at Yixing, who was still sitting, still looking at him with sorrow veiling his gaze.

“I’ll do good,” Luhan whispered, hands clenched by his sides. “I’ll protect people. And I’ll protect you. Just like you did for me.”

When he tried to raise his voice just a little, it cracked, crumbling away under the weight of his emotions.

“And if everything fails and everyone leaves me to drown, even that person I’m putting all my faith in, I’ll think of you. I’ll think of what would make you proud and I’ll do just that. There’s no way I can lose to it. So don’t worry about me, okay?”

Yixing looked surprised. Fond, too, and when he got to his feet, he parted his lips to say something none of them heard as a low rumble went through their bodies, followed by a deafening sound similar to a whip cracking.

Both their heads turned towards the storefront. It was pouring, with lightning striking down again and again, flashes of white appearing in a fickle, irregular manner.

They both hurried to the storefront.

It was raining so hard that they could barely even see the other side of the street, and a thick layer of white noise was pressing against the windows from outside.

It felt like the entire building was vibrating, humming under the assault, and Luhan felt it, too, felt it thrum in his bones. Next to him, Yixing looked disturbed, not even believing for a second that any of this was a natural phenomenon.

They saw people run past, looking like they were in a panic, and Luhan knew it was happening.

The vision, the premonition - it was happening.

Minseok was going to be in danger and Luhan had to find him, he just knew it. He had to be by his side because that’s what the vision had said. They were never wrong, Minseok had been very clear about that.

“I need to go. Now-”

“Luhan, don’t-”

This time, he didn’t listen to his mentor and friend, one hand already on the door handle as he looked back one last time.

“Stay inside,” he ordered right into Yixing’s alarmed, shocked face. “The rune will protect you but you have to stay inside and keep the door closed - I’m leaving.”

With this, he ripped the door open and threw himself into the storm, vaguely hearing Yixing shouting after him to take care. The words were immediately drowned in a wave of noise - rainfall, thunder, and the faint sound of people screaming filled the air.

Luhan was soaked to the bone within seconds, and he cursed heartily, the sound swallowed by the rain. If Jongdae was trying to flood the entire city, he was doing a pretty good job.

He ran down the streets, looking for anything surreal, looking for Minseok. He was supposed to fight an enormous demon, so Luhan should easily find them if he walked opposite the fleeing crowds. If they were even capable of seeing the demon.

Surely, Minseok would lure it into a spell-ridden alley, but there were too many of those to even consider checking them all out. All of them seemed to have been closed off, faintly shimmering walls separating them from the outside world. Luhan came to a halt as his surroundings slowly succumbed to chaos, with people yelling and running past.

How was he going to find Minseok?

Frantically, Luhan took off the ring he had given him, holding it close to his chest, praying that somehow it would lead him. It had only ever led him to Minseok's home, but that had worked because Luhan was focusing on it, right? He tried his hardest to think of Minseok as he'd last seen him. He pictured his slightly curly hair and ashen skin color, the way his eyes shone, tired but determined, focused and attentive. He thought of his sophisticated clothing, the shimmery accessories, the two rings dangling around the necklace he wore at all times, the way his fingertips felt on Luhan’s skin, the way his lips had brushed over the back of his neck last night, his faint, distinct scent-

And the ring did lead him.

Or didn't it? Maybe Luhan led himself, but he'd never know for sure.

All he knew was that he was running through a maze of alleyways, rows and rows of spells flying past, smudges of green, violet, and black. He kept running, unsure of where he was going, but certain he was running to Minseok. He simply knew it. Without being deterred in the slightest, he broke through the vaguely shimmering wall separating a particular alley from others - because it was meant to happen.

The rain lessened and the air shifted into something sour, feeling like bile covering his senses, even though that made no sense at all. His head was spinning, but no matter how uncomfortable the sensations, he barely registered them, not with how dark the sky had turned.

Not with the demon hovering in the air despite its massive weight.

Before him, Minseok turned around with a curse on his lips.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed, backing away from the monster and towards Luhan, who stood there, frozen and completely shell-shocked.

It was nothing like the singular demon he had seen before - this thing looked like a mutated cross between a bug and something entirely unnatural, with antlers and oddly-crooked extremities glistening without any light shining on them. It was enough to cover the sky, threatening to fall and suffocate them - and it reeked of strange, foreign magic.

Minseok's hand was waving before his face, and then Luhan found himself shoved against a wall.

"Stay back, you hear me? Stay back," Minseok commanded, eyes already back on the demon in the sky. Luhan didn't reply, every fibre of his being focused on not throwing up. Deep clicking noises seemed to rumble through his stomach without taking the natural way sound should take.

Minseok lifted his hand, moving it to the right in a flowing, but controlled curve, too fast for Luhan to follow, and then he was taking steps towards the demon. He wasn't running, wasn't even dodging the fat droplets of black hitting him. They all rolled off as if they'd never even touched him.

Luhan had seen Minseok use magic before. Most of it had been mundane, subtle in its execution and posing no visible strain whatsoever. He'd seen him fight a demon before, too, only using an enchanted dagger and a single explosive charm that wasn't even his.

This was completely different though - gone was the subtlety, the restraint. Spells were bleeding onto the ground with each step as he drew symbols in the air, singular, hard forms that caused symbols to appear on the walls, long and distorted like silhouettes thrown by paper lanterns. Luhan could only watch, his back pressed into the wall, as the demon's limbs extended, unfolding and attempting to pierce right through Minseok’s body. They met a barrier of emerald green that flared up upon collision, causing the limbs to twitch back like they'd been burnt.

The demon grew angrier at that, trying again and again as Minseok kept switching approaches within the blink of an eye - one moment, he was slashing at the limbs with a dagger, the next, he was making a brutal hand gesture that created a barrier to push back everything around him back and give him more room, and another precise gesture had beams of fire fill the air, latching onto everything they could reach. Even with the spectacular displays of magic,Minseok was fighting a loosing battle. To the demon, Minseok was little more than a pest, and while his spells charred and burnt anything getting close to him, those were only mere fractions of the demon's actual body.

He took a sudden leap to the side, slapping his palm on one of the seals tacked to the wall while throwing out his other hand to activate the one on the opposing wall as well.

Runes lit up bright and colorful in the dark, travelling up both sides of the alley until they were all activated, hitting the demon with a row of explosions, bursts of fire and colorful light. A deafening screech filled the air as the demon convulsed under the attack.

Minseok took the chance to step away, walking backwards as he drew a rune into the air, all sharp movements. Around them, every symbol from the stray one on the ground to the ones he'd thrown at the wall began to gleam.

He shot a fleeting look at Luhan, inching closer to him.

"Come here, behind me," he ordered, palms still held at eye level, fingers stretched out. Luhan scrambled to obey, all but hiding behind him. This close, he could hear the other's laboured breathing, could see the smudges of dirt on his hands, the scrapes on the side of his face. Around them, the magic was vibrating, strung tight with the tension rising even further, pulling stronger, boring inside Luhan's head and prickling in his stomach.

He could also see the way Minseok geared himself up as the demon came down, sinking like a slow, heavy force, intent on crushing them. Where Luhan tried his best to make himself smaller, looking up in terror, Minseok seemed to stand taller, hands still held up, waiting.

"Come on," he muttered, strained and impatient. It was close now, slowly engulfing the alley, sticking to the walls and threatening to consume them. Luhan would have loved to mention that this would be a fantastic moment to call for help, but the tension was buzzing in his head, whirring and ringing, pulling every fiber of his being taut.

The mass of black, shape-shifting, clicking limbs was no more than three feet away now, emanating a wave of cold.

­Slowly, Minseok's hands moved from open to half-closed, forming what looked like a claw, turning slowly.

Just when Luhan thought he'd snap, when he was about to scream from the pain and the demon was close enough to bulge against the emerald barrier, Minseok moved his hands wide apart, like he was ripping something open with bare hands. Strings of light became visible, the color matching the runes around them, held tight by Minseok. Now that he had pulled them apart, they were slicing through the demon like a gleaming wire would cut ice, and the sound ringing through Luhan's body was feral.

Minseok kept pulling, little rhombi flickered through the air and Luhan knew what was going to happen next. He knew it, felt it in his bones, but was too slow to act on it.
The strings snapped under the pressure, the demon howled and there was magic everywhere, bursting free, throwing both of them back. Luhan tried to soften their fall, but it happened too fast to react and rough cobblestones were scraping up his cheek as he hit the ground, Minseok landing half on top of him. For a moment, he felt woozy, weightless and lost, suffocating in the polluted air, feeling wet shreds of the demon plummet to the ground around them.

With a small groan, Luhan sat up. Minseok did not do the same.

With panic flaring up, he turned the other around, only to see his eyes closed, form motionless in his grip.

"Hey," Luhan began, his own voice dull to his ears. Carefully, he shook Minseok's shoulder, patted his cheek, but the other didn't move. His own heart beating painfully in his throat, Luhan crouched down to press his ear over his chest, trying to hear or feel the other's heartbeat.

He screamed at his mind to shut up, closing his eyes.

Two seconds passed, and then two more, just to be sure, but yes, he was breathing.

Luhan exhaled in relief, eyes fluttering open... and falling upon the moving, winding remains of the demons.

Which was still alive, and reforming with ugly squelching noises.

Frozen in shock, Luhan sat there, one hand on Minseok's chest, looking up as the demon rose.

"Minseok?" he asked, his voice climbing up in panic.

But Minseok remained unconscious.